NJPW Road to Castle Attack results: CHAOS vs. Bullet Club
Recommended matches —
- Yuya Uemura vs. Yuto Nakashima
Report —
Pre-show —
Yuya Uemura defeated Yuto Nakashima by ref stoppage (0:27)
This was quite the inauspicious debut for the newest young lion, Yuto Nakashima.
Nakashima shot for a double-leg takedown. Uemura blocked and they began grappling on the mat. Nakashima landed awkwardly on his left arm and appeared to break or dislocate it.
After a few awkward seconds, the ref realized what had happened and called for the bell. Ringside attendants checked on Nakashima. Nakashima began shouting and cursing. He was helped up and shoved Uemura and stared him down.
They either shot an angle on the fly in the post-match or this was a very convincing work.
Main card —
Great-O-Khan, Will Ospreay & Jeff Cobb (w/Bea Priestley) defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi, Satoshi Kojima & Gabriel Kidd (8:03)
This was a standard opener. Kidd made the most of his time and looked good.
Tanahashi’s side attacked as they entered the ring. Empire overcame the attack and cut Tana off. Tana came back with a dragon screw on Ospreay and tagged Kojima.
Kojima ran wild with machine gun chops on Ospreay. Cobb illegally entered and pressed Kojima off the top as he teased his diving elbow. Ospreay hit pip pip cheerio for a near fall. Kojima blocked a Storm Breaker attempt and hit a cutter.
Kidd and Cobb got tags and traded chops and strikes. Kidd hit a dropkick. Tana and Kojima cleared the apron and helped Kidd slam Cobb for a near fall. O-Khan and Ospreay broke up the pin.
Tana hit slingblade on O-Khan. Ospreay hit a hook kick to Tana. Kojima hit an elbow to Ospreay. Cobb hit an elbow on Kojima. Kidd hit a dropkick for a near fall on Cobb.
Kidd teased a butterfly suplex. Cobb blocked and hit a spin cycle for a near fall, then used Tour of the Islands to pin Kidd.
O-Khan stared Tana down after the bell.
Shingo Takagi, Hiromu Takahashi & BUSHI defeated Yujiro Takahashi, Taiji Ishimori & El Phantasmo (12:34)
This was another standard undercard tag. Hiromu sold most of the way and didn’t get much offense on his next challenger.
ELP and Hiromu began with some comedy and crowd work. Your mileage may vary, but this was better than usual ELP comedy.
ELP hit a cartwheel out of a hurricanrana attempt. Hiromu used a backslide for a quick near fall. ELP hit a superkick to the gut, then began with his back rake attacks. Hiromu found himself isolated in Bullet Club’s corner.
Hiromu blocked a superkick with the loaded boot and hit a dragon screw to ELP. BUSHI and Ishimori got tags. BUSHI hit some trademark spots and scored a near fall. Ishimori used a shoulder breaker. BUSHI fought off ELP interference. Ishimori hit a backflip kick into a double down.
Yujiro and Shingo tagged in and traded strikes. Yujiro hit a neckbreaker for two. Shingo fought out of Miami Shine and LIJ triple teamed Yujiro. Everyone jumped in and hit a move. Yujiro used Miami Shine for a near fall on Shingo.
Shingo blocked Pimp Juice and hit a DDT and a sliding lariat. He followed with Last of the Dragon for the pin.
Tetsuya Naito & SANADA defeated Kota Ibushi & Yuji Nagata (13:32)
There was a lot of very good mat wrestling from Naito and Ibushi in this one. SANADA and Nagata were good as well.
Ibushi and Naito started off. Both missed on takedown attempts. They traded waistlocks. Ibushi got a head scissors applied on the mat. Naito escaped and tried to bar Ibushi’s knee, but Ibushi forced a rope break. They continued the mat work, grappling to a stalemate. Both tagged out.
Nagata fought out of a paradise lock attempt and hit a kitchen sink. Nagata hit some kicks. Naito tripped Nagata as he hit the ropes and the LIJ playbook was on full display.
All four began brawling around the ring. LIJ gained the advantage in the brawl. SANADA and Naito worked on Nagata in the ring. Naito hit a basement dropkick for two. Nagata fired up and they traded strikes. Nagata hit an overhead bell-to-belly and tagged Ibushi.
Ibushi hammered Naito with a flying kick and used a standing moonsault for a near fall. Naito caught a kick and worked on Ibushi’s legs, first with dropkicks, then a a figure four. Ibushi forced a rope break. Naito ducked a high kick and swept the leg. Ibushi hit a dropkick into a double down.
SANADA and Nagata got tags. Nagata hit a running boot in the corner. SANADA avoided the follow-up exploder and hit a springboard dropkick. Nagata blocked a TKO. SANADA tried for a dragon sleeper. Nagata reversed into a crossface. Naito broke up the hold.
Ibushi jumped in and took Naito out with a high kick. With the deck cleared, Nagata hit a step-up knee in the corner and a vertical suplex for a two count. SANADA landed on his feet off a suplex. Nagata hit an enzuigiri.
SANADA then used an O-Connor roll and bridged to pin Nagata.
Elimination match: EVIL, Jay White, Tama Tonga, Tanga Loa & Chase Owens (w/Gedo, Jado & Dick Togo) defeated Kazuchika Okada, Tomohiro Ishii, Hirooki Goto, YOSHI-HASHI & Toru Yano (22:57)
As lukewarm as the promotion feels right now, they are doing a great job building up White vs. Ishii and G.O.D. vs. YH and Goto. They’re really trying to heat up Okada vs. EVIL as well, but that feels less successful than the other two feuds between CHAOS and Bullet Club.
CHAOS attacked as soon as they stepped through the ropes. They brawled around the ring. Owens produced a strap, teasing a strap match against Yano for the KOPW title. Owens threw Yano over the top by the strap for the first elimination. *Yano eliminated*
Yano then pulled Owens over the top to the floor for the second elimination. *Owens eliminated*
The sides continued brawling around ringside. Okada and EVIL finally squared off in the ring. CHAOS cut EVIL off in their corner. Okada used a slingshot senton. G.O.D., Goto and YH jumped in. White knocked Ishii off the apron.
The match devolved into a brawl again. Bullet Club cut Okada off and worked on his padded left elbow. Bullet Club used their human centipede abdominal stretch. White slapped on a chinlock to slow things down. Okada finally came back with a big boot and tagged Ishii.
Ishii and White had a nice exchange. Ishii chopped White half to death. White hit a DDT and a Blade Buster. Ishii blocked a uranage backbreaker and hit a powerslam. Ishii knocked White off the apron, but Tanga caught him for the save. Gedo jumped on the apron and took a bump. White and Ishii fought on the apron. Tanga ran into White by mistake and knocked him to the floor. *White eliminated*
Tanga took the ref. White pulled Ishii off the apron. The ref didn’t see it, but called for the elimination anyway. Ishii and White brawled to the back. This elimination was very weak. *Ishii eliminated*
G.O.D. double teamed YH. Goto saved. Jado hit YH with a kendo stick from the floor, knocking him off the apron. *YH eliminated*
G.O.D. doubled up on Goto. Goto made a valiant comeback. Okada must have been taking a nap on the floor. Goto clotheslined Tanga out for an elimination. *Tanga eliminated*
Jado tripped Goto on the apron and Tama hit a gun stun to eliminate him. *Goto eliminated*
EVIL and Tama double teamed Okada. Okada sent Tama to the apron. EVIL knocked Tama to the floor by accident with a shoulder block. *Tama eliminated*
It came down to just EVIL and Okada. EVIL ducked a Rainmaker, but that set up Okada’s dropkick. Okada used the Money Clip. Togo jumped on the apron and Okada gave up the hold. EVIL used the distraction to dump Okada to the apron.
EVIL took the ref. Togo choked Okada with his ligature. EVIL then knocked Okada to the floor for the last elimination. *Okada eliminated*
Okada ran back in and chased EVIL out of the ring to close the show.
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Okada cut a heated promo on EVIL in the backstage comments after the show.