NJPW Road to Tokyo Dome live results: Final build to Wrestle Kingdom
Night one of NJPW Road to Tokyo Dome takes place today at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo.
The build to January 4th’s Wrestle Kingdom show is set to intensify today on the first of two consecutive nights at Korakuen.
In the main event, Suzuki-gun will team on their next-to-last night as a stable, with Minoru Suzuki, Lance Archer, and DOUKI facing Kazuchika Okada, Hiroshi Tanahashi, and YOH in a trios bout.
Thursday’s full card:
- Minoru Suzuki, Lance Archer & DOUKI vs. Kazuchika Okada, Hiroshi Tanahashi & YOH
- Hiromu Takahashi & BUSHI vs. Taiji Ishimori & Gedo vs. El Desperado & Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. Master Wato & Ryusuke Taguchi
- Zack Sabre Jr. & Taichi vs. Tomoaki Honma & Ren Narita
- Tetsuya Naito, Shingo Takagi & SANADA vs. Togi Makabe, Satoshi Kojima & Shota Umino
- Jeff Cobb vs. Oskar Leube
- Great-O-Khan vs. Ryohei Oiwa
- Aaron Henare vs. Yuto Nakashima
- Francesco Akira vs. Kosei Fujita
Our live coverage begins at 4:30 a.m. Eastern time.
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Francesco Akira defeated Kosei Fujita
This was a typical match for this type of pairing. After trying to gain substantial control for most of the match, Fujita led a handful of fiery sequences to no avail. Akira ended the match with Speedfire, his corkscrew cutter variation.
Aaron Henare defeated Yuto Nakashima
The story of this match was Nakashima stepping up to Henare and challenging his strength. After fighting through all of Nakashima’s attacks, Henare locked in his full nelson, dubbed Ultima, to close the match.
Great-O-Khan defeated Ryohei Oiwa
This was a wrestling match. The majority of this was built on grappling sequences that eventually led to a sprinkling of more impactful moves. O-Khan closed the wrestling-heavy affair with a choke.
Jeff Cobb defeated Tomoaki Honma
To my knowledge, this was the first singles match between the pair. This looked exactly like you would expect a match between these two — a bunch of power moves culminating in Tour of the Islands and a Jeff Cobb win.
KOPW Championship
A video package played announcing the KOPW 2022 championship trophy would be replaced with a belt in the coming year. The winner of the Jan 4 ranbo will be the first holder. Whoopee.
Sanada, Shingo Takagi, and Tetsuya Naito (Los Ingobernables de Japon) defeated Togi Makabe, Satoshi Kojima, and Shota Umino
This was a pretty by-the-numbers multi-man. Umino was definitely the match stand-out, making what would otherwise be totally forgettable slightly interesting. Shingo won the match for LIJ by hitting Makabe with Last of the Dragon.
Sanada, Shingo Takagi, and Tetsuya Naito (Los Ingobernables de Japon) defeated Togi Makabe, Satoshi Kojima, and Shota Umino
This was a pretty by-the-numbers multi-man. Umino was definitely the match stand-out, making what would otherwise be totally forgettable slightly interesting. Shingo won the match for LIJ by hitting Makabe with Last of the Dragon.
Zack Sabre Jr. and Taichi defeated Ren Narita and Jado
Ren and ZSJ are an electric pairing. Everything they did, inside and out of the ring, left me wanting more. Of course, you couldn’t have the finish of the Jan 4 match here, so Taichi hit Jado with the Yokozuna elbow to win the match.
After the match, the Suzuki-gun pair shared a moment in the ring, as the end of the faction looms near.
El Desperado & Yoshinobu Kanemaru defeated Hiromu Takahashi & BUSHI, Taiji Ishimori & Gedo, Master Wato & Ryusuke Taguchi
This was a messy, uninteresting four-way tag that I wouldn’t recommend going out of your way to see. Desperado won the match for his team with a Pinche Loco.
YOH cut the show-ending promo to wrap things up for the night.