NJPW Road to Tokyo Dome live results: Wrestle Kingdom 18 go-home show

NJPW holds their final show of 2023 today at Korakuen Hall. 

Today’s Road to Tokyo Dome event will feature previews of the main Wrestle Kingdom 18 bouts. 

In the main event, IWGP World Heavyweight Champion SANADA and his Wrestle Kingdom challenger Tetsuya Naito will be on opposite sides of a trios bout, with SANADA, Taichi, & Yuya Uemura facing Naito, Shingo Takagi, & Yota Tsuji. 

Kazuchika Okada & Hiroshi Tanahashi will team against Zack Sabre Jr. & Kosei Fujita in the semi-main. Okada faces Bryan Danielson at Wrestle Kingdom, while Tanahashi will challenge Sabre for the NJPW World TV Championship at the Tokyo Dome. 

NJPW’s first-ever coffin match will be held on today’s show, as IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Clark Connors & Drilla Moloney face TJP & Francesco Akira. The titles will not be on the line today, but the teams will meet again in a championship match at Wrestle Kingdom. 

Today’s show airs free on NJPW World.

Shoma Kato & Togi Makabe defeated Katsuya Murashima & Satoshi Kojima

I’m such a sucker for these simple Young Lion tags. Both of the new guys looked good, given their limited experience.

This match opened with some Young Lion grappling. Murashima tagged out first, giving Kojima time to work over Kato. After being on the back foot for some time, Kato dropped Kojima with a drop kick, leading to a Makabe hot tag.

Makabe forced Kojima to tag out, setting up Murashima for defeat. Makabe beat down Murashima and locked in the Boston crab. Kojima tried breaking up the crab, but Kato hit the ring, occupying Kojima long enough for Makabe to secure the win.

CHAOS (Toru Yano & YOH) defeated Masked Horse (Ryusuke Taguchi) & Masked Boltin (Oleg Boltin)

The masked men tried opening the match with silliness, but we were out-maneuvered. Horse and Boltin took control back as CHAOS tried removing their masks, but Yano’s use of a whip allowed him to stay ahead.

Boltin interrupted YOH on the top rope, slamming him to the mat before using the whip himself and dropping his singlet straps. Boltin the suplexed YOH after rocking him like a baby. Horse tagged in to close, only for YOH to catch Horse in the Kido clutch, winning the match.

Tomohiro Ishii defeated Callum Newman

While a bit overindulgent for my liking, this very ambitious match aimed to establish Newman. At multiple points, I thought he was winning this one.

This match opened with a collar-and-elbow tie-up that turned into Ishii-favored striking. Newman attempted to match Ishii’s strikes, but Ishii repeatedly flattened him for trying. Over and over, as Newman would gain footing, Ishii would drop him with a stiffer strike, a slam, or a suplex.

Newman eventually landed a kick that sent Ishii to the floor. Newman capitalized with a moonsault to the floor. Back in the ring, Newman hit a forearm from the top rope, followed by a penalty kick for a nearfall.

Ishii fired back with a backdrop, resetting the match. A high German suplex and a lariat scored Ishii a nearfall. This led to a back-and-forth of tackles and kicks before Newman scored a nearfall with a Spanish fly. Another convincing nearfall for Newman followed an OsCutter.

Trying to close, Newman flipped from the top rope. Ishii avoided the dive, leading into a brief strike exchange. Ishii won out, leading to another big lariat from Ishii. After Newman kicked out, Ishii attempted a brainbuster, but Newman wiggled free. Another quick back-and-forth followed. Ultimately, Ishii won the match with another sliding lariat and brainbuster. 

Bishamon (Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI) defeated Young Blood (Oskar Leube & Yuto Nakashima)

This was great. Leube has a fantastic energy about him, and Nakashima was on tonight. It was simple structurally, but the expected dynamic was flipped on its head, making for a very exciting match.

Young Blood opened the match by cornering Bishamon with strikes. Bishamon tried fighting back, but Youg Blood were able to win out early, establishing a solid lead while isolating Goto. Once the tag to YH came, Bishamon turned things around momentarily, but Young Blood didn’t take long to retake control. Young Blood’s lead survived multiple double-team attempts and tags. Nakashima eventually locked in a deep Boston crab, forcing a desperate rope break from YH.

After multiple attempts, Bishamon were finally able to rush the ring together, isolating Nakashima. Goto took out Leube on the floor, leaving Nakashima with no backup. Bishamon then hit Shoto, winning the match, but only after a prolonged struggle. 

El Desperado & Master Wato defeated Los Ingobernables de Japon (BUSHI & Hiromu Takahashi)

Heading into WrestleKingdom, this division feels ice-cold.

Hiromu and Desperado opened the match with some standard back and forth, and Wato continued this after he tagged in. To turn things around, BUSHI rushed the ring, leading to the first stint of LIJ control.

After a while on the back foot, Wato reached Desperado for a tag. Desperado turned things around for his team, gaining a substantial lead over the champion.

Eventually, Hiromu forced a double tag with a superkick, leading to an athletic struggle for control. BUSHI won out by utilizing a dive to the floor. Wato fired back with a couple of quick pin attempts. BUSHI tried to hold on, but a sudden jackknife pin from Wato secured the win.

Coffin Match: BULLET CLUB War Dogs (Clark Connors & Drilla Moloney) defeated Catch 22 (Francesco Akira & TJP)

There were some ideas in this match that I really enjoyed, but at times, the stipulation got in the way. Some of the violence was exhilarating, but it was interrupted by the awkward “place a guy in a box” win condition.

This was the first coffin match in NJPW history. To win, you only needed to place one opponent into the coffin and close the lid.

Before the match could begin, the War Dogs rushed Catch 22 from behind. The match spilled to the floor, where Catch 22 was actually able to gain the lead. They attempted to close Moloney in the coffin, but Connors cut them off with a pounce, allowing the War Dogs to take control.

A pair of spears from the War Dogs left them in a strong position. With their newfound lead, they attached a pair of dog collars to Catch 22. The War Dogs then beat down Catch 22 while strangling them with the collars at every opportunity.

Catch 22 used the chain from their collars to clothesline the War Dogs, gaining the upper hand for the first time in a while. TJP hit Moloney with a splash before calling for the coffin to be opened. After placing Moloney in the coffin, TJP tried closing the lid, but Connors used his body to block the door.

Connors hit TJP with a spear, sending him crashing into the coffin. Akira barely made the save before dropping Moloney with a cutter. Catch 22 followed up with an alley-oop and a pair of knees before rolling Moloney into the coffin. Connors saved Moloney again by attacking the referee before hanging Akira with the collar still attached to his neck.

Connors tied Akira to the post with his collar, freeing the War Dogs to focus on TJP. The Dogs landed Hit and Run and their tandem spear, incapacitating TJP long enough to place him in the coffin and close the door.

Hiroshi Tanahashi & Kazuchika Okada defeated TMDK (Kosei Fujita & Zack Sabre Jr.)

This match was awesome. Everything about it was on point. Okada’s motivation to punish the kids on the roster will never get old, and his Danielson prep with ZSJ here added a compelling layer. ZSJ and Tanahashi had incredible chemistry, as always. A great match in a vacuum, and even better considering the implecations for WrestleKingdom. 

Tanahashi and ZSJ opened the match with focused grappling that spilled to the floor. Once they returned to the ring, they tagged out. Frustrated with his young challenger, Okada beat him in and out of the ring. Fujita eventually landed a dropkick that sent Okada to the mat, buying him enough time to tag out to ZSJ.

ZSJ out-grappled Tanahashi and Okada, gaining a lead in the center of the ring. Okada tried firing back with an air raid crash, but ZSJ reversed into another hold. Tanahashi tagged in and was able to turn things around for a moment, but ZSJ caught him on hold as well.

Okada tagged back in, giving his team the upper hand. ZSJ was forced to escape to Fujita, who tried unloading on Okada. Okada ate a ton of firey Fujita offense before turning the match back around with a flapjack. An air raid crash forced ZSJ to hit the ring. Tanahashi hit the ring to even the odds, leaving Okada alone with Fujita once more.

Okada floored Fujita with dropkicks before attempting the rainmaker. Fujita ducked the finish attempt and landed a German in response, scoring a nearfall. Another dropkick left Okada free to grab Fujita’s wrist, but instead of hitting the rainmaker, he pulled Fujita into a snug trap pin to win the match.

Just 5 Guys (SANADA, Taichi & Yuya Uemura) defeated Los Ingobernables de Japon (Shingo Takagi, Tetsuya Naito & Yota Tsuji)

The other points of focus were less than compelling, but Uemura and Tsuji were great throughout this match. I expect their match on the 4th to be something special.

The match opened with SANADA and Naito feeling each other out for a good minute. SANADA tried taking Naito to the mat, but Naito escaped to the floor and tagged out after returning to the ring.

Tsuji and Uemura were next to face off. Shingo hit the ring to help Tsuji establish the lead. LIJ then traded tags to isolate Uemura from the rest of J5G. Eventually, a fired-up Uemura knocked LIJ to the floor, buying time to tag out to Taichi. Taichi turned the match around for his team, challenging Shingo with heavy strikes and forcing a double tag.

With Naito and SANADA legal again, Naito gained control by taking the match to the mat. Once standing, SANADA landed a dropkick to take control, but Naito avoided the moonsault attempt. Naito tried for Destino but slipped. SANADA failed to follow up, leaving Naito free to hit a tornado DDT before another double tag.

Tsuji and Uemura entered the match again, with Uemura taking the lead. Again, Shingo hit the ring, leaving Uemura outnumbered. Shingo dropped Uemura with a pumping bomber, setting Tsuji up for a Boston crab in the middle of the ring. Taichi saved Uemura, but the rest of LIJ were quick to clear the ring again.

Tsuji crushed Uemura with a curb stomp, drawing blood. Tsuji attempted the Gene Blast, but Uemura reversed into an arm drag/crucifix pin combination that won the match, stealing the win right from under Tsuji.

After the match, Uemura grabbed the microphone to challenge Tsuji. Tsuji accepted the challenge. Tsuji asked where, and Uemura answered with “Tokyo Dome”.

Taichi followed Uemura with a year-end promo of his own. He plugged his YouTube and the success of his new faction in 2023.

SANADA closed the show with his promo. He announced an upcoming vinegar advertisement with J5G. He then told the crowd that DOUKI’s birthday was on the 24th, forcing him into the ring. The crowd sang Happy Birthday. SANADA closed by handing the microphone to TAKA, who promised 2024 would end the same way, with J5G on top.

On their way out of Korakuen, J5G went through the crowd and snow fell from the ceiling.