NJPW Road to Tokyo Dome live results: Wrestle Kingdom go-home show
NJPW holds their final event of the year today, Road to Tokyo Dome.
The show is also the last event before January 4th’s Wrestle Kingdom 17, so any last-minute angles or build will take place today as well.
In the show’s main event, Suzuki-gun will have their final match as a stable before disbanding, with Minoru Suzuki, Lance Archer, El Desperado, and TAKA Michinoku facing off with Zack Sabre Jr., Taichi, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, and DOUKI in an intragroup battle.
A change to the card has been announced, as Oskar Leube will miss his second consecutive event after coming down with a fever. Jado will substitute for Leube in the opener.
The full card:
- Minoru Suzuki, Lance Archer, El Desperado & TAKA Michinoku vs. Zack Sabre Jr., Taichi, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & DOUKI
- Kazuchika Okada, YOH & Master Wato vs. El Phantasmo, Taiji Ishimori & Gedo
- Hiroshi Tanahashi, Shota Umino & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Tetsuya Naito, SANADA & BUSHI
- Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima vs. Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI
- Shingo Takagi & Hiromu Takahashi vs. EVIL & Dick Togo
- Togi Makabe, Tomoaki Honma, Tiger Mask & Ren Narita vs. Jeff Cobb, Great-O-Khan, Aaron Henare & Francesco Akira
- Tomohiro Ishii & Toru Yano vs. Ryohei Oiwa & Kosei Fujita
- Jado & Yuto Nakashima vs. Yujiro Takahashi & SHO
Our live coverage begins at 4:30 a.m. Eastern time.
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Yujiro Takahashi & SHO defeated Jado & Yuto Nakashima
Yujiro won this rather uneventful match for his team after hitting Nakashima with Pimp Juice.
Tomohiro Ishii & Toru Yano vs. Ryohei Oiwa & Kosei Fujita
This was a ton of fun and a very good match. Ishii managed to end the match with a Boston crab, only after surviving a handful of believable near falls from the young lion pair.
Jeff Cobb, Great-O-Khan, Aaron Henare & Francesco Akira defeated Togi Makabe, Tomoaki Honma, Tiger Mask & Ren Narita
After everyone got their stuff in, Akira pinned TMIV with a running knee to the back of the head.
After the match, Narita and O-Khan had a brief staredown.
Shingo Takagi & Hiromu Takahashi defeated EVIL & Dick Togo
This was an HoT match, that’s for sure. After withstanding a match full of rule-breaking, Shingo hit Togo with a pumping bomber to score an LIJ victory.
Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI defeated Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima
They worked hard in this one, that’s for sure. After a bomb-heavy match, Goto and YH hit Tenzan with shoto to bring home the win ahead of their 1.4 title challenge.
Tetsuya Naito, SANADA & BUSHI defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi, Shota Umino & Ryusuke Taguchi
This was a match packed full of action, especially in the closing act. Shota had a fantastic showing.
Naito won the match for LIJ with a Destino to Taguchi. After winning, Naito had a brief staredown with Shota. BUSHI and Naito then dropped the referee with a dropkick.
Kazuchika Okada, YOH & Master Wato defeated El Phantasmo, Taiji Ishimori & Gedo
This was a fairly standard affair — a lot of babyface isolation, leading to hot tags and shine segments.
YOH won the match for his team with a Direct Drive to Gedo.
After the match, Fransico Akira hit the ring and dropped YOH with a suplex.
Zack Sabre Jr., Taichi, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & DOUKI defeated Minoru Suzuki, Lance Archer, El Desperado & TAKA Michinoku
This was a fantastic sendoff for the best faction in New Japan. The match’s story mirrored the faction’s breakdown in more ways than one. An emotional, riveting, and beautiful affair—this was the best New Japan match in a long time.
The match came to an end as every faction mate attacked their leader, Minoru Suzuki. ZSJ delivered the final blow, a Zack driver, before pinning Suzuki to mark the faction’s end.
Once the match was over, there wasn’t a dry eye in the ring. In case this wasn’t emotional enough, everyone said a short, individual farewell. Takashi Iizuka fought his way through the crowd like a rabid animal to make his presence felt. In a closing demonstration of sorts, everyone hoisted the Suzuki-gun banner and shouted “Suzuki-gun Ichiban” one last time while being showered in confetti. The closing shot left Suzuki alone in the ring, where he folded the Suzuki-gun flag to his music.
Beautiful.