WRESTLING DONTAKU ’22, New Japan’s annual May Golden Week blowout event, is now in the books. An absolutely loaded card punctuated the Fukuoka spectacular highlighted by, for the 3rd time this year, Tetsuya Naito trying once again to take the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship fron Kazuchika Okada. Was it the charm? Let’s find out!
Today’s event was held at the Fukuoka PayPay Dome in Fukuoka and can be watched on demand on New Japan World in Japanese and English. (If you’re signing up just to watch today, the monthly subscription fee for May is currently $7.37 US. Still an incredible bargain)
The announced paid attendance was 8162. It looks like they had all the seating on the floor and not other seating around the stadium, which is used mainly for baseball, but still this represents the highest non-Tokyo Dome attendance so far this year-only Night 1 at Tokyo Dome drew higher. Remember there are still pandemic-related capacity restrictions at virtually all venues in Japan due to coronavirus safety protocols. This event was broadcast as part of WORLD PRO WRESTLING LIVE 2022 on TV Asahi. The first match begins at the 11:30 mark of the replay. (The whole event’s runtime is just over 4 hours but if you fast forward through entrances & exits you’ll save a lot of time). Togi Makabe & Jushin Thunder Liger are the guests on Japanese commentary.
Match 1: TAKA Michinoku, Taichi & Zack Sabre Jr. beat BUSHI, Shingo Takagi & Shiro Koshinaka. Taichi pinned Takagi with a rollup & leg pinning bridge after a sumo throw.(This was to have been TAKA, Taichi & Sabre vs. BUSHI, Takagi & Tatsumi Fujinami, but Fujinami was pulled late last week due to coronavirus. Koshinaka was the replacement)
Match 2: Hiromu Takahashi beat Yoh.
Match 3: Tanga Loa beat Yujiro Takahashi.
Match 4: IWGP Jr. heavyweight Tag Team Champions Ryusuke Taguchi & Master Wato beat DOUKI & Yoshinobu Kanemaru to retain the titles. Taguchi pinned Kanemaru with a rollup into a bridge. V2 for the champs.
Match 5: Chase Owens & Bad Luck Fale beat IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Jeff Cobb & Great-O-Khan and HIrooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI, when Owens pinned Goto, to win the titles. Fale & Owens become the 94th IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Champions.
Best Of The Super Junior 29 Participants are announced. They are: Hiromu Takahashi (3-time champion who will be going for his 3rd straight victory, Block A), Ryusuke Taguchi (2012 winner, Block A), Master Wato (Block B), Yoh (Block A-that guarantees a Hiromu Takahashi match again), Robbie Eagles (Block B), BUSHI (Block B), Yoshinobu Kanemaru (Block A), DOUKI (Block B), El Desperado (Block B), Taiji Ishimori (Block A), Sho (Block A-that guarantees a Yoh match), El Phantasmo (Block B), Titan (from the CMLL promotion in Mexico, Block B), TJP (Block B), Clark Connors (Debut-from the LA Dojo, Block A), Wheeler Yuta (Debut-from All Elite Wrestling, Block B), Alex Zayne (Block A), Ace Austin (from Impact Wrestling, Block A), Francesco Akira (Debut, Block A), El Lindaman (GLEAT, Block B)
Match 6: Tama Tonga beat NEVER Openweight Champion EVIL to win the title. Tonga becomes the 36th NEVER Openweight Champion.
Match 7: Taiji Ishimori beat IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion El Desperado by submission to win the title. Ishimori becomes the 92nd IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion.
Match 8: Hiroshi Tanahashi beat Tomohiro Ishii to win the vacant IWGP US Heavyweight Championship. Tanahashi becomes the 14th IWGP US Heavyweight Champion
Main Event: IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada beat Tetsuya Naito to retain the title. V4 for Okada. Next up: Jay White. He returned and led a Bullet Club beatdown of Okada to end the show.
The next event is Capital Collision on 5/14 in Washington, DC. Broadcast plans are still undecided.
