New Japan resumed the New Japan Road Tour today after a roughly 2-week break for the Forbidden Door joint PPV with All Elite Wrestling last week in the US, beginning a quick 3-day sprint to the finish before the G1 CLIMAX begins.
Today’s event was held at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo and can be watched on demand on New Japan World in Japanese.
The announced paid attendance was 1200. Maybe a full house/near-sellout based on the setup for today. No guest on commentary. (Hiroyoshi Tenzan joined commentary after intermission)
Match 1: Tomoaki Honma & Togi Makabe beat Ryohei Oiwa & TBA, which at the start of the event was revealed to be Tiger Mask 4. Honma beat Oiwa with a Boston Crab. Afterwards, TM 4 with microphone discussing his successful winning the All-Japan Jr. Heavyweight Championship, which he will defend in the promotion later this month. This was to have been Yuto Nakashima & Oiwa vs. Honma & Makabe, but Nakashima is out of the remaining events due to injury.
Match 2: Yoshinobu Kanemaru, El Desperado & Minoru Suzuki beat Kosei Fujita, Master Wato & Hiroyoshi Tenzan. Suzuki pinned Fujita after a Gotch-style piledriver.
Match 3: Aaron Henare & Great-O-Khan beat BUSHI & Hiromu Takahashi. Henare beat BUSHI with Ultima. This was to have been Jado & Ryusuke Tatughi vs. BUSHI & Takahashi, but Jado was a last-minute removal from the event due to a fever (he tested negative for coronavirus). Taguchi was also pulled.
Match 4: SANADA, Shingo Takagi & Tetsuya Naito beat The DKC, Clark Connors & Yuji Nagata. Sanada pinned DKC after Skull End. This was to have been Alex Coughlin, Connors & DKC vs. LIJ, but Coughlin is out due to injury.
Match 5: Dick Togo, Yujiro Takahashi & EVIL beat Toru Yano, YOSHI-HASHI & Hirooki Goto. Takahashi pinned YOSHI-HASHI after Big Juice. This was to have been an 8-man tag but Yoh is out due to coronavirus. Sho was also removed as a result.
Match 6: Tomohiro Ishii & Kazuchika Okada beat TAKA Michinoku & Taichi. Okada beat TAKA with Money Clip. This was to have been DOUKI & Taichi vs. Ishii & Okada, but DOUKI is out as a precaution due to being a coronavirus close contact.
Main Event: KENTA & KUSHIDA Return Match: Alex Zayne, KUSHIDA & Hiroshi Tanahashi beat Gedo, Taiji Ishimori & KENTA. KUSHIDA beat Gedo with a hammerlock suplex hold. This was KENTA’s first match since suffering injuries at Tokyo Dome in January in a bloody No DQ IWGP US Heavyweight Title match against Tanahashi, and KUSHIDA’s first match in New Japan since 2019, when he left for WWE.
The next event is tomorrow. Live streaming on New Japan World will begin at 2:30 AM PT/5:30 AM ET.
