New Japan continued the Road to SAKURA GENESIS Tour today with an event headlined by a KOPW 2023 Title match. Breaking from tradition, there was no fan vote on a stip, instead it was an Ultimate Triad Match, where one man had to get a pinfall, submission AND KO in the match to win.
Today’s event was held at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo and can be watched on demand on New Japan World.
The announced paid attendance was 1298, a super full house/very near sellout. (It sounds like Korakuen is keeping capacity reduced by designating some seating as social distanced with no vocal cheering allowed)
Match 1: Tomoaki Honma & Togi Makabe beat Oskar Leube & Yuto Nakashima. Makabe pinned Nakashima after a King Kong kneedrop.
Match 2: BUSHI, Hiromu Takahashi & Tetsuya Naito beat Gedo, Taiji Ishimori & El Phantasmo. BUSHI pinned Gedo after MX.
Match 3: Ryohei Oiwa, Ren Narita, El Despero & Minoru Suzuki vs. Dick Togo, Sho, Yujiro Takahashi & EVIL went to a double countout. Afterwards, Narita demanded a final match between both sides with no countouts. (That could be tomorrow)
Match 4: Great-O-Khan & Aussie Open beat Toru Yano, YOSHI-HASHI & Hirooki Goto. Kyle Fletcher pinned Yano after Corealis.
Match 5: Boltin Oleg Debut Match: Kosei Fujita, Robbie Eagles & Zack Sabre Jr. beat Boltin Oleg, Ryusuke Taguchi & Shota Umino. Sabre beat Oleg with an armbar.
A video played announcing JET SETTERS-the team name for Kevin Knight & KUSHIDA-challenging IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Francesco Akira & TJP for the titles in Japan.
Match 6: TAKA Michinoku, DOUKI, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Taichi & SANADA beat Master Wato, Yoh, Tiger Mask, Tomohiro Ishii & Kazuchika Okada. Kanemaru pinned TM 4 after a moonsault press.
Main Event: In an Ultimate Triad Match, where one must get a 3 count pinfall, submission and KO (10 count down) to win, KOPW 2023 Champion Shingo Takagi beat Aaron Henare to retain the title. No post-match promo from Takagi in a break from custom (in Japan, the main event winners just about always cut a post-match promo to end events).
The next event is tomorrow. The main event will be a NEVER 6-Man Tag Team Championship match between champions Ren Narita, El Desperado & MInoru Suzuki and Sho, Yujiro Takahashi & EVIL. Live streaming on New Japan World will begin at 2:30 AM PT/5:30 AM ET. This will be a Samurai! TV broadcast. This is the final televised event of the tour (no live or on demand broadcast for the final two events).
