New Japan continued the New Japan Road Tour today with the start of the fully-televised stretch of events for the rest of the series, starting with the first half of a doubleheader representing their final build to the joint Forbidden Door PPV with All Elite Wrestling next weekend. Today they also unveiled the 4 blocks for the 2022 G1 CLIMAX Tournament, with matches scheduled to be announced tomorrow.
Today’s event was held at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo and can be watched on demand on New Japan World in Japanese FOR FREE! No account or login required! The event also was streamed live on ABEMA in Japan. Click below to watch the full replay FOR FREE:
https://njpwworld.com/p/s_series_00617_3_1
The announced paid attendance was 542. It was reduced capacity again and they used the smaller layout on the hard camera-facing side with two monitors instead of one. Taichi is today’s guest on commentary.
Match 1: Aaron Henare beat Kosei Fujita by submission.
Match 2: Dick Togo, Sho, Yujiro Takahashi & EVIL beat Yoh, Toru Yano, YOSHI-HASHI & Hirooki Goto. EVIL pinned Yoh after EVIL.
Match 3: SANADA, Shingo Takagi & Tetsuya Naito beat Ryohei Oiwa, Yuto Nakashima & Kazuchika Okada. Takagi pinned Oiwa after Pumping Bomber.
Match 4: BUSHI & Hiromu Takahashi beat Gedo & Taiji Ishimori. Takahashi pinned Gedo after D.
Match 5: AEW All-Atlantic Championship Tournament: Clark Connors beat Tomoaki Honma.
Match 6: AEW All-Atlantic Championship Tournament: Tomohiro Ishii beat Yoshinobu Kanemaru. As a result, Ishii will face Connors tomorrow with the winner advancing to a 4-way for the title at Forbidden Door.
Main Event: Francesco Akira & TJP beat IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Ryusuke Taguchi & Master Wato to win the titles. Akira & TJP become the 70th IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Champions. Akira pinned Wato after The Leaning Tower. Well, I guess that’s it for Team 6 or 9. Unless they hang around long enough to become the 96th champions!
Here are the 4 blocks for the G1 CLIMAX Tournament this yer, as announced today:
Block A: Kazuchika Okada, Toru Yano, Tom Lawlor, Jeff Cobb, Jonah, Bad Luck Fale, Lance Archer
Block B: Jay White, Tomohiro Ishii, SANADA, Tama Tonga, Great-O-Khan, Chase Owens, Taichi
Block C: Hiroshi Tanahashi, Hirooki Goto, Tetsuya Naito, Zack Sabre Jr., Aaron Henare, KENTA, EVIL
Block D: Will Ospreay, Shingo Takagi, YOSHI-HASHI, David Finlay, Juice Robinson, El Phantasmo, Yujiro Takahashi
Okada is the defending champion. Block A probably is going to be Okada-Cobb again like last year to determine who wins. Block B seemingly has White, the current IWGP World Heavyweight Champion, all over it. Block C is the “Block Of Death”…any of them can win. Block D, despite a heavy Bullet Club presence, looks poised for another Ospreay-Takagi epic to settle it.
The next event is tomorrow, headlined by Hiromu Takahashi-Ishimori for the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship. Live streaming on New Japan World will begin at 2:30 AM PT/5:30 AM ET. It also is the final event before Forbidden Door-after tomorrow they will be off for the event with the current tour resuming on 7/3.
