New Japan kicked off the Road To DESTRUCTION Tour today with the opening event in Tokyo., coming back from possibly their longest break of the year.
Today’s event was held at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo and can be watched on demand on New Japan World FOR FREE! It also streamed on ABEMA in Japan. Click below to watch (in Japanese, English is also available):
https://njpwworld.com/p/s_00660_1_1
The announced paid attendance was 1087.
There was a last-minute change to the card because Boltin Oleg was off. Left wrist injury and fever. He was to have faced Zack Sabre Jr. for the NJPW WORLD TV Championship. Ryohei Oiwa was the replacement at Oleg’s request.
Before the event began, a 10 Bell Salute for the legendary Terry Funk, who passed away recently, was held. Funk regularly visited Japan in his prime along with his brother Dory Funk Jr., who remains involved with All-Japan Pro Wrestling.
Match 1: DOUKI & Yoshinobu Kanemaru beat Yoh & Ryusuke Taguchi. Kanemaru beat Taguchi with a figure 4.
Match 2: Tomoaki Honma, El Desperado, Ren Narita & Minoru Suzuki beat Oskar Leube, Master Wato, Shota Umino & Yuji Nagata. Narita beat Leube with a cobra twist.
Match 3: Bad Dude Tito, Shane Haste & Mikey Nicholls beat Toru Yano, YOSHI-HASHI & Hirooki Goto. Haste pinned Yano after Highway To Hell.
Match 4: Yuto Nakashima, Tomohiro Ishii, Hiroshi Tanahashi & Kazuchika Okada vs. Tiger Mask, Togi Makabe, Satoshi Kojima & Hiroyoshi Tenzan went to a no contest. Tenzan out of control, breaking ref’s restraint and continuously assaulting Ishii. Tenzan is part of a trio challenging Ishii, Tanahashi & Okada for the NEVER 6-Man Tag Team Championship tomorrow.
Match 5: Hiromu Takahashi, Yota Tsuji, Shingo Takagi & Tetsuya Naito beat Callum Newman, HENARE, Great-O-Khan & Jeff Cobb. Tsuji pinned Newman after Gene Blaster. According to New Japan’s Japanese website, Newman is a new member of United Empire.
Match 6: NJPW WORLD TV Champion Zack Sabre Jr. beat Ryohei Oiwa to retain the title. V13(!) for Sabre. Next up: If Sabre has his way, Kojima. Sabre wants it tomorrow but Kojima is already in a match. Stay tuned…
Main Event: Sho & EVIL beat Taichi & SANADA. EVIL pinned SANADA after EVIL.
The next event is tomorrow. Live streaming on New Japan World will begin at 2:30 AM PT/5:30 AM ET. This will be a Samurai! TV simulcast for those watching outside Japan.
