My Take: NJPW Road to Tokyo Dome 2017 - Day 1

NJPW Road to Tokyo Dome - Day 1

Tokyo, Japan

Korakuen Hall

Attendance: 1,738

Commentators: Katsuhiko Kanazawa, Kazuo Yamazaki & Kazuki Kuzanagi

Match #1
Kotetsu Yamamoto Memorial 11th Young Lion Cup Match
Normal Match
Shota Umino vs Tetsuhiro Yagi
Winner by submission: Shota Umino (Boston Crab)

My Take: Shota Umino is probably my favorite young lion to watch right now. Keep an eye on him. He wins here with...what else but a Boston Crab?

Match #2
Kotetsu Yamamoto Memorial 11th Young Lion Cup Match
Normal Match
Katsuya Kitamura vs Ren Narita
Winner by pinfall: Katsuya Kitamura (Jackhammer)

My Take: Kitamura is money. He is another one to keep your eye on because he's got superstar written all over him. He's got the size and I think his intensity will continue to increase as long as his confidence does as well as his ring work. Narita rushes Kitamura when the match starts but eventually his power overcomes the overzealous Narita.

Match #3
Kotetsu Yamamoto Memorial 11th Young Lion Cup Match
Normal Match
Hirai Kawato vs Tomoyuki Oka
Winner by pinfall: Hirai Kawato (Roll-up)

My Take: I figured that Oka would win here. Kawato won with a Jack Gallagher-esque roll-up (I know the move was innovated by a British wrestler but the name escapes me). Both guys looked good here.

Match #4
Six-Man Tag Team Match
Jushin "Thunder" Liger, Tiger Mask & Henare vs Suzuki-gun (El Desperado, TAKA Michinoku & Yoshinobu Kanemaru)
Winners: Suzuki-gun

My Take: The finish saw Kanemaru go to grab his whiskey bottle but was intercepted by Liger who went to spit the whiskey in the Desperado's face. Desperado moved out of the way so Tiger Mask got all of it in the face. This snafu allows Desperado to roll Tiger Mask up for the pinfall. Typical NJPW multi-man match.

Match #5
Tag Team Match
BULLET CLUB (Yujiro Takahashi & Leo Tonga) vs Kota Ibushi & Togi Makabe
Winners: Kota Ibushi & Togi Makabe

My Take: The finish saw Ibushi obliterate Tonga with his Kamigoye knee for the pinfall. I'm very interested to see how Ibushi's match with Cody at the Tokyo Dome goes.

Match #6
Six-Man Tag Team Match
CHAOS (Hirooki Goto, Tomohiro Ishii & Toru Yano) vs Suzuki-Gun (Minoru Suzuki, Taichi & Takashi Iizuka)
Winners: CHAOS (Hirooki Goto, Tomohiro Ishii & Toru Yano)

My Take: It's a bummer whenever I see Taichi is in a match (he's very slowly growing on me but he's still living in the basement, figuratively speaking), Iizuka however is a super, ultra, mega bummer. Goto got the pinfall after an Ushigoroshi and GTR on Taichi. This was basically a preview match for Goto and Suzuki's match at the Tokyo Dome. I think their match on that show is going to be really great but probably overshadowed by the main event matches on the card. I think I like the hair stipulation since it'll help set that match apart from everything else on that show.

Match #7
Six-Man Tag Team Match

CHAOS (SHO, YOH & Rocky Romero) vs Masked Horse (Rocky Romero), KUSHIDA & Satoshi Kojima

Winners: Masked Horse (Rocky Romero), KUSHIDA & Satoshi Kojima

My Take: Good match. Kojima blasts Romero with the Cozy Lariat for the pinfall.

Match #8

NEVER Openweight Six-Man Tag Team Championships

Six-Man Tag Team Match

Los Ingobernables de Japon (EVIL, SANADA & BUSHI)(c) vs BULLET CLUB (Bad Luck Fale, Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa)

Winners and NEW NEVER Openweight Six-Man Tag Team Champions: BULLET CLUB

My Take: Fale hits the Grenade for the pinfall as BULLET CLUB win the NEVER 6-man titles. I'm not sure if the pro wrestling world is ready for six-man tag team titles. They sound good on paper but in all honesty, I can never remember who the 6-man champs are in New Japan or in ROH. It's an interesting way to keep a lot of guys on a loaded roster busy.

Match #9

Tag Team Match

CHAOS (Kazuchika Okada & YOSHI-HASHI) vs Los Ingobernables de Japon (Tetsuya Naito & Hiromu Takahashi)

Winners: CHAOS

My Take: Okada tapped Takahashi out with his new Bodyscissors Cobra Clutch. Okada/Naito is 1,000% going to be the match of the night at Wrestle Kingdom and it's pretty evident here.

Overall Thoughts

So....many.....shows. I'm just trying to catch up at this point.