Two championships, BOSJ announcement on big night for juniors
The big box office Dontaku tour hits Hiroshima Thursday April 27, as fans get set for the Golden Week holidays with big action in Sun Plaza Hall. Two title matches, a special singles challenge, and the BOSJ 30 lineups are on deck for a big fight feeling night!
Watch Road to Dontaku LIVE on NJPW World (English to follow on demand)
Main event: IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship- Hiromu Takahashi vs Yoshinobu Kanemaru
Singles record: 2-1 Hiromu
The IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship is on the line as Hiromu Takahashi defends against Yoshinobu Kanemaru in the main event. When Hiromu showed up in Ryogoku to challenge the brand new IWGP World Heavyweight Champion SANADA, Kanemaru interjected himself, demanding that he gets his junior heavyweight shot beforehand. With both SANADA and Kanemaru hinting that the Heel Master could take Hiromu’s place in the main event at Dontaku should he leave with the junior heavyweight gold, stakes are high here in Hiroshima.
While Takahashi holds a 2-1 record over his challenger, he is well aware of the dangers Kanemaru presents as a competitor. During Best of the Super Jr. last year, Kanemaru scored his first singles win over the Time Bomb, taking advantage of a weakened base and relentlessly targeting Hiromu’s knee on the road to victory. Here in Hiroshima, Takahashi must still be feeling some of the damage done by Robbie Eagles during their Sakura Genesis bout, and Kanemaru could certainly be working toward the Figure Four in our main event; whichever direction Kanemaru goes, his tactics are down to a sweet science. Can Takahashi’s brand of chaotic art overcome ‘Uncle Nobu’, or will we see one of the most decorated junior heavyweights in history complete a junior grand slam of AJPW, GHC and IWGP singles gold?
8th Match: IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championships- Catch 2/2 (Francesco Akira & TJP) vs Intergalactic Jet Setters (Kevin Knight & KUSHIDA)
Tag record: 1-0 Catch 2/2
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Catch 2/2 seek to improve an already impressive reign to V5 in Hiroshima as they face the challenge of Kevin Knight and KUSHIDA. Knight and KUSHIDA found instant chemistry with one another during last year’s Super Jr. Tag League, chemistry that only grew stronger when the LA Dojo Young Lion transformed into the Jet mid tour. With KUSHIDA allowing Knight to tap into a self confidence in his phenomenal athletic ability, the team might have left last year’s tag league with a losing record, including a defeat at the hands of the champions, but with a determination to grow and improve.
Staying active away from Japan on NJPW STRONG cards and on IMPACT Wrestling, the Intergalactic Jet Setters have been getting their reps in, and now feel it’s time to go for gold. Yet, with TJP and Akira spearing a new golden age for junior heavyweight tag wrestling since claiming the titles last September, will they be too much for the challengers to handle?
7th Match: DOUKI vs Tetsuya Naito
A special singles encounter pits DOUKI against Tetsuya Naito. When Just 5 Guys went up against Los Ingobernables De Japon in six man action at Sakura Genesis on April 8, the match ended with a trio of submissions; though it was Yoshinobu Kanemaru that was officially named the victor in that bout, DOUKI’s Italian Stretch on Naito was a lasting image.
Keeping the hold on long after the bell, DOUKI made Naito suffer in the affectionately named ‘DOUKI Chokey’ and piled on the salt in the wound with trash talk in Spanish after the fact. A singles match was made, and in Tetsuya Naito’s home from home in Hiroshima. Naito’s love of the Hiroshima Carp baseball team has famously made Sun Plaza Hall his secondary backyard, and the city has seen more than a few classic Naito moments. No better place then, for DOUKI to shock the world, but could he receive the ultimate momentum boost heading into Best of the Super Jr. 30?
Before the top three matches hit the ring in Hiroshima, the lineups for Best of the Super Jr. 30 will be announced. Who will be part of the field for this landmark tournament?
6th Match: Just Five Guys (Taichi & SANADA) vs Los Ingobernables De Japon (Shingo Takagi & BUSHI)
Saturday April 29, Kagoshima will see the KOPW 2023 title defended, with champion Takagi proposing a Takagi Style Triad Match. With competitors having to gain any three of pinfall, countout, knockout submission or stoppage, it may be the most violent of Taichi and Takagi’s memorable clashes yet, and fans in Hiroshima are sure to get a taste. Meanwhile SANADA goes face to face with a former LIJ teammate in BUSHI who shares a long history before both men’s time in NJPW and Los Ingobernables De Japon.
5th Match: Kazuchika Okada, Tomohiro Ishii, Tomoaki Honma & Togi Makabe vs Shota Umino, Ren Narita, El Desperado & Minoru Suzuki
Eight man action sees a preview of Dontaku’s NEVER Openweight 6 Man Tag Team Championship match, Shota Umino joining the chamnpions Strong Style as they face their challengers… or at least two thirds of them. Kazuchika Okada has successfully recruited Tomohiro Ishii to his cause May 3, but Toru Yano flatly refused out of fear of Minoru Suzuki, leaving the Rainmaker still seeking a partner. Might one of them be a Great Bash Heel?
4th Match: TMDK (Zack Sabre Jr., Shane Haste & Mikey Nicholls) vs United Empire (Kyle Fletcher, Mark Davis & Jeff Cobb)
Two days before double tag champions Aussie Open put up the IWGP Tag Team Championships against Shane Haste and Mikey Nicholls, and just under a week before Jeff Cobb and Zack Sabre Jr. meet in NJPW World TV Championship action, a six man preview hits Hiroshima. United Empire were standing tall at the weekend with an emphatic victory in Osaka, but will that momentum continue to build?
3rd Match: Master Wato, Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa vs BULLET CLUB (David Finlay, KENTA & Taiji Ishimori)
In a double title preview, NEVER Openweight Championship opponents David Finlay and Tama Tonga, and STRONG Openweight Champion and challenger KENTA and Hikuleo lock up ahead of May 3. As we approach the tenth anniversary of BULLET CLUB, and the fifth anniversary of Ishimori joining the group (ironically enough at Tama’s invitation), will Finlay’s club, finally apparently united, be firing on all cylinders?
2nd Match: CHAOS (Hirooki Goto, YOSHI-HASHI, YOH & Toru Yano) vs HOUSE OF TORTURE (EVIL, Yujiro Takahashi, SHO & Dick Togo)
No matter how hard they may try, CHAOS can’t seem to escape being dragged into battle by HOUSE OF TORTURE. As the two groups collide yet again in Hiroshima, who comes out on top in eight man action tonight?
1st Match: Oskar Leube & Boltin Oleg vs United Empire (Great-O-Khan & Aaron Henare)
Tag action will kick things off in Hiroshima as a Young Lion side of Oskar Leube and Boltin Oleg will tie up with Great-O-Khan and Aaron Henare. Boltin Oleg has shown significant promise as the second of the Team New Japan amateur wrestling side to hit the pro ranks. With the first being the mysteriously vanished Tomoyuki Oka, perhaps Great-O-Khan might find this encounter strangely nostalgic… for no reason in particular.
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