Wrestling Dontaku results from Fukuoka Japan.
– Yuji Nagata, Mascara Dorada, Tiger Mask IV & Jushin Thunder Liger defeated Captain New Japan, Ryusuke Taguchi, Manabu Nakanishi & KUSHIDA. This was a really good opening match and everyone worked hard. The way Dorada moves almost isn't human, and yet again his exchanges with KUSHIDA were the highlight of the match. We had lots of dives, with Nakanishi even getting in on it (well, as best as he could). Nagata pinned Captain after a wrist clutch exploder. I'd like to have seen the juniors involved in the pinfall ahead of BOSJ, but it was a good match.
– Yohei Komatsu & Kota Ibushi defeated Sho Tanaka & Tetsuya Naito. The focus was yet again on the young lions. NJPW have done an amazing job of elevating these guys by using established names like Ibushi & Naito to do it. Naito & Ibushi did their thing, but the young lions were allowed to shine and are what will be remembered from the match. Komatsu made Tanaka tap out to a single leg Boston crab after some great counters between the two. After the match, Ibushi refused to shake the hand of Naito.
– Tomoaki Honma, Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima defeated Cody Hall, Tama Tonga & Bad Luck Fale (Bullet Club). Tama Tonga must have thought he was in Bullet Club Wolfpac here, because he was wearing black & red face paint. It was a decent match, but nothing hugely memorable. Another solid showing for Hall, and Honma got the win after a top rope Kokeshi.
– IWGP Jr Tag Team Championship: Nick & Matt Jackson (The Young Bucks) defeated Beretta & Rocky Romero (RPG Vice) and Kyle O'Reilly & Bobby Fish (ReDRagon). The hot potato that is the junior tag titles changed hands again, with The Young Bucks taking them back. This was an incredible match, but a match that would have been an instant classic in front of an ROH crowd. The NJPW crowd don't react to the craziness and the superkicks out of nowhere like an American crowd would, and it takes away from it. There was too much craziness in this one to recap, but we had Beretta superplex Matt Jackson to the floor on top of everyone and an Indytaker on the floor that took out O'Reilly. The Bucks won after the singled out Beretta and hit More Bang For Your Buck to win the titles. This match is well worth going out of your way to see if you enjoy what these teams do.
– IWGP Jr Heavyweight Championship: Kenny Omega defeated Alex Shelley. This was one hell of a match for the junior title. This was the best match Omega has had since joining Bullet Club and one of the best singles matches Shelley has ever had in NJPW. There was lots of shenanigans and interference from The Bucks and KUSHIDA, but it didn't take away from the match, and in some cases added to it. Omega used a trash can (he's the cleaner) and some of the near falls towards the end were incredible with Shelley looking like he had it won when he hit Sliced Bread #2. Omega won with the One Winged Angel. After the match Shelley said he won't be competing in the BOSJ as he is the champion, and the winner will have to face him in June at Dominion. He hilariously swept Alex Shelley out of the ring with a broom.
– Maria Kanellis, Matt Taven & Mike Bennett (The Kingdom) defeated Amber Gallows, Doc Gallows & Karl Anderson (Bullet Club). This was strange to say the least. The cameraman shamelessly filmed Maria's ass for most of the match, and the story here was that Anderson was so uncontrollably infatuated with Maria, that he was costing his team the match, forcing Gallows to try and keep him out of the ring. The highlight of this was the pre-match video package with "Avè Maria" as the sound track. Maria got the pin on Amber with a roll up after low blowing Anderson. After the match Gallows floored Maria with a right hand and he and Anderson hit her with the Magic Killer. Anderson looked on in regret as he left the ring. Most people seemed to hate this, but Anderson's facial expressions and reactions were absolutely hilarious.
– Hiroshi Tanahashi, Katsuyori Shibata & Togi Makabe defeated Toru Yano, Kazushi Sakuraba & Tomohiro Ishii. This had three very different feuds all lumped together in one match. We had the ridiculous game of cat and mouse that Yano & Tanahashi have been playing, the shoot style of Shibata & Sakuraba and we had Ishii & Makabe trying to tear each other apart as usual. It was a fun match, with Sakuraba looking good when he was in with Shibata. Every single Yano pin attempt is now believable, so he looked like he was going to steal it again from Tanahashi, until Tanahashi pulled a trick from Yano's book and pulled his hair before rolling him up to get a win. There needs to be a singles match between these two soon to end this.
– AJ Styles & Yujiro Takahashi (Bullet Club) defeated YOSHI-HASHI & Kazuchika Okada (CHAOS). This was all about setting up the Okada/Styles title match at Dominion. It was a good match, but nothing blow away. YOSHI proved how underrated and underused he is when he was in the ring with Styles. They had a great exchange to finish the match with Styles hitting Bloody Sunday and The Styles Clash to win. After the match Styles and Okada both ducked each other's finishers.
– IWGP Intercontinental Championship: Hirooki Goto defeated Shinsuke Nakamura. Hirooki Goto is the new IWGP Intercontinental Champion. This was an absolutely incredible wrestling match from start to finish. No messing around, just two guys that wanted to beat each other for the right to be called champion. Just go and watch this match, because it is everything New Japan is all about. Goto is known for slipping on a banana peel in major matches, but that wasn't the case here and got his biggest win in years. Goto kicked out of two Boma Ye's, Nakamura kicked out after several stiff lariats and an Ushikoroshi back breaker off the top. He finally put Nakamura away with the Shouten Kai. Goto winning was an incredible moment, well worth the money for NJPW World this month alone. This now frees up Nakamura to hopefully get back into the heavyweight title picture with the G1 Climax just a few months away. After the match Goto said he would like to unify the Intercontinental and heavyweight championships. (Credit to @enuhito for the translation).
The main event took this from being an good show to a great show. The undercard was entertaining, with the highlights being the junior title matches, but the main event was as good as anything in NJPW all year. The show is available on NJPW World now.
Credit: PWInsider
