NJPW Road to the New Beginning live results: El Desperado vs. DOUKI
NJPW’s Road to the New Beginning continues on Tuesday at Korakuen Hall.
Two title matches headline the card. The Ichiban Sweet Boys (Robbie Eagles and Kosei Fujita) will put the titles on the line against House of Torture’s Yoshinobu Kanemaru and SHO. It will be the first title defense for Fujita and Eagles since winning the belts at New Year’s Dash.
DOUKI will put the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship on the line against El Desperado. It will be DOUKI’s first defense since beating Desperado for the title at King of Pro Wrestling last October. For Desperado, he has a chance to win the title for a sixth time, which would tie him for second all-time with Tiger Mask and KUSHIDA.
The Young Lion Cup also continues on Tuesday with two semifinal matches: Shoma Kato vs. Masatora Yasuda and Katsuya Murashima vs. Daiki Nagai.
Our live coverage begins at 6:30 p.m. Japan Standard Time, 4:30 a.m. Eastern, and 1:30 a.m. Pacific.
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Main Card
Shoma Kato defeated Masatora Yasuda
Kato abused Yasuda’s tender neck using his elbows. He followed with a couple of vertical suplexes, stomps to the knee, and a single-leg Boston Crab. Yasuda fought his way out with a dropkick. Kato tasted his own medicine as he too found himself in a Boston Crab. As his prey pivoted and crawled, Yasuda twisted his Crab and sank it deeper. Kato swung a comeback via an arm drag and turned it into an armbar, soon tapping out the once-dominant Yasuda.
(Solid work here, with each man selling quite well. The air of mutual respect was apparent throughout.)
Katsuya Murashima defeated Daiki Nagai
These two Young Lions wrestled to a standstill until Nagai had Murashima on the ropes. A casual chest tap and paintbrush to the cheek later, and Nagai incurred Murshima’s wrath. Wrapping around a headlock, Murashima released Nagai to shoulder-block him to the mat. Nagai would finally pick up some steam with a couple of dropkicks peppered into a flurry of offense. Surviving two submission attempts, Murashima regained composure with an overhead belly-to-belly suplex and running powerslam. There, Murashima tapped Nagai out with a Boston Crab.
(The finals are set, and I see so much depth in Murashima; he’s my favorite Young Lion. Taking out Unbound Co.’s Nagai enforces how much NJPW believes in young Murashima. I feel he’s going to have a huge upside. He may even one day help sell out the Tokyo Dome, something I’d love to see across the ring from Aaron Wolf.)
Knockout Brothers (OSKAR & Yuto-Ice) defeated Shota Umino & Tatsuya Matsumoto
OSKAR immediately took Umino out of the equation on the outside. He rejoined Yuto-Ice to bully Matsumoto. When Umino tried returning to the ring, OSKAR kicked him right back out. The Knockout Brothers proceeded to end Matsumoto with a KO, forcing Umino to watch, and the match was swiftly over.
(Without Yuya Uemura by Umino’s side, this match was exactly what it should have been.
Aaron Wolf, Master Wato, Toru Yano & YOH defeated House Of Torture (Dick Togo, EVIL, Ren Narita & Yujiro Takahashi)
Yano promptly powered his way out of House of Torture’s usual ambush schtick, setting Wato up to usurp the band of heathens. Narita and Takahashi toppled YOH and Yano as EVIL worked on Wato. They assisted their leader with a chairshot on the vulnerable opponent. Narita drove a spike into Wato’s face. YOH slipped in a kick to Narita, breaking the weaponized attack.
YOH tagged in, employing Dragonscrew Legwhips to everyone on the opposing team. Wolf barged in, toppling Narita before delivering a Fireman’s Carry. House of Torture equalized Wolf’s allies before uniting a Dick-to-Dick Contact. Wolf’s teammates came in for the save. Shrugging off Narita’s push-up bar, Wolf sent him flying before tapping Takahashi out with an armbar.
(Nice. Very nice. Thrilling performance by Wolf. Wolf reminded everyone who he was at that Wrestle Kingdom 20 match, and at the right time, given New Beginning is around the corner.)
United Empire (Callum Newman, Francesco Akira, Great-O-Khan, Jake Lee & Jakob Austin Young) defeated Unbound Co. (Gedo, Hiromu Takahashi, Shingo Takagi, Taiji Ishimori & Yota Tsuji)
Tsuji blasted Lee, throwing him every which way and loading his strikes with vitriol. Lee engaged him in a headlock, dragging him so Newman could deliver some punishment. Gedo planted Newman on the mat, choking him with pure hatred. Outside, Khan ripped open Takagi’s shirt and suffered the Last Dragon’s ribs.
Back in the ring, Newman found vengeance on Gedo, mocking him in the process. Zane Jay, the second for United Empire (and no longer a Young Lion), provided additional damage to Gedo. Korakuen Hall cheered for Gedo while Young clobbered him. Lee delivered a kick to Tsuji to prevent his involvement in the match. Akira’s fleeting triumph over Gedo was met with an alliance of Ishimori and Takahashi. Takagi attempted a coup on Khan, but his ribs hindered his advances, leaving him susceptible to Khan’s Bear Hug. Khan obliterated Takagi with a chair shot to a stacked chair on his wounded foe. Newman and Khan held Tsuji down in the corner, helpless, as Lee kicked Takagi’s tender ribs and gained the pinfall.
Post-match: United Empire ravaged Unbound Co. Lee offered Tsuji a spot on the team if he gave up his IWGP Heavyweight Championship. Tsuji, enraged at what he’s seen the group do to his friend, rejected the offer, keeping the title match open for New Beginning in Osaka.
(I’m a sucker for matches like these. Progressing the United Empire versus Unbound Co. angle while advancing the nested storylines within was entertaining. Moreover, what we’re seeing with the heelish vision of United Empire against the remnants of Bullet Club and Los Ingobernable de Japon is a sort of changing of the guard as the group becomes a heel faction once more. Also, give me Akira/Young versus Ishimori/Takahashi for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship sometime this year, please.)
Ichiban Sweet Boys (Kosei Fujita & Robbie Eagles) (c) defeated House Of Torture (SHO & Yoshinobu Kanemaru) for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship
House of Torture, as is their wont, ambushed the Sweet Boys. SHO wrapped his arm around the referee, obscuring him from the removal of a turnbuckle pad. Fujita used this to his advantage, spiraling his aggressor into the exposed steel of it and Slingblading him to the mat. Kanemaru dropped Eagles from the apron, exposing Fujita to the harsh isolation of their united front against him. Kanemaru propelled the enfeebled Fujita so that his partner could chip more of him into the post. Once more did Kanemaru eliminated Eagles from the apron to enforce further torment on Fujita.
Fujita, agonized and threadbare, gathered enough spirit to crawl away to a rope break to cut short SHO’s Boston Crab. Eagles took flight, his legs an albatross, dazed SHO in his righteous anger, pent up by his moral and physical injuries suffered at the hands of his opponents. SHO speared him out of his boots, and Kanemaru was all too gleeful to bear down on him once more; a DDT planted the champ to the cerulean mat. Fujita, newly recovered, returned fire to Kanemaru, flying in a Springboard Dropkick to puncture his challenger. Kanemaru devastated Fujita with a Superplex, followed in kind by SHO’s Powerbreaker and Boston Crab. Urged on by TMDK teammate Zack Sabre Jr., Fujita made the desperate crawl that broke the Crab. The Ichiban Sweet Boys deployed a Sweetbuster, nearly securing the win, had it not been for SHO evicting the referee from the ring. Fujita blasted Kanemaru with a Thrill Ride, nodding with the referee as the 3-count cemented a title retention.
(Ichiban Sweet Boys are a thrilling junior heavyweight tag team, and they had some damn good dance partners tonight. Easily reliable to provide excitement to an NJPW card.)
Main Event
DOUKI (c) defeated El Desperado for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship
DOUKI maintained warrant over Desperado’s wrist and skull, gravitating him toward the ground. His challenger eked out momentum, enough to send him frustrated to the outside; House of Torture surrounded him like starving wolves, stomping him out while DOUKI distracted the referee. Young Lions dispersed the Tokyo crowd, permitting DOUKI’s teammates to send the challenger through the sea of chairs. Up the stairs, DOUKI choked Desperado with a pipe. Desperado nearly broke a 20-count en route to the ring, but EVIL caught him, causing him grief as DOUKI once more distracted the referee.
Though he secured a Darkness Stretch, DOUKI couldn’t make it count. Desperado slid in some low dropkicks to DOUKI’s legs, weakening his knees. House of Torture flocked like vultures to Desperado once DOUKI bought himself some time by shoving his challenger into the referee. Aaron Wolf and Master Wato rushed to Desperado’s defense, dispersing the House of Torture. They parted the sea of villains like Moses to the Red Sea, granting Desperado a fair advantage over DOUKI. Rather than mourn the presence of his allies, DOUKI instead reached for his Darkness Stretch. SHO emerged from the abyssal depths beyond the ring, distracting the referee until the official fought back. Behind him, Desperado’s Numero Dos failed to bring forth victory. Thanks to further SHO interference, DOUKI whacked Desperado with his ally’s Black Mirror. With no more fight left, Desperado lost via DOUKI’s Suplex de la Luna.
(Almost a subversion of the House of Torture’s formula of matches, it seemed that Desperado’s path to regaining the belt was clear. Not so, thanks to SHO. That said, this main event had Korakuen Hall on their feet, screaming and clamoring for a barn-burner performance.)
Final Thoughts
The show increasingly grew in quality. Aaron Wolf put on a strong performance, whereas Ichiban Sweet Boys delivered another exciting match. Though I’m glad Desperado didn’t take DOUKI’s title, I do hope a suitable challenger takes the gold soon. The United Empire and Unbound Co. bout developed several angles while furthering its overarching narrative. Last but not least, I loved that the Young Lion Cup is heating up.
NJPW so far is taking heavy consideration into the future of its card. I hope they continue this momentum as I still highly anticipate New Beginning in Osaka.
Corey Michaels covers the play-by-play action of events hosted by New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). Referenced by content creators and Wikipedia articles, he adds his prosaic voice with authority to the F4W/WON audience.
A content writer and wrestling fan, Corey has woven the stories of our great sport into literature. He cuts to the emotional core of characters, rivalries, and angles.