{"id":12415,"date":"2019-05-05T02:59:57","date_gmt":"2019-05-05T01:59:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/?p=12415"},"modified":"2019-05-05T12:17:19","modified_gmt":"2019-05-05T11:17:19","slug":"njpw-wrestling-dontaku-review-3-5-4-5-19","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/2019\/05\/05\/njpw-wrestling-dontaku-review-3-5-4-5-19\/","title":{"rendered":"NJPW Wrestling Dontaku Review 3\/5-4\/5\/19"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Night One:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<table class=\"wp-block-table\"><tbody><tr><td>Ren Narita, Shota Umino &amp; Tomoaki Honma def. Toa Henare, Yota Tsuji &amp; Yuya Uemura <\/td><\/tr><tr><td>El Desperado, Minoru Suzuki, TAKA Michinoku &amp; Yoshinobu Kanemaru def. Jyushin Thunder Liger, Ryusuke Taguchi, Tiger Mask &amp; YOSHI-HASHI<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Toru Yano, Will Ospreay &amp; Togi Makabe def. Hikuleo, Tama Tonga &amp; Tanga Loa <\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Roppongi 3K (SHO &amp; YOH) &amp; Kota Ibushi def. BUSHI, Shingo  Takagi &amp; Tetsuya Naito<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Hirooki Goto, Mikey Nicholls &amp; Juice Robinson def. Bad Luck Fale, Chase Owens &amp; Jay White<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>EVIL &amp; SANADA def. Kazuchika Okada &amp; Tomohiro Ishii<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>NEVER Openweight Title Match<\/strong>: Taichi def. Jeff Cobb (c)<br><\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title Match<\/strong>: Dragon Lee (c) def. Taiji Ishimori<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Night Two:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<table class=\"wp-block-table\"><tbody><tr><td>Ren Narita &amp; Shota Umino def. Yota Tsuji &amp; Yuya Uemura<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>El Desperado, Minoru Suzuki, Taichi, TAKA Michinoku &amp; Yoshinobu Kanemaru def. Jeff Cobb, Ryusuke Taguchi, Tiger Mask, Toa Henare &amp; YOSHI-HASHI <\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Jyushin Thunder Liger, Togi Makabe &amp; Toru Yano def. Guerrillas Of Destiny (Tama Tonga &amp; Tanga Loa) &amp; Gedo<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Hirooki Goto, Juice Robinson, Mikey Nicholls &amp; Tomoaki Honma def. Bad Luck Fale, Chase  Owens, Hikuleo &amp; Jay White<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>El Phantasmo &amp; Taiji Ishimori def. Dragon Lee &amp; Will Ospreay <\/td><\/tr><tr><td>BUSHI, Shingo Takagi &amp; Tetsuya Naito def. Kota Ibushi &amp; Roppongi 3K (SHO &amp; YOH)<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Tomohiro Ishii def. EVIL<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>IWGP Heavyweight Title Match<\/strong>: Kazuchika Okada (c) def. SANADA<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As the Japanese imperial era changed from Heisei to Reiwa New Japan returned to Fukuoka for their two Wrestling Dontaku shows. Last year Kazuchika Okada beat Hiroshi Tanahashi to break Tanahashi\u2019s record of the most title defences in a single title reign, while this year was the first title defence of Okada\u2019s new reign that began on April 6<sup>th<\/sup> in Madison Square Garden. His opponent, SANADA, was the losing finalist of the New Japan Cup. There were also title matches for Dragon Lee, defending the Jr. Heavyweight Title against Taiji Ishimori, and Jeff Cobb, who faced Taichi for the NEVER Openweight Title.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-twitter wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"ja\" dir=\"ltr\">\u3010\u798f\u5ca1\uff12\u9023\u6226\u521d\u65e5\u7d42\u4e86\u3011\u672c\u65e5\u3082\u6ca2\u5c71\u306e\u304a\u5ba2\u69d8\u306b\u3054\u89b3\u6226\u3044\u305f\u3060\u304d\u8aa0\u306b\u3042\u308a\u304c\u3068\u3046\u3054\u3056\u3044\u307e\u3057\u305f\uff01 <br>\u660e\u65e5\u306f\u30b7\u30ea\u30fc\u30ba\u6700\u7d42\u6226\uff01\u798f\u5ca1\u56fd\u969b\u30bb\u30f3\u30bf\u30fc\u306b\u306615:00\u8a66\u5408\u958b\u59cb\u3067\u3059\u3002<br>\u5168\u5e2d\u5b8c\u58f2\u306e\u305f\u3081\u5f53\u65e5\u5238\u306e\u767a\u58f2\u306f\u3054\u3056\u3044\u307e\u305b\u3093\u3002\u300c\u65b0\u65e5\u672c\u30d7\u30ed\u30ec\u30b9\u30ef\u30fc\u30eb\u30c9\u300d\u300c\u30c6\u30ec\u671d\u30c1\u30e3\u30f3\u30cd\u30eb2\u300d\u306e\u751f\u4e2d\u7d99\u3082\u3054\u5229\u7528\u304f\u3060\u3055\u3044\u3002 <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/njpw?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#njpw<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/njdontaku?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#njdontaku<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/PBq2BvaKVR\">pic.twitter.com\/PBq2BvaKVR<\/a><\/p>&mdash; \u65b0\u65e5\u672c\u30d7\u30ed\u30ec\u30b9\u30ea\u30f3\u30b0\u682a\u5f0f\u4f1a\u793e\u55b6\u696d\u90e8 (@njpw_nyao) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/njpw_nyao\/status\/1124304399277350913?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 3, 2019<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The first night of Wrestling Dontaku featured the NEVER\nTitle match, and gave the Jr. Title the headline spot, which was a welcome\ndevelopment. Dragon Lee has always been a really good junior in New Japan, and\never since the tragic injury to Hiromu Takahashi at Dominion last year he has\nbeen on a tear, recently promising to keep hold of the belt that he won at MSG\nuntil Hiromu returns. Since Lee won the title in a triple threat match and\ndidn\u2019t pin the champion Ishimori this match was booked, and on the Road to\nWrestling Dontaku Ishimroi goaded Lee by stealing his mask. In response Lee\ncame out for the title match here wearing a mask of his former rival Kamaitachi\n\u2013 the name that Hiromu went by during his excursion in Mexico. Both men had the\nchance to show off their moves in this match \u2013 Ishimori put his speed to good\nuse and was able to counter Lee\u2019s power, including a beautiful crucifix bomb to\ncounter the Desnucadora. Ultimately Lee was able to overcome the Bone Soldier\nand put him away with a Desnucadora. After the match Lee cut a great babyface\npromo and shook hands with fans in the front row, including picking up some\nchildren to celebrate. This was probably my favourite junior title match of the\nyear, and I\u2019m glad that Dragon Lee is getting to have a run with the title. I\nexpect that he\u2019ll hold it until Hiromu returns after Best of the Super Juniors\nto set up a rematch between the two rivals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Unfortunately the main event of night two \u2013 the IWGP\nHeavyweight title match \u2013 came nowhere near to living up to night one. I am\nunsure how to feel about SANADA, because on the one hand I don\u2019t think he\u2019s\nterrible like some people do, and I want him to succeed. On the other hand,\nthis was probably the worst New Japan main event of 2019, and I would be happy\nnot to see Okada face SANADA for the rest of his title reign. The blame can\u2019t\nall be put on SANADA though, because Okada didn\u2019t do himself any favours with\nthe way that this match was laid out, and the booking gave me absolutely no\nreason to believe that this would end in anything but an Okada victory. The\nstructure of this match was my biggest complaint, because it started off so\nslowly that it made me think that they were going for a sixty minute draw. When\nthings did start to heat up it improved slightly, but then the finish just came\nout of nowhere, and one Rainmaker gave Okada the victory. I have complained in\nthe past about the New Japan fetish for finisher reversals, but the end of this\nmatch felt like it came completely out of the blue. This was essentially a\ntwenty minute match stretched into forty minutes, and for no discernible\nreason. Something also has to be said about SANADA\u2019s Skull End finisher, which\nis the worst looking dragon sleeper hold I have ever seen. At one point Okada\nliterally just slid his head out of SANADA\u2019s arm. For the love of all the\nwrestling gods SANADA please stop using that move.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The semi-main events on both shows ended up stealing both\nshows for me. On the first night Taichi defeated Jeff Cobb to become a two-time\nNEVER champion. I love Taichi\u2019s matches \u2013 perhaps because they depart from the\nusual New Japan formula \u2013 and to see him get the title back here was great.\nCobb looked strong in defeat, hitting some big suplexes and a top rope brainbuster.\nI like Cobb and hope he sticks around in New Japan after this tour. After the\nusual Taichi shenanigans involving Miho Abe and the other members of\nSuzuki-gun, Taichi got down to business kicking Cobb really hard, and locked in\nhis new submission the Holy Emperor\u2019s Crucifix Tomb. Finally a Black Mephisto\nsecured the win for Taichi, who celebrated in the ring with the entirety of\nSuzuki-gun. Taking the title off Cobb probably makes sense from a booking\nstandpoint if he\u2019s not going to be around full time, and hopefully this is the start\nof priming Taichi for his debut in the G1 Climax.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-twitter wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"ja\" dir=\"ltr\">\u30bf\u30a4\u30c1\u304a\u3081\u3067\u3068\u3046<br><br>\u3053\u308c\u306f\u30bf\u30ab\u30bf\u30a4\u30c1\u30de\u30cb\u30a2\uff12\u3067\u3042\u308b\u304b\uff01\uff1f<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/%E3%82%BF%E3%82%AB%E3%82%BF%E3%82%A4%E3%83%81?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#\u30bf\u30ab\u30bf\u30a4\u30c1<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/WPH41Mz1zu\">pic.twitter.com\/WPH41Mz1zu<\/a><\/p>&mdash; \uff34\uff21\uff2b\uff21\u307f\u3061\u306e\u304f (@takam777) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/takam777\/status\/1124288342193917952?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 3, 2019<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The semi-main event of night two between EVIL and Tomohiro\nIshii was one of the best New Japan matches of 2019, in contrast to the main\nevent that followed it. This was a non-title singles match, but EVIL and Ishii\nwent out and absolutely battered each other for just over twenty minutes. The\nlariat sequences in this match were particularly brutal, and there were a few\nbig top turnbuckle spots that looked painful. EVIL had a few near falls, but it\nwas Ishii who walked away with the win after an enziguri, sliding lariat, and\nthen finally a brainbuster. I was a bit surprised by this result, since I\nassumed that they might give EVIL a win to balance out SANADA\u2019s predicted loss\nin the main event, but following this match Taichi appeared to lay down a\nchallenge to Ishii for the NEVER Title so I guess they wanted to go down that\nroad instead. Ishii in the NEVER division a few years ago was great, and Taichi\nand Ishii\u2019s New Japan Cup match was very good, so I\u2019m looking forward to this\ndirection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The other big news coming out of Wrestling Dontaku came from\nvarious promos that laid the groundwork for Dominion. Tanahashi unexpectedly\ncame out on night two after surgery on his arm to announce that he would return\nto the ring at the Best of the Super Juniors Final on June 5<sup>th<\/sup>. His\npromo was interrupted by Jay White and Gedo, who argued that White was next in\nline for a title shot and attacked Tanahashi. Presumably we will be getting\nWhite vs. Tanahashi again at Dominion. After Okada\u2019s victory in the main event\nhe was in the middle of cutting a promo thanking the people of Fukuoka for\ncoming to the show, when the lights went dark and Chris Jericho appeared on\nscreen to challenge him to a title match at Dominion. An interesting move, but\nI suppose it makes sense since there is no immediate challenger for Okada.\nTetsuya Naito and Kota Ibushi confirmed that their Intercontinental Title match\nwill be at Dominion so they were out of the picture. I had mixed feelings about\nJericho\u2019s New Japan run, but it could be a fun match and it will probably be\ndifferent from the standard Okada title match. There\u2019s no way Okada will drop\nthe title to Jericho, but at least it\u2019s a big name title match for Dominion and\na new matchup.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-twitter wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Hiroshi Tanahashi returns on June 5th!!<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/njdontaku?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#njdontaku<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/njbosj?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#njbosj<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/njpw?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#njpw<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/njpwworld?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#njpwworld<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/tanahashi1_100?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@tanahashi1_100<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/3NmTPDn0zP\">pic.twitter.com\/3NmTPDn0zP<\/a><\/p>&mdash; njpwworld (@njpwworld) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/njpwworld\/status\/1124594797124046849?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 4, 2019<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">El Phantasmo also made his debut on night two of Wrestling Dontaku as part of Bullet Club, being confirmed as the X who will be taking part in Best of the Super Juniors. Phantasmo and Ishimori beat the team of Will Ospreay and Dragon Lee, with Phantasmo getting the pin over Ospreay to make him look strong in his debut. There was also a cryptic, and quite bizarre, promo video for a new challenger for Juice Robinson\u2019s US Title who will be debuting at the BOSJ Final. The video featured an unknown wrestler sitting at a bar who seems to be a British biker playing with a knife. Following the Switchblade promos at the end of 2017 with another knife based promo is an interesting choice. Rumours online suggest that this could be Chris Brookes or possibly Tomoyuki Oka returning with a new gimmick.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-twitter wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Last night, a strange video message played during <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/njdontaku?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#njdontaku<\/a> apparently targeted at IWGP US Champion Juice Robinson, with the message that &#39;Time&#39;s Up&#39; on June 5th. What could it all be about?<a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/1137nV0AP6\">https:\/\/t.co\/1137nV0AP6<\/a><\/p>&mdash; NJPW Global (@njpwglobal) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/njpwglobal\/status\/1124493884128735232?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 4, 2019<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Overall, Wrestling Dontaku featured two of the better shows that New Japan has put on this year. The Okada vs. SANADA main event was dire, but the other three big matches delivered, and honestly you could just stop watching after EVIL vs. Ishii. The undercard had some good matches too, particularly the Los Ingobernables de Japon vs. CHAOS multi-man tag matches. The Road to Wrestling Dontaku was expanded this year, and honestly it doesn\u2019t make for good viewing from home. I\u2019m sure New Japan is doing good business running house shows across Japan, and the attendance for Wrestling Dontaku was strong, but the undercard matches on the tour were incredibly repetitive. Just watching the two nights of Wrestling Dontaku without the Road to shows would have been a more enjoyable experience for the majority of fans abroad and watching online. The next tour is Best of the Super Juniors, which has a strong lineup and should be a good change of pace before Dominion at the start of June.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Night One: Ren Narita, Shota Umino &amp; Tomoaki Honma def. Toa Henare, Yota Tsuji &amp; Yuya Uemura El Desperado, Minoru Suzuki, TAKA Michinoku &amp; Yoshinobu Kanemaru def. Jyushin Thunder Liger, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":12422,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2,204,37,22],"tags":[371,44],"class_list":["post-12415","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-featured","category-njpw","category-njpw-reviews","category-reviews","tag-new-japan-pro-wrestling","tag-njpw"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9jnWd-3ef","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/D3myJwuUIAAnL5W.jpg?fit=600%2C400&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12415","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12415"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12415\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12428,"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12415\/revisions\/12428"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12422"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12415"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12415"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12415"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}