NJPW Road to Wrestling Dontaku Night 9: Review, Grades, and Analysis

The road to NJPW Wrestling Dontaku 2018 continues as Suzuki-gun defend their IWGP Jr. Tag Team championships against Hiromu Takhashi and BUSHI.

Everything is heading towards Kazuchika Okada vs. Hiroshi Tanhashi for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. But before we get there we have to see if LIJ can take the Jr. Tag Titles from Suzuki-gun.

Yota Tsuji vs. Yuya Uemura

This is a mostly standard fair young lion match. Yota Tsuji won after a few minutes with an armbar. Both guys are looking like they’re going to be good workers in a few years.

Result: Yota Tsuji

Rating: 2 out of 5 stars

Manabu Nakanishi, Yuji Nagata, & Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Ren Narita, Shota Umino, & Tomoyuki Oka

This was actually a very good match. All 3 young lions had a very good showing as the veterans decided to give them plenty of offence to make them look strong. Narita, Umino, and Oka are going to be very, very good when they finally move up the card. Nagata got the win with a crossface.

Result: Manabu Nakanishi, Yuji Nagata, & Hiroyoshi Tenzan

Rating: 2.75 out of 5 stars

Roppongi 3K (SHO, YOH, & Rocky Romero) (CHAOS) vs. Suzuki-gun (TAKA Michinoku, Taichi, Takashi Iizuka)

Taichi is the worst. I figured I’d start my review that way. Screw Taichi. RPG3K take it to Suzuki-gun in the early portions of this match, but before long, the action spilled to the outside of the ring. Taichi stole an umbrella from a fan and attacked YOH. Back in the ring, Taichi got the heat on Rocky Romero. Soon enough, it breaks down again and RPG 3K went for the 3K. Taichi cut them off, but Rocky was having none of that and hit a tope. Iizuka hit SHO with his metal claw weapon, and was DQ’d.

Result: Roppongi 3K via DQ

Rating: 1.5 stars out of 5