NJPW Kizuna Road 2018 Night 1: Results, Grades, and Analysis

A video aired showing all the participants in the G1 Climax. This is so exciting, because the G1 is my favourite time of the year for wrestling.

Los Ingobernables de Japon (BUSHI, EVIL, SANADA, Hiromu Takahashi, & Tetsuya Naito) vs. Suzuki-gun (Kanemaru, El Desperado, TAKA Michinoku, Taichi, & Iizuka)

Suzuki-gun attacked LIJ right away, and you’d think whoever is facing Suzuki-gun would get used to this. LIJ is crafty though, and soon BUSHI was hitting a sunset flip on Kanemaru, where he then leaned back, pulling Kanemaru right into a basement dropkick to the face by Naito. That was an awesome spot.

They got the heat on Naito for a little bit in this one, as Iizuka bit him, and Taichi tried to best him. Naito, however, being a thousand times the wrestler that Taichi is, wouldn’t stay down. He fought back and made the hot tag to SANADA. SANADA took everyone out, and locked the paradise lock on Kanemaru. After dropkicking Kanemaru in the rear, Taichi finally managed to get the advantage on SANADA for a little bit. He had it just long enough to remove his pants, to the horror of viewers everywhere.

Not long after, Hiromu and Desperado were tagged in, and they hit a ton of strikes, trying to best one another in a preview of their match coming the next night. Both men ran wild for a few minutes, ending with Hiromu and Despy both on the mat. Both men tagged out, and Taka and BUSHI entered the match. Not long after, BUSHI got the pinfall on Taka after an MX.

Result: LIJ

Rating: 3 stars out of 5

Really solid tag here that saw LIJ looking great, as they start to build up Naito’s momentum towards the G1.

After the match, Hiromu cut a promo on Despeardo that saw El Desperado try to attack him. Afterwards, Hiromu asked Naito to apologize to the Best of the Super Juniors Trophy that he broke with his rough handling. Naito bowed to the trophy before dropkicking it. I laughed so hard at this.