NJPW Wrestling Dontaku results: SANADA challenges Okada & more
The Holy Emperor Has Reached Another Level
Ryusuke Taguchi, Tiger Mask, YOSHI-HASHI, Jeff Cobb & Toa Henare vs Minoru Suzuki, Taichi, TAKA Michinoku, El Desperado & Yoshinobu Kanemaru
Color me surprised that Taichi defeated Jeff Cobb for the NEVER Openweight Title. I didn’t see that one coming at all and, honestly, I’m more than disappointed that Cobb’s reign was so short-lived. I was hoping to see him built as a force in New Japan leading to a strong G1 run, so who knows what the future holds for Gachimuchi at this point.
In one of the biggest shocks of the night, the Suzuki-gun team decided to not attack their opponents before the bell and allow the match to start without incident! With the show starting at 1 AM local time, I had to pinch myself to make sure I wasn’t having some kind of bizarre dream about the most unrealistic scenarios in pro-wrestling.
Proving that all people truly do love YOSHI-HASHI and want him to succeed, Taguchi presented The Head Hunter with his scrum helmet. YOSHI-HASHI’s butt was now the official Funky Weapon of the contest. Unfortunately, Taguchi found himself whipped into YOSHI-HASHI’s humps. To add to the trauma, our brave boy was choked out by Minoru Suzuki but he did look like a real pro in that helmet.
Toa Henare told the story here of wanting to get the victory on Taichi to earn himself a future shot at the NEVER Openweight Title. Unfortunately for Toa, Taichi has apparently turned himself up to Ishii Gear since the tremendous Taichi/Ishii match in the New Japan Cup and could not be stopped.
With a swift superkick to Toa, Taichi picked up the win for the Suzuki-gun squad. There wasn’t much of note here other than Taichi getting a solid win for his unit as he begins his second reign with the NEVER Openweight Title.