NJPW Wrestling Dontaku results: SANADA challenges Okada & more

The Road to Wrestling Dontaku has been long and winding with the final night of action hanging out on the horizon for weeks. At Saturday’s NJPW Wrestling Dontaku, Kazuchika Okada finally squared off with SANADA in the much-anticipated IWGP Heavyweight Title match.

Throughout the entire tour leading up to NJPW Wrestling Dontaku, we’ve seen every championship in New Japan defended. Adding to the fun, we’ve seen some rivalries reborn and reignited between Jushin Thunder Liger and Minoru Suzuki, as well as Tomohiro Ishii and EVIL.

Did I know how much I needed to see big boys Ishii and EVIL clobber each other for a couple of weeks straight? No, I did not – but now I know that I’ve always needed it and that I was a fool for never really considering it in the past.

The final night of NJPW Wrestling Dontaku featured some key pieces of action. Starting at the top, Okada defended the IWGP Heavyweight Title against SANADA in The Rainmaker’s first defense since winning the championship in MSG. Okada made a promise to make SANADA his first challenger after winning the New Japan Cup and that came to fruition in Fukuoka.

In the semi-main event, Ishii and EVIL locked horns in a battle for nothing more than pride and to win the prize in my heart of Best New Japan Big Boy. That’s not an official title just yet – I’ve yet to get confirmation from the IWGP committee, so it may be a while before New Japan recognizes it on air.

During the New Japan Cup, vignettes aired for the impending debut of El Phantasmo as the newest member of Bullet Club. Perhaps the worst-kept secret on the card was the first in-ring appearance of ELP as the partner of Taiji Ishimori. Billed simply as “X” leading up to the card to build intrigue to the “mystery” partner, ELP’s performance has immediately breathed new life into the juniors division.

Let’s break down the highlights from NJPW Wrestling Dontaku night two and what they hold for the summer in New Japan!

From (Young Lion) Boys To (Young Lion) Men

Shota Umino & Ren Narita vs Yuyu Uemura & Yota Tsuji

As expected, the show kicked off with the usual Young Lion fare as Yuyu Uemura and Yota Tsuji took on the seasoned rookies Shota Umino and Ren Narita. Narita, sporting tape on his shoulder, was fired up as he worked through a sprain suffered earlier in the tour. On commentary, Chris Charlton noted that Narita had given himself a deadline of “the end of the Best of the Super Juniors” to make something big happen for himself.

Shota and Narita are clearly the two standouts of the current Young Lion class. Tsuji is a firm third-place Young Lion for me with Uemura bringing up the rear. Something about Tsuji’s look and intensity really put him on another level, but we could always see Uemura break out of his shell as he continues to develop.

Shota picked up the win for his team which wasn’t a huge surprise, but it was notable that Narita returned to the ring post-match to deliver a flurry of stomps to Uemura. Could Narita’s plan to make a name for himself come at the expense of another Young Lion in the coming months?

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.

Liger Outshines The Bullet Club Birthday Bash

Jushin Thunder Liger, Toru Yano, & Togi Makabe vs Guerrillas of Destiny & Jado

Night 2 of NJPW Wrestling Dontaku marked the start of Bullet Club’s seventh year in New Japan. Unfortunately, almost nobody in Bullet Club got anything they wanted this year except for some new kimonos. If the Cutthroat Era is actually about comfort and fine fabrics, I may be on board after all and will take back everything I said about Jay White’s bad beard.

Starting things off, Jushin Liger refused the handshake of Jado who then tried to force a handshake with the referee to show that he really is a nice guy. The referee wisely wanted none of it either. Eventually, Jado did coax a handshake out of the World Legend and even raised his hand to the confusion of Liger and delight of the crowd before GoD jumped him from behind. Shady tactics from Bullet Club?! Unbelievable!

Keeping the Guerrillas of Destiny strong but giving Toru Yano and Togi Makabe some redemption after their failed attempt at capturing the IWGP Tag Team Titles, Yano picked up the win for his team with a roll-up following a low blow on Jado. Whether or not this leads to more action between YTR & Makabe/GoD remains to be seen, but I’m hoping we’ll see some new faces pop up in the tag division more than rehashed rematches run on a loop.

Someone Is Coming To Stab Juice Robinson

Juice Robinson, Hirooki Goto, Mikey Nicholls & Tomoaki Honma vs Jay White, Bad Luck Fale, Chase Owens & Hikuleo

Earlier in the tour, Juice Robinson successfully defended his IWGP US Title against Bad Luck Fale. It was, dare I say, a super fun match telling a simple and enjoyable story which is something I never thought I’d say about a Fale match. Despite Juice’s claim of being finished with Bullet Club, here we are.

For the fifth match in a row on their birthday weekend, Bullet Club came up short giving them an 0-5 record over the NJPW Wrestling Dontaku doubleheader. In this case, it was the rookie Hikuleo falling to Juice via the Left Hand of God and Pulp Friction.

There was a bit of action between Hirooki Goto and Jay White here stemming from their singles bout on the tour, but White’s actions later in the night would reveal that he has no plans for the Fierce Warrior in his immediate future.

The real story here was, once again, what happened post-match. For the second night in a row, the “Time’s Up” video aired calling out Juice Robinson with a date of June 5 locked down. In the video, a mysterious individual is seen drinking at a bar and carving a rudimentary hourglass in the bar top with a gnarly knife.

Who could be hot on the heels of Juice as the summer approaches? June 5 marks the final night of the Best of the Super Juniors and is just four days ahead of Dominion, so whoever this person is may have plans to make waves as early as the June 9 event in Osaka.

El Phantasmo Is The Junior Heavyweight Division Reborn

Taiji Ishimori & El Phantasmo vs Dragon Lee & Will Ospreay

For weeks, the not-so-secret “X” was billed as the partner for Taiji Ishimori at NJPW Wrestling Dontaku. To the surprise of nobody, “X” wound up being El Phantasmo making his New Japan and Bullet Club debut against a pair of former IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champions.

This was my first time seeing ELP in action and the first thing you’ve got to notice about him is that he is ridiculously fast! He and Ospreay had an exchange at the start of the match that was “blink and you’ll miss it” fast, highlighting the fact that both men are formidable members of the Junior Heavyweight division.

Breaking the Birthday Curse of Bullet Club, ELP and Ishimori finally pulled out a win for their group in the final BC match of the tour. Countering the Oscutter with a superkick to the back of the head, El Phantasmo followed up with a spinning TKO neckbreaker and an arm-trap front-face piledriver to put the former NEVER Openweight Champion to rest.

Despite the loss, Ospreay has proven that he’s able to cross between the Heavyweight and Junior Heavyweight divisions with ease. After some great battles with large opponents like Lance Archer and Jeff Cobb, Ospreay seamlessly transitioned back into Junior form here in a match highlighting 4 of the 20 men competing in this year’s Best of the Super Juniors.

In a fun Bullet Club sidenote, Taiji Ishimori debuted as Bone Soldier Reborn one year ago at 2018’s NJPW Wrestling Dontaku event. Ishimori took the Junior Heavyweight division by storm and quickly made himself the man to beat. Could El Phantasmo have the same fate debuting exactly one year after Ishimori at the very same event?

For New Japan’s somewhat waning Junior Heavyweight division, this match was a breath of fresh air and a perfect preview of things to come with BOSJ. ELP brings a style all his own to the division and could be the one to watch as the brackets unfold starting on May 13.

Hunksquad 3K Versus LIJ Is New Japan’s Summer Story

Kota Ibushi & Roppongi 3K vs Tetsuya Naito, Shingo Takagi & BUSHI

Has there ever been a trio with “teen heartthrobs” written all over them like Ibushi, SHO, and YOH? Could that concept have been spurned on any further than with Rocky Romero’s casual mention of a “Roppongi Three Way” on commentary? Rocky may be setting a thirst trap he’s not quite ready to handle.

Nonetheless, this match served as a preview of everything to come over the next month or so. RPG3K, Shingo, and BUSHI are all slated for the BOSJ kicking off in a little over the week and the rivalry between SHO and Shingo specifically hasn’t mellowed out at all following the successful defense of the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Titles by SHO & YOH.

With a Destino on YOH (a DestinYOH?), Naito picked up the win for his trio with the big news coming after the match. Naito has made it clear that he wanted nothing more than another shot at the IC Title around Ibushi’s waist, and while I’m not always a fan of the sometimes repetitive rematches in New Japan, nobody can deny that the match will be off the charts.

With a simple challenge laid out by the leader of Los Ingobernables de Japon, the match was set – Ibushi will defend the IC Title against Naito on June 9 at Dominion in Osaka. Naito is on a quest to become the first man to ever hold the IC and Heavyweight Titles at the same time and with the G1 coming in July, this would be his first step toward realizing that goal.

On the other side of the fence, Shingo continued to look like an absolute beast here. His lariats are truly insane and he looked as comfortable slugging it out with SHO and YOH as he did with Ibushi. Shingo, like Will Ospreay, is one of those truly transcendent wrestlers who could easily bridge the gap between Junior Heavyweight and Heavyweight.

Shingo heads into the BOSJ still undefeated in New Japan. He’s going to not only be the most targeted wrestler in the tournament but also one of the most popular picks to take the whole thing.

Oh, and BUSHI was here too.

Hiroshi Tanahashi Sets His Return Date… And Jay White Can’t Stand It

Tanahashi hasn’t been seen since his loss to Zack Sabre Jr at G1 Supercard last month. Suffering an aggravation of an elbow injury, The Ace of the Universe was set on the sidelines and pegged for surgery.

In keeping with the tradition of big names returning at these events, Tanahashi surprised the crowd by gracing them (and us) all with his presence. I’ll be honest, my heart sank a little bit as he took his first steps back into the ring. The Ace looked sad and I started playing all of the negative scenarios out in my head of what he was about to drop on everybody.

Thankfully, through a goofy little pantomime, Tanahashi revealed that he’d be back on June 5 on the final night of the Best of the Super Juniors tournament! I may or may not have played air guitar in my living room at 3 AM to celebrate. The world will never know.

Not to be outshined, Jay White made his way to the ring and served the tea straight to Tanahashi. Switchblade let Tanahashi know that the line for an IWGP Heavyweight Title shot started with White and Tanahashi was way at the back, “even behind Goto.” Ouch.

Not content to hurl terrible insults at Tanahashi, White jumped the Ace and left him laying at ringside before exiting with Gedo by his side. While it’s unsure what exactly Tanahashi will be doing on June 5, it’s obvious that Jay White isn’t finished proving that his Cutthroat Era will spell the demise of Hiroshi Tanahashi.

Another Day, Another Ishii Match Of The Year Candidate

Tomohiro Ishii vs EVIL

When this match first popped up on the NJPW Wrestling Dontaku card I really didn’t give it a second thought. Yes, I knew it would be a solid match. Ishii has proven to be one of the most reliable wrestlers on the New Japan roster and EVIL is every bit as under-appreciated as Ishii is good.

During the Road To tour, though, these two turned up the intensity on one another seemingly out of nowhere and for no reason other than wanting to smash their bodies against one another until only one of them remained. It’s what New Japan does best – simple storytelling without a whole bunch of extra nonsense.

Throughout the tour, EVIL has made a point of using the Scorpion Death Lock of Ishii’s mentor Riki Choshu to add a more personal touch to the rivalry. On night one of NJPW Wrestling Dontaku, EVIL picked up the win over Ishii in a tag contest via referee stoppage when Ishii couldn’t break the submission.

The second night of action between these two perfect meatballs was a very different story.

Starting off, referee Red Shoes proved to be the analog of everybody watching in the arena at home. As Ishii and EVIL battered one another with near-endless forearms and shoulder blocks to start the match, he lost his mind behind them trying to figure out how long the two could actually keep going.

Later in the match, harkening back to the Choshu connection, Ishii able to not only survive EVIL’s version of the Scorpion Death Lock but come back with one of his own. It wasn’t enough to put the King of Darkness away, but it made a statement all its own – this was a different Ishii than was seen the night before and he wasn’t taking any more of EVIL’s nonsense.

There was so much action in this one, especially at the end, that words typed out simply can’t do it justice. The near falls were off the charts, EVIL kicking out of a thunderous Ishii lariat at one was completely bonkers, and the stiffness of the entire bout was next level. It’s worth going out of your way to watch (and then rewatch, and rewatch again).

In the end, EVIL would fall victim to the Ishii standby: the brainbuster. Dropping EVIL on his head, Ishii would finally capture the victory in what is absolutely a Match of the Year candidate. I feel like I say that after almost every big Ishii match, but it never stops being true.

If Ishii doesn’t get a run with the IWGP Heavyweight Title before he finally hangs it up, it’ll be one of the greatest injustices ever served in professional wrestling.

SANADA Comes Close But Can’t Shut The Door On Kazuchika Okada

IWGP Heavyweight Title: Kazuchika Okada (c) vs SANADA

I make no secret of the fact that I’m a SANADA lifer. In a landscape where there are incredible talents up and down the entire New Japan roster, SANADA stands out as one of the most dynamic personalities in his calm coolness while dishing out star-making performances. As the finals of the New Japan Cup came to light, he was my hope to take the win and move onto MSG against Jay White.

Unfortunately for Cold Skull, Okada came up victorious in the Cup extending his streak against SANADA to 5-0. As we know, Okada was successful against Jay White at G1 Supercard but before he regained his IWGP Heavyweight Title he made a simple promise: if he won the title, he would make his first defense against SANADA.

And so we arrived at NJPW Wrestling Dontaku. We also arrived at a brand new look for SANADA, finally seeing him trim that godawful beard and sporting some new gear. Could new pants be the secret to unseating Okada?

Starting things off slowly, SANADA and Okada came to standoff exhibiting the fact that they are so equally matched across so many levels. Similar in size, both men are unafraid of taking to the air to mix high-flying with their power and mat games. Okada eventually slowed things down to settle into his familiar big-match pace.

SANADA was able to shine throughout the match as he eventually locked Okada in the dreaded Paradise Lock on his third attempt. A moral victory capped with a dropkick to the butt, SANADA used the swell in confidence to begin to control the champion.

Around the 25 minute mark, SANADA locked in the Skull End and Okada began to show signs of fading. The Rainmaker wouldn’t slip away just yet, though SANADA kept up the pressure. In a fun spot mirroring EVIL’s match with Ishii, SANADA hung Okada’s feet on the top rope and drove him to the mat with a swinging neckbreaker. Even when competing in different matches, the synergy between LIJ members is unmatched.

The last ten minutes or so of the match would see SANADA and Okada coming close to putting the nail in the coffin for one another. SANADA repeatedly locked in the Skull End draining the life out of Okada but left himself open to mistakes. When attempting the Mutoh-inspired moonsault, SANADA landed on his feet and felt his right knee buckle under the impact.

On another attempt of the moonsault, Okada got the knees up and used the time to recover a bit of energy. Still, though, SANADA rallied and made a case for himself as the main event player we all know he deserves to be.

At 35 minutes, SANADA leveled Okada with his own version of the Rainmaker (Skullmaker?) but it wasn’t enough to keep the champion on his back. Once again looking for the Skull End, SANADA attempted to get into position via Shiranui but was countered by Okada into a tombstone.

The tombstone was a major player in this match as both men repeatedly looked for the move throughout the match, but here Okada was finally able to spike SANADA before connecting with a decisive Rainmaker for the bittersweet victory.

SANADA is now 0-6 against Okada in singles encounters but has more than showed his worth as a main event wrestler in New Japan. I don’t know if any doubters still existed out there, but anybody on the fence with SANADA can’t possibly be wavering at this point.

Post-match, Okada looked for a handshake from SANADA to show his respect to his challenger. Cold Skull gave him about a half handshake before fist bumping Okada and exiting the ring.

Okada has now officially broken the Zero Defense streak set by Tanahashi and White, but who is next on the Rainmaker’s calendar?

Chris Jericho Returns to New Japan

As Okada celebrated in the ring after his war with SANADA, the lights in the arena dropped out and a video began to play on the video wall. Unlike the video calling out Juice Robinson, the mystery of this individual was answered almost immediately.

Showing, yet again, that you never really know when or where he’ll show up, Chris Jericho appeared on the video wall surrounded by dolls and clowns. Jericho referred to himself as “The Painmaker” and made his intentions very clear: he wanted the IWGP Heavyweight Title.

Jericho went so far as to issue a challenge for a specific date – June 9 in Osaka at Dominion. This seemed less like a challenge and more like a demand and will pair nicely with the Intercontinental Title Match set earlier into the show between champion Kota Ibushi and challenger Tetsuya Naito.

While it was already public knowledge that both Jericho and Kenny Omega were able to work in New Japan despite their status in AEW, it’s a bit of a surprise to see one of them show up so quickly after Double Or Nothing goes down on May 25. Will Jericho be the one to knock Okada from his perch and bring the IWGP Heavyweight Title to All Elite Wrestling?

What’s Next For New Japan?

In just over a week, the 26th Best of the Super Juniors will kick off in Miyagi. This year’s tournament features two brackets of ten wrestlers with the finals taking place in Tokyo’s Ryogoku Sumo Hall on June 5. The brackets are set to be revealed this week so we can finally see which dream matches are on tap over the next month.

Hiroshi Tanahashi will return on June 5 as well and the smart money has him looking for revenge on Jay White for his attack at NJPW Wrestling Dontaku. Could Tanahashi also be on the lookout for the man who put him on the shelf, Zack Sabre Jr?

Finally, as mentioned above, Dominion is already shaping up with both the IWGP Heavyweight and Intercontinental Titles set to be defended. Can Naito take the first step toward realizing his double-title dreams, or will Ibushi continue to try and raise the value of the IC Title as we head toward the G1?

The biggest event of the summer, G1 Climax 29, kicks off in July leaving some breathing room between it and the end of the BOSJ. The names for the G1 have yet to be announced but with the winner heading onto the first ever two-night Wrestle Kingdom the stakes have never been higher.