wrestling / TV Reports

Csonka’s NJPW Road to Wrestling Dontaku Review 4.17.15

April 17, 2015 | Posted by Larry Csonka
King NJPW’s NJPW Logo New Japan Pro Wrestling, Harold Meij, Giant Baba Image Credit: NJPW
6.1
The 411 Rating
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Csonka’s NJPW Road to Wrestling Dontaku Review 4.17.15  

Introduction
As a reminder, this will not be another traditional recap, but instead it will be a mash up of the Rs, Instant Analysis and my usual Twitter ramblings I would do during the shows; completely uncensored and as the ideas flow unfiltered to the old keyboard. Remember, this is a review; and I am here to review the show. As always, I encourage discussion and even disagreement, just do so in a respectful manner. I will be doing the review for Raw and most PPVs and iPPVs going forward.

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NJPW Road to Wrestling Dontaku 4.17.15

OFFICIAL RESULTS
* Tiger Mask IV defeated Sho Tanaka [**]
* Beretta & Rocky Romero defeated Yohei Komatsu & Mascara Dorada [***]
* Yuji Nagata & Ryusuke Taguchi defeated Captain New Japan & Manabu Nakanishi [*]
* Satoshi Kojima, Hiroyoshi Tenzan & KUSHIDA defeated Cody Hall, Yujiro Takahashi & Kenny Omega [**½]
* Karl Anderson & Doc Gallows defeated Tomoaki Honma & Tetsuya Naito [**¾]
* Kazuchika Okada & Gedo defeated Tama Tonga & Bad Luck Fale [**½]
* Kota Ibushi, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Hirooki Goto, Togi Makabe & Katsuyori Shibata defeated YOSHI-HASHI, Tomohiro Ishii, Shinsuke Nakamura, Toru Yano & Kazushi Sakuraba [***½]


Tiger Mask IV defeated Sho Tanaka: This was a pretty short, and overall rather bland match. There was nothing wrong with the work that they did, it was basic and clean; but it just did nothing to really interest me. Your opening match either needs to be a match that excites through the work in the ring or you have to be really invested in the competitors so that even if the work lacks, you give a shit. Tanaka is perfectly fine, but no one cares about Tiger Mask (Version Really Bad). Tiger mask scored the win with the tiger driver to close out the white bread opener.

Roppongi Vice (Beretta & Rocky Romero) defeated Yohei Komatsu & Mascara Dorada: This match was better, Roppongi Vice have been great as a tag thus far and Romero looks re-energized working with Beretta. This match had a nice flow, they got the heat on Komatsu (who did some really nice things and I continue to enjoy his evolution) and then Dorada got to, for lack of a better term, get his shit in, but he does it well. For selfish reasons I want Dorada to stick around NJPW longer than his one year, I enjoy his work and he has been a great addition. Roppongi Vice scored the win with the dropkick/Omori driver combo. That was nice work by all involved, not a great match but a clean and fun tag team match and perfect for its place on the card.

Yuji Nagata & Ryusuke Taguchi defeated Captain New Japan & Manabu Nakanishi: I tend to have a soft spot in my heart for old Captain New Japan, I like his wackiness in the confines of a regular tag match. But add him in here with Taguchi’s comedy as ass based offense, and it becomes too much for me. The only thing I liked here was the action between Nakanishi and Nagata; but the rest for completely forgettable and sometimes bad. Moving on.

Satoshi Kojima, Hiroyoshi Tenzan & KUSHIDA defeated Cody Hall, Yujiro Takahashi & Kenny Omega: This was better. The Bullet Club tried to get the unfair advantage early, but they got stopped and Kojima and Tenzan controlled things. Watching Kojima machinegun chop Cody Hall was a great sight. Hall continues to have good night and bad nights; he had size and carries himself well but will have to really lock in on his ring work to succeed. KUSHIDA took out Omega late, which led to Hall eating a lariat from Kojima to end things. This was a solid and perfectly acceptable mid-card tag team match. Captain New Japan and Satoshi Kojima face Cody Hall and Yujiro Takahashi on the Wrestling HINOKUNI event on the 29th, so I get to see Kojima abusing Cody with chops again. I also liked KUSHIDA taking out Omega, as his partner (Alex Shelley) is facing Omega on the May 3rd Wrestling Dontaku event.

Karl Anderson & Doc Gallows defeated Tomoaki Honma & Tetsuya Naito: I liked this match a little more than the previous one, due to having a better flow and the fact that the crowd felt more invested. Bullet Club got the heat on Honma, but he and Naito then made their comeback. All seemed to be going the way of our heroes, until Gallows took out Naito and Anderson countered the Kokeski with the stun gun. The magic killer finished things off to give the former IWGP tag team champions the victory. Alex Shelley, Tomoaki Honma and Tetsuya Naito vs. Kenny Omega, Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson is set for the Wrestling HINOKUNI event on the 29th, so this was a partial preview for that.

Kazuchika Okada & Gedo defeated Tama Tonga & Bad Luck Fale: To me this match was all about Kazuchika Okada and his continued road to redemption. He scored a win over Fale and then took out Styles as he celebrated at the Invasion event, and now he is back, better than ever, showing supreme confidence and destroying fools with the RAINMAKER. This was another fine mid-card tag; YOSHI-HASHI and Kazuchika Okada vs. Tama Tonga and Bad Luck Fale is set for the Wrestling HINOKUNI event on the 29th, so again, this was a partial preview.

Kota Ibushi, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Hirooki Goto, Togi Makabe & Katsuyori Shibata defeated YOSHI-HASHI, Tomohiro Ishii, Shinsuke Nakamura, Toru Yano & Kazushi Sakuraba: This match also had some implications on the May 3rd Wrestling Dontaku event and is also an all star main event. They worked in some stuff between YANO and Tanahashi, but the main focus to me was on Goto and Nakamura as well as Ishii and Makabe. And that was the right call since they are in upcoming title matches (on the 29th and 3rd) and are the main events. This was the best match on the card, although there was nothing overly great on the card. Kota Ibushi scored the win here (a rehab pin following his loss to Styles) hitting the phoenix splash on HASHI. That was a fun main event, with the right amount of interaction between the right parties.

* End scene.

* Thanks for reading.

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“Byyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyye Felicia!”

6.1
The final score: review Average
The 411
Like most of the “Road to” events, this was a fine little show. They did some serviceable building to and previewing of matches to come on the Wrestling HINOKUNI & Wrestling Dontaku events, there was only one match I did not enjoy and the main event had a fun vibe to it. I’d like to see them mix these cards up a bit, maybe another single match with a young lion and perhaps a tag main event with elimination rules every now an then, but the event was enjoyable. I’d call it an average show overall, but if you have New Japan World and some time to kill, it’s worth (at the very least) cherry picking a few matches for fun.
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