Pantoja’s NJPW Road To Wrestling Dontaku 5.1.23 Review

NJPW Road to Wrestling Dontaku

May 1^st, 2023 | Beppu B-Con Plaza in Beppu, Oita

This is one of the lesser looking shows on this tour available on NJPW World since there aren’t any key title matches or anything like that. Hopefully we still get an enjoyable night of wrestling though.

Hiroshi Tanahashi opened the show with a promo though I’m not sure what he said. He then joined commentary.

Boltin Oleg vs. Oskar Leube

The Young Lions going at it. This crop hasn’t been the most impressive to me but this was a solid way to start the show. They did the typical Young Lion stuff with lots of energy, hard hitting strikes, and no fancy moves. It’s wild how these guys can always make 10 minutes entertaining without doing anything that stands out in terms of memorable offense or anything like that. I don’t have much else to say because you know what you get here. Oleg looked a bit more impressive and had Leube locked in the Boston Crab as time expired at the 10 minute mark. Post-match, Leube slapped away a handshake attempt. [**½]

Bishamon, Toru Yano and YOH vs. Dick Togo, EVIL, SHO and Yujiro Takahashi

The House of Torture had the nerve to stick their noses in the Tag Title scene after it finally became good in 2023. They had one of their usual matches that involved mindless brawling, cheap tactics, and fighting outside. YOH got isolated for a bit when the heels took over and then the same happened to YOSHI-HASHI. He’s one of this company’s best at doing that. Yano also got beat up a bit before using his turnbuckle and low blow spot to steal this in 7:25. This was a match that happened. [*¾]

Aaron Henare and Catch 22 vs. The Intergalactic Jet Setters and Ryohei Oiwa

They basically ran this the other night but with Honma instead of Oiwa. That also pretty much guaranteed that the outcome would be the same but Oiwa brought more fire than Honma. The interactions between the Jet Setters and Catch 22 remain entertaining. I’m down for a rematch at some point soon. Knight got a good run and I’m intrigued to see how his singles run in this upcoming BOSJ compares to last year given that he’s been working closely with KUSHIDA a lot and likely learned a fair bit. In the end, it was the expected finish where Henare beat Oiwa with the full nelson in 10:46. That was solid pro wrestling and about what I thought it would be. [***]

Aussie Open, The Great-O-Khan and Jeff Cobb vs. Kosei Fujita, TMDK and Zack Sack Sabre Jr.

Mikey Nicholls looks like the love child of Roderick Strong and Nick Aldis. This was another match that they ran recently and again, it did what it needed to. Aussie Open and TMDK continue to have strong chemistry, the previews for Cobb/ZSJ mostly delivered, O-Khan was fun, and Fujita impressed again. That’s all I can ask for here. Cobb picking up both TMDK members made for a cool spot too. Down the stretch, things broke down before O-Khan used the Sheep Killer to beat Fujita in 11:38. Again, not much to discuss here but this was what it needed to be. Post-match, Bishamon came out to confront Aussie Open but then the House of Torture attacked to set this all up. [***]

David Finlay, Gedo, KENTA and Taiji Ishimori vs. Hikuelo, Jado, Master Wato and Tama Tonga

Not this match again. The Tama/Finlay opening exchange was intense and the kind of thing I wanted from this. When Jado got isolated again like in most of these matches, this was far less interesting, especially since the Bullet Club on offense just means lots of trash talk and underhanded tactics. Hikuleo got the hot tag and did his thing for a bit. Master Wato became legal and used the Vendeval submission to make Gedo tap in 8:38. After the match, the Bullet Club beat down the faces as KENTA and Finlay posed with the Strong Openweight and NEVER Titles. This was another match in this series that hasn’t impressed. [**]

El Desperado, Minoru Suzuki, Ren Narita & Yuto Nakashima vs. Great Bash Heel, Kazuchika Okada, & Tomohiro Ishii

Again, this match was right up my alley. I’m loving Okada just going at it with Narita or shit like Suzuki randomly talking trash to Tanahashi as he beat up Makabe outside. The real kicker was the Desperado/Ishii exchanges. They’re two of the best  in the company and they just go toe-to-toe with stiff strikes. It was perfect because it previewed their actions without giving away too much. They haven’t had a singles match since the 2020 New Japan Cup. Ishii got beat up by the NEVER Champions for a bit before his teammates helped him out. That left Ishii with Nakashima, who did his best to survive a Boston Crab but once Ishii leaned back, he was done and had to tap at the 12:40 mark. The best thing on the show so far and another fun tag between these guys. [***¼]

I’ve been wondering who Okada and Ishii would team with against the NEVER Champs and Tanahashi entered the ring after the match to seemingly be their partner. That match sounds awesome.

BUSHI and Shingo Takagi vs. DOUKI and Taichi

Because 44 minutes of Shingo vs. Taichi wasn’t enough. They continued their feud here even though it doesn’t need to, while DOUKI and BUSHI kind of handled the bulk. It makes sense given how tired the heavyweights must be. Plus, it helps preview the BOSJ. DOUKI and BUSHI did well enough but neither guy has ever consistently lit up the division. The closing stretch here was probably the best part, with the Just 5 Guys duo (that’s weird to say) picking up win as they had dueling submissions locked in, with BUSHI tapping to the Stretch Plum in 9:01. So many submissions on this show. This was solid again. [***]

Hiromu Takahashi and Tetsuya Naito vs. SANADA and Yoshinobu Kanemaru

Naito took his time going from wearing his entrance suit to his in-ring gear. Early on, Kanemaru was knocked outside, leaving SANADA at the mercy of his former stablemates for a bit of revenge. Of course, Just 5 Guys turned the tide and took control for a while, isolating Naito. It’s refreshing to see Naito take the heat to set up Hiromu as the hot tag guy ahead of his impending title shot. They actually did two heat segments on Naito, including the second one involving him being stuck in the Figure Four for a while. He survived, Hiromu came back in, and they started working over Kanemaru, who then fell to Destino after 17:24. That was yet another case of a good match and nothing more. It gave me some Hiromu/SANADA that was pretty good and I hope that match will deliver. [***]

6.0

The final score: review Average

The 411

The average, run of the mill “Road to” show we’ve all come to expect. The Wednesday 5/3 show looks like it can be the best of this batch so I’m looking forward to that and this was an inoffensive way to spend two hours.