Csonka’s NJPW Wrestling Dontaku Day I Preview

WELCOME back to column time with Larry! Today, I am going to discuss and preview tonight’s NJPW Wrestling Dontaku Day I event. As always, I’ll be breaking the show down mach by match. Feel free to make your picks in the comment section. Thanks for reading! It’s wrestling, we love it and will disagree. The only rules are “have a take, be respectful, and don’t be a dick.”

– How we got here…

– NJPW Road to Wrestling Dontaku Review 4.13.18.
– NJPW Road to Wrestling Dontaku Review 4.14.18.
– NJPW Road to Wrestling Dontaku Review 4.23.18.
– NJPW Road to Wrestling Dontaku Review 4.24.18.
– NJPW Road to Wrestling Dontaku Review 4.27.18.
– NJPW Wrestling Hi No Kuni Review.

Chase Owens & Yujiro Takahashi vs. Yota Tsuji & Shota Umino: Chase Owens & Yujiro Takahashi are an overall solid Bullet Club “b-team” tag unit, usually putting on solid matches, but nothing special. But they take a lot of the falls when Bullet Club loses, so I see them winning here to give them some credibility back, while the lions put in a good effort. WINNERS: Chase Owens & Yujiro Takahashi

Ryusuke Taguchi, Jushin Liger, & Tiger Mask vs. Ren Narita, Tomoyuki Oka, & Yuji Nagata: Ryusuke Taguchi, Jushin Liger, & Tiger Mask always put in a fun performance in the undercard tags, and the crowds love them. Yagi & Oka will be working hard and looking to make Nagata proud, and that should lead to a good and fun match. With the set up being veterans vs. lions and one vet, the fun loving veterans should pickup the win here. WINNERS: Ryusuke Taguchi, Jushin Liger, & Tiger Mask

Iizuka, Lance Archer, & Davey Boy Smith vs. Sho, Yoh, & Rocky Romero: Sho, Yoh, & Rocky Romero haven’t had a lot of luck against Suzuki-gun, with some bad matches and 3K being completely put on the backburner. Plus Iizuka is here to keep his quota of suck intact. Hopefully this is better than I think it will be. I could see 3K winning by DQ, but with Suzuki-gun being all heavyweights facing off against juniors, I see them taking the win here. WINNERS: Iizuka, Lance Archer, & Davey Boy Smith

YOSHI-HASHI, Toru Yano, Tomohiro Ishii, Jay White, & Hirooki Goto vs. Toa Henare, Michael Elgin, Togi Makabe, David Finlay, & Juice Robinson: MORE HENARE VS. ISHII GOODNESS! For me, this continuing feud will be the highlight of this match as they are so good together. But there’s a lot of talent in this match and this should be the best match during the early part of this show, as we have several established feuds to play off of. I’d be shocked if this wasn’t, at the least, very good. They have been seemingly heating up Elgin as of late, and I can see him pinning Goto to earn a title shot at Dominion. Of course if they have a real hard on for Taichi challenging Goto, setting up Elgin with White also works. WINNERS: Toa Henare, Michael Elgin, Togi Makabe, David Finlay, & Juice Robinson

Champions Tanga Loa, Tama Tonga, & Bad Luck Fale vs. Marty Scurll & the Young Bucks: This is an interesting match, as it’s part of the Bullet Club civil war angle, and also because Tanga Loa, Tana Tonga, Bad Luck Fale, Kota Ibushi, & Kenny Omega vs. Cody, Adam page, Marty Scurll, & The Young Bucks is set for the next day. This should be one of the better trios title matches, they are all friends and will be working hard, plus the Bucks rarely disappoint. I really think that a title change here would be a great storytelling device as the line between Bullet Club would become even more unclear than before. WINNERS: Marty Scurll & the Young Bucks

Hiromu Takahashi, BUSHI, EVIL, SANADA, & Tetsuya Naito vs. Desperado, Kanemaru, Taichi, Zack Sabre Jr, & Minoru Suzuki: LIJ thoroughly owned Suzuki-gun at NJPW Wrestling Hi No Kuni, and while BUSHI & Takahashi aren’t junior tag champions, they did pick up wins over Desperado & Kanemaru. EVIL & SANADA defeated KES to retain their tag titles, and Naito surprisingly overcame Minoru Suzuki to win the IWGP IC Title. Naito finally gets some redemption after his WrestleKingdom loss and New Japan Cup failure, but with Zack Sabre Jr returning on this show, and being the only one from Suzuki-gun to pick up a win, I think that the path is clear. Sabre defeated Naito during the New Japan Cup, and he should pick up a win here to set him on a collision course with Naito for the title. WINNERS: Desperado, Kanemaru, Taichi, Zack Sabre Jr, & Minoru Suzuki

KUSHIDA & Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Will Ospreay & Kazuchika Okada: This is all about hyping the two big singles matches on Wrestling Dontaku Day II. They’ve done some nice work building to these singles matches, with KUSHIDA largely dominating the injured Ospreay, while Okada has felt disrespected in the fact that he has to face Tanahashi, and has really embraced his asshole side, which has been glorious. I don’t really expect them to go all out, but it should be a good and fun match as the final build to the title matches. KUSHIDA & Hiroshi Tanahashi picked up the win in the last version of this match, so the champions will likely win here. WINNERS: Will Ospreay & Kazuchika Okada

Cody vs. Kota Ibushi: It’s the rematch of the HANDSOM BATTLE from WrestleKingdom 12. While a silly name to be sure, they had a really great match back in January, and I hope that they can recreate that here. This is not so much about a rematch, because it’s more about Cody looking to fuck with Kenny Omega. Cody is coming off a big win over Omega at Supercard of Honor, and is looking for some revenge as he lost to Ibushi previously. Plus, if he wins and humiliates Ibushi, he continues to hurt Omega, which is his ultimate goal. Judging by their first match, this has high end potential. Ibushi always steps up in big matches, and with Cody getting the co-main event spot on a major show, he should be fired up to deliver here, and I think he’ll take the win in the rematch. WINNER: Cody

Kenny Omega vs. Adam Page: This is a continuation of Kenny & Cody’s issues, as Page has been on Cody’s side since day one. Both guys are coming off of losses at RPH Supercard of Honor, Kenny losing to Cody, and Page losing to Ibushi. Page has had a sneaky great 2018 as he continues to step up his game and has really started to improve as a singles, while still being great in multi-man tags along with the Bucks. I have repeatedly discussed how ROH & NJPW are both very high on Page, and the fact that he’s getting a main event on this show with Omega is proof of that. And with Omega, Page will have one of the best opponents possible to have a great match. Omega is a big match machine, and with this being a main event, you know he’s going to go all out here. With Page getting a huge break in this match, he’ll be more motivated than ever, and working with Omega, this has all the makings of a great match. I see Omega winning here to possibly set up a big rematch with Cody, possibly at Dominion. WINNER: Kenny Omega

JOIN 411 AT 4AM ET ON MAY 3RD FOR OUR LIVE COVERAGE OF THE SHOW!

– End Scene.

– Thanks for reading.

“Byyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyye Felicia!”