Kevin’s NJPW Kizuna Road Night Eleven Review

NJPW Kizuna Road Night Eleven

July 1st, 2021 | Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan

I haven’t been able to cover many of these Kizuna Road shows but I chose this one because I like a string of singles matches, especially when it involves the New Japan Dads. Puts me in a G1 mood.

DOUKI, El Desperado and Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. El Phantasmo, Jado and Taiji Ishimori

Here’s our way to help preview the Jr. Heavyweight Title match down the line between Ishimori and Desperado. They were the focal point but usually these matches benefit from the other guys putting in the effort. DOUKI had energy but ELP didn’t seem to care, while Kanemaru never does and Jado is awful. It made for a mediocre at best match that was really only working when the top two guys were involved in some manner. In the end, Ishimori put down DOUKI with Bloody Cross in 10:22 to gain momentum ahead of the title match. It happened and was totally forgettable but inoffensive. [**]

BUSHI, SANADA and Tetsuya Naito vs. The Dangerous Tekkers and Minoru Suzuki

I really like both of these trios actually. We’re here to preview the Tag Title match I’m excited about (something I never thought I’d say about New Japan) pitting Sabre Jr. & Taichi against SANADA and Naito. The focus on those teams was a ton of fun but unlike the last match, the other guys here did their thing. Suzuki took joy in kicking the ass of the junior heavyweight BUSHI, who took a good beating. The duos worked well together, especially the champions. The best part of this match was the finish, which saw Naito and SANADA get held back and stopped as BUSHI was forced to submit to the Stretch Plum in 12:24. Quality action that has me pumped for the title match. That means it did its job. [***]

Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. YOSHI-HASHI

I love this idea of three singles matches to preview tomorrow’s NEVER Trios Title contest. I’d like if they did this more often, especially with the current champs. Don’t do it when like, the Guerrillas and EVIL are challenging or something like that. Their only prior meeting came in last year’s New Japan Cup, which Tacos winning (**). This was handled the way it should have been. Just two guys who are solid wrestlers having a solid match. At times it was hard hitting but at others, you could see Tenzan’s age shine through. It made sense within the match too because he kept going for the Anaconda Vice. It’s like he knew he couldn’t wrestle for long, so he wanted to keep it grounded and win quickly. Alas, he didn’t have quite enough and YOSHI-HASHI made him tap to the Butterfly Hold after 14:30. That ended at the right time, not going too long and telling a fine story. [***]

Hirooki Goto vs. Satoshi Kojima

Goto leads all-time 3-2 but I’ve only seen a few of their matches. I saw the G1 23 (***¾) and the G1 25 (***½). This got off to a slow start as they tried to feel one another out. They picked things up a bit with some exchanges outside before Goto focused on the arm in the ring. Kojima rallied with some stiff shots and might’ve won by countout but he didn’t want it that way. He rolled Goto back inside and attempted some lariats but it seemed like he would fall into the same trouble that Tenzan did. His younger opponent could outlast him, especially as the runtime got up there. They went into a series of counters and kick outs before a good old fashioned Cozy lariat put Goto down in 15:11. Some good back and forth between two guys who had strong chemistry together. Kojima can still go. [***½]

Tomohiro Ishii vs. Yuji Nagata

These guys have a long history, meeting 10 times in NJPW. I’ve seen it in the G1 24 (****¼), G1 25 (****), G1 27 (****¼), and New Japan Cup 2019 (****). Basically, you know what you’re going to get from these two. They’re going to beat the hell out of each other and that’s just what they did. You got the sense that they were trying to see who was tougher. For example, an elbow exchange took Ishii down followed by a PK, only for him to pop up and retaliate with a slap. Neither man was remotely interested in giving in to the other. The same went for an Exploder that Ishii popped up from with a clothesline. From then on, they began throwing bigger bombs at each other, including a rebound German suplex and a brainbuster. Nagata tried the Backdrop Driver a few times but Ishii blocked it before putting him down with the Brainbuster in 22:20. Like Kojima, Nagata can still go. This was pretty great, though I’ve seen them do better. [***¾]

7.0

The final score: review Good

The 411

I usually just want some solid build, quality matches, and a short show with these kind of events. That’s what I got. The opener was lame but otherwise, every match worked and accomplished what it needed to.