NJPW Road to Invasion Attack Results 4.2.15

Credit: Matthew Macklin & PWInsider

NJPW held a show this morning as part of the “Road to Invasion Attack” tour in Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan.

The show was live on NJPW World and is now up on demand. The tour has been ongoing for the last couple of weeks and comes to an end on Sunday with Invasion Attack.

* Yohei Komatsu defeated Sho Tanaka. This was about the one millionth match between these two, and honestly they could open every NJPW show from now till the end of time and I’d never get sick of it. You can see their growth with every match, and they have all the fire and heart in the world. Tanaka has one hell of a dropkick. Komatsu got the win with a single leg Boston Crab.

* Alex Shelley, KUSHIDA & Ryusuke Taguchi defeated Jay White, Jushin Thunder Liger & Tiger Mask IV. Alex Shelley seemed intent on making Jay White look as good as he possibly could. White took out both Time Splitters on his own and got a lot in on Shelley all the way through the match. Liger is ageless as always and I urge everyone to check out his match with Jay Lethal from last weekend’s ROH Supercard of Honor. Taguchi, as usual attacked people with his arse. Shelley pinned White with Automatic Midnight. It was a fun match, with White making the biggest impression.

* Yuji Nagata, Satoshi Kojima & Hiroyoshi Tenzan defeated Cody Hall, Karl Anderson & Doc Gallows (Bullet Club). Bullet Club controlled TenKoji for a lot of this match with all their usual antics. Anderson & Kojima had one heck of a chop battle. Anderson seems to have good chemistry with about 90% of the roster, he’s that good. Hall didn’t look as impressive here as he has in his last few big matches, his offence looked very weak. The veteran team singled out Hall allowing Nagata to pin him with a back drop hold.

* Tama Tonga & Kenny Omega (Bullet Club) defeated Captain New Japan & Mascara Dorada. Dorada demanded that Omega start the match with him and The Cleaner obliged. Their exchanges in the match with Dorada hitting all his lucha offence on Omega made me very excited for their match on Sunday, which should be awesome. Omega is one of the most complete performers anywhere right now and can literally have a great match with anyone (even 9 year old girls). Omega & Tonga worked really well together. Captain wrestled most of the match with his lace opened, so he looked even more ridiculous than usual. Tonga scored the win on Captain with a jumping DDT. It was very nice to see Tonga pick up the win for once, as he has a lot more to offer than being the Bullet Club job guy.

* Hirooki Goto, Tomoaki Honma, Katsuyori Shibata, Hiroshi Tanahashi & Togi Makabe defeated YOSHI-HASHI, Shinsuke Nakamura, Tomohiro Ishii, Toru Yano & Kazushi Sakuraba. Yano spat water in Tanahashi’s face to immediately piss him off, resulting in Tanahashi chasing Yano around the ring. Honma & Shibata continued their odd couple chemistry. Makabe and Ishii went at it exchanging stiff lariats that neither guy blinked from, so they have unfinished business and will meet again for the NEVER championship. Goto got the upper hand on Nakamura throughout the match. YOSHI & Goto were the final two legal men, and as usual YOSHI convinced everyone that he might pull off an upset. He was about to powerbomb Goto when Honma sent him flying across the ring with a running Kokeshi and all hell broke loose. Goto got the pin on YOSHI after a devastating looking Shibata corner dropkick and Shouten Kai. After the match Goto challenged Nakamura for the Intercontinental championship. Sakuraba did nothing as usual.

* The Young Bucks & Bad Luck Fale (Bullet Club) defeated Beretta, Rocky Romero & Kazuchika Okada (CHAOS). This was the Korakuen debut of RPG Vice as a team. If anyone has seen them in action on the ROH cards in Chicago & Milwaukee a few weeks ago, you will know how well they have gelled already. Beretta (the former Trent Baretta) has improved a lot since leaving WWE and particularly since he returned from a serious knee injury a couple of months ago. They also have the best music in pro wrestling. This was a great preview of their match with The Bucks on Sunday, which I think will be outstanding. Okada still can’t get the upper hand on Fale. The Bucks got the win here when they hit the Indytaker on Beretta after he was hit with Fale’s grenade. The Bucks won here, but RPG Vice have pinned the junior tag champs elsewhere on the tour. This was a great match, well worth checking out. After the match Okada hit boiling point and he had to be held back from Fale. He cut a promo in Japanese which sounded like he promised to beat Fale.

* AJ Styles & Yujiro Takahashi (Bullet Club) defeated Tetsuya Naito & Kota Ibushi. A fun main event. Styles and Ibushi gave us a preview of what to expect on Sunday and it looks like we’re in for something special. They did just enough to leave us wanting more. Styles and Naito are always great together and it looked like Naito was going to beat Styles with the Stardust Press, but Yujiro caused a distraction allowing Styles to hit Bloody Sunday and The Styles Clash. After the match Styles laid the belt down in the middle of the ring challenging Ibushi to come and get it. Styles said Ibushi isn’t prepared to get in the ring with the greatest heavyweight gaijin in the world.