wrestling / TV Reports
Pantoja’s NJPW New Japan Road 6.20.22 Review
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Loading...NJPW New Japan Road
June 20th, 2022 | Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan
I would typically skip over New Japan Road as these shows aren’t all that important but this one has some stuff going on. I didn’t review the one from Saturday due to it not meaning anything. Thankfully, we’ve got a title match, G1 block announcements, and two Forbidden Doorqualifiers on tap here.
Oh, only Japanese commentary here. I must admit, I’ve kind of missed that.
Aaron Henare vs. Kosei Fujita
Henare is fresh off of getting into the G1 for the first time. I appreciate that and his mustache is pretty legit. I say it often but you know what to expect from this match if you know New Japan. Fujita came out with a lot of energy but he was never going to be a match for Henare. Hell, it wasn’t too long ago that Henare was in Fujita’s spot. Henare relished in that, even letting Fujita hit him at points as if he was daring him to step up to his level. Henare beat him with the full nelson because NO YOUNG LION HAS EVER BROKEN HIS MASTERLOCK. It went 5:06 and did just what it was supposed to. [**]
Dick Togo, EVIL, SHO and Yujiro Takahashi vs. Hirooki Goto, Toru Yano, YOH and YOSHI-HASHI
Oh, this is rough on paper but Yano is in there to try and save it. YOH is cool too. Damn, we got t-shirt Yano so I guess he’s not taking this match seriously. Big change of pace for him. Yano actually ended up as the guy taking a lot of offense as the House of Torture isolated him and beat him down. Of course, he eventually made the mild tag and the tide of the match was turned for a little while. The faces are pretty lame though, so I wasn’t surprised to see their run not last all that long. EVIL put down YOH after 9:24, giving the House of Torture another win. Not too many shenanigans here, so it was solid. [**½]
Kazuchika Okada, Ryohei Oiwa and Yuto Nakashima vs. SANADA, Shingo Takagi and Tetsuya Naito
Okada teams with Young Lions while Naito and Shingo team with perennial big match loser SANADA. That man really is the new Goto. Similar to the opener, the Young Lions came out with the energy but they put up a better fight. They took a beating at points but they kept getting back up and proving themselves as a potential threat to the bigger stars. Okada was kind of just there, likely taking a well-deserved night off. He’s really got nothing going on until the G1, so it’s ideal to take a break right now. The LIJ guys worked seamlessly as always and Shingo scored the win with Pumping Bomber after 8:38. That was pretty fun and about what I was hoping for out of this. In singles action, I’m only interested in seeing Okada against Shingo as the other two matches have happened too much. [**¾]
BUSHI and Hiromu Takahashi vs. Gedo and Taiji Ishimori
It’s another preview for tomorrow’s Jr. Heavyweight Title match. I still don’t like them meeting on New Japan Road. That would be like someone winning the Rumble and taking their title shot at Fastlaneor winning the G1 and getting their title shot at Power Struggle. Ishimori and Hiromu had their usual quality interactions, giving just enough reason to be pumped for their match but holding back stuff for it. They fought a lot outside while Gedo and BUSHI handled the in-ring stuff. Obviously, the BUSHI/Gedo side of things was less entertaining but it’s there for a reason. In the end, Hiromu used the triangle choke to beat Gedo at the 9:23 mark. I wasn’t really a fan of some of the brawling aspects but Hiromu and Ishimori is a combo that just works. [**½]
Time for the G1 Block announcements!
A Block: Lance Archer, Bad Luck Fale, Toru Yano, Jeff Cobb, Jonah, Tom Lawlor, & Kazuchika Okada
B Block: Jay White, Tama Tonga, Tomohiro Ishii, Taichi, The Great-O-Khan, Chase Owens, & SANADA
C Block: Tetsuya Naito, Zack Sabre Jr., KENTA, EVIL, Hirooki Goto, Aaron Henare, & Hiroshi Tanahashi
D Block: Will Ospreay, El Phantasmo, Juice Robinson, David Finlay, Yujiro Takahashi, YOSHI-HASHI, & Shingo Takagi
So, A Block is Okada and BIG MEATY MEN for the most part. B Block has Jay, Ishii, & Taichi but I don’t care much for others. Tama/Jay has steam. C Block is the best though a few too many repeat matches in there. D Block feels like a bad joke. Shingo, Finlay, and Juice are dope but the rest is, um, a choice.
Early Block winner predictions: Cobb/Okada, SANADA, ZSJ, Ospreay (I think Will wins it all actually)
Who I think should win their blocks: Cobb, Ishii, ZSJ, Shingo
AEW All Atlantic Title Tournament Qualifying Match: Clark Connors vs. Tomoaki Honma
This is so random. Like, what qualifies these guys for the tournament? Connors has a slight argument as he had a good BOSJ but so did other guys. Honma hasn’t won a match of relevance in forever. It just feels so random. Surprisingly, Connors was in control to start here. I know Honma isn’t a high-tier heavyweight but the juniors usually struggle for a while against the bigger guys. To be fair, Connors is a beefy junior. Honma cut off his spear attempt and that swung the momentum a little bit. He went into his offense but honestly, it’s just not very interesting. Honma was only really fun when he had that G1 losing streak but outside of the G1 24 and 25, I haven’t been interested in him. After a strike exchange, Honma picked up a few near falls before Connors got one on a powerslam. He then added a one-armed powerbomb to win in 11:29. That was a solid match that was about as good as you can expect from Honma these days. Connors has been impressive since the BOSJ. [***]
AEW All Atlantic Title Tournament Qualifying Match: Tomohiro Ishii vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru
Much like Tanahashi/Goto and Moxley/O’Reilly, this has an obvious outcome. It also is one where it’s like, “Why would Kanemaru be considered?” Whatever. Kanemaru jumped Ishii once he hit the ring, which made total sense given who he is and how much of a disadvantage he is at. That allowed Kanemaru to nearly steal this via countout and rollups. Ishii withstood that to start in with his own stuff but Kanemaru is a tricky bastard. He’d stop him with something like a dropkick to the knee before applying a submission. You really could tell that Kanemaru had a plan and executed it well. He was relentless on the leg and even kept it up after Ishii went after his leg with a shin breaker. Ishii couldn’t counter the Figure Four and had to keep going to the ropes to break it. I love that there’s a spot where Ishii doesn’t even do a move but instead simply runs over Kanemaru. He couldn’t muster up offense but was still flat out bigger than his opponent. The Kanemaru close calls were great because it was a case of “I know he isn’t winning but I’m buying into these near falls.” That’s hard to pull off. Ishii delivered a big headbutt late and eventually hit the Brainbuster to win in 19:37. That ruled. I’ve always said that I’m much more interested in matches that are smartly worked rather than ones trying to do the most moves to get the highest star rating. This was Kanemaru having a brilliant plan, executing it, and making me believe he’d win but Ishii selling his ass off and overcoming it. [****]
IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Championship: Six or Nine [c] vs. Francesco Akira and TJP
The United Empire boys beat the champs at the BOSJ Finals show (**½). This got off to the kind of slow start that you fully expect from a New Japan main event. It wasn’t bad but it was clear that they were going to work for a while. I liked some of the stuff here, with the main highlight being how smoothly Akira and TJP worked as a unit. Their tandem offense came off really well. As this really got going, they picked up steam as you’d expect. Akira’s Spanish Fly off the top always looks great and Wato is the right guy to take that bump. That led to a great near fall after a frog splash but Taguchi made the save. From there he got the hot tag and it was time for some ASS BASED OFFENSE. He and TJP traded submissions from the Ankle Lock to an STF. Soon after that, Taguchi was taken out, leaving Wato to get beat up. He ate a double stomp and frog splash before Akira hit Taguchi with a moonsault outside. Back inside, the United Empire won the titles with a Doomsday Stunner in 24:15. A really good main event with TJP and Akira looking like a well-oiled machine. They’re a fresh entry into a lame division so that’s always welcome. Six or Nine looked better than they typically do as well. Parts of this dragged a bit due to the length but I’m happy Akira got some gold. [***½]
