NJPW’s Wrestling Dontaku – 05/03/2016

NJPW “Wrestling Dontaku 2016” took place on Tuesday 5/3/2016 @ the Fukuoka Kokusai Convention Centre in Fukuoka.

1) Captain New Japan & Juice Robinson vs. “Bullet Club” Bad Luck Fale & Yujiro Takahashi.
⚫ Fale won (2:26) after the Grenade on Captain.
Nothing really special here (MAO no-showed again), it was a very short match.

2) Tiger Mask IV, Ryusuke Taguchi, Jay White & David Finlay Jr. vs. “CHAOS” Kazushi Sakuraba, YOSHI-HASHI, Will Ospreay & Gedo.
⚫ Ospreay won (7:23) following a Springboard Cutter on Finlay.
Fun match, with the young guns putting a lot of fire in this somewhat chaotic battle. The others just showed their regular stuff, that’s getting a bit lame at times.
The presence of Will Ospreay in itself here was enough to enjoy the match, as he executed a perfect Great Sasuke Special near the end before finishing off Finlay.

3) IWGP Junior Hvwt. Tag Team Championship match: “Roppongi Vice” Rocky Romero & Trent Barreta (c) vs. Ricochet & Matt Sydal.
⚫ Ricochet won (16:26) following a 630° Splash on Barreta.
“The Super High-Flyers” Ricochet and Matt Sydal become the new Jr. Tag Champions.
This match had everything you’d expect from both teams, with a lot of high-paced and high-intensity moves. Don’t know if the right team won here, but with these Jr. Tag titles being so hot-potatoed as well, who really cares?

4) NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship match: Michael Elgin, Hiroshi Tanahashi & Yoshitatsu (c) vs. “Bullet Club” The Elite – Kenny Omega & “Young Bucks” Matt & Nick Jackson.
⚫ Omega won (14:03) following the One-Winged Angel on Yoshitatsu.
Bullet Club’s The Elite become the new NEVER 6-Man Tag champions.
Afterwards, Tanahashi challenged Omega to a future Intercontinental title match, but Omega wanted the match to be a Ladder Match, which would be a first time in New Japan Pro Wrestling.
Both men agreed to this on a handshake and the match is likely to take place at Dominion 6.19 on June 19th in Osaka.

5) IWGP World Hvwt. Tag Team Championship match: “Guerrillas of Destiny” Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa (c) vs. “Great Bash Heel” Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma.
⚫ Tama Tonga pinned Honma (12:12) after the GOD hit the Guerrilla Warfare on him.
Decent back and forth action until Tama hit a Gun Stun and then the brothers nailed Honma with their finisher for the win.

6) NEVER Openweight Championship match: Katsuyori Shibata (c) vs. Yuji Nagata.
⚫ In what can be called some sort of an upset, Nagata won (11:53) via a Backdrop Hold to become the new NEVER Champion.
The Fukuoka Conv. Center nearly exploded when the 5300 in attendance popped the loudest of the night as the 48 y/o veteran Nagata came out the victor of this ferocious battle.

7) IWGP Junior Hvwt. Championship match: KUSHIDA (c) vs. Jushin “Thunder” Liger.
⚫ KUSHIDA won (14:37) making Liger submit to the Hoverboard Lock.
After the match both men showed the utmost to one another, with Liger putting over KUSHIDA as the rightful champion.
The champion then urged Liger to continue his career with another 10-15 years, given his incredible performance today, to which Thunder Liger replied he would have to challenge KUSHIDA to a title shot rematch than.
KUSHIDA also stated he wants to compete as the Jr. Champion in Kumamoto soon, since the fans there were robbed of their chance to see him perform because of the cancelation of the Hinokuni event, due to the recent earthquakes.

8) Hirooki Goto vs. EVIL.
⚫ EVIL won (9:53) following his version of the STO,the EVIL.
This was just two guys hitting each other as hard as they could and it was great. It was an entertaining, intense match, with both men hitting each other move for move. Another win for Los Ingobernables here, as that was the right thing since LIJ is the hottest stable in wrestling today.

9) Kazuchika Okada vs. SANADA.
⚫ Okada won (15:11) after the Rainmaker.
SANADA really took it to the former champion and looked great in his first singles match on an NJPW PPV. Lots of action outside the ring, with Okada eventually getting the upper hand after SANADA missed a moonsault from atop the corner post. Okada even survived the Skull End submission, as he reversed the move into a Rainmaker clothesline for the win, immediately placing himself back into the IWGP title picture.

10) IWGP World Heavyweight Championship match: Tetsuya Naito (c) vs. Tomohiro Ishii.
⚫ Naito won (33:33) following the Destino, securing his first successful title defense.
This match went long, but boy was it worth it every minute! It was even better than their last match at New Japan Cup this past March or any of their previous encounters for that matter. Not going into detail here, but I suggest everyone that is a wrestling fan to move out of their way to watch this amazing match. Five stars!
There was never any doubt that Naito would lose here, but today he solidified himself further as thé rightful champion of New Japan. Partially because he had a great opponent in Ishii as well.
Too bad he’s still disrespectful towards the IWGP belt though, throwing it away once more after it was handed to him after the match, but that’s just how he acts these days.

Afterwards Kazuchik Okada (who had been at ringside together with Gedo to counteract any Los Ingobs interferences) stepped up to challenge Naito to a future title match, as Naito continued to taunt New Japan owner Kidani.
Although nothing is yet official, it seems that NJPW are indeed heading towards a Naito/Okada rematch for the IWGP Championship at the upcoming Dominion 6.19 PPV event in Osaka.

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