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5/4 NJPW WRESTLING DONTAKU NIGHT TWO RESULTS FROM FUKUOKA, JAPAN

1 - NJPW World TV Championship:   Konosuke Takeshita vs. Chase Owens

Owens comes to the ring with Yujiro Takahashi.   Takeshita still does not have the TV belt.   Owens and Takahashi laugh at him. 

Referee takes a bump.   Takahashi and Owens double team Takeshita.   Umino comes to make the save.   The rest of House of Torture interferes.   Hontai comes out to help.   Hontai drags House of Torture back to the locker room.  Owens hits the C-Trigger.   Takeshita avoids the Last Testament and hits two Power Drive Knees.  Takeshita hits Raging Fire.

Takeshita pins Owens.

Konosuke Takeshita retains the NJPW World TV Championship.

The lights go out and video plays of the masked man.   The masked man who interfered in Takeshita's last match comes out.   The masked man turns out to be SANADA.   SANADA hits Takeshita with the TV title and lays him out with Deadfall.   SANADA takes the belt with him as he leaves the ring.

This is a good for New Japan that SANADA is back.   Their roster is thin and the G1 Climax is only a few months away.

2 - Tatsuya Matsumoto and Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Daiki Nagai and Gedo

Nagai pins Matsumoto after a top rope headbutt.

3 - Tomoaki Honma and Shota Umino vs. OSKAR and Yuto-Ice

OSKAR puts down Honma with the Nightmare Sleeper.

4 - Master Wato, YOH, Tiger Mask, Toru Yano and Aaron Wolf vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru, SHO, DOUKI, Don Fale and Ren Narita

House of Torture attacks Wolf on his way to the ring and everyone brawls at ringside.  

Wolf escapes Takahashi's Pimp Juice and hits the Olympic Slam and gets the pin.

5 - Taichi and Yuya Uemura vs. Hartley Jackson and Ryohei Oiwa

Taichi pins Jackson after hitting Black Mephisto.

Oiwa challenges Uemura to have another match.   Taichi suggests a tag match between him and Uemura and Oiwa and Zack Sabre Jr.     Oiwa accepts.

6 - Robbie X, Taiji Ishimori, Drilla Moloney and Yota Tsuji vs. Zane Jay, Jakob Austin Young, Francesco Akira and Jake Lee

Tsuji hits a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker on Zane and applied a Boston Crab.    Zane taps out.

7 - IWGP Jr. Tag Team Championship:  Mistico and El Desperado vs. Kosei Fujita and Robbie Eagles

Solid match.   All four men in the ring.   Mistico with La Mistica on Eagles into an arm submission.   Fujita and Desperado were the legal men in the ring and were grappling with submissions.  Fujita applied an arm submission.   Desperado reverses out and applies Numero Dos

Fujita taps out.  

Mistico and El Desperado win the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Championship.

This is an interesting development prior to Best of the Super Jr.  TMDK just beat Robbie X and Ishimori for the belts.   Now, New Japan wants the belts on Desperado and Mistico, probably for potential promotion for New Japan World so people will tune in to watch Mistico in the tournament.  Robbie and Ishimori should have just kept the titles and lost to Desperado and Mistico, rather than having TMDK in the mix.   All of them will be in the Best of Super Jr. anyway.  

8 - NEVER Openweight 6 Man Tag Team Championship:  Boltin Oleg, YOSHI-HASHI and Hirooki Goto vs. Great O-Khan, HENARE and Will Ospreay

Another solid match.   O-Khan and HENARE are bending the rules.   O-Khan puts a claw on YOSHI-HASHI and slams his head into the mat.   O-Khan goes for an Eliminator but YOSHI-HASHI hits a Code Breaker.  Two count.  O-Khan kicks YOSHI-HASHI in the back of the head.  HENARE hits a headbutt.   HENARE and O-Khan picks up YOSHI-HASHI for a powerbomb, Ospreay comes off the top rope with an uppercut.    

HENARE pins YOSHI-HASHI.

United Empire wins the NEVER Openweight 6-man Championship.

O-Khan and HENARE finally wearing gold again, since December 2024, when they were stripped of the IWGP Tag Team Championship after HENARE got hurt.  Both have been in lower to mid-card status and deserve to be essential tentpoles of the company.   

O-Khan takes the mic and says United Empire is dominant again and they are targeting the Knockout Brothers and the IWGP Tag Team Championship.    Yuto and OSKAR come to the ring.  HENARE screams at Yuto.  Yuto asks if they want to make money and get high.   KOB accepts the challenge.

9 - IWGP World Heavyweight Championship:  Callum Newman vs. Shingo Takagi

They show a cool video of Shingo Takagi and his new wife.      They also play a cool video of all the IWGP Heavyweight Champions in history.

Good match.   Newman targets Takagi's ribs.   They traded tope con hilos.   Takagi hammers Newman with strikes and hits a Twist and Shout.   Newman uses his speed to avoid Takagi's strikes and hits his own kicks to the chest and face.  They fight to the floor and Newman puts Takagi through a table.  Back in the ring they trade suplexes until they both collapse from exhaustion.  They get to their feet and trade kicks and strikes.   Newman goes for an Oscutter but Takagi hits a Cutter of his own.   Takagi hits the Prince's Curse.   Two count.   Newman hits an Oscutter 2.0.  Newman started selling his knee.  Newman goes for Excalibur but Takagi moves and Newman's legs crumble beneath him.  Newman cannot stand and gets to the ropes.   The referee checks on Newman and Newman pulls him out of the ring.   Zane Jay and Daiki Nagai interferes.  Jake Lee lands a wicked knee into Takagi's gut.   Yota Tsuji takes out Jake Lee.    Newman superkicks Tsuji, sending him to the floor.  Newman hits an Excalibur.   Two count.  Newman hits Made in Essex.    Two count.   Newman hits Prince's Curse.   Two count.   Takagi hits a lariat.  Takagi hits Made in Japan twice.   Two count.  Takagi with a Pumping Bomber.  Takagi with a Burning Dragon.   Two count.  Ospreay is at ringside cheering on Newman.    Takagi with more strikes.   They trade more strikes.  Newman hits a low blow and a Princes Curse.   Two count.  Ospreay yells at Newman for the low blow.   Newman hits Kiss the Crown.  Newman picks up Takagi in a fireman's carry and throws him in the air and knees him in the ribs.    Takagi hits a Poisonrana.  Takagi with another lariat.   Two count.    Newman hits another low blow and hits his new finisher Make Way.

Newman pins Takagi.   

Callum Newman retains the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship.

Newman needed this win to legitimize his place in the company.   Shingo does not need the belt.  Newman, to be the top heel must do dastardly things, with the rest of United Empire, just like EVIL did with House of Torture.  However, the rest of United Empire need to be credible threats (like HENARE and O-Khan are now).

The rest of United Empire came out to applaud Newman.  Andrade El Idolo is with them so he is still a part of United Empire.   Ospreay sat on the ring apron twiddling his thumbs, frustrated that Newman cheated.   

Newman kept talking smack to Takagi and was about to hit him with the belt.  Yota Tsuji stops him.  All of United Empire gets on the ring apron and surround the ring.   Newman low blows Tsuji and hits him with the belt in the head.   Jake Lee grabs Takagi and holds him for Newman.   Ospreay stops Newman.   Newman demands that Ospreay attack Shingo.   Newman asks him if his with United Empire, if he is then hit him.  Ospreay turns to leave.  Newman calls him "Death Rider Billy" and tells him to do it.  Ospreay lays out Takagi with a Hidden Blade.   

Newman announces that on May 6, there will be a tag match, he and Jake Lee vs. Takagi and Tsuji.  If they lose, they can no longer challenge him for the belt.   If either of them pin Newman, that person can get a Title shot at Dominion.

New Japan has been in rebuild mode ever since major names left the company or retired.  However, as we head into the two big tournaments in the next 3 months (Best of the Super Jr. and G1 Climax), New Japan has a bunch of positives:

1.  United Empire.  They are the premier heel faction that have good athletes and great heel characters.  Andrade and Ospreay will come and go as they have other responsibilities but the core group of Newman, O-Khan, HENAR and Jake Lee is solid.   Next up is Francesco Akira and Jacob Austin Young in the Best of the Super Jr.

2.  Knockout Brothers.   Yuto is a great promo and OSKAR is getting better as a worker as he is getting to wrestle the top tag teams.  They are major draws and the crowd reacts to them.

3.  SANADA.   He took a break and is now back, now targeting Takeshita and the NJPW TV Championship.   His return will spark speculation if he will rejoin House of Torture or another faction.

4.  Best of the Super Jr. and G1 Climax.   These two tournaments (despite their length) will always bring interest to the company.

5.  Who will beat DOUKI?   DOUKI has done a lot to keep his IWGP Jr. Title and he has beaten many top Juniors in New Japan already.   Who will be the next to step up that will be fresh and not be a retread of past matches?   The BOSJ may decide this.

6.  Wrestle Kingdom 21.   Now it has been established that Callum Newman is the leader of United Empire and can tell Will Ospreay what to do, a good storyline will be Newman and Ospreay co-existing until it all explodes with Ospreay challenging Newman for the IWGP World Title at Wrestle Kingdom.  It may mean Ospreay has to win the G1 Climax, but we shall see what happens.

Thank you for reading.

 

 

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