NJPW Road to DOMINION 06.01
Opening Video - I don't usually bring these up, but I was really surprised that the COVID setbacks were brought up as something that NJPW would overcome for a triumphant Dominion show.
The focus was YOH and Despy, heading into their title match at Dominion, and so they got some time to do their pair up, once at the start, and the second as YOH got the hot tag. The rest of the match saw SHO be the babyface in peril against Suzuki, and Uemura have the final sequences with Despy, who won with Pinche Loco. Good stuff all around.
Nothing match, it was all good, but nothing really happened beyond some cutesy spots with both teams, BC getting heat on Honma, a Taguchi v ELP pair up, a Tana v EVIL pair up, and then the finish run with Ishimori pinning Tiger Mask with the Bloody Cross.
Good match, the Ibushi vs Cobb stuff continues to be the best thing about these Road to shows lately. Match saw Tsuji be the babyface in peril while Ibushi and Cobb built up their Osaka match.
This is building next show's NEVER 6-man title match with CHAOS vs LIJ, and also the Okada vs Shingo Osaka match for the World title. The match initially saw LIJ cut off YH, but later transitioned to CHAOS cutting off Naito, setting up the Shingo vs Okada part of the match. At the end, all teams traded spots, but ended with Goto pinning SANADA with some help from YH.
The wrestling was great, I was really curios to see how Okada was looking and moving since he had lower back problems not long ago and just recovered from COVID. I thuoght he looked ok, I think some of the little things like pushing on a leg to get up, may had been more selling than anything else.
IWGP Tag Team Championship Match
Miho Abe is back! Taichi brought the nice coat for this too. Before the bell, DOUKI and Jado kinda agreed to leave the match and head to the back, but given how much stalling they both did before actually leaving, and how DOUKI and Jado kept poking their heads to see of the other had left, it was expected that they'd be coming back at one point.
Early in the match, Tama Tonga took Abe as a hostage and threaten to attack her, and with that distraction, GoD started the match getting the best of Taichi and Sabre for a while. Sabre would later come in with a hot tag, but without having Taichi for the back up, he also had some trouble against both GoDs.
GoD kept control for most part, but every now and then, either Sabre or Taichi would have a flurry of offense that slowly chipped down on GoD, so all they had to do is keep that up and survive if they got cut off. And so they did, Sabre survived a long sequence of near falls until Taichi came back, they took down Roa and got the win on Tama.
It's incredible that after months of repetitive undercard matches, shady title changes, a weird ass intermission with a ladder match, these two teams managed to cap it off with an fantastic match that made it all worth it.
Post-match - DOUKI, Miho Abe, and Kanemaru all celebrated with Taichi and Sabre, who cut promos. Taichi talked about this match having been so hard as he is not 100% yet, but he kept his promise to Zack that he'd come back and win the titles with him. He told the crowd to protect themselves and not go out drinking.
These guys are total babyfaces, and I love the little family of Taichi, Sabre, DOUKI, and Miho.
A one match show, but a good show through and through. While I tend to watch everyone of these shows on the side, I did feel compelled to write about this one because of the main event, I'm just completely sold on Dangerous Tekkers right now.
Roppongi 3K (SHO & YOH) & Yuya Uemura vs. Suzuki-gun (El Desperado, Minoru Suzuki & Yoshinobu Kanemaru) - 6.5/10
The focus was YOH and Despy, heading into their title match at Dominion, and so they got some time to do their pair up, once at the start, and the second as YOH got the hot tag. The rest of the match saw SHO be the babyface in peril against Suzuki, and Uemura have the final sequences with Despy, who won with Pinche Loco. Good stuff all around.
Hiroshi Tanahashi, Ryusuke Taguchi, Tiger Mask & Tomoaki Honma vs. BULLET CLUB (Chase Owens, El Phantasmo, EVIL & Taiji Ishimori) (w/Dick Togo) - 5.5/10
Nothing match, it was all good, but nothing really happened beyond some cutesy spots with both teams, BC getting heat on Honma, a Taguchi v ELP pair up, a Tana v EVIL pair up, and then the finish run with Ishimori pinning Tiger Mask with the Bloody Cross.
Kota Ibushi & Yota Tsuji vs. The United Empire (Great-O-Khan & Jeff Cobb) - 7/10
Good match, the Ibushi vs Cobb stuff continues to be the best thing about these Road to shows lately. Match saw Tsuji be the babyface in peril while Ibushi and Cobb built up their Osaka match.
CHAOS (Hirooki Goto, Kazuchika Okada, Tomohiro Ishii & YOSHI-HASHI) vs. Los Ingobernables de Japon (BUSHI, SANADA, Shingo Takagi & Tetsuya Naito) - 7/10
This is building next show's NEVER 6-man title match with CHAOS vs LIJ, and also the Okada vs Shingo Osaka match for the World title. The match initially saw LIJ cut off YH, but later transitioned to CHAOS cutting off Naito, setting up the Shingo vs Okada part of the match. At the end, all teams traded spots, but ended with Goto pinning SANADA with some help from YH.
The wrestling was great, I was really curios to see how Okada was looking and moving since he had lower back problems not long ago and just recovered from COVID. I thuoght he looked ok, I think some of the little things like pushing on a leg to get up, may had been more selling than anything else.
IWGP Tag Team Championship Match
Guerrillas Of Destiny (c) (w/Jado) vs. Dangerous Tekkers (w/Miho Abe & DOUKI) - 9/10
Miho Abe is back! Taichi brought the nice coat for this too. Before the bell, DOUKI and Jado kinda agreed to leave the match and head to the back, but given how much stalling they both did before actually leaving, and how DOUKI and Jado kept poking their heads to see of the other had left, it was expected that they'd be coming back at one point.
Early in the match, Tama Tonga took Abe as a hostage and threaten to attack her, and with that distraction, GoD started the match getting the best of Taichi and Sabre for a while. Sabre would later come in with a hot tag, but without having Taichi for the back up, he also had some trouble against both GoDs.
GoD kept control for most part, but every now and then, either Sabre or Taichi would have a flurry of offense that slowly chipped down on GoD, so all they had to do is keep that up and survive if they got cut off. And so they did, Sabre survived a long sequence of near falls until Taichi came back, they took down Roa and got the win on Tama.
It's incredible that after months of repetitive undercard matches, shady title changes, a weird ass intermission with a ladder match, these two teams managed to cap it off with an fantastic match that made it all worth it.
Post-match - DOUKI, Miho Abe, and Kanemaru all celebrated with Taichi and Sabre, who cut promos. Taichi talked about this match having been so hard as he is not 100% yet, but he kept his promise to Zack that he'd come back and win the titles with him. He told the crowd to protect themselves and not go out drinking.
These guys are total babyfaces, and I love the little family of Taichi, Sabre, DOUKI, and Miho.
OVERALL THOUGHTS
A one match show, but a good show through and through. While I tend to watch everyone of these shows on the side, I did feel compelled to write about this one because of the main event, I'm just completely sold on Dangerous Tekkers right now.