All Japan Pro Wrestling 9/15/2024 Royal Road Tournament 2024 Day 2

All Japan Pro Wrestling 9/15/2024 Royal Road Tournament 2024 Day 2

MUSASHI, Ryo Inoue & Seiki Yoshioka vs. Kuroshio TOKYO Japan, Seigo Tachibana & Shotaro Ashino

Mu = Musashi, SY = Seiki Yoshioka, Sho = Shotaro Ashino

Seigoand Ryo lock up. Ryo side headlocks him and shoulders him over. Seigo does his pose then gets booted during it multiple times. Ryo facekicks him over.

Mu shoulders over Jiro. Jiro kips up and poses. Mu trips him then basement dropkicks him. Jiro takes a double running back elbow in the corner. They goof off and Jiro jacket punches Mu by surprise. Mu then takes a triple team beatdown. Mu is beaten up in the corner.

Mu takes a double team then Sho crabs him. Jiro boots Mu in the leg. Mu misses a step up enzugiri thne is kicked. Mu exploders Jiro. SY gets in and pumping knees Jiro then kicks him in the back. SY PK's Jiro for 2. 

Jiro superkicks SY then seig atomic drops SY. Seigo running facekicks him for 2. SY step up enzugiri's Seigo. Mu is tagged in then Ryo tags himself in. Ryo 2nd rope dropkicks Seigo and struts. Sho then hits a high release german on Ryo while he does it.

Ryo takes corner attacks. Jiro and Seigo get superkicked out together then Mu tope con hilos them. Ryo underhook suplexes Sho then hits chest kicks. Ryo buzzsaw kicks Sho. Sho hits a hard lariat on Ryo then backdrops him for 2. Seigo does a uranage suplex on Ryo and picks up the win.

Thoughts: It wasn't that serious and wasn't anything special for the most part. They teased issues between Ryo and his partners. 

Sho poses with kids in the ring after.  The two teams are then interviewed after.

Dan Tamura, Hideki Sekine & Yuma Aoyagi vs. Hokuto-gun (Hokuto Omori, Jack Kennedy & Kuma Arashi)

Yuma's team is hit before the bell and Jack attacks Yuma on the buckles. Yuma runs from Jack outside and Kuma racks Dan outside. Kuma walks Dan through the seats. Jack and Yuma trade forearms outside and Omori chinlocks Sekine inside.

Sekine double axe handles Omori and backbreakers him over the shoulder. Sekine is triple teamed but fights his opponents off with headbutts. Sekine then splashes all 3 in the corner.

Dan hits shots on Omori then Omori atomic drops him. Omori and Yuma trade. Yuma falls down and kicks him in the crotch on the landing. Dan's legs are split then Jack slams Dan for 2. Kuma stands on Dan's gut. Yum and Omori battle with towels outside.

Dan samoan drops Kuma. Yuma dropkicks Kuma then top rope crossbodies him for 2. Yuma boots Kuma in the crotch. Kuma then hits a double crossbody on Dan and Yuma at the same time. Jack corner splashes Yuma then fallaway slams him.

Yuma takes a double back elbow and a lariat. Yuma is put on the top rope. the heels try to do a tower of doom spot but just end up powerbombing Omori. Yuma then comes off the top and hits a double dropkick. Jack takes corner attacks then suplexes Yuma. Jack climbs the ropes and splashes Yuma off of them for 2. Yuma crucifixes Jack and wins.

Thoughts: Like the opener, it wasn't real serious. Yuma got an upset win out of nowhere on Jack. Sekine was not moving well here and really seemed to be hurting.

Yuma has word with Kuma after and grabs his hair.

The two teams do interviews after.  Omori's team argues with each other.

Davey Boy Smith Jr., Hikaru Sato & Joel Redman vs. Saito Brothers (Naruki Doi, Rei Saito & Senor Saito)

Sato and Doi start us off. Sato wristlocks Doi then Doi reverses it. They trade slaps. Doi goes for a sliding kick and is put in an ankle lock. They then stand off.

Joel and Senor go at it. Joe shoulders him over and Senor goes out. Joel offers a handshake and Senor is skeptical. Joel kicks him on the handshake. Senor eye pokes him. Joel rolls out of a wristlock then Senor bites the hand. Joel wristlock takedowns Senor then Senor takes him down. Senor rubs his fist into the knee then bites the foot.

Joel sends Senor shoulder first into the buckle. Davey yanks on Senor's arm then wraps it around the ropes. Senor and Davey trade forearms. Rei then is tagged in. Rei and Davey shoulder battle and Rei lariats him on the ropes. Rei slams him for 2.

Davey takes corner attacks then Rei splashes him for 2. Davey facekicks Rei. Sato comes in and hits leg kicks on Rei. Rei shoulders Sato over for 2. Davey powerslams Senor then Joe top rope knee drops Senor. Sato armbars Senor and Doi breaks it up with a flipping senton. Sato enzugiri's Doi and Senor. Sato kimura's Senor and Senor taps out.

Thoughts: It was a short tag here with Senor mostly getting his arm worked on. It was average but at least it mostly made sense.

Doi and Sato point at each other after.

Both teams do promos after. Davey says it's another victory in the record books and says they are lucky they didn't get the bulldog bomb as there is no getting up from that. Joel agrees.

ELPIDA (Rising HAYATO & Yuma Anzai) vs. ELPIDA (Ren Ayabe & Ryuki Honda)

Yuma and Ren go at it. They lock up and Ren messes with Yuma's hair on the break. Yuma side headlocks him and Ren shoulders him over. Yuma dropkicks Ren and they stand off after a missed flying knee.

Honda and Rising go at it. Honda side headlocks Rising then shoulders him over. Rising back elbows and dropkicks him. Honda then shoulders him over. Honda is pulled over the top. Honda is dropkicked off the apron then Rising springboard plancha's him outside.

Honda slams Rising. Ren gets in and hits forearms on Rising. Ren hits a high back body drop on Rising for 2. Honda cokes Rising on the ropes and counts with the ref. He then chokes Yuma on the ropes with him.

Rising takes a double shoulder then Ren hits slams on him. Honda crabs Rising and Rising ropebreaks. Rising dropkicks Honda out of the corner and running back elbows him. Yuma gets in and belly to belly suplexes Honda.

Honda hits foearms on Yuma then takes a dropkick. Honda spinebusters Yuma. Ren facekicks Yuma then flying neckbreakers him. Ren corner facekicks Yuma for 2. They trade forearms and Yuma germans him. Ren hits a big dropkick then Yuma hits a flying knee.

Rising jumps off of Ren's back to dropkick Honda. Ren takes corner attacks and a double bulldog for 2. Ren does a double clothesline on his opponents. Rising takes corner attacks and Rising pushes Ren into Honda. Ren forearms Rising down and Yuma germans Ren. Honda lariats Yuma then Rising superkicks Honda. Honda lariats Rising down and the four trade forearms.

Yuma takes a boot and Rising takes a spear. Ren half-nelson bombs Yuma and Honda germans Rising. Ren facekicks Rising then hits his spinning falcon arrow for the win.

Thoughts: It was a fun tag here with them putting out a good effort in the second half and making it exciting.

Royal Road Tournament 2024 First Round Match - Cyrus vs. Jun Saito

They lock up and shoulder battle. Cy is thrown over the top then hits a big lariat when he comes in. Cy misses an elbow drop. They shoulder each other outside and Cy is choked with a towel. Cy is sent into the post and Jun misses a facekick against the post. Cy then rams Jun's back into the post and walks on him.

They go back in and Cy misses a legdrop. Jun running facekicks him and headbutts him in the back of the head. Jun running facekicks him twice and elbow drops him. Cy blocks chokeslam attempts and spinning heel kicks him.

Cy misses a vader bomb and takes a boot to the head. Cy suplexes Jun. Cy gets stuck on the 2nd rope and takes a 2nd rope chokeslam for 2. Jun running knees him for 2.

Cy throws Jun over then puts him up top. Cy suerplexes him. Cy urakens him and hits a spear. Cy fires up and vader bombs him for the win.

Thoughts: Big upset here with Cy getting the win. It wasn't great but it made sense for the most part and they took some bigger bumps here. It could have been real bad but it was fine.

Rei has words for Cyrus and his group after.

Jun and Cyrus do promos after. Cyrus says that's one down and there's one more Saito to go. He says he wants to face his partners in the finals as maybe they will bring him a real fight.

Royal Road Tournament 2024 First Round Match - Kento Miyahara vs. Hideki Suzuki

Ken boots Suzuki's handshake away. Ken backs him up on the ropes. Suzuki ties his legs up and tries to hold his shoulders down. Ken suplexes him off the double knucklelock. Suzuki headlocks him.

Ken facekicks him out. Ken headbutts him outside several times. Suzuki bangs Ken's arm off his shoulder outside then Suzuki works the leg on the floor. Suzuki bodyscissors him. Suzuki cobra clutches him then shinlocks him. Suzuki moves over to a straightjacket choke.

Suzuki headscissors him and stomps on him. Suzuki twists Ken's neck with his feet. Ken dropkicks him in the knee and the side of the head. Ken boots him out of the corner. Suzuki guillotine chokes him on the buckles.

Ken is down outside for a while and Suzuki front facelocks him. Suzuki hits forearms to the spine. Ken then hits forearms to the gut. Ken pumping knees him then Suzuki hits a cradle tombstone. Suzuki ties Ken's legs up and tries to do something like a Regal stretch.  

Suzuki traps one arm and pulls on the other. Ken then pumping knees him. Ken pumping knees him again for 2. Ken forearms him and takes forearms to the gut. Suzuki hits elbows to the back of the head. Suzuki double underhook suplexes him for 2. Ken hits a pumping knee and is dropkicked. Ken running knees him. Ken then straightjacket germans him for the win.

Thoughts: Suzuki bullied Ken around with submissions and Ken made his comeback and won eventually. I'm not a huge fan of Suzuki but it was a bit more bearable here. I think it was okay overall but it would have been nice if Suzuki chose a body part and just stuck with attacking it.

Ken then talks on the mic to close the show after.

Overall thoughts: Like the last AJPW show, once they got past the two opening card matches the rest of the show was fine. The tag match was the best thing on here and Cyrus/Jun was better than expected. There was nothing must see on this one but I'd say it was a bit above average overall.