All Japan Pro Wrestling 9/16/2024 Royal Road Tournament 2024 Day 3

All Japan Pro Wrestling 9/16/2024 Royal Road Tournament 2024 Day 3

Kuroshio TOKYO Japan, Seigo Tachibana & The Bodyguard vs. Cyrus, Dan Tamura & Ryo Inoue

Jiro's team is attacked before it starts. Jiro is dropped throat first on the rail. Cyrus beats up Jiro in the crowd and Ryo is thrown into the rails by Body. Jiro is thrown into the rails. Cy euros Jiro over inside then walks on him.

Dan slams Jiro. Jiro keeps falling over due to exhaustion. Ryo facekicks Jiro. Jiro blocks like a shining wizard and hits an attitude adjustment. Body is tagged in and he hits corner lariats on Ryo. Body elbow drops Ryo.

Ryo hits kicks on Body then facekicks him. Body lariats him off the ropes. Seigo and Dan trade forearms. Seigo forearm flurries him then suplexes him for 2. They trade forearms and Dan is knocked back into the corner.

Cy shoulders over Seigo for 2. Jiro breaks up the count and gets back handed by Cy. Body hits shots on Cy then slams him. Seigo running facekicks Ryo over. Cy hits a big spear on Seigo then vader bombs him for the win.

Thoughts: It was your usual not so serious Jiro match. The faces got beat up mostly here before going down. Cyrus hit a great spear on Seigo.

Kento Miyahara, MUSASHI, Seiki Yoshioka & Shotaro Ashino vs. Fuminori Abe, Hideki Suzuki, Joel Redman & Yuma Aoyagi

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

Joel and Ken start us off. Ken backs him up in the corner off the lock up. Joel wristlocks him and Ken does it back. Joel tries to roll out of it then side headlocks Ken. Joel shoulders him over then backslides him for 1.

Joel handstands in the corner, hops over Ken's back and rolls him up for 2. Ken then goes out. Suzuki and Sho go at it. Sho back body drops him and Suzuki tags out. Mu and Yuma go at it. Mu dodges lock-ups. Yuma boots and side headlocks him.

Yuma shoulders him over and stomps on him. Mu hits a step up enzugiri and basement dropkicks him. SY and Abe go at it. SY takes Abe down and runs the ropes. SY running dropkicks him in the knee then snapmares him. SY is tripped into an elbow drop.

Yuma takes corner attacks then SY tornado ddt's Abe off of Yuma. Yuma is thrown into a boot from Mu on the outside. Yuma is put on the 2nd rope and Mu dropkicks him. Yuma takes a double shoulder then Ken facekicks Abe off the apron. Abe gets in and Ken slaps him. 

Yuma takes a battering ramn and a double bulldog for 2. Yuma dropkicks SY and tags in Abe. SY hits kicks on Abe then Abe facekicks Ken off the apron. Abe slaps SY then takes a scissors kick from him. Ken dropkicks Abe in the knee and the side of the head.

Ken takes corner attacks and a PK from Abe for 2. Ken and Abe trade strikes. Abe baseball punches him then Suzuki spinning lariats Abe when Ken moves. Sho germans Suzuki then Sho takes a rock bottom from Yuma. Yuma brainbusters Abe on accident then SY dropkicks Yuma out. SY asai moonsaults outside. Mu top rope splashes Abe. Ken straightjacket germans Abe and wins.

Thoughts: It wasn't super serious, just like the first match. They did try to entertain though with Abe and Ken getting feisty with each other and some comedy thrown in. It was a throwaway tag though and nothing of note.

Saito Brothers (Jun Saito & Senor Saito) vs. ELPIDA (Rising HAYATO & Ryuki Honda)

Rising and Senor go at it. Rising wristlocks him. Senor stomps on his feet then bites his fingers. Rising headflips out of the wristlock. Senor takes him down then Rising spinning headscissors him out.

Honda and Jun go at it. Jun boots him on the ropes and takes a shoulderblock. Honda chokes Jun on the ropes and counts along with the ref on the break. Jun facekicks Honda and Honda takes a double footchoke in the corner.

Honda gets hit on the outside. Senor chokes Honda on the ropes with his leg and counts along with the ref like Honda does. Honda forearms Senor over for it. They trade forearms. Senor goes down but kicks Honda in the crotch on the fall. Senor then pretends that Honda kicked him in the crotch but holding his leg there.

Jun back elbows and elbow drops Honda for 2. Honda hits forearms on Jun. Jun facekicks Honda and suplexes him for 2. Honda spears Jun from the side then tags in Rising. Risng jumps off of Jun's back and dropkicks Senor. Rising runs the ropes and asai moonsaults Jun for 2.

Jun facekicks Rising over. Senor is tagged in and he lariats over Rising after an atomic drop. Rising chops on Senor. Senor takes a double team and a double suplex for 2.

Honda takes corner attacks and Jun hiptosses him. Senor legdrops Honda and Rising breaks it up. Jun takes a superkick then a Honda lariat. Senor takes a leg lariat and a spinebuster for 2. Rising springboard plancha's Jun outside and Honda running one-arm powerbombs Senor to win.

Thoughts: Like the first two matches, it also wasn't super serious. It was about average here and forgettable.

Honda dances some after like he did the other day. 

AJPW World Junior Heavyweight Title Match - Naruki Doi (c) vs. Hikaru Sato

This was all comedy for the most part with Sato losing his pants and wrestling in a thong. Doi ended up winning with a roll up. It's one thing to turn a normal match into a joke but this was a title match and those should never be treated as jokes. I hated this.

Dan Tamura comes out and has words for both on the mic. Doi and Dan seem to set up a match.

Royal Road Tournament 2024 First Round Match - Kuma Arashi vs. Rei Saito

They lock up. Kuma side headlocks him and they shoulder battle. They fight over a double knuckle lock and Kuma suplexes him over. Rei shoulders Kuma over. Kuma is sent into the rails outside. Rei blocks a slam and headbutts Kuma.

Rei foot chokes Kuma and blocks his slam. Rei slams Kuma then stands on his gut. Rei slams him then splashes him for 2. Rei misses a corner charge and Kuma slams him. Kuma then falls down off of it.

Kuma stands on Rei's gut. Rei shoulders Kuma into the corner and hits machine gun chops. Rei hits a corner lariat then Kuma crossbodies him. Kuma racks him and drops him off of it. Kuma sentons Rei off the 2nd buckle then misses a top rope senton.

They shoulderblock battle and Rei crossbodies him for 2. Kuma suplexes Rei and Rei hits a big lariat for 2. Rei powerbombs Kuma and wins.

Rei drinks beer and talks on the mic after.

Thoughts: It was an average hoss match. They didn't try for anything great here and it never got to that level. It was pretty concise and to the point and we didn't get a lot of false finishes and big battles for the win.

Royal Road Tournament 2024 First Round Match - Davey Boy Smith Jr. vs. Hokuto Omori

They lock up. Davey side headlocks him then shoulders him over. Omori rolls under the ring then comes throug hthe other side and dropkicks him. Omori knocks him off the apron. Davey slams him and legdrops him. Davey water wheel drops him for 2 then chinlocks him.

Omori ropebreaks off a headscissors. Davey side slams him and misses a legdrop. Yuma works the ankle and has his head banged off the buckles. Davey hits forearms then powerslams Omori.

Davey chinlocks him. They each hit a forearm and Omori slams Davey. Omori dropkicks Davey in the knee several times and flatliners him for 2. Davey suplexes him. They trade forearms and Omori goes down. Omori hurricanrana's him and cutters him for 2. Omori suplexes Davey.

Omori gets caught on the buckles and Davey 2nd rope powerslams him for 2. Davey backdrops Omori for 2. Davey sitout powerbombs Omori and wins.

Thoughts: It wasn't that good. Davey matches aren't generally super exciting. I thought he let Omori throw him around a bit too much and Omori could have done more underhanded things to get the cheap advantage over the bigger guy.

Davey does a promo after. He says it's a big win and a sign of things to come. He says he's taking the cup then has his eyes on the triple crown. He says he will destroy whoever the champ is and says he's the future champ.

Royal Road Tournament 2024 First Round Match - Ren Ayabe vs. Yuma Anzai

They lock up and Ren messes with Yuma's hair on the ropes. Yuma then does it to him after a boot. Ren knees him and side headlocks him. Ren shoulders him over then Yuma dropkicks him. Ren then shoulders him over and out.

Ren's head is banged off the apron. They trade forearms outside. Yuma springboards off the rail with a forearm. They trade more forearms outside and Ren is sent into the rails.

Yuma facelocks him on the rails and hits knees to the chest while Ren lays on the apron. Yuma sleepers him and Ren ropebreaks. Yuma boots him out of the corner then is dropkicked as he sits on the top rope. Yuma is thrown into the seats. 

Yuma is thrown into the rails by Ren around the ring. Ren gets 2 count on him at 10 minutes. Yuma hits forearms and Ren slams him. Ren misses a facekick and goes over the top. Yuma running knees him off the apron.

Yuma corner forearms him and belly to belly suplexes him for 2. Ren hits forearms then Yuma dropkicks him. They trade forearms and Ren back body drops him. Ren facekicks him on the ropes.

Ren full-nelson bombs him on the apron. Inside, Yuma hits a double underhook suplex after taking some running shots. Yuma is caught on the buckles then Ren superplexes him. Yuma no sells it and flying knees him.

They trade forearms and Ren flying neckbreakers him. Ren running facekicks him for 2. Ren traps both arms behind Yuma's back and dragon sleepers him. Yuma ropebreaks. Yuma germans him then hits a flying knee for 2. Yuma flying knees Ren in the back then germans him for 2.

Ren facekicks him then does a full nelson sitout slam for 2. Yuma cradles him for 2 then running knees him. Yuma runs at him and takes a dropkick. Ren then dragon suplexes him for 2. Ren hits his spinning falcon arrow and picks up the win.

Thoughts: They did try here to do a great match. It was okay but it didn't quite hit the mark. Ren's tall but he's not developed that much as a worker and is a charisma vacuum. You can put him in the right spots but there's only so much he's going to be able to do because of his lack of skill. Yuma tried to sell some and show some spirit but Ren doesn't really know how to work like a big guy and didn't bring much in return. They wasted a bunch of time during the middle of this with people being thrown into the rails and that threw some of this off track.

Overall thoughts: It was not a good night for AJPW. The show was basically half-comedy and half people failing to impress. Sato/Doi was a disgrace. Ren/Yuma was probably the best thing on here but that was no classic either. I would not recommend this.