New Japan Pro Wrestling 12/22/2024 Road to Tokyo Dome 2024 Day 4

New Japan Pro Wrestling 12/22/2024 Road to Tokyo Dome 2024 Day 4

We didn't get to see Days 1-3 in case you were wondering.

Chase Your Dream Match - Hiromu Takahashi vs. Shoma Kato

Kato running dropkicks him in the corner and hits a forearm flurry. Kato slams him then hits a dropkick. Kato crabs him. HT sends him into the rails outside. HT hits chops. Kato hits forearms. HT chops him over. They trade shots. HT half-crabs him and Kato ropebreaks.

Kato misses a cropkick and cradles him for 2. HT lariats him over. HT half-crabs him then taps him out with a full crab.

Thoughts: It was a short opening rookie vs vet match as expected. HT won. Kato showed some spirit here but it wasn't that notable.

Satoshi Kojima vs. Oleg Boltin

They lock up. Oleg chops him and is put in a side headlock. They shoulder battle and Koji shoulders him over. Oleg picks him up and slams him down. Oleg stomps on him then slams him. Oleg hits corner spears. Oleg misses a corner splash. Koji hits a chop flurry.

Koji flying forearms him in the corner. Koji 2nd rope elbow drops him. Koji ddt's him. 

Oleg corner splashes him then shoulders him over. Oleg hits a big splash for 2. Oleg slams him down then karelin's lifts him. Oleg misses a vader bomb. Koji cutters him. Oleg hits a dropkick. Oleg hits an AA for 2. Oleg hits a lariat then takes one. Oleg finlay rolls him and pins him.

Thoughts: I didn't like Koji losing so quickly here or just from a finlay roll. I especially didn't like it since Koji is the MLW champ. What we got was okay but barely a taste of what this should have been. And that's all on the bookers.

United Empire (Jakob Austin Young & Jeff Cobb) vs. House Of Torture (Ren Narita & Yujiro Takahashi) vs. TMDK (Hartley Jackson & Ryohei Oiwa)

HoT attack UE with weapons before it starts. The ref sees it and doesn't care. Ren bangs Oiwa's head off the apron. Yujiro foot chokes Hart and Ren eye rakes Hart. Hart hits a double lariat.

Oiwa running back elbows Ren. Ren facekicks him then Oiwa lariats him over. Oiwa hits a bakcdrop. Jake hits a facekick on Oiwa and Cobb germans Oiwa. Cobb and Hart trade forearms. Cobb dropkicks Hart out. Cobb spin cycle backdrops Oiwa for 2. Cobb then standing moonsaults him.

Jake boots Oiwa out of the corner and 2nd rope dropkicks him. Jake running euros Oiwa in the corner. Oiwa back elbows Jake. Ren hits Jake with the push-up board and facebusters him to win.

Thoughts: It was short and stupid. HoT used a weapon on their opponents before it started and the ref didn't care. HoT then won by cheating. Add in this being a 3-way and there wasn't a whole lot to this.

Oiwa and Cobb fight over HoT after. Hart gets involved. The heels then hit them with a push-up board.

Christmas music plays. Jado is dressed up as Santa and has someone dressed up as a reindeer. Jado says he ha sa christmas present for Ren. It's a cell phone maybe? EL Phantasmo's music hits and he comes out. ELP goes after the heels and the heels go out.

ELP gets on the mic after. He says he beat cancer. HoT attacks ELP and Jado. Jado and ELP knock the heels down. Jado says ELP will wrestle tommorrow and is free at the Tokyo Dome. ELP grabs the Television title that Ren has. Oiwa and Cobb come in and ELP calls to make the 3-way match for the title at the Dome a 4-way match. Ren runs out, ELP, Oiwa and Cobb fist bump on it.

El Desperado & Master Wato vs. Just 4 Guys (DOUKI & TAKA Michinoku)

Douki flips out of a hiptoss. Despy turns a hiptoss into an armdrag. They butt heads and stare down. They trade forearms. Douki dropkicks Despy in the knee then ddt's the leg. Despy and Taka trade. Taka boots him in the knee then elbow drops the leg.

Taka legbars him. Despy has his legs split. Despy forearms Douki and takes a boot to the knee. Despy spinebusters Douki. Wato slams and elbow drops Douki. Wato hits elbows on Douki's neck.

Despy powerslams Douki. Douki flying headscissors him off the buckles. Taka gets in and pump kicks Wato and Despy. Taka running knees Wato then facelocks him. Wato hits a zig zag on him. Despy makes Taka eye poke himself then he backdrops him. Despy dragon screws Taka then stretch mufflers him. Douki breaks it up.

Douki gets dropkicked by Wato then Wato tope con hilos him. Taka kicks Despy in the shin and gets a 2 count. Taka knees him in the face. Despy stretch mufflers Taka while holding the arm. Taka taps out.

Thoughts: It was average. There was nothing really special about this one and it didn't get that much time.

Robbie Eagles vs. Drilla Moloney vs. Francesco Akira vs. Kevin Knight

Akira takes a dropkick to start. DM chops KK. RE dropkicks DM then KK frogsplashes DM. RE headlock takeovers over KK and is put in a headscissors. The opposite then happens and KK shoulders him over. KK takes a double back elbow and a basement dropkick + kick to the back.

Akira and RE trade armdrags. RE legsweeps him. Akira forearms DM off the apron. Akira tries to plancha him but lands on DM's leg. KK goes to jump off the rail but DM pushes him back.

DM chops Akira outside. DM backbreakers Akira. Akira  walks off his opponents shoulders and headscissors DM. RE spin kicks Akira. KK dropkicks RE. RE does an elbow to the back of the head + basement dropkick combo. RE standing shiranui's DM. RE is up top. KK jumps up top. We then get a tower of doom variation. 

KK lariats all 3 opponents. KK springboards and takes a double superkick. Akira rolls up RE into a double stomp. Akira superkicks DM then tope con hilos outside. Akira hits a side flipping underhook ddt. DM sends Akira into the ref. Clark Connors comes out and chairs Akira. He htne spears KK. RE springboards and takes a spinebuster from DM. TJP then comes out to help.

RE and DM try pins on each other. RE then pins him.

Thoughts: It was too short for how many people were involved and had shenanigans. It was acceptable until the finishing stretch which brought this down. 

Kushida also comes out after and the wrestlers all stand off. DM gets on the commentary mic after. He says we have 2 weeks left until he gets his gold back and tells Robbie Eagles not to get too happy.

Los Ingobernables de Japon (BUSHI, Shingo Takagi & Yota Tsuji) vs. BULLET CLUB War Dogs (David Finlay, Gedo & SANADA)

Yota and DF lock-up. They grab each other by the hair and roll on the ropes. DF bites him and Yota armdrags him. Yota trips him and does a basement dropkick. Bushi topes Yota on accident when the heels move and the fight goes outside. Sanada and Shingo fight in the stands. Sanada throws him into the wall. DF eye rakes Sanada. 

DF rips up a mask Bushi had with him. Bushi takes a double team in the ring. Jado armlocks Bushi. Sanada snapmares Bushi then unties his mask. Bushi hits forearms on Sanada. Sanada drops down and kicks him in the crotch. Bushi then falls down and headbutts Sanada in the crotch.

Shingo misses a senton on Sanada, counters a double team then slams DF onto Sanada. Shingo then sentons Sanada. Sanada tries to kick Shingo as he gets in the ring. Shingo initially stops it then gets the rope kicked into his crotch. 

Shingo armdrags DF then ddt's him. Yota tilt-a-whirl backbreakers DF. Yota corner splashes him then flying headscissors him. Yota shoulders him over and splashes him for 2. DF irish curse backbreakers Yota for 2. DF lariats Yota.

Gedo eye rakes Yota then hits punches. Yota curbstomps him. Shingo kicks the crotch into Sanada's crotch. Bushi topes Sanada outside. Gedo takes corner attacks and a pumping knee. Yota spears Gedo and wins.

Thoughts: It was about average. The heels did their heel shtick as usual and we had brawling in the stands. The faces made their comeback and won eventually.

DF nails Yota after and powerbombs Shota Kato. Yota blocks overkill and trades forearms with DF. Yota hits a big spear.

Hiroshi Tanahashi & Shota Umino vs. TMDK (Kosei Fujita & Zack Sabre Jr.)

Shota wristlocks Zack. Zack bridges out and takes him down by the wrist. Shota throws him over by the arm. Shota pulls Zack's arms back. Shota misses an enzugiri then armdrags Zack. Zack headscissors him, misses a takedown and they stare down.

Kosei and Tana get in. They try to kick each other at the same time and catch each other's boot. Kosei hits a chop and step up kicks him. Everyone gets in and Shota shoulders Zack over. Tana chops Kosei. Kosei no sells it and chops him back. Kosie dragon screws him and kips up.

Zack euros Tana then Kosei chops Tana down. Kosei and Zack grab Tana's limbs and rotate. Tana's arms are stomped into the mat. Zack twists Tana's foot. Kosei and Tana trade then both go down. Shota dropkicks Kosei in the knee then dropkicks Zack. Shota fisherman suplexes Kosei for 2.

Shota and Zack trade chops. Zack pele kicks the arm and dropkicks Shota in the back of the head. Shota holds his ankle after. Shota exploders Zack. Tana is tagged in. He dragon screws Zack. Zack abdominal stretches Tana and Tana dragon screws him. Tana goes for the texas cloverleaf on Zack. Zack triangles Tana. Shota breaks it up.

Kosei srpingboard dropkicks Shota. Zack gets a 2 count on Tana and twists his neck with his feet. Zack hits a michinoku driver on Tana and wins.

Thoughts: It was just so-so. Shota got hurt here which sucked some of the life out of it and they had to come up with a new plan for the rest of the match. Some of the Shota/Zack sections were okay but not enough to make this great. 

Shota and Zack stare down after.

NJPW King Of Pro-Wrestling Title Best of Taichi KOPW Best Two Out Of Three Falls Match - Great-O-Khan (c) vs. Taichi

1st Fall - This is under Sumo rules but you have to throw your opponent out of the ring to win. There's no ropes. They charge at each other and grab their belts. Khan throws him down. Tai tries to push him out. Khan does a fireman's carry takeover. Tai hip throws him near the apron and Khan goes out. Tai wins the fall. 

They put the ropes back on. Yoshinobu Kanemaru comes out to be the referee. He brings whiskey with him. 

2nd Fall - Kanemaru is the ref. This was all shenanigans early on with YK fast counting when Khan needed a break and slow counting when Tai needed a break. YK watched Tai get sent into an exposed buckle and pushed the rope away from him when he tries to break. Khan hits mongolian chops to the back. Khan sits on Tai's neck in the corner. Khan the puts YK on Tai's neck. Tai side kicks him. Tai does a stretch plum.

Khan hip throws him. Tai gamengiri's him in the corner. YK eye rakes Tai and holds him for a shot from Khan. YK corner attacks Tai then dropkicks him in the back. YK holds down Khan on Tai on the pin attempt. YK gives Khan whiskey.  Khan spits whiskey at YK on accident. Tai rolls up Khan but YK is out and can't count. Khan hits Tai with the bottle and claws him. YK calls for the bell and says Tai is out. Khan wins the first fall.

Khan then gives YK money after. 

Tai gets on the mic. He says he will get down and dirty with him if he wants and says they don't need a ref. Tai says they don't need lumberjacks for this fall.

3rd Fall - This is under last man standing, falls count anywhere rules. Khan sends him into the rails outside. They go into the stands. Tai pushes Khan off the stage in the seats then crossbodies him. They go back into the stands. Tai is thrown int othe seats. Khan hits him with some kind of piece of metal. Khan suplexes Tai on chairs.

Khan throws Tai through an exit door. Khan sheep killers him in the stands. Khan is whipped into the wall. Tai ddt's Khan on the floor. Tai is sent into the rails. Khan hits him with a cane. Khan puts Tai on a car with a table and bowls him into chairs.

Khan chairs Tai. A table is under the platform/stage they are on. Tai chairs Khan. Tai chokeslams Khan off the platform through a table and Khan likely hits his head on the landing. 

Khan makes it to his feet. Tai running lariats him twice. Khan shoulder throws him then lariats him. Tai and Khan lariat each other at the same time. Khan pump kicks him. They trade shots. Khan hits a big forearm then grounded guillotine chokes him. Khan lets go and the 10 count starts for Tai. Tai gets up, hits a forearm and a backdrop. Khan superman punches him and takes an enzugiri.

Khan blocks a superkick and hits a claw slam. Both are down and both can't answer the 10 count to get up.  They award the match to Khan.

Thoughts: I had low expectations for this and the match met them. It was long, slow and really not that serious. There was nothing good about this.

Overall thoughts: It didn't look like a great card and wasn't. The main was awful as expected and nothing else on here was that good. Shota maybe got injured in the semi-main which is a big problem as he's supposed to main event the Tokyo Dome show in 2 weeks. I'd give it a 4 out of 10 and would not recommend it.