New Japan Pro Wrestling 12/23/2024 Road to Tokyo Dome 2024 Day 5

New Japan Pro Wrestling 12/23/2024 Road to Tokyo Dome 2024 Day 5

Day 4 is here: https://prowresblog.blogspot.com/2024/12/new-japan-pro-wrestling-12222024-road.html

Chase Your Dream Match - Hiromu Takahashi vs. Katsuya Murashima

HT = Hiromu Takahashi, KM = Katsuya Murashima

KM misses a dropkick and is put in a half-crab. HT stomps. HT chops him down multiple times. HT slams him. KM hits forearms and dropkicks him. KM shoulders him over for 2.

KM forearms him then flying forearms him. KM powerslams him for 2. KM crabs him. HT back elbows him and basement dropkicks him for 2. HT lariats him. HT puts another crab on and taps him out.

Thoughts: It was the usual rookie vs vet match and wasn't anything of note. KM showed some fire and really didn't get much in but some strikes.

Tetsuya Niato comes out and tries to fight with Hiromu. He evades him, poses and takes a basement dropkick to the head. HT talks to him on the mic after. He says it seems his eye surgery was a success. HT says he's going to crush him.  

Hartley Jackson vs. Jeff Cobb

They lock up. Cobb side headlocks him and they shoulder battle. Hart shoulders him over. Cobb dropkicks him. They trade forearms outside. They lariat battle. Cobb pushes him into the rails. Hart lariats him over.

Hart hits forearms then takes one. Hart suplexes him. Cobb superkicks him then throws him on a suplex. Cobb misses a standing moonssault and is lariated. Hart sentons him. Cobb flying euros him in the corner then does a nice suplex. Hart tries to power up and Cobb uranages him.

Hart powers up and is lariated. Cobb hits a tour of the islands slam.

Thoughts: You could kind of tell they weren't going to let them go all out and do a classic here. What we got was okay and they had the idea of what this hoss match should be but it got under 10 minutes and was only going to be so good because of it. It would have been nice to see a little more fire and stiffness out of the two also.

Intergalactic Jet Setters (Kevin Knight & KUSHIDA) vs. Ichiban Sweet Boys (Kosei Fujita & Robbie Eagles)

KK wristlocks Kosei then Kosei reverses it. KK side headlock takeovers him and they stand off. KK wristlocks him and Kosei side headlocks him. They stand off.

Kush and RE go at it. Kush takes him down and rides his back. Kush wristlocks him, RE flips out and rolls him up. They stand off. Kush side headlocks him. Kush does a stretch on him and KK splashes RE's back while he's held.

KK abdominal stretches RE. KK is tripped and takes some double team moves. Kush gets his legs split and takes a double kick. RE and KK are double dropkicked off the apron and RE does a tope con hilo. Clark Connors and Drilla Maloney then hit everyone with chairs and cause a DQ.

Thoughts: We didn't get much here before the DQ.

Akira Francisco and TJP come out to make the save.  

Catch 22 (Francesco Akira & TJP) vs. BULLET CLUB War Dogs (Clark Connors & Drilla Moloney)

This match starts during the brawl from the last match. RE and Kosei beat up Clark outside and KK stomps on Drilla. The ref then throws this one out.

TJP does a baseball slide to the outside while Akira tope con hilos outside. Clark and Drilla use chairs and Drilla sends the refs into the rails.

Two tables are put next to each other. The heels get thwarted and Clark is hit with a ladder. Kevin brings out an even bigger ladder and considers doing a swanton to the heels off of it through tables but the heels move.

Kosei and Kush get on the mic after. Kush wants a TLC match but calls it a desk, ladders and chairs match. Kevin then makes the official challenge for a TLC match.

El Desperado, Master Wato & Satoshi Kojima vs. Just 4 Guys (DOUKI, Taichi & TAKA Michinoku)

Despy and Douki go at it. Douki goes up and over then Despy does the same. Despy backdrops him. Douki takes a double back elbow then Wato jumps over Despy's back and butt drops Douki in the gut. Wato bulldogs Douki.

Koji comes in and machine gun chops Douki and Taka. Koji corner forearms Douki. Tai then breaks it up. Taka hits machine gun chops on Koji and eye pokes him. Taka step up knees Koji in the corner.

Tai grabs his selfie stick with his phone on it and films himself doing a foot choke to Koji. Tai machine gun chops Koji. Koji then does it to him. Tai does it back to him.

Koji hits a cutter on Tai. Douki and Despy get in. Despy hits a spinebuster and Douki does a douki chokey. Douki suplexes Despy for 2. Despy takes corner attack and a double kick from his opponents. Wato hits kicks on Douki and Taka. Wato takes a face kick + double cross chop combo. Wato rolls up Taka for 2. Taka gets a nearfall on Despy. Despy hits an angel's wings on Taka and wins.

Thoughts: It was short and not that much of note. They goofed around here mostly with everyone trying Kojima's machine gun chops.

El Phantasmo, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Oleg Boltin, Tomoaki Honma & Toru Yano vs. House Of Torture (EVIL, Ren Narita, SHO, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Yujiro Takahashi)

Evil points scissors at Tana and Tana hits Evil. The heels are all sent out while Tana punches Evil in the gut. YK and Evil are sent into each other and take a double dropkick to the knees. YK goes into the exposed buckle and is pulled down backwards.

Honma headbutt drops YK on the back. Honma ddt's YK. Evil sends Tana into the rails outside. Evil pulls on Tana's foot in the stands. Evil sends Tana into the post. Ren stomps on Tana's leg. Evil pulls Tana's leg around the ropes.

Tana hits forearms on Ren. Ren leglocks him. YK works on Tana's leg and Tana has his legs pslit. Evil foot slaps Tana then eye rakes him. Tana is sent into the exposed buckle and hits a twist and shout on Evil.

Tana eye rakes and dragon screws Sho. Oleg gets in and shoulders over Sho. Oleg then shoulders over 2 others. Sho tries to flying spear Oleg but just bounces off of him. Oleg hits karelin's lift on him. Oleg spinning slams Ren then splashes him for 2. 

YK rakes Oleg's eyes. Oleg is clipped then thrown into the exposed buckle. Oleg hits a double suplex. ELP hits forearms on Ren then hits corner punches on him. ELP twisting crossbodies Ren then asai moonsaults him. ELp jack knifes Ren for 2 and step up enzugiri's him.

Ren running facekicks ELP. ELP takes corner attacks then takes a Togo chop to the crotch for 2. Ren hits Tana with a push up board. ELP superkicks Ren. ELP punches Yujiro in the crotch then superkicks him. ELP rope walk splashes Yujir oand wins.

Thoughts: It was your usual face vs heel match here with the heels cheating and using weapons. It was about as average as it gets. At least ELP got the win on his return here.

The faces get nailed from behind after. Evil tries to cut Tana's hair after. Tana gets the scissors from him and goes for it. Dick Togo chokes Tana with a weapon and Evil cuts off a good bit of Tana's hair.

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

 

The heels attack before it starts and we go outside of the ring. DF rakes at Yota's face and Shingo's head is banged off the sign. Bushi gets on top of the aisle structure in the stands and dives on a young lion when Gedo moves. DF pounds on Yota with a chain.

DF forearms Yota down and hits boots. DF euros him over. DF suplex throws him. Yota is thrown out and rammed into the rails. Yota hits forearms on Sanada. Sanada eye rakes him. Sanada dropkicks him in the knee. Yota tilt-a-whirl backbreakers him.

Shingo hits a double lariat. Shingo atomic drops Sanada. Sanada drops down and kicks him low. Shingo twisting neckbreakers DF. Bushi gets in. He dropkicks DF and Gedo in the knee. He then topes DF. DF uranage backbreakers Bushi for 2.  

Shingo shoulders over DF. Sanada avoids a ddt and hits a basement dropkick. Bushi does a bulldog + dropkick combo. Bushi dropkicks DF. Bushi rewind kicks DF, takes a lariat then takes overkill. DF picks up the win.

Thoughts: I'm not a big fan of the overkill finish. It just doesn't look that strong. This wasn't that much and we didn't really see anyone's best here except maybe Bushi.

Yota and DF fight after. Yota pumping knees him then takes a low blow from Gedo. DF hits Yota with the shillelagh. DF hits overkill on Yota.

Shota Umino & Tomohiro Ishii vs. TMDK (Ryohei Oiwa & Zack Sabre Jr.)

 

Shota seems to be okay after appearing to be injured yesterday. Zack and Oiwa start us off. They go for basic holds. Zack bridges out of a wristlock and crawls through his legs. Zack full-nelsons him.

Shota misses an enzugiri, armdrags him and is headscissored. Zack misses a kick and they stand off. Oiwa yanks on Shota's arm then shoulders him over. Oiwa forearms Ishii on the apron. Ishii gets in, they butt heads and trade forearms. Oiwa armdrags him then takes a double shoulder. Shota shoulders Zack over.

Zack knocks Ishii off the apron. Zack stomps Shota's arm then Oiwa amrlocks Shota. Zack twists Shota's arm and fingers. Shota dropkicks Oiwa in the arm. Ishii gets in and hits Zack on the apron. He sends Oiwa into Zack then shoulders Oiwa over. Oiwa hits forearms on Ishii. Ishii chops him.

Oiwa armdrags and dropkicks Ishii. He then falling splashes him. They trade forearms. Ishii suplexes him. Zack and Shota gets in. Zack hits a facekick and Shota dropkicks him. Shota fisherman suplexes him for 2. 

Shota goes stf's Zack. Zack ropebreaks. Zack takes a reverse ddt + powerbomb combo. Shota goes for a running euro and Zack armbars him. Zack ties up Shota's arms. Zack boots around Shota and they trade euros. Zack stumbles. Zack hits some slaps then Shota slaps him back. Shota running euros him for 2. Zack pele kicks the arm and PK's him.

Ishii euros Oiwa over and trades with him after Oiwa cheap shots him. Ishii forearms him over. Oiwa hits a weird half-gutwrench/half-vertical suplex on Ishii. They trade germans. Ishii spinning lariats him.

Zack chest kicks Ishii. Oiwa is double teamed and takes an exploder. Shota hits ignition on Oiwa and Zack twists Shota's neck with his feet to break it. Zack and Ishii evade each other in a fun sequence and Zack slaps him down.

Oiwa corner dropkicks Shota and Zack lariats Shota. Oiwa olympic slams/backdrops Shota. Oiwa germans Shota for 2 then sleepers him. Zack and Shota are pushed into each other and take stereo germans. Zack PK's Ishii. Ishii flips him wit ha lariat then Oiwa dropkicks Ishii. Shota dropkicks Oiwa then hits a cross rhodes.

Zack twists Shota's neck with his feet and Shota tornado ddt's him. Zack michinoku drivers Shota. Oiwa lariats Shota over for 2. Oiwa top rope splashes Shota for 2. Ishii double lariats his opponents and tries to fight off the 2v1.

Zack takes a dropkick into a german and goes out. Ishii hits Shota on accident. Oiwa lariats both opponents. Ishii headbutts Oiwa and Oiwa lariats him. Oiwa doctor bombs Shota for 2. Oiwa sleepers Shota. Shota double underhook ddt's Oiwa and wins.

Thoughts: Now this is the type of main event we should be seeing every night from NJPW. This was a great tag. We got some fun sequences, we got some double teams and lots of stiffness. It was kind of like two different singles matches during the first half but then it all cam together and turned out great. This was the best match NJPW has had in a long time and was probably the best match of Shota's career so far. I felt like this did more for Shota than anything else did this year and if it was me, I'd run this back a couple of times. You gotta go see this one.

Shota holds the title up at Zack then Zack holds the title up at him. They have fake snow come from the ceiling after. Shota thanks him for being a strong champ and says he has gratitude for him. He says he needs the title. He says 2024 belongs to Zack but 2025 belongs to him. Zack says ganbatte and that's it. Shota asks if we love wrestling and says he will make 2025 even hotter.

Overall thoughts: It was a one match show here with NJPW only letting the main be something special. The main was one of NJPW's better matches in a while and is worth a look. The four matched up well, they were stiff and they were in front of a nice crowd. Cobb/Jackson didn't get the time to be great sadly though they had the right idea. The juniors stuff in the midcard was a waste of time and the House of Torture match was the usual stuff but had Evil cut Tana's hair after. I'd give this one a 5 out of 10 and would recommend the main event.