New Japan Pro Wrestling 4/2/2025 Road to Sakura Genesis 2025 Day 3

New Japan Pro Wrestling 4/2/2025 Road to Sakura Genesis 2025 Day 3

We didn't get to see Day 1 or 2.

Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Katsuya Murashima, Ninja Mack, Oleg Boltin & Toru Yano vs. Great Bash Heel (Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma), Master Wato, Tiger Mask & YOH

Togi misses an attack on Yano then hits corner punches when Yano goes to grab the turnbuckle pad. Yano eye rakes him then is lariated over. Yano somehow botches pulling Togi and Honma down by the hair. Togi then takes bad mongolian chops from Tenzan. Tenzan tries to hit them on Honma but falls down while doing it.

Tenzan hits a bad headbutt then misses an attack. Honma falling headbutt drops him. Yoh boots Tenzan in the gut then Wato hits a mongolian chop on Tenzan. Tiger hits chest kicks on Tenzan.

Tiger headbutts Tenzan and hurts himself. Tenzan shoulders Tiger over. Oleg gets in and double shoulders Togi and Honma over. Oleg does karelin's lift to Tiger. Oleg corner splashes Tiger then does a normal splash on the mat for 2.

Oleg splashes the exposed buckle. Tiger double mule kicks Mack. Mack and Wato each get shots in. Wato and Mack bridge up together. Mack hits chops on him. Mack rolls into Wato on a blown spot. He then superkicks him. Mack takes a flying dropkick to the side of the head from Wato.

KM gets in and hits forearms on Yoh. Yoh is powerslammed by KM for 2. KM crabs Yoh. Yoh dropkicks KM. KM cradles Yoh then rolls him up for 2. KM sunset flips him then his a forearm. Yoh jumps off of Wato's back with an elbow on KM then KM takes a double suplex. Sho taps out KM with the anaconda vice to win.

Thoughts: It wasn't good. The first half of this was bad. Everything Tenzan did looked horrible here and it wasn't like he was doing big moves, he was just pulling people down by the hair. I thought this went a little long too.

Just 4 Guys (TAKA Michinoku & Yuya Uemura) vs. BULLET CLUB War Dogs (Drilla Moloney & SANADA)

Drill beat Taka with the over the shoulder piledriver. They brawled outside to start. Yuya took a nice ride into a seats and had a water bottle smashed into his head. They went back in and Yuya hit a nice dropkick and his offense looked good. Taka moved a bit faster than usual and was put down as expected. It was a pretty average match but the brawling didn't go on for too long and it was tolerable.

Drilla posed with a kid and drank an energy drink after.

TMDK (Hartley Jackson, Kosei Fujita & Robbie Eagles) vs. BULLET CLUB War Dogs (Gabe Kidd, Robbie X & Taiji Ishimori)

RE = Robbie Eagles, KZ = Kosei Fujita

This is the first time we are seeing Robbie X with The War Dogs.

X and RE go at it. They do headlock takeovers and X stops a stand off spot. X slaps him. RE uses the ropes to armdrag him. He then hits a spinning heel kick. X gets his legs split and takes a double chest kick for 2. KF chops X several times.

Taiji trips KF from the outside. Gabe then dropkicks KF. X throws KF out and chops him outside. Taiji chokes RE with a chair. KF takes a double back elbow then X is flipped onto him by Taiji. Gabe chops KF in the corner.

Taiji chops KF then fist drops him. X foot slaps KF around and trades forearms with him. X then takes a step up kick to the face. RE hits chest kicks on Taiji then PK's him. They blow a spot.

RE double flying knees Taiji in the corner. RE 619's his legs then running meteora's him in the corner for 2.  RE misses a 450 off the top. Taiji back kicks him then Taiji handspring corkscrew kicks him. Hart and Gabe come in and shoulder battle.

Gabe shoulders Hart over. Hart suplexes Gabe. Hart corner splashes Gabe and lariats him for 2. Gabe pump kicks Hart. Hart slams him then misses a senton. Gabe sentons Hart for 2.

Gabe suplexes Hart for 2. Four guys get in the ring and start trading kicks. X pele kicks KF. Gabe shoulders over Hart. Hart back body drops him. Hart and Gabe trade forearms. Gabe rebound lariats him. Gabe then piledrivers Hart and wins it.

Thoughts: It went longer than it needed to and wasn't anything too special. Hart was brave to take a piledriver. As expected, the juniors and heavies had their own separate matches going on here.

Los Ingobernables de Japon (BUSHI, Hiromu Takahashi & Tetsuya Naito) vs. United Empire (Callum Newman, Francesco Akira & Jakob Austin Young)

HT = Hiromu Takahashi, CN = Callum Newman

CN and HT go at it. CN runs the ropes fast, ducks a double lariat and facekicks Naito. CN running facekicks HT. Jake hits euros on HT and rakes his eyes with his feet. Jake baseball slides him then stomps him. Akira comes in and flying headscissors HT. Akira top rope crossbodies HT for 2. Akira takes a double team shot.

Akira is then held for a chop from HT. Bushi chops Akira then dropkicks the rope into his leg while it's wrapped around it. Bushi bulldog chokes Akira and Akira ropebreaks.

Naito neckbreakers Akira and Jake gives Naito the middle finger. Akira and Naito trade forearms. Akira leg lariats Naito. CN trips Naito into a double stomp on the back. CN dropkicks Bushi into HT in the corner. CN then PK's Naito for 2. CN and Naito trade forearms.

Naito pop-up spinebusters CN. CN superkicks Naito, is chopped down by HT then kips up and enzugiri's him. Jake hits forearms on HT and is chopped. Jake dropkicks him. Jake 2nd rope dropkicks HT then twisitng suplexes him for 2.

HT blocks a shiranui then hits kicks. Jake enzugiri's him. Naito step up enzugiri's Jake. HT then hits an AA on Jake. Bushi topes CN into the rails.

Jake takes dropkicks to the knees and has his knees banged off the mat. HT dragon screws Jake then figure fours his legs with his arms. HT then grounds him and taps him out.

Thoughts: I don't like HT's figure four variation at all as it looks easy to break and doesn't look like it hurts. It had a decent pace and like always, we didn't see much of Bushi. It was average overall.

CN beats up his opponents after the bell. HT puts his title in CN's face.

Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. Yota Tsuji

YK = Yoshinou Kanemaru

Yota talks on the mic to YK before the match. They then shake hands.

They lock up and YK clean breaks him. They trade wristlocks. YK trips him and side headlocks him. Yota backs up YK in the corner and boots him in the gut. Yota shoulders YK over. Yota side headlock takeovers him and YK headscissors him. Yota handstands out and side headlocks YK.

YK dropkicks Yota in the knee then he bangs Yota's knee off the floor. YK kneebreakers Yota then ties his leg up. Yota ropebreaks. YK stomps and yakes the leg. YK then figure fours him.

Yota hits boots on YK then tilt-a-whirl backbreakers him. Yota hits his curbstomp combo on YK. Yota misses a marlow crash. YK dropkicks Yota in the knee then figure fours him. Yota release suplexes YK then curbstomps him. YK pushes the ref into Yota and dropkicks him in the knee. YK grabs his whiskey bottle. Evil and Dick Togo come out and tell him not to cheat. YK then does a satellite ddt on Yota.

YK kicks him in the knee then takes a pumping knee. Yota lariats him over. Evil then comes in and low blows Yota for the DQ.

Thoughts: Things were going okay then it had to get ruined with House of Torture getting DQ'd. The match was fine otherwise with YK working the knee and Yota making his comeback. What a waste of a decent match though.

The ref is low blowed and the heels beat up Yota after. Yota has chairs chaired into his knee then YK figure fours him as Evil talks trash.

Bishamon (Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI) & El Desperado vs. BULLET CLUB War Dogs (Clark Connors, David Finlay & Gedo)

Clark and Despy trade chops. Clark hits a bunch of chops in a row. They trade more chops and both go down. Yoshi and Gedo gets in. Yoshi hits chops. Gedo pulls him by the hair and rakes the eyes. Goto hiptosses yoshi onto Ged then suplexes Clark onto Gedo.

DF gets in and hits corner boots on Yoshi. He foot chokes him and rakes his face. DF euros Yoshi down then stomps on him. Gedo eye rakes Yoshi. Yoshi and DF trade forearms. Yoshi headhunters him. Goto gets in and shoulders over DF. Goto spinning heel kicks DF in the corner then backdrops him.

Gedo jawbreakers and eye rakes Goto. Goto lariats him from the ropes. Clark bulldogs Despy and Gedo superkicks Despy for 2. Despy sends Gedo into Clark then rolls up Gedo for 2. He goes for a hold and DF breaks it up. Goto ushigoroshi's DF. Gedo flatliners Despy and rolls him up for 2. Despy spinebusters Gedo for 2 then stretch mufflers him. Despy then submits him.

Thoughts: It was boring and predictable with Gedo losing. Gedo was in this almost the whole time and that was as interesting as it sounds.

Clark hits Despy with a title after and chokes Despy with a belt. Clark gets on the mic after and asks if we want to see a dead body. He says Despy will be lucky to walk out of Korauken Hall alive this weekend while he will walk out with the belt.

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Shingo Takagi

They trade wristlocks. Tana takes shots to the gut. Tana trips Shingo and ties his legs up. Shingo side headlock takeovers him, Tana headscissors him and they stand off. Tana hits him in the gut and side headlocks him. Shingo shoulders him over. Shingo misses a senton.

Tana goes up on the buckles then Shingo backdrops him down. Tana's head is banged off the apron. Shingo misses a senton on Tana. Shingo knee drops him. Tana dragon screws Shingo. Tana elbow drops Shingo's leg then ties it up.

Tana dragon screws Shingo. Shingo punches and lariats him. Shingo shoulders him over and sentons him for 2. Shingo takes shots, powers up and dragon screws Tana. Shingo knees him in the gut then sliding lariats him. 

Shingo then ddt's him. Shingo hits another ddt then Tana hits a twist and shout. Shingo then hits Tana's slingblade. Tana slingblades Shingo for 2. Shingo superplexes Tana. Shingo death valley drivers Tana.

The two trade shots and Tana straightjacket germans him for 2. Tana dragon suplexes Shingo. Shingo no sells. Tana slingblades him. Shingo lariats him over.

They lariat each other at the same time. Shingo hits a forearm combo. Tana slaps him and Shingo headbutts him over. Tana hits a twist and shout. Tana slingblades him then hits a top rope crossbody. Tana misses a top rope splash.

They trade headbutts. Tana hits slaps. Shingo hits a last of the dragon. Shingo running lariats him for 2. Shingo hits a death valley driver and wins.

Shingo then talks on the mic after.

Thoughts: I wasn't a big fan of it. It went long. Tana worked the knee early and forgot about it. There was some no selling and Shingo took it easy on Tana, not really doing some of his usual drops on him. It wasn't awful but it could have been done better.

Overall thoughts: We got 2 singles matchs here today. Yota/Kanemaru was on the right track then had a DQ finish. They did what they could in the main but it had selling issues, not effort issues. The other matches weren't too much of note and it was your average NJPW house show. I'd give it a 5 out of 10 and wouldn't recommend it.