Fukuoka PayPay Dome sees massive card May 1
A long running staple for May in New Japan Pro-Wrestling, Fukuoka has paid host to Wrestling Dontaku, coinciding with the annual Dontaku Festival, for decades. In 2022 though, the 50th Anniversary celebrations for New Japan have seen the event move from its regular home of the Fukuoka International Center, to the grand stage where the event was born. The PayPay Dome will see Dontaku for the first time since 2001, and to suit the big building, a big card has been prepared.
Watch Wrestling Dontaku LIVE in English May 1 on NJPW World!
Main Event: IWGP World Heavyweight Championship: Kazuchika Okada vs Tetsuya Naito
Singles record: 6-6, championship record: 5-2 Okada
The third clash between Kazuchika Okada and Tetsuya Naito in 2022 headlines in the PayPay Dome, as Tetsuya Naito gets his second chance at the IWGP World heavyweight Championship this year.
For Naito, that title, sitting around the waist of the indomitable Rainmaker, represents a grander prize than the gold itself, that of a place in the main event in the Tokyo Dome on January 4 2023. Moreover it represents the right to be in the main event on the regular for Naito, and the opportunity to show himself at his best, while there’s still time in his career to be able to do so.
The increasing freneticism with which Naito has pursued that prize is something that is distinctly ‘non-tranquilo,’ something that Okada has gleefully observed. Attempting to pull the strings of his challenger, Okada dared Naito to try and hit him with Destino when he called El Ingobernable out at Hyper Battle; though Okada was pinned by Naito during the New Japan Cup, it was via the Polvo De Estrella rollup, and the champion knows that naito7s ego will compel him to go big for an emphatic victory, potentially making a mistake in the process.
Neither Okada nor Naito make many mistakes in Fukuoka. Since returning to NJPW as the Rainmaker in 2012, Okada has only lost six times in 24 matches in the town over a decade span. That includes just one singles loss, to AJ Styles at Dontaku 2014, where Yujiro Takahashi interfered and defected from CHAOS to BULLET CLUB. Funnily enough, it was at Takahashi’s hands that Naito suffered his last Fukuoka singles defeat, almost 11 years ago in the 2011 G1 Climax; just another factor that links our two combatants here tonight.
Now at six wins apiece, the pressure for both men to not just leave with the title, but leave with a slim advantage over their foe is tangible. Just who will pull up to the pay window at the PayPay Dome?
8th Match: IWGP United States Championship: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Tomohiro Ishii
Singles record: 7-1 Tanahashi
The vacant IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship will be filled when Hiroshi Tanahashi meets Tomohiro Ishii in Fukuoka. When SANADA was forced to vacate his US title as a result of his fractured orbital bone, he wanted to pass the title back to its former holder Tanahashi. Yet Will Ospreay, the man who broke that orbital bone in the first place, had other ideas.
Ospreay would be slated to face Tanahashi, but with the Briton testing positive for COVID-19 this week, Ishii will take his place. Having competed in NJPW, AEW and IMPACT rings in the United States over the last week, Ishii’s American activities certainly make him a suitable candidate to face Tanahashi for the vacant title, as does his recent track record, with a commanding victory voer Minoru Suzuki in Chicago. Meanwhile, both Ishii and Tanahashi havebig future matches in the US to come.
After Ishii’s victory over Suzuki, he would be confronted by Eddie Kingston, who challenged Ishii to a battle of Ishii’s breed of Strong Style against the Mad King’s interpretation of King’s Road. Meanhwile, while not officially confirmed for Capital Collision, Jon Moxley has made it very clear that he wants the Ace in Washington; either one of those matches could make for the new champion’s first defence on May 14.
While Tanahashi was in an unfamiliar position of underdog against Ospreay, he is the commanding leader in victories over Ishii. A 7-1 record is a hard mountain to climb for Ishii, who has always brought his absolute best against the Ace. ‘When the original match with the Commonwealth Kingpin was announced, Tanahashi woudl state that ‘there isn’t a statistic I don’t lose out to him in, but knowing that and still overcoming is what makes pro-wrestling exciting’. Could the same be said here, and could it be the Stone Pitbull with the first IWGP branded singles gold of his career?
7th Match: IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship: El Desperado vs Taiji Ishimori
Singles record: 2-1 Desperado championship record 1:0 Desperado
The junior heavyweight festival that is Best of the Super Jr. returns to its rightful May place on the calendar in 2022, but the big question remains of just who will carry the standard of junior heavyweight competition into that tournament. El Desperado will be targeted by Taiji Ishimori in his last defence before the BoSJ tournament, and the Bone Soldier, four years almost to the day into his time in BULLET CLUB, will be looking to get the best of a damaged and potentially distracted champion.
Desperado started his 2022 with a key win over career rival Hiromu Takahashi, before declaring open season on junior heavyweights all over the world. As Despe was making references to the likes of El Lindaman and Francesco Akira however, SHO was making his own challenge, and dominated the champion at Hyper Battle before falling to Pinche Loco in a scrappy defence that saw Desperado forced out of his normal gameplan. The match also nearly forced both the champion’s arm and hip out of their respective sockets to boot, and Ishimori is incredibly well versed in targeting weakened body parts. After a brutal dissection of the champion during the Best of the Super Jr. 28 match between the two that saw Ishimori get his first career victory over Desperado, it’s safe to assume he will be attacking the Suzuki-Gun member with clinical efficiency May 1; can Desperado withstand the punishment and come out still with his title intact?
6th Match: NEVER Openweight Championship: Tama Tonga vs EVIL
Singles record: 3-0 EVIL
Tama Tonga will be taking on EVIL for the foruth time in singles action at Dontaku, but with respective positions very different to any of their prior meetings.
Their first encounter in 2017 had BULLET CLUB’s Tonga face an EVIL then of Los Ingobernables De Japon, before two meetings when both were under the BULLET CLUB banner. G1 Climax 31 saw Tonga naiively believe that he could have a fair fight with his stablemate; he was under no such aspersions in their New Japan Cup enocunter, but did not know that the bout would see the entirety of BULLET CLUB, with the exception of mentor Jado and brother Tanga Loa, betray him.
After Guerrillas of Destiny spent the next month in the factional wilderness, Hyper Battle saw them finally officially welcomed into the Hontai fold by Hiroshi Tanahashi. ‘Now I have a home,’ Tonga would comment ‘It’s time to settle old scores’. The Good Bad Guy quickly sought revenge on EVIL, landing a Gunstun to the NEVER Openweight Champion after he defended his title against Hiromu Takahashi, and it did not take long for this title match to be made official.
Despite a record seven IWGP Tag Team Championship reigns, Tama has never been a singles champion in New Japan Pro-Wrestling. Could this be his time, and can he take the NEVER title from the contemptible HOUSE OF TORTURE?
5th Match: IWGP Tag Team Championships: United Empire (Jeff Cobb & Great-O-Khan) vs BULLET CLUB (Bad Luck Fale & Chase Owens) vs Bishamon (Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI)
Jeff Cobb and Great-O-Khan head back to Japan mid US tour to defend their freshly won IWGP Tag Team Championships against both prevuious champions Bishamon and BULLET CLUB’s Bad Luck Fale and Chase Owens. The new tag champions have declared open season on any number of teams around the world, and already went nose to nose with the Good Brothers during Windy City Riot. Before a global campaign of domination can continue though, they have tough competition in front of them. Often the first defence is the hardest- can Cobb and O-Khan move to V1?
4th Match: IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championships: Six or Nine (Master Wato & Ryusuke Taguchi) vs Suzuki-Gun (Yoshinobu Kanemaru & DOUKI)
Many pundits doubted whether Team Six or Nine’s IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Championship victory back in February would lead to a sustained reign. The champions picked up the win in a hectic four way match, but questioned circled whether the fresh team would be able to keep the momentum going through multiple defences.
At Hyper Battle however, Taguchi and Wato proved doubters wrong with an impressive victory over El Phantasmo and Taiji Ishimori. Co-ordinating effectively, Six or Nine was a much more impressive tandem than ever before. Wato specifically seemed to be gaining the benefit of Taguchi’s experience, and impressed in Ryogoku. In Fukuoka then, the duo face a very similar team in Kanemaru and DOUKI. Much like Wato, DOUKI has been seen as a junior heavyweight with all the tools, but in need of a little veteran guidance to take him to success. Kanemaru has earned credit for doing just that with the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion El Desperado, and could do the same with his younger partner here tonight. After a brutal backstage attack on April 9, will they be able to end Six or Nine’s defence streak at one, or will the champs move closer to their much desired V69 mark?
3rd Match: Yujiro Takahashi vs Tanga Loa
Singles record: 1-0 Loa
Before Tama Tonga seeks to dethrone EVIL for the NEVER Openweight Championship later in the evening, Tanga Loa will be facing Yujiro Takahashi in the third bout of Dontaku. Back during G1 Climax 31, Loa would pull out the victory over his then BULLET CLUB stablemate Takahashi in what was a hard and fairly fought match. Tonight though, Loa can expect the exact opposite. With HOUSE OF TORTURE wanting a clear path to interfere and do everything necessary to make sure EVIL keeps his NEVER gold, Yujiro will likely cut a lot of corners in this bout, but can the Silverback win out?
2nd Match: YOH vs Hiromu Takahashi
Singles record: 0-4
A special singles match added at short notice to the Dontaku card, YOH faces Hiromu Takahashi.
YOH has never defeated Hiromu in four singles matches post excursion, but came closest in Ryogoku Sumo Hall this past December. The longest, and most hard fought Best of the Super Jr. final in tournament history saw Takahashi pull out the win after a stunning performance from YOH that was a far cry from his fast and lackluster loss to the Time Bomb early in the tournament.
Then YOH was in the midst of a slump and a lack of motivation that plagued him through much of 2021. After YOH put together his incredible seven match streak to make the final, it seemed like he was firing on all cylinders. Indeed at Wrestle Kingdom, he scored a decisive win over former partner SHO as his 2022 seemed to be bright. Yet a month later, SHO would get his win back in typically devious form, and then YOH was once more unable to buy a win.
At the Golden Fight Series opener, another convincing loss at the hands of Hiromu in tag action led Takahashi to call YOH’s mental state in doubt, going as far as to suggest the CHAOS member shouldn’t be competing. Taking those words to heart, YOH was determined to get revenge, and pinned Hiromu in Korakuen Hall on April 20 before demanding this singles encounter. YOH often needs to manifest his motivation and give it form; tonight that form is Hiromu Takahashi, but after so many ups and downs over the last several months, might this be a do or die encounter?
1st Match: X, Shingo Takagi & BUSHI vs Suzuki-Gun (Taichi, Zack Sabre Jr. & TAKA Michinoku)
Kicking off the night’s action, a mystery partner teams with LIJ, replacing Tatsumi Fujinami against Suzuki-Gun.having been part of the very first Dontaku back in 1993, it’s a shame not to see Fujinami present. But just who will it be in his place? We find out when Dontaku kicks off!
