YOH picks up Korakuen Hall main event win

The main event of April 20’s Korakuen Hall card would see a rematch from the tour opener in Nagoya, as YOH and Kazuchika Okada took on Hiromu Takahashi and Tetsuya Naito. 

After a crushing defeat on April 18 for YOH, Takahashi called YOH’s motivation into question, but YOH answered Hiromu’s comments with a win over BUSHI the next night, and requested to start the match with Hiromu, throwing elbows from the bell. Takahashi would trash talk YOH as he traded with the CHAOS member, but would be put to the mat with a flying forearm. Tapping into a rare anger, YOH kept up the aggression, but would be baited into a mistake, a rope hung choke putting Hiromu and LIJ in control. 

YOH would be in the wrong part of the ring for a significant period, eventually finding a neckbreaker and dropkick to bring Okada inside. The IWGP World Heavyweight Champion was unable to get his hands on his May 1 Fukuoka Dome challenger for long, as he had to refocus attention on Hiromu; despite dropping Takahashi with a DDT, he would be met with a tijeras, and Naito came in in the plus position. 

Naito would target the neck of the Rainmaker, but could not hit the Esperanza that dealt significant damage to Okada in prior matches. Reading the move, Okada dropkicked Naito out from the top rope to the floor, and then landed his DDT on the outside before sinking in the Money Clip. It would be a rare spinebuster from Naito that gave him space from the champion, and as tags were made both sides, YOH and Hiromu picked up from where they left off. 

Hiromu landed a dropkick down the apron line, and a shotgun blast into the corner for two, before coolly landing his corner DVD and looking to finish his opponent again with a Time Bomb. This time Okada would break the move up, but YOH was still on the back foot, using that foot to launch himself into a one legged dropkick on Naito and Falcon Arrow on Takahashi for a near fall. 

YOH rolled Hiromu into the Out Of Print, Naito breaking the hold but getting stopped by an Okada dropkick. As the Rainmaker barked at YOH to finish his fight, the CHAOS junior was dropped with a Hiromu German suplex, and had a Five Star Clutch denied by the former junior champion. Still YOH landed a thrust kick square to the chin of Takahashi and followed with the DNV, before Direct Drive landed for three. 

Post match, YOH would demand the Dontaku card be changed to allow he and Hiromu to face one another one on one. The match is now official for the PayPay Dome May 1.