Major card on Road to Dontaku
Thursday, April 27 will see the Road to Dontaku run through Hiroshima and the stunning Sun Plaza Hall. It’ll be a big night for junior heavyweight action, as two junior titles will be decided, an openweight challenge sees the biggest match of DOUKI’s career to date, and the Best of the Super Jr. lineup will be revealed.
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The main event in Hiroshima will see the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship at stake, Hiromu Takahashi facing the challenge of Yoshinobu Kanemaru. After SANADA captured the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship in the main event of Sakura Genesis, he was confronted by Hiromu, who wanted a shot at his dream of capturing the World Heavyweight title while still holding junior heavyweight gold.
Hiromu’s former LIJ partner agreed to the challenge, on one condition- that Hiromu face Yoshinobu Kanemaru for said junior gold first. During Best of the Super Jr. last year, Kanemaru launched a brutal assault on Hiromu’s knees that resulted in a shock tapout victory for the Heel Master, and one of few defeats in an ultimately successful BOSJ campaign for the current defending champion.
Now, with his knee run ragged by Robbie Eagles in a largely one sided bout in Ryogoku that Takahashi barely survived, he faces Kanemaru for the fourth time, and Kanemaru could walk out for the first time with IWGP Junior Heavyweight singles gold.
Also on the line in Hiroshima are the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championships, champions Catch 2/2 taking on the team of Kevin Knight and KUSHIDA. After a challenge was issued during the Road to Sakura Genesis, TJP and Francesco Akira were less than welcoming in their rebuttal, but after consideration have accepted the shot. KUSHIDA and Knight have been nothing short of impressive in the United States especially as of late, but can they stop one of the most convincing reigns in recent history for the junior tag champions?
A special singles match will see DOUKI go one on one with Tetsuya Naito. During tag team action at Sakura Genesis, a win for three of Just Five Guys over LIJ saw stereo sound submissions, and though it was Kanemaru winning the match via Figure Four, the most dramatic hold was the Italian Stretch (or DOUKI Chokey for the informal crowd) on Tetsuya Naito. DOUKI kept the hold in long after the bell, and continued to trash talk El Ingobernable in Spanish after being pried off. With dramatic improvement over the last few years, DOUKI has become one of the most prominent junior heavyweights on the roster, and is certainly a figure to look out for in Best of the Super Jr this year. If he beats Tetsuya Naito, could his ceiling be even higher?
Speaking of prominent junior heavyweights, the Best of the Super Jr. lineup will be officially announced during the event on April 27. Who will make the cut for the landmark 30th running of the junior tournament?
