Time Bomb survives Kanemaru
April 27’s Road to Dontaku event in Hiroshima Sun Plaza Hall was headlined by a battle over the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship, Yoshinobu Kanemaru challenging Hiromu Takahashi.
It was a tense beginning to the main event as challenger targeted champion’s knee before settling instead on a snug headlock to keep Hiromu in place. Getting free, it would be Hiromu that would go on the assault on Kanemaru’s knees, turning the tables with a hard figure four. For a moment it seemed like the veteran Heel Master was on the back foot, but as Kanemaru ran away from his foe, it was all to set up a basement dropkick as the champion re-entered the ring, and a sickening knee breaker on the floor would follow.
As the match passed the ten minute mark, Kanemaru was in full control, seemingly working for a countout before continuing a punishing crusade when Hiromu beat the referee’s 20 count. Gutting through the pain, Hiromu would escalate the pace and landed a head scissors, but the move only served to damage the leg further, and Kanemaru followed up with the Figure Four.
Desperate, Hiromu would find the ropes and looked to go big, hitting a Falcon Arrow and looking to follow with a Sunset Bomb, but his knee would give way and the result was a sickening Deep Impact on the floor. A Moonsault inside seemed sure to finish things, but somehow Hiromu would avoid contact, and the Hiromu-chan Bomber saw him gain some space, and time for the fans to get behind the champion.
A rollup counter to Hiromu’s Time Bomb would see the referee bowled over, and Kanemaru sought to take advantage with a whiskey mist, but the spray would only be directed at the ceiling of Sun Plaza Hall thanks to a Hiromu thrust kick. Time Bomb connected for two, but the challenger was able to go back to the knee, and back to the Figure Four. Hiromu screamed in pain as referee Red Shoes Unno threatened to call the match, but the champion was still barely able to force a break, only to get spiked with a satellite DDT thereafter.
Kanemaru again set for a moonsault and got it for a very near two. The challenger prepared for one last Deep Impact, landed flush but not good enough for three; as the match passed 25 minutes, Kanemaru hoisted the champion for Touch Out, and landed on the second try. Still the Time Bomb kicked out, and still Kanemaru stayed on offense, the Figure Four once again locked in for the longest period of the match before an agonising break.
Kanemaru wanted Touch Out once more, but the desperate champion clung on and blocked the lift with his one good leg. summoning a surge of adrenaline, Hiromu would hit his own Touch Out at the 30 minute mark; barely kicking out of a pair of Samson Clutches, a Hiromu-chan Bomber kept the match going. Another Bomber, and then Time Bomb II finally put Kanemaru away after a stunning main event.
