■ Road to WRESTLING DONTAKU 2018 Night10 Full lineup & Ticket sales info https://www.njpw1972.com/tornament/20893?showCards=1
■ The event will be live-streamed on https://njpwworld.com/
Tomohiro Ishii and Toa Henare have been at each other’s throats for weeks now. With tensions between the two only set to escalate, NJPW has come to the decision to make a change to the April 24 Road to Wrestling Dontaku card. Now, Ishii and Henare will be allowed to fight one on one in singles competition.
All year long, these two have been attacking each other in tag team matches. Henare knows no fear and has declared he has a problem ‘going after the biggest dogs in a fight’. As recently as last week’s tour stops in Korakuen, Henare and Ishii tangled, but Henare fell to a vertical drop brainbuster each time. That didn’t break Henare’s will, as he constantly requested a singles match, and even ran in after Ishii’s April 17 match in Ishikawa. Henare laid Ishii out with a Toa Bottom, and did the same the next night in Fukui.
This led to the two brawling after an Osaka bout on April 19, and an enraged Ishii proclaiming backstage ‘OK, New Japan, make it happen. But rookie, I will show you a world of hurt like you’ve never experienced in your life’. Henare remained resolute in the face of Ishii’s intimidation and the match was made.
April 24, Korakuen Hall card changes:
4th match
Togi Makabe, Michael Elgin, Toa Henare & KUSHIDA vs Tomohiro Ishii, Toru Yano, YOSHI-HASHI & Will Ospreay
->
Toa Henare vs Tomohiro Ishii
3rd Match
SHO, YOH & Rocky Romero vs Takashi Iizuka, TAKA Michinoku & Taichi
->
Togi Makabe, Michael Elgin & KUSHIDA vs Toru Yano, YOSHI-HASHI & Will Ospreay
2nd Match
Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Shota Umino vs Yuji Nagata & Tomoyuki Oka
->
SHO, YOH & Rocky Romero vs Toru Yano, YOSHI-HASHI & Will Ospreay
1st Match
Tetsuhiro Yagi vs Ren Narita
->
Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Shota Umino & Ren Narita
vs Yuji Nagata, Tomoyuki Oka & Tetsuhiro Yagi
Don’t forget: the US Championship is on the line in our main event!
On March 25 at Strong Style Evolved, Jay White defeated Hangman Page to make his first defense of the IWGP US Championship. His post match celebration was short lived however, as David Finlay staked a claim to the title with a thunderous Spear.
These men have history that stretches back to 2015, as both came through the New Japan Dojo. Jay entered the Dojo in January of that year, while Finlay followed in June, and White has consistently asserted his seniority; out of nine singles matches between these two, the Switchblade has won them all. Even this year, on February 5, the two met in a non title match, but White put Finlay away with a Bladerunner.
Yet Finlay would gain momentum starting with a pinfall win over Chuckie T during the New Japan Cup tour. Then at Sakura Genesis April 1, he made White taste his Prima Nocta finisher. Now he looks for the biggest win of his career against his biggest rival.
