A short road to Osaka Jo Hall kicks off Valentine’s Day
Just 72 hours after Hiroshima saw the conclusion of the New Beginning tour, Korakuen Hall will see us on the Road to Castle Attack, a two night spectacular in Osaka Jo Hall. As tensions mount to six championship matches across one weekend in Osaka, and plenty of personal issues to be settled, the action will be explosive from the opening bell, which will see a special debut.
Watch Road to Castle Attack LIVE and in English on demand on NJPW World!
Watch Castle Attack in English LIVE February 27 & 28!
Main event: Elimination tag team match- CHAOS (Kazuchika Okada, Tomohiro Ishii, Hirooki Goto, YOSHI-HASHI & Toru Yano) vs BULLET CLUB (EVIL, Jay White, Tama Tonga, Tanga Loa & Chase Owens)
Elimination tag team action will top the card on the first night on the road to Castle Attack. CHAOS and BULLET CLUB have long been at odds, but this ongoing factional warfare has grown even more intense over the last month. The road to The New Beginning saw Kazuchika Okada challenge EVIL to a singles bout in ever more violent form, until a quickly thrown out tag bout in Hiroshima led to a snap singles match being added to the card.
EVIL, with Dick Togo’s assistance, quickly got the match thrown out however, and Okada was only victorious by disqualification. Now a guaranteed singles bout is set in stone for the main event of night one at Castle Attack February 27, and with an end point in view to this increasingly bitter feud, things may only escalate here tonight.
Tomohiro Ishii and Jay White are also set to meet at Castle Attack. After losses to Ishii at G1 Climax 30 and New year Dash, the Stone Pitbull became the motivating factor to Jay White when he returned to action this month after vowing that he would be done after Wrestle Kingdom. Unable to get a definitive win over Ishii at Hiroshima in their NEVER 6-Man Tag Team Championship match, Switchblade instead assaulted Ishii backstage as this grudge grows ever more heated.
After the Headhunter pinned Tanga Loa in Hiroshima, YOSHI-HASHI and Hirooki Goto will meet the Guerrillas of Destiny for the IWGP Tag Team Championships at Castle Attack. YOSHI-HASHI is hungry for more gold around his waist, but the seven time IWGP Tag Team Champions were quick to remind their next challengers who the franchise team of NJPW is with a backstage attack. How will this competition develop?
Then, after Chase Owens issued a challenge to ‘cheater’ Toru Yano for the KOPW 2021 trophy, the newly minted Texas Heavyweight Champion returns to action tonight to head off Yano. Will both men have presented their rules by bell time tonight, and will that shape this elimination bout?
3rd Match: Yuji Nagata & Kota Ibushi vs Los Ingobernables De Japon (SANADA & Tetsuya Naito)
As tag team previews start the build toward Kota Ibushi vs Tetsuya Naito for the IWGP Intercontinental Championship at Castle Attack, Ibushi partners with Yuji Nagata to make an impressive hontai team against SANADA and Naito. How will Ibushi fare against his previous and next challengers, and what added dimension will his long standing rivalry with Naito take on?
Meanwhile, Third Generation member Nagata will make an impressive team with Ibushi. The definition of a classical fighter, Nagata will match up well with SANADA in what should be a fascinating bout to watch in our semi main event.
2nd Match: Los Ingobernables De Japon (BUSHI, Hiromu Takahashi & Shingo Takagi) vs BULLET CLUB (El Phantasmo, Taiji Ishimori & Yujiro Takahashi)
After a pair of challenges issued in Hiroshima on night one of the New Beginning Wednesday, a dual preview of championship action. February 28 will see Hiromu Takahashi face El Phantasmo for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship, and he could do so as a double champion if he and BUSHI defeat ELP and Taiji Ishimori on February 25 for the junior heavyweight tag titles. Can LIJ get the upper hand, or will their night end in Sudden Death?
1st Match: Gabriel Kidd, Satoshi Kojima & Hiroshi Tanahashi vs United Empire (Great-O-Khan, Will Ospreay & Jeff Cobb)
The first official match on the night’s card will see the United Empire together again for the first time since New Year Dash as they team up to take on Gabriel Kidd, Satoshi Kojima and Hiroshi Tanahashi. We are only a couple of weeks removed from Kojima and Ospreay’s gripping no disqualification match, a bout that saw Ospreay victorious, but with Kojima showing a phenomenal amount of fight. Next on United Empire’s agenda though is Hiroshi Tanahashi and the NEVER Openweight Championship for O-Khan. What steps will the new faction take toward the gold tonight? And what does Jeff Cobb have in store in his return?
Opening Match: Yuto Nakashima vs Yuya Uemura (special start time: 5:40PM JST)
Our opening bout will see the debut of Yuto Nakashima as he takes on Yuya Uemura. A Fale Dojo graduate with eight months’ experience in Noge to boot, Nakashima has plenty of training under his belt, but in ring competition is a different animal. How will he fare in his debut tonight?
