Countdown is on for Osaka Jo Hall
As an intense Road to Castle Attack tour returns to Korakuen Hall, less than a week remains before Osaka Jo Hall’s grudge matches and title clashes.
Watch Road to Castle Attack live and in English on demand on NJPW World!
Castle Attack February 27 & 28 with live English commentary!
Main event: CHAOS (Tomohiro Ishii & Kazuchika Okada) vs BULLET CLUB (EVIL & Jay White)
At the top of tonight’s card, Kazuchika Okada and Tomohiro Ishii face EVIL and Jay White. After crowded 6, 8 and 10 man tag team matches through the tour thus far, this is the most direct preview we’ve had to date for the singles matches that will headline on Saturday February 27 between Ishii, Okada and their BULLET CLUB opposite numbers.
As the CHAOS side have attempted all they can to overcome BULLET CLUB’s nefarious tactics through the tour, mid match runins and post match assaults have been the order of the day for the past several bouts. That came to a head Wednesday in Korakuen Hall, when an eight man tag match ended in a No Contest, and White strangled Ishii unconscious. While concerns over Ishii’s physical status are certainly present, if the Stone Pitbull is physically able to fight, he will want to do all it takes to get revenge on the Switchblade.
Meanwhile Okada holds a recent convincing win over EVIL and Dick Togo in tag action last Wednesday, after a match that proved without a numbers edge, Okada has a clear advantage over the King of Darness. Okada and Ishii want to ensure that Osaka Jo Hall’s bouts are as clean and free of intervention as they can make them; will steps be taken tonight, or will BULLET CLUB continue to stamp their mark on the road to Castle Attack?
4th Match: Tomoaki Honma vs SANADA
After Tetsuya Naito sustained a knee injury last week in Korakuen Hall, his planned tag match with SANADA against Kota Ibushi and Tomoaki Honma is now a singles bout between Honma and SANADA. As time runs out before Osaka Jo Hall, both Naito and Ibushi will have wanted valuable in ring time to get ready for February 28’s main event, but as Naito rests up, Honma gets a big singles opportunity. Through the Road to The New Beginning, Honma had been asking for a singles bout against Naito. Should he beat SANADA tonight, the match should be a lock.
3rd Match: Los Ingobernables De Japon (Shingo Takagi, BUSHI & Hiromu Takahashi) vs BULLET CLUB (El Phantasmo, Taiji Ishimori & Yujiro Takahashi)
Six man action between Los Ingobernables De Japon and BULLET CLUB sees the last preview bout before Thursday’s IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship match. Since Hiromu demanded the tag title match as a condition on Castle Attack’s IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship match, Hiromu and ELP have had an intriguing relationship develop. Outside the ring, an exchange of gifts have had each man question the motives and intentions of the other, but in the ring itself, they couldn’t be more clear, especially after February 17’s six man match. Phantasmo looked for Sudden Death on Hiromu, and after the champion avoided the kick, the frustrated ELP tore the cardboard title belt he’d been gifted in two. Fun and games appear to be over as time before two title matches runs out.
2nd Match: CHAOS (SHO, Toru Yano, YOSHI-HASHI & Hirooki Goto) vs BULLET CLUB (Jado, Chase Owens, Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa)
The second match of the evening will see CHAOS and BULLET CLUB lock horns in eight man action. By the time the bell rings on February 22, the polls will have come to a close in the KOPW 2021 stipulation vote. Fans are currently strongly favouring Toru Yano’s YTR Style Strap Match over Owens’ traditional Texas Strap Match Rules. Will Owens be able to overturn his deficit in the polls?
Owens has certainly promised to get physical and intense with Yano on February 27, with ‘no more games’. That’s certainly an attitude G.o.D have taken in tag battles with YOSHI-HASHI and Hirooki Goto leading up to Osaka. Exchanges between YOSHI-HASHI and Loa have been hard hitting, and Goto and Tonga have brought a dazzling pace to a lot of their exchanges on the tour thus far. Yet the biggest lasting image in advance of February 28’s tag bout is one of Low landing Apes**t on YOSHI-HASHI to score a convincing win even without the benefit of having two shoes on. The Guerrillas seven time championship record is never to be overlooked, but are the champions in any danger of overlooking their challengers?
1st match: Hiroshi Tanahashi, Hiroyoshi Tenzan & gabriel Kidd vs United Empire (Jeff Cobb, Will Ospreay & Great-O-Khan)
Time is fast running out before Great-O-Khan challenges Hiroshi Tanahashi for the NEVER Openweight Championship, and time is running out for Tanahashi to take a definitive stand as champion. Card openers through the tour have seen Tanahashi’s side fall to the United Empire despite Tanahashi exploding out of the gates every night against his latest challenger. Six days before the title is on the line in Osaka, will Tanahashi show O-Khan what being a champion really means? Or will O-Khan take another step toward his first championship in NJPW?
