Singles previews to highlight April 19 card in the Hall
As the Road to Dontaku runs through Korakuen Hall in mid April, the NEVER 6-Man Tag Team Championships will be at stake on April 20. BULLET CLUB and CHAOS have repeatedly clashed since January, with the New Japan Cup finals in Sendai seeing particularly egregious action from KENTA, who stole YOSHI-HASHI’s ceremonial Bo staff.
Using that staff to gain BULLET CLUB victory on the Road to Sakura Genesis further enraged YOSHI-HASHI and his teammates, and now the Headhunter, together with Hirooki Goto and Tomohiro Ishii, will put the belts on the line against KENTA, Yujiro Takahashi and Taiji Ishimori.
One night before this championship encounter, April 19 will see a brace of singles previews in Korakuen Hall. Headlining will be YOSHI-HASHI going one on one with KENTA for the first time since the G1 Climax. KENTA has been trolling YOSHI-HASHI ever since they did battle at Fighting Spirit Unleashed 2019 in New York’s Hammerstein Ballroom. The Headhunter has only gotten more focused and determined since, and now, intent on retaining his championship gold and regaining his iron staff, he’ll be a formidable force.
Hirooki Goto goes one on one with Taiji Ishimori. On March 29 in Korakuen, KENTA’s use of the staff was followed with Ishimori striking Goto with the Bloody Cross, and a rare junior heavyweight victory over heavyweight competition. Goto wants to show that Ishimori will be incapable of achieving the same result on a level playing field.
Tomohiro Ishii will go one on one with Yujiro Takahashi. Ishii has been dismissive of Yujiro throughout CHAOS’ campaign against BULLET CLUB, and recently logged a victory over the Tokyo Pimp during the G1. But calling back to a Korakuen victory over Ishii years ago for the NEVER Openweight singles championship, could Takahashi get a big singles win on the road to six man tag success?
