Jeff Cobb picks up the win as Los Ingobernables De Japon left reeling in Korakuen

April 13 saw night three of the Road to Wrestling Dontaku hit Korakuen Hall, with eight man tag team action in the main event seeing Tetsuya Naito, Shingo Takagi, BUSHI and SANADA of Los Ingobernables De Japon tackling the United Empire of Jeff Cobb, Great-O-Khan, Aaron Henare and IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Will Ospreay. 

The bout started with a high speed preview of May 4’s main event as Shingo Takagi and Will Ospreay traded blows in an exchange that saw Shingo bowl Ospreay out of the ring with a shoulder tackle. Great-O-Khan and Tetsuya Naito would tag in and engage in similarly heated fashion, and again it was LIJ with the edge, Naito making O-Khan run and taking him down with an arm drag before the Ingobernables side used the Dominator’s hair against him. 

O-Khan would eventually manage to overpower Naito, catching the Sheep Killer hold on Naito to do some damage and get time and space to bring in his teammates. Each would add to the pressure on Naito, with Henare targeting his knee with great precision before breaking to hurl SANADA into ringside guardrails. 

O-Khan kept piling on the pressure with Mongolian Chops to Naito, but El Ingobernable would respond with a chop of his own and a tornado DDT that brought Shingo and Ospreay back in. Dontaku challenger brought corner punches and a big suplex to the World heavyweight Champion, but a second suplex would be turned into a street cutter, and a handspring took the Dragon off his feet. Yet a double lariat would allow for a tag from Takagi to SANADA, who brought his trademark grace and aggression with a dropkick and plancha, building momentum until a Berserker Bomb gave control back to Henare. 

As the match approached the 15 minute point, a Magic Screw would allow SANADA out and BUSHI in, but the Jet Black Deathmask had big opposition in the form of the Imperial Unit Jeff Cobb. BUSHI stuck and run to the best of his abilities, but a Codebreaker would be caught by Cobb, and a Spin Cycle would soon follow. Undeterred, BUSHI escaped a Tour of the Islands, and the match broke down, bodies from both teams flying with Shingo being the most animated. 

A pop up DVD and a Pumping Bomber took Ospreay out of the ring but left Cobb and BUSHI alone and legal. Cobb’s incredible power used BUSHI’s momentum against him, and an emphatic Tour of the Islands would give the United Empire its second win from three matches on the tour. 

Post match, both Ospreay and O-Khan bragged about the power of the United Empire; will that dominance continue when the two factions meet next Thursday?