YOSHI-HASHI takes back his Bo-staff as he, Goto and Ishii keep the NEVER 6-Man tag titles
Night eight of the Road to Dontaku on April 20 in Korakuen Hall saw the first championship match of the tour, YOSHI-HASHI, Hirooki Goto and Tomohiro Ishii defending their NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag team Championships against Taiji Ishimori, Yujiro Takahashi and KENTA of BULLET CLUB in the main event.
After last night’s main event defeat, YOSHI-HASHI wanted to get his hands on KENTA at the start, leading to a quick tag out on the BULLET CLUB side. Taiji Ishimori would come in, and Hirooki Goto was eager to get his own revenge from the prior night, connecting with his partners to bring the punishment to the Bone Soldier, but finding the traditional CHAOS drum circle broken up by KENTA and Yujiro who brought the fight outside.
Goto found himself under the gun back in the ring as he struggled to get out of the challengers’ corner. With an exposed turnbuckle contributing to the punishment, BULLET CLUB had a clear edge until Goto was finally able to misdirect Yujiro in the ropes and connect with a lariat that brought in Ishii.
The Stone Pitbull quickened the pace, taking care of all three members of the opposition and landing an emphatic exclamation point with a powerslam to Yujiro. Takahashi bit free of a follow up, and a reverse DDT would bought some space, before gaining a rare upper hand in the standup, connecting with a lariat and Fisherman’s Buster that drew two. The Tokyo Pimp wanted the Intercollegiate Slam to follow, but was countered with an Ishii German instead, bringing YOSHI-HASHI and KENTA legal at last.
The Headhunter tore into KENTA with a neckbreaker for two, but KENTA fought out of a powerbomb and connected with a kitchen sink. Ishimori and then Yujiro would combine with effective double and triple teams before double stomp boots were buried into the gut of YOSHI-HASHI for another nearfall.
Goto would provide the backup YOSHI-HASHI needed however, and the Violent Flash would put KENTA down but not out. With Ishimori inside, a Cipher Utaki connected to the Headhunter, but a top rope follow-up would miss at the 15 minute mark, and Goto threw himself back into the action with a violent lariat and bulldog. Ishimori proved as persistent as ever, and a handspring corkscrew would score, before BULLET CLUB broke up a CHAOS GYR attempt.
As the melee continued, the referee would miss KENTA’s assault with YOSHI-HASHI’s ceremonial staff, but the Headhunter refused to fall with an assault from his own weapon. YOSHI-HASHI laid out KENTA with the Bo-staff, but it was Ishimori and Goto legal. The Bone Soldier came within a hair of rolling up Goto twice, but the champion resisted, and kept his center of gravity low to prevent the Bloody Cross and blocked La Mistica with a headbutt before connecting with GTW and a GTR for the victory and a successful fourth defence of the NEVER titles.
