Big card coming free to NJPW World Thursday night
The Kizuna Road approaches its conclusion next week with a pair of events from Korakuen Hall. With the NEVER 6-Man Championships set to close out the series, champions and challengers take center stage, while tension continues to build for big time encounters in Sapporo and the Tokyo Dome in the month of July.
Watch nights 10 and 11 of Kizuna Road FREE, with NO sign-up required on NJPW World!
Main event: Tomohiro Ishii vs Yuji Nagata
Singles record: 7-4 Nagata
Top of three singles bouts tonight in Korakuen sees Yuji Nagata and Tomohiro Ishii face off for the first time since the first round of New Japan Cup 2019. Then, it was Ishii scooping the win, as he has in their last four encounters in a long story of loyalist senior vs outsider junior. Nagata and Ishii first crossed paths in February 2006, less than one month after Ishii became a regular in NJPW. A series of lessons for the future Stone Pitbull would be doled out by Nagata in the coming years, with Ishii lasting longer against Nagata with each match up to 2010.
After Nagata powered through Ishii at Power Struggle 2011, the two would be separated for several years, a period that saw Ishii change and evolve within CHAOS. A breakout G1 Climax in 2013 would then see the two meet in the tournament the following year, and Ishii prove himself and his ability to fight.
When Ishii scooped the victory over Dick Togo in CHAOS’ sixth NEVER 6-Man defence then, Ishii took umbridge at Nagata’s post match challenge. Blue Justice directly addressed Ishii, asking whether the cement headed street fighter would like to ‘test himself’. Ishii responded in violent form, and ahead of the next night’s title match we have this hard hitting singles main event. Will Ishii remind Nagata of the superiority he has asserted over the former IWGP Champion in recent years? Or after having been battle tested by Jon Moxley back in his May IWGP US title challenge, could Nagata take a big step toward trios gold?
4th Match: Hirooki Goto vs Satoshi Kojima
Singles record: 3-2 Goto
It’s another ‘first time, long time’ match in the semi final slot tonight, as Hirooki Goto faces Satoshi Kojima for the first time since the 2015 G1 Climax. Nearly six years have separated the two in singles action, with Goto picking up the win as part of his G1 25 campaign. Much like Ishii against Nagata, the most recent singles form we have is in Goto’s favour, after Kojima picked up two wins against his CHAOS foe in 2010 and 2011, the first a critical part of Kojima’s 2010 G1 Climax victory.
Yet much has changed in the intervening years, the last singles encounter between the two occurring while Goto was still a hontai member. Goto has fought with pride and conviction as NEVER 6-Man champion, and carries that pride into singles action tonight, but does so against a Kojima who perhaps has never been more motivated. In a stunning 2021, Kojima has brought the fight to KENTA and Will Ospreay, before scooping victories in IMPACT Wrestling in the US to boot. Can he get another victory at home tonight?
3rd Match: YOSHI-HASHI vs Hiroyoshi Tenzan
Singles record: 1-0 YOSHI-HASHI
The third match of the night is one with much shorter and more recent history. Despite their respective tenures in NJPW, YOSHI-HASHI and Hiroyoshi Tenzan have only met once one on one in their careers, almost exactly one year ago during the 2020 New Japan Cup. Then, a fired up Tenzan brought a gutsy performance out of YOSHI-HASHI, in a match that really seemed to spark the Headhunter’s current phenomenal run. Using his Cup performance as inspiration and continuing into competition for the NEVER 6-Man titles, YOSHI-HASHI would secure his first career championship two months later, and has held the NEVER 6 title with pride ever since.
Meanwhile Tenzan has been publicly vocal about his partner’s impressive performances in 2021, and how they’ve motivated him to push harder than ever. Can that motivation bring him to victory tonight?
2nd Match: Los Ingobernables De Japon (BUSHI, SANADA & Tetsuya Naito) vs Suzuki-Gun (Minoru Suzuki, Taichi & Zack Sabre Jr.)
Tetsuya Naito and SANADA clash with July 11 IWGP Tag Team Championship opponents Dangerous Tekkers once again in the second match of the night. Between phony contracts scrawled on an event program and requests for birthday presents to be gifted live in front of the Korakuen hall crowd, Naito hasn’t been taking this title opportunity entirely seriously, something that Taichi has stated will be a mistake that might cost he and SANADA dearly.
Yet as is so often the case, Naito seems to once again be lulling the champions into a false sense of confidence, speaking backstage about the pressure being upon Taichi in particular to live up to recent hype when returning as champion to his home town of Sapporo July 11. One person to cut through all the mind games is so often Minoru Suzuki however, and his addition to this match will likely ensure little grandstanding and a lot of brutality.
1st Match: Suzuki-Gun (El Desperado, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & DOUKI) vs BULLET CLUB (Taiji Ishimori, El Phantasmo & Jado)
The night’s action will kick off with a six man tag, as BULLET CLUB move focus from CHAOS to Suzuki-Gun. On June 23, Taiji Ishimori, together with El Phantasmo, defeated SHO and YOH to lift the IWGP Jr. heavyweight tag Team Championships for the third time, and now seeks to build upon that momentum. On July 10 in Hokkaido, Ishimori will seek to take singles junior heavyweight gold against Desperado, and this will be the first official preview tag of that Summer Struggle opening main event.
