New Japan Pro Wrestling wrapped up 2021 as they always do, with the IWGP Champion under the Korakuen Hall snow. While Takagi wasn’t victorious on the concluding Christmas Eve show, he spent the four show marathon in Tokyo on the winning side more often than not.
The big news coming out of the Road To Tokyo Dome was the coronation of the official KOPW 2021. Toru Yano did the very possible on this past Friday. Defeating Yoshinobi Kanemaru in a match that was equal parts drinking contest and wrestling match, the KOPW 2020 winner is now the KOPW 2021 Winner. Both men had to take shots of whiskey every two minutes, leading to some very near countouts as both men got more and more inebriated.
Yano defeated the hard drinking Kanemaru with a vicious powerbomb. He then delivered comments backstage while trying not to puke.
" Road to TOKYO DOME " December 24th, 2021 Backstage comments!
?WATCH FREE?https://t.co/0Wq1aPgwfg
?視聴無料?12/24(金) Road to TOKYO DOME のBSコメントを #新日本プロレスワールド で無料公開中!@YTR_CHAOS #njpw #njwk16 pic.twitter.com/FtSgUkeJVS
— NJPW WORLD (@njpwworld) December 25, 2021
There are no more shows between now and the big Wrestle Kingdom weekend. House of Torture used these last shows of the year to send vicious messages to their 6-Man Tag Title Challengers, while KENTA got plenty of chances to test Hiroshi Tanahashi’s last nerve. Plus TAKA Michinoku won his first match since returning.
Here are the full results:
12/21
NJPW Road To Tokyo Dome: Night 1
Available on NJPWWorld.com
- Chase Owens & Bad Luck Fale def. Yuji Nagata & Yuto Nakashima by pinfall. (8:14)
Chase Owens pinned Yuto Nakashima via C Trigger. - DOUKI & Yoshinobu Kanemaru def. Toru Yano & Kosei Fujita by submission. (11:03)
DOUKI submitted Kosei Fujita via DOUKI Chokey. - EVIL, SHO & Yujiro Takahashi def. Tomohiro Ishii, YOH & Ryohei Oiwa by pinfall. (9:45)
Yujiro Takahashi pinned Ryohei Oiwa after EVIL hit Oiwa with a title belt. - Hirooki Goto, YOSHI-HASHI & Tiger Mask def. Taichi, Zack Sabre Jr. & TAKA Michinoku by pinfall. (10:12)
YOSHI-HASHI pinned TAKA Michinoku via Shoto. - Hiroshi Tanahashi, Ryusuke Taguchi & Master Wato def. El Phantasmo, Taiji Ishimori & Gedo by submission. (12:30)
Hiroshi Tanahashi submitted Gedo via Texas Cloverleaf. - Jeff Cobb, Great-O-Khan & Aaron Henare def. Tetsuya Naito, SANADA & BUSHI by pinfall. (17:53)
Great-O-Khan pinned BUSHI via Eliminator. - Shingo Takagi & Hiromu Takahashi def. Kazuchika Okada & Robbie Eagles by pinfall. (18:10)
Shingo Takagi pinned Robbie Eagles via Last of the Dragon.
12/22
NJPW Road To Tokyo Dome: Night 2
Available on NJPWWorld.com
- Bad Luck Fale, Chase Owens & Jado def. Ryohei Oiwa, Kosei Fujita & Yuto Nakashima by pinfall. (9:13)
Chase Owens pinned Ryohei Oiwa via Package Piledriver. - Minoru Suzuki, DOUKI & Yoshinobu Kanemaru def. Toru Yano, Satoshi Kojima & Hiroyoshi Tenzan by pinfall. (8:33)
Yoshinobu Kanemaru pinned Satoshi Kojima after basically waterboarding him with whiskey. - EVIL, SHO, Yujiro Takahashi & Dick Togo def. YOH, Tomohiro Ishii, Tomoaki Honma & Togi Makabe by pinfall. (11:48)
Yujiro Takahashi pinned Tomoaki Honma via Big Juice. - Hirooki Goto, YOSHI-HASHI & Master Wato def. Taichi, Zack Sabre Jr. & TAKA Michinoku by pinfall. (9:38)
Hirooki Goto pinned TAKA Michinoku via Shoto. - Jeff Cobb, Great-O-Khan & Aaron Henare def. Tetsuya Naito, SANADA & BUSHI by pinfall. (9:54)
Aaron Henare pinned BUSHI via Streets of Rage. - Shingo Takagi & Hiromu Takahashi def. Kazuchika Okada & Ryusuke Taguchi by pinfall. (16:11)
Shingo Takagi pinned Ryusuke Taguchi via Last of the Dragon. - KENTA, El Phantasmo & Taiji Ishimori def. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Robbie Eagles & Tiger Mask by pinfall. (16:36)
KENTA pinned Tiger Mask via Go 2 Sleep.
12/23
NJPW Road To Tokyo Dome: Night 3
Available on NJPWWorld.com
- Ryusuke Taguchi & Master Wato def. Ryohei Oiwa & Yuto Nakashima by submission. (7:34)
Master Wato submitted Yuto Nakashima via Boston Crab. - Taichi, Zack Sabre Jr. & TAKA Michinoku def. Hirooki Goto, YOSHI-HASHI & Kosei Fujita by submission. (4:47)
TAKA Michinoku submitted Kosei Fujita via Just Face Lock. - Toru Yano & Yuji Nagata def. Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Minoru Suzuki by disqualification. (5:29)
- EVIL, Yujiro Takahashi, SHO & Dick Togo def. Tomohiro Ishii, Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima & YOH by pinfall. (12:02)
Dick Togo pinned Hiroyoshi Tenzan after EVIL hit Tenzan with a title belt. - KENTA, Bad Luck Fale, Chase Owens, El Phantasmo & Taiji Ishimori def. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Kazuchika Okada, Tomoaki Honma, Robbie Eagles & Tiger Mask by pinfall. (11:30)
Chase Owens pinned Tomoaki Honma via Package Piledriver. - Shingo Takagi, Tetsuya Naito & SANADA def. Jeff Cobb, Great-O-Khan & Aaron Henare by pinfall. (16:11)
Shingo Takagi pinned Aaron Henare via Made In Japan. - El Desperado & DOUKI wrestled Hiromu Takahashi & BUSHI to a Time Limit Draw. (30:00)
12/24
NJPW Road To Tokyo Dome: Night 4
Available on NJPWWorld.com
- El Phantasmo def. Tiger Mask & Ryusuke Taguchi by pinfall. (9:19)
El Phantasmo pinned both opponents at the same time. - Jeff Cobb, Great-O-Khan & Aaron Henare def. Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima & Yuji Nagata by pinfall. (7:58)
Jeff Cobb pinned Yuji Nagata via Tour of the Islands. - KENTA, Chase Owens & Bad Luck Fale def. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Tomoaki Honma & Togi Makabe by pinfall. (6:55)
Bad Luck Fale pinned Tomoaki Honma via Grenade. - KOPW 2021 End of Year Party Rules Match: Toru Yano (c) def. Yoshinobu Kanemaru by pinfall via Oni Koroshi. (9:54)
- Hirooki Goto, Tomohiro Ishii, YOH & YOSHI-HASHI def. EVIL, SHO, Dick Togo & Yujiro Takahashi by pinfall. (12:04)
Hirooki Goto pinned Dick Togo via Shoto. - Taichi, Zack Sabre Jr. & El Desperado def. Hiromu Takahashi, Tetsuya Naito & SANADA by pinfall. (13:07)
Zack Sabre Jr. pinned SANADA via European Clutch. - Kazuchika Okada & Robbie Eagles def. Shingo Takagi & BUSHI by pinfall. (14:54)
Kazuchika Okada pinned BUSHI via Rainmaker.
NJPW will return on January 4th at 2am ET for Night 1 of Wrestle Kingdom 16 on NJPWWorld.com