New Japan Pro Wrestling held night three of their Road to Sakura Genesis tour on April 3rd, 2024. The event took place in the Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan and featured seven matches.
This event was live-streamed on NJPWWorld.com.
Katsuya Murashima & Shoma Kato vs. House Of Torture (EVIL & Yujiro Takahashi)
- Takahashi pinned Kato after a DDT.
In a pretty typical established team vs Young Lion duo, the experienced duo won the bout. It was your standard New Japan tag match, with very little to speak about.
If you can imagine it, the House of Torture even cheated to win against the two Young Lions. Is there any depths they won’t sink to?
Kato almost stole a victory with a roll-up at the end, but fell to a DDT from Takahashi
Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Oleg Boltin, Ryusuke Taguchi, Tiger Mask & Toru Yano vs. Just 5 Guys (DOUKI, SANADA, Taichi, TAKA Michinoku & Yuya Uemura)
- Uemura pinned Tiger Mask after a flying press
Just Five Guys picked up a win on the third day of the Road to Sakura Genesis tour. Uemura pinned Tiger Mask to build more momentum.
Oleg Bolton was once again impressive. It’s clear that he is being showcased for a reason, so I expect him to be a big part of New Japan Pro Wrestling going forward.
The match gave everybody a chance to get in the ring, and hit all their signature spots much to the delight of the fans.
El Desperado & YOSHI-HASHI vs. BULLET CLUB (Chase Owens & Taiji Ishimori)
- Ishimori pinned El Desperado after a kick to the nuts
A decent tag match followed that, with both teams putting on a good performance.
Bullet Club won after Owens disstracted the referee. Ishimori then threw Desperado into the air, before hitting a flying kick to the nuts to win the bout.
Intergalactic Jet Setters (Kevin Knight & KUSHIDA) & Tomohiro Ishii vs. United Empire (Callum Newman, Francesco Akira & TJP) vs. BULLET CLUB War Dogs (Drilla Moloney, Gabe Kidd & Gedo)
- Ishii pinned Newman, then Knight pinned Gedo
This was a gauntlet match, meaning that once one team is pinned, then another would take it’s place. It started with the IJS and Ishii taking on United Empire, but then then Bullet Club replaced UE after Ishii pinned Newman.
While they were the fresher team, BC still lost. Kevin Knight pinned Gedo after an elevated DDT to take home the victory for the trio.
Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. Shingo Takagi
- Tagaki won the match by DQ
Kanemaru attacked Shingo before the bell rang, but he quickly got back on top, albeit with a bad back from the assault.
Kanemaru eventually got the upper hand, attacking Shingo on the outside. He came close to the win with a Deep Impact, but The Dragon kicked out at the last moment.
Or course, HoT reared their ugly heads to ruin what was a good match. Kanemuro lost the match by DQ after attacking the referee, in a disappointing end.
Shota Umino & YOH vs. House Of Torture (Ren Narita & SHO)
- YOH pinned SHO
Another HoT nonsense match. They attacked YOH and Umino before the match, before targeting YOH throughout most of the bout.
However, the pair eventually fought back, with the faces ending up as the victors over the HoT.
I don’t know how long Umino is going to tease another match against Ren Narita. He’s set to team with Jon Moxley against Narita and Jack Perry at Sakura Genesis, so hopefully that’ll be the end of this never-ending rivalry.
Los Ingobernables de Japon (BUSHI & Yota Tsuji) vs. Los Ingobernables de Japon (Hiromu Takahashi & Tetsuya Naito)
- BUSHI pins Takahashi with a BUSHI roll
The main event of the evening was a huge intra-faction battle. Two teams made of LiJ members took on one another, in a preview of the main event of Sakura Genesis.
Seeing Naito in the ring with Bushi was an odd sight to see, but his interactions with Tsuji gave us a view on what could happen at Sakura Genesis later this week.
However, the finish featured neither men. BUSHI picked up a huge win by pinning Takahashi with a BUSHI roll.
Tetsuya Naito will defend his IWGP World Heavyweight Championship against Yota Tsuji at Sakura Genesis 2024.
