New Japan Pro Wrestling held the latest Road to Wrestling Dontaku event on April 22nd, 2024. The event featured give multi-man matches, featuring big stars like SANADA, Shingo Tagaki and Tetsuya Naito.
New IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Jon Moxley was not on the card.
Bishamon (Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI) & Katsuya Murashima vs. BULLET CLUB (Chase Owens, KENTA & Taiji Ishimori)
- Ishimori forced Murashima to tap out
In a fairly standard opener, the Bullet Club picked up another win as KENTA and Chase Owens continue their search to regain their tag team teams.
The win will likely lead to a title match against Bishamon in the coming weeks, as the BC look to win back the titles they lost just weeks ago.
TMDK (Kosei Fujita, Mikey Nicholls, Shane Haste & Zack Sabre Jr.) vs. Guerrillas Of Destiny (El Phantasmo, Hikuleo & Jado) & Ryusuke Taguchi
- Fujita makes Taguchi tap out to a Boston Crab
Another multi-man tag match was next, as TMDK picked up a big win over GoD in NJPW road to Wrestling Dontaku show.
As you’d expect, the match had some great technical wrestling sequences from ZS, with TMDK doing some impressive double team moves on the giant Hikuelo. TMDK pikced up the win when Fujita forced Taguchi to tap out to a Boston Crab
CHAOS (Tomohiro Ishii & Toru Yano), Hiroshi Tanahashi, Oleg Boltin & Shota Umino vs. House Of Torture (Dick Togo, EVIL, Ren Narita, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Yujiro Takahashi)
- Takahashi pinned Bolton with a roll up.
In what was actually a fun match, the House of Torture picked up a big win over a mixed side. Oleg Boltin continues his ascendency into the midcard, and teamed with the veteran NJPW president Tanahashi in a decent match.
HoT picked up the win after countless cheating and outnumbering the faces. After the match, the House of Torture attacked their opponents, setting up another match between the sides in the future.
Los Ingobernables de Japon (BUSHI, Hiromu Takahashi, Shingo Takagi, Tetsuya Naito & Yota Tsuji) vs. BULLET CLUB War Dogs (Clark Connors, David Finlay, Drilla Moloney, Gabe Kidd & Gedo)
- Takahashi forced Gedo to tap out to an arm bar.
This match started as a mass brawl around the arena, before Dave Finlay locked up with Yota Tsuji in the ring. They traded near falls, as more and more wrestlers got involved in the actual match.
The War Dogs used their numbers game to overpower BUSHI, and Lij threatened a hot tag. Shingo eventually got the tag and had a big sequence with Gabe Kidd. After all ten men got involved in the ring, Takahashi forced Gedo to tap out to an arm bar.
United Empire (Callum Newman, Francesco Akira, Great-O-Khan, Jeff Cobb & TJP) vs. Just 5 Guys (DOUKI, SANADA, Taichi, TAKA Michinoku & Yuya Uemura)
- United Empire defeated Just 5 Guys
The main event of this Road To Wrestling Dontaku show saw two of the company’s biggest factions facing off.
This match is a Faction Warfare gauntlet match. It is essentially a series of 10 minute singles matches, with the winner of the match remaining in the gauntlet, while a time-limit draw means both men lose.
Match One. Both Uemura and O-Khan are eliminated due to a draw.
Match Two. Jeff Cobb and SANADA are eliminated due to a draw.
Match Three. Callum Newman beat TAKA Michinoku
Match Four. DOUKI beat Callum Newman
Match Five. DOUKI beat Francesco Akira
Match Six. TJP beat DOUKI
Match Seven. TJP beat Taichi
After the match, TJP announced Callum Newman as the first entry into the 2024 G1 Climax.
