NJPW was kicking off another tour of New Japan Road shows this morning and today’s show’s main event was a massive 10-man elimination tag team match. The match was a battle between Just 5 Guys and LIJ, but there were three ways to eliminate your opponents, either by pinfall, submission or throwing them over the top rope.
The main began with a rematch from Dominion with SANADA and Tsuji getting it started for their respective teams. Tsuji seemed to be getting the better of the champion and then Takahashi and Kanemaru were tagged in, but before we knew it all ten men were brawling. Just 5 Guys started to get the advantage and were working together to take down Takahashi, Taichi then hit him with a superkick to the jaw.
Takahashi managed to battle back and tag in Tsuji, who single-handedly beat down all members of Just 5 Guys. Tsuji then got the first elimination of the match by hitting Michinoku with a Falcon Arrow, LIJ now had a one-man advantage. LIJ was continuing their destruction and it seemed Just 5 Guys could not get anything going. Shingo was attempting to eliminate SANADA and both men ended up over the top rope and on the apron. This resulted in both men being knocked off the apron, leaving SANADA and Shingo both eliminated from the match.
LIJ now had a four against-three advantage in the match, but Taichi quickly evened the odds for Just 5 Guys by throwing BUSHI over the top rope. Just 5 Guys seemed like they could get back into it, but just seconds after BUSHI was eliminated Naito threw Taichi over the ropes as well. LIJ was now once again one man up, with the remaining men being Naito, Takahashi and Tsuji up against Kanemaru and DOUKI.
Kanemaru quickly went to work on Naito’s knee, and it wasn’t long before Kanemaru was able to knock Naito over the top rope and big boot him to the floor, making the match two-on-two. Takahashi was next in for LIJ and he and Kanemaru ended up in a battle on the apron. It was Takahashi who was able to kick Kanemaru off the apron, and LIJ was one elimination away from victory.
LIJ. Credit: NJPW
However, Takahashi never made it back in the ring following his exchange with Kanemaru as DOUKI drop-kicked him from behind eliminating him as well. We were now down to two, it was Tsuji against DOUKI to find the winner of this match. DOUKI hit Tsuji with a suicide dive and a number of DDTs, but he was no match for Tsuji at the end of the day.
Tsuji hit him with a curb stomp and then a brutal spear to get the victory for LIJ. At Dominion Tsuji may have lost to SANADA, but after the match he made it clear he wants another shot at the IWGP Heavyweight Championship.
NJPW Road to Strong Results
Yuto Nakashima vs. Kosei Fujita
In this young lion battle, Fujita was able to defeat Nakashima with the German suplex.
Winner: Kosei Fujita
Tomoaki Honma & Togi Makabe vs. Boltin Oleg & Oskar Leube
Honma got the win for his team by hitting Leube with Kokeshi.
Winners: Tomoaki Honma & Togi Makabe
CHAOS (YOH, Ryusuke Taguchi, Toru Yano & YOSHI-HASHI) vs. House of Torture (Dick Togo, SHO, Yujiro Takahashi & EVIL)
In typical HoT fashion, there was a lot of attempted cheating, but in the end, it was YOH hitting Togo with a Direct Drive for the victory.
Winners: CHAOS
United Empire (Francesco Akira, TJP & Aaron Henare) vs. Bullet Club (Gedo, Clark Connors & Drilla Moloney)
Connor and Drilla. Credit: NJPW
This was our first opportunity to see Drilla Moloney (formerly Dan Moloney) as a member of the brand-new Bullet Club. Despite Bullet Club looking good today, it was Henare locking Gedo into Ultima to get a victory for the United Empire. After the match, Connors and Moloney were upset with the loss so they beat down Catch 2/2 for the second time in less than a week now. Bullet Club is definitely after those IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Championships.
Winners: United Empire
Ryohei Oiwa & Hirooki Goto vs. Bullet Club (Gabe Kidd & Alex Coughlin)
Kidd and Coughlin want some gold. Credit: NJPW
The new-look Bullet Club was in action in this match as well, this time it was Gabe Kidd and Alex Coughlin. Bullet Club attacked Oiwa and Goto before the bell, and Kidd was beating Goto down all throughout the arena. They maintained that control throughout the match and Kidd got the victory after hitting Oiwa with a piledriver. After the match, Kidd and Coughlin beat down Bishamon, Bullet Club wants all the tag gold in NJPW.
Winners: Bullet Club
G1 Climax 33 Blocks Announced
Here are your #G1CLIMAX33 Blocks!
A Block
SANADA
Chase Owens
Hikuleo
Ren Narita
Shota Umino
Yota Tsuji
Gabe Kidd
Kaito KiyomiyaB Block
Kazuchika Okada
YOSHI-HASHI
Taichi
KENTA
Great-O-Khan
Will Ospreay
Tanga Loa
El PhantasmoC Block
David Finlay
Tomohiro Ishii
EVIL
Tama Tonga… pic.twitter.com/XLyqM1lRWW— NJPW Global (@njpwglobal) June 10, 2023
Master Wato, Tomohiro Ishii, Hiroshi Tanahashi & Kazuchika Okada vs. Tiger Mask, El Desperado, Ren Narita & Shota Umino
Tiger Mask was getting beaten down in a three-on-one attack by the six-man tag champs and then Ishii hit him with a Brainbuster for the victory.