Sakura Genesis takes place tomorrow but NJPW took a detour tonight that led right to Korakuen Hall. El Desperado and Clark Connors got hardcore in the main event as Desperado defended his IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship.
Connors came out with the rest of the War Dogs and his better half, Stardom’s Thekla. They had a group high five and left Connors to his business. Connors has a bottle of alcohol with him. There are trash cans, kendo sticks and other weapons around the ring. There is a stack of steel chairs in each corner of the ring and the turnbuckles are all exposed.
They engage in a duel with steel chairs. They disarm each other so things don’t go anywhere fast. Connors gets whipped into one of the exposed buckles first. Desperado holds a chair to Connors back before he slams him to the mat. Desperado lays Connors head over a chair and whacks him with another chair.
The fight goes to the floor. Connors hits Desperado in the head with a trash can. As Desperado tries to stand Connors hits him in the head with it again. Connors pounces Desperado into five rows of empty chairs on the floor. Connors beats him with a steel chair before they fight out into the crowd. Connors takes a big swing with a steel chair. Desperado ducks. Connors hits a steel post instead.
In the stands, they duel with kendo sticks. Connors overpowers Desperado labeling him over and over in the head. Connors uses his belt to strap Desperado to a steel post. Connors lashes Desperado over and over with a kendo stick. Connors then sadistically pours alcohol onto the wounds. Desperado’s back is bleeding. Connors sets-up two tables side by side on the floor. Connors takes what looks like to be a glass bottle and smashes it against a steel post so he is left with a broken bottle in his hands. The glass flies everywhere. Desperado blocks him using the bottle on him by kicking him in the “lower abdomen”. Desperado puts Connors in a submission hold raking and grinding the bottle into his forehead. Connors is soon bleeding profusely.
Desperado sets up chairs in a circle but it is Connors who powerbombs him onto them. Desperado retrieves a chair wrapped in barbed wire. Connors spears Desperado and the chair. Not the best idea in the world. Both men wrap the barbed wired around their taped fists hammering on each other. Desperado is stomped into the barbed wire chair. Desperado suplexes Connors onto the chair.
Both men battle on the top rope above the two tables on the floor. Desperado dives off the top rope with Connors spearing or slamming him through the tables below. Desperado wins with a Pinche Loco back in the ring.
The card for tomorrow’s Sakura Genesis is:
Katsuya Murashima vs. Daiki Nagai
El Phantasmo (c) vs. Great-O-Khan – NJPW World Television Championship Match
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Shota Umino
House of Torture (Ren Narita, Sho and Yujiro Takahashi) (c) vs. Bullet Club War Dogs (Gabe Kidd, Drilla Moloney and Taiji Ishimori) vs. NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship Match
Konosuke Takeshita (c) vs. Ryohei Oiwa – NEVER Openweight Championship Match
Los Ingobernables de Japon (Tetsuya Naito and Hiromu Takahashi) (c) vs. United Empire (Jeff Cobb and Callum Newman) – IWGP Tag Team Championship Match
Yota Tsuji (c) vs. Evil – IWGP Global Heavyweight Championship Match
Hirooki Goto (c) vs. David Finlay – IWGP World Heavyweight Championship
Road to Sakura Genesis Results
Katsuya Murashima and Ninja Mack vs Yuya Koroku and MAO
MAO pins Murashima with a super kick to the chops. MAO says NJPW will be seeing more of him, especially during the “tournament in May”, Best of the Super Jr.
Winner: Yuya Koroku and MAO
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Ryusuke Taguchi – Hiroshi Tanahashi Final Road
The Ace continues his 2025 big farewell tour. The match is being billed as “Ace versus Ass”. Tanahashi gets caught up in Taguchi’s run the ropes gag to the point that he gases out. Taguchi missed his butt smash off the ropes. The Ace works over his butt even drop kicking it in the ropes. The Ace screams in agony after Taguchi’s “thumb in the bum” attack. The Ace escapes the ankle lock numerous times before pinning Taguchi with Slingblade and a High Fly Flow.
Winner: Hiroshi Tanahashi
Los Ingobernables De Japon (BUSHI, Hiromu Takahashi and Tetsuya Naito) vs United Empire (Jeff Cobb, Callum Newman and Jakob Austin Young)
Naito drills Young with a Tornado DDT. Cobb flattens Naito with a running splash. “Get out of here!” yells Cobb to Naito.
Bushi hits the Rewind Kick but is caught by Cobb when he attempts a Code Breaker. Cobb pins Bushi with a Tour of the Islands.
Winners: United Empire (Jeff Cobb, Callum Newman and Jakob Austin Young)
Los Ingobernables De Japon (Shingo Takagi and Yota Tsuji) vs HOUSE OF TORTURE (Dick Togo and EVIL)
Takagi has Togo in a submission. Togo rolls onto his shoulders and is pinned. Evil swipes Tsuji’s IWGP Global Heavyweight Championship. As Evil hands it back to Tsuji he pokes him in the eye.
Winners: Los Ingobernables De Japon (Shingo Takagi and Yota Tsuji)
Hirooki Goto, YOSHI-HASHI, YOH and Master Wato vs. War Dogs (David Finlay, Gabe Kidd, Drilla Moloney and Gedo)
Master Wato makes Gedo submit. Goto and Finlay brawl on the floor in preparation for tomorrow’s title match. Finlay points at the belt. He declares that it is his.
Winners: Hirooki Goto, YOSHI-HASHI, YOH and Master Wato
TMDK (Robbie Eagles and Kosei Fujita) (c) vs. War Dogs (Taiji Ishimori and Robbie X) – IWGP Jr. Tag Team Championship Match
Robbie has Fujita pinned after a splash from the top rope. Eagles dives across the ring making the save. Eagles catches Robbie in mid-air. He holds him for Fujita’s leaping stunner. Robbie kicks out. Just before Fujita German Suplexes Ishimori, Eagles kicks him in the face. Eagles pins Robbie with his running knee strike. Wato and Yoh challenged the champs after the match.
Winners: TMDK (Robbie Eagles and Kosei Fujita)
El Desperado (c) vs. Clark Connors – IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship, Hardcore Match
Winner: El Desperado
