NJPW New Japan Road
Night 6
Event Date: September 11, 2020 (18:30 JST)
aired live on NJPW World
#njroad
City: Bunkyo, Tokyo, Japan
Venue: Korakuen Hall
Attendance: 669
Series: New Japan Road
Commentary (Japanese): Haruo Murata, Milano Collection AT, Jushin Thunder Liger
Ring Announcer: Kimihiko Ozaki (1 – 3), Makoto Abe (4 – 5)
Video
The opening video looks at the mini tag league to crown new Jr Heavyweight Tag Champs, and the title match happens tonight! Also tonight, Chaos will battle Chaos as the NEVER Openweight 6-Man tag champs of Tomohiro Ishii, YOSHI-HASHI, and Hirooki Goto defend their titles against SHO, Toru Yano, and Kazuchika Okada.
Match 1
Yuya Uemura & Gabriel Kidd & Yota Tsuji vs Tomoaki Honma & Yuji Nagata & Satoshi Kojima
(referee: Kenta Sato)
Result: Satoshi Kojima pins Gabriel Kidd after a lariat
Time: 8:44
Match Thoughts
This was a fine opener. I liked seeing the three young lions all together facing three veterans. The young lions were, of course, aggressive. The young lions got some offense throughout the match, but with each of them needing to spend some time in the ring, no single young lion really stood out or gave any of the veterans much trouble. It was pretty fun to watch though.
Match 2
Master Wato w/ Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Ryusuke Taguchi & Kota Ibushi & Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Douki & Zack Sabre Jr. (IWGP Heavyweight Tag Champ) & Taichi (IWGP Heavyweight Tag Champ) & Minoru Suzuki (NEVER Openweight Champ)
(referee: Kenta Sato)
Result: Taichi submits Ryusuke Taguchi with the Holy Emperor’s Cross
Time: 11:09
Match Thoughts
Good match. Both teams looked good, and the whole match seemed to come down to the final pairing in the ring. May favorite part though, was seeing Kota Ibushi and Minoru Suzuki battle each other about halfway through the match. They had a striking contest that ended with both guys needing to tag out. Another interesting part of the match was seeing how Suzuki reacted to Taichi getting beat up. Suzuki and Taichi are in the same block in the G1 Climax, and Suzuki just watched whenever Taichi was struggling in the match. Suzuki Gun has always been aggressive with each other within their group whenever they’re scheduled to have a match against each other, and it’s always fun to watch.
Match 3
Yujiro Takahashi & Dick Togo & EVIL vs SANADA & Shingo Takagi & Tetsuya Naito (IWGP IC & Heavyweight Champ)
(referee: Marty Asami)
Result: SANADA submits Dick Togo with Skull End
Time: 9:50
Match Thoughts
Good match, and another fun fight between LIJ and Bullet Club. Takagi and Yujiro Takahashi had a nice segment in the middle of the match, but the most fun had to be the last couple of minutes. LIJ managed to completely isolate Dick Togo in the ring, and Togo got completely destroyed. There was no fighting back from Togo and no saves from EVIL and Takahashi. This was a moment of revenge for LIJ, and they had fun with it.
Video
The matches for every night of the G1 Climax 30 are announced.
Video
Commercials for NJPW on Japanese television are also shown.
Intermission
The ring is cleaned and sanitized during a brief intermission.
Match 4
NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Title Match
SHO & Toru Yano & Kazuchika Okada vs YOSHI-HASHI & Tomohiro Ishii & Hirooki Goto (6-Man Tag Champs)
(referee: Marty Asami)
Result: Tomohiro Ishii pins SHO after a brainbuster, Ishii, YOSHI-HASHI, and Goto successfully defend the NEVER Openweight 6-Man tag titles in their first defense
Time: 18:55
Match Thoughts
Great match. These teams have been having really good matches against each other during the entire tour (in eight-man tags with extra people involved), so in my mind this title match had a lot to live up to. I think this match definitely delivered on everything the preview matches promised, and it was by far the best match they had against each other on this tour. The first part of the match felt a lot like the preview matches, which is to say it was very entertaining.
SHO and Ishii went right after each other, and it was clear from the opening bell that they had some stuff to settle between each other that, in a way, overshadowed the actual titles that were on the line. In the later stages of the match, both teams put together some great three-man offensive sequences, and the momentum shifted heavily back and forth a few times. Increasingly at the center of all the action were SHO and Ishii. They were legal for a long time towards the end of the match, and they ended up having a great singles match while everyone else more or less stayed out of their way (most of the time). The NEVER Openweight 6-Man Title built up YOSHI-HASHI during the tournament, and now it’s building up SHO in the first defense for the new champs. I really enjoy that aspect of the title. I also enjoyed seeing SHO and Ishii shake hands and hug after the match was over. Don’t worry, Chaos is fine.
Match 5
IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Title Match
BUSHI & Hiromu Takahashi vs Yoshinobu Kanemaru & El Desperado
(referee: Red Shoes Unno)
Result: El Desperado pins Hiromu Takahashi after Pinche Loco, El Desperado and Yoshinobu Kanemaru become the 62nd IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Champions in their second reign as a team
Time: 17:12
Match Thoughts
Great match. These two teams had a highly entertaining match on the final night of round-robin competition, but this match was even better. I thought El Desperado and Yoshinobu Kanemaru were the favorites to win it all when the mini-tournament started, and they proved they were the team to beat tonight with some slick teamwork and more than a little cheating.
LIJ brought unpredictability and violence to this title match, but Suzuki GUn was in top form tonight. The battle went back and forth, and BUSHI and Takahashi seemed to hit more big moves throughout the match, but El Desperado and Kanemaru were smarter. El Desperado and Kanemaru have been champs together before, and that experience gave them a noticeable edge tonight. This was a great way to end the Jr. Heavyweight Tag Title Tournament, and it was a great way to end this New Japan Road tour.
Show Impressions
This was a very good show. It paid off a lot of what we’d seen throughout this short New Japan Road tour, and it did it in a very entertaining fashion. Individually and overall, this was easily the best show of the tour. I also liked that they only did five matches tonight (instead of their usual six) so the matches could be longer. For a tour that initially felt like it might just be filling time between the Jingu Stadium show and the start of the G1 Climax, New Japan Road turned out to be totally worth watching.
Match of the Night
BUSHI & Hiromu Takahashi vs Yoshinobu Kanemaru & El Desperado
Both of tonight’s title matches were great, but the jr. heavyweight match focused more on the title and team action than the 6-man title match. The 6-Man title match focused heavily on SHO versus Ishii, which I loved, but tonight’s main event put the focus more on the titles and what it meant for both teams to try and win them.
Official Results (Japanese): https://www.njpw.co.jp/tornament/255929?showResult=1