NJPW Wrestling Dontaku 2024.

[The Natural]

C&P from f4wonline.com:

NJPW Wrestling Dontaku on May 3, 2024 lineup --

• Boltin Oleg & Shoma Kato vs. Katsuya Murashima & Togi Makabe
• TAKA Michinoku & DOUKI vs. SHO & Yujiro Takahashi
• Yuya Uemura, Taichi, & SANADA vs. Callum Newman, Francesco Akira, & Great-O-Khan
• Jado, El Phantasmo, & Hikuleo vs. Kosei Fujita, Shane Haste, & Mikey Nicholls
• Ryusuke Taguchi, YOSHI-HASHI, & Hirooki Goto vs. Taiji Ishimori, Chase Owens, & KENTA
• BUSHI, Hiromu Takahashi, Shingo Takagi, & Tetsuya Naito vs. Gedo, Drilla Moloney, Clark Connors, & Gabe Kidd
• El Desperado, Shota Umino, & Jon Moxley vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Ren Narita, & EVIL
• NJPW World TV Champion Zack Sabre Jr. defends against Jeff Cobb
• Yota Tsuji vs. David Finlay
• IWGP Global Champion Nic Nemeth defends against Hiroshi Tanahashi

NJPW Wrestling Dontaku on May 4, 2024 lineup --

• Boltin Oleg & Shoma Kato vs. Shane Haste & Mikey Nicholls
• DOUKI & Yuya Uemura vs. Francesco Akira & Great-O-Khan
• Kosei Fujita & Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Callum Newman & Jeff Cobb
• El Desperado, Shota Umino, El Phantasmo, & Hikuleo vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru, SHO, Yujiro Takahashi, & EVIL
• Nic Nemeth & Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Taichi & SANADA
• BUSHI, Hiromu Takahashi, Yota Tsuji, & Tetsuya Naito vs. Gedo, Drilla Moloney, Clark Connors, & David Finlay
• IWGP Tag Team Champions Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI defend against KENTA & Chase Owens
• NEVER Openweight Champion Shingo Takagi defends against Gabe Kidd
• IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Jon Moxley defends against Ren Narita

[lostinube]

Night 2 is tempting. It will probably be my only chance to see Mox as IWGP champion live. There is no way he is losing to Narita so I figure Shota helps him fight off HOT and set up their match. And Shingo vs Gabe will probably be violent. I can't see Nemeth losing to oldfat so the tag will probably set up SANADA trying to get back a version of a title he had.

New Japan has tried to make the Dontaku an event where things happen but I haven't gone since they moved to two nights. Due to the Dontaku festival happening, hotels are already pricey and the recent tourist boom plus the weak yen has just made things worse.

 

[Evil Otto]

The good thing about Shingo vs. Gabe going on (apparently) right before Moxley vs. Narita, is that is will be nasty and brutal and Mox will surely be inspired to match or even top it.  Welcome to the deep end, Ren.

Of course, some HoT fuckery is potentially on the menu as well, but I hope this match is more about providing proof that Narita can convincingly be in a main event.  (I still need convincing, honestly.)  So, hoping it's significantly less of the former, and much more of the latter.  

Edited April 16 by Evil Otto

[lostinube]

Yuya Uemura is the first of the new generation to get singles gold as he beat O-Khan for the KOPW title.

Naito and LIJ take the first round against Jake and the War Dogs, mainly because they brought out the Hiroshima Carp mascot and there was no way they were not going to have a photo op at the end.

[Evil Otto]

The KOPW match was thoroughly engaging from start to finish due to Great O-Khan going above and beyond to make it so.  Don't believe me?  Fair enough.  

Tire-based offense!  O-Khan, master of lemons!

Considering how bizarre it all was, Uemura certainly earned it.  

[Horangi]

Spoiler

Well I guess NJPW saw Nemeth winning the AAA championship and thought 'nope' - Nemeth is probably dropping to Finlay tomorrow. 

The Tanahashi match was fine, Tana is so broken though. I hope he sits the G1 out.

 

[Evil Otto]

Spoiler

Horangi, you were indeed correct.  Although I have to say, if Nemeth was only in NJPW for this brief period, bringing him back at some point would be fine with me.  He seems to intuitively understand this style of wrestling, and even though he still relies a bit too much on flash, I appreciate that he truly gives 100% every single time.  

Gabe vs. Shingo was excellent.  As brutal as promised.  Seriously, I put Gabe Kidd way over Finlay and Narita as main event-worthy.  Far and away the best match on the show, with Cobb vs. ZSJ the only other match from the past two nights on the same level.  

 

[lostinube]

Spoiler

Just got back home from night 2. In some ways, I can't judge Nemeth/Finlay fairly because if that hadn't been on the show it would have finished earlier and thus, I would have gotten home earlier. I avoided the shinkansen because of Golden Week so it was a three hour plus ride home and every minute counted. The longer the match went on, the more irritated I got. I knew the main would have HOT shenanigans so I figured it would go fairly long.

But they were given the death spot, going on after Shingo/Gabe. The crowd was spent after that match and then they were not familiar enough with Nemeth (and Mox to some extent in the main) and are, like most people fairly apathetic about Finlay. They needed Gedo to pound the mat to get the crowd going whereas with the matches before and after, the claps were pretty spontaneous acts. Also, people seemed a bit shocked by the tag team title change. Got celebrate that Bullet Club anniversary, I guess.