NJPW Sakura Genesis 2025.

[The Natural]

C&P from f4wonline.com.

Sumo Hall is hosting Sakura Genesis on April 5 with the show airing live on New Japan World. Six title matches in total are set for the event. The full card can be seen below:

• IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Hirooki Goto defends against David Finlay
• IWGP Global Heavyweight Champion Yota Tsuji defends against EVIL
• IWGP Tag Team Champions Tetsuya Naito & Hiromu Takahashi defend against Jeff Cobb & Callum Newman
• NEVER Openweight Champion Konosuke Takeshita defends against Ryohei Oiwa
• NEVER Openweight Six-Man Tag Team Champions SHO, Yujiro Takahashi & Ren Narita defend against Gabe Kidd, Drilla Moloney & Taiji Ishimori
• Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Shota Umino
• NJPW World TV Champion El Phantasmo defends against Great-O-Khan
• Yuya Uemura vs. SANADA
• Katsuya Murashima vs. Daiki Nagai

[Doragon]

I don't think want Finlay to win.

[The Natural]

I think Hirooki Goto retains the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship against David Finlay but wouldn't be surprised if he doesn't. I think that's why he's defended the belt in quick succession.

Edited April 4 by The Natural

[The Natural]

On 3/21/2025 at 10:52 PM, The Natural said:

C&P from f4wonline.com.

Sumo Hall is hosting Sakura Genesis on April 5 with the show airing live on New Japan World. Six title matches in total are set for the event. The full card can be seen below:

• IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Hirooki Goto defends against David Finlay
• IWGP Global Heavyweight Champion Yota Tsuji defends against EVIL
• IWGP Tag Team Champions Tetsuya Naito & Hiromu Takahashi defend against Jeff Cobb & Callum Newman
• NEVER Openweight Champion Konosuke Takeshita defends against Ryohei Oiwa
• NEVER Openweight Six-Man Tag Team Champions SHO, Yujiro Takahashi & Ren Narita defend against Gabe Kidd, Drilla Moloney & Taiji Ishimori
• Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Shota Umino
• NJPW World TV Champion El Phantasmo defends against Great-O-Khan
• Yuya Uemura vs. SANADA
• Katsuya Murashima vs. Daiki Nagai

Looking forward to Konosuke Takeshita vs. Ryohei Oiwa the most.

[Salads]

Oiwa/Alpha, the main and the good guy War Dogs trio against HOT should be fun. 

 

But mostly looking forward to this new Kensuke Shinzaki fella destroying the ace.

[Horangi]

Junior Genesis last night was a lot of fun, bring on tonight!

Spoiler

Junior tag match was excellent, Robbie X got a lot of shine here so I expect him in Super Juniors. Robbie Eagles too once again showed to me he is arguably the best all-rounder junior they have and really should be featured more. Wato and YOH are probably next.

Main enjoyment factor depends on how you feel about hardcore matches. This one fell somewhere in between death match and plunder match so it wasn't super extreme but also had a level of violence not usual in normal NJPW hardcore matches. I enjoyed it, the table spot was brutal, but probably a bit too long. Templario challenged next via video so I think this will happen in Chicago but we'll see

 

[Evil Otto]

Yeah, the Clark-Despy match was insane.  They (thankfully) didn't go full-on death match, but it certainly was wild enough!  It felt like a duel, very theatrical, which of course suits Desperado's character perfectly.  I loved it.  

Judging by the crowd reactions, the War Dogs are super over at this moment.  Or people just like barking.  Maybe both.  

I didn't have time to watch the junior tag match in full yet, but it looked great in parts.  

I strongly recommend the opening tag match, with Ninja Mack and especially MAO just making the audience audibly gasp in awe of him.  It's worth watching for their reactions alone.  MAO then announces he will be back in May, so yeah, BOSJ, and that got a legit pop.  They've chosen wisely, it seems.  I suspect Ninja Mack will be back for BOSJ as well.  

By the way, NJPW World has uploaded the show from March which has the main event 3-way death match with El Desperado that many folks were raving about.  Not everyone's thing, but certainly highly praised.  I'll watch it later when I'm in the right mood.     

Again, today's Sakura Genesis is not killer in terms of match-ups I would book, but plenty of storyline intrigue, and that's a step in the right direction for the promotion.  It looks at least like a really fun show.  Konosuke vs. Oiwa definitely stands out as something potentially special.  If it were up to me, I would strongly consider eventually moving Takeshita beyond the Never title, if you know what I mean.    
 

 

[lostinube]

All is right in the world.

Spoiler

Goto retains by doing his finisher three times in succession on Finlay. Hey Chicago, you get Goto vs Umino?

Tsuji beat EVIL and was challenged by Uemura.

Callum Newman pinned Naito in the middle of the ring to win the tag titles for him and Jeff "I thought I was going to the WWE, internet?" Cobb

Takeshita beat Oiwa.

HOT beat the War Dogs because SANADA turned on the War Dogs.

Umino beat Tanahashi.

O-Khan became TV champ by count-out over El-P.

Uemura beat SANADA.

Murashima beat Nagai.

 

[Mr. Monday Morning]

Solid enough show but my goodness they need to take the hint on Shota. He needs a full rebuild, not 5 minutes out of the spotlight and then another title shot. People are not buying it.

Takeshita-Oiwa and Goto-Finlay were very good. UE and Hiromu did a decent job Weekend at Bernies-ing Naito's corpse - I'm a little surprised Newman seems ok b/c at one point he bounced off the top of his head, which did not look pleasant

I won't even get into Sanada, HoT etc. Finlay apparently challenged them to a cage/dog pound/whatever the official name for it is

[The Natural]

Spoiler

Haven't watched the show yet. Behind on my NJPW. Glad my prediction of Hirooki Goto retaining the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship came to fruition. I think he'll keep it to Dominion. No way should Shota Umino win it.

 

[Teflon Turtle]

Without getting into results, Despe/Connors was the match of the weekend, for me.

I've recently been giving the tip of the "best in the world" cap to ZSJ on in-ring alone, mostly...but really....I think Desperado has a case. He can and does wrestle absolutely any style without any fear, and he can do so very well. Despite wearing a mask that sometimes obscures even his mouth, you can always tell what he/the character is thinking or feeling based on body language alone. If he's wearing a version of the mask that's more open, all the better. He's also got a good sense for comedy, and if the subtitles are any indication, he's an engaging promo. He can do it all.

Spoiler

I'm glad Goto defended. I hear attendance is up with him as champion, so hopefully he gets a longer run. Not getting my hopes up expecting an Okada-esque two years, but this reign has legs. They should keep going with it. But here's the potential problem, and it's why I was nervous about this Finlay match: it's to the point with Goto that I'm not sure anybody who beats him is going to get much of a positive reaction. If they're purposeful about how they do the match, Tsuji, maybe. If New Japan isn't worried about that and wants to get Takeshita (more?) over as a nigh-unstoppable perfect wrestler, then sure. Anybody else, it might fall flat. I don't think the fans in Japan want the ride to end right now, unless Goto is immediately back on the chase.

Which brings me to this. Usually I try to avoid writing about the negative. But: if another IWGP World Heavyweight Title change that nobody asked for happens in the U.S. for the second year in a row, it may rank among the most boneheaded - or at least uncreative - booking decisions I've seen. If New Japan thinks a Shota win won't get the heat in Chicago that it would in Japan, I think they're fooling themselves. If the NJPW subreddit is any kind of measuring stick (I know, I know...), there's no significant segment of the Western fanbase that wants to see Shota as champ right now, same as the domestic fans in Japan. Now...if New Japan wants a different sort of heel at the top of the card that isn't about HOT shenanigans, and has a careful plan about that? OK, maybe. 

Speaking of HOT: I'm not a fan, but sometimes their antics lead to fun moments. Honestly, I got a good laugh out of Shingo's run in during the Global Title match. He comes in, clears house, but gets so fired up he does his "kita kita kita" taunt...leaving him wide open for a low blow from EVIL (Shingo's reaction was great, too). Which immediately leaves EVIL's back exposed as well, and it earns him a low blow of his own. Rampage Dragon with a sacrifice bunt! What a bro Shingo was there.

 

[Mr. Monday Morning]

Oh Despy's 100% in that conversation. He just gets overlooked b/c they refuse to give the Juniors equal treatment/standing. But he's been on a tear, realistically for a few years now, even with a messed up knee.

Douki getting injured at WK is one of the great 'What If's as it sounds like they had some crazy stuff planned that could've stolen the show

[Salads]

Irritated me that the match order of Dominion last year (in the English speaking discourse at least) was dominated by HoT sucks takes rather than Despe is great takes.

Only Okada, Shingo and Naito have had more main event matches this decade than Despe. Everyone's on that train.

[Horangi]

Lol they put the tag straps on Cobb and he then announces his departure. I felt the whole "wasn't I leaving internet?" was a bit hokey and obvious. When are they going to learn that putting belts on people isn't going to make them stay when you can match the salary of the US companies?

Callum Newman wants to now challenge Goto...he's won like 5 singles matches and is nowhere near ready...watch Gedo book him for the Dontaku main event!

(In all honesty I'm guessing Callum gets the shot because they were booking Dontaku around Cobb vs Goto and that this is just an easy pivot. O-Khan is probably tied up with ELP still and HENARE injured so in order not to shake too much they just replace with Callum. On a positive note, Goto will hold until Dominion which is a hell of a lot longer than I thought)

Edited April 14 by Horangi
Paragraph 3

[lostinube]

Yeah, it's Callum vs Goto for Night 2 of the Dontaku. Night 1 is the HOT vs War Dogs dog pound match.

[Salads]

7 hours ago, Horangi said:

When are they going to learn that putting belts on people isn't going to make them stay when you can match the salary of the US companies?

It appears that they already knew he was leaving and were going to give him the tag title run and the main event shot at Goto as a thank you send off because he's well regarded. What changed was the date that (supposedly WWE) wanted him to start which was brought forward.