HENARE retained the NEVER Openweight Championship in the main event of Monday’s Road to Destruction card.
Korakuen Hall was the site of NJPW’s latest stop with 1,190 in attendance for the Road to event.
The card was highlighted by Hiromu Takahashi challenging HENARE for the NEVER Openweight Championship in a 25-minute match where the champion retained after hitting Streets of Rage.
After, HENARE gave respect to the five-time IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship before focusing his attention on Shingo Takagi. Takagi challenged the champion for a match on September 29 at Destruction in Kobe.
It will mark the third singles meeting between the two in 2024. Takagi defended the NEVER Openweight Championship against HENARE at Dominion this past June and ended in a draw. A rematch was held one week later at New Japan Soul with HENARE winning the championship.
Monday marked HENARE’s first defense of the title.
Here are the results from Monday’s show at Korakuen Hall: (Courtesy: Purolove.com)
*NEVER Openweight Championship: HENARE © over Hiromu Takahashi in 25:02
*Jeff Cobb, Great O-Khan, Francesco Akira & Callum Newman over Tetsuya Naito, Yota Tsuji, Shingo Takagi & BUSHI in 11:14
*DOUKI & Taka Michinoku over Taiji Ishimori & Gedo in 4:17
*EVIL, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Yujiro & Dick Togo over Hiroshi Tanahashi, Oleg Boltin, Toru Yano & Tiger Mask in 10:51
*Jake Lee & Gabe Kidd over Tomohiro Ishii & Tomoaki Honma in 8:52
*SHO & Ren Narita over Shota Umino & Jado in 8:56
*Zack Sabre Jr. & Kosei Fujita over Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Katsuya Murashima in 7:50
*Jacob Austin Young over Shoma Kato in 4:58
The Road to Destruction tour continues Wednesday in Sendai with DOUKI defending the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship against Taiji Ishimori.
