Results
- Masatora Yasuda & Zane Jay def. Katsuya Murashima & Tatsuya Matsumoto
- Hiroshi Tanahashi def. Master Wato
- Togi Makabe, Tomoaki Honma & Toru Yano def. Ryusuke Taguchi, Shoma Kato & Tiger Mask
- Boltin Oleg, Shota Umino & Yuya Uemura def. Dick Togo, Don Fale & EVIL
- Taichi, TAKA Michinoku & Tomohiro Ishii def. Gedo, OSKAR & Yuto-Ice
- David Finlay, Gabe Kidd & Taiji Ishimori def. Hiromu Takahashi, Shingo Takagi & Yota Tsuji
- Hartley Jackson, Ryohei Oiwa & Zack Sabre Jr. def. Ren Narita, SANADA & Yujiro Takahashi (DQ)
- DOUKI & SHO def. Kosei Fujita & Robbie Eagles (IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championships)
- El Desperado def. YOH (IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship)
El Desperado’s dominant reign as IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion lives on.
Desperado defended his title for the eighth time on Wednesday, overcoming YOH in a competitive 24-minute battle at the Kitagas Arena in Sapporo, Japan. The match headlined the 10th show as part of NJPW’s ongoing Road To Destruction card.
The back-and-forth battle came to a close after Desperado scored a piledriver, then maintained wrist control to connect with his Pinche Loco finisher for the pinfall. He had connected with the Pinche Loco earlier in the match as well, but YOH surprisingly kicked out at one after taking the move for the first time.
Desperado has held the junior heavyweight title five times, but no run has been as successful as his current reign. He has carried the belt for over 260 days, first earning the belt at Wrestle Kingdom in January with a win over DOUKI.
It seems a second meeting with DOUKI is next, as the House of Torture member confronted Desperado following his main event win on Wednesday. DOUKI’s loss to Desperado at Wrestle Kingdom notably came due to injury, not via pinfall or submission.
Wednesday was YOH’s second time coming up short in a title fight against Desperado: They previously met at Dominion 6.6 in 2021 as well. He notably earned a win over the champ during this year’s Best of the Super Junior tournament, lining him up for the title shot this week.
YOH is still chasing his first singles title in NJPW.
House of Torture’s DOUKI and SHO retained the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championships in the co-main event of the night, using their usual dirty tactics to get past Kosei Fujita and Robbie Eagles.
The nearly 20-minute contest had some exciting exchanges throughout, which led the crowd to believe that the TMDK duo might’ve been closing in on a title win. Fujita was near closing out the performance against DOUKI in the final minute, but had a move reversed into a roll-up. DOUKI blatantly grabbed Fujita’s tights during the attempt, aiding him with the pinfall result.
House of Torture also used sheet metal as a weapon earlier in the bout.
House of Torture have carried the tag belts since June, when they dethroned Master Wato and YOH at Dominion 6.15. Fujita and Eagles were aiming for their second reign with the junior titles this year.
