YOH made his first defense of the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship in the main event of the Road to G1 Climax show.
Monday’s show listed a sellout of 1,483 for the first of back-to-back nights at Korakuen Hall. Monday’s show saw YOH defend the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship for the first time after becoming champion at Dominion, defeating DOUKI.
Francesco Akira earned the title shot after his four-way victory on June 23 against Master Wato, Kosei Fujita, and SHO.
The heat was intense for the main event, especially down the stretch, with YOH feeling like a major star to the audience. Early on, a table was set up on the floor and wouldn’t be used until later when YOH was powerbombed. The table legs didn’t break, but the middle did, resulting in a nasty cut and mark left on YOH’s back.
YOH continued his Hiroyoshi Tenzan-influenced maneuvers, using the Anaconda Vice on several occasions. Akira targeted the injured left shoulder that YOH always has wrapped. The crowd was losing its mind, believing they would see a second title change on the show after Gabe Kidd’s earlier victory. YOH maneuvered out of the submission into a crucifix and survived the Fireball. After hitting a jumping knee, YOH went for the Anaconda Vice and transitioned into Direct Drive and got the pin.
The match lasted over twenty-six minutes and was the hottest the audience had been the entire show. YOH addressed the crowd and capped off an excellent final two matches on the card following Kidd’s win over Shota Umino.
NJPW returns to Korakuen Hall on Tuesday for Tiger Mask’s retirement, where he will have matches with Black Tiger IV and “Dynamite Kid” Tom Billington (the nephew of the original).
Results – Road to G1 Climax (Attendance: 1,483):
- IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship: YOH © over Francesco Akira in 26:38
- IWGP Global Heavyweight Championship: Gabe Kidd over Shota Umino © in 8:48
- A Block Play-In Match: Ryohei Oiwa over El Phantasmo in 9:36
- B Block Play-In Match: OSKAR over Yujiro in 9:54
- Three-Way Tornado Match: Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Dick Togo over Tiger Mask & Jado and Taiji Ishimori & Gedo in 6:26
- Boltin Oleg, Aaron Wolf, Hirooki Goto & Tatsuya Matsumoto over Yota Tsuji, Shingo Takagi, Yuto-Ice & Daiki Nagai in 8:33
- SANADA, Ren Narita, DOUKI & SHO over Yuya Uemura, Taichi, El Desperado & Masatora Yasuda in 8:03
