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Satsuma no Kuni (April 29) preview
Two junior heavyweight championship matches in Kagoshima
As the annual late spring tour contuinues, we step temporarily off the Road to Dontaku to instead battle in Satsuma no Kuni on April 29. Named for the traditional name of Kagoshima, Satsuma no Kuni will see two junior heavyweight championship matches atop a dramatic card.
Watch Satsuma no Kuni LIVE on NJPW World! (English to follow on demand)
Main event- IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship- SHO vs DOUKI
Singles record: 3-0 SHO
The main event pits IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion SHO in his second defence of the title he has barely held for more than a few hours at a time. After YOH had his hands on the title for most of the run toward his challenge at Sakura Genesis, sadly cut short by a dislocated shoulder and damaged labrum, now it’s DOUKI who has absconded with the belt, stating on more than one occasion that ‘the worst champion in history’ isn’t deserving of holding the gold.
That led to the curious visual in Taiwan recently of DOUKI carrying the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship title into a number one contender’s match against Kosei Fujita, and in a stunning showcase for the future of the division walking away with his title shot intact- and turning away SHO’s attempts to get his belt back.
The maths does not support DOUKI’s odds in Kagoshima. Japones Del mal has never been able to0 beat the murder Machine SHO, who will head into this title match the heavy favourite. Yet exactly the same situation met DOUKI back in February at New Beginning in Sapporo, and the result was the biggest win of DOUKI’s career. Will that victory be trumped by his first championship gold tonight?
7th Match: IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championships- Los Ingobernables De Japon (BUSHI & Hiromu Takahashi) vs BULLET CLUB War Dogs (Drilla Moloney & Clark Connors)
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag gold is on the line when Drilla Moloney and Clark Connors defend against Hiromu Takahashi and BUSHI of LIJ. When a backstage brawl broke out between the two factions after the main event of Sakura Genesis, Hiromu and BUSHI saw opportunity in the form of the junior tag titles that they haven’t challenged for in four years. While tag gold has continued to elude Takahashi, it may be the perfect way for the Time Bomb to reset ahead of Best of the Super Jr. in the midst of what has been a difficult 2024 thus far.
That said, the current title holders have zero interest in Hiromu’s motivation or momentum, having plenty of their own to maintain. As fearsome and dominant as ever, the War Dogs plowed through competition in an intense tornado three way at Sakura Genesis to retain their gold, and the hardest hitting junior heavyweights on the planet have no intention of yielding to Hiromu and BUSHI.
6th Match: Los Ingobernables De Japon (Tetsuya Naito, Shingo Takagi & Yota Tsuji) vs BULLET CLUB War Dogs (David Finlay, Gabe Kidd & Gedo)
Days before high stakes showdowns between David Finlay and Yota Tsuji, and Shingo Takagi and Gabe Kidd at Wrestling Dontaku, and in the aftermath of Jake Lee’s in ring NJPW debut in Hiroshima on the side of the War Dogs, six man tag action in Kagoshima. The addition of Jake Lee certainly shifted the conversation in faction warfare between LIJ and the War Dogs, and the question will be whether Los Ingobernables De Japon can regain momentum ahead of Fukuoka Friday and Saturday.
5th Match: Tomoaki Honma, YOSHI-HASHI & Hirooki Goto vs Taiji Ishimori, Chase Owens & KENTA
Six man action sees Bishamon continue to lock horns with BULLET CUB as Tomoaki Honma takes the place of the injured Ryusuke Taguchi to face Taiji Ishimori, Chase Owens and KENTA. In this last televised event before Wrestling Dontaku, who will make the loudest final statement?
4th Match: Hikuleo, El Phantasmo, Shota Umino, El Desperado & Jado vs HOUSE OF TORTURE (Ren Narita, EVIL, Yujiro Takahashi, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Dick Togo)
Ten man action pits Hontai against HOUSE OF TORTURE, and the next two challengers to IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Jon Moxley in opposite corners. Umino will be going for the gold in the main event of Resurgence on May 11, but it will be one week earlier at Dontaku that we find out whether it’s Ren Narita or Jon Moxley that holds the gold on May 4. Narita would like nothing more than to claim the world title before his contemporary enemy Umino, and to deny the Roughneck his dream match against mentor Moxley. Could this turn out to be a preview of the Toyota Arena main event?
3rd Match: TMDK (Zack Sabre Jr., Mikey Nicholls, Shane Haste & Kosei Fujita vs United EMpire (Jeff Cobb Great-O-Khan, Francesco Akira & Callum Newman)
As Jeff Cobb and Zack Sabre Jr. prepare for their NJPW World TV Championship bout May 3 on night one of Dontaku, one last preview pits TMDK against United Empire. At Korakuen hall this past week, the Empire seemed to unite under TJP; can Jeff Cobb help spearhead a new era for the group in Fukuoka?
2nd Match: Boltin Oleg, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Togi Makabe & Tiger Mask vs Just Five Guys (SANADA, Taichi, Yuya Uemura & TAKA Michinoku)
Eight man action will see two thirds of the NEVER 6 Man Tag team Champions in Boltin Oleg and Hiroshi Tanahashi join Togi Makabe and Tiger Mask to face four of Just Five Guys. After a loss in the Faction Warfare Gauntlet match against United Empire this past week, J5G want to reassert themselves in a team setting against difficult competition.
1st Match:Shoma Kato vs Katsuya Murashima
Singles record: 0-0-4
Singles action with a ten minute time limit kicks us off in Kagoshima as Shoma Kato and Katsuya Murashima go head to head for a fifth time. With four time limit draws opposite one another so far, will one score a big result over the other tonight?
As the annual late spring tour contuinues, we step temporarily off the Road to Dontaku to instead battle in Satsuma no Kuni on April 29. Named for the traditional name of Kagoshima, Satsuma no Kuni will see two junior heavyweight championship matches atop a dramatic card.
Watch Satsuma no Kuni LIVE on NJPW World! (English to follow on demand)
Main event- IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship- SHO vs DOUKI
Singles record: 3-0 SHO
The main event pits IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion SHO in his second defence of the title he has barely held for more than a few hours at a time. After YOH had his hands on the title for most of the run toward his challenge at Sakura Genesis, sadly cut short by a dislocated shoulder and damaged labrum, now it’s DOUKI who has absconded with the belt, stating on more than one occasion that ‘the worst champion in history’ isn’t deserving of holding the gold.
That led to the curious visual in Taiwan recently of DOUKI carrying the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship title into a number one contender’s match against Kosei Fujita, and in a stunning showcase for the future of the division walking away with his title shot intact- and turning away SHO’s attempts to get his belt back.
The maths does not support DOUKI’s odds in Kagoshima. Japones Del mal has never been able to0 beat the murder Machine SHO, who will head into this title match the heavy favourite. Yet exactly the same situation met DOUKI back in February at New Beginning in Sapporo, and the result was the biggest win of DOUKI’s career. Will that victory be trumped by his first championship gold tonight?
7th Match: IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championships- Los Ingobernables De Japon (BUSHI & Hiromu Takahashi) vs BULLET CLUB War Dogs (Drilla Moloney & Clark Connors)
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag gold is on the line when Drilla Moloney and Clark Connors defend against Hiromu Takahashi and BUSHI of LIJ. When a backstage brawl broke out between the two factions after the main event of Sakura Genesis, Hiromu and BUSHI saw opportunity in the form of the junior tag titles that they haven’t challenged for in four years. While tag gold has continued to elude Takahashi, it may be the perfect way for the Time Bomb to reset ahead of Best of the Super Jr. in the midst of what has been a difficult 2024 thus far.
That said, the current title holders have zero interest in Hiromu’s motivation or momentum, having plenty of their own to maintain. As fearsome and dominant as ever, the War Dogs plowed through competition in an intense tornado three way at Sakura Genesis to retain their gold, and the hardest hitting junior heavyweights on the planet have no intention of yielding to Hiromu and BUSHI.
6th Match: Los Ingobernables De Japon (Tetsuya Naito, Shingo Takagi & Yota Tsuji) vs BULLET CLUB War Dogs (David Finlay, Gabe Kidd & Gedo)
Days before high stakes showdowns between David Finlay and Yota Tsuji, and Shingo Takagi and Gabe Kidd at Wrestling Dontaku, and in the aftermath of Jake Lee’s in ring NJPW debut in Hiroshima on the side of the War Dogs, six man tag action in Kagoshima. The addition of Jake Lee certainly shifted the conversation in faction warfare between LIJ and the War Dogs, and the question will be whether Los Ingobernables De Japon can regain momentum ahead of Fukuoka Friday and Saturday.
5th Match: Tomoaki Honma, YOSHI-HASHI & Hirooki Goto vs Taiji Ishimori, Chase Owens & KENTA
Six man action sees Bishamon continue to lock horns with BULLET CUB as Tomoaki Honma takes the place of the injured Ryusuke Taguchi to face Taiji Ishimori, Chase Owens and KENTA. In this last televised event before Wrestling Dontaku, who will make the loudest final statement?
4th Match: Hikuleo, El Phantasmo, Shota Umino, El Desperado & Jado vs HOUSE OF TORTURE (Ren Narita, EVIL, Yujiro Takahashi, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Dick Togo)
Ten man action pits Hontai against HOUSE OF TORTURE, and the next two challengers to IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Jon Moxley in opposite corners. Umino will be going for the gold in the main event of Resurgence on May 11, but it will be one week earlier at Dontaku that we find out whether it’s Ren Narita or Jon Moxley that holds the gold on May 4. Narita would like nothing more than to claim the world title before his contemporary enemy Umino, and to deny the Roughneck his dream match against mentor Moxley. Could this turn out to be a preview of the Toyota Arena main event?
3rd Match: TMDK (Zack Sabre Jr., Mikey Nicholls, Shane Haste & Kosei Fujita vs United EMpire (Jeff Cobb Great-O-Khan, Francesco Akira & Callum Newman)
As Jeff Cobb and Zack Sabre Jr. prepare for their NJPW World TV Championship bout May 3 on night one of Dontaku, one last preview pits TMDK against United Empire. At Korakuen hall this past week, the Empire seemed to unite under TJP; can Jeff Cobb help spearhead a new era for the group in Fukuoka?
2nd Match: Boltin Oleg, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Togi Makabe & Tiger Mask vs Just Five Guys (SANADA, Taichi, Yuya Uemura & TAKA Michinoku)
Eight man action will see two thirds of the NEVER 6 Man Tag team Champions in Boltin Oleg and Hiroshi Tanahashi join Togi Makabe and Tiger Mask to face four of Just Five Guys. After a loss in the Faction Warfare Gauntlet match against United Empire this past week, J5G want to reassert themselves in a team setting against difficult competition.
1st Match:Shoma Kato vs Katsuya Murashima
Singles record: 0-0-4
Singles action with a ten minute time limit kicks us off in Kagoshima as Shoma Kato and Katsuya Murashima go head to head for a fifth time. With four time limit draws opposite one another so far, will one score a big result over the other tonight?