ALL JAPAN PRO WRESTLING
ROYAL ROAD TOURNAMENT 2022
AUGUST 11, 2022
NAGOYA INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE CENTER
NAGOYA, AICHI, JAPAN

Watch: AJPW.TV

NON-TOURNAMENT MATCHES

  • Voodoo Murders (Suwama, Kono & Toshizo) Def. Hikaru Sato, Black Menso~Re & Ryo Inoue (11:41)
  • Jake Lee, Yuma Aoyagi & Atsuki Aoyagi Def. Nextream (Kento Miyahara & Rising Hayato) & Oji Shiiba (14:20)

ROYAL ROAD TOURNAMENT 2022 FIRST ROUND
SHOTARO ASHINO DEF. DAN TAMURA (10:05)

This was a fun little match. There was a lot of grappling and holds to start. Ashino dominated the match early on and worked over Tamura’s leg. Tamura managed to turn the tide with a shoulder block from the second rope. He got in a good amount of offense and worked hard. They later dueled over their finishing holds, the Ankle Lock and the Dan Lock. Ashino got the Ankle Lock in then grapevined it, leading to Tamura tapping.

This was simple but effective. There are those who think that Tamura seems lost in the shuffle compared to some of the younger wrestlers, and I think that is a fair complaint. A match like this shows that there is a place for him if they want to give him one. ***½

ROYAL ROAD TOURNAMENT 2022 FIRST ROUND
TAKAO OMORI DEF. RYUKI HONDA (6:48)

Honda pinned Omori in a six-man tag on the previous show, so the wild one attacked before the bell with a high kick looking to get some revenge. While Omori had momentum for a bit, Honda came roaring back. At this point it seemed like Honda was going to just dominate the aging veteran, but Omori came back and then controlled most of the remaining match. Omori unloaded a lot of offense, including an Axe Guillotine Driver, which has not been used by him in ages. Honda blocked an Axe Bomber but Omori persisted and delivered several more big blows and another Axe Bomber for the win.

This was a surprising result given Omori’s position on the card these days, but I’m not complaining. I don’t think this hurts Honda’s upward trajectory and it will give us Omori vs. Naoya Nomura on August 16 in the quarter-finals which will be a very interesting match given the history of Nomura being the All Japan Dojo’s first graduate after the Wrestle-1 split. ***¼

PWF WORLD JR. HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP
TIGER MASK DEF. HOKUTO OMORI (12:54)

It’s not part of the tournament, but you have to review a title match. Omori has a new hard rock theme and trunks that lack the Total Eclipse logo and now has written in English “Wolf Moon of Rebellion” on the back.

While Omori put in a lot of effort hyping this match, including donning a horse mask to taunt Tiger Mask, the match itself was underwhelming. There were portions where Omori was in control where he seemed like he was really trying to make something of this match. But there were not enough of those, and Tiger Mask while not totally disinterested wasn’t even bringing the most he could even at his age.

The last few minutes did see some big moves and near falls from both guy that kind of saved it, but not that much. Tiger Mask won after a top rope Butterfly Suplex and then applying a Reverse Double Wristlock.

After the match, Atsuki Aoyagi, who pinned Rising HAYATO in the previous match, came out and challenged Tiger Mask to a title match. This was what many were expecting. Hopefully it happens at the 50th Anniversary Show at the Nippon Budokan on September 18 and this reign comes to an end. While it wasn’t awful, it was completely unnecessary and unfortunately a symptom of thinking you need New Japan guys to spice things up while Hikaru Sato was having a great title reign. **¾

ROYAL ROAD TOURNAMENT 2022 FIRST ROUND
CYRUS DEF. SHUJI ISHIKAWA (11:30)

These guys got right down to business and started hitting each other really hard and brawling outside. Cyrus hit a rolling senton from the apron into the ring which was impressive and got a response out of the crowd. Ishikawa managed to give Cyrus a bodyslam. Cyrus gave Ishikawa a Cannonball in the corner which also got a small pop from the crowd.

Cyrus was notably gassed half way through this. That slowed the match down a bit, but they still managed to hit some big moves. Ishikawa kicked out of a Vader Bomb. Cyrus then went up for a Moonsault but was having trouble getting to the top rope. He yelled at one of the ring attendants to come over and used them as leverage to help get him up. Cyrus then successfully hit a pretty good looking Moonsault to pin Ishikawa.

Cyrus’ stamina issues aside, this was still a lot of fun with two very large men beating the shit out of each other. That’s what pro wrestling is all about. ***¼

ROYAL ROAD TOURNAMENT 2022 FIRST ROUND
YUJI NAGATA DEF. YOSHITATSU (14:22)

Let us return to 2006 New Japan. Like the first match of the show, it had a simple formula. They went back-and-forth in control periods and sprinkled in their signature moves throughout. Yoshitatsu did botch a Tornado DDT very badly though.

In the end, Nagata unleashed a flurry of offense including a Brainbuster, Exploder and a Backdrop. Yoshitatsu managed to kick out of all of these, but then Nagata hit a Backdrop hold for the pin.

I may have hyped myself up too much for this match. It wasn’t bad, but these guys certainly show their age. I thought Nagata in particular is getting to the point where his work is really showing it. Could Nagata be dogging it a bit because he’s in All Japan? I don’t think so. He is a consummate professional and he also looked exhausted after this match.

Nevertheless, I did enjoy the novelty of these two guys mixing it up again. Perhaps my rating is a little generous here, but whatever.

After the match Shotaro Ashino came out to confront Nagata about their match on August 14. Ashino certainly has a chance to get a better match out of Nagata than Yoshitatsu. To end the show Nagata did his dance to the World Pro Wrestling theme. ***

FINAL THOUGHTS

This show drew 417, which was down from 507 they drew for a Champion Carnival show at this same venue on April 29. Today’s show also happened to happen on a holiday, so I think it’s fair to say that this was a disappointment. While the tournament matches were not the biggest matchups, I would not be surprised if the company’s current Voodoo Murders heavy direction is also a factor here. We will get a better idea of that later on in this tour and in the lead up to the Budokan show.

This show was definitely as strong as the opening show of the tournament. While nothing was bad, everything was fine but not great. But after this lull, everything looks up from here.

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