Welcome to a slightly different New Japan Pro-Wrestling review today, as we take a look at the end of the inaugural Kizuna Road tour in the summer of 2012. I'm still not completely certain what the meaning behind the usage of the term "Kizuna Road" really is; since the Bushiroad buyout, all tours had to have the word "road" in the title somewhere, so that part is obvious, but "Kizuna" translates into "bonds" (which means human-to-human relationships, like family ties and friendships). My best guess is that this is intended to mean a tour that brings people together, a "bonding road" if you will, but it might just be a name that I'm overthinking. Either way, Day 10, the finale of the tour, featured a stacked card, with both the IWGP Heavyweight and Intercontinental Championships at stake, so I felt it was worthy of reviewing.
- Day 10 (July 22nd) of the 2012 Kizuna Road tour comes to you from the Yamagata City Sports Center in Yamagata, Japan. As you can see, the promotional poster is actually outdated, with Okada still clutching the big gold despite no longer being champion at the start of the tour, which either means this released before Dominion, and they were keeping kayfabe, or somebody got fired for that blunder.
- The opening eight man tag is omitted from New Japan World, so we move to the first singles contest, as current IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Low Ki loses to Kushida in a shocking upset, though the belt doesn't change hands as this was non-title. Low Ki dominated most of the proceedings, turning Kushida's chest to mincemeat with vicious chops, coming up with counter after counter to the youngster's big moves. A handspring back elbow is halted by a nasty low dropkick, the sunset flip gives Low Ki the ability to delivers a standing double stomp, but in the end, the champion is caught by an O'Connor Roll, as Kushida executes a perfect back bridge to get the three count. This wasn't the worst way to elevate the young prospect, although I feel like it would've helped Kushida to get more offense in.
- Jushin Thunder Liger and Tiger Mask weren't destined to stay IWGP Junior tag champs for long, as they drop the gold in their first defense to the newly formed duo of Rocky Romero and Alex Koslov, soon to be known as the Forever Hooligans. Koslov isn't quite on the level of Davey Richards, but he does an adequate job filling those shoes. Koslov and Romero already have an array of double team moves in their arsenal, and nearly win it decisively as Tiger Mask only just kicks out after taking the wheelbarrow double knee by Rocky and a superkick from Koslov. Tiger Mask rallies to bring the crowd to their feet with a wild avalanche Tiger Driver, but the cheap tactics of the heels puts them out ahead. Liger and Tiger are both impeded after having their masks torn, and Tiger falls after Romero and Koslov link up for the Torture Rack Diving Knee by Romero, with Koslov adding on an additional facebuster after the knee to evolve the move. There's definitely a ton of potential in these new champions, though it's obvious that New Japan doesn't care much about the titles themselves.
- As is tradition, the midcard is anchored by a big Suzuki-gun tag match, as the faction takes on Apollo 55 (Prince Devitt & Ryusuke Taguchi), Togi Makabe, and Yuji Nagata in an elimination match. I did love Taka and Taichi being absolute fools on the apron, doing comedy pratfalls for Lance Archer bodyslams, and the hoss exchange between Archer and Makabe was fun. Big Lance comes to dominate in these multi-man tags, booting Makabe out of the ring for an elimination, kicking out of Devitt's double foot stomp, and finishing off a game Taguchi with the Blackout.
- The feud between Chaos' Takashi Iizuka & Toru Yano and TenKoji (Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Satoshi Kojima) finally reaches a definitive ending on this night, as the good guys claim the vacated IWGP Heavyweight tag belts for a fourth time. Iizuka and Yano are up to their usual tricks, with a lot of cheap shots and weapon attacks, but with the Yamagata crowd firmly by their side, Tenzan and Kojima bring their A-game. The masses go nuts for Kojima's rapid-fire chops in the corner, one of the best executions of that spot I've seen thus far, and rally behind Tenzan to free himself after being taped to the railing. After 13 minutes, Tenzan, Iizuka, and Yano are all winded, which results in a sloppy final stretch, as two TenKoji Cutters are delivered, before Tenzan gets very little of Yano on his trademark moonsault. Luckily, Kojima still has gas left in his tank, and his big left-arm lariat connects right on Iizuka's mighty chin, felling the chaotic wild man once and for all. Though the actual wrestling between these two teams was never much better than serviceable, it's clear that these Japanese crowds were fully invested in their battles, and the electric atmosphere made this title change feel monumental as a result.
- Kazuchika Okada has taken a half-step down the ladder since his loss to Tanahashi, tagging with Chaos stablemate Yujiro Takahashi in a clean loss to Karl Anderson and Tetsuya Naito. This was a tag match in name only, as it instead focused on two singles battles, with Okada/Anderson and Naito/Takahashi taking turns in the ring. Okada stood tall in his section, smoothly countering a powerbomb into an Air Raid Crash neckbreaker, surviving a running sit-out powerbomb and a diving neckbreaker, before fighting out of the Gun Stun to set-up a gorgeous dropkick. Takahashi showed his wares against Naito, with a brilliant leg catch into a Fisherman buster, an armdrag off the top rope, and a deadlift German that earned him a nice pop. It was a good spotlight for Yujiro and an impressive display, but of course, he's here to take the fall, as Naito lands a wheel kick and wins it with the Stardust Press. This was a nifty battle, and an excellent preview for what all four could offer in the upcoming G1 Climax.
- Shinsuke Nakamura delivers his finest performance of the year thus far, challenging Hirooki Goto for the Intercontinental Championship in a fiery strong-style bonanza. Nakamura was taken behind the woodshed by the champion, who delivered stiff lariats and headbutts galore, complemented by multiple backdrop drivers and Ushigoroshis. But Nakamura, even with his legs wobbling and his head somewhere in Row Z, hung in there with Goto, landing kicks and knees, even almost forcing a tap out with a effing beautiful counter of a lariat into a spinning cross armbreaker. Nakamura seemed to be a dead man walking down the finishing stretch, but refused to go down to an avalanche Ushigoroshi and a rolling lariat, finding another opening by hooking in a front facelock to stop the Shouten Kai. Goto battered Nakamura with more headbutts and lariats to escape, but Nakamura landed a critical blow with a leaping knee strike, before he turned the champion's lights out with a forceful Boma Ye. This was a barnburner, especially by Nakamura standards, as Goto being on the offense forced Shinsuke to be creative and fight from underneath, as opposed to his slow domination in most matches. If you've ever wondered why Nakamura has the reputation that he does, check this match out, this was the "King of Strong Style" at his very best, and capturing the Intercontinental title kickstarts the best run of his career.
- Main event time, as Masato Tanaka attempts to bring the IWGP Heavyweight Championship back home to Chaos by challenging Hiroshi Tanahashi. This wasn't on the level of Tanahashi-Okada 2, not by a long shot, as it tended to meander at times, and was carried on the strength of several high spots, though those were exhilarating to be fair. Tanahashi sacrificed everything on a flip dive to the floor, a spot that Tanaka matches with a huge splash through a table, the move that truly woke up the crowd and got them energized for a true world title showdown. Both men start flying, as each are looking to connect with the High Fly Flow, but even landing that move, a Sliding D, a big lariat, and a Brainbuster aren't enough for Tanaka to take the gold. Tanahashi comes up with a brilliant counter in dire straits, as he snatches Tanaka's arm on a Sliding D, quickly putting the challenger in position for a dangerous high-angle Dragon suplex, before polishing this defense off with two High Fly Flows. The quality 10-15 minutes in the back half of this match went a long way to making up for the aimless front half, and while this wasn't a classic, it was certainly an enjoyable title defense.
8/10
As always with New Japan, the final three matches of this show stepped up in a big way, peaking in that excellent IC title bout. This was a solid bridge between Dominion and the start of the G1 in August.
- Henry
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