Kento Miyahara And Daisuke Sekimoto Advance To AJPW Royal Road Semi-Finals As Tournament Final Four Are Set

By: Lewis Carlan

All Japan Pro-Wrestling invaded the Light Cube Utsunomiya on Sept. 6th as nearly 600 fans were on hand to witness the final two second round matches of the 12th annual Royal Road Tournament. The winners of each match would secure a spot in the semi-finals of the tournament.

The main event was a highly anticipated bout between AJPW megastar Kento Miyahara and Naoya Nomura. Nomura scored a surprise win over Yuma Aoyagi on Aug. 24th to earn his spot in this 2nd round encounter with Miyahara. Ahead of their match, Nomura had vowed to end the era of Miyahara but that would not be the case on this occasion.

Miyahara and Nomura had a tremendous encounter that featured hard hitting back and forth action with numerous near falls. Nomura exhibited star quality as he gave Miyahara all he could handle. But in the end, which was at the 20:38 minute mark, Miyahara hit his patented Shutdown Suplex on Nomura to end the match and end Nomura’s hopes of reaching the semi-finals. Nomura gave a great showing and appeared to have earned the respect of Miyahara.

Photo Credit: AJPW

In the other second round tournament match, it was a battle of behemoths as Daisuke Sekimoto squared off against former WWE star Odyssey. The power of both combatants were on full display in this encounter as both Sekimoto and Odyssey hit arena shaking moves. In the end, Sekimoto was able to roll up Odyssey after driving him into the corner to gain a three count and punch his ticket to the semi-finals of the Royal Road Tournament.

Photo Credit: AJPW

With the win, Daisuke Sekimoto will now face Kento Miyahara in the semi-finals set for Sept. 15th in Korakuen Hall. Sekimoto and Miyahra had a face-off inside the ring following Miyahara’s main event win over Nomura. The two went at it verbally before Sekimoto left the ring.

Photo Credit: AJPW

The winner of the Miyahara/Sekimoto semi-final match will face the winner of the other semi-final bout between Ren Ayabe and Ryuki Honda in the tournament finals which is also scheduled for Sept. 15th at Korakuen Hall.

Here are the confirmed matches for the Sept. 15th event in which the Royal Road Tournament comes to its conclusion:

• Royal Road Tournament – Semi-final: Ren Ayabe vs. Ryuki Honda
• Royal Road Tournament – Semi-final: Kento Miyahara vs. Daisuke Sekimoto
• All Asia Tag Team Title: Yuma Aoyagi & Atsuki Aoyagi (c) vs. MUSASHI & Seiki Yoshioka
• Royal Road Tournament – Final: Winner of Ren Ayabe/Ryuki Honda vs. Winner of Kento Miyahara/Daisuke Sekimoto

Here are the full results for the AJPW Royal Road Tournament event on Sept. 6th courtesy of purolove.com:

• AJPW World Jr. Heavyweight Title & All Asia Tag Team Title Skirmish: Yuma Aoyagi, Atsuki Aoyagi & Rising HAYATO defeated Hideki Suzuki, MUSASHI & Shouta Kofuji (12:11) after a crab hold by Atsuki against Kofuji.
• Zennichi Hontai vs. Baka no Jidai: Hikaru Sato & Kengo Mashimo defeated Dan Tamura & Ryo Inoue (9:33) after the Mudo of Mashimo against Inoue.
• Ren Ayabe & Davey Boy Smith Jr. defeated Ryuki Honda & Hokuto Omori (7:51) after Ayabe’s Death Roulette against Omori.
• Saito Brothers vs. HAVOC: Shotaro Ashino & Xyon defeated Jun Saito & “Mr. Saito” Naruki Doi (10:57) after a diving headbutt by Xyon against Doi.
• Royal Road Tournament – Round 2: Daisuke Sekimoto defeated Odyssey (10:30) with a Horizontal Cradle.
• Royal Road Tournament – Round 2: Kento Miyahara defeated Naoya Nomura (20:38) with a shutdown suplex hold.