DOUKI Retains IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title and Unbound Co. Retain Tag Belts at NJPW Road to Sakura Genesis

By Noah Leatherland

NJPW had their final stop before Sakura Genesis, with a pair of title matches in the junior division topping the card. Taking place in Korakuen Hall, that division’s status quo remained in tact as DOUKI and Unbound Co. held onto their hardware.

DOUKI and YOH battled over the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title in the main event. Keeping consistent with the rest of DOUKI’s reign, chaos ensued and took the match all over Korakuen Hall. Members of House of Torture were involved, weapons were involved, referees were struck, Master Wato on commentary got caught in the crossfire, and even NJPW President Hiroshi Tanahashi wasn’t safe.

In the end, DOUKI sealed the deal with Suplex de La Luna, securing the win and making a successful third defence of the junior title.

The IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championships were on the line in the semi-main event. Unbound Co.’s Robbie X and Taiji Ishimori walked into Korakuen Hall as champions, meeting United Empire’s Francesco Akira and Jakob Austin Young in the ring. The action was fast and intense, with all four men utilizing their speed to great effect.

It was a pair of high-flying attacks that finally saw the champions put their opponents away. Ishimori landed a 450 Splash on Young, which was quick followed by Robbie X and an X Express. The tandem offence kept Young down for a count of three, and confirming Unbound Co.’s first successful defence of the junior tag belts.

Following the match, Kosei Fujita appeared, laying down the gauntlet and challenging the champions to a title rematch.

Here are the full results for NJPW Road to Sakura Genesis, Day 5:

• Shota Umino & Tiger Mask def. KUSHIDA & Masatora Yasuda (5:34)
• Konosuke Takeshita def. Tatsuya Matsumoto (6:35)
• El Desperado, Taichi & Yuya Uemura def. Togi Makabe, Tomoaki Honma & Master Wato (9:15)
• Chase Owens, Don Fale, Ren Narita, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Yujiro Takahashi def. Hirooki Goto, YOSHI-HASHI, Aaron Wolf, Boltin Oleg & Toru Yano (8:08)
• Hartley Jackson, Ryohei Oiwa & Zack Sabre Jr. def. Gedo, OSKAR & Yuto-Ice (6:53)
• Callum Newman, Jake Lee & Zane Jay def. Daiki Nagai, Shingo Takagi & Yota Tsuji (5:20)
• IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Title Match: Robbie X & Taiji Ishimori (c) def. Francesco Akira & Jakob Austin Young (18:11)
• IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title Match: DOUKI (c) def. YOH (21:01)