Davey Boy Smith Jr And Odyssey Shine At AJPW Royal Road Tournament On Aug. 30

By: Lewis Carlan

The All Japan Pro-Wrestling 12th annual Royal Road Tournament continued on Aug. 30th as the promotion presented the second night of first round action. The event took place at the Kunibiki Messe Large Exhibition Hall with 450 fans in attendance. There were two Royal Road Tournament first round matches scheduled for the Aug 30th event.

In the main event, Davey Boy Smith Jr. faced Shotaro Ashino in a tournament bout that may have had Smith Jr. a bit wary about the match-up. Ashino and Smith Jr. met in a singles match back in April 2025 in a Champion Carnival 2025 bout. In that encounter, Ashino shocked Smith Jr. by being able to tap out him out for a submission victory.

If Smith Jr. entered this match with caution, he didn’t show it as he was able to avenge the April 2025 loss to Ashino. Smith Jr. emerged victorious and eliminated Ashino from the tournament.  It wasn’t easy against a submission specialist such as Ashino, but Smith Jr. was able to pull out the win and move on to the next round.

Smith Jr. will face either Ryuki Honda or Kumaarashi in the second round.

Photo Credit: AJPW

In the second Royal Road Tournament bout on the event, former WWE star Odyssey took on another submission specialist in Hideki Suzuki. Despite the valiant effort from Suzuki, Odyssey proved to be too much as he was able to defeat Suzuki at the 13:23 mark with the Journey’s End finisher. Odyssey will now go on to face Daisuke Sekimoto in a second round match between two powerhouses.

Photo Credit: AJPW

The AJPW TV Six Man Tag Team Champions Hokuto Omori, Kuma Arashi & Takashi Yoshida defeated Carbell Ito, ALL Mighty Inoue & Rey Paloma to retain their titles. The was the champions fourth successful title defense.

Photo Credit: AJPW

Here are the full results for the AJPW Royal Road tournament courtesy of purolove.com:

• Xyon defeats Ryo Inoue (8:22) with a diving headbutt.
• AJPW TV Six Man Tag Team Title: Hokuto Omori, Kuma Arashi & Takashi Yoshida (c) defeat Carbell Ito, ALL Mighty Inoue & Rey Paloma (11:49) after an Omori Army Special by Omori vs. Paloma (4th defense).
• Jun Saito & Ryuki Honda defeat Ren Ayabe & Hikaru Sato (12:43) after a brainbuster by Saito against Sato.
• All Asia Tag Team Title Skirmish: Yuma Aoyagi, Atsuki Aoyagi & Rising HAYATO defeat Kento Miyahra, MUSASHI & Dan Tamura (14:37) after a Firebird Splash by Atsuki against MUSASHI.
• 12th Royal Road Tournament – Round 1: Odyssey defeats Hideki Suzuki (13:23) with the Journey’s End.
• 12th Royal Road Tournament – Round 1: Davey Boy Smith Jr. defeats Shotaro Ashino (20:07) with a backdrop hold.

The first round of the AJPW Royal Road Tournament concludes on Aug. 31th at Kobe World Memorial Hall. Here are the remaining matches left in the first round:

• Ryuki Honda vs Kumaarashi
• Hokuto Omori vs Xyon
• Jun Saito vs Ren Ayabe