DOUKI Retains IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship, Questions Best of the Super Juniors 33 Participation

By: Ian McCord

The Road to Wrestling Dontaku stopped off at the Saga Arena on April 29th for NJPW Wrestling Hizen no Kuni. There were 1,058 fans in attendance to see Tiger Mask challenge DOUKI for the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship in a Lumberjack match.

Tiger Mask stepped up as the next challenger for the Jr. Heavyweight Title back at NJPW Road to Sakura Genesis on April 2nd after DOUKI retained the title against YOH. Tiger Mask would also announce his plan to retire on July 7th, making this his last opportunity to try and capture the championship that he’s held six times in his career.

After having his mask stolen by DOUKI at Wrestling Redzone In Hiroshima, Tiger Mask demanded the stipulation of their title bout be changed to a Lumberjack match in an attempt to even the odds against House of Torture.

In the Main Event of Wrestling Hizen no Kuni, Hontai members Aaron Wolf, Boltin Oleg, Master Wato, Mistico, Shota Umino and Toru Yano were in the corner of Tiger Mask to combat against House of Torture’s Don Fale, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Ren Narita, Chase Owens, Yujiro Takahashi and Dick Togo in DOUKI’s corner.

Midway through the match, after seeing enough interference from the House of Torture Lumberjacks, NJPW President Hiroshi Tanahashi would instruct Hontai to take HOT to the locker rooms in an attempt to even the score.

SHO, who was doing guest commentary with former partner YOH at ringside, would make a dash for the ring, resulting in Tiger Mask greeting the House of Torture member with a strong slap to the face, knocking him out of the ring.

Tiger Mask would block a low blow from DOUKI and hit the champion with a Tombstone piledriver before setting him up for a Tiger Suplex. SHO would then reappear, pulling the referee to the outside to stop a possible Tiger Mask victory, before getting taken out by YOH.

After fighting out of DOUKI’s Darkness Stretch submission, SHO would make his presence felt once again, hitting Tiger Mask with the Black Mirror, which allowed DOUKI to reapply the submission, leading to a referee stoppage at (17:56).

During his post-match comments, DOUKI would claim that he has proven to be the greatest ever Jr. Heavyweight, question his participation in Best of the Super Juniors 33, and state that he will not be competing in this year’s tournament.

From DOUKI:

This year, I beat Desperado, Wato, YOH and now Tiger Mask! They have all fallen at my feet. There’s nobody that can come close to me. I have proven I am the greatest ever junior heavyweight. So why should I be in the Best of the Super Jr.? I don’t care who’s in it, but I won’t be! We can do the tournament to decide who can face me. An idiot can understand- I am God!

(English Translation via NJPW)

Here are the full results from NJPW Road To Wrestling Dontaku 2026 – Day 6 ~ Wrestling Hizen no Kuni on April 29th courtesy of purolove.com:

• Chase Owens, Yujiro Takahashi, SHO & Yoshinobu Kanemaru defeat Shota Umino, YOH, Master Wato & Taisei Nakahara (10:48) after a crab hold by SHO against Nakahara.
• Yuto-Ice & OSKAR defeated Toru Yano & Tomoaki Honma (8:06) when OSKAR pinned Honma after the KOB.
• Ryohei Oiwa, Hartley Jackson, Robbie Eagles & Kosei Fujita defeat Yuya Uemura, Taichi, Ryusuke Taguchi & Masatora Yasuda (11:43) after a German suplex hold by Fujita against Yasuda.
• Great-O-Khan, HENARE & Jakob Austin Young defeat Hirooki Goto, YOSHI-HASHI & Tatsuya Matsumoto (12:05) after Young hits Matsumoto with BITES THE DUST.
• Oleg Boltin, Aaron Wolf & Mistico defeat Ren Narita, Don Fale & Dick Togo (8:03) after Mistico hits Togo with La Mistica.
• Callum Newman, Jake Lee, Francesco Akira & Zane Jay defeat Yota Tsuji, Shingo Takagi, Taiji Ishimori & Robbie X (16:01) after Newman hits Robbie with MADE IN JAPAN.
• IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title : DOUKI (c) defeats Tiger Mask (17:56) by referee stop (Italian Stretch No. 32) (4th defense).