Ren Ayabe Shocks Triple Crown Champion Jun Saito At AJPW Royal Road Tournament, Second Round Matches Are All Set

By: Lewis Carlan

The final first round matches of the 12th annual All Japan Pro-Wrestling Royal Road Tournament were held on Aug. 31st at Kobe Sambo Hall with 615 fans on hand for the event.

The final three first round tournament bouts were held as six competitors were attempting to advance to the second round and avoid elimination.

The main event saw last year’s Royal Road winner Ren Ayabe taking on the current AJPW Triple Crown Champion Jun Saito in a showdown that was highly anticipated. Both competitors got in lots of offensive maneuvers as each fought to stay alive in the tournament. Ayabe shocked Saito as he was able to land his Death Roulette finisher which resulted in a three count by the referee thus elimanting the current Triple Crown Champion Saito. The crowd erupted in applause when Ayabe secured the victory.

Photo Credit: AJPW

During the backstage interviews, Saito made a promise to avenge the loss to Ayabe.

Also advancing to the next round of the 12th Royal Road Tournament were Xyon, who defeated Hokuto Omori and Ryuki Honda who got past Kuma Arashi.

Here are the full results for the 12th Royal Road Tournament on Aug. 31st courtesy of purolove.com:

• Shotaro Ashino & Odyssey defeated Dan Tamura & Hikaru Sato (8:30) after Oddyssey’s Journey’s End against Tamura.
• Kuroshio TOKYO Japan & Seigo Tachibana defeated “Mr. Saito” Naruki Doi & Takashi  (9:46) as Tachibana pinned Takashi after an accidental Bakatare sliding kick by Doi.
• All Asia Tag Team Title Skirmish: Yuma Aoyagi, Atsuki Aoyagi, Rising HAYATO & Hideki Suzuki defeated Kento Miyahra, Davey Boy Smith Jr., MUSASHI & Ryo Inoue (13:42) after HAYATO’s Sid Vicious vs. Inoue.
• Royal Road Tournament – Round 1: Ryuki Honda defeated Kuma Arashi (15:04) with the Final Vent.
• Royal Road Tournament – Round 1: Xyon defeated Hokuto Omori (9:18) with a diving headbutt.
• Royal Road Tournament – Round 1: Ren Ayabe defeated Jun Saito (20:00) with Death Roulette.

All the second round match-ups are set and are as follows:

Sept. 3rd at Shin-Kiba 1st RING:

• Royal Road Tournament – Round 2: Ren Ayabe vs. Xyon
• Royal Road Tournament – Round 2: Ryuki Honda vs. Davey Boy Smith Jr.

Sept. 6th at Light Cube Utsunomiya:

• Royal Road Tournament -Round 2: Daisuke Sekimoto vs. Odyssey
• Royal Road Tournament -Round 2: Kento Miyahara vs. Naoya Nomura