Vietnamese Star Ares Impresses in NJPW Debut at Road to King of Pro Wrestling

By: Noah Leatherland

Vietnam Pro Wrestling’s Ares made his NJPW debut at the second leg of the Road to King of Pro Wrestling tour. He teamed with the man that originally extended the offer to come to Japan, the reigning IWGP Heavyweight Champion, Yota Tsuji.

Facing off against a formidable duo in TMDK’s Ryohei Oiwa and Zack Sabre Jr., Ares rose to the occasion. He demonstrated many of the skills that has made him the biggest star on the Vietnamese wrestling scene.

However, Ares would not get a dream debut. Ares eventually found himself caught in Sabre Jr.’s submissions without an escape and had to tap out to an armbar.

In the post-match comments, Tsuji gave Ares his chance to properly address NJPW fans for the first time:

Tsuji:

This is Ares from Vietnam Pro Wrestling. Today, he took a big step forward. But this isn’t the finish line—it’s just the beginning. Ares, say something to them!

Ares:

Today was a big day for me. But mark my words: I’ll definitely get my revenge!

(Quotes translated via DeepL)

In the main event of the evening, YOH made another successful defence of his IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship. Robbie X proved to be a difficult opponent for the champion, with the Brit pushing YOH for just over 25 minutes. Ultimately, YOH secured the win and his third defence after a Direct Drive landed.

With one Robbie defeated, another emerged as a new challenger. Robbie Eagles has called his shot to challenge YOH at NJPW King of Pro Wrestling.

Here are the full results for NJPW Road to King of Pro Wrestling, Day 2, courtesy of purolove.com:

• Taisei Nakahara def. Yushin Hatazawa (7:03)
• SANADA, Yujiro Takahashi, DOUKI & SHO def. Yuya Uemura, Taichi, El Desperado & Masatora Yasuda (10:47)
• Shota Umino, Toru Yano, Oleg Boltin & Master Wato def. Ren Narita, Shun Skywalker, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Dick Togo (10:06)
• Jeff Cobb, Yuto-Ice, OSKAR & Shingo Takagi def. Callum Newman, HENARE, Great-O-Khan & Zane Jay (10:30)
• Ryohei Oiwa & Zack Sabre Jr. def. Yota Tsuji & Ares (11:30)
• Kosei Fujita, Robbie Eagles & Hartley Jackson def. Aaron Wolf, Hechicero & Tatsuya Matsumoto (13:03)
• IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title: YOH (c) def. Robbie X (25:01)