Yuma Anzai and Yuma Aoyagi Set For an AJPW Royal Road Tournament Semifinal Showdown

By: Lewis Carlan

The first two competitors have made it through to the All Japan Pro-Wrestling Royal Road Tournament semifinals set for Sept. 22.

The AJPW Royal Road Tournament landed in Shin-Kiba 1st RING on Sept. 16th with a sold out crowd on hand for the start of the second round.

There were two second round matches contested on Sept. 16.

The first saw Yuma Anzai taking on the dangerous technical prowess of Timothy Thatcher. Thatcher tried to keep Anzai grounded by working on various body parts throughout the match.

Photo Credit: All Japan Pro-Wrestling

Anzai was able to overcome Thatcher’s strategy as he pinned his opponent at the 16:06 mark following a vicious Gamushara running knee strike. With the win, Anzai became the first participant to make it to the tournament semifinals.

Photo Credit: All Japan Pro-Wrestling

The main event featured the other second round bout as Yuma Aoyagi faced the powerhouse Daisuke Sekimoto.

Aoyagi and Sekimoto waged war against one another in a bout that could have gone either way. Sekimoto landed some big power moves on Aoyagi and very nearly walked away with a victory.

Aoyagi hit his THE FOOL finisher on Sekimoto and was able to end the bout via pinfall in a little over nineteen minutes.

Photo Credit: All Japan Pro-Wrestling

On Sept. 22, it will be a battle of the Yuma’s as the first semifinal bout is now confirmed. Following Aoyagi’s victory, Anzai came down to ringside and confronted Aoyagi.

Photo Credit: AJPW

On Sept. 17, two more second round bouts will take place to determine who will be the next two to advance to the semifinals and they are as follows:

• Kento Miyahara vs. Ryuki Honda
• Go Shiozaki vs. Xyon

Here are the full results for the AJPW Royal Road Tournament on Sept. 16 courtesy of purolove.com:

• Dan Tamura, Yasutaka Yano & Seigo Tachibana defeated Rising HAYATO, Hokuto Omori & Yuya Aoki (11:20) after the Yankee Hammer of Tachibana against Omori.
• Hideki Suzuki defeated Hyo Ogawa (6:32) via referee stop (Sleeper Hold).
• Xyon, Oddyssey & Shotaro Ashino defeated Go Shiozaki, Jun Saito & Rei Saito (15:16) after a Diving Headbutt by Xyon against Shiozaki.
• Ryuki Honda, Kuma Arashi & MUSASHI defeated Kento Miyahara, Ren Ayabe & Shota Kofuji (14:21) after Honda’s Final Vent against Kofuji.
• Royal Road Tournament – Round 2: Yuma Anzai defeated Timothy Thatcher (16:06) with the Gamushara.
• Royal Road Tournament – Round 2: Yuma Aoyagi defeats Daisuke Sekimoto (19:03) with THE FOOL.