–> “NJPW 40TH ANNIVERSARY TOUR ~ ROAD TO TOKYO DOME” <--

NJPW, 12/23/12 (Samurai! TV)
Tokyo Korakuen Hall
2,040 Fans – Super No Vacancy Full House

1. Tiger Mask & BUSHI beat Hiromu Takahashi & Takaaki Watanabe (6:53) when BUSHI used a Firebird splash on Takahashi.
2. Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima, Manabu Nakanishi, Wataru Inoue & Captain New Japan beat Toru Yano, Takashi Iizuka, Yujiro Takahashi, YOSHI-HASHI & Jado (10:57) when Yano was DQ’d.
3. Road to TOKYO DOME 1: Hirooki Goto beat TAKA Michinoku (6:32) with the Shouten Kai.
4. Road to TOKYO DOME 2: Shinsuke Nakamura beat KUSHIDA (9:02) with the Boma Ye.
5. Road to TOKYO DOME 3: Togi Makabe beat Tomohiro Ishii (12:15) with a King Kong kneedrop.
6. Road to TOKYO DOME 4: Minoru Suzuki beat Jushin Thunder Liger (11:16) with a Gotch-style piledriver.
7. Road to TOKYO DOME 5: Yuji Nagata beat Taichi (6:22) with a backdrop hold.
8. Road to TOKYO DOME 6: Kazuchika Okada beat Ryusuke Taguchi (9:51) with the Rainmaker.
9. Road to TOKYO DOME 7: Hiroshi Tanahashi beat Gedo (14:55) with the High Fly Flow.

* New Japan finished an exciting and successful 2012 today at a packed Korakuen Hall with a series of special singles matches, mostly following the heavyweight vs. junior theme with heavyweights winning all of them as expected. Akebono turned up to help the New Japan team in the second match and looks likely to be added to the planned six man Tokyo Dome tag match where CHAOS plan to add Bob Sapp. Sapp vs. Akebono was once a huge rivalry in K-1 that made lots of money and while both have long since fallen out of mainstream fame, if they are added it will turn a formula six man tag into something with a little more Tokyo Dome worthy novelty.

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The 1/4 Tokyo Dome will be available worldwide at a cost of US$35 on USTREAM. This is higher than the previous iPPVs but this is the biggest event on the Japanese calendar and is likely to be 4-5 hours long and good value for money. Click here for New Japan’s channel where you can order it (right near the bottom under “Upcoming Shows”). Here is the card but as mentioned the official opening match is now likely to feature Sapp and Akebono so may become 4 vs. 4.

NJPW “WRESTLE KINGDOM 7 ~EVOLUTION~ IN TOKYO DOME”, 1/4/13 (WPW/PPV/iPPV)
Tokyo Dome

0-1. Wataru Inoue, Tama Tonga & Captain New Japan vs. Tomohiro Ishii, YOSHI-HASHI & Jado
0-2. Jushin Thunder Liger, Tiger Mask & Hiromu Takahashi vs. Ryusuke Taguchi, KUSHIDA & BUSHI
1. Special 6 Man Tag Match: Manabu Nakanishi, MVP & Strong Man vs. Toru Yano, Takashi Iizuka & Yujiro Takahashi
2. NEVER Openweight Title: Masato Tanaka (c) vs. Shelton Benjamin
3. IWGP Tag Team Title: Lance Archer & Davey Boy Smith Jr. (c) vs. Hirooki Goto & Karl Anderson
4. Special Singles Match: Yuji Nagata vs. Minoru Suzuki
5. IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title – 3WAY Match: Prince Devitt (c) vs. Low Ki vs. Kota Ibushi
6. Special Tag Match: Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima vs. Keiji Muto & Daichi Hashimoto
7. Special Singles Match: Togi Makabe vs. Katsuyori Shibata
8. Double Main Event I – IWGP Intercontinental Title: Shinsuke Nakamura (c) vs. Kazushi Sakuraba
9. Double Main Event II – IWGP Heavyweight Title: Hiroshi Tanahashi (c) vs. Kazuchika Okada