The first two nights of the Road To Tokyo Dome mini-tour are in the record books. On December 19th Hiromu Takahashi returned after being out of active competition for over 18 months, where he was pinned by Robbie Eagle via a horizontal cradle (small package) to end a tag match between he and Los Igobernables de Japon (LIJ) unit mate Bushi and CHAOS members Birds of Prey (IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Will Ospreay and Robbie Eagles).
On December 20th, Hiromu was unable to break up a pinfall after Ospreay hit Bushi with the Hidden Blade and followed up with a Stormbreaker to further his frustration going into his IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship match against Ospreay on January 4th at Wrestle Kingdom 14.
Despite concern over his health, Hiromu looks as if he doesn’t have any ill after-effects from his neck injury. New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) kept his rehab process secret, yet one shouldn’t expect any limitations for Hiromu at Wrestle Kingdom 14.
Other Developments Over The First Two Nights
On December 19th RevPro British Heavyweight Champion Zack Sabre Jr was able to defeat Sanada with a cradle when Cold Darkness (Evil and Sanada) faced Dangerous Tekkers (Zack Sabre Jr and Taichi), after a highly technical exchange between Sanada and Zack Sabre Jr.
However, on December 20th Sanada and Shingo Takagi defeated Dangerous Tekkers after Sanada was able to get the advantage of chain wrestling exchange and pin the British Heavyweight Champion with a Japanese Clutch pin.
The 19th also saw an amazing exchange between Hiroshi Tanashi and Shingo Takagi, ending with Tanahashi defeating Shingo with a cradle dubbed Falling Love. Tanahashi teamed with Ibushi, while Shingo with Naito to tease what could be the finals of the Wrestle Kingdom 14 Double Gold Dash tournament.
The 20th saw Jay White and Chase Owens of Bullet Club team up against Kota Ibushi and Tanahashi. White and Owens attempted to convince Ibushi to join the Bullet Club, yet were not rewarded for their efforts. The competitive match would end with Tanahashi hitting Owens with the High Fly Flow.
The final NJPW event of 2019 airs live on NJPW World at 4:30 AM EST on Saturday.
