Kizuna Road 2018 was a professional wrestling tour, produced by the Japanese New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) promotion. The tour took place between June 15 and 24, 2018, with shows taking place in Saitama, Tokyo, Iwaki, Akita, Yamagata, Iwate, Japan. The tour featured two titles matches of eight NJPW's championships, the IWGP Junior Heavyweight, NEVER Openweight Championships, as well Super Strong Machine retirement ceremony and Tomoaki Honma return match since he was sidelined with a cervical vertebrae injury. This was the seventh tour under the Kizuna Road name.
Production[]
Background[]
On April 12, 2018, it was announced that Super Strong Machine would be retiring from active competition and his retirement ceremony would be held on June 19 at Korakuen Hall. It was also announced that he would be unable to compete in his final match due to his health issues. On June 1, it was announced that Tomoaki Honma would make his return on June 23. Honma was previously with a cervical vertebrae injury, which sidelined him for a year of active in-ring competition. This led to NJPW announcing that the June 23 show as sold out. On June 11, NJPW announced the full card for the tour.
The second until fourth night of the tour aired worldwide on NJPW's internet streaming site, New Japan Pro Wrestling World, with English commentary provided by Kevin Kelly and Don Callis.
Storylines[]
The Kizuna Road 2018 involved different wrestlers from pre-existing scripted feuds and storylines. Wrestlers portrayed villains, heroes, or less distinguishable characters in the scripted events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches.
Hiromu Takahashi who faced El Desperado for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship in the main event of the third night of the tour
The second night of the tour would be main evented by Michael Elgin making his first title defense of the NEVER Openweight Championship against Hirooki Goto. On April 27, Goto made his third title defense of the NEVER Openweight Championship against Juice Robinson. Following the match, Goto was challenged by Michael Elgin and Taichi. On June 9, at Dominion 6.9 in Osaka-jo Hall, Elgin defeated Goto and Taichi in a three-way match, with Elgin pinning Taichi. Following the match, Goto challenged Elgin to a rematch, since he wasn't pinned in the match. The title match was made official on June 11.
The third night of the tour was main evented by Hiromu Takahashi making his first title defense of the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship against El Desperado. From From May 18 to June 4, Desperado and Takahashi took part in the Best of the Super Juniors, wrestling in the same block. During the tournament, Desperado defeated Takahashi in their head-to-head match. Desperado finished hs block with a record of three wins and four losses, failing to advance to the finals of the tournament. Meanwhile, Takahashi won their block with a record of five wins and two losses. On June 4, Takahashi defeated Taiji Ishimori in the finals to win 2018 Best of the Super Juniors tournament. Months prior to the tournament, Takahashi alongside his Los Ingobernables de Japon stablemate BUSHI feud with Desperado over the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship, unsuccessfully challenging Desperado and his Suzuki-gun stablemate Yoshinobu Kanemaru for the titles in two different attempts. On June 9, at Dominion 6.9 in Osaka-jo Hall, Takahashi defeated Will Ospreay to win the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship for the second time. Following the match, Desperado confronted Takahashi during a backstage interview, leading to Takahashi nominating Desperado his first challenger for the title. The title match was made official on June 11.
Results[]
Night 1[]
| # | Matches | Stipulations | Times |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Yota Tsuji vs. Yuya Uemura ended in a time limit draw | Singles match | 10:00 |
| 2 | Bullet Club (Taiji Ishimori and Yujiro Takahashi) defeated Shota Umino and Tomoyuki Oka | Tag team match | 7:05 |
| 3 | Roppongi 3K (Sho, Yoh and Rocky Romero) defeated David Finlay, KUSHIDA and Ren Narita | Six-man tag team match | 13:52 |
| 4 | CHAOS (Toru Yano and Yoshi-Hashi) defeated Togi Makabe and Toa Henare | Tag team match | 8:39 |
| 5 | Suzuki-gun (El Desperado, Taka Michinoku, Taichi, Takashi Iizuka and Yoshinobu Kanemaru) defeated Los Ingobernables de Japon (Tetsuya Naito, SANADA, EVIL, Hiromu Takahashi and BUSHI) | Eight-man tag team match | 16:01 |
| 6 | Taguchi Japan (Hiroshi Tanahashi, Jeff Cobb, Juice Robinson, Michael Elgin and Ryusuke Taguchi) defeated CHAOS (Gedo, Jay White, Hirooki Goto, Kazuchika Okada and Tomohiro Ishii) | Eight-man tag team match | 27:16 |
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Night 2[]
Night 3[]
Night 4[]
Night 5[]
| # | Matches | Stipulations | Times |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Yota Tsuji vs. Yuya Uemura ended in a time limit draw | Singles match | 10:00 |
| 2 | Tomoyuki Oka and Yuji Nagata defeated Shota Umino and Manabu Nakanishi | Tag team match | 9:15 |
| 3 | Bullet Club (Taiji Ishimori and Yujiro Takahashi) defeated KUSHIDA and Ren Narita | Tag team match | 9:31 |
| 4 | Roppongi 3K (Rocky Romero, Sho and Yoh) defeated Suzuki-gun (Taka Michinoku, El Desperado and Yoshinobu Kanemaru) | Six-man tag team match | 10:09 |
| 5 | CHAOS (Tomohiro Ishii and Toru Yano) defeated Suzuki-gun (Taichi and Takashi Iizuka) | Tag team match | 11:48 |
| 6 | CHAOS (Jay White, Kazuchika Okada, Hirooki Goto and Yoshi-Hashi) defeated Toa Henare, Juice Robinson, Jeff Cobb and Michael Elgin | Eight-man tag team match | 12:45 |
| 7 | Los Ingobernables de Japon (Tetsuya Naito, SANADA, EVIL, Hiromu Takahashi and BUSHI) defeated Taguchi Japan (Michael Elgin, Ryusuke Taguchi, Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Hiroshi Tanahashi and Togi Makabe) | Ten-man tag team match | 11:50 |
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Night 6[]
| # | Matches | Stipulations | Times |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Yota Tsuji vs. Yuya Uemura ended in a time limit draw | Singles match | 10:00 |
| 2 | Manabu Nakanishi and Yuji Nagata defeated Shota Umino and Tomoyuki Oka | Tag team match | 6:59 |
| 3 | Bullet Club (Taiji Ishimori and Yujiro Takahashi) defeated Ryusuke Taguchi and Ren Narita | Tag team match | 7:31 |
| 4 | Roppongi 3K (Rocky Romero, Sho and Yoh) defeated Suzuki-gun (Taka Michinoku, El Desperado and Yoshinobu Kanemaru) | Six-man tag team match | 8:41 |
| 5 | CHAOS (Yoshi-Hashi and Toru Yano) defeated Suzuki-gun (Taichi and Takashi Iizuka) | Tag team match | 9:48 |
| 6 | CHAOS (Jay White, Kazuchika Okada, Hirooki Goto and Tomohiro Ishii defeated David Finlay, Juice Robinson, Jeff Cobb and Michael Elgin | Eight-man tag team match | 14:43 |
| 7 | Los Ingobernables de Japon (Tetsuya Naito, SANADA, EVIL, Hiromu Takahashi and BUSHI) defeatedKUSHIDA, Toa Henare, Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Hiroshi Tanahashi and Togi Makabe | Ten-man tag team match | 14:48 |
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Night 7[]
| # | Matches | Stipulations | Times |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Shota Umimo defeated Yota Tsuji | Singles match | 8:33 |
| 2 | Bullet Club (Taiji Ishimori and Yujiro Takahashi) defeated KUSHIDA and Ren Narita | Tag team match | 9:32 |
| 3 | Manabu Nakanishi and Yuji Nagata defeated Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Tomoyuki Oka | Tag team match | 9:19 |
| 4 | Suzuki-gun (Taka Michinoku, El Desperado and Yoshinobu Kanemaru) defeated Roppongi 3K (Rocky Romero, Sho and Yoh) | Six-man tag team match | 10:49 |
| 5 | CHAOS (Yoshi-Hashi and Tomohiro Ishii) defeated Suzuki-gun (Taichi and Takashi Iizuka) | Tag team match | 11:26 |
| 6 | David Finlay, Juice Robinson, Jeff Cobb and Michael Elgin defeated CHAOS (Jay White, Gedo, Hirooki Goto and Toru Yano | Eight-man tag team match | 12:41 |
| 7 | Taguchi Japan (Ryusuke Taguchi, Toa Henare, Togi Makabe, Hiroshi Tanahashi and Tomoaki Honma) defeated Los Ingobernables de Japon (Tetsuya Naito, SANADA, EVIL, Hiromu Takahashi and BUSHI) | Ten-man tag team match | 18:30 |
| |||
Night 8[]
| # | Matches | Stipulations | Times |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Yota Tsuji vs. Yuya Uemura ended in a time limit draw | Singles match | 10:00 |
| 2 | Tomoyuki Oka and Yuji Nagata defeated Shota Umino and Manabu Nakanishi | Tag team match | 8:41 |
| 3 | Bullet Club (Taiji Ishimori and Yujiro Takahashi) defeated Ryusuke Taguchi and Ren Narita | Tag team match | 7:47 |
| 4 | Roppongi 3K (Rocky Romero, Sho and Yoh) defeated Suzuki-gun (Taka Michinoku, El Desperado and Yoshinobu Kanemaru) | Six-man tag team match | 7:45 |
| 5 | CHAOS (Tomohiro Ishii and Toru Yano) defeated Suzuki-gun (Taichi and Takashi Iizuka) | Tag team match | 9:07 |
| 6 | CHAOS (Jay White, Kazuchika Okada, Hirooki Goto and Yoshi-Hashi) defeated Toa Henare, Juice Robinson, Jeff Cobb and Michael Elgin by disqualification | Eight-man tag team match | 12:23 |
| 7 | Los Ingobernables de Japon (Tetsuya Naito, SANADA, EVIL, Hiromu Takahashi and BUSHI) defeated Taguchi Japan (KUSHIDA, David Finlay, Togi Makabe, Hiroshi Tanahashi and Hiroyoshi Tenzan) | Ten-man tag team match | 14:51 |
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