The short Road to Sakura Genesis tour concludes at Korakuen Hall today for a show with two junior heavyweight title matches, colloquially known as “Junior Genesis.” In the interest of time, I’ll skip the preview tags and go right to the more interesting matches, which include the two title matches and a special singles match.

Konosuke Takeshita vs. Tetsuya Matsumoto

Matsumoto looks so small next to Takeshita; as far as I know, Matsumoto is considered a heavyweight, but this is certainly evidence that he needs to bulk up quite a bit before he can go toe-to-toe with real heavyweights. Matsumoto shows excellent fire and clearly gets it, but Takeshita dominates most of the match, as one would expect. Toward the end of the match, Matsumoto gets a flurry of offense, but Takeshita ultimately wins with a Blue Thunder Bomb. After the match, Takeshita goes face to face with Shota Umino, who was ringside doing commentary; Takeshita looks like a wrestling god with all the charisma in the world, while Umino just kinda stands there. As far as Umino has come in the ring, there are still too many times outside of it when he’s caught looking like he just woke up from a nap.

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship: Taiji Ishimori & Robbie X [Unbound Co.] (c) vs. Francesco Akira & Jakob Austin Young [United Empire]

Master Wato has taken Umino’s place on commentary, it should be noted. Ishimori and Robbie X dominate the opening sequence, including an attempt at the goofy Code Red-into-a-splash spot that is somewhat more successful than it was against Ichiban Sweet Boys at the 54th Anniversary Event; still, I think they may need to take that one out behind the woodshed. United Empire takes the advantage by interrupting Ishimori and X’s somewhat less-goofy assisted-corkscrew-to-the-outside spot, with Ishimori playing Ricky Morton. After a few minutes, Ishimori gets the tag to X, who goes through a tremendous aerial sequence that gets the Korakuen crowd chanting his name. Young turns the tables with a Brain Rot, which plays on the neck injury the United Empire team inflicted on X at the Anniversary Event. Both guys tag out, and Ishimori runs wild on Akira, punctuated by a truly bizarre-looking shoulderbreaker. Akira fights back with more great-looking offense and gets two with a neckbreaker. After a fiery back-and-forth sequence, Ishimori hits La Mistica and transitions into the Bone Lock, but Akira pokes Ishimori’s eyes and gets to the bottom rope. It should be noted that the Korakuen crowd is really into this. X tags in and he and Ishimori go for a Bloody Killer (a slightly more active Magic Killer), but Akira fights out. X gets the better of a kick battle, but his attempt at X Marks the Spot (Lethal Injection) is caught and turned into an assisted power bomb for two. Akira tags in Young and they try a double-team, but X counters into a Chaos Theory attempt that Young stops by pulling the tights and getting a two-count. Another X Marks the Spot attempt is blocked, and Akira hits a cutter followed by Jakob’s Ladder (Sliced Bread #2) by Young for a near-fall. Ishimori runs in, takes out both guys and hits an assisted Cipher Utaki on Young, followed by X finally hitting the X Marks the Spot. X and Ishimori hit the Bloody Killer, but X’s attempt at the X Express (Spiral Tap) is foiled when Akira pulls Young out of the ring; however, the faces get the assisted corkscrew to the outside they tried earlier, followed by a 450 from Ishimori and the X Express for the win. This was very, very good. X continues to look great, and Ishimori is picking his spots a bit more judiciously than before, which makes a lot of sense for him at this stage of his career. Akira looked really good, too – I’d expect him to have a nice run in the upcoming Best of the Super Juniors – and Young was solid, although he’s a much different type of wrestler than the other three, and this definitely wasn’t his type of match.

Afterward, Kosei Fujita challenged X and Ishimori to a rematch with himself and Robbie Eagles.

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship: DOUKI [House of Torture] (c) vs. YOH

So, if you haven’t been paying attention, YOH has been biting EVIL’s style lately. Why? I’m not entirely certain. YOH jumps DOUKI before poor Tanahashi can even present the championship, because apparently YOH is the only person in this promotion who doesn’t have the memory of a fruit fly – he remembers that SHO came out as DOUKI at the Anniversary Event and the real DOUKI jumped Wato from behind. YOH goes for Everything Is EVIL, but DOUKI bails and gets thrown into a seating section for his trouble. YOH tousles Tanahashi’s hair at ringside, but Tanahashi doesn’t seem particularly happy with him. YOH teases EVIL’s chair-around-the-neck spot, but Red Shoes intercepts the chair; YOH shoves him down, so DOUKI hits YOH with his lead pipe and then uses it in an assisted single-leg crab. Gotta say, YOH kinda deserved that one. DOUKI drags YOH into the crowd, slams his knee into the floor by one of the gates, and then heads back to the ring. DOUKI works on the left knee for the next several minutes, including with a wacky lucha leglock that requires YOH to get to the ropes. YOH turns the tables with the EVIL “hand the ref the leg” spot, then takes him outside and, once again a la EVIL, runs him into the timekeeper’s table, where Abe and Tanahashi are sitting; the bump Tanahashi takes here looks like it sucks – he falls right into the corner of the steps. YOH tries to make it up to him and the crowd by saying, “Aishitemasu,” however. (Chris Charlton: “That doesn’t make it better!”)

Back in the ring, YOH gets two with the Falcon Arrow and counters an attempt to run him into Red Shoes, but DOUKI attacks the leg once again and locks him in another crazy lucha submission; YOH makes it to the ropes after a lengthy struggle. After a brief counter sequence, YOH hits an Ushigoroshi, but on the bad knee, which results in a double down. After a striking sequence, YOH gets a Dragon Suplex, but his knee gives out before he can get the three count. YOH goes for Direct Drive, but DOUKI kicks Red Shoes in mid-air, and now the shenanigans can begin. DOUKI goes under the ring and gets SHO’s cookie sheet (“Black Mirror”… ahem) but rather than going right after YOH, he first hits Wato with it, which is pretty smart, quite frankly. DOUKI then tries to hit YOH with the cookie sheet, but YOH blocks it, takes the sheet away and whacks DOUKI with it. YOH gets two with Darkness Falls, then applies the Darkness Scorpion. SHO runs out and rings the bell, which distracts YOH and Red Shoes, who are then run into the cookie sheet from behind by Yoshinobu Kanemaru. Kanemaru then tries the Suntory Surprise, but YOH kicks him, takes a swig of booze, kisses SHO to knock him out with the booze (wrestling, ladies and gentlemen), and then hits him with Everything Is EVIL. DOUKI tries to hit YOH with the pipe, but YOH counters with lariat. Marty Asami runs in to cover for Red Shoes and is taken out in about five seconds. YOH hits a superkick and goes for Direct Drive again, at which point Kenta Sato comes in to cover for Asami, and, of course, DOUKI runs them all into the corner to knock out Sato and then hits a low blow on YOH. Dick Togo runs in and hits the Magic Killer on YOH with DOUKI. Togo hits the “chair around the neck” EVIL spot, then grabs Yuya Sakamoto and tosses him in the ring to count after DOUKI hits Everything Is EVIL; that only gets two, but Suplex de la Luna finally gets DOUKI the win. The 15 or so minutes of this before the first ref bump were great; I’ve always liked DOUKI, and I think he’d be awesome without the House shenanigans. However, that’s just not something you’re going to get while the House is an ongoing concern. YOH was terrific, too, and it’s a crying shame that he’s now the man with the most failed junior title challenges in history. (I’m fairly certain he was going to beat SHO for the title at Sakura Genesis 2024 in the match where he wrecked his shoulder, but that’s neither here nor there now.)

After the match, DOUKI once again demands that Tanahashi put the belt around his waist, but Tiger Mask, who is retiring on July 7, breaks this up and challenges DOUKI for the title. Presumably, this and the junior tag title match will be at Wrestling Hizen no Kuni in Saga on April 29, although with two Dontaku shows to fill, maybe one or both end up there instead.

See you on Saturday for Sakura Genesis!