Wrestling Redzone is one of the two semi-major shows on the Road to Wrestling Dontaku. This one features two tag team championship matches, both of which have the potential to be very good; the other one, Wrestling Hizen no Kuni, on April 29, features the DOUKI vs. Tiger Mask junior title match, which has the potential to be very bad. But, luckily, we get to talk about the good one today.

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship: Taiji Ishimori & Robbie X [Unbound Co.] (c) vs. Ichiban Sweet Boys (Robbie Eagles & Kosei Fujita) [TMDK]

The stage set for this show is really cool, with giant red curtains surrounding the entrance (hence the name of the show). TMDK starts off fast, getting a couple of near-falls on Ishimori right away, but the tide turns when X tags himself in, culminating in X and Ishimori properly hitting that wheelbarrow Code Red thing they’ve been working on. X and Ishimori go to work on Fujita’s left arm. After a few minutes, Eagles hits the hot tag and takes control on both guys, getting a near-fall on X with a knee-strike in the corner. Eagles sets up a hurricanrana from the top rope, but X lands on his feet and hits a flurry of offense, ending with a power bomb for two. Robbie on Robbie violence continues, with Eagles catching a Pele kick into the Ron Miller Special in a neat spot; X gets to the ropes after a struggle, however. After a long back-and-forth sequence, X hits X Marks the Spot, and both guys get tags. After both Fujita and Ishimori go back and forth, X runs in and the Unbound Co. team takes the advantage with double-team offense. Ishimori gets two with a 450 splash, but Eagles shoves X into the pile to break it up. Fujita fights back and hits Ishimori with an overhead German, then makes the tag to Eagles. Ishimori wins a striking battle and gets two with a fireman’s carry into a cutter that didn’t look quite right. Fujita runs in and TMDK hits the Sweetbuster for two. Eagles is cut off by X, but Fujita cuts him off and the two have an exciting exchange of offense. Eventually, Fujita catches X going for something and muscles him up into the powerbomb position, and Eagles hits what appears to be a Blockbuster into a power bomb; this spot was a mighty struggle and did not end up looking very good. With X canceled out, both Ichiban Sweet Boys go after Ishimori, but Ishimori avoids a kick from Eagles that takes out Fujita and then hits Eagles with X Marks the Spot. He goes for the Bone Lock, but Eagles reverses it into a cradle for two, which begins a series of rollups for near-falls. Eagles blocks La Mistica and counters with the Turbo Backpack for two, then hits a 450 to Ishimori’s knee before applying the Ron Miller Special for the submission and the title. This was a little rough in spots, but mostly very, very good.

IWGP Tag Team Championship: Knockout Brothers (Yuto-Ice & OSKAR) [Unbound Co.] (c) vs. Bishamon (Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI)

Red Shoes is Red Hoodie tonight, modeling the merch prior to the match. The challengers take the advantage to start, hitting the War Drums on Yuto. However, after OSKAR grabs Goto from the outside, the champions take over on him. After a lengthy beatdown, Goto avoids a leg drop from OSKAR and manages to tag in YOSHI-HASHI, who takes the offensive for a while but gets caught by a takedown, an elbow drop and a slam; OSKAR had a bit of a rough time in this sequence. Both guys tag out, and Goto and Yuto get things back on track. Yuto gets two with the Bomboclaat knee strike, but Goto hits the Ushigoroshi, followed by the Violent Flash with YOSHI-HASHI. Bishamon go for Shoto, but they’re cut off by OSKAR, who hits both guys with a clothesline, leaving everyone down in the ring. After the illegal men are cleared out, Goto hits the GTW for two. Yuto counters a backdrop attempt with a lariat, and both guys tag out. OSKAR takes control right away, perhaps a bit more methodically than before, and it works out much better. The Knockout Brothers get two with the Rumbling, then go for the KOB, but YOSHI-HASHI hits a low dropkick to OSKAR to counter. They try again, but Goto cuts them off and YOSHI-HASHI rolls up OSKAR for two. Bishamon takes the advantage and hits an assisted top-rope bulldog on OSKAR for two, but it’s broken up by Yuto. YOSHI-HASHI gets two with a lariat, and then hits a Bunker Buster for a near-fall. Bishamon goes for Shoto again, but Yuto cuts them off. They try the Shoto on Yuto, but OSKAR grabs a sleeper on YOSHI-HASHI; however, OSKAR is driven back into the corner, and Bishamon hit Goto Goto Hunter. They go for Shoto again and OSKAR fights out, but YOSHI-HASHI hits him with a Codebreaker, and finally they hit Shoto, but Yuto breaks up the pinfall attempt at the last possible instant. Goto and Yuto end up in a striking battle that the crowd is deeply into; eventually, Yuto blocks a strike and shoves Goto toward OSKAR, and the Knockout Brothers hit the KOB on him. He’s not legal, but it does cancel him out. They try for the KOB on YOSHI-HASHI, but he wriggles out and gets a near-fall on OSKAR with a rollup. However, Yuto hits YOSHI-HASHI with Cruella and knocks out Goto with the Ambition punch, and then the Knockout Brothers hit KOB on YOSHI-HASHI for the pin. Aside from a brief wonky sequence early on, this was great. Both of these teams rule.

It’ll be interesting to see what NJPW has cooked up for the Knockout Brothers at Dominion, since they’ve effectively cleaned out the division. At Dontaku, they’ve got Tomoaki Honma and Masatora Yasuda on night one and Shota Umino and Honma on night two, so maybe something comes out of that. (Sounds like a rough couple nights for Honma-san.) If it’s Umino getting another shot after losing three matches in a row to these guys with Yuya Uemura, it would feel a tiny bit like he’s jumping the line again, although the Knockout Brothers have already beaten all the other major contenders since then. It may not be, though, since Umino is also involved in the TV title program with Konosuke Takeshita and the House of Torture geek squad; I assume they’ll want to run back Takeshita vs. Umino at some point, but then there’s also the matter of the cold-blooded snake-like masked guy who distracted Takeshita at Sakura Genesis. We’ll see, I suppose.