5/24 Toyama Takaoka Techno Dome 1,500 sellout
Manabu Nakanishi & Yuji Nagata & Yutaka Yoshie & Brian Johnston beat Masahiro Chono & Scott Norton & Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Michiyoshi Ohara when Nakanishi made Ohara submit to his Argentine backbreaker at 17:04.
Kensuke Sasaki & Jushin Thunder Liger & Tadao Yasuda beat Satoshi Kojima & Hiro Saito & Tatsutoshi Goto when Sasaki pinned Goto at 15:18
Takashi Iizuka made Kenzo Suzuki submit to a sleeper hold at 16:14. Can someone explain to me why these two are having a match longer than the compined length of todays two Super Jr. matches?
Dr. Wagner, Jr. & Minoru Tanaka & Minoru Fujita beat Koji Kanemoto & Shinjiro Otani & Black Cat when Tanaka used his Minoru special on Otani at 16:14.
In a Super Jr. league matches, El Samurai pinned Shinya Makabe at 9:14 and Kendo Kashin made Kid Romeo submit to his udehishigigyakujujigatame at 4:51.

5/23 Kanazawa Ishikawa-ken Sangyo Tenjikan 3,200 sellout
Kensuke Sasaki & Takashi Iizuka & Tadao Yasuda beat Masahiro Chono & Satoshi Kojima & Tatsutoshi Goto when Sasaki pinned Kojima at 15:37.
Manabu Nakanishi & Yutaka Yoshie defeated Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Scott Norton when Nakanishi made Tenzan submit to his Argentine backbreaker at 10:22.
Jushin Thunder Liger & Kenzo Suzuki beat Black Cat & Tatsuhito Takaiwa when Suzuki made Takaiwa submit to an akiresukengatame at 9:24.
In a Super Jr. league match, Shinjiro Otani pinned Minoru Tanaka in his Dragon suplex hold at 12:14.
Koji Kanemoto & Minoru Fujita & Kid Romeo upset El Samurai & Kendo Kashin & Dr. Wagner, Jr. when Romeo pinned Samurai at 14:10.

After two years of challenges, Riki Choshu finally agreed to wrestle Atsushi Onita. The match will be the main draw on the 7/30 New Japan show at Kanagawa Yokohama Arena. The only "problem" is that Tatsumi Fujinami said he might not allow Choshu to return to active service in New Japan rings against Onita. Fujinami said they had come to an agreement for Choshu to return against Naoya Ogawa, the opponent that Inoki recommended to Fujinami. I'm sure hey are just saying this to stir up controversy and keep the match in the papers as much as possible, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was also to set up Choshu vs. Fujinami. Surprisingly, Choshu #2 Kensuke Sasaki is against his teacher returning to the ring, particularly against Onita. Sasaki put an end to Power Hall with a lariat at 11:34 in Choshu's Fukuoka retirement on the 11/2/97 at the Fukuoka Dome, and feels that Onita is liable to bring disgrace to that final teacher and pupil confrontation.

When Riki Choshu retired on 1/4/98, he said he'd only come back if New Japan business declined a lot. Well, one way or another you just knew you hadn't seen the last crappy match from this guy, but any quick look at their attendances this year will show that business has gone down a lot, so the inevitable occured. Although it was known for a quite while that he would eventually be coming back, Choshu finally made his return official today. Since they have been planning for his return for over a year and a half, there are three matches on the table that will draw, Choshu vs. Atsushi Onita, Naoya Ogawa, and Antonio Inoki. Choshu vs. Fujinami is likely to happen as well since Fujinami is doing his retirement countdown and the longtime rivals haven't fought since Riki was doing his retirement road.

5/21 Shizuoka Gran Ship 3,300 sellout
Masahiro Chono & Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Scott Norton beat Kensuke Sasaki & Yutaka Yoshie & Kenzo Suzuki when Tenzan pinned Suzuki 17:50.
Manabu Nakanishi & Yuji Nagata beat Satoshi Kojima & Michiyoshi Ohara when Nakanishi made Ohara submit to his Argentine backbreaker at 18:08.
Jushin Thunder Liger & Dr. Wagner, Jr. & Kendo Kashin defeated Shinjiro Otani & Tatsuhito Takaiwa & Minoru Tanaka when Wagner pinned Tanaka at 10:23.
In a Super Jr. match, Kid Romeo pinned Minoru Fujita in just 6:06.

5/19 Tokyo Korakuen Hall 1,627 sellout
Tag champions Manabu Nakanishi & Yuji Nagata beat Kensuke Sasaki & Takashi Iizuka when Nagata backdropped singles champion Sasaki at 20:38.
Masahiro Chono & Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Michiyoshi Ohara beat Shiro Koshinaka & Junji Hirata & Tadao Yasuda when Chono used his butterfly lock on Hirata at 12:54.
Jushin Thunder Liger & Kenzo Suzuki beat Hiro Saito & Tatsutoshi Goto when Liger pinned Hiro following his suichoku rakka shiki no brainbuster at 12:50.
Koji Kanemoto & Shinjiro Otani & Minoru Tanaka & Kid Romeo defeated El Samurai & Kendo Kashin & Dr. Wagner, Jr. & Minoru Fujita when Otani pinned Samurai in his kaiten Ligerbomb at 15:47.
In a Super Jr. league match, Tatsuhito Takaiwa pinned Shinya Makabe at 11:11 following his lariat.

Antonio Inoki ordered Shinya Hashimoto to return to the ring. He said Hashimoto had betrayed the fans by telling them what they wanted to hear, that he was coming back, and then changing his mind again. Tatsumi Fujinami requested a meeting with Inoki & Hashimoto before the series opened today at Korakuen Hall.

Shinya Hashimoto went to the New Japan office and presented his resignation, ending speculation that yesterday's fax was a fake. President Tatsumi Fujinami wasn't there, so Hashimoto left it on his desk and left. When Fujinami returned to his office, someone explained to him that Hashimoto had just left and envelope that contained his resignation. Fujinami began reading it, and his face was getting redder and redder. Upon finishing it, he yelled "It is invalid!"then swiftly and angrily tore it up and deposited it in the trash can. Fujinami claimed that he'll get Hashimoto back in New Japan rings no matter what it takes, and started working on setting up an "emergency" conference with Hashimoto. Kensuke Sasaki said he'd like to defend the IWGP Heavykyu Senshuken against Hashimoto if he returns to the ring, no matter what company he returns with.

Shinya Hashimoto had yet another change of heart and decided to send a fax to the Japanese wrestling companies and media that declared his intention to resign from New Japan. There's some question as to whether it was really his signature though (this gets stupider by the minute). Naoya Ogawa doesn't believe this means Hashimoto will stay retired, rather that he'll leave New Japan and sign with another company such as U.F.O.

Unfortunately, Osamu Nishimura has not completely recoved from his disease (Nishimura finally "confessed what his problem was to the Japanese media" calling it something that translates to a malignant back peritoneum tumor, which Nishimura says was removed on 9/18/98) and "can't be off guard for it's recurrence." However, his wrestling career isn't over as was initially feared. He is healthy enough that he can wrestle again, with his return match scheduled for 6/2 at Tokyo Nippon Budokan against an opponent that has yet to be determined. He was saddened by the news of Jumbo's death because, beyond the obvious reasons, he can relate to Jumbo since he's also been living life under medical treatment since the summer of 1998. Tsuruta's death has made him more determined than ever to beat his sickness.

Shinya Hashimoto was supposed to meet with Tatsumi Fujinami today about coming out of retirement (I guess he said he would yesterday, but never made it official with Fujinami), but he stood Fujinami up later claiming health reasons. Fujinami wanted to have the meeting without Antonio Inoki present because he says Hashimoto is influenced by Inoki (which is kind of funny because Chono says the same thing about Fujinami), so he thinks Inoki told Hashimoto to cancel it because he couldn't attend.

Now they are using Masakazu Fukuda's death as a reason for Shinya Hashimoto to return. Yuji Nagata said Hashimoto decided he would return when he was visiting Fukuda in the hospital, so now if he doesn't then he lied to Fukuda when he was on his death bed. Hashimoto was supposed to have his last conference on the subject with Tatsumi Fujinami on the 15th, but today he said his return was inevitable.

Kensuke Sasaki wants to top Manabu Nakanishi by defending the IWGP Heavykyu Senshuken on 6/2 at Tokyo Nippon Budokan against Nakanishi then Naoya Ogawa.

The mysterious white masked man, who they are now calling Mr. X, met with Naoya Ogawa in a park inside the capital for a rehersal of the planned attack on Riki Choshu. Ogawa was there with a pen and notepad, which he drew up the plan for the dirty deed on. They had a fake Choshu stroll through the park so X could sneak attack him, put him in a masho (devilish) sleeper, and pound on him from the mount position.

Manabu Nakanishi will be involved in matches for the top two titles on the 6/2 show at Tokyo Nippon Budokan. Nakanishi will challenge Kensuke Sasaki for the IWGP Heavykyu Senshuken as well as try to defend the IWGP Tag Senshuken with partner Yuji Nagata against, most likely, Naoya Ogawa & Kazunari Murakami. Nakanishi ran down Ogawa saying he was useless in the Fukuoka Dome match, so Murakami had to take on two guys on his own, and it was pathetic that he had to get help from the mysterious man in the white mask. Ogawa is supposedly taking a month off to heal his shoulder again, so if he takes this match he'd once again have to come back a little earlier than he wanted to.

Naoya Ogawa put Riki Choshu on notice, basically saying he's going to get his ass kicked during the next series. He said Choshu should watch out while he enters the building because "terrorist Murakami" or the white masked guy that was with UFO at the Fukuoka Dome might be waiting for him.

It's looking more like Riki Choshu will come out of retirement to face Naoya Ogawa at the Osaka Dome show. Tatsumi Fujinami is working on arranging the match, but Atsushi Onita is complaining that Choshu should face him if he's coming out of retirement because he's been calling him out for a year and a half.

Tatsumi Fujinami had given Shinya Hashimoto a May 13th deadline to decide if he was coming back to New Japan, but he decided to cancel it. Hashimoto is still fasting. Since he was unsuccessful at 110kg, he's going down to 94kg. Geez, can you picture Hashimoto weighing less than Liger and the same as Kendo Kashin?

You can always count on WCW...to ruin everything. WCW pulled Juventud Guerrera & Billy Kidman from the BEST OF THE SUPER JR. VII. This almost surely means that Liger has to rebook the whole tournament because Guerrera & Kidman were the two outsiders that would have got a push. Gran Hamada will replace Kidman in A Block, so he could do as well as Kidman if they wanted him to. The thing is he's almost 50, so he isn't exactly a new star that's going to set the division on fire. Hamada will probably have better matches than Kidman would have, but he was in the tournament last year so there's no novelty in having him in this year since NJ still has the same guys (except Makabe was promoted, but Hamada wrestled him in the J-CUP). Katsumi Usuda is replacing Juventud in B Block. They should have got Ikuto Hidaka, as he would be an exciting new face. Usuda is alright, but another guy that isn't spectacular. Now the tournament is going to be even staler than last year, which was the least antipated junior league New Japan ever ran. 8 of the 12 entrees are the same and Liger, Shocker, Masaaki Mochizuki, and Masao Orihara over Shinya Makabe, Usuda, Kid Romeo, and Minoru Fujita is simply a no-brainer.

In 1998 New Japan sold out two dome shows (one for each) based on the retirement of arguably their two most legendary wrestlers, Riki Choshu & Antonio Inoki. Just two years later, they will probably both be back. I suppose that sounds like a long time in light of how long Mick Foley was gone, but anyway Inoki told Choshu (since Choshu is the foreman aka booker) that he'd like to come out of retirement. Choshu was supposed to have come back to fight Atsushi Onita by now, and probably still will, but the latest talk is Riki Choshu vs. Inoki's protege Naoya Ogawa.

Naoya Ogawa requested a singles match with current booker/retired wrestling legeng Riki Choshu, who is 48. Ogawa's claims his mind wasn't on the tag title match he lost the previous day, and actually he forgot it was even a title match. He has no interest in a singles match with Nakanishi or Nagata, but has his heart set on Choshu.

Masahiro Chono is calling Tatsumi Fujinami Pink Dragon now. He's been cutting him up for a while saying that he's a useless president because he just does what Inoki wants him to. Now that Chono exceeded Fujinami in the ring, he's going to try to do so outside the ring as well. He said he will have a showdown with the company side about some labor dispute.

WRESTLING DONTAKU IN FUKUOKA DOME ~EPILOGUE OF DRAGON 1st~ 5/5 Fukuoka Dome 35,000
Power Warrior (Kensuke Sasaki) successfully defended the IWGP Heavykyu Senshuken, pinning Great Muta at 12:44 with a lariat after a poison mist attack.
Manabu Nakanishi & Yuji Nagata retained the IWGP Tag Senshuken, defeating Naoya Ogawa & Kazunari Murakami when Nagata took out Murakami at 9:26. The finish came when Nagata hit his backdrop hold while Ogawa & Nakanishi were fighting outside the ring. There's was a new mysterious masked man, but I don't think anything that important happened involving him. Ogawa bumped into Choshu during a melee to start setting up a match between the two. The Osaka Dome show in August may feature New Japan vs. UFO.
In a match billed as EPILOGUE OF DRAGON 1st, Masahiro Chono pinned Tatsumi Fujinami with his yakuza kick at just 6:30.
In a match billed as CRUSH and BREAK, Yutaka Yoshie scored an upset when he pinned Satoshi Kojima at 15:08 with a half nelson suplex.
Hiroyoshi Tenzan pinned Takashi Iizuka with his diving headbutt at 13:35.
In a match billed as New Wave J ~SPECIAL 8~, Koji Kanemoto & Shinjiro Otani & Kendo Kashin & Tatsuhito Takaiwa beat Jushin Thunder Liger & Minoru Tanaka & CIMA & Sumo "Dandy" Fuji Nichi when Otani pinned Fuji at 14:26 following his swandive shiki no kneel kick.
The New Japan team of Shiro Koshinaka & Junji Hirata & Tadao Yasuda beat the TEAM 2000 team of Hiro Saito & Tatsutoshi Goto & Michiyoshi Ohara when Shiro powerbombed Hiro at 10:19.
Kenzo Suzuki capture the 8th Young Lions Cup, pinning Shinya Makabe with a backdrop at 15:08.
Before the show they did another 10 count for the late Masakazu Fukuda.

Shinya Hashimoto met with Tatsumi Fujinami for two hours. Hashimoto "still hasn't decided" whether he's going to come out of retirement or not, but did decide that he wasn't joining U.F.O. and wouldn't be taking Naoya Ogawa's place on 5/5. Later in the day, Antonio Inoki announced that Naoya Ogawa would be wrestling on 5/5. However, due to his shoulder injury, he will pretty much be wrestling one armed.

Even though it's against doctors orders, Antonio Inoki has asked his pupil Naoya Ogawa to compete in his scheduled tag title match on 5/5 at the Fukuoka Dome. Ogawa hasn't decided yet.

4/30 Beppu Peekon Plaza 3,500
Manabu Nakanishi & Yuji Nagata & Yutaka Yoshie beat Masahiro Chono & Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima when Nagata pinned Tenzan in a backdrop hold at 19:17.
Tatsutoshi Goto & Michiyoshi Ohara & AKIRA upset Kensuke Sasaki & Shiro Koshinaka & AKIRA when Goto actually pinned Sasaki at 10:52 following his backdrop. Goto attacked Sasaki's broken finger during the match, rendering it useless. I think this was done to make it look like Great Muta is going to win the title on 5/5. It's been stated that if Muta wins, he will take the title with him to "his main battlefield," America .
Koji Kanemoto & Shinjiro Otani beat Jushin Thunder Liger & Minoru Tanaka when Otani pinned Liger at 12:54.
In the final Young Lions Cup Match, Shinya Makabe upset Kenzo Suzuki, forcing him to submit to an udehishigigyakujujigatame at 9:54. Suzuki will, in turn, win the final at the Fukuoka Dome.
Tadao Yasuda & El Samurai beat Dan Devine & Chuck Palombo when Yasuda pinned Devine at 8:38. Wow, the only junior pinned today was the guy that's been running over everyone for months, Liger.

4/29 Nagasaki Kenritsu Sogo Taiikukan
Kensuke Sasaki returned to action after missing two shows with a broken left finger, teaming with G-EGGS Manabu Nakanishi & Yuji Nagata & Yutaka Yoshie to beat Masahiro Chono & Satoshi Kojima & Tatsutoshi Goto & AKIRA in 16:19 when Nagata made AKIRA submit to his Nagata lock.
Takashi Iizuka & Tadao Yasuda beat Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Hiro Saito when Iizuka caught Saito in his hadakajima.

The next tour is our favorite of the year, the BEST OF THE SUPER Jr. VII, which runs from 5/19-6/9. The highlight is WCW sending Juventud Guerrera (at least his IWGP title win might be worth something now) & Billy Kidman and Michinoku sending the highly underrated Minoru Fujita. The lowlight is that Jushin Thunder Liger for the first time New Japan is running a SUPER Jr. without Jushin Thunder Liger even though he's healthy (well, it's rumored that he's been pretty banged up for a while, but he's healthy in the sense that he's still wrestling every night). Interest will definitely be down with Liger, but aside from Kid Romeo and perhaps Kidman (he was at least very good in 1998, but hasn't produced much of late) everyone in the tournament is very good or better, so it should be pretty choice. The juniors are divided into two blocks again this year. A block is has Koji Kanemoto, Tatsuhito Takaiwa, El Samurai, Shinya Makabe, Dr. Wagner Jr., and WCW's Billy Kidman. B Block has Shinjiro Otani, Kendo Kashin, Minoru Tanaka, Michinoku Puroresu's Minoru Fujita, WCW's Juventud Guerrera, & WCW's Kid Romeo. Kidman & Juventud are only coming for the last week, so they'll have all five of their league bouts between 6/2-6/8. The final is on 6/9 at Osaka Shi Cho Taiikukan

4/28 Kumamoto Mashiki Cho Sogo Taiikukan 2,700
Takashi Iizuka & Yuji Nagata & Manabu Nakanishi beat Masahiro Chono & Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Michiyoshi Ohara when Nakanishi used his Argentine backbreaker on Ohara at 12:33. To show how times have changed, this was the longest match on the show.
Junji Hirata & Jushin Thunder Liger beat Satoshi Kojima & AKIRA when Liger pinned AKIRA at 12:26. This is as close as Liger ever comes to beating a heavyweight, as AKIRA used to be a junior that Liger beat more often than not, but graduated to working with the heavyweights for around 7 years ago even though he ways about the same (they claim he's 100kg or 220 pounds, which I believe is the most you can weigh and still compete for the junior titles).
Koji Kanemoto & Shinjiro Otani beat El Samurai & Kendo Kashin when Otani pinned Samurai at 10:24.
Minoru Tanaka made Shinya Makabe submit to a hizajujigatame at 9:29.

Antonio Inoki has ordered Shinya Hashimoto to make his return to the ring on 5/5 and take the place of the injured Naoya Ogawa. That would mean his "retirement" lasted all of 28 days. Hashimoto has been training during his retirement and just finished fasting for 3 days. Due to this, he trimmed down another 5kg to 110, which means he weighs about 5 pounds more than they claim Chono and Nagata do.

4/27 Kagoshima Arena 2,800
Kensuke Sasaki had to miss the show with a broken left finger. He'll still wrestle on 5/5, but he won't be 100%.
Masahiro Chono & Hiroyoshi Tenzan & AKIRA beat Yuji Nagata & Manabu Nakanishi & Yutaka Yoshie when Tenzan pinned Nagata at 18:38.
Hiro Saito & Tatsutoshi Goto defeated Takashi Iizuka & Jushin Thunder Liger when Goto pinned Liger at 9:40. This is WCW booking. For all these years they kept the juniors separate from the heavyweights so they wouldn't be seen as jobbers, and thus their matches would be meaningful. It wouldn't be terrible to have them with the heavyweights if they actually won some matches to show they belonged, but all we've seen so far is them losing every match to prove they are useless jobbers. For years Choshu & Liger were the two best bookers in the world, but they've fallen asleep at the wheel this year.
Koji Kanemoto & Shinjiro Otani beat Kendo Kashin & Minoru Tanaka when Kanemoto pinned Kashin at 10:34.
El Samurai pinned Shinya Makabe at 8:32.

Supposedly Tatsumi Fujinami will retire at a dome show on 5/9/01, which would be the 30th anniversary of his debut.
NJ is interested in putting a match together where Shinya Hashimoto would face K-1 star Mike Bernardo.

4/26 Yamaguchi Tokuyama Shi Taiikukan 2,700
Kensuke Sasaki & Manabu Nakanishi & Yuji Nagata beat Masahiro Chono & Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima when Nakanishi made Tenzan submit to his Argentine backbreaker at 17:52. Nagata wants Naoya Ogawa to be involved in the tag title match on the Fukuoka Dome show even if he doesn't wrestle. He said be the referee, if you can't use your right arm. If Ogawa is incapable of that than he could be the ring announcer. I guess the wrestlers being disgusted that Ogawa is constantly hyped and pushed even though he rarely has a match is now angle. That's a big reason why what they did with Hashimoto was a huge mistake. New Japan has very little name value on their tours these days since Muta is "off saving WCW" even though he's never even on their TV shows and Hashimoto is "retired." Chono is a draw, but Kensuke has never been bought as the top face and beyond him you have Iizuka who was never pushed because he lacked charisma, and younger guys like Nakanishi & Nagata & especially Yoshie that don't have the wins to warrant main event status (not to mention Nakanishi lacks ability and charisma). Ogawa is okay to pop a big show (the last two Dome shows he headlined and the Rikidozan Memorial were disappointing in drawing although I'd hardly say he was the problem), but a handful of shows a year as opposed to a guy that used to draw a certain amount of fans to every show is not a wise tradeoff. Of course Hashimoto will be back, but the reason he drew is that he was believable and the real deal, an image that is totally out the window due to so many big losses since the '98 G1 Climax.
Takashi Iizuka & Yutaka Yoshie & Kenzo Suzuki beat Super J & Tatsutoshi Goto & Michiyoshi Ohara when Yoshie made Goto submit to an udehishigigyakujujigatame at 8:50.
Hiro Saito & AKIRA beat Shiro Koshinaka & Shinjiro Otani when AKIRA pinned Otani at 13:56.
Jushin Thunder Liger & El Samurai & Kendo Kashin defeated Koji Kanemoto & Minoru Tanaka & Shinya Makabe when Liger pinned Koji at 11:15.

4/25 Hiroshima Sun Plaza 4,000
In a Team 2000 vs. New Japan Elimination Match, Masa Chono & Super J & Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima & AKIRA beat Kensuke Sasaki & Yuji Nagata & Yutaka Yoshie & Jushin Thunder Liger & Manabu Nakanishi 5 falls to 3 when Chono took out Kensuke at 34:57. Super J was the other survivor.
Hiro Saito & Tatsutoshi Goto & Michiyoshi Ohara beat Koji Kanemoto & Shinjiro Otani & Tatsuhito Takaiwa in a 2/3 fall match. Goto pinned Koji at 6:15 to win the first fall, but Takaiwa used his Death Valley bomb on Hiro at 5:57 to even it up. Ohara pinned Otani at 5:14 in the deciding fall, so Takaiwa was the only junior to get a pin and the only junior not to job.
Kendo Kashin made Minoru Tanaka submit to his udehishigigyakujujigatame at 11:29.

Akira Hokuto will be helping her husband Kensuke Sasaki prepare for his match against Great Muta and will act as his second for that match.

4/23 Osaka Kishiwada Shi Sogo Taiikukan 2,000
Masa Chono & Satoshi Kojima & Hiro Saito beat Kensuke Sasaki & Shiro Koshinaka & Jushin Thunder Liger when Hiro pinned Shiro at 14:59.
Yuji Nagata & Yutaka Yoshie defeated Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Tatsutoshi Goto when Yoshie made Goto submit to the udehishigigyakujujigatame at 12:48.
Koji Kanemoto & Shinjiro Otani & Tatsuhito Takaiwa beat El Samurai & Kendo Kashin & Minoru Tanaka when Koji pinned Kashin at 10:47.
In a Young Lions Cup league match, Shinya Makabe pinned Katsuyori Shibata in a German suplex hold at 8:10. While the league isn't over until 4/30, Fukuda dying screwed the booking up so much that Makabe and Kenzo Suzuki have already clinched their spots in the final on 5/5 at the Fukuoka Dome.

4/22 Aichi Chiryu Shi Fukushi Taiikukan 2,800 sellout
Masa Chono & Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima & Hiro Saito beat Kensuke Sasaki & Takashi Iizuka & Yuji Nagata & Yutaka Yoshie when Chono made Iizuka submit to his STF at 17:27.
Jushin Thunder Liger & Kendo Kashin defeated Koji Kanemoto & Shinjiro Otani when Kashin made Otani submit to his udehishigigyakujujigatame at 11:55.
In a Young Lions Cup league match, Kenzo Suzuki pinned Wataru Inoue at 6:15.

4/21 Tokyo Korakuen Hall 1,850 sellout
44-year-old Kuniaki Kobayashi ended his 28 year career, losing to Jushin Thunder Liger's suichoku rakka shiki no brainbuster at 7:02. Kobayashi was nicknamed Tora (Tiger) Hunter because of his intense early 80's rivalry with Shodai Tiger Mask. Satoru Sayama and Animal Hamaguchi attended his retirement ceremony, while Dynamite Kid sent Kobayashi a message. Kobayashi will work in the management section of the New Japan general affairs department.
Yuji Nagata & Manabu Nakanishi & Yutaka Yoshie beat Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima & Michiyoshi Ohara when Nagata pinned Kojima in a backdrop hold at 21:23.
In Young Lions Cup league matches, Katsuyori Shibata made Wataru Inoue submit to a version of the camel clutch at 10:04 and Hiroshi Tanahashi got a forfeit win over Masakazu Fukuda.

600 people attended the New Japan sponsored funeral for Masakatsu Fukuda. Fukuda was buried in his New Japan jersey. To make things even sadder, it came out that Fukuda was planning to announce his engagement next month.