New Japan Pro Wrestling returned to Ryogoku Sumo Hall on Saturday. Hyper Battle ’22 was headlined by IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada defending the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship against 2022 New Japan Cup Winner Zack Sabre Jr.
Sabre was overcome by a terrible wave of deja vu, as he found himself on the losing end of The Rainmaker once again; a repeat of his 2018 loss to Okada. After the match, Okada called out long-time rival Tetsuya Naito, and laid down a challenge for May 1st. The two men will face in their third title match of this year.
While Sabre had to look on, as the IWGP World Champion called his shot, Zack’s tag partner Taichi had a much different night. With the fan vote on his side, Taichi was able to unseat KOPW 2022 trophy holder Toru Yano in a Sumo Rules match. Wasting no time after dumping Yano to the outside, Taichi threw down the gauntlet to former-IWGP World Champion Shingo Takagi to be the next KOPW 2022 challenger.
Taichi wasn’t the only one that captured gold in Ryogoku. United Empire’s Jeff Cobb & Great-O-Khan crushed the reign of IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI. Cobb & O-Khan made it clear that the World Tag League 2021 winners would get a rematch if they so desired. It was the biggest feather in the cap for United Empire.
The tag title victory wasn’t United Empire’s only good news. They also added former-AJPW World Junior Heavyweight Champion Francesco Akira to their ranks. The Italian fireball interrupted IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion El Desperado and next challenger Taiji Ishimori, announcing that Francesco would see them both in the Best of Super Juniors tournament.
El Desperado defeated SHO, despite SHO’s mental games leading up to the match and his various shenanigans during the match, nothing SHO seems to be doing is working. After making such a big show of challenging Desperado, the loss leaves SHO in a weird place. Best of Super Juniors will likely be a time to go back to the drawing board for him.
EVIL successfully defended his NEVER Openweight Championship against Hiromu Takahashi. Hiromu had built up serious momentum over the course of the New Japan Cup and beyond, but EVIL snuffed out Takahashi’s hopes at Openweight glory. His success was short lived, as after the match he was laid out by Tama Tonga, looking for revenge for being kicked out of Bullet Club, as well as his New Japan Cup loss to EVIL.
It’s official – the bad guy is a good guy! #njpw #HyperBattle pic.twitter.com/O0r9kTM6Sw
— Chris Raymonds (@RaymondsChris) April 9, 2022
Also on the show, SANADA announced that he would be vacating the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship. Initially attempting to give the belt back to previous champion Hiroshi Tanahashi, SANADA was confronted by the man who injured him, Will Ospreay. Ospreay laid down the challenge to Tanahashi, and the two will face off on May 1st to determine the new champion.
SANADA relinquishes US gold as Hiroshi Tanahashi and Will Ospreay go nose to nose in Ryogoku https://t.co/rVBObpqMMO#hyperbattle #njdontaku pic.twitter.com/UIztwGIB7E
— NJPW Global (@njpwglobal) April 9, 2022
Plus the show kicked off with Jado finally getting revenge over former friend Gedo. After submitting Gedo with the crossface, Jado, along with Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa were officially welcomed into NJPW’s Main Unit by Hiroshi Tanahashi.
Here are the full results:
4/9
NJPW Hyper Battle ’22
Available on NJPWWorld.com
- Hiroshi Tanahashi, Tama Tonga, Tanga Loa & Jado def. Bullet Club (Chase Owens, Bad Luck Fale, Yujiro Takahashi & Gedo) by submission. (10:28)
Jado submitted Gedo via Crossface. - Los Ingobernables de Japon (Tetsuya Naito & Shingo Takagi) def. United Empire (Will Ospreay & Aaron Henare) by pinfall. (9:23)
Shingo Takagi pinned Aaron Henare via Made In Japan. - IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Championship Match: Six or Nine (Master Wato & Ryusuke Taguchi) (c) def. Bullet Club’s Cutest Tag Team (El Phantasmo & Taiji Ishimori) by pinfall. (15:13)
Ryusuke Taguchi pinned El Phantasmo via Rollup. - KOPW 2022 Sumo Rules Match: Taichi def. Toru Yano (c) by Ring Out. (4:18)
- NEVER Openweight Championship Match: EVIL (c) def. Hiromu Takahashi by pinfall via EVIL. (15:47)
- IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championship Match: United Empire (Jeff Cobb & Great-O-Khan) def. CHAOS (YOSHI-HASHI & Hirooki Goto) (c) by pinfall. (16:05)
Jeff Cobb pinned YOSHI-HASHI via Tour of the Islands. - IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship Match: El Desperado (c) def. SHO by pinfall via Pinche Loco. (20:33)
- IWGP World Heavyweight Championship Match: Kazuchika Okada (c) def. Zack Sabre Jr. by pinfall via Rainmaker. (28:25)
NJPW will return with Golden Fight Series: Night 1 on April 18th at 5am ET on NJPWWorld.com
