NJPW Wrestling Dontaku – Night 2
Date: May 4, 2021
Venue: Fukuoka Convention Center
Time: 3:00pm JST
International Start Times
First Match
DOUKI, Taichi & Zack Sabre Jr vs. Jado, Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa
Recent History – Overall (2021 Year To Date)
History in Fukuoka – All Match Types
Second Match
Kazuchika Okada & SHO vs. Minoru Suzuki & Yoshinobu Kanemaru
Recent History – Overall
History in Fukuoka – All Match Types
Third Match
BUSHI, SANADA & Tetsuya Naito vs. Aaron Henare, Great-O-Khan & Jeff Cobb
Recent History – Overall (2021 Year To Date)
- On The Road To Wrestling Dontaku, The United Empire is 12-4 against Los Ingobernables De Japon.
- Great-O-Khan (42) and Jeff Cobb (39) have the second and third most wins in NJPW this year, only behind Will Ospreay (43)
- Jeff Cobb’s +25 Fall Differential is the best in NJPW this year, 9 falls better than Shingo Takagi’s +16 which is second best in NJPW this year.
- BUSHI’s -24 Fall Differential is the worst in NJPW this year.
History in Fukuoka – All Match Types
Fourth Match
Hiroshi Tanahashi, Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Master Wato, Ryusuke Taguchi & Toru Yano vs. Dick Togo, EVIL, Jay White, Taiji Ishimori & Yujiro Takahashi
Recent History – Overall (2021 Year To Date)
- EVIL leads NJPW with 60 total matches so far in 2021, unfortunately, he also leads NJPW with 36 losses.
History in Fukuoka – All Match Types
Fifth Match
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship Match
El Desperado vs. YOH
Recent History – Singles Matches (2021 Year To Date)
Recent History – Singles Matches (Last 365 Days)
- This will be YOH’s first singles match since round one of the 2020 New Japan Cup. Prior to that, YOH’s most recent singles action came in the 2019 Best of the Super Junior tournament and the 2019 Super J Cup. YOH went 6-4 between those two tournaments.
History in Fukuoka
Head To Head History
- This will be the first time YOH and El Desperado have wrestled in a singles match
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship
- The IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship has been decided in 309 matches over the course of over 35 years. The title has changed hands in just 29.45% of title deciding matches.
- This will be El Desperado’s sixth career IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship match. He is 1-5 in his previous matches with the title on the line.
- This will be YOH’s first ever IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship Match.
- It has been nine years since the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship changed hands in Fukuoka (Low Ki defeated Prince Devitt at Wrestling Dontaku, 2012). The IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship has been decided 20 times in Fukuoka. It has changed hands five times here.
Main Event
IWGP World Heavyweight Championship Match
Will Ospreay [C] vs. Shingo Takagi
Recent History – 2021 Singles
- Shingo Takagi’s 3 hours, 12 minutes, and 26 seconds of Singles Match Length is the longest in NJPW so far this year.
- Will Ospreay’s 3 hours, 7 minutes, and 55 seconds of Singles Match Length is the second longest in NJPW so far this year.
- Ospreay and Takagi have been very challenging for opponents to put away. They hold two of the three highest average singles losing match lengths in NJPW this year.
Recent History – Last 365 Days Singles
- Only EVIL and SANADA have competed in more singles matches than Shingo Takagi in the last 365 days.
Recent History – 2021 Overall
- Will Ospreay’s 43 overall victories are the most in NJPW in 2021.
- Shingo Takagi’s 13 hours, 28 Minutes and 46 Seconds of Overall Total Match Length is second highest in NJPW this year. Only SANADA has spent more time in the ring than Shingo.
Head To Head History
- Will Ospreay leads the all-time series with Shingo Takagi 2-1.
- This will be the first time Shingo Takagi and Will Ospreay have met with a title on the line.
- Shingo’s key to victory may be ending the match quickly. Shingo’s 22:03 victory over Ospreay during G1 Climax 30 was over 8 minutes shorter than Ospreay’s New Japan Cup victory and 11 minutes quicker than Ospreay’s Best Of The Super Junior 26 victory.
History In Fukuoka
- Shingo Takagi comes into tonight’s match on a 5 match losing streak in singles matches in Fukuoka, including his last singles match in Dragon Gate and his 2019 G1 Climax loss to The United Empire member Jeff Cobb.
- Will Ospreay has only wrestled in a singles match here once. He defended the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship against KUSHIDA at Wrestling Dontaku 2018.
IWGP World Heavyweight Championship
- The new IWGP World Heavyweight Championship belt was made by Dan Van Alst. The belt has over 125 Swarovski crystals, the main plate is electroplated with 24k gold and it is an impressive 13 pounds and impressive 14mm thick.
