Kizuna Road 2019

Promotional poster for the tour featuring various NJPW Wrestlers

**Kizuna Road 2019** was a professional wrestling tour, produced by the Japanese New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) promotion. The tour took place between June 14 and 25, 2019, with shows taking place in Shizuoka, Tokyo, Saitama, Fukushima, Niigata, Iwate, Aomori, and Sendai. The tour featured four title matches two for NJPW's IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team, NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championships, and five two for RPW's championships, British Cruiserweight and British Heavyweight Championships, as well as Zack Sabre Jr.'s G1 Climax spot. This was the eighth tour under the *Kizuna Road* name.

## Production

### Background

The event was announced on February 28. On May 23, it was announced that fourth and fifth shows of the tour would be broadcasted on Fighting TV Samurai as retrospective shows. On June 9, NJPW announced the full card for the tour. On June 12, it was announced that fourth night of the tour was sold out.

The third, fourth and the tenth night of the tour aired worldwide on NJPW's internet streaming site, New Japan Pro Wrestling World, with English commentary provided by Kevin Kelly and Chris Charlton.

### Storylines

The Kizuna Road 2019 involved different wrestlers from pre-existing scripted feuds and storylines. Wrestlers portrayed villains, heroes, or less distinguishable characters in the scripted events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches.

In the British Heavyweight Championship match, Zack Sabre Jr. who made his fifth title defense against Yoshi-Hashi. On June 9 at Dominion 6.9 in Osaka-jo Hall, Sabre and Yoshi-Hashi faced each other in a tag team match, where Sabre teamed with his Suzuki-gun stablemate Minoru Suzuki and Yoshi-Hashi teamed with Jushin Thunder Liger. Yoshi-Hashi scored a direct pinfall over Sabre for the win. After the match, Yoshi-Hashi attacked Sabre and posed with the British Heavyweight Championship belt. In a post-match interview, Sabre accepted Yoshi-Hashi's challenge. Leading to the match, Sabre didn't take Yoshi-Hashi seriously, while Yoshi-Hashi reminded that he wasn't in the 2019 G1 Climax and stated that he would take Sabre's spot in the tournament, where Sabre accepted to put on the line, which NJPW officially announced on June 19.

Two more title matches were scheduled to take place at Kizuna Road 2019. In the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship match, Roppongi 3K (Sho and Yoh) defended the titles against Bullet Club (Taiji Ishimori and El Phantasmo). Meanwhile, Phantasmo defended his British Cruiserweight Championship against Ryusuke Taguchi. On June 5, 2019, Phantasmo, Ishimori, and their Bullet Club stablemate Robbie Eagles faced Sho, Yoh, and Taguchi in a six-man tag team match. Phantasmo scored the win for his team after pinning Sho. Following the match, Phantasmo and Ishimori attacked Sho, Yoh, and Taguchi and held up their IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship belts and afterwards challenged them to a match. In a post-match interview, Roppongi 3K accepted the challenge, while Taguchi challenged Phantasmo to a match for his British Cruiserweight Championship. The title matches were announced on June 9. Also announced was a six-man tag team match between Phantasmo and his Bullet Club stablemates Chase Owens and Yujiro Takahashi facing Taguchi, Togi Makabe and Toru Yano for the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship. The match would serve as a prelude to Taguchi challenging Phantasmo for the British Cruiserweight Championship later on the tour on June 25.

## Results

### Night 4

 2
 3
 4
 5
 6

* (c) – refers to the champion(s) heading into the match
* – refers to the video of that match