Kizuna Road 2018

Promotional poster for the tour featuring Super Strong Machine

**Kizuna Road 2018** was a professional wrestling tour, produced by the Japanese New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) promotion. The tour took place between June 15 and 24, 2018, with shows taking place in Saitama, Tokyo, Iwaki, Akita, Yamagata, Iwate, Japan. The tour featured two titles matches of eight NJPW's championships, the IWGP Junior Heavyweight, NEVER Openweight Championships, as well Super Strong Machine retirement ceremony and Tomoaki Honma return match since he was sidelined with a cervical vertebrae injury. This was the seventh tour under the *Kizuna Road* name.

## Production

### Background

On April 12, 2018, it was announced that Super Strong Machine would be retiring from active competition and his retirement ceremony would be held on June 19 at Korakuen Hall. It was also announced that he would be unable to compete in his final match due to his health issues. On June 1, it was announced that Tomoaki Honma would make his return on June 23. Honma was previously with a cervical vertebrae injury, which sidelined him for a year of active in-ring competition. This led to NJPW announcing that the June 23 show as sold out. On June 11, NJPW announced the full card for the tour.

The second until fourth 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 Don Callis.

### Storylines

The Kizuna Road 2018 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.

The second night of the tour would be main evented by Michael Elgin making his first title defense of the NEVER Openweight Championship against Hirooki Goto. On April 27, Goto made his third title defense of the NEVER Openweight Championship against Juice Robinson. Following the match, Goto was challenged by Michael Elgin and Taichi. On June 9, at Dominion 6.9 in Osaka-jo Hall, Elgin defeated Goto and Taichi in a three-way match, with Elgin pinning Taichi. Following the match, Goto challenged Elgin to a rematch, since he wasn't pinned in the match. The title match was made official on June 11.

The third night of the tour was main evented by Hiromu Takahashi making his first title defense of the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship against El Desperado. From From May 18 to June 4, Desperado and Takahashi took part in the Best of the Super Juniors, wrestling in the same block. During the tournament, Desperado defeated Takahashi in their head-to-head match. Desperado finished hs block with a record of three wins and four losses, failing to advance to the finals of the tournament. Meanwhile, Takahashi won their block with a record of five wins and two losses. On June 4, Takahashi defeated Taiji Ishimori in the finals to win 2018 Best of the Super Juniors tournament. Months prior to the tournament, Takahashi alongside his *Los Ingobernables de Japon* stablemate BUSHI feud with Desperado over the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship, unsuccessfully challenging Desperado and his Suzuki-gun stablemate Yoshinobu Kanemaru for the titles in two different attempts. On June 9, at Dominion 6.9 in Osaka-jo Hall, Takahashi defeated Will Ospreay to win the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship for the second time. Following the match, Desperado confronted Takahashi during a backstage interview, leading to Takahashi nominating Desperado his first challenger for the title. The title match was made official on June 11.

## Results

### Night 1

 2
 3
 4
 5
 6

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

### Night 4

 2
 3
 4
 5
 6

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