Sakura Genesis 2018

Sakura Genesis 2018 was a professional wrestling event promoted by New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), which took place on April 1, 2018, in Tokyo at Ryōgoku Kokugikan. The main event featured the 2018 New Japan Cup winner Zack Sabre Jr. challenging Kazuchika Okada for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. Previously held under the Invasion Attack name, this marked the second show under the Sakura Genesis name.

Sakura Genesis 2018
PromotionNew Japan Pro-Wrestling
DateApril 1, 2018
CityTokyo, Japan
VenueRyōgoku Kokugikan
Attendance9,882[1]
Event chronology
← Previous
Strong Style Evolved		 Next →
Lions Gate Project 11
Invasion Attack/Sakura Genesis chronology
← Previous
2017		 Next →
—

Storylines
Other on-screen personnel
Role: Name:
Commentators Don Callis (English-language announcer)
Kevin Kelly (English-language announcer)
Ring announcers Makoto Abe
Referees Kenta Sato
Marty Asami
Red Shoes Unno
Tiger Hattori

Sakura Genesis 2018 will feature professional wrestling matches that 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.[2]

On March 21, 2018, Zack Sabre Jr. won the New Japan Cup after defeating Hiroshi Tanahashi in the final. Sabre Jr. had previously beaten Tetsuya Naito in the first round on March 11, Kota Ibushi in the second round on March 15, and Sanada in the semifinals on March 18. Since the winner of the New Japan Cup gets to challenge for the NEVER Openweight Championship, IWGP Intercontinental Championship, or IWGP Heavyweight Championship, Sabre Jr. decided to challenge Kazuchika Okada for the Heavyweight Title after his finals match. The match is set to happen on Sakura Genesis.

On the second night of The New Beginning in Sapporo, Roppongi 3K (Sho and Yoh) won the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship. They would lose the titles to Suzuki-gun (El Desperado and Yoshinobu Kanemaru) on the NJPW 46th Anniversary Show in a triple threat involving Los Ingobernables de Japon (Bushi and Hiromu Takahashi). Bushi and Takahashi would be in matches against Suzuki-gun multiple times after the Anniversary Show, much to Roppongi 3K's chagrin. This would lead to post-match attacks by Bushi and Takahashi on Desperado and Kanemaru, leading to Roppongi 3K coming to stop the fighting and asserting their spot as the next challengers for the championship. On March 23, NJPW made the triple threat rematch official.[3]

Results
No. Results Stipulations Times
1 The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson) defeated Bullet Club (Chase Owens and Yujiro Takahashi) Tag team match[4] 9:23
2 Chaos (Tomohiro Ishii and Toru Yano) defeated Suzuki-gun (Taichi and Takashi Iizuka) Tag team match[4] 7:42
3 Bullet Club (Bad Luck Fale, Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa) (c) defeated Michael Elgin, Ryusuke Taguchi and Togi Makabe Six-man tag team match for the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship[1] 11:20
4 Taguchi Japan (Hiroshi Tanahashi, Juice Robinson and David Finlay) defeated Chaos (Hirooki Goto, Jay White and Yoshi-Hashi) Six-man tag team match[4] 9:18
5 Suzuki-gun (Minoru Suzuki, Davey Boy Smith Jr. and Lance Archer) defeated Los Ingobernables de Japon (Tetsuya Naito, Evil and Sanada) Six-man tag team match[4] 11:24
6 Suzuki-gun (El Desperado and Yoshinobu Kanemaru) (c) defeated Los Ingobernables de Japon (Bushi and Hiromu Takahashi) and Roppongi 3K (Sho and Yoh) Three-way tag team match for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship[4] 12:45
7 Will Ospreay (c) defeated Marty Scurll Singles match for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship[4] 30:44
8 Bullet Club (Cody and Hangman Page) defeated Golden☆Lovers (Kenny Omega and Kota Ibushi) Tag team match[4] 23:52
9 Kazuchika Okada (c) (with Gedo) defeated Zack Sabre Jr. (with Taka Michinoku) Singles match for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship[4] 34:58
  • (c) – refers to the champion(s) heading into the match

References
  1. "Sakura Genesis 2018". New Japan Pro-Wrestling. Retrieved April 1, 2018.
  2. Grabianowski, Ed. "How Pro Wrestling Works". HowStuffWorks, Inc. Discovery Communications. Retrieved March 20, 2017.
  3. "Two huge title matches made for Sakura Genesis April 1! Zack Sabre Junior challenges Okada, and a three way for the Junior Tag Titles!". NJPW. Retrieved March 23, 2018.
  4. "Sakura Genesis 2018". New Japan Pro-Wrestling. Retrieved March 28, 2018.
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