Tag: njpw road to the new beginning

The IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship is on the line in the main event of today’s NJPW show at a sold out Korakuen Hall. 

El Desperado will make the first defense of his IWGP Jr. title against former tag team partner Yoshinobu Kanemaru in the headline match. Desperado defeated Hiromu Takahashi at Wrestle Kingdom 18 to win the title for the third time.

Master Wato faces SHO in a special singles match in today’s semi-main event. 

Los Ingobernables de Japon face Just Five Guys in a 10-man tag team match second from the top. 

Tama Tonga, Shota Umino, and Togi Makabe take on House of Torture’s EVIL, Ren Narita, and Yujiro Takahashi in a six-man tag. 

Kazuchika Okada will be in action for the next-to-last time as an NJPW wrestler at Korakuen Hall on the undercard, teaming with Hiroshi Tanahashi, Tomohiro Ishii, and Tomoaki Honma against TMDK’s Zack Sabre Jr., Mikey Nicholls, Shane Haste, and Kosei Fujita in a preview of tomorrow’s NEVER Six-Man title match. 

GoD’s Hikuleo, El Phantasmo, and Jado take on Bullet Club’s KENTA, Chase Owens, and Taiji Ishimori. 

Members of United Empire will face Bullet Club War Dogs in a 10-man tag in the second match tonight. 

In the opener, new Young Lions will be on opposite sides of a tag team encounter as Katsuya Murashima teams with Ryusuke Taguchi against Shoma Kato & YOH. 

Master Wato Addresses Korakuen Hall

The show opened with Master Wato walking to the ring on crutches. He injured his left knee and will be out of action. He needs surgery before he can return. After calling off his match with SHO, SHO hit the ring and attacked Wato’s injured leg with his wrench.

SHO taunted a grounded Wato with a promo. He bragged about hurting Wato and made fun of the crowd. Before SHO could continue the attack, El Desperado cut him off.

Ryusuke Taguchi & Katsuya Murashima defeated YOH & Shoma Kato

This was a rock-solid match. Both Lions looked good. I can’t wait to see what they have in store.

Taguchi and Kato opened the match with some fine grappling. Taguchi tagged out, giving the new Young Lions a chance to square off with each other. YOH and Murashima worked together shortly before passing the action back to the Kato.

The lions traded submissions in a grappling sequence of their own. The selling was excellent—the highlight of this match. YOH and Kato then worked together to gain a strong lead.

Eventually, Taguchi re-entered the match. He hit Kato with a running hip attack, but Kato kicked out. He then locked in an ankle lock, forcing Kato to tap out.

Callum Newman, Francesco Akira, TJP, HENARE, & Great-O-Khan (United Empire) defeated Drilla Moloney, Clark Connors, Gabe Kidd, Alex Coughlin, & David Finlay (BULLET CLUB War Dogs)

This was a hoot. While less exciting than their Jan 5 war, this was a big step up from their preview tag from a couple of days ago.

A full-on brawl opened this match. Kidd and Henare traded strikes on the inside while the others went to war on the outside. The match calmed down as HENARE established a lead, but another breakdown was just around the corner.

After the second brawl, the War Dogs emerged with the lead. The Dogs worked together to wear down Newman. The eventual tag to TJP led to a United Empire rally. O-Khan’s sequence was ended by Kidd, prompting HENARE to finish what TJP started. Finlay hit the ring to save Kidd before turning his attention to Newman; another breakdown followed. Akira secured a schoolboy pin on Moloney in the chaos to win the match.

Taiji Ishimori, KENTA, & Chase Owens (BULLET CLUB) defeated Jado, El Phantasmo, & Hikuleo (Gorillas of Destiny)

This match opened with neither team wanting to engage. Eventually, Owens and ELP locked up. BULLET CLUB established a lead and maintained it until the hot tag to Hikuleo. Hikuleo gained firm footing until BC began to focus his leg.

Jado tried to continue the advance Hikuleo started. He was fine for a while, but KENTA eventually caught him in a trap pin to win the match.

Kosei Fujita, Shane Haste, Mikey Nicholls, & Zack Sabre Jr. (TMDK) defeated Tomoaki Honma, Tomohiro Ishii, Hiroshi Tanahashi, & Kazuchika Okada

Fujita taunted Okada before the opening bell. Haste and Tanahashi actually opened the match. Haste focused Tanahashi’s arm, forcing Ishii to tag in. On his own, Ishii was proving to be a challenge for TMDK, so they worked together to wear him down while keeping him away from his corner.

The hot tag to Okada led to him taking out all of TMDK. Fujita tried answering Okada, but Okada locked him in the money clip. The rest of TMDK made the save, leaving the door open for an offensive sequence from Fujita. Fujita dropped Okada with a dropkick and tagged out to ZSJ.

Okada cut off ZSJ’s advance with a dropkick of his own. Honma tagged in next and began to work over ZSJ himself. A short match breakdown interrupted the exchange, but once the fog cleared, ZSJ and Honma were left alone in the ring. ZSJ avoided a Kokeshi from the top, locked in an armbar, and forced Honma to tap out.

EVIL., Yujiro Takahashi, Ren Narita (BULLET CLUB House of Torture) defeated Togi Makabe, Shota Umino, & Tama Tonga

The match opened with a brawl on the floor. This continued for quite a while. In the ring, HoT slowly picked apart Tama. The eventual tag to Umino gave some life to the babyface squad, but Narita attacked Umino’s eyes to keep HoT on top.

A match breakdown allowed HoT to focus Makabe. Dick Togo hit his signature low blow. Makabe survived this onslaught, only for another to follow moments later. Narita hit Makabe with his reinforced pushup bar to win the match for HoT. 

TAKA Michinoku, DOUKI, Yuya Uemura, & Taichi (Just 5 Guys) defeated BUSHI, Hiromu Takahashi, Yota Tsuji, Shingo Takagi (Los Ingobernables de Japon)

A brawl opened the match. Once things calmed down, Taichi and Shingo had a short exchange. SANADA and Naito were next, but again, only a little happened. The juniors, Hiromu and DOUKI, had a brief back-and-forth next before tagging out to Yuya and Tsuji. Tsuji and Yuya had a fine exchange before TAKA tagged in. BUSHI followed TAKA, and a match breakdown followed.

Once the ring was cleared, Taichi focused BUSHI. Shingo interrupted Taichi’s plum, leading to another breakdown. After the ring was emptied, Taichi and BUSHI were alone again. Taichi hit BUSHI with a superkick and pinned him to win the match.

After the match, Taichi cut a promo. He challenged LIJ to a gauntlet match on Feb 5. The winner stays in until only one team remains. The format seems to be identical to the legendary Team Inoki vs. Ishin Gundan gauntlet from 1984.

IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship: El Desperado (c) defeated Yoshinobu Kanemaru

This match was not good before the HoT interference. It only went further downhill after the run-ins. The last 90 seconds were fine, I guess.

The opening exchange saw Kanemaru gaining the upper hand with basic wrestling. Kanemaru then took the match to the floor, using the ring and barricades to cement his lead. Back in the ring, Kanemaru continued wearing down Kanemaru with basic holds and strikes.

Desperado eventually landed a dropkick to Kanemaru’s leg, opening the door for a comeback. He continued to focus on the leg, utilizing leg whips and a stretch muffler to establish a lead. Kanemaru played chicken, baiting Desperado to approach.

Kaneamru’s follow-up was cut off by a spine buster, letting Desperado return to the stretch muffler. With Kanemaru in trouble, SHO walked from the back to distract the referee. The rest of HoT then hit the ring and attacked Desperado. Shota Umino and Hiromu Tanahashi hit the ring to run HoT off.

Once the ring was cleared, Kanemaru drove Desperado into an exposed corner. Kanemaru hit a rounding body press for a near fall and locked in a Boston crab after the kick out. Desperado found the bottom rope to break the hold. Kanemaru tried to follow up with a suplex, but Desperado stuffed it and delivered a suplex of his own.

Desperado dropped Kanemaru with a spinebuster. Desperado tried to lock in the stretch muffler three times, with the first two being reversed into pin attempts from Desperado. On the third attempt, Desperado locked in the hold, but HoT hit the ring again and beat down Desperado. This time, Tama Tonga hit the ring, helping Desperado hit EVIL with a low blow.

Desperado knocked the whiskey out of Kanemaru’s mouth. He tried for pinche loco, but Kanemaru reversed again. A quick back-and-forth followed. Desperado caught Kanemaru in the stretch muffler again, forcing Kanemaru to submit.

After the match, Desperado cut the show’s ending promo. He sent his regards to Wato. He then thanked Hontai for helping him out tonight.

In the post-match interview behind the curtain, SHO attacked Desperado.