New Japan returns to England for ROYAL QUEST 4 today, resuming a new tradition that was quickly disrupted by the coronavirus pendemic. And luckily for the hometown fans, they have a champion to cheer for after Zack Sabre Jr. won the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship earlier in the week, and now because of that his scheduled match against SANADA will be for the title. The winner determines who gets the next title shot on 11/4-if Sabre wins, it’s Shingo Takagi. If SANADA wins, it’s Shota Umino. A second title match is set as the Hiroshi Tanahashi Retirement Road begins, as after his 25th Anniversary match last week he gave us the news we didn’t want to hear…he will retire on 1/4/2026 at the Tokyo Dome (but unless he also steps down as President of New Japan he won’t be going away). That road starts today with a NEVER Tag TEam Championship match as Tanahashi & Tomihiro Ishii challenge Shane Haste & Mikey Nicholls for the titles. That and much more, with the England representation mostly focused on the first half of the card including some new faces to some of us. We’ll also get to check in with a couple of the Young Lions on their training excursions as Oskar Leube & Yuto Nakahsima will compete against a pair of England-based independent standouts.
Today’s event will be held at Crystal Palace National Sports Centre in London, England and can be watched LIVE WORLDWIDE on New Japan World in Japanese. English will be available on demand at a later date. Also, this isn’t a PPV-all paid monthly subscribers can watch so if you’re not subscribed, go drop the $9.99 to get on board. There will be a pre-show match 30 minutes before the event begins. Including that match, this will probably have a total running time of 3 1/2-4 hours.
Today’s lineup:
Pre-show:
Oskar Leube & Yuto Nakashina vs. Brendan White & Danny Jones
Main show:
Taiji Ishimori & TBA vs. Danny Black & Joe Lando
Kanji & Mina Shirakawa vs. Dani Luna & AZM
Kosei Fujita vs. Michael Oku
Yota Tsuji vs. Drilla Moloney
Shota Umino vs. Callum Newman
David Finlay vs. TAKA Michinoku
Titan, Hiromu Takahashi & Tetsuya Naito vs. Mascara Dorada, Robbie Eagles & Ryohei Oiwa
STRONG Tag Team Champions Shane Haste & Mikey Nicholls vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi & Tomohiro Ishii for the titles
IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Zack Sabre Jr. vs. SANADA for the title
Refresh this page occasionally for the latest results.
Updates below will begin at 9 AM PT/Noon ET. The main show begins at 9:30 AM PT/12:30 PM ET.
9 AM PT UPDATE: We’re starting a few moments late. Still in pre-live mode.
:9:05 AM PT UPDATE 2: The pre-show is also live FOR FREE on YouTube. The NJPW WORLD feed is about 5 minutes behind. Anyway, live updates begin now.
We are LIVE from Crystal Palace National Indoor Sports Centre in London, England. Your hosts are Haruo Murata & Miki Motoi with guests including (I think) Taichi and someone else. All bravely working the graveyard shift because it’s 1 AM Monday in Japan.
The paid attendance will be announced after the event. They appear to be using the indoor venue that has a listed capacity of 1400, it looks about 75% full but fans may still be filing in. With the setup it has me thinking it’ll be around 1000. (UPDATE: The announced paid attendance was 1544)
Pre-show match: Oskar Leube & Yuto Nakashina vs. Brendan White & Danny Jones. 30 minute time limit
Result: Oskar Leube & Yuto Nakashima beat Brandan White & Danny Jones. Leube pinned White after Blood Rush.
End pre-show intermission (9:20 AM PT/12:20 PM ET). Updates and the live stream will resume in 10 minutes.
Main show:
The broadcast resumes at 9:33 AM PT/12:33 PM ET as the ring announcer comes back out during the opening video playing for the live crowd,
Match 1: Taiji Ishimori & TBA vs. Danny Black & Joe Lando. TBA, who was not revealed until entrances, is Robbie X. 30 minute time limit.
Result: Taiji Ishimori & Robbie X beat Danny Black & Joe Lando. X pinned Black after Spinal Tap.
Match 2: Kanji & Mina Shirakawa (Stardom) vs. Dani Luna (TNA Wrestling) & AZM (Stardom). 30 minute time limit
Result: Dani Luna & AZM beat Kanji & Mina Shirakawa. Luna pinned Shirakawa after Luna Landing. As far as the Europe women’s titles held by Shirakawa, that could be significant and set up a rematch.
Grizzled Young Veterans promo. Pre-taped. They want the STRONG Tag Team Championship match winners next.
Match 3: Kosei Fujita vs. Michael Oku. 30 minute time limit
Result: Kosei Fujita beat Michael Oku
Match 4: Yota Tsuji vs. Drilla Moloney. 30 minute time limit
Result: Yota Tsuji beat Drilla Moloney
Match 5: Shota Umino vs. Callum Newman. 30 minute time limit
Result: Shota Umino beat Callum Newman
Match 6: David Finlay vs. TAKA Michinoku. 30 minute time limit
Result: David Finlay beat TAKA Michinoku (not popular despite this being the first win since match 2 for the locals, prob due to Finlay being a leader of Bullet Club)
Match 7: Titan, Hiromu Takahashi & Tetsuya Naito vs. Mascara Dorada, Robbie Eagles & Ryohei Oiwa. 30 minute time limit
Result: Titan, Hiromu Takahashi & Tetsuya Naito beat Mascara Dorada, Robbie Eagles & Ryohei Oiwa. Titan pinned Dorada after a diving double footstomp.
Match 8: STRONG Tag Team Champions Shane Haste & Mikey Nicholls vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi & Tomohiro Ishii for the titles. 30 minute time limit
Result: STRONG Tag Team Champions Shane Haste & Mikey Nicholls beat Hiroshi Tanahashi & Tomohiro Ishii to retain the titles. Haste pinned Ishii after Tank Buster. V2 for the champs.
Main Event: IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Zack Sabre Jr. vs. SANADA for the title. 1 Hour time limit
Result: IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Zack Sabre Jr. beat SANADA by submission to retain the title. V1 for Sabre. Next up: As previously announced, Shingo Takagi on 11/4. Afterwards, Sabre brought out all of TMDK and did the obligatory very-England hometown promo to send the fans home happy. (In English with Motoi translating to Japanese)
The next event is the Super Jr. Tag League tournament starting Thursday at G Messe Gunma in Gunma. This will also be part of the Road To POWER STRUGGLE Tour. Live streaming on New Japan World will begin at 2:30 AM PT/5:30 AM ET.
UPDATE: Robbie X will also be the TBA with Taiji Ishimori in the Super Jr. Tag League. Also, Umino-SANADA will happen on 11/4 although at this time it won’t be for a title shot. Had SANADA won the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship yesterday this match would have been for the title.
