New Japan ran THE NEW BEGINNING in OSAKA today, the end of their traditional year-opening tour and a blowout event that would settle many things including potentially the main event of next week’s US event. Whoever emerged from the main event as IWGP World Heavyweight Champion will defend the title on 2/18.
Today’s event was held at Osaka Prefectural Gym in Osaka and can be watched on demand on New Japan World in Japanese and English.
The announced paid attendance was 4055. Back to close to full capacity, with the setup that probably was around 70-75% full.
Match 1: Aaron Henare & Great-O-Khan beat Oskar Leube & Toru Yano. Henare pinned Leube after Rampage.
Match 2: BUSHI, Hiromu Takahashi, SANADA & Tetsuya Naito beat Ryusuke Taguchi, Tiger Mask, Shota Umino & Tomoaki Honma. Takahashi pinned Taguchi after TIME BOMB 2. Afterwards, a video played which was Lio Rush issuing an IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship challenge to Takahashi.
Match 3: Taiji Ishimori beat Master Wato.
Match 4: Hiroshi Tanahashi beat KENTA.
The time came where House Of Torture had to defend the NEVER 6-Man Tag Team Championship or be stripped of the titles in light of EVIL continuously refusing to do so. They did finally agree to. Which led to…
Match 5: Ren Narita, El Desperado & Minoru Suzuki beat NEVER 6-Man Tag Team Champions Sho, Yujiro Takahashi & EVIL to win the titles. Narita, Desperado & Suzuki become the 25th NEVER 6-Man Tag Team Champions. Narita beat Takahashi with a cobra twist. Afterwards, Suzuki announced their new faction/team will be known as Strong Style.
Match 6: In a Loser Leaves Japan Match, Hikuleo beat Jay White. As a result, White must leave Japan. I have read rumors that White’s contract with New Japan has expired, so we’ll see what happens.
Match 7: NEVER Openweight Champion Tama Tonga beat El Phantasmo to retain the title. V1 for Tonga. And to make it even more memorable, he won with Jay Driller, the late Jay Briscoe’s finisher. REACH FOR THE SKY, BOY!
Main Event: IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada beat Shingo Takagi to retain the title. V1 for Okada. As a result, Okada will defend the title on 2/18 in San Jose, CA. The opponent…Okada called his shot…Tanahashi!!! Ace vs. Rainmaker…reminiscent of 11 years ago here when Okada beat Tanahashi to become champion…they last had a title match 5 years ago, and now…One Last Time?
The next event is Battle In The Valley on 2/18 at San Jose Civic Center in San Jose, CA. The event is a legit advance sellout. Live streaming as a PPV on FITE will begin with a FREE pre-show at 6:20 PM PT/9:20 PM ET. The PPV will be in English for $19.99. It’s also available on New Japan World in Japanese but be aware that will cost, dependent on if a subscription is required, at least $8-15 more. The matches will also be broadcast on the newly-rebranded STRONG On Demand on New Japan World and FITE in the near future, possibly in March.
