THE NEW BEGINNING IN NAGOYA, New Japan’s first major post-Tokyo Dome event, went down today and it really did mark a new beginning for the promotion as it prepares to say goodbye to Tama Tonga, Kazuchika Okada and others over the next month.
Today’s event was held at Aichi Prefectural Gym in Nagoya and can be watched on demand on New Japan World.
The announced paid attendance was 2710.
Pre-show Match: Shoma Kato vs. Katsuya Murashima went to a 10 minute time limit draw.
Match 1: Yujiro Takahashi & Ren Narita beat Tomoaki Honma & Shota Umino. Narita pinned Honma after Double Cross.
Match 2: Drilla Moloney, Clark Connors, Gabriel Kidd, Alex Coughlin & David Finlay beat Callum Newman, Francesco Akira, TJP, HENARE & Jeff Cobb. Finlay pinned Newman after a powerbomb whip.
Match 3: Sho & Yoshinobu Kanemaru beat Master Wato & El Desperado. Sho pinned Wato after Shock Arrow.
Match 4: Kosei Fujita, Shane Haste, Mikey Nicholls & Zack Sabre Jr. beat Yohi Makabe, Tomohiro Ishii, Hiroshi Tanahashi & Kazuchika Okada. Sabre beat Makabe with a modified leg lock. Afterwards, Okada stuck around to say goodbye to the fans following his final Nagoya match.
Match 5: TAKA Michinoku, DOUKI, Yuya Uemura, Taichi & SANADA beat BUSHI, Hiromu Takahashi, Yota Tsuji, Shingo Takagi & Tetsuya Naito. SANADA beat BUSHI with Skull End.
Match 6: In a 10 Minute Ishimori Ring Fit Match, where the match was stopped at certain intervals for 30 seconds of high-intensity exercise, Great-O-Khan beat KOPW 2024 Champion Taiji Ishimori by surviving the entire 10 minutes to win the title. This was Ishimori’s chosen stip for the match as determined by fan voting.
Match 7: STRONG Tag Team Champions El Phantasmo & Hikuleo beat Chase Owens & KENTA to retain the titles. Phantasmo pinned Owens after CR 2. V5 for the champs. (This was only for the STRONG Titles and not the IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championship also held by Phantasmo & Hikuleo)
Main Event: NEVER Openweight Champion Tama Tonga vs. EVIL went to a no contest. Outside interference on both sides and out of control. Which led to…
Main Event (again): In a Lumberjack Death Match, EVIL beat NEVER Openweight Champion Tama Tonga to win the title. EVIL becomes the 43rd NEVER Openweight Champion. Officially this time. Tonga demanded the rematch after the initial no contest. This was Tonga’s final single match in New Japan before he leaves the promotion at the end of the month.
Next up is the Road To THE NEW BEGINNING 2024 Tour starting tomorrow at Nagahama Ika Twin Arena in Shiga. There will be no live or on demand broadcast.
