New Japan continues the Road To THE NEW BEGINNING Tour today with the first half of a Tokyo doubleheader.
Today’s event was held at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo and can be watched on demand on New Japan World FOR FREE! (Non-PC users will have to download the NJPW WORLD app to watch, a paid subscription is not required)
The announced paid attendance was 1510, a legit sellout.
Before the event began, Master Wato came out on crutches and announced he would be out of action due to a torn left ACL. He was then attacked from behind by Sho with a wrench until El Desperado made the save. Wato was to have faced Sho today.
Match 1: Katsuya Murashima & Ryusuke Taguchi beat Shoma Kato & Yoh. Taguchi beat Kato with Oh My & Gar Ankle.
Match 2: Callum Newman, Francesco Akira, TJP, HENARE & Great-O-Khan beat Drilla Moloney, Clark Connors, Gabriel Kidd, Alex Coughlin & David Finlay. Akira pinned Connors.
Match 3: Taiji Ishimori, Chase Owens & KENTA beat Jado, El Phantasmo & Hikuleo. KENTA pinned Jado.
Match 4: Match 4: Kosei Fujita, Shane Haste, Mikey Nicholls & Zack Sabre Jr. beat Tomoaki Honma, Tomohiro Ishii, Hiroshi Tamahashi & Kazuchika Okada. Sabre beat Honma with an armbar.
Match 5: Yujiro Takahashi, Ren Narita & EVIL beat Togi Makabe, Shota Umino & Tama Tonga. Narita pinned Makabe.
Match 6: TAKA Michinoku, DOUKI, Yuya Uemura, Taichi & SANADA beat BUSHI, Hiromu Takahashi, Yota Tsuji, Shingo Takagi & Tetsuya Naito. Taichi pinned BUSHI.
Main Event: IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion El Desperado beat Yoshinobu Kanemaru to retain the title. V1 for Desperado. Next up: Possibly Sho, although Desperado rejected his challenge.
The next event is tomorrow with a NEVER 6-Man Tag Team Championship match. Live streaming on New Japan World is scheduled to begin at 1:30 AM PT/4:30 AM ET, but may begin 30 minutes earlier for a scheduled pre-show match.
UPDATE: For tomorrow, with Wato now out indefinitely, Yoh is the replacement in an 8-man tag match
