New Japan ran the second half of the Road To THE NEW BEGINNING Tokyo doubleheader today, the final appearance for Kazuchika Okada in the capital.
Today’s event was held at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo and can be watched on demand on New Japan World. This was a Samurai! YV broadcast in Japan.
The announced paid attendance was 1506, a legit sellout.
Pre-Show Match: Shoma Kato & Boltin Oleg beat Katsuya Murashima & Toru Yano. Oleg pinned Murashima after Kamikaze.
Match 1: Zack Sabre Jr. beat Tiger Mask by submission.
Match 2: Taiji Ishimori, Chase Owens & KENTA beat Ryusuke Taguchi, Jado & Hikuleo. Ishimori pinned Jado.
Match 3: Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Sho, Yujiro Takahashi & EVIL beat Tomoaki Honma, Yoh, El Desperado & Master Wato. EVIL pinned Honma after EVIL. Afterwards, Sho attacked and unmasked Desperado.
Match 4: Drilla Moloney, Gabriel Kidd, Clark Connors, Alex Coughlin & David Finlay beat Callum Newman, Francesco Akira, TJP, HENARE & Great-O-Khan. Connors pinned Akira after No Chaser. (New Japan’s Japanese website incorrectly says Connors pinned Newman)
Match 5: BUSHI, Yota Tsuji & Shingo Takagi beat TAKA Michinoku, Yuya Uemura & Taichi. Takagi pinned TAKA after Dragon Soul Powerbomb.
Match 6: DOUKI & SANADA beat Hiromu Takahashi & Tetsuya Naito. DOUKI pinned Takahashi with Jorge Rivera Special.
Match 7: NEVER 6-Man Tag Team Champions Tomohiro Ishii, Hiroshi Tanahashi & Kazuchika Okada beat Kosei Fujita, Shane Haste & Mikey Nicholls to retain the titles. Okada pinned Fujita after Rainmaker. V8 for the champs. And Final. Afterwards, because Okada is leaving New Japan and has only 3 dates left as a freelancer, he announced the titles are now VACANT. More as it becomes available.
Main Event: Shota Umino beat Ren Narita. They went almost 34 minutes. Afterwards, Umino with microphone to proclaim his time is now and he is the new ace of New Japan. Time will tell.
The next event is 2/1 at Nagano Prefectural Budokan in Nagano. There will be no live or on demand broadcast.
UPDATE: After today’s event, NEVER Openweight Champion EVIL vs. Shota Umino for the title was announced for 2/23 in Hokkaido.
