With Tokyo Dome now in the books, New Japan officially began their new year-and the road to Tokyo Dome 2025 (365 days to go! It’s a Leap Year so one extra day) with today’s annual year-opening New Year’s Dash!
Today’s event was held at Sumida City Gym in Tokyo and can be watched on demand on New Japan World FOR FREE!
Click below to watch (mobile/tablet users-you will be redirected to the New Japan World app to watch, it is free to download and no account/payment is needed for free content. The link below only works as intended on PC):
https://watch.njpwworld.com/details/39502?playlist_id=203&shw_ep=1
The announced paid attendance was 2910, a legit advance sellout. Except for the KOPW 2024 4-way, no matches were announced ahead of time. It was all a surprise until it happened.
Match 1: NJPW WORLD TV Champion Hiroshi Tanahashi beat Ryusuke Taguchi to retain the title. V1 for Tanahashi. This was to have been a NON-TITLE match but Taguchi requested the change last-second. Next up: Possibly former WWE wrestler Matt Riddle, who appeared via recorded video. Just as long as he knows he can’t use the weed stuff in Japan.
Match 2: YOSHI-HASHI & Hirooki Goto beat Ryohei Oiwa & Kaito Kiyomiya (Pro Wrestling NOAH). Goto pinned Oiwa after Shoto.
Match 3: Young Lions Farewell Match: El Phantasmo & Hikuleo beat Oskar Leube & Yuto Nakashima. Phantasmo pinned Nakashima after Super Thunder Kiss 86. Leube & Nakashima will now be heading outside Japan for the traditional international training excursions. Afterwards, Chase Owens attacked Phantasmo & Hikuleo and made an IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Title challenge for himself and KENTA.
Match 4: Master Wato, El Desperado, Tonoaki Honma, Togi Makabe, Shota Umino & Tama Tonga beat Dick Togo, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Sho, Yujiro Takahashi, Ren Narita & EVIL. Umino pinned Togo after Death Rider. Afterwards, EVIL beat down Tonga and cut his hair.
Match 5: Francesco Akira, TJP, HENARE, Jeff Cobb & Will Ospreay vs. Drilla Moloney, Gabriel Kidd, Clark Connors, Alex Coughlin & David Finlay went to a no contest. Connors ref assault then out of control. Lasted about 5 minutes before that all happened. Afterwards, Ospreay challenged Bullet Club to a rematch on 2/11 while Finlay demanded it be a cage match. (This may be Ospreay’s last match before his full-time All Elite Wrestling contract begins if it happens) (Addendum: It will be)
Match 6: TAKA Michinoku, DOUKI, Yuya Uemura, Taichi & SANADA beat BUSHI, Yota Tsuji, Hiromu Takahashi, Shingo Takagi & Tetsuya Naito. TAKA pinned BUSHI after Michinoku Driver 2. Well there’s TAKA’s win for the year I guess.
Match 7: Taiji Ishimori beat Yoh, Toru Yano & Great-O-Khan in a 4-way elimination match to win the KOPW 2024 Championship and become the initial titleholder. Order of elimination: Yano by Yoh, Yoh by Khan, Khan by Ishimori.
Main Event: Kosei Fujita, Shane Haste, Mikey Nicholls & Zack Sabre Jr. beat Tomohiro Ishii, Bryan Danielson, Jon Moxley & Kazuchika Okada. Haste pinned Ishii after Tank Buster. Afterwards, Sabre challeged Danielson to a match while Fujita made a NEVER 6-Man Tag Team Championship challenge for the rest.
The next event is Battle In The Valley 2024 on 1/13 in San Jose, CA. The main event for that card was announced today, it will be Ospreay vs. Okada. At this time it is scheduled to be available only on TrillerTV (fka FITE) as a PPV in English only. It is available for pre-order for $19.99 and will begin at 7 PM PT/10 PM ET. No New Japan World broadcast at this time but that is subject to change.
Also announced today was the next US event after that-Windy City Riot on 4/12 at Wintrust Arena in Chicago, IL. Tickets range from $29-299.
The next Japan event is THE NEW BEGINNING IN NAGOYA on 1/20 at Aichi Prefectural Gym in Nagoya. Live streaming on New Japan World will begin at midnight PT/3 AM ET.
