New Japan began the year-ending Road To Tokyo Dome Tour today with the first half of the 2-event doubleheader.
Today’s event was held at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo and can be watched on demand on New Japan World. This was a Samurai! TV broadcast in Japan.
The announced paid attendance was 1457, a legit sellout.
Before the matches began, a 10 Bell Salute was held for former wrestler Osamu Kido, who died earlier this month.
Match 1: Masked Boltin (presumably Boltin Oleg) & Masked Horse beat Tiger Mask & Toru Yano. Horse pinned TM 4 with Kid Clutch.
Match 2: Kosei Fujita & Zack Sabre Jr. beat Oskar Leube & Yuto Nakashima by ref stoppage (technical submission). Sabre beat Nakashima with a transformed dragon sleeper.
Match 3: Callum Newman, Francesco Akira & TJP beat Gedo, Drilla Moloney & Clark Conmors. TJP pinned Gedo after 2/2.
Match 4: Sho, Ren Narita & EVIL beat Master Wato, Tomoaki Honma & Shota Umino. EVIL pinned Honma after EVIL. After the match, Kaito Kiyomiya & Ryohei Oiwa showed up to return the favor after H.O.T. ambushed Kiyomiya at Monday’s Pro Wrestling NOAH event.
Match 5: Shingo Takagi & Hiromu Takahashi beat Satoshi Kojima & El Desperado. Takagi pinned Kojima after Pumping Bomber.
Match 6: DOUKI, Yuya Uemura & SANADA beat BUSHI, Yota Tsuji & Tetsuya Naito. Uemura pinned BUSHI with a Kannuki suplex hold.
Match 7: In a Whiskey Bottle Ladder Match, with no countouts and where the first to retrieve a bottle of whiskey above the ring could use it as a weapon, KOPW 2023 Champion Taichi beat Yosjinobu Kanemaru to retain the title. Taichi will receive a trophy as the final champion of the year and it will reset for 2024.
Main Event: NEVER 6-Man Tag Team Champions Tomohiro Ishii, Hiroshi Tanahashi & Kazuchika Okada beat HENARE, Great-O-Khan & Jeff Cobb to retain the titles. Ishii pinned HENARE after a vertical drop brainbuster. V7 for the champs.
The tour-ender and the final event of the year is tomorrow. Live streaming on New Japan World outside Japan only will begin at 1:30 AM PT/4:30 AM ET, and you can watch live and on demand FOR FREE! This will be an ABEMA live broadcast in Japan.
UPDATE: Per a post in English by Pro Wrestling NOAH on YouTube, following today’s happenings a 12-man NOAH/NJPW vs. House Of Torture match has been added to the 1/2/24 NOAH event at Ariake Arena in Tokyo. It will be Kaito Kiyomiya, Ryohei Oiwa, Shuji Kondo, Daiki Inaba, Junta Miyawaki & Shota Umino vs. Dick Togo, Sho, Ren Narita, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Yujiro Takahashi & EVIL.
