On March 6, 1972, Antonio Inoki began the legacy of the “King Of Sports” as bis New Japan Pro Wrestling promotion held its first event in Tokyo. Today the promotion celebrated its 54th Anniversary with their traditional Flag Raising Anniversary event, held when and where it all began.
Today’s event was held at Ota City General Gym in Tokyo and can be watched on demand on New Japan World. You can also watch the first 2 matches FOR FREE on YouTube.
The announced paid attendance was 2949.
Match 1: Daiki Nagai & Drilla Moloney beat Masatora Yasuda & Yuya Uemura. Moloney pinned Yasuda after Drilla Killer.
Match 2: Jacob Austin Young, Francesco Akira, Great-O-Khan & HENARE beat Tatsuya Matsunoto, Toru Yano, Hirooki Goto & Boltin Oleg. Akira beat Matsumoto with a ground tarantula.
Match 3: Zack Sabde Jr. & Ryojei Oiwa beat Gedo & Yuto Ice (Ice Baby). Sabre pinned Gedo with a Japanese leg roll clutch hold.
Match 4: Yota Tsuji & Shingo Takagi beat Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Don Fale. Tsuji pinned Kanemaru after Gene Blaster.
Matxh 5: New Japan Anniversary Match: Sick Togo, Sho, Yujiro Takahashi, Chase Owens & Ren Narita beat LEONA (Dradition), Tatsumi Fujinami (Dradition), Aaron Wolf, Shota Umino & Satoshi Kojima. Takahashi pinned LEONA after Pimp Juice.
New Japan Cup Round 1:
Match 6: Jake Lee beat YOSHI-HASHI by ref stoppage (technical submission). As a result, Lee advances to Round 2 and will face Hirooki Goto.
Match 7: Callum Newman beat OSKAR (The Grouch). As a result, Newman advances to Round 2 and will face Hartley Jackson.
Match 8: Robbie X & Taiji Ishimori beat IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Kosei Fujita & Robbie Eagles to win the titles. X & Ishimori become the 81st IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions. X pinned Fujita after X Express. Next up: Akira & Young.
Main Event: IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion DOUKI beat Master Wato to retain the title. V2 for DOUKI. Next up: Yoh.
The next event is Sunday at Baycom General Gym in Hyogo. Live streaming on New Japan World will begin Saturday at 11 PM PT/Sunday at 3 AM ET (remember this Sunday is the time change forward).