On March 6, 1972, Shin Nihon Puroresu aka New Japan Pro Wrestling held its first official event. The promotion continued its annual tradition of holding an anniversary event aka Flag Raising Day event today, celebrating their 51st Anniversary (but first without the pate Antonio Inoki, the founder of New Japan and Hall of Famer).
Today’s event was held at Ota City General Gym in Tokyo and can be watched on demand on New Japan World FOR FREE! The event also streamed on ABEMA in Japan.
Click below to watch in Japanese:
https://njpwworld.com/p/s_00641_1_1
English is also available but the URL appears to be the same. Go to the New Japan World homepage to choose English.
The announced paid attendance was 2020.
Match 1: El Phantasmo & KENTA beat Kosei Fujita & Zack Sabre Jr. KENTA beat Fujita with GAME OVER.
Match 2: Aussie Open & Will Ospreay beat Satoshi Kojima, Toru Yano & Tama Tonga. Kyle Fletcher pinned Kojima after Corealis.
Match 3: El Desperado, Ren Narita & Minoru Suzuki beat Dick Togo, Sho & EVIL. Desperado pinned Togo after Pinche Loco.
Match 4: Aaron Henare, Great-O-Khan & Jeff Cobb beat SANADA, Shingo Takagi & Tetsuya Naito. Henare pinned Takagi after Streets Of Rage. Huge.
Match 5: Lio Rush & Yoh beat BUSHI & Hiromu Takahashi. Rush pinned BUSHI after Final Hour.
Match 6: New Japan Cup Round 1: Shota Umino beat Yujiro Takahashi. As a result, Umino advances to Round 2 and will face Zack Sabre Jr.
Match 7: New Japan Cup Round 1: David Finlay beat Tomohiro Ishii. As a result, Finlay advances to Round 2 and will face Great-O-Khan. After the match, Finlay joined Bullet Club.
Main Event: IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Champions YOSHI-HASHI & Hirooki Goto beat Hiroshi Tanahashi & Kazuchika Okada to retain the titles. YOSHI-HASHI pinned Tanahashi after Abyss. V2 for the champs.
The next event is a special Antonio Inoki Farewell Party tomorrow at Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo. The first part of the event will be a special ceremony for paying ticket holders only. The second part will be for fans to leave flowers and is open to the public
The New Japan Cup continues Wednesday at Big Palette Fukushima in Fukushima. Live streaming on New Japan World will begin at 1:30 AM PT/4:30 AM ET.
