March 6 is “Flag Raising Day” for New Japan, the date on which the promotion held their very first event in 1972. As they normally do today, they held their annual Anniversary Event to celebrate, today returning to where it all began-the site of that inaugural event. The event also kicked off the 2024 New Japan Cup Tournament.
Today’s event was held at Ota City General Gym in Tokyo and can be watched on demand on New Japan World.
The announced paid attendance was 3008.
Match 1: Great-O-Khan & Jeff Cobb beat Tomoaki Honma & Yanga Loa. Cobb pinned Honma after Tour of the Islands.
Match 2: Mikey Nicholls & Zack Sabre Jr. beat El Phantasmo & Hikuleo. Nicholls pinned Phantasmo.
Match 3: Boltin Oleg, El Desperado, Tomohiro Ishii & Hirooki Goto beat BUSHI, Hiromu Takahashi, Yota Tsuji & Shingo Takagi. Desperado pinned BUSHI after El Es Claro.
Match 4: Callum Newman, Francesco Akira & TJP beat Gedo, Gabriel Kidd & David Finlay. Akira pinned Gedo after 2/2.
Match 5: DOUKI, Yuya Uemura, Taichi & SANADA beat Dock Togo, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Ren Narita & EVIL. Uemura pinned Togo with a Kannuki suplex hold.
Match 6: New Japan Cup: Toru Yano beat Yujiro Takahashi by countout.
Match 7: New Japan Cup: YOSHI-HASHI beat KENTA.
Match 8: New Japan Cup: Jack Perry beat Shota Umino. Afterwards, Perry joined House Of Torture.
Main Event: Tetsuya Naito beat Sho. This was the traditional NON-TITLE match between the IWGP World Heavyweight Champion and IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion.
The next event is tomorrow at Korakuen Hall. Live streaming on New Japan World will begin at 1:30 AM PT/4:30 AM ET and you can watch live & on demand FOR FREE! This will be an ABEMA simulcast in Japan.
