New Japan began the NEW JAPAN SOUL 2024 tour today, finishing up a packed long weekend of events in Hokkaido.
Today’s event was held at Hokkaido Prefectural Sports Center Hokkai Kita Yell in Hokkaido and can be watched on demand on New Japan World.
The announced paid attendance was 2370.
Pre-show match: Yutora Yasuda & Hiroki Nagai Debut Match: Yutora Yasuda vs. Hiroki Nagai went to a 10 minute time limit draw. Two new Young Lions making their official debut here.
Match 1: Callum Newman, Francesco Akira, Great-O-Khan, Jeff Cobb & TJP beat Katsuya Murashima, Shoma Kato, Tomoaki Honma, Tomohiro Ishii & Satoshi Kojima. Akira pinned Kato after Fireball.
Match 2: DOUKI & Taichi beat Yoshinoby Kanemaru & Ren Narita. DOUKI pinned Kanemaru with Jorge Rivera Special.
Match 3: YOSHI-HASHI & Hirooki Goto beat Dick Togo & EVIL. Goto pinned Togo after Shoto.
Match 4: Titan & Tetsuya Naito beat TAKA Michinoku & Yuya Uemura. Titan pinned TAKA after a swan dive foot stomp.
Match 5: Boltin Oleg, Toru Yano & Hiroshi Tanahashi beat NEVER 6-Man Tag Team Champions BUSHI, Hiromu Takahashi & Yota Tsuji to win the titles. Oleg, Yano & Tanahashi bevome the 29th NEVER 6-Man Tag Team Champions. Oleg pinned BUSHI after Kamikaze. Immediate rematch meant the new champs never had a chance. That and apparently the new regime means, to my dismay, keeping these titles on Yano, ugh.
Match 6: IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Drilla Moloney & Clark Connors beat Kosei Fujita & Robbie Eagles to retain the titles. Connors pinned Fujita after Full Cip. V3 for the champs.
Match 7: HENARE beat NEVER Openweight Champion Shingo Takagi to win the title. HENARE becomes the 45th NEVER Openweight Champion. ALso immediate rematch, the first time went to a Double KO.
Match 8: IWGP Global Champion David Finlay beat SANADA to retain the title. V1 for Finlay.
Main Event: In a Steel Cage Match, El Desperado beat IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Sho to win the title. Desperado becomes the 96th IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion. Next up: If Desperado gets his way, DOUKI.
During the event, the field for this year’s G1 CLIMAX Tournament were announced. It will be 20 over 2 blocks this year. The lineups:
Block A: Tetsuya Naito, Shota Umino, Shingo Takagi, SANADA, Great-O-Khan, Zack Sabre Jr., Gabriel Kidd, EVIL, Jake Lee, TBA
Block B: Hirooki Goto, El Phantasmo, Yota Tsuji, Yuya Uemura, Jeff Cobb, HENARE, David FInlay, Ren Narita, Konosuke Takeshita, TBA
The TBA in each block will be the winner of a qualifying tournament, which has 6 possible entrants for each block. Block A has Tomohiro Ishii, YOSHI-HASHI, Callum Newman, KENTA, Chase Owens and Yujiro Takahashi. Block B has Hiroshi Tanahashi, Toru Yano, Boltin Oleg, Taichi, Satoshi Kojima & TJP. Block A seems wide open with everyone except Newman having a real chance. Block B would be a shocker if Tanahashi doesn’t advance, but the only other one with a real chance to me is Taichi.
The tournaments start soon and will end on 7/5.
The next event is Tuesday at Aomori Budokan in Aomori. There will be no live or on demand broadcast. After this and Wednesday’s event, it’s all live & on demand on New Japan World until at least the end of the G1 CLIMAX. Also, according to New Japan’s Japanese website there will be a Shingo Takagi 20th Anniversary event on 9/7 at Aimesse Yamanashi in Yamanashi.
