New Japan kicks off THE NEW BEGINNING today, the start of their annual post-Tokyo Dome series that marks the official beginning of the new year for the promotion. After their major even earlier today in Yokohama, they head to Nagoya for a standalone event ahead of the main series beginning. The highlight match today is the main event, the first KOPW 2023 Title match of the year as Shingo Takagi, who essentially retained the title from the end of 2022 as the champion at the end of the year, defends the title and it’s new title belt against Great-O-Khan, and because Khan’s stip won the fan vote it will be a Martial Arts match so both will wear gi among other things.
Today’s event will be held at Aichi Prefectural Gym in Nagoya and can be watched LIVE on New Japan World in Japanese and English. If, like me, you’re going to be split-screening to watch this and the Pro Wrestling NOAH event at the same time, this event starts a bit later but they should wrap up at close to the same time. This event will be shorter and I anticipate the total running time being about 2 1/2 hours but no more than 3 hours.
Today’s lineup:
Toru Yano & Togi Makabe vs. Oskar Leube & Yuto Naksahima
Tomoaki Honma, Ren Narita, El Desperado & Minoru Suzuki vs. Dick Togo, Sho, Yujiro Takahashi & EVIL
Ryohei Oiwa, YOSHI-HASHI, Tomohiro Ishii & Hirooki Goto vs. Kosei Fujita, Shane Haste, Mikey Nicholls & Zack Sabre Jr.
Jado, Master Wato & Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Taiji Ishimori, El Phantasmo & KENTA
Francesco Akira, TJP, Aaron Henare & Will Ospreay vs. TAKA Michinoku, DOUKI, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Taichi
Yoh, Ryusuke Taguchi, Shota Umino & Kazuchika Okada vs. BUSHI, Hiromu Takahashi, SANADA & Tetsuya Naito
KOPW 2023 Champion Shingo Takagi vs. Great-O-Khan in a Martial Arts Rules Match for the title
Refresh this page occasionally for the latest results.
Updates below will begin at 2 AM ET/11 PM PT.
10:30 PM PT UPDATE: The live stream has launched. The broadcast will begin at 11 PM PT/2 AM ET.
11 PM PT UPDATE: Live updates begin now…
We are LIVE from Aichi Prefectural Gym in Nagoya, Japan. Your Japanese hosts are Haruo Murata & Milano Collection A.T. No guest on commentary. Your English host is Kevin Kelly.
We begin with the usual preview video with title matches for upcoming events.
When we go to the venue they are making announcements. There may be some last-second changes to the card. It could involve the Jr. Heavyweight 8-man tag based on names mentioned.
The paid attendance will be announced after the event. Vocal cheering is allowed so between that and the setup it will be greatly reduced capacity. I would not be surprised if they don’t get to 2000 (50% and the setup means a maximum of probably between 2500-3000. The venue’s normal capacity is 7500).
The matches begin at 11:08 PM PT.
Match 1: Toru Yano & Togi Makabe vs. Oskar Leube & Yuto Nakashima. 20 minute time limit
Result: Toru Yano & Togi Makabe beat Oskar Leube & Yuto Nakahima. Makabe beat Nakashima.
Match 2: Tomoaki Honma, Ren Narita, El Desperado & Minoru Suzuki vs. Dick Togo, Sho, Yujiro Takahashi & EVIL. 20 minute time limit
Result: Tomoaki Honma, Ren Narita, El Desperado & Minoru Suzuki beat Dick Togo, Sho, Yujiro Takahashi & EVIL. Narita beat Togo with an octopus stretch hold.
Match 3: Ryohei Oiwa, YOSHI-HASHI, Tomohiro Ishii & Hirooki Goto vs. Kosei Fujita, Shane Haste, Mikey Nicholls & Zack Sabre Jr. 20 minute time limit
Result: Kosei Fujita, SHane Haste, Micky Nicholls & Zack Sabre Jr. beat Ryohei Oiwa, YOSHI-HASHI, Tomohiro Ishii & Hirooki Goto. Haste pinned Fujita after Thunder Bomb.
Match 4: Jado, Master Wato & Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Taiji Ishimori, El Phantasmo & KENTA. 30 minute time limit
Result: Taiji Ishimori, El Phantasmo & KENTA beat Jado, Master Wato & Hiroshi Tanahashi. Phantasmo pinned Jado after Sudden Death.
Match 5: Francesco Akira, TJP, & Will Ospreay vs. DOUKI, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Taichi. 30 minute time limit. Apparently Aaron Henare was out for unknown reasons and thus TAKA was out too.
Result: Francesco Akira, Aaron Henare & Will Ospreay beat Yoshinobu Kanemaru, DOUKI & Taichi. Ospreay pinned DOUKI after Hidden Blade.
Match 6: Yoh, Ryusuke Taguchi, Shota Umino & Kazuchika Okada vs. BUSHI, Hiromu Takahashi, SANADA & Tetsuya Naito. 30 minute time limit
Result: Yoh, Ryusuke Taguchi, Shota Umino & Kazuchika Okada beat BUSHI, Hiromu Takahashi, SANADA & Tetsuya Naito. Umino pinned BUSHI.
Main Event: KOPW 2023 Champion Shingo Takagi vs. Great-O-Khan in a Martial Arts Rules Match for the title. No pinfalls. Win only by submission or KO/TKO (10 count down). 1 Hour time limit
Result: KOPW 2023 Champion Shingo Takagi beat Great-O-Khan by submission to retain the title. Takagi also keeps his IWGP World Heavyweight Championship shot on 2/11, which was also on the line.
The next event is the Road to THE NEW BEGINNING Tour opener Tuesday at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo. Live streaming on New Japan World will begin at 1:30 AM PT/4:30 AM ET.
UPDATE: The Match 5 result has been corrected, apparently it was TJP removed from the match and not Henare.
The announced paid attendance was 1650.
