New Japan returns to the Tokyo Dome today just hours after their annual year-opening biggest event of the year for WRESTLE DYNASTY, a special crossover event featuring partner promotions AEW, CMLL, Stardom and more. With yesterday now in the books, that means several expected changes were made to the card but also some unexpected changes. With Zack Sabre Jr. still IWGP World Heavyweight Champion, that means he now defends against Ricochet in what will be the main event, while NEW NEVER Openweight Champion Konosuke Takeshita defends the title AND the AEW International Championshp against Tomohiro Ishii, and NEW IWGP Global Champion Yota Tsuji defends the title against Jack Perry. And in unexpected changes, Tetsuya Naito & Hiromu Takahashi have cashed in their IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championship shot earned for winning the World Tag League to make today’s determination match for the vacant titles a 3-way (and the TBA that was Great-O-Khan’s mystery partner has been revealed to be Jeff Cobb), plus Hiroshi Tanahashi & Katsuyori Shibata face off in an exhibition match.
Today’s event will be held at the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo and can be watched LIVE on New Japan World in Japanese and English. It will also be available live and on demand as a PPV on Triller/FITE for $29.99 or as a combo pack for $47.99 which includes unlimited replays of yesterday’s event. Both have replays for the next 90 days. There will be 2 pre-show matches and 12 matches total so strap in for a potential all-nighter if you’re on the US east coast as the event’s total running time will probably be close to 5 hours.
Today’s lineup:
Pre-show:
International Women’s Cup: Momo Watanabe vs. Willow Nightingale, Athena & Persephone in a 4-way
ROH Tag Team Champions Dustin Rhodes & Sammy Guevara vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Sho for the titles
Main show/PPV:
Lucha Gauntlet. 4 New Japan & 4 CMLL participants. Staggered entry (every minute), first pinfall or submission wins. No over the top rope rules
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Katsuyori Shibata in a 5 Minute Exhibition Match
STRONG Women’s Champion Mercedes Mone vs. RevPro British Women’s Champion Mina Shirakawa for the titles
David Finlay vs. Brody King
Shota Umino vs. Claudio Castagnoli
NEVER Openweight Champion & AEW International Champion Konosuke Takeshita vs. Tomohiro Ishii for the titles
Great-O-Khan & Jeff Cobb vs. Matt & Nick Jackson and Tetsuya Naito & Hiromu Takahashi in a 3-way for the vacant IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championship
IWGP Global Champion Yota Tsuji vs. Jack Perry for the title
Kenny Omega vs. Gabriel Kidd
IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Ricochet for the title
Refresh this page occasionally for the latest results.
Updates below will begin at 7 PM PT/10 PM ET.
7 PM PT UPDATE: Live updates begin now.
We are LIVE from the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Japan. Your hosts are Haruo Murata, Milano Collection A.T. & Miki Motoi. El Desperado is our first guest on commentary. Your English hosts are Walker Stewart & Chris Charlton.
The paid attendance will be announced after the event. The crowd will still be filing in over the next hour but most of the floor/field level seating is already full. Advance sales didn’t seem as strong as for yesterday so I’ll initially guess it’ll be around 20,000. That still would likely be the second-biggest number of the entire year anywhere in Japan. (UPDATE: The announced paid attendance was 16,300)
Pre-show:
Match 1: International Women’s Cup: Momo Watanabe vs. Willow Nightingale, Athena & Persephone in a 4-way. No time limit
Result: Momo Watanabe beat Willow Nightingale, Athena & Persephone in a 4-way by pinning Athena. Thekla, who was seconding Watanabe, was ejected right before by the ref for interfering, allowing Watanabe to use her baseball bat to knock out Athena.
Match 2: ROH Tag Team Champions Dustin Rhodes & Sammy Guevara vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Sho for the titles. 1 Hour time limit
Result: ROH Tag Team Champions Dustin Rhodes & Sammy Guevara beat Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Sho to retain the titles. Rhodes pinned Kanemaru after a Guevara swanton bomb.
Pre-show ends at 7:35 PM PT/10:30 PM ET. Updates will resume when the main show/PPV begins.
Main show/PPV:
This event is airing live as part of WORLD PRO WRESTLING LIVE 2025 on TV Asahi.
Match 1: Lucha Gauntlet. 4 New Japan & 4 CMLL participants. Staggered entry (every minute), first pinfall or submission wins. No over the top rope rules. Participants were not announced in advance. No time limit.
Participants (order of entry in parentheses): New Japan-Kosei Fujita (2), Master Wato (4). Taiji Ishimori (6), El Desperado (8). CMLL-Hechicero (1), Soberano Jr. (3), Mascara Dorada (5), Titan (7).
Result: Taiji Ishimori won by pinning Desperado.
Match 2: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Katsuyori Shibata in an Exhibition Match. 5 minute time limit
Result: Time Limit Draw. A standup slap/chop fest.
Match 3: STRONG Women’s Champion Mercedes Mone vs. RevPro British Women’s Champion Mina Shirakawa for the titles. 30 minute time limit
Result: STRONG Women’s Champion Mercedes Mone beat Mina Shirakawa to retain the title and win the RevPro British Women’s Championship. V4 for Mone. Which hopefully means I get to see her Saturday at Battle In The Valley.
El Desperado rejoins Japanese commentary for the next match and hosts are swapped as Haruo Murata gets a break.
Match 4: David Finlay vs. Brody King. 30 minute time limit
Result: David Finlay beat Brody King
Match 5: Shota Umino vs. Claudio Castagnoli. 30 minute time limit
Result: Shota Umino beat Claudio Castagnoli
Upcoming US event announcements. Windy City Riot in April in Chicago is being billed as Hiroshi Tanahashi’s final US appearance before his retirement.
Match 6: NEVER Openweight Champion & AEW International Champion Konosuke Takeshita vs. Tomohiro Ishii for the titles. 1 Hour time limit
Result: NEVER Openweight Champion & AEW International Champion Konosuke Takeshita beat Tomohiro Ishii to retain the titles. V1 for Takeshita.
Match 7: Great-O-Khan & Jeff Cobb vs. Matt & Nick Jackson and Tetsuya Naito & Hiromu Takahashi in a 3-way for the vacant IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championship. 1 Hour time limit
Result: Matt & Nick Jackson beat Great-O-Khan & Jeff Cobb and Tetsuya Naito & Hiromu Takahashi in a 3-way, when Matt Jackson pinned Khan, to win the IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championship. The Jacksons become the 106th IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Champions.
Hiroshi Tanahashi joins Japanese commentaryz
Match 8: IWGP Global Champion Yota Tsuji vs. Jack Perry for the title. 1 Hour time limit
Result: IWGP Global Champion Yota Tsuji beat Jack Perry to retain the title. V1 for Tsuji.
Match 9: Kenny Omega vs. Gabriel Kidd. No time limit
Result: Kenny Omega beat Gabriel Kidd
Main Event: IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Ricochet for the title. 1 Hour time limit
Result: IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Zack Sabre Jr. beat Ricochet by submission to retain the title. V4 for Sabre.
The next event is NEW YEAR DASH!! tomorrow at Ota City General Gym. Live streaming on New Japan World will begin at 1:30 AM PT/4:30 AM ET.
UPDATE: As a result of winning the pre-show women’s 4-way, Momo Watanabe gets a future title shot of her choice. Presumably that means any title in Stardom or the other women’s titles in AEW, ROH or CMLL.
