New Japan wraps up THE NEW BEGINNING in SAPPORO 2024 today with the second half of the annual weekend doubleheader in Hokkaido. It’s a rare midday/afternoon matinee which makes for very convenient watching for us fans in the US. After a full slate of title matches yesterday the focus today will be on LIJ vs. Just 5 Guys with a series of 5 single matches between the factions. The focus will be on two in particular-Yota Tsuji vs. Yuya Uemura in a Hair vs. Hair match that, unless it’s a draw, will leave a lot of (female) fans very unhappy….and then the main event, which is a rematch from Tokyo Dome between Tetsuya Naito & SANADA for the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship. But this time it’s Naito defending. Also earlier on the card is Kazuchika Okada’s final New Japan match before he leaves the promotion as well as the farewell match for Tama Tonga, who is also leaving.
There is a change to the card from what New Japan’s English website currently lists-HENARE is off Match 2 due to injury (head). Callum Newman is the replacement.
Today’s event will be held at Hokkaido Prefectural Sports Center Hokkai Kita Yell in Hokkaido and can be watched LIVE on New Japan World OUTSIDE JAPAN ONLY in Japanese and English. It can only be watched live in Japan on TV Asahi (it will be available on demand on New Japan World in Japan at a later date). There will be a pre-show match 30 minutes before the event. Excluding the pre-show the longest the event can possibly go is 4 1/2 hours, but I’m thinking it will be closer to around 3 1/4 hours.
Today’s lineup:
Pre-show:
Tomoya & Toru Yano vs. Katsuya Murashima & Tomoaki Honma
Main Show:
Boltin Oleg, Yoh, Togi Makabe, El Desperado & Shota Umino vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Yujiro Takahashi, Ren Narita, Sho & EVIL.
YOSHI-HASHI, Hirooki Goto, Tomohiro Ishii, Hiroshi Tanahashi & Kazuchika Okada vs. Francisco Akira, Callum Newman, Great-O-Khan, Jeff Cobb & Matt Riddle
Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa vs. El Phantasmo & Hikuleo
Ryusuke Taguchi & Nic Nemeth vs. Gedo & David Finlay
BUSHI vs. TAKA Michinoku
Hiromu Takahashi vs. DOUKI
Shingo Takagi vs. Taichi
Yota Tsuji vs. Yuya Uemura in a Hair vs. Hair match
IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Tetsuya Naito vs. SANADA for the title
Refresh this page occasionally for the latest results.
Updates below will begin at 8:30 PM PT/11:30 PM ET. The main card begins at 9 PM PT/midnight ET.
8:25 PM PT UPDATE: There have been last-second changes to the card: Hiroshi Tanahashi is now off. Right ankle injury suffered yesterday. Toru Yano is the replacement. No word on what this means for the pre-show match that Yano was to be in. We’ll find out in a few minutes..(Pre-Show Match Update: Double duty. He’s gonna work 2 matches).
8:30 PM PT UPDATE: Live updates begin now…
We are LIVE from Hokkaido Prefectural Sports Center Hokkai Kita Yell in Hokkaido, Japan. Your Japanese hosts are someone whose name I didn’t catch & Milano Collection A.T.. Your English hosts are Walker Stephens & Chris Charlton.
The paid attendance will be announced after the event. The crowd is still going to be filing in over the next 30 minutes and yesterday did roughly 3200, and it’s already looking like it’s going to be at least around that. (UPDATE: The announced paid attendance was 5355)
Pre-show Match: Katsuya Murashima & Tomoaki Honma vs. Toru Yano & Tomoya. Frontier Zone match. 20 minute time limit
Result: Toru Yano & Tomoya beat Katsuya Murashima & Toru Yano. Tomoya pinned Murashima.
The Hiroshi Tanahashi absence due to injury is announced to the live crowd before the feed cuts away for now to conclude the pre-show.
Updates will resume at 9 PM PT/midnight ET.
9 PM PT UPDATE: The main show has begun, so updates resume now.
We are LIVE (again) from Hokkaido Prefectural Sports Center Hokkai Kita Yell in Hokkaido, Japan. This event is airing in Japan as part of WORLD PRO WRESTLING LIVE 2024 on TV Asahi. No guest on Japanese commentary yet.
Match 1: Boltin Oleg, Yoh, Togi Makabe, El Desperado & Shota Umino vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Yujiro Takahashi, Ren Narita, Sho & EVIL. 20 minute time limit
Result: Boltin Oleg, Yoh, Yogi Makabe, El Desperado & Shota Umino beat Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Yujiro Takahashi, Ren Narita, Sho & EVIL. Umino pinned Kanemaru after Death Rider. After the match, Yoh sat at the top of the entrance ramp with the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship belt, possibly making a challenge to Sho, his former partner-turned-rival. Then the arena went dark and a video played on the monitors above the ring in Japanese, apparently a message from David Finlay to Umino ending with the word “SCAPEGOAT” in Japanese & English.
Hiroshi Tanahashi is now the guest on Japanese commentary.
Match 2: YOSHI-HASHI, Hirooki Goto, Tomohiro Ishii, Hiroshi Tanahashi & Kazuchika Okada vs. Francisco Akira, Callum Newman, Great-O-Khan, Jeff Cobb & Matt Riddle. 20 minute time limit (VERY LOUD pop and chants from the crowd during Okada’s intro for his final NJPW match)
Result: YOSHI-HASHI, Hirooki Goto, Tomohiro Ishii, Hiroshi Tanahashi & Kazuchika Okada beat Francisco Akira, Callum Newman, Great-O-Khan, Jeff Cobb & Matt Riddle. Okada pinned Newman after Rainmaker. Rainmaker leaves New Japan with a victory. He may be back someday though, he potentially still has a decade or more left in him. Afterwards, Okada with microphone. He thanked the crowd one more time and took a bow before leaving.
Match 3: Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa vs. El Phantasmo & Hikuleo. 20 minute time limit. In a possible unannounced last-second change for this match, Jado is special guest referee
Result: El Phantasmo & Hikuleo beat Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa. Hikuleo pinned Tonga after a chokeslam. This was Tonga’s final match in New Japan and he stayed around after the match to pay his respects to the ring and the fans and share one last group hug with his brothers & factionmates. Tonga is leaving mainly for personal/family reasons, he is not necessarily retiring but he wants to be closer to his family for work, I believe they are located in Hawaii (where Loa is originally from).
Match 4: Ryusuke Taguchi & Nic Nemeth vs. Gedo & David Finlay. 30 minute time limit
Result: Ryusuke Taguchi & Nic Nemeth beat Gedo & David Finlay. Nemeth pinned Gedo after Danger Zone (Zig Zag). Afterwards, Nemeth with microphone. He addressed the crowd in English, talking about how he wanted to team with Tanahashi in New Japan, but now he had another request-he now wants to defend the IWGP Global Championship against Tanahashi. Tanahashi stood up from commentary and said “I Agree With You!” We’ll see when it happens as it’ll partly depend on Tanahashi’s injury, but after today the promotion is off for about 2 weeks so that’s the earliest it could happen.
Match 5: BUSHI vs. TAKA Michinoku. 30 minute time limit
Result: BUSHI beat TAKA Michinoku by submission
Match 6: Hiromu Takahashi vs. DOUKI. 30 minute time limit
Result: DOUKI beat Hiromu Takahashi
Kazuchika Okada is now the guest on Japanese commentary.
Match 7: Shingo Takagi vs. Taichi. 30 minute time limit
Result: Taichi beat Shingo Takagi
Match 8: Yota Tsuji vs. Yuya Uemura in a Hair vs. Hair match. 30 minute time limit
Result: Yota Tsuji beat Yuya Uemura. As a result, Uemura loses his hair. They cane about 90 seconds from going the full 30 minutes.
Main Event: IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Tetsuya Naito beat SANADA to retain the title. V1 for Naito. Next up: The New Japan Cup winner, probably at SAKURA GENESIS in April.
The next event is the annual Anniversary Event, this year the 52nd Anniversary, on 3/6 (the date of the promotion’s first event in 1972) at Ota City General Gum in Tokyo. The only match set so far is a traditional NON-TITLE match between the IWGP World Heavyweight and Jr. Heavyweight Champions, meaning Naito vs. Sho. Live streaming on New Japan World will begin at 1:30 AM PT/4:30 AM ET.