New Japan 2/4/23 Results

New Japan ran the first half of THE NEW BEGINNING IN SAPPORO today, kicking off a big weekend doubleheader in chilly Hokkaido with title matches and major single matches.

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 in Japanese and English.

The announced paid attendance was 3073.

Match 1: Great-O-Khan beat Oskar Leube by submission.

Match 2: Ryohei Oiwa, Ren Narita, El Desperado & Minoru Suzuki beat Dick Togo, Yujiro Takahashi, Sho & EVIL. Narita beat Togo with a cobra twist.

Match 3: Kosei Fujita, Shane Haste, Mikey Nicholls & Zack Sabre Jr. beat Yuto Nakashima, YOSHI-HASHI, Tomohiro Ishii & Hirooki Goto. Fujita beat Nakashima with a double armlock.

Match 4: Master Wato, Hikuleo, Tama Tonga & Hiroshi Tanahashi beat Taiji Ishimori, El Phantasmo, KENTA & Jay White. Wato pinned Ishimori.

Match 5: BUSHI, Hiromu Takahashi, SANADA & Shingo Takagi beat Yoh, Ryusuke Taguchi, Toru Yano & Kazuchika Okada. Takagi pinned Taguchi after Last of the Dragon.

Match 6: IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Francesco Akira & TJP beat DOUKI & Yoshinobu Kanemaru to retain the titles. Akira pinned DOUKI after Fireball. V4 for the champs.

Match 7: Will Ospreay beat Taichi.

Main Event: Tetsuya Naito beat Shota Umino. This went over 32 minutes.

The second half of the doubleheader is tomorrow with 3 title matches including the first defense of the NJPW WORLD TV Championship. Live streaming on New Japan World in Japanese and English will begin TONIGHT at 9 PM PT/midnight ET. Live results will be posted here.

FYI for New Japan World Subscribers for February 2023

In posts on Twitter in Japanese and English, New Japan World announced that a technical issue has resulted in some subscribers being double-billed for February 2023. This happened to me upon checking my credit card activity earlier today, but a refund has already been issued and the promotion is working on doing just that.

Here is the English-language post which was updates to note refunds are being processed:

New Japan 2/1/23 Results

New Japan wrapped up the first part of the Road to THE NEW BEGINNING Tour today amidst fallout from the departure of Kota Ibushi from the promotion (contract expired) and potential concerns about Yoh, who missed a second straight event today due to a fever. He should be fine for the weekend.

Today’s event was held at Aomori Budokan in Aomori. There was no live broadcast and no on demand video will be available.

The announced paid attendance was 1216.

Match 1: Aaron Henare beat Ryohei Oiwa.

Match 2: Toru Yano & Togi Makabe beat Oskar Leube & Hiroyoshi Tenzan. Yano pinned Leube.

Match 3: Taiji Ishimori & El Phantasmo beat Master Wato & Tiger Mask. Phantasmo pinned TM 4 after Sudden Death.

Match 4: Jado & Hiroshi Tanahashi beat Gedo & KENTA. Tanahashi beat Gedo with a Texas Cloverleaf.

Match 5: Yuto Nakashima, YOSHI-HASHI, Tomohiro Ishii & Hirooki Goto beat Kosei Fujita, Shane Haste, Mikey Nicholls & Zack Sabre Jr. YOSHI-HASHI beat Fujita with Butterfly Lock.

Match 6: Francesco Akira, TJP, Great-O-Khan & Will Ospreay beat TAKA Michinoku, DOUKI, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Taichi. Ospreay pinned TAKA after Hidden Blade.

Main Event: Hiromu Takahashi, SANADA, Shingo Takagi & Tetsuya Naito beat Ryusuke Taguchi, Shota Umino, Tomoaki Honma & Kazuchika Okada. Takagi pinned Honma after Pumping Bomber. During the match, BUSHI interfered against Umino and Naito attacked Umino’s father, referee Red Shoes Unno, potentially setting up the next big rivalry for Naito…after his match against Keiji Muto in The Living Legend’a retirement match, presumably.

The next events are as follows:

TAMASHII returns for its second installment with 2 events this weekend. The first one is Friday in Sydney, Australia and the second one is Saturday in Melbourne, Australia. There will be no live broadcast for both.

On the Japan side. Next up is THE NEW BEGINNING in SAPPORO, a doubleheader Saturday US time at Hokkaido Prefectural Sports Center Hokkai Kitayell in Hokkaido. Live streaming on New Japan World in Japanese and English will begin Saturday at midnight PT/3 AM ET for the first event and Saturday at 9 PM PT/midnight ET for the second event. Live results are scheduled for the second event.

Also, announced after the event were a Hirooki Goto 20th Anniversary event on 4/22 in Mie and WRESTLING DONTAKU 2023, the annual Golden Week blowout event in Fukuoka, on 5/3 back at its regular home, Fukuoka International Center. Last year’s event was held at the much larger Fukuoka PayPay Dome for the 50th Anniversary celebration.

New Japan 1/31/23 Results (Updated)

New Japan continued the Road to THE NEW BEGINNING Tour today with the last event of the month.

There were last-second changes to the event as Yoh was a late removal from the card. Fever. Coronavirus rapid test was negative. Status beyond today is uncertain. The main event also saw BUSHI removed as a result.

Today’s event was held at Akita Furusato Village Dome Theater in Akita. There was no live broadcast and no on demand video will be available.

The announced paid attendance was 659.

Match 1: Great-O-Khan beat Yuto Nakashima by submission.

Match 2: Tiger Mask & Tomoaki Homna beat Oskar Leube & Hiroyoshi Tenzan. Honma pinned Leube after Kokeshi.

Match 3: Taiji Ishimori & El Phantasmo beat Jado & Master Wato. Phantasmo pinned Jado after Sudden Death.

Match 4: Toru Yano & Hiroshi Tanahashi beat Gedo & KENTA by DQ. Gedo DQ’d.

Match 5: Kosei Fujita, Shane Haste, Mikey Nicholls & Zack Sabre Jr. beat Ryohei Oiwa, YOSHI-HASHI, Hirooki Goto & Tomohiro Ishii. Nicholla pinned Oiwa after a siding lariat.

Match 6: Francesco Akira, TJP, Aaron Henare & Will Ospreay beat TAKA Michinoku, DOUKI, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Taichi. Ospreay pinned TAKA after Hidden Blade.

Main Event: Hiromu Takahashi, SANADA, Shingo Takagi & Tetsuya Naito beat Ryusuke Taguchi, Shota Umino, Togi Makabe & Kazuchika Okada. Takagi pinned Makabe after Last of the Dragon.

The next event is tomorrow at Aomori Budokan in Aomori. There will be no live or on demand broadcast.

UPDATE: Yoh is now off tomorrow as well. Precautionary due to fever. BUSHI is now off again as well to change their match from a 10-man tag to 8-man.

New Japan 1/30/23 Results

New Japan continues the Road to THE NEW BEGINNING tour today with another non-televised house show. Coming amidst reports that, following government loosening of coronavirus guidelines, Bushiroad may be returning to full capacity for all NJPW & Stardom events.

Today’s event was held at Iwate Prefectural Gym in Iwate. There was no live broadcast and no on demand video will be available.

The announced paid attendance was 1150.

Match 1: Aaron Henare beat Ryohei Oiwa.

Match 2: Tiger Mask & Togi Makabe beat Yuto Nakashima & Hiroyoshi Tenzan. Makbe pinned Nakashima after a King Kong kneedrop.

Match 3: Jado & Master Wato beat Gedo & Taiji Ishimori. Wato pinned Gedo after RPP.

Match 4: El Phantasmo & KENTA beat Tomoaki Honma & Hiroshi Tanahashi. Phantasmo pinned Honma after Sudden Death.

Match 5: Kosei Fujita, Shane Haste, Mikey Nicholls & Zack Sabre Jr. beat Oskar Leube, YOSHI-HASHI, Tomohiro Ishii & Hirooki Goto. Nicholls pinned Leube after a sliding lariat.

Match 6: Francesco Akira, TJP, Great-O-Khan & Will Ospreay beat TAKA Michinoku, DOUKI, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Taichi. Ospreay pinned TAKA after Hidden Blade.

Main Event: BUSHI, Hiromu Takahashi, SANADA, Shingo Takagi & Tetsuya Naito beat Yoh, Ryusuke Taguchi, Shota Umino, Toru Yano & Kazuchika Okada. Takagi pinned Taguchi after MADE IN JAPAN.

The next event is tomorrow at Akita Furusato Village Dome Theater in Akita. There will be no live or on demand broadcast.

DEVELOPING: New Japan Re-Brands US Events, TV Show (Updated)

New Japan has announced a rebranding/repackaging of their US product for 2023 amidst rumors of the end of NJPW STRONG…they may have been greatly exaggerated. Going forward, all New Japan US events will be held under the NJPW STRONG label, to include PPVs, which as live events will become known as “STRONG LIVE” starting with Battle In The Valley on 2/18. Then in March the weekly show will become known as “STRONG On Demand” and will feature all the PPV matches over 4 weeks of episodes, 2 or 3 matches per week. This will continue with the WrestleCon weekend event in March and the Washington DC and Philadelphia events in April.

So to summarize, live PPVs in the US will continue but they will now also be called STRONG LIVE and will later be available on the weekly TV show spread out over 4 weeks’ worth of shows a few weeks later. The weekly shows will continue to be available every weekend on New Japan World and presumably FITE. Live events will continue to be available on FITE in English and as PPVs on New Japan World in Japanese. But no more monthly TV tapings like they had been doing since the brand launched in 2020.

UPDATE: On New Japan’s Japanese website, they confirmed the April events will be available as live PPVs. STRONG On Demand also will continue to be available on FITE.

New Japan 1/28/23 Results

New Japan continued the Road to THE NEW BEGINNING Tour today with another non-televised house show event, the first following reports that the Japanese government has lifted all restrictions on capacity and vocal cheering at live events in place since the coronavirus pandemic began. However, vocal cheering was not allowed today.

Today’s event was held at Koga City ES Central Sports Park Hanamomo Gyn in Ibaraki. There was no live broadcast and no on demand video will be available.

The announced paid attendance was 934.

Match 1: Great-O-Khan beat Ryohei Oiwa by submission.

Match 2: Tiger Mask & Toru Yano beat Oskar Leube & Hiroyoshi Tenzan. Yano pinned Leube.

Match 3: Taiji Ishimori & El Phantasmo beat Master Wato & Tomoaki Honma. Phantasmo pinned Honma after Sudden Death.

Match 4: Jado & Hiroshi Tanahashi beat Gedo & KENTA. Tanahashi beat Gedo with a Texas Cloverleaf.

Match 5: Kosei Fujita, Shane Haste, Mikey Nicholls & Zack Sabre Jr. beat Yuto Nakashima, YOSHI-HASHI, Hirooki Foto & Tomohiro Ishii. Haste pinned Nakashima after Dynamic Bomb.

Match 6: Francesco Akira, TJP, Aaron Henare & Will Ospreay beat TAKA Michinoku, DOUKI, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Taichi. Ospreay pinned TAKA after Hidden Blade.

Main Event: Yoh, Ryusuke Taguchi, Shota Umino, Togi Makabe & Kazuchika Okada beat BUSHI, Hiromu Takahashi, SANADA, Shingo Takagi & Tetsuya Naito. Yoh pinned BUSHI after Direct Drive.

The next event is Monday at Iwate Prefectural Gym in Iwate. There will be no live or on demand broadcast.

New Japan 1/27/23 Results

On a pivotal day in Japan where the Japanese government apparently lifted all capacity and vocal cheering restrictions for events despite another coronavirus surge, New Japan held their first house show of the year as wrestlers celebrated the lifting of these restrictions that have been in place for years.

Today’s event was held at Funabashi City General Gym in Chiba. There was no live broadcast and no on demand video will be available.

The announced paid attendance was 760.

Match 1: Aaron Henare beat Yuto Nakashima.

Match 2: Tiger Mask & Togi Makabe beat Oskar Leube & Huroyoshi Tenzan. Makabe pinned Leube after a King Kong kneedrop.

Match 3: Taiji Ishimori & El Phantasmo beat Jado & Master Wato. Phantasmo pinned Jado after Sudden Death.

Match 4: Toru Yano & Hiroshi Tanahashi beat Gedo & KENTA by DQ. Gedo DQ’d.

Match 5: Kosei Fujita, Shane Haste, Mikey Nicholls & Zack Sabre Jr. beat Ryohei Oiwa, YOSHI-HASHI, Tomohiro Ishii & Hirooki Goto. Nicholls pinned Oiwa after a sliding lariat.

Match 6: Francesco Akira, TJP, Great-O-Khan & Will Ospreay beat TAKA Michinoku, DOUKI, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Taichi. Ospreay pinned TAKA after Hidden Blade.

Main Event: BUSHI, Hiromu Takahashi, SANADA, Shingo Takagi & Tetsuya Naito beat Yoh, Ryusuke Taguchi, Shota Umino, Tomoaki Honma & Kazuchika Okada. Takahashi pinned Taguchi after Time Bomb 2.

The next event is tomorrow at Koga City ES Central Sports Park Hanamomo Gym in Ibaraki. There will be no live or on demand broadcast.

Additionally, last Saturday’s NJPW-NOAH crossover event is now available on New Japan World for all subscribers (no more PPV). If you are a WRESTLE UNIVERSE subscriber, their version will premiere on the service TONIGHT at 10 PM ET/7 PM PT and should be available on demand later this weekend (their version was an ABEMA PPV and their PPV window runs until early tomorrow).

(Correction: WRESTLE UNIVERSE on demand version is now available per their Japanese Twitter)

(Further clarification on above: Only the Japanese version is now on WRESTLE UNIVERSE. Tonight will be the premiere of the English version)

New Japan 1/25/23 Results

New Japan continued the Road to THE NEW BEGINNING Tour today with the second half of the opening Tokyo doubleheader.

Today’s event was held at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo and can be watched on demand on New Japan World in Japanese and English.

The announced paid attendance was 670. It’s not known if vocal cheering was allowed, if yes then it was near capacity.

Match 1: Aaron Henare beat Oskar Leube.

Match 2: Toru Yano & Hiroshi Tanahashi beat Gedo & KENTA. Yano pinned Gedo.

Match 3: Taiji Ishimori & El Phantasmo beat Master Wato & Togi Makabe. Phantasmo pinned Makabe after Sudden Death.

Kosei Fujita, Shane Haste, Mikey Nicholls & Zack Sabre Jr. beat Yuto Nakashima, YOSHI-HASHI, Tomohiro Ishii & Hirooki Goto. Fujita beat Nakashima with an arm lock.

Match 5: TJP & Great-O-Khan beat TAKA Michinoku & Yoshinobu Kanemaru. Khan beat TAKA with Subaru Sheep Killer.

Match 6: Francesco Akira & Will Ospreay beat DOUKI & Taichi. Ospreay pinned DOUKI after Hidden Blade.

Match 7: SANADA & Tetsuya Naito beat Shota Umino & Tomoaki Honma. Naito pinned Honma.

Main Event: Yoh, Ryusuke Taguchi & Kazuchika Okada beat BUSHI, Hiromu Takahashi & Shingo Takagi. Yoh pinned BUSHI after Direct Drive.

The next event is Friday at Funabashi City General Gym in Chiba. Vocal cheering is allowed. There will be no live or on demand broadcast. (There are no televised events scheduled the rest of the month so nothing on New Japan World until 2/4)

New Japan 1/24/23 Results

New Japan began the Road to THE NEW BEGINNING Tour today, the traditional opening of the promotion’s new year as the first series after the annual 1/4 Tokyo Dome blowout event. This begins the unofficial road to next year’s signature event.

Today’s event was held at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo and can be watched on New Japan World in Japanese and English.

The paid attendance was not announced.

Before the event, a special donation of 3 million yen (nearly $24,000 US) was made on behalf of the promotion and its “STRONG SPIRITS” mobile game to charities that are supporting legendary wrestler Shinjiro Otani as he continues to deal with serious medical issues.

Match 1: Great-O-Khan beat Ryohei Oiwa by submission.

Match 2: Gedo & Taiji Ishimori pinned Jado & Master Wato. Gedo pinned Jado.

Match 3: Francesco Akira & Aaron Henare beat TAKA Michinoku & DOUKI. Henare beat TAKA with Ultima.

Match 4: Oskar Leube, YOSHI-HASHI, Tomohiro Ishii & Hirooki Goto beat Kosei Fujita, Shane Haste, Mikey Nicholls & Zack Sabre Jr. Ishii pinned Fujita.

Match 5: El Phantasmo & KENTA beat Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Hiroshi Tanahashi. Phantasmo pinned Tenzan after Sudden Death.

Matxh 6: BUSHI & Hiromu Takagashi beat Yoh & Ryusuke Taguchi. BUSHI pinned Taguchi after MX.

Match 7: TJP & Will Ospreay beat Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Taichi. Ospreay pinned Kanemaru after Hidden Blade. So apparently whatever forced TJP off Sunday’s event last-minute wasn’t serious.

Main Event: Shota Umino, Toru Yano & Kazuchika Okada beat SANADA, Shingo Takagi & Tetsuya Naito. Umino pinned SANADA after Death Slider. Now although I haven’t seen this yet I do (half-jokingly) wonder if Umino benefitted from biased officiating because New Japan lead/main event referee Red Shoes Unno is Umino’s real-life father.

The next event is tomorrow. Live streaming on New Japan World will begin at 1:30 AM PT/4:30 AM ET.

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