New Japan’s last blowout event of the year, POWER STRUGGLE, is on tap for today and it’s probably going to set up the main event for Tokyo Dome as the headliner is an IWGP World Heavyweight Championship match as Zack Sabre Jr. defends the title against Shingo Takagi. Sabre’s post-G1 CLIMAX gamble of cashing in his shot early rather than waiting until 1/4 paid off and following a successful hometown defense in England he’s back in Japan to defend against Takagi,who is looking to become a 2-time champion. And a momentary double champion as Takagi is also the current NEVER Openweight Champion. The IWGP Junior Heavyweight, Heavyweight Tag Team & Global Championships are also up for grabs and the finals of the Super Junior Tag League will also happen as Robbie Eagles & Kosei Fujita face Francesco Akira & TJP. Former New Japan wrestler Kenny Omega, now with All Elite Wrestling but out of action due to health issues, will also be in attendance and make a special appearance.
Today’s event will be held at Osaka Prefectural Gym in Osaka and can be watched LIVE OUTSIDE JAPAN ONLY on New Japan World in Japanese and English. This will be an exclusive TV Asahi broadcast in Japan and thus on demand won’t be available in Japan for a few days. There will also be a pre-show match 30 minutes before the event begins. Including that, as a blowout event with all the title matches I anticipate this event’s total running time being close to 4 hours. Normally I wouldn’t try to pull this off on a Sunday night when I have to work the next morning but since I telework for my job Mondays I’ll give it a shot and see how long I can stay awake. The time change this morning certainly helps.
Today’s lineup:
Pre-show:
Shoma Kato, Capitan Suicida & Tiger Mask vs. Ninja Mack, The DKC & Yoh
Main show:
Katsuya Murashima, Paris de SIlva, Jude London, Kevin Knight & KUSHIDA vs. Gabriel Kidd, Drilla Moloney, Clark Connors, Robbie X & Taiji Ishimori
Dragon Dia, Ryusuke Taguchi, Tomoaki Honma & Toru Yano vs. BUSHI, Hiromu Takahashi, Yota Tsuji & Tetsuya Naito
Boltin Oleg & Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Ren Narita & EVIL
Shota Umino vs. SANADA
IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Shane Haste & Mikey Nicolls vs. HENARE & Great-O-Khan for the titles
Super Junior Tag League Finals: Kosei Fujita & Robbie Eagles vs. Francesco Akira & TJP
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion DOUKI vs. Master Wato for the title
IWGP Global Champion David Finlay vs. Taichi for the title
IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Shingo Takagi for the title
Refresh this page occasionally for the latest results.
Updates below will begin at 9:30 PM PT/12:30 PM ET for the pre-show. The main show begins at 10 PM PT/1 AM ET. New Japan World launched the stream in pre-show mode just before 8 PM PT/11 PM ET.
9 PM PT UPDATE: You will also be able to watch the first 2 matches of the main show FOR FREE on YouTube. The YouTube broadcast WILL NOT include the pre-show match at this time.
9:30 PM PT UPDATE: Live updates start now.
We are LIVE from Osaka Prefectural Gym in Osaka, Japan. Your Japanese hosts are Milano Collection A.T. and I didn’t catch the main announcer’s name. Your English hosts are Walker Stewart & Chris Charlton. No guest on Japanese commentary yet, that seat will be filled later.
The paid attendance will be announced after the event. The crowd is still filing in but already looks quite full. The setup appears to be for in the 3500-4000 range (the venue’s normal non-sumo capacity is around 5000) so after Dragon Gate did almost 2700 yesterday I’m going to predict roughly 3300 today. (UPDATE: The announced paid attendance was 3773)
Pre-show match: Shoma Kato, Capitan Suicida & Tiger Mask vs. Ninja Mack, The DKC & Yoh. 20 minute time limit
Result: Ninja Mack, The DKC & Yoh beat Shoma Kato, Capitan Suicida & Tiger Mask. DKC pinned Kato.
Updates will resume when the main show begins at 10 PM PT/1 AM ET.
10 PM PT UPDATE: Main show updates begin now.
This event is airing live as part of WORLD PRO WRESTLING LIVE 2024 on TV Asahi.
Match 1: Katsuya Murashima, Paris de SIlva, Jude London, Kevin Knight & KUSHIDA vs. Gabriel Kidd, Drilla Moloney, Clark Connors, Robbie X & Taiji Ishimori. 20 minute time limit
Result: Gabriel Kidd, Drilla Moloney,, Clark Connors, Robbie X & Taiji Ishimori beat Katsuya Murashima, Paris de Silva, Jude London, Kevin Knight & KUSHIDA. Kidd pinned Murashima after Drill-A-Hole Piledriver. And all the other Bullet Club finishers first.
Match 2: Dragon Dia (Dragon Gate), Ryusuke Taguchi, Tomoaki Honma & Toru Yano vs. BUSHI, Hiromu Takahashi, Yota Tsuji & Tetsuya Naito. 20 minute time limit
Result: BUSHI, Hiromu Takahashi, Yota Tsuji & Tetsiuya Naito beat Dragon Dia, Ryusuke Taguchi, Tomoaki Honma & Toru Yano. Takahashi beat Honma with a modified sharpshooter.
Match 3: Boltin Oleg & Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Ren Narita & EVIL. 30 minute time limit
Result: Ren narita & EVIL beat Boltin Oleg & Hiroshi Tanahashi. Narita pinned Oleg. Of course the Bullet Club beatdown followed on Tanahashi. EVIL with microphone. Taunting before Gedo gave him scissors before Jado tried to make the save, which didn’t go well. Back in the ring, Narita low blowed Oleg then hit Double Cross as Tanahashi was dragged to the back, as Ryohei Oiwa hit the ring to confront Narita. Oiwa with microphone. NJPW WORLD TV Championship challenge issued. But then Jeff Cobb stormed in and shoved Oiwa aside, which led to them going at it as Narita bailed. Narita won the title from Cobb in a 3-way. Such a rematch?
Match 4: Shota Umino vs. SANADA. 30 minute time limit
Result: Shota Umino beat SANADA
Match 5: IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Shane Haste & Mikey Nicolls vs. HENARE & Great-O-Khan for the titles. 1 Hour time limit
Result: HENARE & Great-O-Khan beat IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Shane Haste & Mikey Nicholls to win the titles. HENARE & Khan become the 105th IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Champions. Khan pinned Nicholls after Imperial Drop.
Kenny Omega comes out. Addresses the crowd in Japanese then in English, saying he would like to return to New Japan on 1/5 as a member of AEW.
Hiromu Takahashi is now the guest on Japanese commentary.
Match 6: Super Junior Tag League Finals: Kosei Fujita & Robbie Eagles vs. Francesco Akira & TJP. No time limit
Result: Kosei Fujita & Robbie Eagles beat Francesco Akira & TJP to win the tournament. Eagles pinned TJP. As a result, Fujita & Eagles also get an IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship shot at a later date. KUSHIDA & Knight came out to accept the obligatory challenge, which Knight said will happen at Tokyo Dome…but could be a 3-way with Akira & TJP. But then Drilla Moloney & Clark Connors stormed out for a beatdown on everyone with chairs. Bullet Club with microphone. They want in too. We shall see.
Match 7: IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion DOUKI vs. Master Wato for the title. 1 Hour time limit
Result: IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion DOUKI beat Master Wato by ref stoppage (technical submission) to retain the title. V4 for DOUKI. Next up: El Desperado. Likely at Tokyo Dome.
Match 8: IWGP Global Champion David Finlay beat Taichi to retain the title. V4 for Finlay. Huge shocker at the end…SANADA turned on Taichi and defected to Bullet Club. Next up: If Finlay gets his wish, Tsuji.
Main Event: IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Zack Sabre Jr. beat Shingo Takagi to retain the title. V2 for Sabre. Next up: Umino, much to the crowd’s dismay…or…Ricochet? Stay tuned, but it’s going to be the Tokyo Dome main event.
The next event is Fighting Spirit Unleashed 2024 Friday at Lowell Memorial Auditorium in Lowell, MA. Live streaming on New Japan World will begin at 3:30 PM PT/6:30 PM ET. It will be available for all monthly paid subscribers at no additional charge. It also will be available as a PPV on Triller/FITE for $19.99.
The next Japan event is NEW JAPAN ROAD in ANJO Saturday at Tosho Anjo Arena in Aichi. The card will be announced the day of the event with Stardom wrestler Tam Nakano also participating. There will be no live or on demand broadcast.
UPDATE: There are unconfirmed reports that Ricochet will get an IWGP World Heavyweight Championship shot on 1/5 at WRESTLE DYNASTY at the Tokyo Dome. It also sounds like Sabre will let NJPW decide when Umino gets his title shot. Unless it’s during the next tour or the Road to Tokyo Dome tour to end the year, it’ll almost certainly be 1/4. Not happening at HISTORIC X-OVER 2 without card changes because Sabre already is in a crossover tag match. We may know more tomorrow or Wednesday after the usual post-major event presser back in Tokyo.