New Japan held the last TAKA Michinoku & Taichi produced independent event of the year today, commemorating a combined 50 years in wresting between the two (most of which is TAKA with a good 30 years but This would also be the last such event because the Suzuki-gun faction will disband soon under orders from Minoru Suzuki. Taichi has at least 15-20 years himself). Although separate from New Japan, the promotion handled a lot of advertising and buildup for the event.
Today’s event was held at Yoyogi National Stadium Gym 2 in Tokyo and can be watched on demand as a standalone PPV on New Japan World. An additional purchase is requires to watch until it is removed from behind the paywall, which is expected to be in March 2023.
The announced paid attendance was 1258.
Matches 1-3 results are not yet available (not posted).
Match 4: In a No DQ match, DOUKI & Minoru Suzuki beat Jun Kasai (Freedoms) & Tomoaki Honma by ref stoppage. Suzuki beat Honma with a sleeper hold.
Match 5: Lance Archer & El Desperado beat MJ Pawl & Daisuke Sasaki (DDT) by DQ. Sasaki DQ’d. Chair use.
Match 6: In a 10 Million Yen Bounty 3 Falls Match, where countering/kicking out of Nameless Hiromu Roll or Michinoku Driver 2 would claim the bounty (or steal it away), Hiromu Takahashi beat TAKA Michinokiu 2-0. In the end, Takahashi kept the bounty after TAKA won it but Hiromu then won it back.
Main Event: In a Takagi-Style Lumberjack Last Man Standing Death Match, where the only way to win was a 10 count down after a pinfall, KOPW 2022 Trophy holder Shingo Takagi beat Taichi to retain the trophy. Unless something is added last-second to this week, and that’s incredibly unlikely because of how the matches and stip voting work, Takagi will end 2022 with the trophy and it will be done away with ahead of the 2023 trophy determination matches beginning at Tokyo Dome.