New Japan is on tour heading into their New Beginning shows. Apparently Night 1 id not air on the New Japan network, so we’ll start with Night 2. Most of these matches will be tag matches between wrestlers who have major matches at the New Beginning events.
Manabu Nakanishi & Ren Narita b. Yu Amira & Suji when Narita submitted Amira with a Boston Crab – Basic opening match intermixing Young Lions with veterans. Narita getting the win for his team is no small thing. More often than not, if it’s a Young Lion teaming with a veteran, it’s the veteran who gets the pin or submission
Toa Henare & Hiroyoshi Tenzan b. Shota Umino & Yoshida when Henare pinned Yoshida with a Uranage – Speaking of veterans vs. Young Lions, this was a perfect example of Young Lions getting their clocks cleaned by a veteran. Henare may no longer be considered a Young Lion, but he is still very early in his career.
Bullet Club (Tama Tonga, Tanga Loa, Chase Owens & IGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Taihi Ishimori w/ Jado b. The Most Violent Players (Togi Makabe & Toru Yano) Ryusuke Taguchi & Tomoaki Honma ) when Loa pinned Honma with his Over The Shoulder Piledriver – This is a GBH reunion of sorts, since Makabe and Yano are original GBH members before Yano broke away to join CHAOS. Yano yelled at Tama “You are bad guy!”. Tama yelled back “No I’m a good guy!”. Yano didn’t buy it and started removing turnbuckle pads. This ultimately lead to a brawl outside the ring. The heels took control and worked over Yano. Tama tried a corner splash but Yano moved and Tama smashed into the exposed turnbuckles. Double tag out to Taguchi and Ishimori. Taguchi ran wild on all four heels with Hip Attacks. Honma tagged in and a multi-man brawl broke out. Makabe and Honma hit some tag moves until Jado hit Honma from behind with a kendo stick. Loa struck with his piledriver (can’t write the name on a PG blog) to get the pin.
Kazuchika Okada & YOSHI-HASHI of CHAOS b. Bad Luck Fale & Yujiro Takahashi of Bullet Club when Okada pinned Takahashi with a Rainmaker – The heels dominated the opening minutes. Okada got the hot tag and took it to Fale until Takahashi tagged in. The two Bullet Club members double teamed Okada, but Hashi made the save. Shortly afterward, Okada hit the dropkick and a Rainmaker on Takahashi to pin him.
After the match, Fale jumped Okada and tried to use a Bad Luck Fall on Okada. The ring crew intervened and Okada managed to escaped
IWGP Heavyweight Champion Hiroshi Tanahashi & KUSHIDA b. “Switchblade” Jay White & Gedo of Bullet Club when Tanahashi pinned Gedo with a High Fly Flow – KUSHIDA announced his departure from New Japan a few weeks earlier, so this is his farewell tour. He will wrestle is final New Japan match against Tanahashi on the next show, while White has the next IWGP Title Shot. The babyfaces got the early shine and worked well as a team. White managed to backdrop Kushida to the floor and slam him into the ring apron. The heels got the heat on Kushida for several minutes. Tanahashi got the hot tag and fended off both heels. White tried to hit Tanahashi with a chair, only for Kushida to make the save and dropkick him to the floor. A High Fly Flow later and it was all over.
Suzuki-Gun (Minoru Suzuki, Taichi, El Desperado, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, & Zack Sabe Jr. w/Taka Michinoku) b. Los Ingobernables De Japon (IWGP Intercontinental Champion Tetsuya Naito, IWGP Heavyweight Tag Champions EVIL and SANADA, & IWGP Junior heavyweight Ta Champions Shingo and BUSHI) in a 10-Man Elimination Tag Match – Live WWE’s Survivor Series, this was an elimination match. That means when a man is eliminated, the team still goes on until there is only one team remaining. The only real difference from Suvivor Series is going over the top rope, battle royal style, also counts as an elimination. Of course, Suzuki-Gun jumpstarted the match before the bell. They all worked over Bushi. Naito tagged in, but only got a few shots in on Taichi before Suzuki-Gun started fighting on the outside.. This effectively left Naito all alone in the ring, and gave Suzuki-Gun the opportunity to get the heat on Naito until SANADA got the hot tag. LIJ rallied briefly, but momentum only lasted until Sanada tried to put Suzuki in the Paradise Lock. Suzuki countered and used a guillotine choke. The two men struggled, with neither getting the upper hand. They toppled over the top rope, which eliminated both.
Shingo Takagi and Desperado enter the ring next, and LIJ started their comeback. Desperado got eliminated by getting kicked over the top rope, However, almost immediately after, Shingo was eliminated by getting knocked outside as well. BUSHI pinned Kanemaru with an O’Conner Role. BUSHI submitted to to Sabre. EVIL and ZSJ went back and forth until they both went over to the apron. EVIL hit Everything Is Evil on the apron, but both men tumbled to the floor for a double-elimination.
This left Naito and Taichi as the lone remaining member for each team. After a ref bump, Taichi tried to hit Naito with the IC title belt. Naito ducked, but before he could counter with his own bellt shot, Red Shoes was back up and took the belt from him. As Red Shoes removed the belt from the ring, Taichi hit Naito with a low blow. When Red Shoes turned around, Taichi booted Naito to the outside for the final elimination. While it wasn’t a pinfall, it showed that Taichi could hold his own against the champion.
After the match, Taichi cut a promo, presumably taunting that he’d win the title at New Beginning.
