This is the middle point of New Japan’s New Beginning tour, and there are three title matches on the show.
Toa Henare p. Yota Tsugi with a Uranage – Tsuji slipped on the rampway when he came of to the ring. Good opening match with Henare winning via Uranage.
Manabu Nakanishi & Tiger Mask IV b. Shota Umino & Ayato Yashida – The Young Lions did fairly well against Tiger, but were quickly overpowered whenever Nakanishi tagged in. In the end though, Tiger used a top rope Butterfly Suplex on Yoshida for the pin.
Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Ren Narita b. Taka Michinoku & Takashi Iizuka of Suzuki-Gun by DQ when Iizuka used the Iron Glove – Tenzan cut a promo before the match trying to get Iizuka to shake his hand. As usual, the heels took a cheapshot and threw their opponents to the floor. The heels worked over Narita, including Iizuka taking a bite out of him. Narita reversed a suplex and got the hot tag to Tenzan. The heels tried to cut off Tenzan, but Narita made the save. With Iizuka down, Tenzan went for a moonsault. Taka interfered, and tossed Iizuka the Iron Glove. Iizuka bashed Tenzan with the glove for the DQ.
After the match, Iizuka took the microphone cable and used it to choke out Tenzan, then tripped over it on his way out of the ring.
Tomoaki Honma and NEVER Openweight Six Man Tag Champions Togi Makabe, Toru Yano, & Ryusuke Taguchi b. Bullet Club (Tama Tonga Tanga Loa, Yujiro Takahashi, & IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Taiji Ishimori w/Jado) when Yano pinned Loa with a roll up – The Junior Heavyweights began the match but fought to a standstill. Honma and Takahashi were in next. Tonga distracted the referee so Honma could get attacked and double teamed. They got the heat on Honma until Makabe got the hot tag. Taguchi also ran wild a bit before getting caught trying a hip attack. He reversed Ishimori’s move into an Anklelock. Jado broke that up with a cane shot. Yano got the tag and immediately removed a turnbuckle pad, which as usual backfired on him and he got sent into the exposed turnbuckles. While Jado had the ref’s attention, Loa ran in with the cane. However, Tama cut him off and seemed to plead to him to not use the cane. Tama threw the cane to the floor, which drew anger from Loa. As the brothers argued, Yano low blowed them and rolled up Loa for the pin.
IWGP Heavyweight Champion Hiroshi Tanahashi, Kazuchika Okada, & YOSHI-HASHI Bullet Club (Jay White, Bad Luck Fale, & Chase Owens) when White submitted YOASH-HASHI with an inverted Figure Four – Fale cheap shotted Okada from behind at the start of the match and whipped him into the corner. However Okada dodged and Fale slammed into Owens. The faces used teamwork on Owens, who managed to tag out. The heels continued to focus on Tanahashi’s leg for several minutes until Okada got the hot tag. After slamming Fale, Okada tried unsuccessfully to hit a piledriver. All the other teammates brawled on the outside while Okada landed a top rope elbow. He signaled for the Rainmaker, but Fale countered with a Samoan Drop and tagged White. Okada dodged a corner splash and tagged Hashi, who got in a flurry of offense. The heels cut off Hashi and resumed teaming up on him. Okada made the save before White could hit a Blade Runner, which lead to the multi-man brawl. Hashi hit White with Karma for a very close near fall. White countered a Hashi splash with his knees and hit a Dragon Suplex. The other heels fended off Okada and Tanahasi while White put Hashi in his inverted figure four. With nobody able to break the submission, Hashi tapped out.
After the match, the heels continued to beat on the babyfaces like good heels always do.
A video package aired (the first o the night, not counting the opening montage) recapping the feud between Suzuki-Gun and Los Ingobernables de Japon.
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Champions BUSHI & Shingo Takagi of Los Ingobernables De Japon b. Yoshinobu Kanemaru & El Desperado of Suzuki-Gun when Takagi pinned Kanemaru after Rebellion – Fast paced exchanges off the bat with all four competitors, with the action quickly spilling outside the ring. Bushi and Desperado tried to remove each other’s masks. By the time the match returned to the ring, Suzuki-Gun were solidly in control and getting the heat on Bushi. Takagi got the hot tag and ran wild over both opponents, even though he seemed to be favoring his leg. Kanemaru pulled the referee in Takagi’s way, and captialized with a spinning DDT. A moonsault got a near fall for Kanemaru. He climmbed to the top for a Deep Impact DDT, but Takagi caught him and countered with a suplex. Desperado and Bushi began brawling outside the ring, leaving Takagi and Kanemaru alone in the ring. Several pinfall attempts between the two, until Desperado pulled the referee out of the ring. With the referee down Desperado brought in a chair, which Bushi intercepted and fended off Desperado with. He blocked Kanemaru’s whiskey spit, then blew his own mist in Kanemaru’s face. takagi then finally pinned Kanemaru after hitting Rebellion.
After the match, Deperado tried to attack, but got fended off. Bushi then added the insult of unmasking him. Desperado then hobbled to the back, concealing his face.
Another video package aired recapping the history of Suzuki-Gun since their return a few years back, and the many battles they’ve had with LIJ.
IWGP Heavyweight Tag Champions EVIL & SANADA of Los Ingobernables De Japon b. Minoru Suzuki & Zack Sabre Jr. (w/Taka Michinoku) of Suzuki-Gun when Sanada pinned Suzuki with a moonsault – Of course, the action spilled to the outside right away, and everybody brawled of the floor. Sanada barely beat the countout by making it back into the ring at 19. Sabre and Suzuki pounced, and got the heat on Sanada. Evil tried to rally, but both LIJ members found themselves in submission holds, but both reversed at the same time for TKOs. Sabre broke a Magic Killer pin attempt on Suzuki. Sanada tried for Skull End, but Suzuki flipped out of it and went for a Gotch Piledriver. Evil broke that u, which allowed Sanada to finally hit the moonsault for a win.
A video package for the main event aired which depicted Taichi playing Fire Pro Wrestling as himself and beating Naito. It also showed his NEVER Openweight title win over Hirooki Goto. I must confess, I’m not really sold on Taichi headlining a PPV level event.
IWGP Heavyweight Champion Tetsuya Naito b. Taichi (w/Miho Abe) with a Destino – Takeshi Iizuka attacked Naito from behind with a ladder before the bell, as Taichi waited patiently in the ring. Kevin Kelly compared it to the Fujiwara attack on Riki Choshu from 1984. Taichi walked out to the ramp and hit Naito with Black Mephisto, then walked back into the ring with the title belt. He took the mic and yelled something, presumably demanding a countout. The ring crew came out and started carrying Naito to the back as Taichi gloated. He even laid next to the belt and mocked the Tranquilo pose. Red Shoes and several ring crew came to ringside. Taichi claimed that he should be the champion since Naito is unable to defend. Red Shoes got in the ring and took the title belt. When he tried to leave with it, Taichi stopped him. It appeared like the match was going to be called off when Naito made his return to the ring. Naito demanded the match be started. When the bell rang, Naito tried to go on offense. However, his strikes were clearly too weak to have any effect. Taichi laughed off Naito’s attacks and set up a table on the outside. He looked like he was going to hit Black Mephisto from the apron to the floor. Naito, in a very disturbing spot, countered and piledrove Taichi through the table from the apron. Taichi still managed to beat the countout. Naito hit a top rope hurricanrana for a near fall. Taichi fought back with a Saito Suplex, and locked in a submission. Naito escaped and started his comeback. When he tried to hit Destino, Iizuka returned ran out and got on the ring apron. Naito knocked him to the floor and dodged a belt shot from Taichi. He grabbed Taichi’s mic stand and used it as a weapon. Taichi dodged a second mic attack and levelled Naito with a chair. Naito refused to stay down, and kicked out of everything Taichi threw at him. The two exchanged several big moves and near until Naito finally hit Destino for the pin.
After the match, Naito cut a promo vowing to simultaneously hold the IWGP Heavyweight and Intercontinental Championships.
