By Chris Vetter, ProWrestling.net Contributor (@chrisvetter73)
New Japan Pro Wrestling “Road to The New Beginning”
January 23, 2024 in Tokyo, Japan at Korakuen Hall
Streamed live on New Japan World
Walker Stewart provided live commentary. Chris Charlton is sick and isn’t available.
* Master Wato is injured; he was supposed to have a singles match later in the show against Sho, but he came to the ring on crutches. He spoke on the mic in Japanese. Sho jumped in the ring from behind, hit him in the back of the knee with his wrench,, and he stomped on Wato! Desperado appeared at ringside and Sho ran away. Walker Stewart later said the Wato-Sho match is canceled, so we only have seven matches today instead of eight. UPDATE: Chris Charlton on his Twitter/X feed wrote that Wato tore his left ACL. That’s pretty devastating.
1. Ryusuke Taguchi and Katsuya Murashima defeated Shoma Kato and Yoh at 8:10. Again, Katsuya looks like a young Taka Michinoku, and Shoma is equally as small. Taguchi and Shoma opened with quick mat reversals; I like that the Young Lions didn’t open against each other. Let them get some new experiences. Yoh hit a bodyslam on Katsuya at 3:00, and Yoh applied a leglock around Katsuya’s head. Yoh hit a snap suplex. Kato and Yoh took turns hitting bodyslams on Taguchi. Taguchi hit a basement dropkick on Kato’s knee, then he applied an anklelock until Kato tapped out. Okay.
2. “United Empire” TJP, Francesco Akira, Great-O-Khan, Henare, and Callum Newman defeated “Bullet Club War Dogs” David Finlay, Drilla Moloney, Alex Coughlin, Gabe Kidd, and Clark Connors at 11:37. O-Khan showed off his newly-won KOPW belt. Kidd and Henare traded blows in the ring while everyone else brawled on the floor. Henare hit a senton. The BCWD began working over Newman in their corner. Finlay hit a senton at 6:30. TJP finally made the hot tag and hit a back suplex on Connors, then his Facewash kicks in the corner on Drilla, then a top-rope doublestomp on Moloney’s chest as Drilla was tied in the Tree of Woe.
Coughlin and O-Khan traded offense. Kidd hit a brainbuster on O-Khan. Finlay hit a uranage over his knee on Henare at 9:00. Finlay dropped Callum throat-first on the top rope. Callum hit a mid-ring Spanish Fly on Finlay. Moloney hit a superkick on TJP. This is just rapid-fire action. Akira tagged in and hit a flying forearm on Connors. Connors hit a powerslam on Akira, then a spear for a nearfall at 10:30. Connors set up for the No Chaser DDT but Akira blocked it. Akira missed the Fireball double knees. Akira got a rollup on Connors out of nowhere for the pin. This had really good energy.
3. “Bullet Club” Kenta, Chase Owens, and Taiji Ishimori defeated El Phantasmo, Hikuleo, and Jado at 9:30. Kenta carried his Defy Wrestling Heavyweight Title belt. The BC stalled at the bell with no one wanting to start. Kenta teased starting but tagged out. Chase and ELP finally locked up at 2:00, and ELP hit a dropkick to the face. Chase hit a backbreaker over his knee. HIkuleo tagged in at 5:30 and dropped Chase with a shoulder tackle. He hit a Stinger Splash on the tiny Ishimori, then he hit a double clothesline on both of them. He suplexed Chase for a nearfall. Chase hit a chop block on the back of the knee. Kenta tagged in and stomped on Hikuleo. Hikuleo hit a sideslam. Jado applied a crossface on Kenta. Kenta rolled up Jado for the clean pin. That was anticlimatic.
* Henare joined commentary.
4. “The Mighty Don’t Kneel” Zack Sabre Jr., Shane Haste, Mikey Nicholls, and Kosei Fujita defeated Kazuchika Okada, Tomoaki Honma, Tomohiro Ishii, and Hiroshi Tanahashi at 13:38. Tanahashi and Haste opened, and Tanahashi hit a second-rope crossbody block. Ishii entered and dropped Shane with a shoulder tackle. TMDK began working over Ishii in their corner. Sabre and Kosei took turns hitting European Uppercuts on Ishii, with Kosei getting a nearfall at 3:00. Ishii finally hit a back suplex on Sabre and they were both down. Ishii dropped Kosei with a shoulder tackle. Okada tagged in for the first time at 5:30 and he nailed a running back elbow on Kosei and a DDT on Nicholls.
Okada applied the Money Clip sleeperhold on Fujita, but Nicholls eventually made the save. Fujita hit a springboard dropkick for a nearfall at 8:30 on Okada. Okada hit a dropkick on Sabre and they were both down. Honma enterd for the first time at 10:30 but he missed a Kokeshi falling headbutt on Sabre. Sabre snapped Honman’s neck between his ankles, and he applied a leglock around Honma’s neck. Tanahashi entered and he began hitting Dragonscrew Legwhips. Honma hit a leaping headbutt on Sabre for a nearfall, but he missed a second-rope Kokeshi. Sabre hit a Penalty Kick to the chest, and he applied a cross-armbreaker until Honma tapped out.
5. “House of Torture” EVIL, Yujiro Takahashi, and Ren Narita (w/Dick Togo) defeated Tama Tonga, Togi Makabe, and Shota Umino at 10:24. Togi and Yujiro traded offense to start. Yujiro dropped Tama throat-first on the top rope at 2:00. Ren and Shoma were brawling at ringside, while EVIL was beating up Togi elsewhere on the floor. The HoT kept Tama in their corner. Shota finally got the hot tag at 5:30, and he traded quick offense with Ren, then a shotgun dropkick on Yujiro. Shota hit a fisherman’s suplex on Ren for a nearfall. Ren hit a slingshot, sending Shota’s throat across the bottom rope at 7:30.
Togi tagged in. The HoT began hitting clotheslines on him in the corner, and Dick Togo hit his knife-edge chop to Togi’s groin, allowing Ren to get a nearfall. Togi hit a clothesline for a nearfall on Ren. EVIL brought a chair into the ring but the ref confiscated it. However, Ren hit Togi in the head with the workout bar to score the cheap pin. Sluggish match.
6. “Just 5 Guys” Sanada, Douki, Taka Michinoku, Yuya Uemura, and Taichi defeated “Los Ingobernobles de Japon” Shingo Takagi, Bushi, Yota Tsuji, Tetsuya Naito, and Hiromu Takahashi at 11:33. Everyone brawled at the bell, and the camera focused on Yota and Yuya brawling at ringside. Shingo and Taichi traded kicks to the thighs in the ring. Sanada tried to apply the Paradise Lock on Naito, but Naito shrugged it off. Sanada hit a hard dropkick to Naito’s chest at 3:30. Hiromu tagged in and he battled Douki, hitting a huracanrana, then a running clothesline in the corner on Taka. Douki tied Hiromu in a Gory Special.
Uemura and Tsuji entered at 6:30, with Yota hitting a shoulder tackle. Uemura hit some deep armdrags and a back suplex and they were both down. Bushi finally tagged in and hit a missile dropkick on Taka, then a DDT for a nearfall at 9:00. Bushi rolled up Taichi for a nearfall. Taichi hit a spin kick to the head, then he applied a Stretch Plum, but Shingo made the save. Sanada hit a dropkick on Naito. Most of the J5G hit planchas to the floor to take out LIJ, leaving just Taichi and Bushi in the ring. Taichi nailed a superkick to pin Bushi.
* Taichi spoke on the mic, giving a lengthy promo.
7. El Desperado defeated Yoshinobu Kanemaru (w/House of Torture) at 23:55 to retain the IWGP Jr. Hvt. Championship. The entire HoT joined Kanemaru to ringside, which was a really stark difference from Desperado, who has no one in his corner. However, all of the Hot headed to the back before the bell. (I bet we see them in a few minutes!) Desperado and Kanemaru were teammates in Suzuki-Gun and they opened with an intense lockup. They fought to the floor, where Kanemaru dropped him throat-first on the guardrail at 4:30. In the ring, Kanemaru hit a backbody drop and remained in charge. They went right back to the floor, where he hit a bodyslam onto the thin mat at ringside at 6:30. Back in the ring, Desperado finally hit a back suplex at 9:30.
Desperado hit a Dragonscrew Legwhip and began targeting the left knee. He applied the Stretch Muffler leglock around the neck. He hit a spinebuster at 13:30 and went right back to the Stretch Muffler. Sho appeared at ringside (you knew it was coming!) to distract the ref. Ren Narita jumped in the ring and hit Desperado. HIroshi Tanahashi jogged to ringside. Shota Umino got in too, and they chased the HoT to the back, so the match continues one-on-one. Kanemaru hit a moonsault on Desperado’s back for a nearfall at 16:30, and he applied a Boston Crab. He hit a second-rope leaping DDT for a nearfall.
Desperado hit another spinebuster and a back suplex, then his Blue Thunder Bomb for a nearfall at 20:30, and he went back to cranking on the left knee. EVIL and Dick Togo jumped in the ring and stomped on Desperado. Tama Tonga ran in and beat up EVIL. Kanemaru got his whiskey bottle but Desperado knocked it away. Desperado once again applied the Stretch Muffler, and this time, Kanearu tapped out. A good match that perhaps should have been in the 12-16 minute window.
* Desperado spoke at length on the mic. Chris Charlton wrote that Desperado thanked Tama Tonga for helping him out. Backstage, Sho attacked Desperado in the interview area.
Final Thoughts: A good main event but nothing must-see, either. I think so highly of Desperado, but Kanemaru really does nothing for me. The LIJ-Just 5 Guys stuff is always good, and the BCWD-United Empire match was fast and furious. NJPW is back in Korakuen Hall on Wednesday. Terrible news about Master Wato. I’ve written this several times lately… we’ve seen one pro wrestler, NBA player, NFL player, after another vow to come back from a torn ACL in under nine months. They just can’t. The reality is it is that long of a process to make a full recovery.
TICKET UPDATE: For those of you in or near Chicago… additional tickets for NJPW’s Windy City Riot on April 12 will go on sale at noon today. The 3,500 tickets in the lower bowl all sold out. (I got three for me and my boys!). Hopefully we wind up with an attendance of 6,000-8,000.
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