By Chris Vetter, ProWrestling.net Contributor (@chrisvetter73)
New Japan Pro Wrestling “Road to The New Beginning”
February 5, 2024 in Tokyo, Japan at Korakuen Hall
Streamed live on New Japan World
This is the second consecutive day in this venue. Chris Charlton provided commentary. He explained we have a unique gauntlet for the main event; I’ll summarize it prior to that match.
1. Shoma Kato vs. Katsuya Murashima ended in a time-limit draw at 10:00. Katsuya is the Taka Michinoku clone, both in his face and overall size. With them both having short buzzcuts and wearing black trunks, I struggle to keep track of which one is which, particular as they are trading holds on the mat. Charlton said one of them was on a reality show hosted by Kazuchika Okada, which led to him joining the dojo. Murashima applied a half-crab and Kato held on for the last 30 seconds without tapping out. What you would expect from guys this new.
2. “Bullet Club” Kenta, Chase Owens, and Taiji Ishimori defeated “Guerrillas of Destiny” El Phantasmo, Hikuleo, and Jado at 7:44. Kenta has his Defy title belt. Chase and Kenta grabbed the tag belts and set them in their corner before the bell. Kenta and ELP opened and they immediately traded chops and slaps, and ELP hit a leg lariat and a dropkick. The heels bailed to the floor and tried to leave with the title belts but Hikuleo cut them off and dragged them back to the ring. HIkuleo hit a side slam on Ishimori at 3:00. The heels began working over Phantasmo. Ishimori choked ELP on the mat. ELP hit an enzuigiri on Ishimori.
Hikuleo made the hot tag at 5:30 and he hit a double clothesline. He hit a Bulldog Powerslam on Kenta for a nearfall. Jado tagged in and he hit some kicks on Kenta. He applied a crossface on the mat, but Ishimori made the save. Jado hit a clothesline on Ishimori and he fired up. However, Chase hit Jado in the back of the head with a title belt, and Ishimori quickly rolled up Jado for the cheap pin. ELP and Hikuleo beat up the heels after the bell. ELP superkicked Ishimori and Hikuleo hit a chokeslam on Ishimori.
3. Yoh, Tomoaki Honma, Shota Umino, Boltin Oleg, and El Desperado defeated “House of Torture” EVIL, Sho, Ren Narita, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, and Yujiro Takahashi (w/Dick Togo) at 8:50. They all brawled at the bell. Honma was still wearing his colorful robe as he hit a shoulder tackle on Kanemaru. Oleg hit a bodyslam, and he flipped Kanemaru around in his arms. (I know he does this every match, but wow he’s powerful.) The heels choked Yoh and worked him over in their corner. Yoh hit a huracanrana on Sho at 4:30. Desperado got the hot tag and he attacked the heels, hitting a back suplex on Sho for a nearfall. He hit a Spinebuster on Sho and they were both down.
Shota got the hot tag and he brawled with EVIL. Shota hit a tornado DDT for a neafall at 6:30. Shota hit a dropkick, then an enzuigiri in Narita. He had a push-up bar and Yujiro taunted him to hit him with it. Instead, Shota tossed the weapon aside and hit the Death Rider double-arm DDT on Yujiro for the pin. Okay match but some guys were barely in this match before it wrapped up.
* Shota got on the mic and he taunted EVIL, saying he doesn’t even know how to use the push-up bar. He told him he was going to take the NEVER Openweight title belt off of him. That match is occurring Feb. 24.
4. “The Mighty Don’t Kneel” Shane Haste, Mikey Nicholls, Zack Sabre Jr., and Kosei Fujita defeated Tomohiro Ishii, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Tomohiro Ishii, Toru Yano, and Togi Makabe at 10:33. Yano and Nicholls opened, and Toru playfully slapped him in the back of the head. Kosei jumped in and hit a dropkick on Yano. Ishii slapped around Fujita, and he hit a back suplex for a nearfall at 3:30. Fujita hit an enzuigiri. Tanahashi entered and he knocked all of TMDK off the apron before also working over Fujita, hitting a second-rope summersault senton for a nearfall. Haste got in and hit a dropkick. He hit a rolling cannonball in the corner on Tanahashi. He hit a Dragonscrew Legwhip on NIcholls, then one on Haste.
Ishii tagged back in, but Haste hit a Falcon Arrow on him. Sabre entered for the first time at 7:00 and he snapped Ishii’s neck between his ankles. Ishii hit a Brainbuster. Togi tagged in, and his team all took turns working over Zack. Zack hit a snap suplex on Togi for a nearfall at 8:30. Kosei hit a Slingblade clothesline on Tanahashi, then he hit a flip dive to the floor on Yano. Sabre and Togi hit simultaneous clotheslines. Sabre applied a sleeper, and he turned it into a Cobra Stretch in the middle of the ring, but Togi powered out. Sabre grabbed the left arm, flipped Makabe to the mat, and turned it into a Fujiwara Armbar. He cranked backward until Makabe tapped out. Decent action.
* Hikuleo joined Charlton on commentary. I truly don’t recall hearing him speak before; if he has, it’s pretty infrequently.
5. “United Empire” TJP, Francesco Akira, Great-O-Khan, and Callum Newman defeated “Bullet Club War Dogs” David Finlay, Drilla Moloney, Clark Connors, and Alex Coughlin via DQ at 1:15. They all brawled at the bell. Charlton said Gabe Kidd and Henare aren’t in this match because they knocked each other out on Sunday, and Jeff Cobb previously suffered a knee injury. A chair was whipped at Francesco’s head and the ref called for the bell! The BCWD kept beating up the UE after the bell, with Finlay hitting them with his shillelagh. This ended so quickly I don’t know what happened to Callum Newman.
* Finlay got on the mic and vowed that Will Ospreay can’t save his friends, and he’ll see him in Osaka in the cage match.
* So, the gauntlet is a series of matches between these two 5-man teams. If you win, you advance and face the next member of the opposing team. If there is no winner after 10 minutes, both men are eliminated and the gauntlet continues with two new participants. (Thus, you could have anywhere between five and nine mini-matches.) Let’s see how this plays out!
6a. Sanada vs. Tetsuya Naito ended in a time-limit draw at 10:00. So, in theory, Sanada could score five consecutive wins and his Just 5 Guys teammates would never even enter the match. Keep in mind, this is just a 10-minute time limit; and Charlton predicted a draw (meaning a double elimination.) They immediately traded some rollups for nearfalls. Naito hit a baseball slide dropkick at 5:00 and Sanada was down on the floor. Charlton said Sanada hasn’t won a singles match in under 10 minutes since the G1 in August. Naito hit a neckbreaker across the guardrail! In the ring, Naito hit a Frankensteiner at 7:00.
Sanada fired back with some dropkicks. They brawled back to the floor and up onto the short balcony and bleachers. Sanada tried to get a Paradise Lock, but Naito fought free. Naito jumped back into the ring at the 19-count just over nine minutes in. Naito hit a tornado DDT. He went for a Destino and it was blocked; Sanada tried to hit a Deadfall swinging faceplant and that was blocked. The time limit expired and both men are eliminated. However, they both remained at ringside.
6b. Shingo Takagi defeated Taka Michinoku at 6:57. Taka came out first; he jumped Shingo before Takagi had removed his robe. They brawled to the floor, where Shingo whipped him into the guardrail. In the ring, Taka hit a Dragonscrew Legwhip and he applied the Figure Four around the ring post (a.k.a. the Bret Hart spot. Right on cue, Charlton said that AFTER I typed it!) They brawled to the back and Charlton speculated that Taka was trying to get a double countout. They returned to the ring and Taka applied an anklelock, but Shingo reached the ropes at 4:00. Shingo hit a hard clothesline. Taka hit a running knee. He did an eyepoke and got a rollup for a nearfall at 6:00. Shingo hit another clothesline, then a Pumping Bomber Clothesline, then a standing powerbomb, and he turned it into an STF. Taka tapped out.
6c. Taichi vs. Shingo Takagi ended in a time-limit draw at 10:00. They immediately hit shoulder tackles with neither man budging. Taichi hit some spin kicks to the thighs. Charlton said history indicates neither man can beat the other in under 10 minutes. They went to the floor and Taichi hit a stiff kick to the spine. In the ring, Shingo hit some punches and a DDT at 4:00. Taichi hit an enzuigiri-style kick to the chin and they were both down. They traded punches and locked up, as if each was trying to hit a belly-to-belly suplex. Shingo hit a Pumping Bomber at 9:00 and they were both down. They hit more clotheslines. Taichi hit an enzuigiri for a nearfall, then the time expired and both are eliminated.
6d. Douki defeated Bushi at 1:27. Standing switches and this is a faster pace out of the gate. Douki got a rollup out of nowhere for the pin! I certainly didn’t see that coming!! Hiromu Takahashi ran into the ring to make sure the next match can begin immediately!
6e. Hiromu Takahashi vs. Douki ended in a time-limit draw at 10:00. Hiromu hit a shotgun dropkick at the bell, then a basement dropkick. He hit a running shotgun dropkick from the apron to the floor. Douki hit an Asai Moonsault at 1:30 and they were both down on the floor. In the ring, Douki hit a springboard back elbow. Douki applied a Gory Special lock, then he applied the Douki Chokey modified triangle choke at 4:30. Hiromu hit the running Death Valley Driver into the corner. They hit simultaneous clotheslines at 7:00. They traded multiple rollups. Douki hit a clothesline and they were both down. Hiromu hit a superkick. Douki again applied the Douki Chokey, but Hiromu powered out and hit a Flatliner for a nearfall. Time expired as they kept trying to hit finishers. I think a draw really elevates Douki.
6f. Yota Tsuji defeated Yuya Uemura at 19:03. Charlton said there is no time limit in this final match in the gauntlet. Some basic reversals to open. They began trading forearm strikes and chops at 1:00. They brawled to the floor, and Uemura shoved Tsuji shoulder-first into the ring post. Uemura worked over the left arm, keeping a hammerlock applied, as they fought back in the ring. Yota hit a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker over his knee at 7:30. Yota hit a dive through the ropes. In the ring, Uemura hit a Divorce Court armbreaker, then a dropkick to the shoulder at 10:00. He hit a back suplex for a nearfall and went back to the hammerlock.
Yota hit a Flatliner at 12:00. He applied a Boston Crab and sat down for pressure, but Uemura finally reached the ropes at 14:30. (Hikuleo asked here how long this match has been going; Charlton reminded him there is no time limit. The 15-minute call was late.) Yota did a Giant Swing and he again applied the Boston Crab. He turned it into a Lion Tamer at 18:00. Yuya hit an enzuigiri. Tsuji hit a spear for the pin. That was really good. Charlton said Yota “couldn’t afford another high-profile loss.” Thus, Los Ingobernobles de Japon won the gauntlet.
* Tsuji got on the mic and he stood over Uemura as he spoke. Tsuji said they have to fight over the title. He said they need to settle this, and he suggested they put their hair on the line! Yes, Tsuji wants a hair-vs.-hair match. Uemura grabbed the mic, and said he isn’t interested in Yota’s hair. He agreed to do the match! Charlton said it is their identities on the line! Tsuji also indicated he wants a future world title shot.
Final Thoughts: The gauntlet idea was fun and different. Uemura and Yota had a predictably good match and easily best of the show. Their hair being on the line will make their next bout something special because they both have such long, flowing locks, whoever loses is going to look vastly different after a haircut.
Last year, NJPW “put all their eggs in the Master Wato basket,” as Wato won Super Juniors but never really got elevated. I’d like to see NJPW give the Wato treatment to Douki in 2024, as the fans see him so close to breaking out, and they really want to see him succeed. A great showing by taking Hiromu to a draw is a smart move in slowly elevating him. I’m enjoying the TMDK interactions with Ishii and Tanahashi; I’m not really into the Hikuleo/ELP-Chase/Kenta stuff, as that hasn’t quite clicked yet.
I want to reiterate, if you didn’t read the review from Sunday’s show, that Gabe Kidd and Henare had a FANTASTIC, head-turning, show-stealing barnburner singles match, even though it went to a draw. So, I really like that they “knocked each other out” and weren’t able to compete here today.
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