NEW JAPAN NEW BEGINNING IN SENDAI, JAPAN PREVIEW
By Matthew Macklin on 2015-02-13 10:25:35
NJPW are back with night two of The New Beginning in Sendai on Saturday morning live on NJPW World at 18:00 JST. Bullet Club got back to the top of the mountain in Osaka winning three major championships. There are a couple of changes to the card with Ryusuke Taguchi out due to a neck injury at the hands of The Bullet Club in Osaka.
Satoshi Kojima, Tomoaki Honma & Yohei Komatsu vs. Manabu Nakanishi, Captain New Japan & Sho Tanaka.
This will be the usual NJPW six man opener. There is still a chance this will be switched around if Makabe isn’t fit and Kojima has to replace him. You never know what you will get with Nakanishi & Captain. Hopefully the young lions work the majority of the match.
Tiger Mask IV & Jay White vs. Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly (ReDRagon)
Jay White has been impressive since his debut and after being pulled from the Osaka show due to Makabe being unwell, this is his first major show. His exchanges with Fish and O’Reilly should be fun, who should get their win back after losing their gold without getting pinned.
Mascara Dorada, Alex Shelley & KUSHIDA vs. Kenny Omega, Matt & Nick Jackson (Bullet Club)
Dorada replaces the injured Taguchi here and it is fitting as Dorada will be the next challenger for Omega’s junior title. This match should be fantastic as it couldn’t be anything different given the talent involved. The team of Omega and The Bucks is like something straight out of PWG. They have teamed a few times since Wrestle Kingdom and Omega has slipped in like he was a third Young Buck. Dorada will have a huge chance to shine here.
NWA Junior Heavyweight Championship
Jushin Thunder Liger vs Chase Owens
The match in which Liger won the title from Owens was far better than it had any right to be. I’d expect this to be just as good as Liger has been great as champion. His match with El Desperado on January 5th was the best Liger match in some time. Bruce Tharpe has promised to unmask Liger and put him in the hospital, so we’ll see how the plans of the evil NWA president unfold.
NWA heavyweight Championship
Rob Conway vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan
Tenzan is beaten down and held together by tape, but when he is in singles competition in the G1 he always seems to pull out some miraculous performances. Is Rob Conway the guy he can do it with? We’ll soon see. Tenzan’s partner Kojima has had good matches with Conway and won the NWA title for a brief period. Bruce Tharpe’s shenanigans at ringside should distract from any of Tenzan’s short comings.
Kota Ibushi & Tetsuya Naito vs. Toru Yano & Kazushi Sakuraba
Yano & Sakuraba continue to be pro wrestlings most bizarre tag team. Ibushi & Naito look like they will be a regular tag team going forward under the name of Golden Stardust. Ibushi, who has a background in kickboxing has said he would like to challenge Sakuraba to a fight with open-fingered gloves. We should have some fun exchanges between the two. I can see Naito & Ibushi being tag title challengers soon, so they should win here.
Kazuchika Okada & YOSHI-HASHI vs. Bad Luck Fale & Yujiro Takahashi
Okada seems to be on track to get out of his slump. His next step is to get revenge for the two defeats he suffered at the hands of Bad Luck Fale. What if Fale defeats Okada again just as he was getting out of his slump? I’d like to see where that would go. Yujiro has recently said he wants to challenge for the IWGP Intercontinental Championship because his girl likes it and what she likes she gets.
Hiroshi Tanahashi, Katsuyori Shibata & Hirooki Goto vs. Tama Tonga, Doc Gallows & Karl Anderson
Tanahashi, Goto & Shibata all lost their gold at the hands of Bullet Club and cannot be happy about it. Team NJPW should be out for revenge here and I would expect Tama Tonga to take the fall. If given time it should be a great match as I thought the Gallows/Anderson vs Shibata/Goto match on Wednesday was outstanding. Hopefully we get more of the same here.
NEVER Openweight Championship
Togi Makabe vs. Tomohiro Ishii
If Makabe is healthy after coming down with Influenza we should be in for another war. Even an ill Makabe that might not be 100% will not phone it in. Their match at Wrestle Kingdom was as stiff and physical as anything you will ever see, and with Ishii’s injuries mounting he is crazy to keep wrestling the way he does. There is only so much punishment someone can take, but he is beyond tough and only ever wrestles in fifth gear. I hope Makabe retains here and maybe Ishii will take some time off to recover.
IWGP Intercontinental Championship
Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Yuji Nagata
I have been looking forward to this one ever since it was announced. I am expecting a classic here as Yuji Nagata main events for an IWGP title for the first time in years. In a recent interview, Nagata felt snubbed by being in the pre show match at Wrestle Kingdom. He said he thought about quitting. Now he is out to prove a point and show that he is still as good as anyone and at 46 years old can hang with one of the finest in the world in Shinsuke Nakamura. These two have had excellent matches in the last two G1 tournaments and Nagata proves every year that he is still as good as anyone. Just like Kurt Angle, Nagata turns it on when he has to and personally I would love to see him take the gold. This match should be special.
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