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1/20 NJPW NEW BEGINNING IN NAGOYA REPORT, THOUGHTS ON OKADA'S DEPARTURE

1/20/24 Results for New Japan’s New Beginning in Nagoya; Thoughts on the Rainmaker

1 - Shoma Kato vs. Katsuya Matsushima

Both are new young lions having their first singles match.

Both men battle to a time limit draw.

2 - Shota Umino and Tomoaki Honma vs. Ren Narita and Yujiro Takahashi 

Narita tried to low blow Honma but the referee stopped him.  Yujiro hits Honma with his Pimp Stick.   Narita hits the X-Factor, now called the Double Cross.

Narita pins Honma.

Narita will face Umino in a singles match on January 24.

3 - Jeff Cobb, HENARE, TJP, Francesco Akira, and Callum Newman vs. Alex Coughlin, Gabe Kidd, Clark Conners, Drilla Moloney and David Finlay

Wild match.  All ten men immediately fight on the floor.  War Dogs focused on attacking Newman.  

After everyone exchanges finishers, Finlay hits a powerbomb on Newman and gets the pin.

4 - El Desperado and Master Wato vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru and SHO

Kanemaru sprays Wato in the eyes with whiskey.   SHO hits a Shock Arrow on Wato.

SHO pins Wato.

5 - Kazuchika Okada, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Tomohiro Ishii and Togi Makabe vs. Zack Sabre Jr., Mikey Nichols, Shane Haste and Kosei Fujita

Massive chant for Okada.

ZSJ forces Makabe tap out to a leg submission.

Okada remains in the ring and thanks the fans in Nagoya.

6 - TAKA Michinoku, DOUKI, Yuya Uemura, Taichi and SANADA vs. BUSHI, Hiromu Takahashi, Yota Tsuji, Shingo Takagi and Tetsuya Naito 

SANADA forces BUSHI to submit to Skull End.

7 - KOPW 2024 - Fitness Training Match:  Great O-Khan vs. Taiji Ishimori

The rules of this match were extremely confusing.  There is a 10 minute Time Limit.  Both men began fighting a regular match.  After 3 minutes, they had to do exercises in the ring.    Ishimori whipped through the exercises.  O-Khan took longer to finish and was breathing hard.   The match resumed and O-Khan was breathing hard.  O-Khan trapped Ishimori in a Head and Arm choke.   After 3 minutes, they had to do more exercises.   Ishimori finished all the exercises and O-Khan was blown up.   Match resumes and Ishimori goes after the left arm.  Ishimori traps him in the Bone Lock.  After the last 3 minutes, both men did more exercises.  Ishimori was a machine and O-Khan was in pain.   O-Khan did not finish the exercises and the referee made him do it again with the crowd counting. 

Ishimori tries for a Bone Lock, and O-Khan fights him off.  Ishimori tries to hit him with the belt but O-Khan punches him in the gut. 

O-Khan hits an Eliminator.  Then falls to the mat and on top of the belt.   The time limit expires.   The referee awards the belt to O-Khan because he was the last to hold the belt when the time expired.

Great O-Khan is the new KOPW 2024 Champion.

This match was completely stupid.   It was impressive to see how athletic Ishimori was but it was dumb to include exercises in a wrestling match.

8 - New Japan Strong Openweight Tag Team Championship:   Chase Owens and KENTA vs. El Phantasmo and Hikuleo

KENTA looks like Hideo Itami back in his NXT days.  He looks healthier and healed.

Good American style match with Owens KENTA keeping ELP in their corner to beat him up.   Hikuleo made a hot tag and fought both men.  All four men trade finishers.   

Hikuleo hits a Godsend on KENTA.  ELP hits a CR2 on Owens.

ELP pins Owens.

Guerrillas of Destiny retain the Strong Openweight Tag Team Championship.

8 - NEVER Openweight Championship:  Tama Tonga vs EVIL

All of House of Torture are at ringside.  

Tama attacks EVIL at the bell.   Tama tries to cut EVIL’s hair.   House of Torture jump in and stop him.   They stomp on Tama.   Jado, Shota Umino and others run to make the save.   The referee calls off the match calling it a “no contest”.  

Tama takes the mic and says this can be a Lumberjack match.   EVIL accepts.   Tama beats him up.  EVIL tries to escape but Umino throws him back in.  Tama gets thrown to the floor and a brawl breaks out.  

 The match settles into a one on one affair.  Tama hits a Tonga Twist.  Tama tries to suplex EVIL but he grabs the referee.   The referee shakes him off.  Tama rolls him up for a pin.  EVIL kicks out and sends Tama into the ropes where Togo hits him with a chair.  EVIL with a two count.   Jado hits EVIL with a Kendo stick.   Tama with a two count.   

Referee goes down and takes a bump.  Everyone jumps in and hits their finishers.   Tama hits a Gun Stun on EVIL.  Two count.   Tama hits a DSD.  Togo pulls out the referee then chokes Tama with a shirt.  Jado hits Togo with the Kendo stick.  Tama hits a Gun Stun on Togo.  

Tama goes for another DSD.   Narita hits Tama with his Push Up stick.   EVIL hits Everything is Evil.   

EVIL pins Tama.

EVIL wins the NEVER Openweight Championship.

Solid match.   Tama had to drop the belt.  House of Torture get a title and some prestige.    Narita gets more heat for causing the title change.   

After the match, Tama was in tears.   The fans screamed his name.    Tama thanked the fans.    He said thank you for taking care of him and giving him a home.  He said I love you.    

El Desperado, Hikuleo, El Phantasmo, Jado and Shota Umino were all in the ring.  They all gave a big hug.

Tama poses in the ring and waves goodbye to the fans.   He gives his last hug to Jado as he leaves the ring.

My Thoughts on Kazuchika Okada leaving New Japan:

As New Japan has built up younger stars over the past year, I believe they had to know that Okada was thinking of leaving.  When the New Beginning cards for January and February were announced, Okada was already advertised.   New Japan does not like to issue apologies and restructuring of events because it does make the company look bad.   Okada probably made this decision in the past week and is probably apologetic that he did so.

This will be a interesting story to follow and how this will affect the following parties:

New Japan - They are losing their top wrestler in the company and a major draw.  They have done a lot to build and push many young talent in 2023.   Will those talents step up once he leaves?  New President Hiroshi Tanahashi has said he wants to sell out arenas across the country.   Can they do it without Okada?

Tetsuya Naito - The World Heavyweight Champion will now have the entire company on his back.   He is getting massive cheers so Naito as the Champion is a good visual for New Japan.   The main concern is injuries.  Naito has dropped out of tournaments or events in the past due to injuries and he is getting older.  I always flashback to 2022 G1 Climax Finals between Kota Ibushi and Okada.  Ibushi broke his arm and match had to be stopped and awarded to Okada.  It was an awkward situation.   

Will Ospreay and Tama Tonga - Their announced exits are now overshadowed by Okada.   We know Ospreay is going to AEW.  Tama Tonga has not expressed his goals as of yet.  Both men have done a lot for New Japan and deserve the respect and thanks from the fans, just as much as Okada will receive.  Also, Okada, Ospreay and Tama are main event guys.   Their shoes will be hard to fill.

It will be interesting where Okada will go.   AEW and TNA makes the most sense.   The risk will be the injuries for their style of wrestling.  Okada is in his best shape after a quiet 2023.   Will he risk the injuries (and booking) in AEW or TNA?

WWE would be a safer style and place to work with HHH in charge.  Like Bryan Danielson leaving the Independent scene, the WWE could provide a nice living for the future.  Perhaps Okada would like to be on a Wrestlemania Stage to make the Rainmaker pose.  Shinsuke Nakamura is there and would assist him.  He would need a mouthpiece for promos and they do a lot of talking in WWE.

No matter where he goes this will be the story to follow in 2024.

Thanks for reading.

James Kurokawa

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