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NJPW New Year's Dash from Ota-City, Tokyo, Japan
Kick off match: Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima and Yuji Nagata vs. Katsuya Murashima, Shoma Kato and Daiki Nagai
Nagata forces Nagai to tap out to the Nagata Lock II.
1 - Special Exhibition Match: Boltin Oleg vs. Josh Barnett
Both men fought to a time limit draw.
They shake hands after the match. Barnett gets the mic and says that he would go after Oleg's arm. In his opinion, Oleg did great and was prepared for him. Barnett promised to take him to the next level. Oleg thanked Barnett for his training.
2 - El Phantasmo, Shota Umino, Tomoaki Honma, Master Wato and Jado vs. Jeff Cobb, Great O-Khan, TJP, Francesco Akira and Jakob Austin Young
Umino enters through the crowd and some young children give Umino a handmade IWGP Title belt.
O-Khan pins Honma after an Eliminator.
Cobb and ELP face off after the match. Cobb never got a one on one match for the New Japan World Television Title. They will have a match at some point.
O-Khan attacks Umino and throws him into the guardrail. O-Khan grabs the handmade Title belt that was given to Umino and tears them up in the ring. The crowd boos for this. United Empire poses in the entryway. Umino holds the torn belts staring at O-Khan. Umino carries the torn belts back with him to the locker room. Nice babyface move.
3 - Hiroshi Tanahashi, Toru Yano, Togi Makabe and Tiger Mask vs. Ren Narita, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, SHO and Yujiro Takahashi
EVIL said in an interview that he is done with New Japan. This is why EVIL is not in this match, but it is a storyline.
Yujiro hits Tiger Mask with Tanahashi's NEVER Openweight 6 man belt. SHO pins Tiger Mask.
House of Torture beats down the babyfaces and steal Tanahashi's belt. Boltin Oleg comes out to make the save. SHO says if Tanahashi wants the belt then better come at get it.
4 - TAKA Michinoku and Taichi vs. SANADA and Clark Conners
Just 4 Guys are now just 2 guys with both DOUKI and Yuya Uemura out injured.
Taichi and SANADA brawl into the crowd. SANADA batters Taichi on the guardrails. TAKA uses his eye poke tricks on Conners. SANADA takes off the tape on his wrist and chokes TAKA. Taichi and TAKA double team SANADA. SANADA avoids a Michinoku Driver. SANADA pushes TAKA into the referee and hits a low blow. SANADA applies Skull End.
TAKA taps out.
SANADA grabs a beer from the announcers table and pours it all over TAKA. Taichi, with a chair, chases the War Dogs back to the locker room
5 - El Desperado and KUSHIDA vs. Taiji Ishimori and KENTA
KUSHIDA applies a Hoverboard Lock on KENTA. KENTA taps.
KUSHIDA barely applied the hold and did not bend KENTA's elbow. KENTA could be having problems with his left elbow.
After the match, KUSHIDA challenges Konosuke Takeshita for the NEVER Openweight belt. Taiji Ishimori challenges El Desperado for the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight belt. Desperado accepts.
KUSHIDA facing Konosuke Takeshita is an interesting match up.
6 - Yota Tsuji, Shingo Takagi, Titan and BUSHI vs. David Finlay, Gabe Kidd, Drilla Moloney and Gedo
Gabe Kidd got a huge pop from the crowd.
Wild match. Battles all over ringside. When Kidd and Tsuji faced off in the ring, the crowd popped for the two men had big nights in the Tokyo Dome. They traded stiff shots and laid each other out. Moloney and Takagi paired up and traded blows.
Titan trapped Gedo in his Inmortal submission. Gedo taps out.
All men continue to fight after the match. Tsuji poses in the ring with the Global Title and stares down Kidd. They face off in the ring as the crowd cheers.
Moloney says he is a Heavyweight now and he challenges Takagi to a match.
7 - Hiromu Takahashi and Tetsuya Naito vs. Alex Zayne and Ryusuke Taguchi
Naito pins Taguchi after hitting a Destino.
Naito said they are coming after the Young Bucks and the IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championship.
Naito implied that the match will happen sometime soon. Not at The New Beginning on February 11. So the fans of New Japan will not have Tag Team Champions for at least 3 months or so. There is no card yet for Battle in the Valley, which will be this Saturday in San Jose, California. The Tag Team Championship could be defended there. But will the AEW EVP's show up to a New Japan Strong show? Five days might be too short for them to recover from their hard match at the Tokyo Dome then prepare for a title defense. Fans will be guessing until an announcement is made.
8 - Hirooki Goto, YOSHI-HASHI, YOH and Rocky Romero vs. Zack Sabre Jr., Ryohei Oiwa, Robbie Eagles and Kosei Fujita
YOH pins Eagles with a cradle pin.
YOH and Romero have earned a Title match for the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Championship. Oiwa and YOSHI-HASHI continued to fight after the match. Zack Sabre Jr. and Goto had a stare down ahead of their Title Match. Ring officials tried to separate everyone from each other.
Goto gets the mic and thanks the fans. He holds up the contract for his Title opportunity. He will climb the mountain that he never been to before. He confirms his IWGP World Title Match will occur at The New Beginning in Osaka on February 11.
During the main event, two matches were confirmed for Battle in the Valley on January 11 in San Jose.
IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship: El Desperado vs. Taiji Ishimori
NEVER Openweight Championship: Konosuke Takeshita vs. KUSHIDA
More matches to be announced in the coming days.
The Road to The New Beginning will have televised shows on New Japan World on January 22, 23 and 30, which will lead up to The New Beginning in Osaka on February 11.
Hope you enjoyed Wrestle Kingdom weekend. The wrestling world will change in a few hours.
Thank you for reading.
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