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From Ota City, Tokyo, Japan:
1 - Katsuya Murashima, Yuya Uemura and Shota Umino vs. Satoshi Kojima, Taichi and Tomohiro Ishii
Ishii is the current STRONG Openweight Champion. Murashima showed some energy attacking Ishii.
Ishii gets the submission win with a Boston Crab on Murashima.
The commentators say that Murashima may be leaving on excursion soon, possibly to the United States or Europe.
After the match, Uemura and Umino brawled with Taichi and Ishii.
2 - Shoma Kato and El Phantasmo vs. Rocky Romero and Konosuke Takeshita
Takeshita wins by submission on Kato with a Boston Crab.
Kato also looks ready to go on excursion.
3 - Boltin Oleg, YOSHI-HASHI and Hirooki Goto vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Yujiro Takahashi and SANADA
SANADA came out with his guitar with a scrolling message "GOODBYE NJPW, See you Next F***IN Time". Something is being teased here.
Bishomon lifts Takahashi for a Shoto. Oleg hits a running Splash on Takahashi.
Oleg pins Takahashi.
4 - Clark Conners, Hiromu Takahashi and Gabe Kidd vs. Jakob Austin Young, Francesco Akira and Andrade El Idolo
All men quickly start brawling. Very stiff match. Andrade hit a Meteora on Kidd. Andrade did the Tetsuya Naito Tranquilo pose in the ring, which got a reaction from the fans. Pace picks up. Conners hit a Gore on Andrade. Akira and Young break the count. Andrade hit Conners with his kick elbow combination, and hits The Message.
Andrade pins Conners.
After the match, Kidd and Andrade get into a brawl. Kidd gets a mic and challenges Yota Tsuji and Andrade El Idolo to a match for the IWGP Global Title on February 11 at New Beginning in Osaka.
New Japan should split the IWGP World and IWGP Global Titles at that point.
5 - Master Wato, YOH, Toru Yano and Aaron Wolfe vs. Dick Togo, Don Fale, Ren Narita and EVIL
YOH hits a Slingblade on Togo and applies a Texas Cloverhold. Togo taps out.
After the match, House of Torture lays out the babyfaces. Narita attacks Wolfe and hits him with the steel push up bar. Looks like Narita is the next challenger for Wolfe's NEVER Openweight Title.
6 - Drilla Moloney, Shingo Takagi, David Finlay and Yota Tsuji vs. HENARE, Great O-Khan, Callum Newman and Jake Lee
Tsuji takes the mic and gets in Jake Lee's face. He says that Lee cannot take off from New Japan for a year and think he can step up to him. Tsuji says Lee needs to convince him. United Empire then attacks the War Dogs. Good brawl between both teams. HENARE and O-Khan hit a powerbomb and Eliminator combination on Moloney.
HENARE pins Moloney.
After the match, Jake Lee teases Tsuji by holding and caressing the IWGP World Title. They exchange slaps. Meanwhile, Newman and Finlay get into a brawl and Finlay starts throwing chairs at Newman. Gedo and young lions try to restrain Finlay. Newman cuts a promo on Finlay saying that he will fight Finlay any time any place. Newman says this is a New United Empire.
Will Ospreay's music plays and he comes out to the ring.
Ospreay stares down Finlay and Gedo pulls him to the side. Ospreay gets into the ring. He hugs HENARE. Ospreay shakes O-Khan's hand and bows to him. Newman gives the mic to Ospreay. Ospreay apologizes to his former teammates. He did not realize how his leaving would make United Empire crumble. He says he cannot come back now. He needs to recover before he can come back. He needs to handle things in AEW and then he will come back to New Japan. He is coming back to support to Newman. He is proud of Newman and promised to support him. Newman hugs Ospreay. Ospreay tells everyone crowns up. Ospreay, HENARE and O-Khan put up the crowns. Jake Lee tried to make the crown sign. Newman grabs a chair and was about to hit Ospreay, but HENARE and O-Khan stop him. Newman leaves the ring in a pissed off mood. Ospreay stares down Jake Lee as they leave the ring.
Ospreay returning to New Japan is huge because the company lacks babyfaces who are a draw. New Japan needs Ospreay to fill United States venues if they are choosing to run more shows there.
On paper, the United Empire looks strong but they are still in disarray. They are not functioning as a cohesive unit, but that will be the story going forward, to see if they will be able to survive as a faction.
7 - IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Championship (4 way Tornado style match): KUUKAI and El Desperado vs. Kosei Fujita and Robbie Eagles vs. Robbie X and Taiji Ishimori vs. SHO and DOUKI
Short match despite the amount of men in the match. TMDK hit a double avalanche on Robbie X. Fujita pins Robbie X.
TMDK wins the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Championship.
After the match, Francesco Akira attacks Taiji Ishimori and lays out Ishimori with a cradle suplex bomb. Hiromu makes the save. Hiromu challenges Akira to a match.
8 - IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championship: OSKAR and Yuto-Ice vs. Ryohei Oiwa and Zack Sabre, Jr.
Good stiff match, especially between Yuto and Oiwa. They hammered each other with stiff shots. Oiwa pushed down the referee to get more hard shots on Yuto. OSKAR makes the save but Oiwa hits a suplex on him. Oiwa dropkicks Yuto and hits a German suplex. Two count. Oiwa goes for a Doctor Bomb, but Yuto bites his leg to block it. ZSJ tags in. Yuto and ZSJ exchange strikes. Oiwa hits a Chaos Theory on Yuto. ZSJ with a cradle on Yuto. Two count. ZSJ with a neck crack and Oiwa with a top rope splash on Yuto. Two count. OSKAR comes back in for a K.O.B., but TMDK fight out of it. All four men brawl. Oiwa with a back slide. Yuto kicks out. Yuto hits a hard knee strike to Oiwa's face. Yuto hits Ice High. Oiwa blocks a knee strike and goes for a pin. Yuto escapes. Oiwa goes for The Grip, but Yuto hits an elbow to the chin first. Yuto hits a kick to the head. ZSJ traps Yuto in an ankle lock. OSKAR applies a sleeper on ZSJ. OSKAR hits a Berlin Fall (chokeslam) on ZSJ. Oiwa fights both men and hits The Grip on Yuto. Two count. The crowd is popping for Oiwa. Oiwa comes off the ropes. OSKAR catches Oiwa and lifts him into a K.O.B.
Yuto pins Oiwa.
Knockout Brothers retain the IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championship.
Good decision here. Zack and Oiwa do not need the belts. Yuto and OSKAR are still young and the title give them some credibility. Yuto has had some wicked fights, but Yuto uses mostly kicks and strikes. He needs a new finisher. OSKAR is good but needs work on his conditioning in the ring. He almost dropped Oiwa for the finishing sequence. Knockout Brothers are still growing as a team, but they are good heels.
Shota Umino and Yuya Uemura come to the ring. There are a lot boos for them. Wow!
The crowd continued to chant for Oiwa as he and Zack left the ring.
OSKAR and Yuto dismissed Umino and Uemura.
Taichi and Ishii come out to the ring. Taichi challenges both teams. Yuto says both of them fight and they will face the winner.
Massive chant for "K.O.B." Wow, the Knockout Brothers are more over both these teams.
Taichi accepts the challenge. They all leave the ring.
Yuto says we are all High on Tag Team wrestling. He says he Tanahashi is not here anymore. He is not a hero or the best looking. But he loves to fight and he loves pro wrestling. Lets get High on Pro Wrestling. There is nothing like New Japan Pro Wrestling.
Damn awesome promo by Yuto-Ice. He and OSKAR are the future of New Japan. Tanahashi leaves the ring in the good hands of the Knockout Brothers. Yuto, when New Japan chooses to, would be a great babyface.
Note: On commentary, they referenced a backstage statement by Yota Tsuji saying that a new faction has formed with members of the War Dogs and Unaffiliated. No details of this new faction was available as New Year Dash went off the air.
The next events on New Japan World are Road to New Beginning on January 19 and 20, both from Korakuen Hall. No matches are announced yet.
Happy New Year Everyone!
Thank you for reading.
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