Key previews ahead of Osaka showdowns
The Road to New Beginning continues on February 4. As the tour returns to Korakuen Hall, time is ticking before a huge night in Osaka on February 11 that will see an emotional farewell, a technical classic and steel cage carnage.
Watch LIVE in English on NJPW World!
Main event: IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championships- Catch 2/2 (TJP & Francesco Akira) vs BULLET CLUB War Dogs (Drilla Moloney & Clark Connors)
Tag record: 3-1 War Dogs
The IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship is on the line between familiar foes in our main event as Catch 2/2 take on Clark Connors and Drilla Moloney. United Empire’s blood feud with the War Dogs arguably has its roots in this tag team rivalry, and the defection of Moloney from United Empire that sparked it. Since that point at Dominion, Moloney and Connors dominated TJP and Francesco Akira, with the year of 2023 ending with TJP shut away in a coffin by the junior heavyweight War Dogs.
Yet nobody could have accounted for TJP re-emerging at the Tokyo Dome as the Aswang. This new dark side of the Public Enemy saw Catch 2/2 back to the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championships January 4, and as the two factions prepare for a cage match showdown in Osaka, TJP has made it seem as if he’s more than ready to pick up his faction’s lead mantle from Will Ospreay as he leaves NJPW competition. Meanwhile, as Akira has his doubts about heading into the steel cage on February 11, can he keep his young partner’s focus on the task at hand tonight- and in Osaka?
7th Match: Callum Newman vs David Finlay
Callum Newman and David Finlay’s first singles match opposite one another comes as IWGP Global Champion Finlay looks to make a statement of dominance in the absence of Will Ospreay, who will head into the cage match February 11 without any preview matchups. The Rebel would do well not to look past Newman whoever, who had a stunning showing at the end of 2023 opposite Tomohiro Ishii, and could change the face not only of New Beginning in Osaka, but of the IWGP Global title scene moving forward if he can shock Finlay tonight.
6th Match: Jeff Cobb vs Alex Coughlin
Singles record: 2-0 Cobb
The two powerhouses of their respective factions, Jeff Cobb and Alex Coughlin go one on one. Coughlin has never beaten the Imperial Unit in singles competition, and that7s a record that Cobb intends to keep, but the chance to outpower the United Empire is an irresistible one for the Deadeye Dreadnought.
5th Match: HENARE vs Gabe Kidd
From the powerhouses to the pit fighters, HENARE and Gabe Kidd go to war in Korakuen. When it comes to an all consuming desire to pick as many, and as big of, fight as they possibly can, there’s something certainly in common between the War Ready Kidd and Face of Fury HENARE. Both have recent history with Eddie Kingston and fights over the NJPW STRONG Openweight Championship as well, but unfinished business in the US will be set aside for more pressing matters in the near future in Osaka.
4th Match: Los Ingobernables De Japon (Tetsuya Naito, Yota Tsuji, Shingo Takagi, Hiromu Takahashi & BUSHI) vs Just Five Guys (SANADA, Yuya Uemura, Taichi, DOUKI & TAKA Michinoku)
In a rare faction gauntlet match, Just Five Guys and LIJ will do battle on February 5 in a series of ten minute singles matches where the winner stays on. Before that unique elimination affair, ten man action will see the two sides do battle on a tour that thus far has benefitted SANADA and his allies.
3rd Match: YOH, Ryusuke Taguchi, Tomohiro Ishii & Hiroshi Tanahashi vs TMDK (Kosei Fujita, Shane Haste, Mikey Nicholls & Zack Sabre Jr.)
TMDK, and Kosei Fujita in particular, put in a stunning performance in the last defence of NEVER 6 man gold for Tomohiro Ishii, Hiroshi Tanahashi and Kazuchika Okada, but they did not come away with the gold, and with Okada declaring that he is vacating his title, the status of the NEVER gold is in question. The orange (mostly) Aussies have to be front runners though, and will be looking to prove that point tonight.
2nd Match: Tomoaki Honma, El Phantasmo & Hikuleo vs BULLET CLUB (Taiji Ishimori, KENTA & Chase Owens)
After El Phantasmo missed a day on the road to New Beginning due to illness, he returns in six man action to face BULLET CLUB. While he’s had to get past the emotional hurdle of battling a former friend in Taiji Ishimori, ELP will be motivated to make a big statement ahead of Osaka’s IWGP Tag Team Championship match.
1st Match: Boltin Oleg, YOSHI-HASHI, Togi Makabe, El Desperado & Shota Umino vs HOUSE OF TORTURE (EVIL, SHO, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Yujiro Takahashi & Ren Narita)
With Shota Umino’s Sapporo confrontation with EVIL for the NEVER Openweight Championship now official, this first tag team preview will also see the Roughneck back in Korakuen opposite Ren Narita, who likely has some trauma from January 24’s brutal singles match to work through.
