Last night of action before Osaka
Night seven on the Road to the New beginning brings us the last televised event before New Beginning in Osaka and an emotional set of showdowns in EDION Arena. Before that big night on February 11 though, a hot night of action will also see previews of the two major tour closing cards in Sapporo February 23 and 24.
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Main event: Faction Warfare Gauntlet- Los Ingobernables De Japon (Tetsuya Naito, Shingo Takagi, Hiromu Takahashi, Yota Tsuji & BUSHI) vs Just 5 Guys (SANADA, Taichi, DOUKI, Yuya Uemura & TAKA MIchinoku)
Matchup begins as a ten minute, one fall singles match.
Winner stays in, loser is eliminated and the next member joins. In a time limit draw, both members are eliminated.
When a team is down to their last member, matches will have no time limit.
Entrance order not to be announced beforehand.
It’s a rare gauntlet style elimination match for Los Ingobernables De Japon and Just Five Guys in the main event. While Sapporo on February 24 will see the two sides meeting in a series of singles matches culminating with the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship on the line, tonight sees a chance for a team to seize an upper hand. While elimination tag matches have become a Korakuen tradition of sorts, this singles gauntlet evokes memories of NJPW vs UWF from a long way back in the day, and rewards individual stamina and grit together with team strategy when it comes to the running order that can, in theory, be switched up by teams on the fly from backstage.
As SANADA continues to be in impressive form post World title loss at the Tokyo Dome, DOUKI comes fresh off a pinfall over Hiromu Takahashi, and after Yota Tsuji and Yuya Uemura brawled all around Korakuen on January 24, what will happen in this unique match environment?
5th Match: United Empire (Callum Newman, Francesco Akira, TJP, Jeff Cobb & HENARE) vs BULLET CLUB War Dogs (David Finlay, Drilla Moloney, Clark Connors, Alex Coughlin & Gabe Kidd)
Six days away from a steel cage final showdown for these two teams, one final Korakuen preview will see someone looking to make a final statement. While War Dogs unite under the leadership of David Finlay, a recently chastened Gabe Kidd backstage aside, United Empire seem disparate in a manner that belies their name. Will Ospreay’s absence going into his final NJPW match is keenly felt, and TJP’s assertion of himself in a lead role has drawn concern from Great-O-Khan. Meanwhile Francesco Akira is rightly intimidated by the steel cage environment February 11, and has doubted TJP’s commitment to the Catch 2/2 team. 24 hours prior to this ten man meeting, the junior tag title main event February 4 might give credence, or it might allay Akira’s doubts; either way, it will take complete unity to survive on February 11.
4th Match: Toru Yano, Togi Makabe, Tomohiro Ishii & Hiroshi Tanahashi vs TMDK (Kosei Fujita, Shane Haste, Mikey Nicholls & Zack Sabre Jr)
While TMDK once again collide with a Hontai squad, Hiroshi Tanahashi and Zack Sabre Jr. are both preparing for monumental singles matches in Osaka on February 11. There it’ll be Tanahashi vs Okada for the last time, while ZSJ will be looking to decisively prove himself the best technical wrestler in the world against Bryan Danielson. Neither will pass up the chance to send a message to their next opponents in this match, including if it’s at the expense of the other, with recent NJPW World TV Championship history strong in the memory as well.
3rd Match: Boltin Oleg, YOH, Tomoaki Honma, El Desperado & Shota Umino vs HOUSE OF TORTURE (EVIL, SHO, Ren Narita, Yujiro Takahashi & Yoshinobu Kanemaru)
As New Beginning in Sapporo approaches, and El Desperado looks to face SHO one on one while Shota Umino challenges EVIL for the NEVER Openweight Championship, an eclectic mix of opponents for the HOUSE OF TORTURE tonight gives an idea of just how H.O.T can bring people together in hatred for the worst elements of NJPW. After Korakuen last week saw a good deal of catharsis, will that continue for Hontai tonight?
2nd Match: Guerrillas of Destiny (Jado, Hikuleo & El Phantasmo) vs BULLET CLUB (Chase Owens, KENTA & Taiji Ishimori)
Six man action sees the last preview before Hikuleo and El Phantasmo put the IWGP Tag Team Championships on the line against KENTA and Chase Owens on February 11. After GoD retained the NJPW STRONG Tag belts in Nagoya against Owens and KENTA, the champions are confident, and looking forward to a potential GoD vs GoD sendoff for Tama Tonga in Sapporo, but the BULLET CLUB challengers are a dangerous duo to be looking past and will look to prove that point tonight.
1st Match: Katsuya Murashima vs Great-O-Khan
Action starts off tonight with KOPW 2024 title holder Great-O-Khan in singles action with Katsuya Murashima. Finally in possession fo his first singles NJWP championship, O-Khan has vowed to fight and defend his title every night and in every town across the country in future tours. Before that plan might be enacted though, he will grant an opportunity to young Murashima, who will be looking to gain valuable experience against the Eliminator.
