NEW JAPAN PRO-WRESTLING

NEWS

JAN.8.2020

#INFO

Two title clashes, single bouts and more set for New Beginning in Sapporo!

Goto vs Shingo, Ishii vs EVIL, Okada vs Taichi, Ospreay vs ZSJ all on deck for Sapporo weekend

Full New Beginning match lineups

Watch both nights of New Beginning in Sapporo LIVE and in English on NJPW World!

The full cards for the New Beginning tour have been announced, with a stacked weekend in Hokkaido on February 1 & 2 among the highlights.

Night one on Feberuary 1 is headlined by Shingo Takagi and Hirooki Goto meeting for the NEVER Openweight Championship. At New Year Dash!! in an electric tag team bout, Shingo Takagi and EVIL defeated Hirooki Goto and Tomohiro Ishii. Post match, Shingo Takagi issued a challenge to Goto, saying that he had grown tired with Goto’s dispute over the title against KENTA, and that after beating the Fierce Warrior in the G1 last year, he wasn’t going to let his loss that September in Kobe be forgiven so easily. Now, a rubber match that should be the most violent and hard hitting bout of the weekend…

…Unless, that is, Ishii and EVIL take that honour. The two battled one another last May at Dontaku in an all out war, and their issues were reignited at New Year Dash. Neither man will back down from the other in what should be another classic bout as Sapporo gets a phenomenal double main event. 

An incredibly unlikely combination is in the sixth match of the night, as Minoru Suzuki and Taichi team up against Kazuchika Okada and Jon Moxley. Common Suzuki-Gun foes have brought Moxley and Okada together, as Okada faces Taichi on night two, and Moxley will take on Suzuki a week later in Osaka. After the surprise attacks that saw Suzuki strike at Moxley in the Tokyo Dome, and Moxley get some revenge in Ota, both men seem to be relishing taking violence to a new level, while Taichi looks to take advantage of Okada at a physical and mental low after his loss of the IWGP Heavyweight Championship at Wrestle Kingdom.

Also on the card, SANADA and Tetsuya Naito meet Jay White and KENTA. A rematch from New Year Dash is set to become vicious and personal with stakes raised in the form of future clashes in Osaka. Naito and KENTA will get a preview of their February 9 Double IWGP Championship battle, while Ryu Lee and Hiromu Takahashi will do the same, meeting in a tag in Sapporo before meeting for the titles in Osaka. Lee will team with Robbie Eagles, while Hiromu will be paired with BUSHI. 

Rounding out night one in Sapporo, Ryusuke Taguchi, Roppongi 3K & Will Ospreay meet DOUKI, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, El Desperado & Zack Sabre Junior, Toa Henare & GBH face Yota Tsuji, Manabu Nakanishi & Yuji Nagata as Nakanishi counts down to retirement, and Yuya Uemura & Tiger Mask take on El Phantasmo & Taiji Ishimori in the opener. 

Okada vs Taichi, British Heavyweight Championship headline Night 2

The main event of night 2 in Sapporo sees Kazuchika Okada take on Taichi one on one, in a match stemming from issues that started at New Year Dash!! Then, in a CHAOS vs Suzuki-Gun war, Taichi pulled out the Iron Finger From Hell he inherited from Takashi Iizuka to strike Okada and draw a disqualification. Taichi has often alluded to the idea that the iron fingers contain the monstrous soul of Iizuka who retired last February. Now, Taichi claims, the beast has reawakened and is seeking a victim in the form of the Rainmaker. Whether or not the mysticism has any grounds, Taichi does think he can score a huge win over the former IWGP Heavyweight Champion while at his weakest mentally and physically, and as Taichi returns to his home town. 

In the seventh match of the night, the RevPro British Heavyweight Championship will be at stake when Will Ospreay challenges Zack Sabre Junior. ZSJ has called himself the standard bearer of British professional wrestling, cementing his claim by beating SANADA in the Tokyo Dome January 5. But he and Ospreay are every bit to the UK space what Okada and Tanahashi are to Japan, and their classic rivalry continues with gold at stake in Sapporo. 

In the fifth match of the night, Suzuki-Gun, comprising Minoru Suzuki, DOUKI, Yoshinobu Kanemaru and El Desperado take on a peculiar combination of Ryusuke Taguchi, SHO, YOH and IWGP United States Champion Jon Moxley. Mox and Suzuki are destined to collide in Osaka, but will the Purveyor of Violence function with the Junior Heavyweight Tag Champions and their eccentric co-head coach? 

Also on night two in Sapporo, NJPW World viewers will get their first look at new LA Dojo recruit Gabriel Kidd, as he takes on El Phantasmo one on one. Kidd has been wrestling on the UK independent scene since 2013, battle tested for seven years even at the age of 22. Those British battles have included some runins with ELP in the past, and Phantasmo will be looking to teach the young rookie a lesson in Sapporo.   

Two thrilling nights from Sapporo will be just the beginning for New Beginning coverage on NJPW World, as we hope you’ll join us for a loaded month of February!

 

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