IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Match, elimination tag action highlight Ota card
January 23 will see NJPW’s long awaited return to the Ota prefectural gymnasium for the Road to New Beginning. New Japan action was last in Ota on January 6 2020 for New Year Dash, before the annual Anniversary Event card in the building was cancelled as a result of the global pandemic.
Watch every event on the New Beginning tour LIVE and in English on NJPW World!
(Note: in light of recent COVID precautions in the Tokyo area, matches will start at the earlier time of 5PM JST)
Main event- IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Championships: Suzuki-Gun (El Desperado & Yoshinobu Kanemaru) vs BULLET CLUB (El Phantasmo & Taiji Ishimori)
IWGP Junior heavyweight Tag Team Championship action headlines in Ota, as Yoshinobu Kanemaru and El Desperado defend their junior heavyweight tag gold for the third time against El Phantasmo and Taiji Ishimori.
The ever opinionated champion team had little to no respect for their challengers at night two of Wrestle Kingdom 15, but former champions ELP and Ishimori have begrudging respect even from Desperado. What the champions take more offense over lies not in their challenger’s tag team capability, but rather what allegedly lies in Phantasmo’s boot. After a superkick to Kanemaru laid out the heel master at new year Dash, the Suzuki-gun side cried foul, but with little evidence to support claim of a loaded boot, Phantasmo insists that his training superkicking trees in the woods of British Columbia during the pandemic is simply paying off.
Whether the knockout blow is legitimate or not, it’s something the champions need to be aware of in the main event, one more weapon in a wide arsenal for the challengers. Yet across two impressive reigns, Kanemaru and Desperado have proven they’re near unstoppable as a team, and they aren’t afraid to bend or break the rules to hold onto their titles.
4th Match- Elimination Tag Team Match: Kota Ibushi, Hiroshi Tanahashi, SHO, Master Wato & Tomoaki Honma vs Los Ingobernables De Japon (SANADA, Hiromu Takahashi, Shingo Takagi, BUSHI & Tetsuya Naito)
A chaotic semi final in Ota will see ten man elimination tag team warfare. There are plenty of issues surrounding hontai, CHAOS and LIJ through the New Beginning tour, with Shingo Takagi set to defend the NEVER Openweight Championship against Hiroshi Tanahashi in Nagoya and BUSHI, Hiromu Takahashi and SANADA all set to meet Master Wato, SHO and Kota Ibushi respectively in Hiroshima at the end of the tour. Elimination tag team matches historically see a powerful message sent by either champions or challengers, and this will be a wild battle for control.
3rd Match: Satoshi Kojima & Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs UNITED EMPIRE (Will Ospreay & Great-O-Khan)
Hiroyoshi Tenzan returns to action in the third match of the night after a 17 day absence, and TenCozy reforms as a team for the first time since last August to take on Will Ospreay and Great-O-Khan.
After a post match attack at New Year Dash saw Kojima laid out with a Hidden Blade, and Tenzan stretchered away after O-Khan delivered a TTD to its innovator, UNITED EMPIRE’s strength was not in doubt. Yet Kojima and Tenzan refuse to let a heinous attack go unforgiven. After extensive medical assessment, Tenzan is now cleared to return, and is ready to go straight to O-Khan. While concerns over their physical status might remain, one cannot doubt the heart and pride of the six time former IWGP Tag Team Champions, and TenCozy will bring a furious fight here, and to singles action one week later in Nagoya.
2nd Match: CHAOS (YOSHI-HASHI, Tomohiro Ishii & Kazuchika Okada) vs BULLET CLUB (Dick Togo, Yujiro Takahashi & EVIL)
After starting the Road to New Beginning in Korakuen Hall, Kazuchika Okada continues to team with different pairings of the NEVER 6-Man Tag Team Champions, as he sides with Ishii and YOSHI-HASHI tonight to take on BULLET CLUB’s Dick Togo, Yujiro Takahashi and EVIL. Between his New Japan Cup final defeat, and a summer long feud with Yujiro, Okada has considerable distaste for every wrestler in the opposite corner tonight, but the King of Darkness in particular. Showing disdain for EVIL’s continued employment of Dick Togo, six man action in Korakuen Hall has seen EVIL’s manager submit to the Money Clip, and taste a GTR from Hirooki Goto, before a low blow and EVIL struck a blow for BULLET CLUB Tuesday. What does the King of Darkness have in store for Ota?
1st Match: Suzuki-Gun (DOUKI & Minoru Suzuki) vs World Class Tag Team (Jado & Gedo)
Issues from the tour opening series in Korakuen Hall come to a head in the opening bout in Ota as DOUKI and Minoru Suzuki take on the legendary World Class Tag Team of Jado and Gedo. Locked together in eight man tag action at the start of the tour, we now see Jado and Gedo team together in straight tag action for the first time since June 2017. They have a tough task in front of them too, as the never happy Minoru Suzuki and the tough as nails rudo DOUKI will have no time for any rule bending. DOUKI managed to block Jado’s always present kendo stick Tuesday with a swing of his steel pipe, and would have secured victory were it not for El Phantasmo’s rock hard superkick. Without said assistance, Jado and Gedo might be locked in a battle for survival as action in Ota gets underway.
