Double IWGP Titles on the line in Hiroshima main event
Night two of the New Beginning in Hiroshima will see BULLET CLUB and CHAOS go to war for the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag team Championships, while SANADA challenges double IWGP Champion Kota Ibushi in our main event.
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Main event: IWGP Heavyweight & Intercontinental Championships- Kota Ibushi vs SANADA
Singles record: 2-1 Ibushi
The main event of New Beginning in Hiroshima sees the double IWGP Heavyweight and Intercontinental Championships on the line, with Kota Ibushi defending for the second time against SANADA.
Ibushi’s journey from Golden Star to Golden God was a long and demanding one, and now holding both titles, Ibushi seeks to carve an entirely new era in NJPW and professional wrestling at large. Whether all fans agree with his desire to unify his Intercontinental and Heavyweight Championships, his vision is a clear one, and is built around furthering professional wrestling. SANADA’s goals? Those have been hard to ascertain as Cold Skull has played his cards characteristically close to his chest. SANADA does have his own vision for professional wrestling, an aesthetically beautiful and quietly combative vision; one that’s about actions rather than words.
It’s a vision that saw him to victory over EVIL at the Tokyo Dome, earning him this title shot Thursday in Hiroshima, and one that got him to the finals of G1 Climax 30, where he came to within a millisecond of winning the famous trophy. SANADA remains on the cusp of greatness, but does he have what it takes to take the position of ultimate glory and ultimate responsibility?
5th Match: NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championships- CHAOS (Tomohiro Ishii, Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI) vs BULLET CLUB (Jay White, Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa)
The NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championships are on the line in our semi-main event tonight. The year started with a lot of speculation surrounding Jay White, with the Switchblade seemingly having lost motivation after his January 5 defeat to Kota Ibushi, and almost calling time on his career. While away, White seemed to become fixated with Tomohiro Ishii, who between the last group day of G1 Climax 30 and New year Dash on January 6, has pinned White twice in three months.
When White returned to NJPW on February 1, it was to lay out Ishii with the Bladerunner, and the Kiwi carried his obsession into elimination tag team action the next night. Humiliating and physically dissecting YOSHI-HASHI that night, White challenged for the NEVER 6-Man titles immediately afterward, with G.o.D as his partners.
The CHAOS side are making their third defence of the titles here tonight then. These are titles that Ishii, Hirooki Goto and YOSHI-HASHI have defended with pride and grit to date, in championship matches that bring extra fire from YOSHI-HASHI in particular. Revenge for his injuries encurred last week in Korakuen will provide ample motivation for the Headhunter tonight, and Ishii and Goto never shy away from a fight either.
4th Match: CHAOS (Kazuchika Okada & Toru Yano) vs BULLET CLUB (EVIL & Dick Togo)
Kazuchika Okada continues his longstanding feud with EVIL in the fourth match of the night. All the way through the Road to The New Beginning, Okada has been asking for changes to cards that would give him a one on one match with the King of Darkness. That hasn’t happened, but if the Rainmaker can put EVIL away tonight, could he finally get his wish with Castle Attack around the corner?
3rd Match: Master Wato, Tomoaki Honma & SHO vs Los Ingobernables De Japon (Tetsuya Naito, Hiromu Takahashi & BUSHI)
LIJ have been colliding with SHO, Master Wato and Tomoaki Honma throughout the tour, but this last confrontation in Hiroshima will have a different dimension to it. After SHO and Hiromu Takahashi have built toward their title match on Wednesday, will we have a new champion tonight? Or will SHO be looking to state a case for a quick rematch? Then again, if Wato can pull off a singles victory against BUSHI, could he propel himself to the head of the contendership line? New dynamics will be at play tonight in this six man.
2nd Match: Suzuki-Gun (Minoru Suzuki, El Desperado & Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs BULLET CLUB (Yujiro Takahashi, Taiji Ishimori & El Phantasmo)
More six man tag action sees Suzuki-Gun and BULLET CLUB go head to head. El Phantasmo’s undoubtedly powerful superkick, and suspiciously strong boot, granted he and Taiji Ishimori the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team titles in Ota back on January 23, and the deposed champions Yoshinobu Kanemaru and El Desperado have been protesting theuir loss ever since. Meanwhile, with Minoru Suzuki recently declaring that he might be looking to pick off all of BULLET CLUB one by one in his coming bouts, what does he have in store for Yujiro Takahashi and his junior heavyweight teammates?
1st Match: Gabriel Kidd, Yota Tsuji & Yuya Uemura vs Suzuki-Gun (Taichi, Zack Sabre Jr. & DOUKI)
The Young Lions will endure a trial by Suzuki-Gun fire twice in two nights as this time they go up against DOUKI and Dangerous Tekkers to kick things off in Sun Plaza Hall. Will Dangerous Tekkers be the triumphant two time tag team champions? Or the revenge fueled failed challengers? Either way, it might spell disaster for Tsuji, Kidd and Uemura, who will look to bring all the fire they can muster.
