NJPW New Years Golden Series Results (2/13)

Death. Taxes. Osaka loves Tetsuya Naito. The Stardust Genius got a significant win in his hometown on Sunday, leading his team to victory against Past and Present Aces Hiroshi Tanahashi & Kazuchika Okada. Naito pinned Tanahashi with Destino, as his tag partner, SANADA, looked on from the apron.

While the win sends a significant message to Naito’s Feb. 20th opponent, IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada, it also continues a worrying trend with Naito & SANADA’s partnership. In pinning the IWGP United States Heavyweight Champion, Naito has once again overshadowed his partner.

SANADA is set to face Tanahashi on Feb. 19th, and the former IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Champion is developing a reputation for choking in the big moments. Now, with Naito getting the win in this important preview match, SANADA once again seems to be sending the message that he just can’t get the job done. Hopefully this lights a fire under the frustratingly inconsistent star.

Earlier in the night, EVIL settled a score with Tomohiro Ishii, and with the fans themselves. After a much maligned Wrestle Kingdom bout saw EVIL wrest the NEVER Openweight Title from Ishii, the two men clashed once again, this time in a Lumberjack Match.

After an all out war between the lumberjacks from both sides, with the odds evened, EVIL put a stamp on his title reign, getting a dominant win over the former-champion.

Elsewhere on the card, Great-O-Khan defeated another former IWGP Heavyweight Champion, dropping Togi Makabe in 7 short minutes. Plus Toru Yano and Minoru Suzuki both continued to bring handcuffs and dog cages to new heights in NJPW.

Here are the full results:

2/13
NJPW New Years Golden Series
Available on NJPWWorld.com

• Opening Match: Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima & Ryohei Oiwa def. Yuji Nagata, Tomoaki Honma & Kosei Fujita by submission. (11:07)
  Hiroyoshi Tenzan submitted Kosei Fujita via Elevated Boston Crab.
• CHAOS (Hirooki Goto, YOSHI-HASHI & YOH) def. House of Torture (Dick Togo, Yujiro Takahashi & SHO) by pinfall. (9:49)
  YOH pinned Dick Togo via 5 Star Clutch.
• Great-O-Khan def. Togi Makabe by pinfall via Eliminator. (7:15)
• Los Ingobernables de Japon (Hiromu Takahashi, BUSHI & Shingo Takagi) def. Suzuki-gun (Taichi, DOUKI & Yoshinobu Kanemaru) by pinfall. (10:18)
  Shingo Takagi pinned Taichi via Pumping Bomber.
• Toru Yano, Master Wato & Ryusuke Taguchi def. Suzuki-gun (Minoru Suzuki, El Desperado & TAKA Michinoku) by pinfall. (9:17)
  Ryusuke Taguchi pinned TAKA Michinoku via No. 9
• Tiger Mask def. El Phantasmo by disqualification when Taiji Ishimori ran in, causing Robbie Eagles to run in as well. (10:46)
• Robbie Eagles def. Taiji Ishimori by submission via Ron Miller Special. (11:10)
• NEVER Openweight Championship Lumberjack Deathmatch: EVIL (c) def. Tomohiro Ishii by pinfall via EVIL. (20:35)
• Los Ingobernables de Japon (Tetsuya Naito & SANADA) def. Kazuchika Okada & Hiroshi Tanahashi by pinfall. (33:28)
  Tetsuya Naito pinned Hiroshi Tanahashi via Destino.

New Japan Pro Wrestling will return with another edition of New Years Golden Series on Feb. 15th at 4:30am ET on NJPWWorld.com