On January 20, New Japan Pro-Wrestling kicked off their NJPW New Beginning tour from Aichi Prefectural Gymnasium (Dolphins Arena) in Nagoya, Japan.
In the main event, Tama Tonga defended the NEVER Openweight Championship against EVIL. Plus, Hikuleo and El Phantasmo defended the NJPW STRONG Openweight Tag Team Championship against KENTA and Chase Owens.
The results, courtesy of Fightful, are as follows:
- Shoma Kato vs Katsuya Murashima ended in a ten-minute time-limit draw.
- HOUSE OF TORTURE (Yujiro Takahashi & Ren Narita) def. Shota Umino & Tomoaki Honma
- BULLET CLUB War Dogs (Gabe Kidd, Alex Coughlin, David Finlay, Clark Connors & Drilla Moloney) def. United Empire (TJP, Francesco Akira, Callum Newman, HENARE & Jeff Cobb)
- HOUSE OF TORTURE (Yoshinobu Kanemaru & SHO) def. El DespeWato (El Desperado & Master Wato)
- TMDK (Kosei Fujita, Zack Sabre Jr., Shane Haste & Mikey Nicholls) def. Togi Makabe, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Tomohiro Ishii & Kazuchika Okada
- Kazuchika Okada said goodbye to the local fans.
- Just Five Guys (SANADA, DOUKI, Taichi, TAKA Michinoku & Yuya Uemura) def. Los Ingobernables De Japon (Shingo Takagi, Hiromu Takahashi, BUSHI, Yota Tsuji & Tetsuya Naito)
- KOPW 2024 – 10-Minute Ishimori Ring Fit Match: Great-O-Khan def. Taiji Ishimori (c) to win the title.
- NJPW Strong Openweight Tag Team Championships: Guerrillas of Destiny (El Phantasmo & Hikuleo) (c) def. BULLET CLUB (KENTA & Chase Owens) to retain.
- NEVER Openweight Championship: Tama Tonga (c) vs. EVIL ended in a no contest, as HOUSE OF TORTURE and Guerrillas of Destiny both interfered.
- The match was restarted as a Lumberjack Deathmatch.
- Lumberjack Deathmatch for the NEVER Openweight Championship: EVIL def. Tama Tonga (c) to win the title.
- Tama Tonga said goodbye to the fans.
With his win, EVIL won the NEVER Openweight Championship for the third time. He ended Tonga’s fourth reign, which began when he defeated Shingo Takagi at NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 18. Tonga will be leaving NJPW at the end of the month.
Click here to see what Hiroshi Tanahashi had to say about Kazuchika Okada’s looming NJPW exit.
