New Japan Pro Wrestling returns to Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan for New Year Dash, their annual night-after Wrestle Kingdom event! Tonight’s show is a blind card, with no matches announced in advance, and will feature fallout from the biggest event of the year, as well as setup some of New Japan’s first major stories for 2017. Our live coverage begins at 4:30 a.m. EST.
NJPW New Year Dash
January 5, 2017
Tokyo, Japan
Jushin Thunder Liger, Tiger Mask & Henare vs. David Finlay, Ricochet & Kyle O’Reilly
Ricochet starts things out with Liger and catches him with a 619 in the corner, followed by a tope to the floor. Finlay takes a few shots before tagging in KOR who runs into a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. Tiger Mask tags in with a diving crossbody and cleans house on the western stars. Tiger Drive to KOR and a tag is made to Henare, who comes in with a lot of fire, throwing flying shoulders and strikes on Finlay. He slaps the Boston Crab on, and Ricochet comes in and lights him up with kicks, only for Henare to hang on to the hold. Liger puts Ricochet in the surfboard stretch, and Tiger puts O’Reilly in an octopus to get a trio of submissions going. Eventually the holds are broken and the western stars rally, clearing the ring of everyone but Henare. Finlay hits Rolling Hills into a Shooting Star Press from Ricochet for the finish.
Winners: David Finlay, Ricochet & Kyle O’Reilly
– Fit Finlay was in the crowd, as David went up to give his mom a hug after the match.
Yujiro Takahashi & Hangman Page vs. Billy Gunn & Yoshitatsu
Bullet Club beats up on Yoshitatsu for several minutes to start the match. Eventually Billy Gunn makes the tag and utters some expletives at his opponents, and of course tells them what they can suck. Takahashi hits him with a dropkick and he responds with a big powerslam. Yoshi tags in and actually has a flurry of offense with a dropkick and spinning wheel kick on Page, until Takahashi pulls him to the floor and hits his DDT. Gunn hits the ring and tells Page to suck it, so Page grabs him by the junk and slams the big man down. Page hits Yoshi with the Right of Passage to pick up the win.
Winners: Bullet Club
– After the match, Billy Gunn gets in the face of Katsuya Kitamaru, who is a hulk of a man and one of the current NJPW Young Lions. Looks like he might be sticking around to work with some of the younger talents.
Roppongi Vice & Yoshi-Hashi vs. Adam Cole & The Young Bucks
A bit of tension between the new tag team champions at the start, as Rocky doesn’t let Trent do a dive after he almost killed himself in last night’s Wrestle Kingdom match. He does a baseball slide instead, and then Rocky does a dive immediately after. They get in each other’s face, but end up high-fiving instead. They all start diving to the floor one by one, ending with Matt doing a top rope splash taking down the entire pile.
Once the action rolls back into the ring, Trent tries for a top rope senton but Cole catches him with a backbreaker. He slaps on a camel clutch and the Bucks do their PWG spot where they run the ropes a few times, teases stereo dropkicks, but end up kissing Cole on the cheeks instead. Mind games, or something. Trent tries to make the tag, but Bullet Club runs interferance and the continue working him down. The Bucks try for the Meltzer Driver but Nick is pulled off the apron. Cole wants to give it a go, but he’s pulled down as well. Trent nails Matt with a Tombstone and finally makes the hot tag to Rocky, who cleans house on everyone. Once again the Bullet Club numbers game prevails. Cole hits the Last Shot and the Bucks nail him with superkicks, but Trent recovers and the babyfaces clear the apron. Yoshi-Hashi hits most of a swanton bomb but it’s broken up by the Bucks. Cole hits Rocky with a superkick, Trent with a Canadian Destroyer, but Tacos reverses the Last Shot into a roll-up for the win!
Winners: Roppongi Vice & Yoshi-Hashi
– After the match, Bullet Club attacks the babyfaces and clears the ring. Cole hits Yoshi-Hashi with the Last Call as the Young Bucks hit simultaneous superkicks to kill him. Hashi got the pin on Cole though, so it looks like that’ll be one of your ROH title matches at the upcoming Honor Rising shows.
Team 2000 (Scott Norton, Satoshi Kojima, Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Hiro Saito & Cheeseburger) vs. Bullet Club (Kenny Omega, Guerrillas of Destiny, Bad Luck Fale & Bone Soldier)
Look up the history of Team 2000 if you aren’t familiar, but this is probably the closest we’re going to get to having a Bullet Club vs. nWo match in 2017. Huge show of appreciation from the fans for Kenny Omega after last night’s 45-minute war.
Omega tried to convince Scott Norton to join Bullet Club at the start of the match, saying they’re just like the nWo. It didn’t go well, to say the least… Norton throws all the Club guys to the floor and picks up Cheeseburger, throwing him on top of them. The crowd loves Burger. He pounds away at the chest of Tama Tonga, having literally no effect, but surprises him with a tilt-a-whirl headscissors and tags out to Tenzan. The heels beat down Tenzan for several minutes until he dodges a splash by Fale in the corner and makes the hot tag to Kojima, who does his billion chops spot to Omega and Boner. Saito hits the ring and puts the boots to Tama in the corner, while Cheeseburger tries to do the Kojima chop spot to Bad Luck Fale in one of the funniest spots you’ll ever see. All hell has broken loose. In the most predictable spot ever, it’s Bone Soldier that messes it up for Bullet Club, who then takes moves from every member of Team 2000, including a running senton from the great Hiro Saito. Kojima hits the lariat on him for the win.
Winners: Team 2000
– Nothing from Bullet Club after the match. No angle, no murdering Bone Soldier, not even a pissed off Kenny Omega showing frustration from the last two nights. You’d think they would have done something for them, given how much of a beating they took at Wrestle Kingdom.
Michael Elgin & Kushida vs. Tetsuya Naito & Himoru Takahashi
Naito wants nothing to do with Elgin, and lets the new IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion start things off. They lock up and the big man powers him all the way across the ring. Himoru tries to use his speed but runs into a military press, while Elgin just stares a hole into the heart of the Intercontinental Champion. After Naito interferes a few times and continues to bail, Elgin eventually nails him with a baseball slide and literally throws Kushida over the ropes to take out LIJ.
Elgin goes to work on both guys until the numbers game eventually becomes too much. Naito hits a running dropkick and Big Mike immediately clutches his injured eye and starts selling it. Kushida’s still on the ground from being tossed over earlier. Elgin throws elbows and chops to Himoru but Naito sneaks up from behind and claws away at the recently broken orbital bone. They’re toying with him at this point, even throwing down the ref to keep working over the injury. Himoru tries and fails to lift the big man a few times, and eventually the hot tag is made to Kushida.
Kushida cleans house with snap arm drags and dropkicks for all. Huge kick on the apron to Himoru, who dodges a springboard but runs right into the Hoverboard lock! Takahashi counters it with a dragon screw and tags out to his partner, who spits on Elgin and tells him to “tranquilo”. Step-up enzuigiri to Kushida, who returns the favor with a pele kick and gets the hot tag to Big Mike. Elgin runs lariats on both LIJ members as the crowd goes crazy for him. Naito catches him with a sleeper hold off the ropes, but he powers through into a Falcon Arrow for two. Himoru gets folded in half with a German, and Naito takes one into the bottom turnbuckle. Elgin picks up Himoru and hits a running Death Valley Driver into the corner sandwiching them together. HUGE Super Falcon Arrow out of a deadlift in the corner, but Takahashi is able to break it up.
Elgin sets up for the Buckle Bomb on Himoru but Naito dropkicks his knees out. He throws the referee out of the ring and kicks Kushida square in the groin, then gives one to Big Mike as well. A masked wrestler comes out of nowhere and took out Naito – that’s Dragon Lee!! Himoru takes a headscissors that sends him to the floor, and Dragon Lee gets some serious air on a dive to the outside to take him out. Big Mike hits a Burning Hammer on Naito and pins the champion!
Winners: Michael Elgin & Kushida
– After the match Dragon Lee hits the ring and plants Himoru with the Phoenix-plex. He puts the juniors title on his shoulder, and goes face-to-face with Kushida. Very interesting. There’s your upcoming title picture!
Katsuyori Shibata, Tomoaki Honma, Togi Makabe, Juice Robinson & Yuji Nagata vs. Kazuchika Okada, Toru Yano, Tomohiro Ishii, Hirooki Goto & Will Ospreay
Ospreay gets in Shibata’s face to start the match and wants the Rev Pro title. They start off the match with a great grapple exchange. Will doesn’t back down from the strong-style master as he tries to toy with the high-flying Brit, and kicks him right in the face. Some might say that’s a death wish, but Ospreay hangs with him and dodges kick after kick, throwing him to the floor and feinting on springboard move, deciding to pose in the middle of the ring instead. Shibata rushes the ring and throws more kicks, but again Ospreay is too fast and dodges ever single one. Wow!
Yano and Nagata are next for some comedy, as Yano gets in the ropes and yells at him to break it up. The crowd gets behind that. Nagata decides to put the boots to him instead. All hell breaks loose Honma tags in and 10 guys start brawling all around the arena. Eventually Okada tags in and gets a massive pop. He hits a springboard senton on Honma for two. Ishii comes in and lights him up with chop after chop, but of course Honma isn’t gonna go down. They start throwing elbows and trying to lift each other, which ends with Honma deadlifting the big man for a brainbuster. Ospreay hits the ring and tries to go after Makabe, but does nothing to him. Mounted punches in the corner on Ishii and Yano followed by double Northern Lights suplexes for two.
Ishii is busted open from the nose. He takes a few lariats from Makabe but comes back and levels him with one of his own. Okada tags in bodyslams the big man, but runs into a brutal western lariat and lands hard on the back of his neck. Juice Robinson gets the hot tag for the first time all match and cannonballs the IWGP champion in the corner. He goes for a powerbomb but it’s countered with a European uppercut; Juice actually hits the double-knee gutbuster and gets a nearfall on Okada! Goto comes in and fires off on Juice with elbows and a spinning wheel kick into the corner. A brawl has broken out on the floor as Juice takes a still lariat, but Shibata breaks it up with a kick. Ospreay goes right after him and splashes him into the barricade with a tope suicida! Ishii takes out Nagata, Makabe takes out the tag champs, Honma hits a Kokeshi, and Okada takes Honma out with a big dropkick. Goto fires up but Juice with a huge lariat out of nowhere on him. Ospreay in, but takes a kick from Shibata that murders him. PK kick on Goto, and JUICE PINS THE CHAMPION WITH THE UNPRETTIER! WHAT!?
Winners: Robinson, Honma, Makabe, Shibata & Nagata
– After the match, Juice picks up the NEVER title and poses with it, but a huge gang of guys dressed in white and black hit the ring and start attacking everyone! That’s Lance Archer! Taka Michinoku! SUZUKI-GUN IS HERE! Chaos tries to fight back, but there’s too many of them. Gedo, Rocky Romero and Baretta run out but are beaten down as well. MINORU SUZUKI IS HERE! He chokes out Okada from behind, and ends him with a Gotch-Style Pilediver! He gets on the mic and basically tells the crowd to shut up, and blames Okada for what has happened to here tonight. To be fair… New Japan did shoot send them to the minor leagues by kicking them to NOAH a few years ago, so he’s got a point. He says that he will rule the wrestling world and that NJPW ring once again. They continue their beatdown as Kaze Ni Nare starts playing, and the entire freaking crowd chants “Kaze Ni Nare” when they get to the chorus!
NEVER Openweight 6-Man Championship
Los Ingobernables de Japon (c) vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Manabu Nakanishi & Ryusuke Taguchi
LIJ goes right after Nakanishi from the start, using their numbers game to take advantage. Bushi dropkicks Taguchi right in the face. On the outside, Evil has hung up Tanahashi in the barricade and is just brutalizing his leg with a steel chair. They turn their sights on Taguchi again, switching in with quick tags and working him over with rest holds and power moves between Evil and Sanada. After several minutes of this, Tanahashi recovers and makes the hot tag, cleaning house, but he’s barely able to walk around after the chair attack. It’s still enough to get the job done, as the crowd is chanting something from his new theme.
Nakanishi tags in and clotheslines everyone. He tries for a German on Sanada but he lands on his feet, dodges a splash in the corner, and Evil comes in to suplex the big man from behind. Sanada starts choking him out and tries to position him for the Skull End, but Tanahashi hits the ring and catches him with a swinging neckbreaker. He’s not the legal man though, and Evil throws him to the floor. Bushi with a big dropkick from the top, but Nakanishi easily catches him on a crossbody; Bushi goes to the eyes to escape the Hercules Cutter, and drops him with a Codebreaker for two-and-a-half. Tanahashi gives Evil a dragon screw, Sanada gives Tana a dragon screw – all hell breaks lose and it ends with Tana hitting Bushi with a slingblade and diving to the floor on Evil, despite the injured knee. Hercules Cutter! 1…2…3!
Winners and New Champions: Hiroshi Tanahashi, Manabu Nakanishi & Ryusuke Taguchi
