New Japan News Part 1

New Japan announced the full event cards for the two “NEW BEGINNING” shows that will be taking place in February.

First up the February 5 show in Sapporo will feature Kazuchika Okada defending the IWGP Heavy belt against the invader Minoru Suzuki. Suzuki made his return to the New Japan ring on January 5 as his group, known as Suzuki-gun, took out Okada and CHAOS during the show. Suzuki immediately claimed his groups dominance over the promotion. Much akin to his previous two years nearly controlling Pro Wrestling NOAH. Okada did not take the assault withstanding as he accepted the challenge. The champion stated that much has changed since the group was last present and that he himself is a lot stronger than before. Will Suzuki reign of control begin in New Japan or will Okada continue onward with a decisive win?

Then the IWGP Tag belts will be in defense as the former IWGP Tag Champions Archer and Smith, Killer Elite Squad, will be thrown back into the mix. Another 3WAY match will make up the challengers as Makabe and Honma will be involved once more against the new champions Yano and Ishii. Will “K.E.S.” reclaim their position as being former champions? Will Makabe and Honma finally get their revenge against Yano’s tactics? Or will Yano and Ishii continue to catch the other teams by surprise and walk out still the champions?

Hirooki Goto will be putting the NEVER Openweight belt on the line against Juice Robinson. Even though Goto managed to capture the belt at WK, the following night Robinson pulled out the upset as he defeated the new champion. Goto accepted the loss and agreed to put the belt on the line against the challenger on the show. Will Robinson finally capture a belt in New Japan or will the “Chaos Warrior” continue to climb back up in the ranks with a belt around his waist?

The IWGP Junior Tag belts will also be in defense as the new champions “Roppongi Vice”, Romero & Barreta, will be defending the belts against the SZKG combination of Taichi and TAKA Michinoku. The challengers being a former multi-champion team can pull out the win at any moment, but the champions are on a path to solidify themselves as a worthy team to be the champions. This match could could very well set the tone for the rest of the night on if the SZKG presence is here to stay.

The rest of the show will mostly feature prelude matches before the second “NEW BEGINNING” show on February 11.


NJPW “Sengoku Enbu -KIZNA- Presents THE NEW BEGINNING in SAPPORO~ Revival! Sapporo Decisive Battle in Snow”, 2/5/2017 [Sun] 15:00 @ Hokkaido Prefectural Sports Center, Hokkai KitaYell

(1) KUSHIDA & Hirai Kawato vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru & El Desperado
(2) Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima & Yuji Nagata vs. Yoshitatsu, David Finlay & Henare
(3) Katsuyori Shibata, Jushin Thunder Liger & Tiger Mask IV vs. Will Ospreay, Jado & Gedo
(4) YOSHI-HASHI vs. Takashi Iizuka
(5) Michael Elgin, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Manabu Nakanishi, Ryusuke Taguchi & Dragon Lee vs. Tetsuya Naito, SANADA, EVIL, BUSHI & Hiromu Takahashi

(6) IWGP Junior Tag Championship Match: [49th Champions] Rocky Romero & Barreta vs. [Challengers] Taichi & TAKA Michinoku
~ 1st title defense.

(7) NEVER Openweight Championship Match: [15th Champion] Hirooki Goto vs. [Challenger] Juice Robinson
~ 1st title defense.

(8) IWGP Tag Championship 3WAY Match: [73rd Champions] Tomohiro Ishii & Toru Yano vs. [Challengers] Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma vs. [Challengers] Lance Archer & Davey Boy Smith Jr.
~ 1st title defense.
(9) IWGP Heavyweight Championship Match: [65th Champion] Kazuchika Okada vs. [Challenger] Minoru Suzuki
~ 3rd title defense.