NJPW The New Beginning in Sapporo 2020 Day 2 Results
The New Beginning in Sapporo 2020 Day 2 Card
Toa Henare def. Yota Tsuji
For several years now, Toa Henare has been in a strange transition stage between being a young lion and a full-fledged member of the roster. He only ever has defeated young lions. Nevertheless, he’s performed well doing so. He and Tsuji had a brief but hard-hitting and enjoyable. Crowds popped when Tsuji scored near falls on Henare, but also when Henare invariably knocked him back down. Toa Henare pinned Yota Tsuji with the Toa Bottom uranage. (8:16)
Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Manabu Nakanishi & Tiger Mask IV def. Togi Makabe, Tomoaki Honma & Yuya Uemura
This match had two main themes: Manabu Nakanishi’s last hurrah, being his last match in the Hokkaido Prefecture, and high quality wrestling between Tiger Mask and Uemura. Nakanishi acted as what he’s been for the last decade or so, the immovable wall that people run into but can’t knock down. Tiger Mask IV pinned Yuya Uemura with a bridging Tiger suplex. (9:48)
El Phantasmo def. Gabriel Kidd
Gabriel Kidd is NJPW’s newest young lion. From England, he has already been wrestling for five years, making his NJPW debut. He was scouted from Rev Pro by Katsuyori Shibata last year and has been training at the Los Angeles Dojo for the last several months. He does not look good with the traditional shaved head. He performed to an acceptable standard in the match, but did not have much time to show his true potential, as El Phantasmo dominated the vast majority of the bout. El Phantasmo pinned Gabriel Kidd with a top rope splash, and hit him with the CR II after the match. (8:50)
CHAOS (Hirooki Goto, Tomohiro Ishii & Robbie Eagles) def. Los Ingobernables de Japon (Shingo Takagi, EVIL & BUSHI)
The majority of this match featured the four men who fought in the final two matches of yesterday’s show, and their hard hits were as much a sight to see as they were yesterday. As EVIL took on Ishii, Shingo taunted Goto with the NEVER Openweight Championship that he lost yesterday. Robbie Eagles hit a 450 splash on BUSHI’s left leg and submitted him with the Ron Miller Special. He remarked to the English commentary team that he wanted to challenge for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship. (9:42)
Jon Moxley, SHO, YOH & Ryusuke Taguchi def. Suzuki-Gun (Minoru Suzuki, El Desperado, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & DOUKI
As Jon Moxley entered through the crowd, still wearing the eyepatch that is apparently AEW-related, Minoru Suzuki immediately left the ring to attack him, and they spent the first third of the match fighting on the outside as the other four people in this match wrestled in the ring. Eventually, they were tagged in and fought inside the ring too! Unfortunately, there was not much interaction between Moxley and Ryusuke Taguchi. Taguchi submitted DOUKI with the Oh My and Garankle, an ankle lock. (12:58)
Los Ingobernables de Japon (Tetsuya Naito, Hiromu Takahashi & SANADA) def. Bullet Club (KENTA, Jay White & Taiji Ishimori)
This was a high-energy trios match, likely one of NJPW’s best six man tag team matches so far this year. This match featured Naito continuing to taunt KENTA in the build up to their Heavyweight and Intercontinental Championship match next Sunday, and Jay White bullying Hiromu. SANADA and Taiji Ishimori showed especially good chemistry at the end, with counters met with counters. SANADA submitted Ishimori with the Skull End. Afterward, Naito presented both his championship belts to KENTA, as if that were the closest that would ever be to him winning them. (15:34)
Rev Pro British Heavyweight Championship Match: Zack Sabre Jr. (c) def. Will Ospreay
In the video package for this match, Zack Sabre Jr. remarked that Will Ospreay had never defeated him in a singles match, and that he never would. It was presented as a battle of classic technical wrestling versus innovative high flying. In the early going, Ospreay attempted to match Zack’s mat wrestling, but it quickly became clear that this would not end well, and he pivoted to using his otherworldly body control to reverse or avoid ZSJ’s submission attempts. Eventually, Ospreay grew weary of attempting to fight Zack in his usual way, and simply knocked him down with a forearm to the face. He hit the Oscutter, but Sabre rolled out of the ring so that he couldn’t be pinned. Ospreay soon got him back in the ring, but Zack countered his Hidden Blade attempt into an armbar. Zack countered the Stormbreaker attempt as well and applied a complex submission hold. Zack Sabre Jr. retained the British Heavyweight Championship via referee stoppage. (27:04)
Kazuchika Okada def. Taichi
Taichi attacked Okada before the bell and attempted to hit him with the Iron Finger from Hell off the bat, but Okada blocked the attack and the referee removed the foreign object from the ring. Taichi had gone into this match with the intentions of humiliating Okada like he used to many years ago when Okada was merely a young lion. Okada took control during periods when Taichi wasn’t attempting an underhanded tactic. Miho Abe sneakily gave Taichi the Iron Finger when he was downed but Okada once again foiled the weapon attack. Yoshinobu Kanemaru entered and distracted the referee as Taichi hit Okada with a steel chair so hard that the seat popped out. Taichi blocked mutliple Rainmaker attempts and answered with high-angle back suplexes. The crowd was solidly in favor of their hometown man, Taichi. Okada countered the Black Mephisto into a short-range Rainmaker. Taichi pushed the referee in Okada’s way and hit a low blow behind his back and pinned him for a two count, then hit an elevated powerbomb for another two count. Okada countered Taichi’s Black Mephisto to hit a discus lariat. Okada hit a spinning tombstone piledriver and a Rainmaker to defeat Taichi by pinfall. (30:53)
