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With Wrestle Kingdom 12 firmly in our rear view mirror, we’re moving on to New Japan Pro Wrestling’s annual February spectacular... in January? Sure, why not?
This year, New Beginning is split up into three shows, up one from last year’s two. All three shows, naturally, will air live and in full on NJPW World, so why not watch along with the best pro wrestling community on the internet?
Today’s action takes place in Sapporo's Hokkaido Prefectural Sports Center, kicking off at a ripe 4AM Eastern / 1AM Pacific, and is headlined by Hiroshi Tanahashi defending his IWGP Intercontinental Championship against a freshly-short Minoru Suzuki.
Michael Elgin over Katsuya Kitamura by pinfall with a powerbomb. (Kitamura Challenge Series Match 2)
Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Jushin Liger, KUSHIDA, Manabu Nakanishi, & Tiger Mask IV over Suzuki-gun (El Desperado, Taichi, TAKA Michinoku, Takashi Iizuka, & Yoshinobu Kanemaru) by submission with the Hoverboard Lock from KUSHIDA on Michinoku.
Chaos (Tomohiro Ishii & Toru Yano) over Bullet Club (Chase Owens & Yujiro Takahashi) by pinfall with the vertical drop brainbuster from Ishii on Owens.
Bullet Club (Bad Luck Fale, Tama Tonga, & Tanga Roa) (c) over Taguchi Japan (Ryusuke Taguchi, Toa Henare, & Togi Makabe) by submission with Dream Catcher from Tonga on Henare to retain the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship.
Bullet Club (Cody Rhodes, Hangman Page, & Marty Scurll) over David Finlay, Juice Robinson, & Kota Ibushi by pinfall with Rite of Passage from Page on Finlay.
Los Ingobernables de Japon (Hiromu Takahashi & Tetsuya Naito) over Chaos (Will Ospreay & YOSHI-HASHI) by pinfall with a jackknife pin from Naito on Ospreay.
Post-match, YOSHI-HASHI attacks Naito and basically tries to gouge his eyes out!
Chaos (Gedo, Hirooki Goto, & Kazuchika Okada) over Los Ingobernables de Japon (BUSHI, EVIL, & SANADA) by submission with the cobra clutch from Okada on BUSHI.
After the match, Okada gets on the mic and calls SANADA out. SANADA heads in to answer him but just throws the mic aside, and Okada doesn’t take kindly to that, attacking Cold Skull and jamming a handful of Rainmaker bucks in his mouth before choking him out with the cobra clutch!
The Elite (Kenny Omega, Matt Jackson, & Nick Jackson) over Chaos (“Switchblade” Jay White, SHO, & YOH) by pinfall with the leapfrog-assisted Indietaker on YOH.
Post-match, Jay hits Blade Runner on Omega and jaws at him to send a message.
Minoru Suzuki over Hiroshi Tanahashi (c) by referee stoppage with a kneebar to win the IWGP Intercontinental Championship.
Enjoy the show!