NEW JAPAN’S ANNUAL BIG SHOW AFTER WRESTLEKINGDOM RUNG IN THE ‘NEW YEAR’ FOR THE COMPANY, AND NEW YEARS DASH WAS AS ALWAYS FULL OF SHOCKS AND SURPRISES.
The main event saw Los Ingobernables de Japon (Tetsuya Naito, BUSHI, Sanada, Hiromu Takahashi and EVIL) beat CHAOS (Kazuchika Okada, Gedo, Will Ospreay, Hirooki Goto and YOSHI-HASHI) when Naito dropped YOSHI-HASHI with Destino. The beatdown continued with Sanada choking Okada out as L.I.J stood tall.
However, as Naito was soaking in the adulation of Korakuen Hall, Chris Jericho appeared and attacked Naito from behind. A pull apart brawl ensued as L.I.J and the entire NJPW locker room kept these two apart. Naito calmly mocked Jericho as the show went off the air as it appears that Y2J is not done in Japan by a long shot.
The other big story of the show surrounded one faction and one of New Japan’s hottest prospects. ‘Switchblade‘ Jay White bounced back from his loss to Tanahashi, by easily dispatching of Young Lion’s Cup winner Katsuya Kitamura. He finished off proceedings with his ‘Blade Runner’ swinging facebuster finisher. This was also Kitamura’s first match in Challenge Series, following winning the Young Lions Cup.
Following their victories at the Toyko Dome, The Elite (Kenny Omega & The Young Bucks) played through the pain to see off Roppongi 3K and Cheeseburger. It looked like their various injuries from the night before might cost them as Cheeseburger ran through them all with palm strikes. However, a crossbody from the Ring Of Honor star was misjudged as he was caught, and one IndyTaker later; The Elite were victorious.
We also saw the B.C contingent of Cody, Marty Scurll, Chase Owens, Yujiro Takahashi and Leo Tonga beat the Taguchi Japan trio of Ryusuke Taguchi, Juice Robinson and David Finlay Jr alongside KUSHIDA and Kota Ibushi, Post match, Cody tried to take out Ibushi, but remarkably Kenny Omega made the save and there appears to be a rift within Bullet Club.
However, Kenny Omega had an idea to save face for his beleaguered squadron, to bring in Jay White to the fold. It appeared that ‘Switchblade’ was all ready to join by donning the Bullet Club shirt, but it was all a ploy as White dropped Omega in the ring as it appears the Kiwi is his own man.
It wasn’t all turmoil though, as we crowned new NEVER Openweight Six Man Tag Team Champions less than 24 hours after they changed hangs, as the Bullet Club trio of Bad Luck Fale and Guerrilas of Destiny regained their gold, beating the CHAOS team of Toru Yano, Barreta and Tomohiro Iishi after Tama Tongs dropped Barreta with a Gun Stun.
Suzuki-gun had a great night as the newly shaven Minoru Suzuki, Davey Boy Smith Jr, Lance Archer and Zack Sabre Jr. beat the four man team of Hiroshi Tanahashi, War Machine and Michael Elgin when Killer Elite Squad hit the Killer Bomb on Hanson for the win. It also appears that Suzuki’s new aim is to become the next challenger for Tanahashi’s IWGP Intercontinental Title as he tortured ‘The Ace’ on the outside with chair shots and leg locks throughout the match
Another Suzuki-gun contingent, this time the team of El Desperado, Taichi, TAKA Michinoku, Takashi Iizuka, & Yoshinobu Kanemaru bested the quintet of Henare, Hirai Kawato, Jushin Liger, Tiger Mask IV, & Togi Makabe. Kawato was singled out by Suzuki-Gun and was finished off by El Desperado and his Pinche Loco finisher.
Finally, in our shows opener it was a battle of old versus young as Manabu Nakanishi, TenCozy (Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima), & Yuji Nagata beat the Young Lions contingent of Ren Narita, Shota Umino, Tetsuhiro Yagi, & Tomoyuki Oka. Kojima got the win for his team via a vicious lariat on Umino for the three count.
Gifs Courtesy of @totaldivaseps