NJPW New Year Dash live results: The fallout from Wrestle Kingdom 17

In a format similar to their The Night Before Rumble on 44th Street event last October, the lineup for tonight’s NJPW New Year Dash in Tokyo, Japan, is a secret.

The event is the annual day after Wrestle Kingdom show, but this is the first time it has featured no full card in advance.

One match was made official during Wrestle Kingdom 17 as Shingo Takagi, Great-O-Khan, SHO and Toru Yano will battle in a four-way for the provisional KOPW 2023 trophy. They were the final four in the annual Ranbo battle royal prior to the start of Wrestle Kingdom 17.

Several titles changed hands at Wrestle Kingdom 17 including Kazuchika Okada defeating Jay White to reclaim the IWGP World title, Kenny Omega beating Will Ospreay to win the IWGP U.S. title, Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI defeating FTR for the IWGP Tag Team titles, Zack Sabre Jr. becoming the first-ever NJPW TV Champion, and Hiromu Takahashi regaining the IWGP Junior Heavyweight title.

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EVIL, Dick Togo, and Yujiro Takahashi (House of Torture) defeated Ren Narita, Tiger Mask, and Tomoaki Honma

This match opened with HoT rushing the babyfaces and taking advantage. HoT then worked to isolate TM while trying to remove his mask.

Ren eventually received a hot tag, where he launched a comeback for his team, but once Honma tagged in, HoT retook control. Yujiro used his cane to take out Honma’s backup. Togo and EVIL hit Honma with Magic Killer and pinned him for the win.

After the match, HoT tried beating down Narita, leading to Minoru Suzuki attempting a save. HoT overwhelmed Suzuki, so former Suzuki-gun member, Desperado saved Suzuki. The three fought off HoT and shared a moment in the ring; Narita looked confused by the gesture. It’s easy to imagine this trio will challenge for HoT NEVER Openweight Trios Championship.

Taichi, DOUKI, and Yoshinobu Kanemaru (with TAKA Michinoku) defeated Will Ospreay, TJP, and Fransico Akira (United Empire)

Before the match, TAKA Michinoku cut a promo for the former Suzuki-gun guys and claimed they would change the face of New Japan as “just four guys”.

The match opened with Catch 2/2 gaining control for their team before passing the match off to Ospreay. Ospreay, visibly beaten from last night, entered the match with intensity.

Taichi took advantage of Ospreay’s weakness, writing him out of the match with a targeted attack. Without Ospreay, DOUKI was able to snag a quick pin and pull off a surprising win for his new old team.

After the match, United Empire beat down “just four guys”, which seems to be a new unit. This seems to be a setup for a Kanemaru/DOUKI title challenge and a Taichi/Ospreay singles match in the future.

Zack Sabre Jr., Mikey Nicholls, and Shane Haste (TMDK) defeated YOSHI-HASHI, Hirooki Goto, and Tomohiro Ishii (CHAOS)

The CHAOS trio gained an early lead in the match, but TMDK challenged this by turning the match into a free-for-all. As the match carried on, ZSJ and Ishii spent a lot of time in the ring together, as did the two established tag teams.

After clearing the ring of the rest of CHAOS, Nicholls and Haste hit YH with a tank buster and pinned one-half of the tag team champions.

After the match, Nicholls and Haste held the IWGP Tag Team Championships over the champions. ZSJ and Ishii also had a stare-down, perhaps setting up ZSJ’s first title challenger. 

Once the posing was over, TMDK sat on the apron. ZSJ said TMDK needed a fourth, and he knew exactly who it should be. ZSJ pulled Kosei Fujita from ringside, took off his Young Lion garb, and gave him a TMDK shirt. So for the first time, at least to my knowledge, a Young Lion is a part of a unit.

Shota Umino, Ryusuke Taguchi, Togi Makabe, and YOH defeated BUSHI, Tetsuya Naito, Hiromu Takahashi, and SANADA (Los Ingobernables de Japón)

The match opened with a brawl, leading to an extended period of chaos. Once the fog cleared, Umino commanded the match, scoring a near fall on SANADA and forcing the tag to Naito.

Naito and Umino is clearly a program New Japan is trying to build, and they had a lot of time in this match together. Both men landed big moves, with Umino even getting the better of his senior in their first prolonged interaction.

Once Naito and Umino tagged out, the match fell apart again. Hiromu and YOH spent a lot of time fighting in the ring, even though the brawling. YOH eventually landed Direct Drive and pinned the Junior champion, setting up a title challenge in the future.

After the match, YOH grabbed a microphone to make the title challenge official. 

Master Wato, Hikuleo, Hiroshi Tanahashi, & Tama Tonga defeated Jay White, KENTA, El Phantasmo, & Taiji Ishimori (Bullet Club)

The match opened with some silliness that Bullet Club used to establish an early lead. Hikuleo eventually tagged in and reset the match, leading to an ELP and Tama faceoff after a double tag.

After a scramble between both teams, ELP and Tama were left alone in the ring again. Gedo tried interfering but ate a gun stun. With the referee turned, ELP tried using the NEVER belt as a weapon but was caught in the act. The referee disqualified ELP, leading to Bullet Club viciously beating down the rest of the babyfaces.

After the match, Jay White grabbed a mic and cut an intense promo against Hikuleo, blaming him for his loss against Okada. White then challenged Hikuleo to a loser leaves Japan match.

King of Pro Wrestling 2023 Provisional Championship: Shingo Takagi defeated Great-O-Khan, SHO, Toru Yano

O-Khan and Shingo opened the match with a one-on-one interaction. Yano and SHO attempted a double roll-up, causing the match to break down. House of Torture, who accompanied SHO to the ring, helped their faction mate by jumping the other wrestlers. For the rest of the bout, HoT provided weapons and constantly interfered in the match.

After a match full of HoT shenanigans, the other guys took out SHO. O-Khan cleared the ring of Shingo and hit Yano with the eliminator. Shingo interrupted the pin and hit Yano with last of the dragon to win the match and the new KOPW belt.

After the match, O-Khan and Shingo had a brief stare-down.

Kenny Omega and Kazuchika Okada defeated Jeff Cobb and Aaron Henare (United Empire)

This was a tremendous match, and seeing the Omega/Okada pairing on the same side was a fantastic surprise.

The IWGP World and United States Heavyweight champions, Omega and Okada, received a colossal reaction for their first time teaming together.

Cobb and Omega opened the match, and Cobb quickly targeted Omega’s black eye. Cobb caught Omega in the opening exchange, forcing Okada to tag in. Likewise, Henare got the best of Okada in their opening interaction, taking advantage of Okada’s overworked midsection.

United Empire worked to isolate Okada, leading to the hot-tag into Omega. After tagging in, Omega stopped the unchallenged advance of United Empire, but the wear from his match last night slowed him down.

Okada tried for a rainmaker but missed; Omega was in position to clean up with a v-trigger. Cobb tried to stop the ending sequence by hitting Omega with a tour of the islands, but Okada saved Omega. Then the champions worked together, hitting a combination v-trigger rainmaker on Henare to win the match.

Once the match ended, Okada went to cut the show-ending promo. The new KOPW champion, Shingo Takagi, interrupted Okada and challenged him to an IWGP title match. Okada accepted the challenge, setting up a title match sometime in the future.