NJPW reveals cards for New Beginning in Nagoya and Hiroshima

NJPW has announced the lineups for its The New Beginning events, taking place January 30 in Nagoya and February 10 and 11 in Hiroshima. 

The key match on the tour is Kota Ibushi vs. SANADA for the IWGP Heavyweight and Intercontinental titles on February 11. Ibushi claimed those titles with a win over Tetsuya Naito on January 4 at Wrestle Kingdom, then retained them on January 5, beating Jay White. SANADA appeared after the January 5 title match and challenged Ibushi for the titles at a later date. 

February 10 will feature two title matches, as Hiromu Takahashi defends the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship against SHO in the main event, while Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa will defend the IWGP Heavyweight Tag belts against Taichi and Zack Sabre Jr. in a Wrestle Kingdom rematch. 

The January 30 show will see Shingo Takagi defending the NEVER Openweight Championship against Hiroshi Tanahashi in the main event. Shingo is coming off a successful NEVER title defense against Jeff Cobb at Wrestle Kingdom on January 5, while Tanahashi beat Great-O-Khan on January 4. 

Here are the full lineups:

NJPW New Beginning in Nagoya — Saturday, January 30, 4 a.m. Eastern time on NJPW World

  • NEVER Openweight Championship: Shingo Takagi (c) vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi
  • Satoshi Kojima vs. Will Ospreay
  • Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Great-O-Khan
  • Kota Ibushi, Tomoaki Honma, SHO & Master Wato vs. SANADA, Tetsuya Naito, Hiromu Takahashi & BUSHI
  • Kazuchika Okada & Toru Yano vs. EVIL & Yujiro Takahashi

NJPW New Beginning in Hiroshima night one — Wednesday, February 10, 4:30 a.m. Eastern time on NJPW World 

  • IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship: Hiromu Takahashi (c) vs. SHO
  • IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championship: Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa (c) vs. Taichi & Zack Sabre Jr.
  • Kota Ibushi & Tomoaki Honma vs. SANADA & Tetsuya Naito
  • Kazuchika Okada, Toru Yano, Hirooki Goto, Tomohiro Ishii & YOSHI-HASHI vs. EVIL, Yujiro Takahashi, Dick Togo, Taiji Ishimori & El Phantasmo
  • BUSHI vs. Master Wato
  • Minoru Suzuki, El Desperado & Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. Yota Tsuji, Yuya Uemura & Gabriel Kidd

NJPW New Beginning in Hiroshima night two — Thursday, February 11, 1 a.m. Eastern time on NJPW World 

  • IWGP Heavyweight & IWGP Intercontinental double title match: Kota Ibushi (c) vs. SANADA
  • Taichi, Zack Sabre Jr. & DOUKI vs. Tama Tonga, Tanga Loa & Jado
  • Kazuchika Okada & Toru Yano vs. EVIL & Dick Togo
  • Tetsuya Naito, Hiromu Takahashi & BUSHI vs. Tomoaki Honma, SHO & Master Wato
  • Minoru Suzuki, El Desperado & Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. Yujiro Takahashi, Taiji Ishimori & El Phantasmo
  • Hirooki Goto, Tomohiro Ishii & YOSHI-HASHI vs. Yota Tsuji, Yuya Uemura & Gabriel Kidd