NJPW Road to The New Beginning live results: Okada’s final Korakuen Hall match
Kazuchika Okada will wrestle for NJPW at Korakuen Hall for the final time on today’s Road to The New Beginning event.
In the show’s semi-main event, Okada, Hiroshi Tanahashi, and Tomohiro Ishii defend the NEVER Openweight Six-Man Tag Team titles against TMDK’s Mikey Nicholls, Shane Haste, and Kosei Fujita.
Okada finishes up with NJPW next month, so a title change today is a virtual lock.
Okada’s last stand in Korakuen Hall grabs the headlines, but today’s show will feature Shota Umino vs. Ren Narita in the main event in a matchup of two wrestlers vitally important to carrying the company in the wake of Okada leaving.
Tetsuya Naito & Hiromu Takahashi vs. SANADA & DOUKI is second from the top today.
LIJ’s Shingo Takagi, Yota Tsuji & BUSHI vs. Just Five Guys’ Taichi, Yuya Uemura & TAKA Michinoku is also set for the show.
United Empire faces Bullet Club War Dogs in another 10-man tag on today’s event.
Tama Tonga, El Desperado, YOH & Tomoaki Honma take on EVIL, SHO, Yujiro Takahashi & Yoshinobu Kanemaru of House of Torture.
Hikuleo, El Phantasmo & Ryusuke Taguchi face KENTA, Chase Owens & Taiji Ishimori in the second match of the main card.
Zack Sabre Jr. battles Tiger Mask in the main card opener.
The kickoff show match will feature the new Young Lions on opposite sides, with Katsuya Murashima teaming with veteran Toru Yano against Shoma Kato & Boltin Oleg.
Zack Sabre Jr. defeated Tiger Mask
This was the exact match you would expect from this pair. TMIV landed a handful of strikes, but ZSJ repeatedly caught him. ZSJ led the match with several grappling sequences. TMIV would occasionally catch him in a hold of his own. In the end, ZSJ won out with an arm-based submission.
Chase Owens, KENTA, & Taiji Ishimori (BULLET CLUB) defeated Jado, Hikuleo, & Ryusuke Taguchi
El Phantasmo couldn’t make tonight’s match for an unknown reason, so Jado took his place.
The BULLET CLUB team opened the match by jumping the babyfaces. From here, the heel worked over Taguchi, isolating him from his corner.
A hot tag to Hikuleo reversed momentum entirely. The BC team completely failed to answer Hikuleo. Even once Jado tagged in, the faces maintained this lead until the very end. Jado locked Ishimori into a crossfade, but Ishimori rolled into a pin to steal a win.
EVIL, SHO, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Yujiro Takahashi (BULLET CLUB House of Torture) defeated El Desperado, Tama Tonga, YOH & Tomoaki Honma
YOH replaced an injured Master Wato in this match.
HoT opened the match by jumping the babyfaces. In the ring, the assault continued, with HoT focusing on Desperado. Once YOH tagged in, HoT launched into a full-fledged attack on the floor.
After a prolonged beatdown, YOH escaped to Tama. Tama took out all of HoT one by one. He survived being thrown into an exposed corner and dropped EVIL with a lariat before tagging out to Honma.
Honma fell to the pressure of HoT, but this prompted a full match breakdown. After the chaotic scrap, Honma squared off with EVIL again. EVIL won out in the exchange, dropping Honma with Everything is Evil to win the match.
After the match, HoT beat down Desperado and stole his mask.
Alex Coughlin, Clark Connors, David Finlay, Drilla Moloney & Gabe Kidd (BULLET CLUB War Dogs) defeated Francesco Akira, Great-O-Khan, HENARE, TJP, & Callum Newman (United Empire)
This was another great New Beginning preview from this program.
This match opened with a melee in the isleway. The match normalized as HENARE and Kidd found the ring. Just as the match was gaining order, Kidd knocked HENARE to the mat, prompting another breakdown.
Moloney and Connors tried focusing Akira, but TJP hit the ring to make the save. An extended sequence between the two junior teams played out until Connors scored the win with No Chaser.
After the match, the fighting continued. The scuffle lasted for quite some time. The brawling was fierce and included the heavy use of weapons.
BUSHI, Shingo Takagi & Yota Tsuji (Los Ingobernables de Japon) defeated Taichi, TAKA Michinoku & Yuya Uemura (Just 5 Guys)
A short brawl opened the match but was followed by an exchange between Shingo and Taichi. Yuya and Tsuji were next to enter the match. They had a brief back-and-forth favoring Yuya, leading to a period of J5G control.
BUSHI tagging into the match opened the door for a LIJ rally. LIJ was able to focus on TAKA while maintaining momentum through tags. In the end, Shingo won the match with a pumping bomber and a powerbomb.
After the match, Tsuji attacked Yuya on the outside. Yuya fired back, leading to a lengthy brawl that the young lions had to separate.
DOUKI & SANADA (Just 5 Guys) defeated Hiromu Takahashi & Tetsuya Naito (Los Ingobernables de Japon)
The match opened with a Naito/SANADA tease before handing the action off to the juniors. Hiromu gained control for his team, which he worked with Naito to maintain.
A reset left Naito and SANADA as the fresh men. SANADA unloaded on Naito, gaining a substantial lead, but tags back to the juniors allowed LIJ to retake the advantage.
A timebomb scored a nearfall on DOUKI. Hiromu landed a lariat but was then caught by DOUKI. DOUKI put Hiromu in a stretch muffler with Hiromu’s shoulders pressed against the mat. This resulted in a sudden pinfall victory for J5G.
NEVER Openweight Six Man Tag Team Championship: Kazuchika Okada, Tomohiro Ishii, & Hiroshi Tanahashi (c) defeated Kosei Fujita, Mikey Nicholls & Shane Haste
This match was fantastic. It’s hard to imagine a better Korakuen send-off for Okada. Fujita was nothing short of amazing during here.
Fujita challenged Okada following the opening bell. He slapped Okada’s chest and tried for a dropkick, but Okada avoided Fujita’s follow-up. Okada then took Fujita to the floor and delivered a scoop slam. Back in the ring, Tanahashi tagged in and began his own attack on Fujita.
Ishii tagged in and began to focus on Fujita himself. Fujita stepped up to the plate, answering Ishii’s strikes with some of his own. Ishii overwhelmed Fujita before locking in a Boston crab. Once the hold was broken, Okada tagged back in. Okada mocked Fujita with an uncontested offense before passing the match back to Tanahashi.
Fujita came back to life after Tanahashi entered the match, delivering a dragonscrew of his own. Fujita escaped to Haste, who unloaded on Tanahashi with a flurry of moves. Tanahashi held on for a while before tagging out to Ishii.
Ishii put Haste on the backfoot before Nicholls entered the match. Nicholls aided Haste in delivering a top rope suplex to Ishii, re-establishing TMDK control. Okada hit the ring to answer, prompting Fujita to join the fray. Okada flattened Fujita and then turned his attention to Nicholls alongside his teammates.
Ishii tried for a brainbuster, but TMDK hit the ring again to make the save. Fujita landed a dropkick to knock Okada off the mat before hitting Tanahashi with a tope con hilo. Back in the ring, Nicholls and Haste hit Ishii with a tankbuster for a nearfall. After a short scuffle, they hit Ishii with another tankbuster, but again, Ishii kicked out.
Tanahashi interrupted a super tankbuster attempt with a dragonscrew. This led to TMDK focusing on him, giving Ishii long enough to recover. Ishii and Tanahashi reset the match with a dragonscrew.
A late double tag to Fujita and Okada set Korakuen on fire. Okada immediately dropped Fujita, drawing a smile from the rainmaker. Okada then slowed his offense, giving Fujita enough time to rally. Fujita landed a springboard dropkick and then began to taunt Okada with kicks to the head. These kicks infuriated Okada, but Fujita didn’t let up. Fujita locked in a hold, forcing Tanahashi to make the save.
Fujita tried for a deadlift German, but Okada reversed into the money clip. The rest of TMDK hit the ring to save Fujita, giving him space to hit the deadlift German for a nearfall. Fujita tried for another suplex, but Okada stuffed it. Okada landed a German of his own. Okada then tried for the rainmaker, but Fujita ducked. Okada hit a dropkick before Fujita could respond, followed by two lariats. Okada tried for the lariat again, but again, Fujita avoided the finish. Fujita then bridged into a pin for a convincing nearfall.
Tanahashi and Ishii joined Okada in the ring. Tanahashi hit Fujita with a sling blade and Ishii with a sliding lariat. Okada then landed another dropkick and an elbow drop from the top. Finally, Okada hit Fujita with a rainmaker and pinned him to retain the six-man belts.
After the match, Okada shook hands with all of TMDK (except for Fujita, who was out on the mat) and hugged ZSJ. Okada then cut a tear-filled send-off promo. He thanked Korakuen for 17 years of support. He then announced he would vacate the NEVER Six Man belts and thanked Tanahashi and Ishii.
On his way out, Okada shook hands with CHAOS members YOSHI-HASHI and Toru Yano.
Shota Umino defeated Ren Narita
This wasn’t awful, but compared to the dozens of other Korakuen matches based around brawling in the stands, it was nothing special; it was fine for what it was. The opening was hot, but I felt this lost a bit of its energy as it went on. The late House of Torture interfearance did nothing to help.
Umino launched into an attack as soon as Narita entered the ring. He landed a giant dropkick, sending Narita to the floor, which he followed with a slew of whips into the barricades. Back in the ring, Umino continued the attack, flooring Narita with a variatey of strikes.
Narita baited Umino outside the ring, buying him time to deliver a boot. Narita then returned the favor from earlier in the match, whipping Umino into the barricades himself. Narita drove Umino into the ring apron. To cement his lead while humiliating Umino, Narita pulled him up the Korakuen seats and slamed him into the section sign hanging against the wall.
Back in the ring, Umino was able to fire back. He landed a suplex and a dropkick to establish a short lead, but a knee from Narita brought it to an end. Narita then began to taunt Umino with light kicks to the head, both giving Umino time to recover while making him angry. Narita tried for a suplex from the top rope, but Umino reversed, delivering a kick followed by a flurry of strikes.
Umino landed a DDT to the apron, taking the match back to the floor. Umino then grabbed a chair and drug Narita into the crowd. He slammed Narita into the chair before placing him in it to deliver a dropkick. Umino then picked up a table and set it up above a flight of stairs. Umino powerbombed Narita through the table, sending him crashing down the stairs.
After Umino pulled Narita back to the ring, he grabbed another table. Umino hit a few moves inside the ring and scored a nearfall. Narita escaped to the floor where he caught Umino with a sudden suplex through the table. Back inside, Narita hit a running knee, a low blow, and a German suplex for a nearfall.
A sudden DDT from Umino reset the match. A followup DDT from Umino brought him back to life, prompting all of House of Torture to hit the ring. They all beat down Umino together. Before SHO could deliver his wrench strike, the arena darkened and Tama Tonga appeared in the ring. EVIL hit him with a low blow. El Desperado then hit the ring and helped Tama clear off HoT.
Umino hit Narita with a half-and-half suplex for a two-count. Narita avoided the deathrider and locked in a sleeper. A gnarly belly-to-belly scored Narita a nearfall. Umino answered with a forearm and a swinging DDT for a nearfall of his own. Umino then hit deathrider to win the match.
After the match, Desperado grabbed the microphone. He denied SHO a shot at his title but offered him a special singles match.
Tama cut his last Korakuen promo with tears in his eyes. He thanked the crowd and asked Umino to take the NEVER belt from EVIL.
Finally, to end the show, Umino took the microphone. He told Narita and HoT to remember this result and praised Tama’s love for New Japan. To close, Narita used a metaphor of rain ending and skies clearing in New Japan. He promised to be the light to guide the new generation before declaring himself the “new ace”.