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From the Tokyo Dome, Tokyo, Japan:
The Tokyo Dome looks almost full. Good news for New Japan.
Pre-show - New Japan Ranbo for the No. 1 Contender to the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship:
Participants in order: Great O-Khan, Josh Barnett, Boltin Oleg, Hirooki Goto, Yuji Nagata, Togi Makabe, KENTA, YOSHI-HASHI, Yujiro Takahashi, Toru Yano, Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima, Tomoaki Honma, SANADA, Taichi, Tomohiro Ishii, and Alex Zayne.
It came down to O-Khan and Goto. O-Khan is eliminated over the top rope.
Hirooki Goto wins the New Japan Ranbo and earns an IWGP World Heavyweight Title mamatch.
Goto is presented with a title contract.
Interesting choice with Goto. He would match up well with either Zack or Umino.
1 - IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Championship 4-way Match: Kevin Knight and KUSHIDA vs. Kosei Fujita and Robbie Eagles vs. Francesco Akira and TJP vs. Drilla Moloney and Clark Conners
Good way to start the night. Eagles got bloodied early. Lots of high spots, which may have looked good from to the live crowd, but on TV they were safe and trying not to get hurt.
Catch 22 and TMDK battled on the top of the ladders. Eagles and TJP took a bump to the mat. Fujita tied up Akira’s legs in the ladder and Fujita grabbed the title belts.
Robbie Eagles and Kosei Fujita are the new IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Champions.
2 - IWGP Women's Championship Match: Mayu Iwatani vs. AZM
Soil match. Iwatani pins AZM with a Dragon Suplex.
Mayu Iwatani retains the IWGP Women’s Championship.
I still wish New Japan would develop their women’s division and not just one match a year.
3 - NJPW World TV Championship 3-Way Match: Jeff Cobb vs. Ren Narita vs. Ryohei Oiwa
Good match. Oiwa hits a Doctor Bomb on Cobb. Narita pulls the referee out of the ring to stop the count. Narita grabs his push up bar and hits Oiwa in the face. Narita goes to hit Cobb, but Cobb blocks it, yanks the bar from his hands and snaps it over his knee. Big pop from the crowd!
Narita hits a low blow on Cobb and goes for a Double Cross. Cobb reverses into Tour of the Islands. ELP breaks the count with a senton. ELP hits a tope con hilo on Oiwa on the floor. ELP hits Thunderkiss 86 on Narita.
ELP pins Narita.
El Phantasmo wins the New Japan World Television Championship.
In 2024, ELP had to suffer the break up of Guerrillas of Destiny, struggle as a singles wrestler, teased a period of depression, literally got cancer, had medical procedures and returned in December cancer-free. Now he stands as the new TV Championship. Zack Sabre Jr. was the first TV Champion and look where he is now. President Tanahashi believes in ELP and gave him a chance to represent New Japan on Television.
4 - Lumberjack Deathmatch: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. EVIL
House of Torture pulls out all their tricks. Tanahashi and Hontai fight back. Tanahashi hits Aces High and goes for High Fly Flow. EVIL pushes the referee into the rope and Tanahashi falls. Togo throws powder in Tanahashi’s eyes. EVIL hits a superplex and follows with Darkness Falls. Two count. EVIL applies the Darkness Scorpion. EVIL releases the hold to argue with the referee. EVIL hits Everything is Evil. EVIL goes for the pin but Tanahashi rolls him into a crade.
Tanahashi pins EVIL.
The Hiroshi Tanahashi retirement tour continues.
After the match, House of Torture attacks. Katsuyori Shibata jumps in the ring to make the save. Shibata is wearing an AEW sweatshirt.
Shibata asks for a match at Wrestle Dynasty. Tanahashi accepts.
5 - NEVER Openweight Championship and AEW International Championship Match: Shingo Takagi vs. Konosuke Takeshita
Good hard hitting match. Takeshita hit a Bastard Driver and a release German suplex. Takagi hit a lariat and Made in Japan. Two count. Takeshita hits a Super Frankensteiner. Wow! Takeshita with a running knee strike and a Blue Thunder Bomb. Two count.
Takagi hits Last of the Dragon but could not make the cover. Takagi hits some lariats. Takeshita with a Poisonrana. Takagi with a Poisonrana. Takeshita gets up and hits an elbow to the head.
They trade knees and elbows. Takeshita hits a Falcon Arrow.
Takeshita pins Takagi.
Konosuke Takeshita wins the NEVER Openweight Championship and AEW International Championship. He will defend both titles tomorrow against Tomohiro Ishii.
6 - IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship: DOUKI vs. El Desperado
DOUKI hit a senton to the floor and came down hard on his elbow. You could see the dislocation in the replay. Referee immediately stopped the match and awarded the match to Desperado.
El Desperado wins the match and the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship.
Desperado takes the mic and says he does not apologize because this is what happens when you put your heart and soul into something you love, referring to himself and DOUKI. Desperado promises that they will do this again and he hopes they can all be there to see it
Good call by the referee.
7 - IWGP Global Heavyweight Championship: Yota Tsuji vs. David Finlay
Good match with momentum swinging both way. Tsuji pulls out his lucha moves. They battle on the floor. Finlay plants Tsuji through a table. Tsuji fights back. Finlay hits three Dominators in a row. Two count. Tsuji is dazed but is able to counter with knee strikes. Tsuji misses a Malo Crash. Finlay hits three powerbombs. Two count.
Tsuji hits a running knee and hits the Malo Crash. Two count. Tsuji goes for a Gene Blaster but Finlay counters into a Gun Stun. Finlay hits Into Oblivion. Two count.
Tsuji avoids Overkill, but Finlay hits a spear. Tsuji hits Prima Nocta on Finlay and follows with a Gene Blaster. Finlay gets a foot on the ropes. The trade strikes. Tsuji hits a curb stomp. Finlay hits Overkill. Two count.
Tsuji hits knee strike and a powerbomb. Tsuji hits the Gene Blaster.
Tsuji pins Finlay.
Yota Tsuji wins the IWGP Global Heavyweight Championship.
8 - Special Single Match: Tetsuya Naito vs. Hiromu Takahashi
Good match. Both men hit all their signature moves. Hiromu hits a Destino on Naito, then follows with Time Bomb II. Naito kicks out. Hiromu goes for another Time Bomb, but Naito escapes and slaps Hiromu in the face. Naito hits another Destino. Two count. Naito slaps Hiromu and hits Valencia. Naito with another Destino.
Naito pins Hiromu.
Tetsuya Naito wins.
Naito puts on his hat and waits for Hiromu to get to his feet, waiting for Hiromu’s fist bump.
Hiromu bows with respect to his leader and they fist bump as teammates.
9 - IWGP World Heavyweight Championship: Shota Umino vs. Zack Sabre Jr.
TMDK come to the ring with ZSJ. The match is even until Umino hit a DDT on the apron. Umino hit another DDT off the guardrails. The camera caught a shot of Umino’s cold gaze and crowd was booing. They trade strikes. ZSJ starts the submission attack, tying Umino into knots. They trade more stiff shots. Umino goes for a Death Rider, but ZSJ reverses into a Zack Driver. Two count.
Umino hits Ignition and a Death Rider. Two count. ZSJ attacks the ankle and applies a leg submission. ZSJ applies a double ankle submission. Umino gets to the ropes. ZSJ stomps on the injured ankles.
Umino looked to be beaten and demoralized but he fired up and threw some elbows. ZSJ dropkicked the leg. They fight on the top rope. Umino stuns ZSJ with a headbutt. Umino took down ZSJ with a double underhook suplex off the top. The announcers called it a Death Rider off the top.
Umino started stomping on ZSJ who was in the ropes. Referee told him to break. Umino pushes the referee. Crowd reacts to this because the referee is Shota Umino’s father. Umino kept stomping on ZSJ ignoring the referee. Umino bring ZSJ to the middle of the ring and hits uppercuts. Umino does the Bryan Danielson stomp. ZSJ hits a hard open hand slap and begins stomping on Umino. They trade slaps. Umino hits an Emerald Flosion and a Blaze Blade. Two count.
They trade strikes. Umino’s leg buckles under him. ZSJ hits a Zack Driver. Two count. ZSJ hits a Gotch Piledriver. (Hail to the King!) ZSJ hits a Sabre Driver.
ZSJ pins Umino.
Zack Sabre Jr. retains the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship.
Zack gets the mic and tells Umino that they will see each other again. He tells everyone Happy New Year and it will be the year of TMDK.
Good match. Zack is what New Japan needs at the moment. A great World Champion who can carry the company. Umino showed that he can go 40+ minutes and sell for the entire match. He also has moments where he at times looked like a believable heel. However, there are too many heels in New Japan and not enough strong babyfaces. With Zack as Champion, at some point he can turn heel and have multiple babyfaces chasing him, like Hirooki Goto, Yota Tsuji, Umino, Yuya Uemura, or Taichi (which would be my pick). Any of the younger Japanese stars could work their way up and beat Zack and Tanahashi may have his next Kazuchika Okada for his company.
They announced O-Khan will team with Jeff Cobb tomorrow against the Young Bucks. Also, Hiromu Takahashi and Tetsuya Naito will be added to this match (rightfully so) to make it a three way match for the IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championship.
Zack Sabre Jr. will defend the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship against Ricochet.
Thank you for reading.
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