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02/03/25 Results from New Japan's Road to The New Beginning from Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan:
Kickoff match: Katsuya Murashima vs. Masatora Yasuda
Murashima get the submission win with a Boston Crab
1 - Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Daiki Nagai
Nagai hit a stiff slap in Tanahashi's face. Tanahashi threw 3 stiff slaps at Nagai. Then traps Nagai in the Texas Cloverhold.
Nagai taps out.
Now that Tanahashi has dropped the NEVER Openweight 6-man Titles, he can not focus on his solo retirement tour. It seems he wants to have a singles match with every wrestler on the New Japan roster. That is a cool idea.
2 - Master Wato, Ryusuke Taguchi and Shota Umino vs. Jakob Austin Young, Francesco Akira and Great O-Khan
Wato forces Young to submit to Vendeval.
After the match, O-Khan attacked Umino and tried to cut his hair. Taguchi and Wato makes the save and chase O-Khan away. A fan held up one of Umino's T-shirts and O-Khan cut the shirt to pieces. Lots of boos from the crowd. Umino tried to chase down O-Khan but he ran into the crowd and escaped back to the locker room.
3 - Tomoaki Honma and Togi Makabe vs. Hiromu Takahashi and Tetsuya Naito
Takahashi pinned Homna with Death Valley Driver.
4 - TAKA Michinoku and Taichi vs. Clark Conners and SANADA
As Taichi and SANADA were brawling, SANADA grabbed Taichi's leg and faked a low blow. The referee saw it and disqualified Taichi and TAKA. The referee awarded the match to SANADA and Conners, who quickly escaped the ring.
Taichi went nuts on the referee and argued the unfairness to all officials at ringside.
5 - BUSHI, Shingo Takagi and Yota Tsuji vs. Taiji Ishimori, Drilla Moloney and Gabe Kidd
Ishimori pins BUSHI with a Gedo Clutch.
Kidd and Tsuji brawl after the match, ahead of their title match next week.
6 - Tomohiro Ishii, YOH, El Desperado, YOSHI-HASHI and Hirooki Goto vs. Hartley Jackson, Robbie Jackson, Robbie Eagles, Kosei Fujita, Ryohei Oiwa and Zack Sabre Jr.
Ishii pins Jackson after a big brainbuster.
7 - NJPW World TV Championship: El Phantasmo vs. Jeff Cobb
Cobb bloodied his nose midway through the match. ELP reverses a Tour of the Islands into a DDT. ELP hit top rope body press then a Thunderkiss '86.
ELP pins Cobb.
El Phantasmo retains the NJPW World TV Championship.
After the match, Cobb puts the belt on ELP's shoulder and congratulates him.
El Phantasmo earns a definitive win over Cobb and establishing himself as a major player in the singles division. Zack Sabre Jr. was the first TV Champion and look where he is now.
ELP thanks the crowd. He tells the crowd to applaud the bus driver who drive them all over the country. He thanked the camera men and the commentary team. He thanked Walker Stewart for doing the English commentary. He said "F**k you Clark Conners", who was on English commentary. He thanked everyone who helped to get to this position and thanked the crowd in Osaka and will see them soon.
Nice heartfelt speech by the Headbanger. He can be a pillar which Tanahashi can build the company around.
Thank you for reading.
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