First night of double header sees championship title fight Friday
It’s Title Fight Friday on February 23 as night one of New Beginning in Sapporo sees five championships, and plenty of personal vendettas to settle!
Watch New Beginning in Sapporo LIVE in English on NJPW World!
Main event: IWGP Global Championship: David Finlay vs Nic Nemeth
History is made with the first ever defence of the new IWGP Global Championship in the main event tonight, David Finlay putting the white and gold on the line against the debuting Nic Nemeth. When Finlay became the first ever Global Champion at Wrestle Kingdom, defeating Will Ospreay in a three way war, Finlay took exception at Nemeth looking on at ringside ‘casting eyes’ at the freshly born gold. A brawl at ringside continued backstage, and as Nemeth laid eyes on the Global Championship he would launch an impassioned challenge.
A 20 year superstar in WWE, Nemeth now wrestles on his own terms and his own merits. Can he prove his worth against the widely disliked, but undeniably battle hardened Finlay? Or will the Rebel move to V1 and in his own twisted vision, defend the honour of New Japan Pro-Wrestling from the outsider?
8th Match: NJPW World TV Championship: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Matt Riddle
After making his NJPW debut in tag team action back at Battle in the Valley, Matt Riddle challenges President Hiroshi Tanahashi for the NJPW World TV Championship in Sapporo. This challenge was issued back at new Year Dash via video message, with Tanahashi quipping that he would have to do some homework to ‘figure out just who this guy is’. With reputation preceding him, and his proximity to NJPW circles from years back, it’s likely the Ace knows exactly who the ‘King of Bros’ is, but will we know him as the new NJPW World TV Champion?
7th Match: NEVER Openweight Championship: Shota Umino vs EVIL
Shota Umino will challenge EVIL for the NEVER Openweight Championship. At the tour opener in Nagoya, EVIL stole away with the NEVER gold at the expense of the departing Tama tonga in a Lumberjack match. That prompted Tama to counter HOUSE OF TORTURE when they tried to get involved in Shota Umino’s Korakuen grudge match with Ren Narita, and pleading with Umino to take the title back. As Umino has promised to become ‘the new ace for the new generation’, EVIL has done all he can to disrespect and tarnish the NEVER gold, going as far as to spray paint the belt black. Will a new Roughneck reign set the title back in good stead?
6th Match: IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship El Desperado vs SHO
Singles record: 2-2
SHO and El Desperado will tangle in a special singles match on night one in Sapporo. After El Desperado started the month of February with his first dcefence of the IWGP Junior Heavyweight title against former partner Yoshinobu Kanemaru in Korakuen, SHO thought he had next. Beating down the champion backstage, he made away with the champion’s mask and thought a title shot was a done deal. Yet Desperado said that ‘championship matches don’t come so cheap’ and flatly refused to put the gold on the line. Instead, Desperado levelled up the score with SHO by stealing his ‘torture tool’ of an iron wrench, and has said he’d be willing to put the stolen ‘toy’ on the line in return for his pinched mask.
That changed in Osaka, as El Desperado grabbed his hood back, only for the junior heavyweight title belt to work its way into SHO’s hands. After a war of words on the microphone, the stakes have now changed, and Desperado will indeed put the title on the line for a second time, hopefully in his second hammer shot to the nails that are HOUSE OF TORTURE.
5th: IWGP Women’s Championship: Mayu Iwatani vs Mina Shirakawa
Singles record: 2-0 Iwatani
In the first defence of IWGP Women’s gold in an NJPW ring since Lonestar Shootout in November, Mayu Iwatani puts her title on the line against Mina Shirakawa. Having defeated Mercedes Mone for the title back in April of 2023, Iwatani has put up an impressive reign, with her most recent defence being against Syuri on January 4 in Tokyo Dome City Hall. But the Icon of STARDOM openly admitted that she would have rather defended her gold up the road in the Tokyo Doime proper that day. Tonight she gets the chance to defend the IWGP title on the NJPW stage, against tough competition.
Mina Shirakawa came into her own in 2023, splitting away from Cosmic Angels and into the Club Venus faction, while at the same time securing a brief reign with the Wonder of STARDOM title. Now heading up E Nexus V, she looks to pick up her first singles win over Mayu on the third time of asking, while making a significant mark on what promises to be a year of great change for STARDOM.
4th Match: Los Ingobernables De Japon (Tetsuya Naito, Shingo Takagi, Hiromu Takahashi, Yota Tsuji & BUSHI) vs Just Five Guys (SANADA, Taichi, Yuya Uemura, DOUKI & TAKA Michinoku)
Ten man tag action pits the members of night two’s singles matches between Los Ingobernables De Japon and Just Five Guys against one another. With stakes high tomorrow, the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship is on the line in the main event, while Yota Tsuji and Yuya Uemura will have their hair on the line on night two, and need to make a profound final, personal statement ahead of their showdown.
3rd Match: CHAOS (YOH, YOSHI-HASHI, Hirooki Goto, Tomohiro Ishii & Kazuchika Okada) vs United Empire (Callum Newman, Jeff Cobb, Francesco Akira, Great-O-Khan & TJP)
In his penultimate match for New Japan Pro-Wrestling, Kazuchika Okada aligns with his CHAOS teammates one more time as they face the United Empire. Okada was the very first target of United Empire when the group got off the ground, and the faction’s growth was defined by the rivalry between Okada and Will Ospreay. With Ospreay having left in defeat at the hands of the War Dogs in Osaka, a new chapter begins for the team tonight; meanwhile perhaps we will see a vision of CHAOS post Okada tonight as well.
2nd Match: Boltin Oleg, Togi Makabe & Ryusuke Taguchi vs HOUSE OF TORTURE (Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Yujiro Takahashi & Ren Narita)
With EVIL and El Desperado involved in title action later in the night, the chance exists for Hontai tonight to put away HOUSE OF TORTURE and have them not interject themselves into matches later on. Can Boltin, Makabe and Taguchi take care of business early?
1st match: Yuji Nagata vs Zack Sabre Jr.
Singles record: 1-0 Nagata
Finally recognized by Bryan Danielson as the best technical wrestler on the planet, Zack Sabre Jr. has promised to change all of professional wrestling in his quest to become IWGP World Heavyweight Champion in 2024. Starting that quest, he faces a man Danielson faced one on one recently in Yuji Nagata. This is the first time the two have faced off one on one since Nagata’s final G1 back in 2017. Victorious that night, will Nagata be able to counter 2024 Tekkers?
Kickoff: Frontier Zone- Toru Yano & Tomoya vs Shoma Kato & Tomoaki Honma
The kickoff match tonight will see NJPW return to the Frontier Zone. This time, veteran of the northern independent scene Tomoya will partner with Toru Yano against Shoma Kato and Tomoaki Honma. Representing HPW on the regular, Tomoya is also a key figure in local government for the Hokkaido city of Noboribetsu, for which Yano is the sightseeing ambassador. Can the Noboribetsu Dream Team emerge successful?
