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Road to the New Beginning night 2 (January 23) Preview
First of Korakuen double header
After the kickoff to the New Beginning series in Nagoya on January 20, and a live event follow up Sunday January 21, we head to Korakuen for the first time in 2024 of January 23, and an IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship main event.
Watch LIVE in English on NJPW World!
Main event: IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship- El Desperado vs Yoshinobu Kanemaru
Singles record: 4-1 Kanemaru
The IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship will be on the line in our main event as El Desperado defends against Yoshinobu Kanemaru. After Desperado captured the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship on January 4 in the Tokyo Dome, he was setting out a road map for defences when he was approached first by Master Wato, and then by SHO and Kanemaru. A purported friendly ‘toast’ was anything but as SHO and Kanemaru beat down Wato and Despe, and Kanemaru made it clear he was gunning for his former partner’s championship.
Desperado has long credited Kanemaru and his tag team partnership with the Heel Master in the old days of Suzuki Gun as a key factor in giving him direction in his career and making him the wrestler that he is today. Desperado has spoken of wanting an honorable fight, and that the two in a one on one match could easily be one of the best bouts of the year, ‘but if his HOUSE OF TORTURE self shows up, well it’s not like I don’t know how to cheat’. All very well, but does he know how to cheat better than the master? A 4-1 record in Kanemaru’s favour, El Desperado only able to claim one victory during the 2021 Best of the Super Jr via Pinche Loco, suggests that Kanemaru has taught Desperado everything Desperado knows, but not all he knows. Might there be a new champion crowned tonight?
7th Match: Master Wato vs SHO
Singles record: 2-0 SHO
Also as a result of the post match encounter at the Tokyo Dome, and a New Year Dash attack from HOUSE OF TORTURE, SHO will take on Master Wato. In his older, more sane guise before H.O.T, SHO was a guiding figure in the early days of Wato’s career. The would be Grand Master has never forgiven SHO for his betrayal, and tonight could teach SHO a valuable lesson as well as shoot himself up in the title ranks; meanwhile with the main event to follow, Desperado will hope Wato can cut off any potential interference before it happens.
6th Match: Los Ingobernables De Japon (Tetsuya Naito, Shingo Takagi, Yota Tsuji, Hiromu Takahashi & BUSHI) vs Just Five Guys (SANADA, Taichi, Yuya Uemura, DOUKI & TAKA Michinoku)
Tetsuya Naito will head into Korakuen Hall for the first time as IWGP World Heavyweight Champion tonight as he and his LIJ teammates prepare for Sapporo in February and a series of singles bouts headlined by Naito’s first defence of the World title against SANADA.
5th Match: Tama Tonga, Shota Umino & Togi Makabe vs HOUSE OF TORTURE (EVIL, Ren Narita & Yujiro Takahashi)
On the second night of our Korakuen double header, Ren Narita and Shota Umino will finally go head to head in a sanctioned singles match, albeit one where Umino will need to keep his head on a swivel. Six man action will provide a taste of things to come tonight, with fallout also set for Tama Tonga and EVIL just three days after they meet for the NEVER Openweight Championship in Nagoya at the tour opener January 20.
4th Match: Tomoaki Honma, Tomohiro Ishii, Hiroshi Tanahashi & Kazuchika Okada vs TMDK (Kosei Fujita, Shane Haste, Mikey Nicholls & Zack Sabre Jr.)
A showdown for TMDK against the NEVER Openweight 6 Man Tag Champions Ishii, Okada and Tanahashi January 24 in Okada’s Korakuen swansong sees another preview. Can young Fujita in particular stay on the task at hand, or will his desire to prove himself, and send the Rainmaker out at his hand instead prove his own undoing?
3rd Match: Guerrillas of Destiny (Jado, Hikuleo & El Phantasmo) vs BULLET CLUB (Taiji Ishimori, Chase Owens & KENTA)
Three days removed from putting the NJPW STRONG Tag Championships on the line against Chase Owens and KENTA, and 19 days ahead of a second bout for the IWGP Tag gold, EL Phantasmo and Hikuleo will come face to face with their challenger and Taiji Ishimori, who is hoping to still be KOPW 2024 title holder by the time Korakuen comes around. For El Phantasmo in particular, facing three former friends who engineered his exit from BULLET CLUB last year will make for an emotional encounter in the Hall tonight.
2nd Match: United Empire (Callum Newman, Francesco Akira, TJP, Jeff Cobb & Great-O-Khan) vs BULLET CLUB War Dogs (David Finlay, Alex Coughlin, Gabe Kidd, Drilla Moloney & Clark Connors)
A violent attack for the BULLET CLUB War Dogs on United Empire in San Jose was just the latest exchange between the two crews en route to Osaka and a five on five cage match February 11. Eddie Kingston would help even the odds after the Battle in the Valley main event, but its five on five in Korakuen Hall, with Callum Newman more than ready to pick up in Will Ospreay7s absence tonight.
1st Match: Katsuya Murashima & Ryusuke Taguchi vs Shoma Kato & YOH
After their first singles match against one another in Nagoya January 20, Shoma Kato and Katsuya Murashima face off in tag action tonight, with Ryusuke Taguchi and YOH completing the teams. Which Young Lion will have an advantage?
After the kickoff to the New Beginning series in Nagoya on January 20, and a live event follow up Sunday January 21, we head to Korakuen for the first time in 2024 of January 23, and an IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship main event.
Watch LIVE in English on NJPW World!
Main event: IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship- El Desperado vs Yoshinobu Kanemaru
Singles record: 4-1 Kanemaru
The IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship will be on the line in our main event as El Desperado defends against Yoshinobu Kanemaru. After Desperado captured the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship on January 4 in the Tokyo Dome, he was setting out a road map for defences when he was approached first by Master Wato, and then by SHO and Kanemaru. A purported friendly ‘toast’ was anything but as SHO and Kanemaru beat down Wato and Despe, and Kanemaru made it clear he was gunning for his former partner’s championship.
Desperado has long credited Kanemaru and his tag team partnership with the Heel Master in the old days of Suzuki Gun as a key factor in giving him direction in his career and making him the wrestler that he is today. Desperado has spoken of wanting an honorable fight, and that the two in a one on one match could easily be one of the best bouts of the year, ‘but if his HOUSE OF TORTURE self shows up, well it’s not like I don’t know how to cheat’. All very well, but does he know how to cheat better than the master? A 4-1 record in Kanemaru’s favour, El Desperado only able to claim one victory during the 2021 Best of the Super Jr via Pinche Loco, suggests that Kanemaru has taught Desperado everything Desperado knows, but not all he knows. Might there be a new champion crowned tonight?
7th Match: Master Wato vs SHO
Singles record: 2-0 SHO
Also as a result of the post match encounter at the Tokyo Dome, and a New Year Dash attack from HOUSE OF TORTURE, SHO will take on Master Wato. In his older, more sane guise before H.O.T, SHO was a guiding figure in the early days of Wato’s career. The would be Grand Master has never forgiven SHO for his betrayal, and tonight could teach SHO a valuable lesson as well as shoot himself up in the title ranks; meanwhile with the main event to follow, Desperado will hope Wato can cut off any potential interference before it happens.
6th Match: Los Ingobernables De Japon (Tetsuya Naito, Shingo Takagi, Yota Tsuji, Hiromu Takahashi & BUSHI) vs Just Five Guys (SANADA, Taichi, Yuya Uemura, DOUKI & TAKA Michinoku)
Tetsuya Naito will head into Korakuen Hall for the first time as IWGP World Heavyweight Champion tonight as he and his LIJ teammates prepare for Sapporo in February and a series of singles bouts headlined by Naito’s first defence of the World title against SANADA.
5th Match: Tama Tonga, Shota Umino & Togi Makabe vs HOUSE OF TORTURE (EVIL, Ren Narita & Yujiro Takahashi)
On the second night of our Korakuen double header, Ren Narita and Shota Umino will finally go head to head in a sanctioned singles match, albeit one where Umino will need to keep his head on a swivel. Six man action will provide a taste of things to come tonight, with fallout also set for Tama Tonga and EVIL just three days after they meet for the NEVER Openweight Championship in Nagoya at the tour opener January 20.
4th Match: Tomoaki Honma, Tomohiro Ishii, Hiroshi Tanahashi & Kazuchika Okada vs TMDK (Kosei Fujita, Shane Haste, Mikey Nicholls & Zack Sabre Jr.)
A showdown for TMDK against the NEVER Openweight 6 Man Tag Champions Ishii, Okada and Tanahashi January 24 in Okada’s Korakuen swansong sees another preview. Can young Fujita in particular stay on the task at hand, or will his desire to prove himself, and send the Rainmaker out at his hand instead prove his own undoing?
3rd Match: Guerrillas of Destiny (Jado, Hikuleo & El Phantasmo) vs BULLET CLUB (Taiji Ishimori, Chase Owens & KENTA)
Three days removed from putting the NJPW STRONG Tag Championships on the line against Chase Owens and KENTA, and 19 days ahead of a second bout for the IWGP Tag gold, EL Phantasmo and Hikuleo will come face to face with their challenger and Taiji Ishimori, who is hoping to still be KOPW 2024 title holder by the time Korakuen comes around. For El Phantasmo in particular, facing three former friends who engineered his exit from BULLET CLUB last year will make for an emotional encounter in the Hall tonight.
2nd Match: United Empire (Callum Newman, Francesco Akira, TJP, Jeff Cobb & Great-O-Khan) vs BULLET CLUB War Dogs (David Finlay, Alex Coughlin, Gabe Kidd, Drilla Moloney & Clark Connors)
A violent attack for the BULLET CLUB War Dogs on United Empire in San Jose was just the latest exchange between the two crews en route to Osaka and a five on five cage match February 11. Eddie Kingston would help even the odds after the Battle in the Valley main event, but its five on five in Korakuen Hall, with Callum Newman more than ready to pick up in Will Ospreay7s absence tonight.
1st Match: Katsuya Murashima & Ryusuke Taguchi vs Shoma Kato & YOH
After their first singles match against one another in Nagoya January 20, Shoma Kato and Katsuya Murashima face off in tag action tonight, with Ryusuke Taguchi and YOH completing the teams. Which Young Lion will have an advantage?
