New Japan Pro Wrestling presented the first night of The New Beginning in Hiroshima on Wednesday. The show was headlined by two huge title matches, and a reunification that warmed the hearts of fans in attendance.
The Road to New Beginning tour has been a torturous one for Taichi. Separated from the Iron Fingers from Hell, Taichi seemed to be coming apart at the seams. IWGP Tag Team Champion Tama Tonga stole the Iron Fingers at Wrestle Kingdom, and has been taunting Taichi all tour. Taichi had been fooled by bags containing toilet paper, puppets, and even a rubber chicken.
Taichi reunited with the Iron Fingers of Doom in Wednesday’s semi-main event, but at the cost of possibly everything. After nearly-30 minutes of action, Taichi donned the Iron Fingers once again and struck Tama Tonga right in the jaw, but also in front of the referee, causing a disqualification and costing him & Zack Sabre Jr. a chance at regaining the tag team gold that they both lost in the Tokyo Dome.
Taichi didn’t take the loss well. He swung the glove wildly at everyone, including members of Suzuki-gun. ZSJ was able to calm Taichi eventually, but it is clear that something is broken inside the Holy Emperor.
In the main event, tag team star SHO tried everything to stop IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion Hiromu Takahashi, but the champion simply had too much momentum on his side. Takahashi retained the title in the longest title match in the history of the Jr. Heavyweight Title.
After the battering match, El Phantasmo lept from commentary to attack Takahashi and challenge him for the title. The champion was saved by LIJ stablemate BUSHI. It looks like the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion is ready to get involved in the IWGP Jr. Tag scene, and vice versa.
The whole show is available at NJPWWorld.com
2/10
NJPW New Beginning In Hiroshima
Night 1
Available on NJPWWorld.com
- Suzuki-gun (Minoru Suzuki, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & El Desperado) def. Yota Tsuji, Gabriel Kidd & Yuya Uemura by submission. (8:01)
Minoru Suzuki submitted Yuya Uemura via Single Leg Crab. - BUSHI def. Master Wato by pinfall via MX. (11:08)
- CHAOS (Kazuchika Okada, Hirooki Goto, Toru Yano, YOSHI-HASHI & Tomohiro Ishii) def. Bullet Club (EVIL, Yujiro Takahashi, Jay White, El Phantasmo & Taiji Ishimori) by pinfall. (12:08)
Toru Yano pinned Yujiro Takahashi via Rollup. - Tetsuya Naito & SANADA def. Kota Ibushi & Tomoaki Honma by pinfall. (11:02)
Tetsuya Naito pinned Tomoaki Honma via Destino. - IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championship Match: Guerrillas of Destiny (Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa) (c) def. Suzuki-gun (Taichi & Zack Sabre Jr.) by disqualification. (29:08)
- IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship Match: Hiromu Takahashi (c) def. SHO by pinfall via Time Bomb II. (35:38)
NJPW returns on 2/11 at 1am EST for Night 2 of New Beginning In Hiroshima.
