The 50th Anniversary of New Japan Pro Wrestling continued on Friday, with another night of New Years Golden Series action. The show was headlined by Master Wato challenging El Desperado in every sense of the word. Not only challenging for the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship, Wato was challenging Desperado, Hiromu, Kushida, Liger, Sasuke, and every other junior heavyweight that casts a shadow over the young upstart.
Wato put up an immense, if unsuccessful fight, changing many people’s perceptions of the azure underdog, the IWGP Jr. Champion himself. After the match, Desperado mentioned that, while Wato isn’t the smartest wrestler on the roster, he might be one of the toughest.
／#NJPW 新春黄金シリーズ(2/11)を公開‼️
＼メインはIWGPジュニアヘビー級選手権試合‼️
王者デスペラードを追い込むワト?
ジュニアの至宝を初挑戦初戴冠となるか⁉️? @ElDesperado5 × @Master_Wato
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— NJPW WORLD (@njpwworld) February 11, 2022
Desperado and Wato weren’t the only junior heavyweights making statements in Sendai. In the sem-main event, former tag partners SHO & YOH clashed once again, with SHO picking up the victory on the road to their NEVER 6-Man Title match on Feb. 20th. YOH’s partners, Hirooki Goto & Tomohiro Ishii fared better in their bout, earlier in the evening.
As Feb. 20th nears, Minoru Suzuki & Toru Yano continue to both make compelling cases for their KOPW 2022 stipulations. Suzuki handcuffing Yano is a powerful statement on his intentions for Yano’s division, whereas Yano’s dog cage idea backfired on him on Friday. His tag partner, Ryusuke Taguchi, ended up in the giant dog cage that was brought out to taunt Suzuki.
Elsewhere on the card, SANADA was able to lead LIJ to victory over the legendary combination of Yuji Nagata, Hiroshi Tanahashi & Kazuchika Okada. The win sent a direct message to IWGP United States Champion Tanahashi. SANADA and Tanahashi will face off for Tanahashi’s title on Feb. 19th.
Tetsuya Naito used the six-man tag match to taunt Kazuchika Okada. After leaving Jeff Cobb on the shelf with a knee injury at Wrestle Kingdom, Naito is making is clear to Okada that even if Naito doesn’t actually win the title from Okada, he could still injure Okada enough to end his title reign. The two will meet in a tie-breaking eleventh match in their intense rivalry.
Plus Tomoaki Honma got his first singles win in ages over Young Lion Ryohei Oiwa, and Great-O-Khan had a stellar match with Satoshi Kojima.
Here are the full results:
2/11
NJPW New Years Golden Series
Available on NJPWWorld.com
- Pre-Show Match: Tomoaki Honma def. Ryohei Oiwa by submission via Boston Crab. (7:02)
- Suzuki-gun (Yoshinobu Kanemaru & DOUKI) def. Los Ingobernables de Japon (Hiromu Takahashi & BUSHI) by pinfall. (9:05)
Yoshinobu Kanemaru pinned BUSHI via rollup. - Tomohiro Ishii, Hirooki Goto & Hiroyoshi Tenzan def. House of Torture (EVIL, Dick Togo & Yujiro Takahashi) by pinfall. (8:35)
Tomohiro Ishii pinned Dick Togo via Sliding Lariat. - Ryusuke Taguchi, Toru Yano & Togi Makabe def. Suzuki-gun (Minoru Suzuki, TAKA Michinoku & Taichi) by submission. (9:08)
Ryusukye Taguchi submitted TAKA Michinoku via Ankle Lock. - Great-O-Khan def. Satoshi Kojima by pinfall via Eliminator. (11:01)
- Los Ingobernables de Japon (Tetsuya Naito, Shingo Takagi & SANADA) def. Kazuchika Okada, Hiroshi Tanahashi & Yuji Nagata by submission. (18:06)
SANADA submitted Yuji Nagata via Skull End. - Tiger Mask def. Gedo by submission via Stepover Armbar. (15:01)
- SHO def. YOH by pinfall via Shock Arrow. (22:26)
- IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship Match: El Desperado (c) def. Master Wato by submission via Numero Dos. (28:50)
NJPW New Years Golden Series will continue on Feb. 13th at 2:30am ET on NJPWWorld.com
