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NJPW THE NEW BEGINNING 2019 Tour Review

Jan 28th, Korakuen Hall, Tokyo

Elimination Match: Los Ingobernables de Japon vs. Suzuki-gun ****

Jan 29th, Korakuen Hall, Tokyo

Ren Narita vs. Yuya Uemura ***1/4+

Los Ingobernables de Japon vs. Suzuki-gun ***3/4

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. KUSHIDA ****1/2

Feb 1st, Charlotte, NC, USA

IWGP U.S. Title Match: Juice Robinson vs. Berretta ****+

Feb 2nd, Hokkaido Sports Centre, Sapporo

Ren Narita vs. Yuya Uemura ***1/4+

SANADA vs. Minoru Suzuki ****

EVIL vs. Zack Sabre Jr. ***3/4

Hiroshi Tanahashi & Kazuchika Okada vs. Jay White & Bad Luck Fale ***1/2

Feb 3rd, Hokkaido Sports Centre, Sapporo

IWGP Jr. Tag Title Match: Shingo Takagi & BUSHI (c) vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru & El Desperado ***3/4

IWGP Tag Team Title Match: EVIL & SANADA (c) vs. Minoru Suzuki & Zack Sabre Jr. ***1/2

IWGP Intercontinental Title Match: Tetsuya Naito (c) vs. Taichi ***1/2

Feb 11th, Edion Arena, Osaka

IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title Match: Taiji Ishimori (c) vs. Ryusuke Taguchi ****

Kazuchika Okada vs. Bad Luck Fale ****

IWGP Heavyweight Title Match: Hiroshi Tanahashi (c) vs. Jay White ****1/2

Photos.

Well this was one long tour, which spaned two continents, and has taken me pretty much a month to catch up on it all. It didn’t feature anything especially Earth-shattering, from an in-ring stand point, but it was nothing if not newsworthy. The first night at Korakuen saw Taichi as the sole survivor of the Suzuki-gun team, last eliminating Naito to win an excellent elimination match. LIJ regained the win the next night in a regular 10-man, which was a shade inferior. The big news on this show was KUSHIDA’s farewell match against IWGP Heavyweight Champion Tanahashi. This was a tremendous, intense, technical wrestling match which saw Tana very unsurprisingly get the win at 24:34 with the Texas Cloverleaf. The dastardly Jay White laid Tana out afterwards, which the Korakuen faithful were very unhappy with. Say what you want about Jay, but he’s certainly a heat magnet. KUSHIDA bid New Japan farewell in the post-match, in an emotional moment. I wish him all the luck in the world in WWE. He’s going to need it I reckon. Despite being one of the finest in-ring workers in the world, I don’t fancy his chances in Vinceville.

The New Beginning in USA portion of the tour was overshadowed by the Visa debacle, but all three were entertaining shows, which featured nothing less than good matches. Juice’s successful defence of the U.S. Title over the in-the-bad-books and soon-to-be-leaving-for-AEW Berretta was the highlight of everything. It was probably a little too long (27:29), but it was hard-hitting, they worked it like a big match, and both guys looked great (Trent’s selling was especially good). Juice retained after nailing the big left hand and Pulp Friction to end a great match. The Sapporo shows were interesting to say the very least. Suzuki beat SANADA in an excellent bout in the highlight of the evening, and EVIL finally defeated ZSJ in a really good outing, whilst the main event saw Jay White make Tanahashi tap out with a version of Nagata Lock 1 he’s calling TTO (Tanahashi Tapped Out) to end another very good, but unspectacular match-up. The second night saw an LIJ clean sweep over Suzuki-gun. Shingo and BUSHI retained the Jr tag belts over Kanemaru and Desperado in what would prove to be the best match on the show, and SANADA and EVIL put Suzuki and Zack away in a good, but very disappointing doubles clash. The main event was... interesting. Essentially, it was a smoke and mirrors show to mask the fact Taichi can’t really hang at the main event level. As Naito was making his entrance, the soon-to-be-retiring Takashi Iizuka attacked him with a ladder and left him for dead. As Naito was carted off, Taichi demanded they forfeit the match and award him the belt. I’m not fully sure how that would work, but this was the masterplan. This went on forever, by the way. Naito eventually returned and sold for 80% of the match, whilst that moron Taichi just strolled around the ring getting heat. Naito tried his best to make Taichi look amazing as he bumped like a madman for his faux Kawada offence. However, the closing stretch was great, and featured some super-believable near falls, but Naito murdered Taichi with an Emerald Flowsion, then put him away with Destino at 21:31. I’m somewhat baffled by the booking here; everyone knows Taichi is a joke and a total gimmick, but this match made him look even more so. Had the whole match been as believable as the last few minutes, they’d have gotten Taichi over as a (semi) credible upper mid-carder. As it stands now, I don’t believe anyone is ever likely to take Taichi seriously as a main eventer again. And if that was the plan, it was a success.

The Osaka show was a marked improvement as a card. Taiji Ishimori defeated Taguchi to keep the Junior Title in a great high-flying outing. He put “Coach” away with the Bloody Cross at 16:10. Ishimori challenged Jushin Thunder Liger in the post-match, which was accepted. I believe that one should be great too. Okada had his usual excellent showing against Bad Luck Fale in the semi final. These guys always have great matches against each other, and this was no exception. Again, the closing stretch was super-hot; after YOSHI-HASHI sent the interfering Bullet Club packing, he was laid out by Fale. Okada countered a top rope splash attempt with a dropkick, followed by a superplex, then put the big man away with two Rainmaker’s at the18:10 mark. Then it was main event time. This was the best match on the tour, with Tana doing everything in his power to make Jay look like a superstar, and in that regard, it was a roaring success. In many respects, it was the complete antithesis of the Naito/Taichi match. Tanahashi sold for most of the match, and played the beaten down old gunslinger to White’s hungry, and dastardly young lion. It told a great story, with both men working over the others knee, as well as featuring that amazing counter sequence we’ve come to expect out of a Switch Blade big match. After Tana escaped the TTO in a dramatic sequence, he locked Jay in the Cloverleaf for even more drama. White scored near falls with a Death Valley DDT and the Kiwi Krusher, before Tana hit a bunch of Dragon Screws, a Styles Clash, some Sling Blade’s and went up top for the standing High Fly Flow. However, Jay caught him in mid-air, and transitioned into the Blade Runner to pin the Ace clean as a sheet and win tthe IWGP Heavyweight Title, dethroning the legend in his first defence at 30:28.

As devisive a figure as Jay White is, I’m all for his big push. He’s a natural in the ring and is preposterously smooth. Yes, his gimmick didn’t especially land when he first showed up, but neither did Okada’s Rainmaker persona at first. And more importantly, he’s a natural heel who gets legitimate heat, not the ironic or cool kind, which makes him most unique in the current wrestling environment.

NDT