NJPW Road to The New Beginning: Umino gets the last word

The New Beginning in Sapporo and The New Beginning in Osaka are just weeks away and we would get previews of both shows in this morning’s main event. Shota Umino, Toru Yano and Kazuchika Okada teamed up against Los Ingoberables De Japan members Tetsuya Naito, Sanada and Shingo Takagi.

The New Beginning events will be headlined by Umino versus Naito in Sapporo and Okada defending the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship against Takagi in Osaka. The six-man tag began with a World Championship match preview as Okada and Takagi locked horns, exchanging holds.

Sanada would then use the tactics of Yano, on Yano himself, he knotted him in a pretzel and hit him with the turnbuckle pad. All three members of LIJ would then zone in on Yano and it would be a three-on-one assault not letting him get to his corner.

Yano was finally able to tag in Okada and he went to work on all of his opponents, he then attempted to lock Naito in the Money Clip. However, thanks to interference from Takagi, Naito was able to get control over Okada and he then tagged in Takagi to get some offence in on the champion.

Okada connected on a reversal and Umino was finally in the match, the young Umino came in ready to fight. Umino came in hitting a dropkick to Takagi and followed that with an exploder suplex to Sanada.

Umino then hit a roll of the dice, but then Naito interfered and Umino finally got his hands on Naito. Naito was avoiding Umino the entire match, so Umino took this opportunity to hit Naito with a Death Rider.

Umino then hit Sanada with a pop-up uppercut followed by another Death Rider to get the win. Umino practically single-handedly took out LIJ to secure the victory and send a message to Naito ahead of their match in Sapporo.

This was the first main-event win for Umino, and after the match, he got the last word. He grabbed a microphone and stood over Naito to say that he will be applying more and more pain to him, just like he will do in Sapporo.

He then told Naito he just got laid out by a guy he did not even have on his radar, and he promised to make a paradigm shift happen in NJPW in 2023.

NJPW Road To The New Beginning 2023- Tag 1

Ryohei Oiwa vs. Great-O-Khan

Coming off his loss to Shingo Takagi on the weekend, Great-O-Khan is able to hit the young lion with the pancake hold to secure the victory.

Winner: Great-O-Khan

Jado and Master Wato vs. Bullet Club (Gedo and Taiji Ishimori)

Prior to the match starting, Gedo and Ishimori attacked Jado and Wato beating them down outside the ring. Wato and Jado seemed to have control, but Ishimori pushed the referee allowing Gedo to hit Jado with a pair of brass knuckles to steal the win.

After the match, Wato and Ishimori continued to brawl before being separated. They then stared each other down before Wato left the ring.

Winners: Bullet Club

United Empire (Francesco Akira and Aaron Henare) vs. Just a Couple of Guys (Taka Michinoku and Douki)

United Empire was in control for the majority of this match and they did that by focusing on the much older Taka Michinoku. In the end, it would be Henare connecting a spinning heel kick to Michinoku and then locking him in the Ultima forcing him to tap out.

Winners: United Empire

Chaos (Yoshi-Hashi, Tomohiro Ishii and Hirooki Goto) and Oskar Leube vs. TMDK (Kosei Fujita, Shane Haste, Mikey Nicholls and Zack Sabre Jr.)

TMDK started the match by teaming up on the young lion, Leube, and using his inexperience against him. However, it was TMDK’s young lion, Fujita, that ended up losing the match for his faction.

Ishii was able to pull Fujita in the path of a kick from Sabre Jr. and then hit him with a German suplex. Ishii finished the TMDK protégé off with a brutal Boston crab and Fujita had no choice but to tap out.

Winners: Chaos

Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Bullet Club (El Phantasmo and Kenta)

This was a very back-and-forth match, and just when Tenzan and Tanahashi seemed to have the match won; Bullet Club was able to battle back. El Phantasmo blocked a suplex from Tenzan, rolled out and connected Sudden Death right under the chin of Tenzan for the win.

After the match, Kenta would continue to beat down Tanahashi on the outside and he even repeatedly hit him in the head with the timekeeper’s hammer.

Winners: Bullet Club

YOH and Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Los Ingobernables De Japan (Bushi and Hiromu Takahashi)

LIJ was in control of this match from practically start to finish and to get the win for his team Bushi hit Taguchi with MX Plus from the middle rope. After the match, YOH stood across from Takahashi making it clear he is next in line for a shot at the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship.

Winners: Los Ingobernables De Japan

United Empire (TJP and Will Ospreay) vs. Just Four Guys (Yoshinobu Kanemaru and Taichi)

Kanemaru was able to keep his team in the driver’s seat by going after the knee of TJP, but once Ospreay tagged in that all changed. Ospreay was able to battle through Kanemaru and connect a Hidden Blade to get the win for himself and TJP.

Post-match, Taichi and Ospreay were still going at each other and it took a number of officials and young lions to keep them apart.

Winners: United Empire

Shota Umino, Toru Yano and Kazuchika Okada vs. Sanada, Shingo Takagi and Tetsuya Naito

Winners: Shota Umino, Toru Yano and Kazuchika Okada

TOP PHOTO: Shota Umino sending a message to Naito. Credit: NJPW