NJPW has the January 4 tradition of Wrestle Kingdom, but people often forget about their January 5 tradition of New Year Dash. This show is full of surprises every year, it’s NJPW’s version of the Raw after WrestleMania.

For New Year Dash no matches are announced in advance (except the KOPW match) and people find out the card as wrestlers make their way to the ring. Tonight’s main event was quite the spectacle, Kazuchika Okada and Tomohiro Ishii of CHAOS teamed up with the Blackpool Combat Club’s Bryan Danielson and Jon Moxley to take on TMDK’s Zack Sabre Jr., Kosei Fujita, Mikey Nicholls and Shane Haste in some eight-man tag action.

Just last night Okada and Danielson had a fantastic one-on-one match and now they are teaming up together. Danielson and Sabre began the match, and the two best technical wrestlers alive were showcasing their skills. They were exchanging holds and swapping positions before they began trading stiff leg kicks. Nicholls and Okada were now tagged in, and BCC and CHAOS worked together to attack Nicholls. Moxley hit an elbow, Ishii a running lariat, Danielson a corner dropkick and Okada a big back elbow.

Nicholls then battled back with a shot to Okada’s injured arm and a side suplex before tagging in Haste. He hit Okada with some shots before getting Sabre back in the match, who began using his technical wizardry to go after Okada’s injured arm. Fujita continued the attack on the arm, but Okada then caught him with a big boot and flapjacked Nicholls. Mox was tagged in to hit Nicholls with a cutter before attacking the rest of TMDK. He then delivered 10 punches to Nicholls before biting at his head, Mox followed that with a superplex from the top rope and a PK.

Mox locked Nicholls into a Texas Cloverleaf, but Haste broke the hold and TMDK attempted Highway to Hell. However, Mox slipped out and hit both Nicholls and Haste with a double DDT before tagging Ishii into the match. The Stone Pitbull was running through everybody before hitting Haste with a side suplex, Sabre then locked Ishii into a sleeper, so Danielson came behind him and locked Sabre into a sleeper. Danielson ended up throwing Sabre to the floor and diving off the apron hitting him with a running knee.

Ishii was left in the ring against Nicholls, Haste and Fujita, they hit Ishii with a Highway to Hell. Okada jumped in the ring to help Ishii out, he hit Fujita with a dropkick and Haste with an air raid crash. Haste still recovered before Ishii, he hit him with a big kick and a Falcon Arrow. Nicholls tried to help Haste, so Mox grabbed him and Ishii grabbed Haste so they could both hit a German suplex at the same time. Sabre was then stuck in between Okada and Danielson, he was hit with a DDT and PK combo.

Ishii turned Haste inside out with a clothesline and Mox tried to dive onto Nicholls on the outside, but he moved out of the way and Mox crashed to the floor. Fujita stopped Ishii from hitting a Brainbuster and hit him with an enzigiri before drop-kicking Okada to the floor. He then dove through the air onto Okada with a tope con hilo. Sabre now locked Danielson into an abdominal stretch while Haste and Nicholls worked together to hit Ishii with a Tankbuster to get the massive upset victory!

Fujita has a challenge. Credit: NJPW

Following the match, Sabre grabbed a microphone to tell Danielson he wants his rematch and next time it will be Danielson tapping out. Fujita also had something to say, he said that he, Nicholls and Haste want CHAOS’ Never Openweight Six-Man Championships! Okada responded by saying Fujita is in no position to be challenging him, so Fujita turned his attention to the President of NJPW and Okada’s partner, Tanahashi. He told Tanahashi they continue to treat him like a kid, but he is a man and he represents TMDK. Fujita picked out some of the biggest stars in NJPW to lay out a challenge to!

NJPW New Year Dash 2024 Results

NJPW World Television Championship Match: Hiroshi Tanahashi (c) vs. Ryusuke Taguchi

This was meant to be a regular one-on-one match, but Taguchi challenged Tanahashi to put his newly won title on the line! Tanahashi was happy to put the title up for grabs and Taguchi wanted to take advantage of this opportunity. He drilled Tanahashi to the floor with a hip attack, dove to the floor onto him and followed that with the Three Amigos. Both men then began trading roll-ups and Taguchi pulled down the tights of Ace, but Tanahashi rolled back onto Taguchi and scored the pin to retain.

Winner: Still NJPW World Television Champion, Hiroshi Tanahashi

As Tanahashi was returning to the locker room, a video began to air on the screen. This video message was from Matt Riddle, who the WWE recently released. Riddle said he has his sights set on Tanahashi and he will see him very soon! Tanahashi said anytime he would do this, but he has no idea who that guy is, that can’t be good for Riddle’s confidence.

Kaito Kiyomiya & Ryohei Oiwa vs. Bishamon (Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI)

Bishamon lost their tag titles 24 hours ago and they did not want to lose another match here. Both Goto and HASHI were giving Oiwa a beating, but he got his first bit of offence when he dropped Goto with a suplex and tagged in Kiyomiya. He was able to slow down Bishamon and get Oiwa back in the match to drop a splash onto Goto, they then worked together to hit a double dropkick. HASHI then came to help out Goto by super-kicking Oiwa and knocking Kiyomiya to the floor. Bishamon now hit Shoto on Oiwa and got the victory.

Winners: Bishamon (Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI)

Guerrillas of Destiny (El Phantasmo & Hikuleo) vs. Oskar Leube & Yuto Nakashima

Leube and Nakashima heading on excursion. Credit: NJPW

Before this match, it was announced that this would be the send-off match for Leube and Nakashima before the Young Lions head off on their excursion! The Young Lions wanted to leave a lasting impression and attacked GoD before the bell, they were giving the new tag champs quite the test. Nakashima locked ELP into a Boston Crab while Leube dropped a leg on the back of his head. Once the hold was broken the two big men, Hikuleo and Leube began going at it. Hikuleo dropped Leube with a DDT, but Leube came right back with a dropkick. ELP was back in the match to hit Nakashima with a UFO and Hikuleo dropped Leube with a God Send. GoD followed that with a Sudden Death and God Send to Nakashima, Hikuleo then stacked Leube and Nakashima for a Thunder Kiss ’86 and the win.

Winners: Guerrillas of Destiny (El Phantasmo & Hikuleo)

Following the match, the new tag champs showed respect to the Young Lions and gave them a proper send-off. As Nakashima and Leube made their way to the back, ELP and Hikuleo were attacked from behind by Chase Owens of Bullet Club! Owens knocked Hikuleo to the floor and hit ELP with a low blow and package piledriver. He then congratulated them on their title win last night before challenging them to an IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team title match and his partner will be KENTA! Hikuleo accepted the challenge and said to bring KENTA, there is a long history here as KENTA kicked ELP out of Bullet Club.

Togi Makabe, Tomoaki Honma, El Desperado, Master Wato, Shota Umino & Tama Tonga vs. House of Torture (Dick Togo, EVIL, Ren Narita, SHO, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Yujiro Takahashi)

As expected with a match like this, the brawl began before the bell sounded as all 12 men were going at each other. The match finally took some order when House of Torture has Honma isolated, EVIL threw him into an exposed turnbuckle. Makabe eventually got into the match and he was able to get an advantage over Takahashi by drilling 10 punches in the corner. Umino and Narita were tagged in at the same time, these two have such a history and Umino was laying into his former friend. However, House of Torture then jumped in the ring and it was a 6-on-1 attack, Togo began choking out Umino. Luckily for Umino, his teammates helped take out all of House of Torture and he dropped Togo with a Death Rider for the win.

Winners: Togi Makabe, Tomoaki Honma, El Desperado, Master Wato, Shota Umino & Tama Tonga

EVIL has his sights set on Tama Tonga. Credit: NJPW

Despite the loss, House of Torture attacked after the match, Narita hit Umino with a piece of metal, SHO hit Wato with his wrench and Kanemaru hit Desperado with the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship. Tonga jumped into the ring with his title, but he was hit from behind with a low blow from EVIL and then an Everything is Evil. They then handcuffed Tonga and EVIL used some scissors to cut Tonga’s hair off, Tonga is leaving NJPW and he is now doing so without his hair. EVIL held up Tonga’s Never Openweight Championship in one hand and his hair in the other before leaving with Tonga’s title that he didn’t win.

Bullet Club War Dogs (David Finlay, Drilla Moloney, Clark Connors, Gabe Kidd & Alex Coughlin) vs. United Empire (Will Ospreay, TJP, Francesco Akira, HENARE & Jeff Cobb)

The War Dogs made their way out with chairs in hand, so Catch 2/2 dove onto them before the match began. It was a massive brawl throughout the arena, Ospreay helped lift Akira onto the second floor of the arena and he dove from the stands down onto all the War Dogs. Ospreay dragged Finlay back to the ring to hit a Phenomenal Forearm, but Kidd and Coughlin attacked Ospreay with an assisted German suplex. HENARE and Cobb returned to the ring and Coughlin caught HENARE in mid-air before throwing him with a belly-to-belly suplex. Coughlin then pushed TJP into the referee, so the War Dogs brought the chairs into the ring, but they were unable to use them. There was now a new referee and he tried to stop Connors from cheating, so Connors speared him in half.

Ospreay puts Gedo through a table. Credit: NJPW

Kidd was now biting the head of Akira, so Akira swept Kidd’s legs sending him into an exposed turnbuckle. That busted Kidd open, which riled up the War Dogs and they started destroying the arena. They began launching chairs and steel barricades into the ring, so the referee had no choice but to call the match a no-contest. Moloney and Kidd held Akira in the corner while stabbing him in the head with a fork. It took Cobb and Ospreay to stop this brutal attack, Cobb German suplexed Kidd and Ospreay hit Moloney with a springboard cutter. Ospreay now had Finlay on his own and he hit an OsCutter, but Gedo then got Ospreay from behind with a low blow. A table was now set up for Finlay to put Ospreay through, but the United Empire attacked and took out all of the War Dogs. TJP spit the red mist into Finlay’s eyes and Ospreay power-bombed Gedo through the table! There is no winner, but this was an absolute war!

Winners: No Contest

United Empire and the War Dogs are going to war. Credit: NJPW

Ospreay let the War Dogs know that they are still standing and it seems like they want a fight. He said February 11 is his final match in NJPW and he will compete alongside his brothers of the United Empire. He announced his five men against Finlay’s five men in Osaka and he told Finlay he could pick the stipulation. Finlay said Ospreay is really stupid for letting him pick the rules, how bout we do no rules, no disqualification and no escape! Ospreay’s last match in NJPW will be a five-on-five steel cage match! This will be the first cage match in NJPW in 20 years.

Just 5 Guys (SANADA, DOUKI, Taichi, TAKA Michinoku & Yuya Uemura) vs. Los Ingobernables de Japon (Tetsuya Naito, Hiromu Takahashi, BUSHI, Yota Tsuji & Shingo Takagi)

Tsuji was visibly upset about losing to Uemura at WK18, so he was right after Uemura once the bell sounded. Both men traded blows before Takahashi and DOUKI were tagged in, Takahashi hit DOUKI with a hurricanrana and DOUKI responded with a handspring back elbow. SANADA was now in, he pretzled Tsuji before throwing Takagi into him. He then hit Naito with a rope-hung twisting neck breaker, but BUSHI then helped Naito deliver an enzigiri to the former World Champion. Taichi and Takagi were now trading strikes, Takagi hit a clothesline and Taichi a big kick to the head. LIJ now worked together to quadruple team Michinoku, so Just 5 Guys took out all the men attacking him. This left TAKA to deliver a Michinoku Driver to BUSHI and get the win.

Winners: Just 5 Guys (SANADA, DOUKI, Taichi, TAKA Michinoku & Yuya Uemura)

LIJ and Just 5 Guys on a collision course. Credit: NJPW

After the match, Tsuji and Uemura wanted to keep going at it and they had to be held apart. So, SANADA grabbed a microphone and said to make things more interesting between these two factions. He then asked Naito for one more match between them, so he can try to regain his IWGP World Heavyweight Championship. SANADA seems to have a new attitude as he then told LIJ to leave the ring because the winners of the match were Just 5 Guys. TAKA then said Just 4 Guys started one year ago with nothing and now Just 5 Guys stands before you again with nothing. He promised that the world of professional wrestling will be changed in 2024 by these Just 5 Guys.

NJPW King of Pro-Wrestling Championship Scramble Match: Taiji Ishimori vs. Great-O-Khan vs. Toru Yano vs. YOH

The first KOPW Provisional Champion of 2024. Credit: NJPW

The final four men of last night’s KOPW Ranbo were these four men, so here at New Year Dash they battle to become the first KOPW Provisional Champion of 2024. The rules of this match are there are 10 minutes and there can be pin-falls throughout the entire match, the match continues after a pin, but whoever can score the final pin of the match will be the champion. Yano tried to score the first fall quickly by rolling up YOH, but he kicked out and hit Yano with a double dropkick with Ishimori. There was then a battle of roll-ups between YOH and Ishimori, but still, nobody was able to get a pin. Yano decided to expose one of the turnbuckles, but he was the one who ended up going into it thanks to O-Khan.

Ishimori dropped O-Khan with an avalanche Frankensteiner, while this was going on YOH superkicked Yano and rolled him up to score the first fall of the match. Despite that fall, Ishimori then launched YOH into the ring post and followed that with a shoulder-breaker. O-Khan then took out both Jr. Heavyweights before locking Yano into submission, but submissions don’t count in this match, it is pins only. However, he tried to make Yano pass out so he could pin him, but it was not working. He then hit Yano with an Eliminator, but YOH broke up the pin, so O-Khan hit him with an Eliminator as well. This got O-Khan a pin-fall, so he now just had to hold on for a minute and a half.

Ishimori then got back in the ring where he pushed over the referee and hit O-Khan with a low blow, he then rolled up O-Khan to steal a fall. There were just 30 seconds left and Ishimori ran away with the KOPW Championship! Ishimori is the first KOPW Provisional Champion of 2024!

Winner: New KOPW Provisional Champion, Taiji Ishimori

Blackpool Combat Club (Bryan Danielson & Jon Moxley) & CHAOS (Kazuchika Okada & Tomohiro Ishii) vs. TMDK (Zack Sabre Jr., Kosei Fujita, Mikey Nicholls & Shane Haste)

Winners: TMDK (Zack Sabre Jr., Kosei Fujita, Mikey Nicholls & Shane Haste)