Sneak attacks were the order of the day as NJPW’s Road to the New Beginning rolled on.
At the start of the show Master Wato announced he has legitimately suffered a torn left ACL.
Wato makes his way to the ring to announce his injury. Courtesy: NJPW.
The injury occurred during New Beginning in Nagoya on January 20 and would require surgery.
“I will come back better than 100 per cent and when I do come back I will face SHO one on one,” said Wato.
From out of nowhere, Sho attacked Wato from behind hitting him in the back of the knee with his trusty wrench.
Sho takes his shot at Wato. Courtesy: NJPW.
As Wato lay on the canvass clutching his knee Sho hammered on it with his wrench.
“Will someone get out here? Where is a Young Lion when you need them?” asked a bewildered Walker Stewart.
Sho then picked a microphone and mocked an injured Wato.
Sho was about to smash Wato with his own crutch but El Desperado showed up to run him off just in time.
The main event of the evening was a battle of former Suzuki-gun tag team partners El Desperado, the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion, against Yoshinobu Kanemaru. The duo won the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championships four times and the Super Junior Tag League once.
Despite all of the members of House of Torture coming down with Kanemaru, El Desperado showed no fear entering the ring as it appeared the official sent House of Torture packing before the match began.
Kanemaru doesn’t want to shake Desperado’s hand. Courtesy: NJPW.
Desperado tried to shake Kanemaru’s hand before the bell rang. Kanemaru kicked his outstretched hand away. The fans booed. Kanemaru’s strategy was to keep Desperado down on the mat as much as possible. In a wild crisscross in the ropes Kanemaru drop kicked Desperado’s knee.
Kanemaru threw Desperado into the steel ring post before pulling a steel chair out from under the ring. Red Shoes convinced Kanemaru to drop the chair so he picked up Desperado dropping him throat-first on the barricade. Kanemaru set up the chair so he could leap off of it, landed on the barricade and gave Desperado a leg drop across the back of the neck.
Desperado targeted Kanemaru’s leg and knee with a Stretch Muffler. Kanemaru stagged and stumbled causing Red Shoes to check on him. Desperado continued to stomp on and work on the knee. Kanemaru snuck in a roll-up and almost won the match. It is clear he was faking the injury to get the drop on Desperado.
As Desperado had Kanemaru in another Stretch Muffler, Sho came down to ringside. Narita shoved Desperado into the official as he was distracted with Sho. Desperado gave Narita the finger as he stared up at him from the mat.
Narita put Desperado in a sleeper hold while Yujiro Takahashi hit the ring. Shoto Umino and Hiroshi Tanahashi came down to confront and fight off the House of Torture. The shenanigans only ended for a brief moment as Dick Togo pulled Red Shoes out of the ring before Kanemaru could submit to Desperado’s submission.
Evil attacked Desperado as did Togo. They set up Desperado for the Magic Killer. In came Tama Tonga to dispose of Togo and Evil. Desperado punched Evil in the “lower abdomen”. He and Tonga dropped Evil with the Magic Killer. Desperado forced Kanemaru to submit to the Stretch Muffler to retain the title.
El Desperado addressed the media after the match in the backstage area. Sho came out of the crowd of reporters kicking an exhausted Desperado in the face. Desperado flipped Sho off while Sho stomped on him. Sho picked up the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship belt hitting Desperado in the head with it.
Sho mocks Desperado after clocking him with his own belt. Courtesy: NJPW.
Road to the New Beginning Night Two Results
Katsuya Murashima & Ryusuke Taguchi vs Shoma Kato & YOH
Taguchi makes Kato tap out to the ankle lock.
Winners: Katsuya Murashima & Ryusuke Taguchi
United Empire (Callum Newman, Francesco Akira, TJP, Jeff Cobb & Great-O-Khan) vs BULLET CLUB War Dogs (David Finlay, Alex Coughlin, Gabe Kidd, Drilla Moloney & Clark Connors)
As soon as the War Dogs enter the ring the two teams brawl. Both teams are heading to a cage match at New Beginning in Osaka on Sunday, February 11th. Connors and Moloney are about to hit their double-team finisher on Akira. TJP makes the save so that Akira can roll Connors up for the win.
Winners: United Empire (Callum Newman, Francesco Akira, TJP, Jeff Cobb & Great-O-Khan)
Guerrillas of Destiny (Jado, Hikuleo & El Phantasmo) vs BULLET CLUB (Taiji Ishimori, Chase Owens & KENTA)
Before the match, ELP called up a fan in the fifth or sixth row. He put the IWGP Tag Team Championship belt on her shoulder, called up her companion and put the Strong Openweight Tag Team Championship belt on him. He then positioned the TV cameras closer to capture the moment. Awwwww.
Kenta rolled up Jado for the sneaky win.
Winners: BULLET CLUB (Taiji Ishimori, Chase Owens & KENTA)
Tomoaki Honma, Tomohiro Ishii, Hiroshi Tanahashi & Kazuchika Okada vs TMDK (Kosei Fujita, Shane Haste, Mikey Nicholls & Zack Sabre Jr.)
The crowd cheers for Okada as they have been during his final appearances in NJPW. Sabre Jr. makes Honma submit.
Winners: TMDK (Kosei Fujita, Shane Haste, Mikey Nicholls & Zack Sabre Jr.)
Tama Tonga, Shota Umino & Togi Makabe vs HOUSE OF TORTURE (EVIL, Ren Narita & Yujiro Takahashi)
As Makabe chases Dick Togo off the apron Evil slides into the ring with as steel chair. While the official is busy with him Narita hits Makabe in the head with his push-up bar for the 1,2,3.
Winners: HOUSE OF TORTURE (EVIL, Ren Narita & Yujiro Takahashi)
Los Ingobernables De Japon (Tetsuya Naito, Shingo Takagi, Yota Tsuji, Hiromu Takahashi & BUSHI) vs Just Five Guys (SANADA, Taichi, Yuya Uemura, DOUKI & TAKA Michinoku)
Taichi pins Bushi with his super kick.
Winners: Just Five Guys (SANADA, Taichi, Yuya Uemura, DOUKI & TAKA Michinoku)
El Desperado (c) vs Yoshinobu Kanemaru – IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship Match
Winner: …and still IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion, El Desperado.