New Japan Pro Wrestling 1/6/2021 - New Years Dash

New Japan Pro Wrestling 1/6/2021 - New Years Dash

Gabriel Kidd vs Yuji Nagata

Kidd rolls out of a wristlock then bridges backwards and does a headspring out. Kidd tries to work the leg, but Nagata grabs his leg and it stops. Kidd hits some forearms and but Nagata knees him in the gut.

Nagata kicks him in the back and continues to work the arm. Kidd fights back with chest chops but gets slapped down then takes some chest kicks. Nagata bounces off the ropes but Kidd dropkicks him. Kidd and Nagata trade some forearms in a little exchange and Kidd kicks him hard in the face down. Kidd then suplexes him for 2 and puts a single leg boston crab on him.

More forearms from Kidd but Nagata drops him with an enzugiri. Nagata then chest kicks him and hits an exploder for another 2. Nagata then puts him in the crossface and taps him out. Not bad at all for being a vet vs young boy match.

DOUKI and Minoru Suzuki vs Tiger Mask and Yuya Uemura

Douki puts Yuya in a headlock early and Yuya trips him off the ropes. Yuya takes a cheap shot at Suzuki, Suzuki gets up and takes another. Suzuki did not like that.

Yuya hits the ropes though and Suzuki makes him pay for it with an armbar over the top rope. Suzuki then throws him into the rails and facekicks him before nailing him with a forearm. Yuya comes back with some forearms though and takes a headbutt for it.

Yuya gets some nice chest chops on Suzuki but gets some stiff shots back. Douki gets in and hits a fast double stomp on Yuya. Yuya trades with Suzuki more and takes some face slaps for it and Suzuki foot pushes him in the face. Yuya comes back though with a nice dropkick and tags to Tiger. Tiger does a not good top rope crossbody and then takes a cheapshot on Suzuki.

Tiger does a rolling kneebar on Douki but Douki hits the ropes. Tiger kicks the leg and Douki comes back with an enzugiri. Tiger hits a tiger driver on Suzuki but collapses and falls back during it. Yuya flurry forearms Suzuki and takes some back.

Suzuki puts Yuya in a high crab with some great facials but Tiger breaks it up at 10 minutes. Yuya dorpkicks Suzuki and rolls him up for 2. He tries again and Suzuki wraps around for a gotch piledriver for the win. The Yuya and Suzuki sections were really good here and made this fun.

Taichi, Zack Sabre Jr. El Desperado and Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs Tama Tonga, Tama Loa, Taiji Ishimori and El Phantasmo
 

They get started at the bell here. Taichi chokes two people at once and then does it to Jado too. Everyone then chokes Loa and Zack does his neck twist on Loa's neck.

Desperado stepped on Loa's foot and Jado hit him with a cane shot in the back. Desperado then gets beaten up in the corner and takes a Tonga headbutt. Jado then puts the cane in his throat and hits Douki with the cane on the outside.

The heels do top rope backrakes and Ishimori does Sabre's leg twist on the neck. The heels bully Desperado more on the outside. Desperado finally makes the tag and Zack euro uppercuts Tonga.

Zack hits a guillotine clutch and keeps it on after getting rammed into the buckles. It turns into a triangle and then we get triple submissions from the faces here. Zack pump kicks Tonga but then is speared.

Kanemaru comes in and throws the ref in front of ELP when he makes his move. Desperado and Kanemaru do a kick/backdrop combo and Kanemaru reverse ddt's ELP for the 2. Ishimori hits la silla from the top on Kanemaru and we get a finisher train sequence here with everyone getting in. Kanemaru and ELP push the ref in front of each other and ELP kicks Kanemaru for the win. As usual with these guys, there's more shenanigans than actual wrestling.

Satoshi Kojima, Hiroshi Tenzan and Yota Tsuji vs The Empire (Will Opseray, Great-O-Khan and Jeff Cobb)

The move that supposedly injured Tenzan. I don't think so.

 

The Empire attacks early. Khan and Tenzan trade mongolian chops and Tenzan hits some chops in the corner, then brainbusters him. More mongolian chops exchanges. Khan goes for the armbar on Tenzan but Tenzan hits the ropes. Khan then mongolian chops the arm and sits on him in the corner.

Will gets in and Tenzan continues to get beat up but Tenzan hits a spinning heel kick and tag to Kojima. Kojima gets some shots on the Empire and machine gun chops Will. Will hits a spinning elbow and brainbuster's Kojima. Cobb gets in and gives Koji a tour of the islands backbreaker but Koji doesn't sell too much and hits a Koji cutter soon after. Yota gets in and hits some nice forearms on Cobb and they shoulderblock battle. Yota hits a nice splash for 2 and The Empire gets cleared out by TenKoji.

Cobb goes for a suplex but Yota gets out. Yota tries a crossbody, but Cobb hits the Oklahoma Stampede, which TenKoji break up. Cobb blocks a TenKoji 3D attempt and Khan hits a pump kick on Tenzan. Yota gets lifted up high and Will hits an Os Cutter off the top while Yota is held up to win. Quick match here but nothing wrong with this. Yota gets beaten up by Will and Khan after. Khan mongolian chops Tenzan down too and does a tombstone to him. Kojima tries to make the save but he gets a beatdown as well and the ref takes a nice bump outside.

Will gets on the mic after and says his team isn't weak. He says he is really pissed off from Wrestlekingdom. He says 2021 will be the year they take over. Tenzan gets taken out on a stretcher, which is definitely a work.

Hirooki Goto, YOSHI-HASHI, Kazuchika Okada, Tomohiro Ishii and Toru Yano vs Jay White, EVIL, Bad Luck Fale, Yujiro Takahashi and Chase Owens

Chase teased throwing out Yano's trophy early. Goto and Yujiro shoulderblock battle and Goto wins it. Yujiro bites the hand of Goto and Hashi. Goto hiptosses Yoshi onto Jay. Then the whole team takes turns beating up their opponents 5v1.

Evil clotheslines Okada over the top. He puts the chair around Okada's head and swings at it wit ha chair. Okada gets beaten up for bit with Fale and Yujiro standing on his back. Okada gets beaten up in the corner and Ishii attacks all of them to make it stop. The heels do a charging train in the corner to Okada, with everyone getting something in.

Okada hooks on a money clip then does his neckbreaker over the knee to make a comeback and tags out. Ishi gets in and he powerslams White after a little bit. Then the faces do the corner train on White with Ishii hitting a german. Gedo gets up on the apron and it leads to White planting Ishii with a DDT. Then he hits Ishii with a twisting brainbuster.

The pace picks up as everyone jumps in. Ishii hits a sliding lariat on White. White hits a sleeper suplex on Ishii. He goes for a blade runner but Ishii brainbusters him for the win.

As I've said before here, these matches often limit what you can do and are solely dependent on how much time you get. They didn't get much time and squeezed as much in as they could.

Hiroshi Tanahashi, Kota Ibushi, SHO, Master Wato and Rocky Romero vs SANADA, Bushi, Shingo Takagi, Hiromu Takahashi and Tetsuya Naito

Sho and Hiromu trade forearms to start for a while. Sho hits a couple of good ones. Rocky and Hiromu go at it and Wato comes in with a missile dropkick on Hiromu. Naito trips Romero and LIJ clears out their opponents. Shingo gets tagged in and takes a free shot at the rest of his opponents except for Tana, but eventually gets one in when Tana isn't looking.

Naito gets in and Rocky continues to get beaten up and Naito hops over the top rope to dropkick him. Naito bullies Rocky with footslaps and Rocky tries to comeback. Naito eye rakes him and Bushi helps out to stop him. Bushi and Naito try to double team Rocky but he hurricanrana's both in one try. Sanada pop-up's Rocky but he gets a hurricanrana on him too then he tags to Ibushi.

Ibushi hits his sliding kick on Sanada and turns a missed kick into a standing moonsault. Sanada paradise lock's Ibushi at 10 minutes and dropkicks him out of it. Ibushi and Sanada trade dragon sleepers. Sanaa gets thrown into the corner but flips out onto the apron and comes back with a springboard dropkick.

Tana and Shingo get in and trade elbows. Tana hits a dragon screw. He hits a twisting neckbreaker then Shingo does the same to him. Tana and Shingo trade some strikes but Shingo drops him with a lariat. Bushi gets in and missile dorpkicks Tana. Tana takes back control with a twist and shout neckbreaker. Wato gets in there and kicks Bushi then diving elbows him from the top. Naito and Bushi do a combo which ends in a sunset flip to a single leg dropkick. Wato ducks a Bushi dive and it leads to everyone running in. Wato hits flying knees to Hiromu and a tornado kick to Bushi. Wato misses a corner move and takes a triple team combo from LIJ. Bushi hits Tequila Saya's old Tequila Shot move and beats Wato with an MX(2nd rope codebreaker).

Very fast paced match here and not as long as it could have been but nothing wrong with this. Blink and you'll miss a bunch of stuff here.

Shingo and Tana goes face to face and Shingo seems to challenge him to try for the Never title. Sho and Hiromu then seem to set up something for the junior title. Then Sanada and Ibushi agree to a title match too.

In a post-match interview, Shingo asks what makes Tana the ace. He said Tana's time is up and the question is when he will finish him. He challenges Tana.

Bushi then says he wants a singles match with Master Wato.

Hiromu pops in. He says he is hurting but feels good and asks Sho to challenge and bring his best.

Overall thoughts: Pretty much just a house show. There was nothing too special for this years Dash as we have had in previous years and compared to that, it was a disappointment. But the wrestling was fine, just they never go all out.