New Japan Pro Wrestling 1/22/2025 Road To The New Beginning 2025 Day 1

New Japan Pro Wrestling 1/22/2025 Road To The New Beginning 2025 Day 1

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Shoma Kato

Kato hits a chop on the ropes. Tana trips him and wrestles him on the mat. Tana trips him again and stomps on the leg. Tana then pulls the foot. Tana headbutts him. Kato hits a dropkick and armdrags. Kato hits a hiptoss for 2. Kato slams Tana then crabs him. Tana ropebreaks.

They trade shots. Tana dropkicks him in the knee. Tana then crabs him. Kato ropebreaks. Kato cradles him and rolls him up for 2. Tana dragon screws him the texas cloverleafs him for the win.

Thoughts: It was a rookie vs vet match. What we got was okay with Kato getting a decent bit of offense in before being put down as expected.

House Of Torture (Ren Narita, SHO, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Yujiro Takahashi) vs. Daiki Nagai, Katsuya Murashima, Oleg Boltin & Toru Yano

The heels attack before the bell and 6 of the wrestlers go out to fight. Yano grabs Sho by the hair then is grabbed by the hair. Yano pulls down Sho and Yujiro by the hair. KM comes in and shoulders over Yujiro.

KM hits forearms on Sho. KM hiptosses him for 2. KM is pulled over the top then sent into the rails. KM is slammed on the floor. KM is sent into the rails. KM is sent into the exposed buckle.

Yujiro slams KM for 2. KM is thrown out and gets hit with a chair in the gut. Ren shots KM then is dropkicked. Oleg comes in and shoulders over Ren. Oleg double shoulders the heels over then corner splashes Ren. Ren rolling armbars Oleg. Oleg hits a double dropkick. 

Nagai gets in. He runs into a boot from Kanemaru and dropkicks him. Nagai slams Kanemaru. KM then shoulders over Kanemaru as he runs at Nagai. Kanemaru is put in the crab. Kanemaru suplexes Nagai for 2 then crabs him. Nagai then taps out.

Thoughts: It was your usual face vs heel stuff with the faces being the underdog. It was average as you would expect but it was tolerable.

Just 4 Guys (Taichi & TAKA Michinoku) vs. BULLET CLUB War Dogs (Clark Connors & SANADA)

The heels attack before the bell and take the fight outside. Taka's head is banged off the bleacher rail then Sanada hits Tai with a chair. Taka is sent into the post. Clark drops Taka with shots in the ring then euros him. Sanada snapmares Taka and chokes him with tape. Clark elbow drops Taka then chinlocks him.

Sanada gets eye poked by Taka. Sanada then drops down and kicks Taka in the nuts. Taka then drops down and nails him in the nuts. Tai hits Kawada kicks on Sanada then russian legsweeps him. Tai corner facekicks Sanada. He spin kicks him the Clark trips Tai from the outside. Clark then runs the rope into his crotch.

Sanada plancha's Tai. Sanada then magic screws him. Sanada misses a top rope moonsault. Taka comes in and pump kicks Clark. He facelocks him but it is broken up. Clark powerslams Taka. Taka trips him into just facelock and Clark ropebreaks. Clark spears Taka then hits a lifting ddt for the win.

Thoughts: It was pretty average with the heels being faces and the faces making some comebacks. The heels ended up winning this as expected. Sanada's really being wasted in this role.

Tai's head is banged off the sign in the crowd after then he chases his opponents with a chair.

Master Wato, Shota Umino & Tomohiro Ishii vs. United Empire (Francesco Akira, Great-O-Khan & Jakob Austin Young)

Wato got the win over Young here. It went longer than it needed to and wasn't too special. Shota wasn't that featured that much in this and it was supposed to hype me for Shota/Khan, it failed. What we saw of Akira vs Ishii didn't look bad but we aren't getting that one anytime soon. Wato didn't have the greatest showing here.

CHAOS (YOH & YOSHI-HASHI) & Tomoaki Honma vs. TMDK (Hartley Jackson, Robbie Eagles & Ryohei Oiwa)

Oiwa and Yoshi go at it. They trade forearms then Yoshi hits chops. Yoshi side headlocks Oiwa then Oiwa side headlocks him. Oiwa knocks over Yoshi. Yoshi neckbreakers Oiwa. Oiwa suplexes Yoshi. Yoshi stares down Oiwa and both tag out. Rob and Yoh get in.

Rob plays with the crowd and is rolled up. Yoh trips him into a baseball slide. Yoh then eye pokes Hart on the apron. Rob stops a falling headbutt from Honma. Hart chops Yoh over. Oiwa comes in and armdrags + armlocks Yoh. Yoshi comes in and Oiwa takes him down and sends him out.

Hart sentons Yoh. Rob corner meteora's Yoh for 2. Yoh hits boots on Rob. Rob spin kicks him then takes a falcon arrow. Honma and Oiwa go at it. Oiwa hits forearms. Oiwa shoulders him over. Hart conrer splashes Honma then lariats him. Oiwa falling splashes Honma for 2.

Yoshi headhunters Hart then hits shots on Oiwa. Oiwa backdrops him. Yoh superkicks Rob out. Honma falling headbutts Oiwa for 2. Oiwa running lariats Honma for 2. Oiwa spinning lariats him and pins him.

Thoughts: I liked this. Oiwa had a good showing and made me want to see him vs Yoshi and maybe even him vs Honma. Hart got virtually nothing in here.

Los Ingobernables de Japon (Hiromu Takahashi, Shingo Takagi, Tetsuya Naito & Yota Tsuji) vs. BULLET CLUB War Dogs (Drilla Moloney, Gabe Kidd, Gedo & Taiji Ishimori)

Yota and Gabe chop each other for a while. Then they trade forearms. They chop each other more. Gabe lariats Yota on the ropes then slaps him. Gabe lariats him over. Yota falcon arrows Gabe.

Gedo chokes Naito. Naito gets beaten up in the corner by the heels and has his head banged off the exposed buckle. TI chokes Naito with a rope. TI fist drops Naito. Drilla bites Naito.

Shingo gets in and cleans house on the heels. Drilla enzugiri's Shingo then superkicks him for 2. Drilla takes a 2v1. Yota superkicks and pumping knees Gabe. Gabe straight punches Yota then backdrops him.

Gedo eye rakes HT then HT kicks the rope into him. HT shotgun dropkicks him. TI handspring kicks Naito. HT crossbodies Gedo and TI. Gedo gets beaten up on by his opponents. HT ties up Gedo's legs and submits him.

Thoughts: The finish was lame here with Gedo submitting to a very simple hold. Drilla is now being treated as a heavyweight and it's kind of funny to see him being treated as an equal to someone like Shingo when a few weeks ago, Shingo would have been able to beat him easily. This was just average and not much of note but I liked the Gabe/Yota section.

Shingo and Drilla fight after.

El Desperado & Hirooki Goto vs. TMDK (Kosei Fujita & Zack Sabre Jr.)

Zack hits euros on Goto. Goto shoulders him over. They stand off. Kosei and Despy get in. Despy yanks on Kosei's arm. Kosei chops Despy. Goto shoulders Kosei over. Goto wants to 2v1 Kosei but Despy won't go along with it. Zack ties up Goto as Kosei and Despy fight outside.

Kosei chops Goto. Zack puts holds on Goto over a rail while Kosen and Despy trade shots. Despy is thrown into a rail by Kosei.

Zack ties up Goto's legs and Kosei headscissors Goto at the same time. Kosei PK's Goto. Kosei clubs on Goto's back. Goto hits a big lariat. Despy suplexes Kosei then spinebusters Zach. Goto backdrops Zack. Goto and Zack trade. Despy spears Zack. Kosei springboard dropkicks Despy.

Kosei takes a shoulderblock from Goto. Goto lariats Zack. Goto ushigoroshi's Zack for 2. Zack triangles Goto. Despy slaps Goto then Kosei tope con hilos Despy. Zack twists Goto's neck then PK's him. Goto crucifixes Zack off a sleeper and wins.

Thoughts: I didn't quite get why they were not willing to hit each other at times. Other than that, I liked it. The Zack/Goto sections were good here and Despy and Kosei showed some fire with each other.

Goto talks on the mic after and shakes hands with Despy.

Overall thoughts: It was your usual NJPW Korakuen show. There wasn't anything must see here but the main was okay and Oiwa's match was okay. I'd give this a 4 out of 10 as there was nothing that good about it and it wasn't must see.