New Japan Pro Wrestling 2/3/2025 The Road To The New Beginning Day 6

New Japan Pro Wrestling 2/3/2025 The Road To The New Beginning Day 6

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Daiki Nagai

Nagai side headlocks him. Tana reveres it and Nagai chops him. Tana side headlocks him. Nagai pulls the hair and they trade forearms. Tana slams Nagai Tana backbreakers him then camel clutches him. Nagai dropkicks him.

Nagai chop flurries him in the corner then stomps on him. Nagai corner dropkicks him. Nagai hits a dropkick for 2. Nagai slams him then crabs him. Tana hits a twist and shout. Nagai drops him with a big slap. Tana then slaps him down a couple of times. Tana then puts him in a texas cloverleaf. Nagai taps out.

Thoughts: It was a rookie vs vet match, but I liked it. Nagai got some comeback spots here and it was nice to see him drop Tana once. Nagai got a decent bit of offense in and Tana got some good fighting spirit out of him.

Shota Umino, Master Wato and Ryuske Taguchi vs Great-O-Khan, Francesco Akira and Jacob Austin Young

Wato and Akira go at it. Wato side headlocks him. Akira armdrags him then is armdragged. Akira flying headscissors him. Wato dropkicks him and chops him. Akira takes a double boot. Jake is double tripped into a double basement dropkick. Akira hits shots on Taguchi then leg lariats him.

Khan throws Shota into the rails outside. They fight in the stands and Khan chairs Shota. Jake knee drops Taguchi for 2. Akira basement dropkicks Taguchi. Khan hits mongolian chops on Taguchi and Taguchi does it back to him. Khan kancho's Taguchi then sits on his neck in the corner.

RT hip attacks Khan off the buckles.  Shota gets in and hits some offense. He then dropkicks Khan. Shota fisherman suplexes Khan. Khan double underhook suplexes Shota. Shota hits an enzugiri on Khan. Khan facekicks him. Shota exploders him.

Jake and Wato go at it. Wato spin kicks him. Wato hits a bulldog. Jake backdrops Wato for 2. Taguchi flying hip attacks Jake. Akira superkicks Shota then Shota tornado ddt's him.

Jake enzugiri's Wato. Jake blocks Wato's sunset fip for 2. Wato rolls up Jake and submits him with a head and double arm hold.

Thoughts: It was a basic trios match here. Khan and Shota's segment didn't impress in this one and I don't have high hopes for that much. This didn't get a lot of time and it was by the numbers.

Khan attacks Shota outside after and teases cutting his hair.

Hiromu Takahashi and Tetsuya Naito vs Tomoaki Honma and Togi Makabe

HT backs up Togi on the ropes. Naito pulls Togi's hair. HT hits chops on Togi. Togi shoulders HT over. Togi shoulders Naito over. Honma hits forearms on HT. Honma back elbows him then HT hits forearms. Honma takes a double team then Togi does as well. Honma takes a double lariat over.

Naito sends Honma into the rail. Naito hits shots on Honma in the corner then cravates him. HT corner lariats Honma then basement dropkicks him. Honma ddt's Naito.

Togi shoulders over Naito then corner lariats him. Togi hits corner punches. Togi lariats Naito for 2. Naito back elbows him then baseball slides him. HT hits corner punches on Togi then Togi hits a big lariat on him.

Togi hits chops on Honma. Honma bulldogs HT. Honma misses a falling headbutt. HT kicks the ropes into Honma's face. HT takes a sandwich lariat then Honma flying headbutts HT. Togi double lariats his opponents then Honma headbutt drops HT. Honma running headbutts HT for 2. Honma headbutts him. Honma then takes an atomic drop into a lariat.

HT superkicks Honma and Honma takes a double lariat. HT death valley drivers Honma and wins.

Thoughts: It didn't look like a good idea and it wasn't. It was slower and just not that interesting. 

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

All 4 go at it as soon as the four are in. Tai running facekicks Sanada. Tai is sent into the rails. Sanada and Tai fight in the stands. Sanada hits Tai with a water bottle.

Clark and Taka go at it. Taka puts him in a facelock and Sanada breaks it up. Taka then does an armbar + headlock. Clark powerslams Taka.

Sanada chokes Taka from the apron. Clark elbow drops Taka. Taka hits shots to the gut and slaps Clark. Clark then pounces him. Taka knees him in the head and running boots him in the chest. Tai russian legsweps Sanada. Tai kawada kicks Sanada then corner facekicks him. Sanada dropkicks him out then plancha's him.

Tai running lariats Sanada. Sanada goes for skull end. Tai rolls out of it and enzugiri's him. Sanada pushes the ref into Tai. Sanada pretends that Tai low blowed him and the ref DQ's Tai.

Thoughts: It was short and dumb. They focused on Sanada and Tai's feud here and we had a lame finish. Wrestlers can low blow other wrestlers in full view of the ref in this company and not get DQ'd here yet the ref didn't even see this one and called for the DQ.

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

The heels attack before the bell. Shingo gets stomped on by Drilla and TI in the corner. Shingo fights off a double team and slams TI onto Drilla. Drilla and Shingo trade. Drilla step up enzugiri's him.

Drilla hits Shingo's punch and chop combo on him in the corner. Drilla pump kicks Shingo then Shingo shoulders him over. Drilla dropkicks Yota. Gabe corner lariats Yota and sentons him. Yota running boots him. Yota corner splashes Gabe then slams him. Yota running swantons him and splashes him for 2. 

Yota blocks Gabe's knee and they trade shots. Gabe suplexes him. Yota does like an orange crush on him. Bushi and TI go at it. Bushi wants to do a dive and Drilla trips him. Bushi does a bulldog + dropkick combo. Bushi dropkicks TI in the knee. TI drops Bushi's chest onto his knees.

Shingo comes in, gets some offense in then is double stomped by Drilla. Gabe lariats Yota over the top and goes with him. Bushi's flying headscissors is blocked by TI and TI gets the win.

Thoughts: It was a short one. Everyone got their segment in and not much else. As usual, what we got of Gabe vs Yota looked good. Shingo and Drilla are trying and we'll have to see what that ends up looking like on 2/11.

Gabe/Yota and Shingo/Drilla fight after the bell.

CHAOS (Hirooki Goto, Tomohiro Ishii, YOH & YOSHI-HASHI) & El Desperado vs. TMDK (Hartley Jackson, Kosei Fujita, Robbie Eagles, Ryohei Oiwa & Zack Sabre Jr.)

Despy and Kosei fight. Despy takes him down by the arm. Kosei takes him down by the arm and stomps him. They trade chops. Yoh takes a basement dropkick to the back of the head. Yoh trips Rob and baseball slides him. Yoshi and Oiwa get in. Yoshi headhunters him. Oiwa takes a double shoulderblock then a triple kick. The two trade chops and Oiwa shoulders him over.

Hart comes in and elbow drops Yoshi for 2. TMDK grab all of Yoshi's limbs at once. Hart wants in but there's no limb to grab. Hart sentons Oiwa.

Goto shoulders over Zack then suplexes Rob onto Zack. Zack twists Goto's neck with his feet. The two trade shots. Zack does a deep armbar on Goto and Goto ropebreaks. Goto rolls him up for 2. Goto goes for a move and is bridged. Goto hits a big lariat on Zack.

Hart and Ishii get in. They trade lariats. Hart dropkicks him then hits a corner splash. Hart hits a big lariat. Kosei springboard dropkicks Despy then takes a superkick from Yoh. Rob hits kicks on Yoh then Yoh superkicks him out. Hart crossbodies Yoh. Ishii hits a big german on Hart then forearms Oiwa. Oiwa double lariats Ishii and Yoshi.

Oiwa dropkicks Ishii. Oiwa backdrops him. Hart death valley drivers Ishii for 2. Hart sitout powerbombs Ishii for 2. Goto ushigoroshi's Zack. Ishii running lariats Hart for 2. Ishii brainbusters Hart and pins him.

Thoughts: It was a fun match. It was a bit rushed but we got good sections out of Zack/Goto, Yoshi/Oiwa and Hart/Ishii. This accomplished what it set out to do and made you want to see this matches on the big show. 

The wrestlers then get in each others faces after.

NJPW World Television Title Match - El Phantasmo (c) vs. Jeff Cobb

ELP dropkicks Cobb then Cobb pounces him. Cobb hits a corner spear on ELP then throws him. Cobb catches ELP off a springboard then throws him on a slam. ELP goes up and over then chops Cobb. ELP does rope tricks and hurricanrana's Cobb over the top.

ELP topes Cobb outside. ELP then throws him over the rail. ELP does a super dangerous top rope moonsault and ends up going over the rail onto young lions. Cobb suplex lifts him and walks him up the Korakuen steps. ELP tries to push Cobb down the steps.

ELP jumps off the entrance way in the stands onto Cobb. They fight in the crowd. Cobb pushes ELP into the post then backdrops him onto the apron. Cobb gets stuck on the buckles and ELP powerbombs him for 2. Cobb fallaway slams him.

Cobb hits a spin cycle backdrop for 2. ELP step up enzugiri's Cobb. Cobb flips him with a running lariat. Cobb misses a springboard splash. ELP rolls him up for 2. Cobb superkicks ELP. ELP crucifixes Cobb then superkicks him twice for 2. Cobb goes for a slam and is ddt'd by ELP.

ELP springboard crossbodies Cobb then springboard splashes him for the win.

Thoughts: They didn't get much time and had an action packed match with some highlights. It wasn't anything great and they weren't allowed to do a classic here, but I liked what we got out of it. It was a fine Korakuen main.

ELP talks on the mic after and has Jado translate for him. He says he hasn't been in the main very often. He says he doesn't want to put himself over and wants to put other people over instead. He says to make noise for the people who drove the bus 9 hours to get here. He says to make noise for the camera men, the commentators and the refs.

Overall thoughts: I liked the main, semi-main and the opener. I didn't really care for the rest. The main and semi-main didn't get a ton of time but they did a good job with what they got. I wouldn't really recommend it, but I'd give it a 6 out of 10 for the two top matches delivering. I thought it was a little better than average overall.