New Japan Pro Wrestling 2/4/2025 Road To The New Beginning 2025 Day 7

New Japan Pro Wrestling 2/4/2025 Road To The New Beginning 2025 Day 7

Hiroshi Tanahashi & Katsuya Murashima vs. Daiki Nagai & Togi Makabe

KM = Katsuya Murashima

Togi and Tana trade arm holds. Tana trips him then is put in a hammerlock. KM hits shots on Tana. Togi bangs KM's head off the buckles. Nagai hiptosses KM then cheapshots Tana on the apron. KM shoulders over Nagai. Nagai takes a double dropkick.

Tana hits forearms on Nagai. Nagai forearms him back and is slapped. KM stomps on Nagai in the corner then slams him for 2. Tana slaps down Nagai. Nagai does a nice dropkick on Tana.

Togi gets in and shoulders over Tana. Togi hits a corner lariat then does corner punches. Togi lariats Tana for 2. The two trade forearms. Tana dropkicks him in the knee then dragon screws him. KM hits forearms on Togi. KM flying forearms him. KM hits a rare belly to belly on Togi.

KM powerslams Togi for 2. KM and Tana do stereo crabs. KM runs into a Togi lariat. Togi hits another for 2. Nagai dropkicks Tana. Togi top rope diving knees KM and wins.

Thoughts: It was a decent opener. It had the usual vets vs rookie logic. The rookies got a bit more in than usual though and that helped make this one better.

Tana and Togi stare down after and shake hands. 

El Phantasmo, Jado, Master Wato & Shota Umino vs. United Empire (Francesco Akira, Great-O-Khan, Jakob Austin Young & Jeff Cobb)

Khan pulls out shota before it starts. He has got scissors again and ELP takes them away. Jake and Wato go at it. Wato flying headscissors Jake then dropkicks him. Wato stomps on Jake then Jake dropkicks him. Jake knee drops Wato then euros him.

Khan throws Shota into the rails. Akira foot chokes Wato inside. Khan chairs Shota. Akira chops Wato then flying headscissors him. Cobb headbutts Wato in the gut then walks on him. Cobb stands on Wato's back. The two botch a spinning ddt spot. Wato enzuigiri's Cobb.

ELP gets in. He trades with Cobb. ELP twists Cobb's nipples. ELP 2nd rope twisting crossbodies Cobb then asai moonsaults him. Cobb forearms ELP then running suplexes him. Akira running back elbows ELP. ELP blocks his ddt and suplexes him. ELP running facekicks Akira. Jado comes in and ddt's Akira over the 2nd rope.

Shota and Khan fight. Shota hits forearms then takes a release german. Shota tornado ddt's him. Akira meteora's Jado from behind and pins him.

Thoughts: It was a shorter match. Everyone got a little segment in and that was it. They didn't really get enough time for all of the people in it and it wasn't much of note.

Akira says he can do more and will make a move soon. Khan nails Shota from behind after the match then stomps on him. Khan shoulder throws Shota. Khan gets cheers and goes to cut Shota's hair. He actually cuts some of it off and rubs the hair in his face. He then gets cheered for it which was not the desired reaction.

Oleg Boltin & Tomoaki Honma vs. Los Ingobernables de Japon (Hiromu Takahashi & Tetsuya Naito)

Honma does a weak shot from behind on Naito before the bell. Honma hits bad forearms then chops up Naito. Honma slams him and goes for the headbutt but Naito avoids it. Naito then baseball slides Honma outside. Oleg is tripped into a baseball slide.

Naito double axe handles Honma's arm then yanks on the arm. HT top rope double axe handles Honma's arm. HT hits a corner lariat then a basement dropkick on Honma. HT and Honma trade chops. Honma shoulders him over.

Oleg gets in and shoulders over HT. HT tries to flying crossbody Oleg but Oleg hits karelin's lift out of it. Oleg corner splashes HT then throws him on a slam. Oleg splashes HT for 2. Oleg chops HT. HT tries to flying crossbody him but just bounces off. HT lifts Naito for a headscissors on Oleg then Oleg takes a double team shot.

HT flying crossbodies Oleg. Honma and Naito fight. Honma hits chops and botches a bulldog on Naito. Honma misses a falling headbutt. Naito hits back elbows. Oleg comes in and shoulders Naito over. Oleg slams and splashes him. Honma falling headbutts Naito. Honma headbutts Naito. Honma picks up Naito and Naito hits a reverse ddt out of it. Honma takes kicks from both opponents and a double shot.

Naito koji clutches Honma and submits him to win.

Thoughts: It wasn't that good. Honma and Naito are really broken down and had a lot of missed or very weak shots here. Honma jumping Naito before the bell was really poorly done. This wasn't good. 

LIJ messes with Milano Collection AT after.

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

Tai attacks Sanada outside before it starts. The four fight outside. Tai is whipped into the seats and TI eye rakes Taka outside. TI spits liquid into Taka's eyes. Tai sends Sanada into the rails. The match then officially starts and Sanada kicks the rope into Tai's crotch. Sanada magic screws him then hits a top rope moonsault.

TI handspring corkscrew kicks Taka then Taka responds with a michinoku driver. Taka superkicks Sanada then Tai running lariats Sanada. Sanada pretends Tai low blowed him but the ref sees it. Tai then low blows Sanada in front of the ref and is DQ'd.

Thoughts: Yeah, it wasn't much and just pushed the Tai/Sanada feud. We only got a few minutes of this.

Tai throws the ref out then superkicks Sanada after.

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

Everyone fights before the bell. Yota sends Gabe into the rails out. Drilla boots Shingo off the ropes. They shoulder battle and Drilla dropkicks him. Shingo shoulders him over. They butt heads and trade forearms.

Drilla hits chops and kicks. Shingo corner lariats him then does a chop and punch combo. Drilla backdrops Shingo. Shingo backdrops him in return. Shingo punches him then lariats him over.

Clark comes in and shoulders over Shingo. Bushi hits a tope on Clark. Yota and Gabe fight. Yota flatliners him into a curbstomp. Drilla and Shingo go at it again. Shingo uranages him then sliding lariats him. Drilla/Shingo and Gabe/Yota fight outside. Drilla hits a bad botched piledriver on the outside on Shingo but thankfully Shingo never hit the floor, just Drilla's knees. Still, his neck went sideways in an ugly spot. Gabe and Yota then fight in the stands. Gabe and Yota fight in the ring. Gabe hits a big lariat and a piledriver to leave Yota laying.

Thoughts: This was all about building up Shingo/Drilla and Gabe/Yota. It was never much of a match though. If we hadn't just seen the same thing, it would have worked a little better for me. The crowd got into it though so it did what it was supposed to. I just hope Shingo is okay.

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

Zack and Goto go at it. Zack upkicks him and Goto knocks him over. They miss kicks and stand off. Zack shoulders Goto over then twists his neck with his feet. Oiwa takes a double shoulder and Goto hiptosses people onto him. Oiwa and Ishii battle. Ishii hits forearms and takes a double chop. Oiwa suplexes him. Ishii suplexes Oiwa. 

Ishii forearms him then Oiwa shoulders him over. Hart comes in and suplexes Ishii. Hart hits a double shoulder on Goto and Yoshi then slams Oiwa. Hart elbow drops Ishii for 2. Ishii takes corner attacks for 2. Ishii shoulders over Rob.

Yoh hits forearms on Rob then hits a flying shot on him. Yoh does Rob's chant. Rob does a figure four variation on Yoh. Rob hits head kicks on Yoh. Yoh then superkicks him. Rob goes out but holds on and pulls himself back in. He then superkicks Yoh.

Hart shoulders over Yoshi. Yoshi back rolls him. Hart euros and splashes him. Hart then hits a big lariat for 2. Ishii backdrops Hart and multiple people come in to do a move.  

Oiwa hits a dropkick on Yoh then backdrops Ishii. Yoshi takes a senton for 2. Hart death valley drivers Yoshi for 2. Goto spinning heel kicks Hart in the corner. Goto and Zack trade. Goto running lariats Zack. Hart takes a headhunter + russian legsweep combo. Yoh plancha's Rob outside. Hart takes a double team elbow slice bomb and is pinned.

Thoughts: It was a fast paced match. It didn't get enough time to be anything great but we got some previews of the various matches. What we got was fine.

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title Match - El Desperado (c) vs. Kosei Fujita

They do some amateur wrestling to start. They trade hammerlocks. KF does a nice headflip out of a wristlock. The two trade chops for a while. KF trips him into a surfboard variation then ties up Despy's arms. KF's arm is pulled down over the top rope. KF moonsaults Despy off the apron. Despy catches him and rams his shoulder into the post.

KF's arm is banged off the post. Despy yanks on KF's arm. Despy dragon screws the leg then indian deathlocks it. Despy hooks the head with his leg and pulls back on both arms. KF gets on the apron and Despy kicks the knee. Despy goes for a dive and gets kicked.KF crossbodies him against the ropes then moonsaults him off the apron. KF slaps him then springboard dropkicks him for 2. KF hits a step up enzugiri. Despy suplexes him then just hits a spear. Despy backdrops him then does a sitout powerbomb for 2. KF hurricanrana's him and ties up both arms. KF then hooks the leg on top of it.

KF PK's him for 2. KF backrolls him into a german for 2. KF guillotines him. KF lifts him and takes a cutter. KF hits chops. Despy hits forearms then takes a spin kick to the head. Despy armbars him. Despy then hits a sitout pedigree. KF blocks an angel's wings and gets a 2 count. KF hits the angel's wings and wins.

Thoughts: I wasn't too big of a fan of it. Despy worked KF's arm/shoulder for a while, gave up on it, moved to working on the leg then moved on from that as well. Some of the chop sections were okay and I would have liked to have seen them stick with that stuff instead. I wasn't impressed with KF's selling here.

Despy talks to KF on the mic after and KF leaves. Despy gets streamer confetti. Akira Francesco then comes out. He challenges Despy for the title at the Anniversary Show next month. They end up shoving each other. Akira takes him down and hits shots. Despy had said that he needed to ask TJP for approval and this got Akira mad.

Overall thoughts: I liked the opener and the semi-main but not much else. It wasn't as good as yesterday's show and there was nothing too memorable on this one. I didn't like two of the matches ending with dirty finishes on this one. I'd just give this a 4 out of 10 and wouldn't recommend it.