The Road to The New Beginning on January 27th from the Yamagata Big Wing in Yamagata, Japan was the first of two New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) events of the day. The event in Yamagata continued the attendance success of NJPW on the Japan end of The New Beginning tour, drawing a Super No Vacancy crowd of 1,427 to the venue. The first event of the tour from the Koga City Central Athletic Park Gymnasium drew a Super No Vacancy Full House crowd of 1,677.
The first match of the event saw NJPW Noge Dojo Young Lion Yuya Uemura defeat NJPW Los Angeles (LA) Dojo Young Lion Gabriel Kidd in a competitive contest. The former IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champion Bullet Club tandem of Taiji Ishimori and El Phantasmo defeated NJPW Doge Young Lion Yota Tsuji and Ryusuke Taguchi in the following match.
The third match saw the team of Togi Makabe and Toa Henare defeat Manabu Nakanishi and Hiroyoshi Tenzan. Nakanishi is drawing close to his retirement date of February 22nd and will continue competing against fellow 3rd Generation NJPW Noge Doge graduates until that time.
The fourth match saw the Suzuki-Gun team of Minoru Suzuki, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, and El Desperado defeat Tomoaki Honma and IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Roppongi 3k (Sho/Yoh). Kanemaru and Desperado will challenge Roppongi 3k for their title at The New Beginning in Osaka, after gaining a victory over the champions at New Year Dash.
The fifth match saw Tiger Mask, Tomohiro Ishii, and Hirooki Goto lose to the Los Ingobernables de Japon (LIJ) team of Bushi, Evil, and Shingo Takagi. Evil and Ishii face one another in the second of two headlines on night-one of The New Beginning in Sapporo, which has a marquee match of Takagi challenging Hirooki Goto for the NEVER Openweight Championship in his V1 defense of the title.
The headline match of the evening was a showcase for the final two matches of night-one of night-two of The New Beginning in Sapporo which features Zack Sabre Jr (ZSJ). defending the RevPro Undisputed British Heavyweight Championship against Will Ospreay, Taichi, and Kazuchika Okada will face one another in the marquee in a special singles match. The 27th saw the Suzuki team of ZSJ, Taichi, and Douki defeat Okada, Ospreay, and Robbie Eagles.
The marquee match of the evening saw the LIJ team of ‘Double Champion’ Tetsuya Naito; holder of the IWGP Heavyweight and Intercontinental Championship, IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Hiromu Takahashi, and Sanada defeat Bullet Club member Jay White, KENTA, and Gedo. Sanada/White face one another at The New Beginning in Sapporo in one of the headline matches, while KENTA challenges Naito for the ‘Double Championship’ in the marquee of the event.
The next Road to the New Beginning event is January 28 from the Nices Arena.
