NJPW New Year Dash 2023 Results – Jan. 5, 2023 – Aaron Henare & Jeff Cobb vs. Kenny Omega & Kazuchika Okada

Jan 5, 2023

January 5, 2023
Tokyo, Japan – Ota City General Gymnasium
English Commentary: Kevin Kelly, Chris Charlton, and Gino Gambino
Results via Chick Fritts of F4WOnline.com

Quick Match Results

House of Torture defeated Tomoaki Honma, Tiger Mask, & Ren Narita via Magic Killer (pinfall 8:28)
DOUKI, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, & Taichi defeated United Empire via Jorge Rivera Special (pinfall 9:17)
TMDK defeated Tomohiro Ishii & Bishamon via Tank Buster (pinfall 8:02)
YOH, Togi Makabe, Ryusuke Taguchi, & Shota Umino defeated BUSHI, Hiromu Takahashi, SANADA, & Tetsuya Naito via Direct Drive (pinfall 13:17)
Master Wato, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Hikuleo, & Tama Tonga defeated Bullet Club via Disqualification (11:29)
Provisional King of Pro Wrestling 2023 Championship – Shingo Takagi defeated SHO, Great-O-Khan, and Toru Yano via Last of the Dragon (pinfall 12:50)
Kenny Omega & Kazuchika Okada defeated Aaron Henare & Jeff Cobb via Rainmaker (pinfall 13:36)

Tomoaki Honma, Tiger Mask, & Ren Narita vs. House of Torture (Dick Togo, Yujiro Takahashi, & EVIL)

This match opened with HoT rushing the babyfaces and taking advantage. HoT then worked to isolate TM while trying to remove his mask.

Ren eventually received a hot tag, where he launched a comeback for his team, but once Honma tagged in, HoT retook control. Yujiro used his cane to take out Honma’s backup. Togo and EVIL hit Honma with Magic Killer and pinned him for the win.

Winner: House of Torture via Pinfall.

After the match, HoT tried beating down Narita, leading to Minoru Suzuki attempting a save. HoT overwhelmed Suzuki, so former Suzuki-gun member, Desperado saved Suzuki. The three fought off HoT and shared a moment in the ring; Narita looked confused by the gesture. It’s easy to imagine this trio will challenge for HoT NEVER Openweight Trios Championship.

DOUKI, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, & Taichi vs. United Empire (Catch 2/2 (Francesco Akira & TJP) & Will Ospreay)

Before the match, TAKA Michinoku cut a promo for the former Suzuki-gun guys and claimed they would change the face of New Japan as “just four guys”.

The match opened with Catch 2/2 gaining control for their team before passing the match off to Ospreay. Ospreay, visibly beaten from last night, entered the match with intensity.

Taichi took advantage of Ospreay’s weakness, writing him out of the match with a targeted attack. Without Ospreay, DOUKI was able to snag a quick pin and pull off a surprising win for his new old team.

Winner: DOUKI, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, & Taichi via Pinfall.

After the match, United Empire beat down “just four guys”, which seems to be a new unit. This seems to be a setup for a Kanemaru/DOUKI title challenge and a Taichi/Ospreay singles match in the future.

TMDK (Shane Haste, Micky Nicholls, & Zack Sabre Jr.) vs. Tomohiro Ishii & Bishamon (YOSHI-HASHI & Hirooki Goto)

The CHAOS trio gained an early lead in the match, but TMDK challenged this by turning the match into a free-for-all. As the match carried on, ZSJ and Ishii spent a lot of time in the ring together, as did the two established tag teams.

After clearing the ring of the rest of CHAOS, Nicholls and Haste hit YH with a tank buster and pinned one-half of the tag team champions.

Winner: TMDK via Pinfall.

After the match, Nicholls and Haste held the IWGP Tag Team Championships over the champions. ZSJ and Ishii also had a stare-down, perhaps setting up ZSJ’s first title challenger.

Once the posing was over, TMDK sat on the apron. ZSJ said TMDK needed a fourth, and he knew exactly who it should be. ZSJ pulled Kosei Fujita from ringside, took off his Young Lion garb, and gave him a TMDK shirt. So for the first time, at least to my knowledge, a Young Lion is a part of a unit.

YOH, Togi Makabe, Ryusuke Taguchi, & Shota Umino vs. BUSHI, Hiromu Takahashi, SANADA, & Tetsuya Naito

The match opened with a brawl, leading to an extended period of chaos. Once the fog cleared, Umino commanded the match, scoring a near fall on SANADA and forcing the tag to Naito.

Naito and Umino is clearly a program New Japan is trying to build, and they had a lot of time in this match together. Both men landed big moves, with Umino even getting the better of his senior in their first prolonged interaction.

Once Naito and Umino tagged out, the match fell apart again. Hiromu and YOH spent a lot of time fighting in the ring, even though the brawling. YOH eventually landed Direct Drive and pinned the Junior champion, setting up a title challenge in the future.

Winner: YOH, Togi Makabe, Ryusuke Taguchi, & Shota Umino via Pinfall.

After the match, YOH grabbed a microphone to make the title challenge official.

Bullet Club (El Phantasmo, Taiji Ishimori, KENTA, & Jay White) vs. Master Wato, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Hikuleo, & Tama Tonga

The match opened with some silliness that Bullet Club used to establish an early lead. Hikuleo eventually tagged in and reset the match, leading to an ELP and Tama faceoff after a double tag.

After a scramble between both teams, ELP and Tama were left alone in the ring again. Gedo tried interfering but ate a gun stun. With the referee turned, ELP tried using the NEVER belt as a weapon but was caught in the act. The referee disqualified ELP, leading to Bullet Club viciously beating down the rest of the babyfaces.

Winner: Master Wato, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Hikuleo, & Tama Tonga via Disqualification.

After the match, Jay White grabbed a mic and cut an intense promo against Hikuleo, blaming him for his loss against Okada. White then challenged Hikuleo to a loser leaves Japan match.

Provisional King of Pro Wrestling 2023 Championship 4-Way Match
SHO vs. Great-O-Khan vs. Toru Yano vs. Shingo Takagi

O-Khan and Shingo opened the match with a one-on-one interaction. Yano and SHO attempted a double roll-up, causing the match to break down. House of Torture, who accompanied SHO to the ring, helped their faction mate by jumping the other wrestlers. For the rest of the bout, HoT provided weapons and constantly interfered in the match.

After a match full of HoT shenanigans, the other guys took out SHO. O-Khan cleared the ring of Shingo and hit Yano with the eliminator. Shingo interrupted the pin and hit Yano with last of the dragon to win the match and the new KOPW belt.

Winner: Shingo Takagi via Pinfall to become the Provisional King of Pro Wrestling 2023 Champion.

After the match, O-Khan and Shingo had a brief stare-down.

Aaron Henare & Jeff Cobb vs. Kenny Omega & Kazuchika Okada

This was a tremendous match, and seeing the Omega/Okada pairing on the same side was a fantastic surprise.

The IWGP World and United States Heavyweight champions, Omega and Okada, received a colossal reaction for their first time teaming together.

Cobb and Omega opened the match, and Cobb quickly targeted Omega’s black eye. Cobb caught Omega in the opening exchange, forcing Okada to tag in. Likewise, Henare got the best of Okada in their opening interaction, taking advantage of Okada’s overworked midsection.

United Empire worked to isolate Okada, leading to the hot-tag into Omega. After tagging in, Omega stopped the unchallenged advance of United Empire, but the wear from his match last night slowed him down.

Okada tried for a rainmaker but missed; Omega was in position to clean up with a v-trigger. Cobb tried to stop the ending sequence by hitting Omega with a tour of the islands, but Okada saved Omega. Then the champions worked together, hitting a combination v-trigger rainmaker on Henare to win the match.

Winner: Kenny Omega & Kazuchika Okada via Pinfall.

Once the match ended, Okada went to cut the show-ending promo. The new KOPW champion, Shingo Takagi, interrupted Okada and challenged him to an IWGP title match. Okada accepted the challenge, setting up a title match sometime in the future.