Promotion: New Japan Pro Wrestling
Date: January 4 ,2023
City: Tokyo, Japan
Arena: Tokyo Japan
TV station/network: TV Asahi
Tagline:
Tagline: | Antonio Inoki Memorial Spectacular Fighting Spirit Forever |
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Role: | Name: |
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English Commentators | Kevin Kelly |
Chris Charlton | |
Gino Gambino | |
Rocky Romero | |
Japanese Commentators | Shinpei Nogami |
Milano Collection A.T. | |
Katsuhiko Kanazawa | |
Kazuyoshi Sakai | |
Togi Makabe (Guest) | |
Masahiro Chono (Guest) | |
Ring announcers | Hidekazu Tanaka |
Kimihiko Ozaki | |
Makoto Abe | |
Referees | Norio Honaga |
Kenta Sato | |
Yuya Sakamoto | |
Marty Asami | |
Red Shoes Unno | |
Tiger Hattori |
Overall Show Score: 8/10
Pros: The surprising debut of Mercedes Moné in New-Japan. The arena was plenty packed for this event compare to the previous one. The wrestling didn’t disappoint and my favourite match was between Will Ospreay and Kenny Omega.
Cons: Some of other matches were cut short because of time constraint. There were too many title belts on this show.
Pre-Show:
Matches:
vs.
Boltin Oleg. Winner: No one because of a Time Limit Draw Rating: solid
New Japan Ranbo to determine who will challenge for the Provisional KOPW 2023 Championship at New Year Dash!!
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Hikuleo. Winner: Great-O-Khan, Shingo Takagi, Sho and Toru Yano advanced to the four-way match. Rating: Bad
Antonio Inoki Memorial six-man tag team match:
Satoshi Kojima, Togi Makabe & Yuji Nagata
vs.
Minoru Suzuki, Tatsumi Fujinami & Tiger Mask. Winners: Satoshi Kojima, Togi Makabe & Yuji Nagata Rating: Descent
Main Show:
Matches:
Tag Team Match for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship:
Catch 22 (Francesco Akira & TJP) (c)
vs.
CHAOS (Lio Rush & YOH). Winners: Catch 22 are still the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions. Rating: Alright
Singles match for the IWGP Women’s Championship:
KAIRI (c)
vs.
Tam Nakano. Winner: KAIRI is still the IWGP Women’s Champion. Rating: meh
Tag Team Match for the IWGP Tag Team Championship:
FTR (Cash Wheeler & Dax Harwood) (c)
vs.
Bishamon (Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI). Winners: Bishamon won the IWGP Tag Team Championship. Rating: Good
Tournament final for the inaugural NJPW World Television Championship:
vs.
Ren Narita. Winner: Zack Sabre Jr. became the inaugural NJPW World Television Championship. Rating: Very Good
Karl Anderson (c)
vs.
Tama Tonga (w/Jado). Winner: Tama Tonga Won back the NEVER Openweight Championship. Rating: Very Good
Six-man tag team match, This was Muto’s last NJPW match.
Hiroshi Tanahashi, Keiji Muto & Shota Umino
vs.
Los Ingobernables de Japon (BUSHI, SANADA & Tetsuya Naito). Winners: Hiroshi Tanahashi, Keiji Muto & Shota Umino. Rating: Good
Four-way match for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship:
Taiji Ishimori (c)
vs.
vs.
vs.
Master Wato. Winner: Hiromu Takahashi won the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship. Rating: Not That Good.
Singles match for the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship:
Will Ospreay (c) (with United Empire (Aaron Henare, Catch 2/2 (TJP & Francesco Akira), Great-O-Khan and Jeff Cobb))
Vs
Kenny Omega (with Dom Calls). Winner: Kenny Omega won the IWGP United States Championship. Rating: Great
Main Event:
Singles Match for the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship:
vs.
Kazuchika Okada. Winner: Kazuchika Okada won the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship again. Rating: Really Good