NJPW New Year's Dash results: Jericho appears, Bullet Club friction
After a wild night at the Tokyo Dome for Wrestle Kingdom 12, we found ourselves at Korakuen Hall for a sold-out New Years Dash. This is normally the show that sets up the next few months for NJPW and is traditionally a night of hot angles, surprises, and lots of tag matches.
Manabu Nakanishi, Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima & Yuji Nagata defeated Ren Narita, Shota Umino, Tetsuhiro Yagi & Tomoyuki Oka
Kojima flattened Umino with a lariat. This was a standard young lions match where they got some stuff in and got close to a victory but in the end, the veterans won.
Suzuki-gun (El Desperado, Taichi, TAKA Michinoku, Takashi Iizuka & Yoshinobu Kanemaru) defeated Henare, Hirai Kawato, Jushin Liger, Tiger Mask IV & Togi Makabe
The finish came when Desperado hit the Pinche Loco (a double arm underhook sit-out DDT) on Kawato and Iizuka then laid out Kawato with the iron claw.
“Switchblade” Jay White defeated Katsuya Kitamura
Kitamura, who won the Young Lion’s Cup, is doing a seven match trial series and this was the first one. White won with the Blade Runner (a swinging reverse STO that he’s borrowed from Alex Shelley).
Kitamura sold very well in this match and it’s clear he has a future in NJPW.
The Elite (The Young Bucks & Kenny Omega) defeated Roppongi 3K & Cheeseburger
The Elite won when Omega helped the Bucks hit the Indytaker. Seeing these guys sell for Cheeseburger is something else, but he served his purpose in being the one who took the pin.
A rematch between Roppongi 3K and The Young Bucks was set up for the future after Matt & Nick Jackson won the IWGP Junior Tag Team titles from Sho & Yoh at Wrestle Kingdom.
Bullet Club (Cody, Marty Scurll, Chase Owens, Yujiro Takahashi & Leo Tonga) defeated David Finlay, Juice Robinson, Kota Ibushi, KUSHIDA & Ryusuke Taguchi
The end came when Cody caused Finlay to tap out to the American Nightmare (an Indian deathlock). After the match, Cody started putting the boots to Ibushi and then Robinson when he tried to save Ibushi.
Cody was going to smash Ibushi with a chair when Kenny Omega stopped him. Omega and Cody started shoving each other. Omega told Cody he was the leader of Bullet Club, grabbed the mic, and said he was sick of the infighting and the sh*t-talking behind each other’s back.
Omega then said that the Bullet Club needed Jay White. White came out and put on the Bullet Club shirt, but then hit Omega with the Blade Runner and ran off. In the crowd, he gave the throat slash to the onlooking BC members and tossed the shirt.
Bullet Club (Bad Luck Fale, Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa) defeated Chaos (Beretta, Tomohiro Ishii & Toru Yano) to win the NEVER Openweight Six-Man Tag Team Championship
The end came when Tonga hit Beretta with the Gun Stun for the title change.
Suzuki-gun (Minoru Suzuki, Davey Boy Smith Jr., Lance Archer & Zack Sabre Jr.) defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi, Michael Elgin & War Machine
The finish was KES hitting the Killer Bomb on Hanson for the pin. Seeing as War Machine is heading out, it makes sense they took the pin. After the match, Suzuki, still mad about getting his head shaved and losing his NEVER Openweight title, continued the attack on Tanahashi’s knee.
Suzuki then raised Tanahashi’s IWGP Intercontinental Championship, making the challenge for a match, so we now know what’s next for the Ace.
LIJ (Tetsuya Naito, SANADA, EVIL, BUSHI & Hiromu Takahashi) defeated Chaos (Kazuchika Okada, Hirooki Goto, YOSHI-HASHI, Gedo & Will Ospreay)
The finish was Naito hitting YOSHI-HASHI with the Destino. Post-match, LIJ continued to beat on Chaos. Takahashi got the best of Ospreay, which could hint at something later for the new IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion. SANADA took out Okada, sending a message to the IWGP Heavyweight Champion. And EVIL stood with his foot on the chest of NEVER Openweight Champion Goto.
And then in what could be the biggest shocker of the night, Chris Jericho attacked Naito, which appears to indicate he’s not done in NJPW just yet. They brawled until being separated for good, with Naito taunting Jericho. As Jericho was being taken to the back, he tried to grab everything he could (including an announce table) to throw at Naito in the ring. Naito faked like he was going to throw a chair at Jericho, but he sat on it instead to further taunt him.