If you put Shingo vs Ishii on top of a card, I will come. I’m pretty sure that’s written in scripture somewhere. What religion? I don’t know, one of the good ones? Are there any good ones? Christ, that’s a conversation for a different day. Onto the wrestling!
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After a beef-fest the night before, New Japan was dishing up a very different meal on night two of The New Beginning in Sapporo. We’ve got a bit of British in there followed by Taichi’s latest attempt to climb the ladder and reach the top of the New Japan rankings. Can he do it? Well, I guess it’s time to find out.
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After a wee break from New Japan (unless you kept up with FantasticaMania) it’s time for The New Beginning, a tour which NJPW has gone all out on this year. They’ve upgraded the final date to Osaka Jo-Hall and are delivering potentially fantastic matches at every destination. Up first was Goto vs Shingo and EVIL vs Ishii, which kind of makes it look like Gedo let me do some booking. He didn’t, but I’m certainly going to enjoy it.
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It’s the day after Wrestle Kingdom, and all through the house, everyone is stirring because New Japan had another fucking show. I didn’t go to this one because I nipped over to Osaka instead, but New Year Dash always throws a few curveballs our way and had a certain Jushin Thunder Liger’s retirement ceremony, so I was going to watch it one way or another.
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My final wrestling show of the trip was once again in the Tokyo Dome where, on a stacked card, there was only really one match I cared about. It was time for Tetsuya Naito to fulfil his Destino, and if he didn’t, well, I’d be writing someone a very strongly worded letter.
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With Tokyo Joshi finished, it was time to go to the second most important show of the day. January 4th at the Tokyo Dome is a New Japan tradition, and even if they were running two dates there this year, there was something extra special about the first. Watching Wrestle Kingdom a few years ago got me into Japanese wrestling and, well, have a look around this site if you want to know how important that was to me. So, let’s find out what New Japan gave me on my first trip to their biggest show of the year.
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We’re finally there! Seven years after we started, the World Tag League rolls into Hiroshima to finish things up. There’s no actual final, as the team with the most points will take home the victory (although it could be a three-way tie, please don’t be a three-way tie). Who will it be? Well, I’ve said FinJuice since day one, so let’s find out of I’m right.
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We’re onto our penultimate show, and honestly, there were times when I didn’t think we’d get here. I thought I was going to be stuck in a forever loop of alright tag wrestling watching matches, all bleeding into one as day after day I prayed for salvation. Then again, it might still happen.
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For the last three shows, World Tag League has gone back to being live while Gino and Double K have decided to turn up for the first time. Where were they on the cold night that was show 6,392? Anyway, nice to have them on board as we’re finally heading home.
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We’re definitely in the home stretch now. After this, there are only three shows left, and as New Japan have made the interesting decision not to have a final, we’ll know our winner on Sunday. Who is still in contention? Honestly, I don’t have a fucking club, but maybe I’ll try and work it out as we go along.
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