NJPW Road to the New Beginning live results: Number one contender’s tag match
New Japan Pro Wrestling presents two back-to-back shows at Korakuen Hall on Monday and Tuesday this week.
Monday’s show will be headlined by a number one contenders match for the IWGP World Tag Team titles, currently held by Yuto-Ice & OSKAR, the Knockouts Brothers. Tomohiro Ishii & Taichi will face Shota Umino & Yuya Uemura, with the winners earning a shot at the titles at The New Beginning in Osaka on February 11.
The NEVER Openweight Six Man Tag Team titles will also be on the line Monday in Korakuen Hall, as Boltin Oleg, Hirooki Goto, and YOSHI-HASHI challenge TMDK’s Hartley Jackson, Ryohei Oiwa, and Zack Sabre Jr.
Also scheduled for Monday are Robbie Eagles vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Kosei Fujita vs. SHO, and two first-round matches in the Young Lions Cup.
In multi-person tag matches, Aaron Wolf, El Desperado, Toru Yano, and YOH will team up to take on House of Torture, while the new Unbound Co. faction will face The United Empire.
Our live coverage begins at 4:30 a.m. Eastern Time.
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Main Card
Masatora Yasuda defeated Tatsuya Matsumoto
These Young Lions wrestled to a standstill. Yasuda gained momentum for most of the match by targeting his opponent’s legs. Matsumoto fired back with a shotgun dropkick. Yasuda got the better of a chop exchange. Matsumoto weaponized the earlier damage incurred to Yasuda’s legs to quell most comeback attempts. However, Yasuda surprised the crowd with a standing Moonsault. He finished off Matsumoto with a Boston Crab.
Post-match: Yasuda and Shoma Kato butted heads as the ring announcer declared the former would battle the latter on the January 20 Road to the New Beginning show.
(Yasuda is definitely one of my picks to become a Young Lion Cup finalist this year. He and Katsuya Murashima.)
Daiki Nagai defeated Zane Jay via disqualification
Jay kept Nagai grounded with his legs, most notably with a Lou Thesz Press. A spirited Nagai retaliated with forearms and a Flying Crossbody. Nagai would control an extended portion of the match until Jay pulled out an elevated dropkick. Nagai shocked Jay with a Spinebuster + Boston Crab combo. United Empire’s Callum Newman distracted Nagai and Referee Red Shoes Unno before incapacitating both. He lent Jay a steel chair, which he struck against Nagai and rained down punches, ending the match.
Post-match: Newman collected him so they could flee from a rampaging Unbound Co.
(That was certainly a development. I’m guessing Zane Jay is with United Empire now. If so, good for him; he’s moving up pretty quickly.)
Aaron Wolf, El Desperado, Master Wato, Toru Yano & YOH defeated House Of Torture (Dick Togo, DOUKI, EVIL, Ren Narita & Yujiro Takahashi)
DOUKI stole the upper hand after a kick assist from Togo with a kick of his own. YOH and Yano bickered about who could follow up before both halted EVIL and Takahashi’s advances. DOUKI took Desperado to the abyss of the crowd outside as EVIL and Togo tormented YOH back in the ring. YOH swung a comeback with a dropkick to EVIL and Takahashi.
Wolf tagged in, levelling the House of Torture to a pile of rubble with elbow strikes flying everywhere. Togo tripped Wolf up to end his momentum. Narita focused his efforts on Wolf’s knee, leading to a desperate tag-in for Wato. Togo got in the face of his argumentative referee, nearly succumbing to Wato’s pin attempts. The pair traded pin attempts, the last of which Wato countered with a Vendeval to earn his team the victory.
(NJPW’s method of saving up Wolf’s follow-up to Wrestle Kingdom 20 puzzled me at first, but I’m now seeing the vision. Once he lets loose at New Beginning, his upside will become all the more apparent.)
United Empire (Callum Newman, Francesco Akira, Great-O-Khan, Jake Lee & Jakob Austin Young) defeated Unbound Co. (Gedo, Hiromu Takahashi, Shingo Takagi, Taiji Ishimori & Yota Tsuji)
Chaos erupted after the bell, bodies were thrown asunder in the depths of Korakuen Hall. In the ring, Takagi bore down on Khan, trading Mongolian chops and bites. Lee evened the odds with a Giant Killer Knee. Tsuji avenged Takagi with some knees to Lee. Two backbreakers by Tsuji to Young and Newman prevented additional United Empire coups from happening. Lee wrecked Tsuji at last with a DDT. Akira baited Takahashi during a chop exchange with a knee. Takahashi pinballed Young into Akira with an Ishimori assist. Gedo poked Akira’s eyes but ate a knee from Newman for his efforts. A modified Fireball from Akira put Gedo down for the 3-count as the rest of Unbound Co. recuperated outside.
Post-match: Tsuji offered Lee to say something ahead of their New Beginning match. The only response he gave the champ was a choke-out. Some Westerners in the otherwise Japanese audience booed Lee as he propped Tsuji’s belt across his face and propped him up like a body at the morgue.
(Hopefully, this angle with Lee doesn’t last long, and Tsuji’s reign can really take form. Definitely shouldn’t have gotten a main event title picture push this early from his return. Akira was in fantastic form.)
SHO took advantage of a seemingly unprepared Fujita. However, Tujita surprised him with a reactive response before snatching SHO’s steel chair. Outside, Fujita hurled SHO into the barricade. SHO returned the favor, doing much of the same, and assaulted a nearby Young Lion for extra measure. Fujita’s still-sore shoulder from 2025 suffered a chairshot and elbow courtesy of SHO.
SHO defeated Kosei Fujita via disqualification
The referee caught SHO sneaking in a wrench and seized it for contraband, opening him up for a low blow to Fujita. SHO suffered a few strikes from his own sheet by an enraged Fujita, despite the referee’s pleas. Fujita was then disqualified from the match.
(This never left third gear despite both competitors being good. The screwy finish didn’t help things, that’s for sure.)
Yoshinobu Kanemaru defeated Robbie Eagles
Early on, Eagles gained control with his agility. Kanemaru, however, trounced him with underhanded tactics. Kanemaru countered a DDT with a Reverse-DDT. A Whiskey Mist and a Flying Headscissors later, and Kanemaru was the victor.
(A breezy match built upon playing dirty enough to win things quickly. About as quickly as a Kanemaru singles match should be this late into the card.)
Bishamon (Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI) & Oleg Boltin defeated TMDK (Hartley Jackson, Ryohei Oiwa & Zack Sabre Jr.) (c) for the NEVER Openweight Six Man Tag Team Championship – Title Change
Sabre began the title affair against Goto. Goto’s revolution came with YOSHI-HASHI as the pair laid challengers Oiwa and Sabre flat. YOSHI-HASHI couldn’t keep up the momentum, due to Oiwa’s strong control over his shoulder. Jackson made things worse with an elbow drop. Sabre kept a firm grip on YOSHI-HASHI’s right arm, maneuvering it however best he could to enforce dominance. Jackson and Oiwa threw their whole weight on YOSHI-HASHI’s weak arm, leading Goto to make a spirited save.
Jackson, alongside the fans in Korakuen, was astonished as Boltin picked up the gargantuan Aussie for a Boltin Shake. Sabre wisely targeted Boltin’s weak shoulder, and Oiwa’s mighty offense lent much to this siege. Boltin escaped Sabre’s Guillotine Choke with a vertical suplex. Nearly fading, Boltin thwarted a Triangle Choke with a miraculous powerbomb. Goto clashed with Oiwa, downing him with a GTR and a lariat. Jackson and Oiwa equalized Boltin and YOSHI-HASHI, respectively, setting Oiwa up for a splash. Boltin won a war of the Belly-to-Belly Suplex against the large Jackson. Oiwa crushed Goto with The Grip and a Doctor Bomb. Bishamon obliterated Oiwa with a Violent Flash. Goto finished him off with a GTR.
(A strong match. Everyone gave it their all, delivering a match that felt it belonged on New Beginning itself.)
Main Event
Yuya Uemura & Shota Umino defeated Taichi & Tomohiro Ishii for the IWGP Tag Team Championship Contendership
Uemura used Ishii’s speed against him with a flying crossbody. Umino repeatedly ran into Taichi’s boot before shoulder tackling him to the mat. He then battered Taichi in the corner with forearms. Taichi and Ishii flung their opponents into the blue guardrails. Ishii mockingly tapped Umino’s head with his shoes before unleashing a chop to the chest.
Uemura stepped over Taichi to elbow Ishii outside, where he’d hurl the Stone Pitbull into the barricade. Taichi accumulated some steam, but Uemura reeled him in for an Arm Drag, followed by a Hammerlock. Umino destroyed Taichi with a Superplex from the top rope. Taichi fought out of a Dragon Suplex + lariat from his opponents. Uemura narrowly escaped a 3-count following Taichi’s Dangerous Backdrop. Ishii rocked Umino with a loud and thunderous stiff elbow. Unfortunately for the Roughneck, the Stone Pitbull sent him to the mat with an explosive Superplex. Uemura employed a Butterfly Suplex to wear down Ishii. Taichi missed some Axe Bombers but laid Uemura down; an exhausted Umino collapsed after flattening Taichi with a dropkick.
Umino leveraged Ishii’s Vertical Drop Brainbuster into a DDT. Taichi saved his partner following Umino’s cacophonous Powerbomb to Ishii. Taichi kicked Umino’s chest ragged as Ishii unleashed a nasty piledriver. Taichi watched helplessly in the arms of Uemura when Umino secured a pinfall over Ishii by way of his patented Second Chapter.
Post-match: Uemura and Umino thanked Taichi, who shared the love with a handshake. Umino shifted his attention to the Knockout Brothers, beckoning them to the ring. The IWGP Tag Team Champions joined them in the ring, with Yuto-Ice accepting them as challengers. He ended the exchange with his signature catchphrase, “Let’s get high!” Uemura confronted Umino about their shared frustrations of 2025 in singles and tag team action. He urged his partner to keep that same frustration going into the match. They agreed to “fight together” and bring their best to New Beginning. Umino shared his feelings about how he’s gotten to where he is now, emotionally and nearly tearfully. Korakuen Hall ate it all up.
(Beloved as Taichi and Ishii may be to fans, this was absolutely the right call. Yes, they’re familiar faces, but there’s no need to pass the torch to this generation; that’s been done to death already. It’s do or die for Knockout Brothers and Uemura/Umino. The “now” has to put in the work to stand the test of time and show the world what the future will hold if they have a say in it. The future is now.)
Final Thoughts
A tiny nitpick here, but the Six Man Tag title change should’ve main evented the show. However, I can easily let it slide, given the quality of Ishii/Taichi versus Umino/Uemura, and what it means in this hot start of 2026. I’m also pleased to see how well the company is preserving Aaron Wolf rather than running him into the ground. Given that the company is doing its best to give a lukewarm Jake Lee some edge with this push, it’s a good thing for fans like me that they have supplemental things to sink our teeth into. A part of me wonders who will come out to challenge Yota Tsuji after New Beginning’s main event: a talent with steam behind them, or someone who would be a welcome surprise? I feel it has to be one or the other, not some other placeholder the bookers have resorted to in the past.
Corey Michaels covers the play-by-play action of events hosted by New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). Referenced by content creators and Wikipedia articles, he adds his prosaic voice with authority to the F4W/WON audience.
A content writer and wrestling fan, Corey has woven the stories of our great sport into literature. He cuts to the emotional core of characters, rivalries, and angles.