Csonka’s NJPW New Year’s Dash 2020 Review: Liger’s Farewell

Csonka’s NJPW New Year’s Dash 2020 Review

OFFICIAL RESULTS
– Karl Fredericks, Alex Coughlin, & Clark Connors defeated Henare, Yuya Uemura, & Yota Tsuji @ 10:45 via submission [***¼]
– Non-Title Match: Despy & Kanemaru defeated Champions Roppongi 3k, BUSHI & Hiromu, and Ishimori & Phantasmo @ 13:50 via pin [***½]
– Kota Ibushi, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Juice Robison, & David Finlay defeated Bullet Club @ 11:45 via pin [***]
– Shingo & EVIL defeated Big Tom Ishii & Hirooki Goto @ 16:40 via pin [****¼]
– Kazuchika Okada, Will Ospreay, Robbie Eagles, & YOSHI-HASHI defeated Minoru Suzuki, Lance Archer, Zack Sabre Jr, & Taichi @ 15:40 via DQ [***½]
– Tetsuya Naito & SANADA defeated KENTA & Jay White @ 14:05 via pin [***]

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Jushin Liger Retirement Ceremony: Liger is out in his gear as the babyface roster comes out to stand in the ring with him and take photos. He’s presented flowers and handshakes are shared. CHAOS now arrives for more flowers and handshakes, as well as the photo op. Big Kaz also takes a selfie. NJPW officials are next with the flowers and handshakes. LIGER’S WIFE AND SON arrives. I’m done now, fuck you guys. Tanahashi’s crying now. On the big screen, INOKI sends a special message to Liger. Liger takes the mic and says he remembers his debut at Tokyo Dome and yesterday had his last match there. He’s grateful to be able to retire after 31-years and thanks the fans. The wrestler Liger is finished, but NJPW will continue on to thrive and grow. His other was there last night and is here tonight and he thanks her. To his wife and son, I’ve made you lonely, but now I’m coming home. Thank you all. They do a 10-bell salute to end his career, and the BEST music plays one last time as the babyfaces toss Liger in the air and they share hugs. Tanahashi tells the crowd to sing along one last time. I’M NOT CRYING, YOU’RE CRYING! I’m so glad there was no angle and that this was jus a pure, wholesome moment.

Henare, Yuya Uemura, & Yota Tsuji vs. Karl Fredericks, Alex Coughlin, & Clark Connors: Yuya and Connors begin, they grapple and end in a standoff. Yuya then grounds him, but Connors makes the ropes. Yuya works the arm, but Connors grounds things and attacks the knee. He transitions to a bow and arrow but Yuya escapes. Yota and Coughlin tag in, locking up and then trading strikes and chops. Coughlin follows with a gut wrench suplex and covers for 2. he follows with uppercuts, Connors in and double teams follow. Karl tags in and more double teams follow for 2. Karl lights him up with chops and knee strikes, Coughlin delivers chops and Yota fires back and hits a slam. Henare tags in, he runs wild on the LA Dojo lads and follows with a huge spin kick. The Samoan drop follows for 2. Karl in and the LA Lions attack and Connors hits the spear for 2. Henare fires back, hits a suplex and tags in Yuya. He battles with Karl, they trade and Yuya hits dropkicks. The overhead suplex follows for 2. It breaks down, and Yuya locks on the crab on Karl. He sits back deep on it until the rest rush in and Henare’s team clears things out. Dropkick by Karl, but Yuya cradles shim for 2. Spinebuster by Karl and the elbow drop connects. The half crab follows and Yuya has to tap. Karl Fredericks, Alex Coughlin, & Clark Connors defeated Henare, Yuya Uemura, & Yota Tsuji @ 10:45 via submission [***¼] This was a good opener with a great intensity. I was surprised that Henare didn’t pick up a win here.

Champions Roppongi 3k vs. BUSHI & Hiromu vs. Despy & Kanemaru vs. Ishimori & Phantasmo: Ishimori and Phantasmo attack right away and isolate the champions. 3K battles back and dumps them. Despy & Kanemaru trip them up and we gat a brawl on the floor as LIJ work over Phantasmo and then Yoh, covering for 2. Hiromu follows with chops, but Sho joins in and they cut off Hiromu. Yoh follows with a slam, Ishimori tags in and the seated senton follows. He slams Hiromu to the buckles and Phantasmo tags in and takes control. He mocks Liger and teases a Romero special. He puts Hiromu in the tree of WHOA, dropkicks follow and they then stomp on Hiromu’s nuts. Kanemaru tags in and the fight spills to the floor as Suzuki-gun takes control. Back in and Kanemaru & Despy double team Hiromu until Phantasmo hits back rakes and the heels all stomp away at Hiromu. Kanemaru then grounds him, Despy tags in and he maintains control with the camel clutch. Kanemaru back in and Yoh tags himself in, dumps Kanemaru and Hiromu fires back and the popup powerbomb follows. Phantasmo cuts off the tag and Ishimori works over BUSHI until BUSHI cuts him off with the missile dropkick. Hew runs Suzuki-gun together, hits the double RANA and hits a suicide dive. Despy cuts him off, and trades with Ishimori. Ishimori hits the back handspring kick, Sho cuts off the tag and tags himself in. He runs wild on Despy, Kanemaru in and gets dumped as 3K isolates Despy. Double teams follow and the double knees level him. 3K is cut off as BUSHI & Kanemaru join in, Bullet Club follows with the code breaker/moonsault combo on Hiromu, Yoh makes the save and follows with the tope. Sho and Despy trade, lariat by Sho and project Ciampa follows for 2. Shock arrow is countered head butt and right by Despy connects but BUSHI makes the save and mists Sho. Despy then cradles Sho for the win. Despy & Kanemaru defeated Champions Roppongi 3k, BUSHI & Hiromu, and Ishimori & Phantasmo @ 13:50 via pin [***½] This was really good and fun, while also setting up 3K’s first title challengers.

Tanga Loa, Tama Tonga, Chase Owens, & Bad Luck Fale vs. Kota Ibushi, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Juice Robison, & David Finlay: Jado is at ringside. Chase and Ibushi to begin. Chase wants Ibushi to too sweet him and lay down and join Bullet Club. Ibushi refuses so Chase attacks, but Ibushi cuts him off with a dropkick. Tanahashi tags in and follows with strikes on Chase, hits the high cross and takes out Tama. Chase attacks, misses a charge but Fale attacks as Bullet Club takes control. The fight spills to the floor, Jado kendo shots Tanahashi and the Guerrillas attack and work over the new champions as they brawl deep into the crowd. Back in and Chase covers Tanahashi for 2. Fale in and Tanahashi fires back, tries to slam the big man and fails. Fale follows with body shots, Tama tags in and hits a dropkick for 2. Loa in with the senton atomico, mocks Tanahashi and follows with strikes. Tanahashi fights off the suplex, hits twist and shout and tags in Juice. He runs wild with strikes, clotheslines and the cannonball. He follows with jabs, and the left handoff God. Tama makes the save with the Tongan twist. It breaks down, Chase dumps Finlay & Ibushi, Loa & Tama work over the champions in the corners but Juice and Finlay battle back with belly to back suplexes until Fale mows them down. Chase in and Juice cuts him of, tag to Ibushi and he delivers kicks until Fale attacks. Ibushi cuts them off with the double PELE, delivers a flurry to Chase and Jado hits him with the kendo; Jewel heist by Chase gets 2. Knee strike by Chase and that gets 2. The package piledriver is fought off by Ibushi, follows with a knee strike and Tanahashi joins in for double teams. Kamigoye finishes it. Kota Ibushi, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Juice Robison, & David Finlay defeated Bullet Club @ 11:45 via pin [***] This was good, Kota picked up a rebound win and they didn’t have GOD win to get an immediate title rematch, and set up a pretty great looking title match instead.

– Post match, Kota & Tana (team Golden Aces?) challenge Fin-Juice for a tag title match. Sign me up.

Shingo & EVIL vs. Big Tom Ishii & Hirooki Goto: Ishii and EVIL begin, locking up and Ishii mauls him with a lariat for 2. EVIL fights off the brainbuster, and hits darkness falls for 2. Ishii hits a head butt and they work into a double down. Shingo and Goto tag in, they immediately trade and Goto hits a clothesline, Shingo fires back with one of his own and Goto counters back into a suplex for 2. Goto grounds the action, follows with strikes, and locks on a cravat and follows with kicks. Shingo fires back with chops, the jab and huge lariat! EVIL works over Ishii with chair shots on the floor, Shingo posts Goto and then chokes him out. EVIL delivers chops to Ishii, and back in, Shingo stomps away on Goto. EVIL in and lays the boots to Goto. The back elbow and broncobuster connects for 2. Shingo back in and drops Goto with the double sledge, and the suplex follows for 2. He follows with kicks, slaps and Goto cuts him off with a lariat. EVIL back in, lariat by Goto and Ishii tags in with corner clotheslines, strikes, chops and pummels EVIL in the corner. He follows with a shoulder tackle, EVIL fights back and hits the superkick. The fisherman’s buster gets 2. The lariat is countered, but hits it on the rebound. Shingo takes out Goto and the scorpion deathlock by EVIL follows on Ishii. Ishii fights, Goto makes the save and Shingo attacks. Sleeper by Goto, but Shino escapes and LIJ double teams Ishii as darkness falls gets 2. Everything is evil is countered and Ishii hits an enziguri. Tag to Goto and Shino also tags in as they trade clotheslines, work into counters, sliding lariat by Shingo and that gets 2. Shingo fires up, Goto hits the spin kick, Saito and covers for 2. It breaks down, Shingo tries to fight of both men, but runs into ushigoroshi and the sliding lariat. The assisted GTR kills Shingo for 2 as EVIL makes the save. It breaks down into a lariat buffet and everyone is down! Goto and Shingo trade, light each other up and trade head butts! Fuck this is great. Shingo counters into a draping GTR and last of the dragon finishes it! Shingo & EVIL defeated Big Tom Ishii & Hirooki Goto @ 16:40 via pin [****¼] This was an absolutely great hoss battle that never slowed and sets up Shingo to challenge Goto. The work was just so good here, the action had an awesome sense of urgency, and showed that when NJPW wants to, they can do quality tag team wrestling. It played perfectly off of the past singles battles these four had, and revisiting Shingo and Goto makes complete sense. I am all onboard Shingo getting a singles push. Plus it looks like we’re getting an EVIL vs. Ishii revisit as well. On a side note, while not perfect as they are also really valuable as singles performers, these two teams in the tag title mix would be rather great.

– Shingo challenges Goto post match for a NEVER title shot.

Kazuchika Okada, Will Ospreay, Robbie Eagles, & YOSHI-HASHI vs. Minoru Suzuki, Lance Archer, Zack Sabre Jr, & Taichi: Will and Sabre begin, working into counters and Will grounds the action. Sabre escapes into a cravat, Will out and hits a RANA. Robbie in and double teams follow. He follows with kicks, lighting up Sabre, and delivers chops. Suzuki attacks and the heels take control as Will & Zack as a well as Okada & Taichi pair off. Suzuki starts attacking Robbie with chairs and barricades, Taichi posts Okada and back in, Suzuki & Sabre double team Robbie. Suzuki starts grounding him and working submissions, until Robbie makes the ropes. Taichi in and drags Robbie to the floor. Suzuki then starts torturing him arm on the post, and back in, Lance allow Robbie to hit him, and then drops him with one shot. Robbie fights back with kicks, but Lance hits the pounce. He follows with a slam, tags in Sabre and he delivers uppercuts. Suzuki & Sabre now start working double team submissions on Robbie, Robbie tries to fire back, does, Suzuki laughs at him and drops him with strikes, torturing this poor bastard. Suzuki grounds him, attacking the legs. Suzuki drags him center ring and transitions to a knee bar. Robbie finally makes the ropes. He follows with a spin kick and tags in HASHI. He follows with strikes on Lance, clotheslines and takes out the knee and follows with the running blockbuster. RANA to Taichi and clotheslines to Lance, but lance cuts him off with a lariat. Taichi tags in and they trade strikes, spin kick by HASHI and Okada tags in. He works over Taichi, hits the running elbow and corner elbow but Taichi cuts off the DDT with the backdrop driver. The head kick follows for 2. THE TROUSERS ARE OFF! Robbie flies in with a missile dropkick, it breaks down, Okada dropkicks Lance and Taichi hits Okada with the iron fingers for the DQ. Kazuchika Okada, Will Ospreay, Robbie Eagles, & YOSHI-HASHI defeated Minoru Suzuki, Lance Archer, Zack Sabre Jr, & Taichi @ 15:40 via DQ [***½] This was very good, a lot of fun and also set up Okada vs. Taichi and Zack vs. Will moving forward, and the post match continued Suzuki vs. Moxley.

Post match, Taichi looks for the last ride but JON MOXLEY arrives and comes face to face with Suzuki! They talk shit and brawl. Moxley laughs at Suzuki, slaps him and they continue to trade, death rider by Moxley as he gets revenge and leaves Suzuki laying. Such a simple and pure pro wrestling build.

KENTA & Jay White vs. Tetsuya Naito & SANADA: Gedo is at ringside. HUGE heat on KENTA tonight. Naito attacks KENTA and thy spill to the floor as SANADA dropkicks Jay. Gedo trips him up and Jay stuns him of the ropes. Naito chases Jay away and KENTA attacks and DDT’s Naito on the floor. What a fantastic asshole. Jay now isolates SANADA, as KENTA is in and follows with kicks. He grounds SANADA, takes out Naito and whips him to the barricade. Back in and double teams follow on SANADA. Jay lays the boots to SANADA, and then grounds things, covering for 2. KENTA in and he follows with strikes. He dumps Naito again, delivers uppercuts on SANADA but SANADA counters back with the missile dropkick. Naito tags in and works over KENTA with strikes, neck breaker and sliding dropkick. He takes out Jay and spits at KENTA and follows with a pair of neck breakers. KENTA fires up and they trade strikes, enziguri by Naito and KENTA follows with leg kicks and a DDT. Jay tags in and he starts attacking the knee he worked over on the 4th. Naito counters back, hits a RANA and tags in SANADA. he runs wild on Jay, takes out KENTA and follows with planchas for all. Back in and Jay fights of the paradise lock, Jay uses the ref as a shield and hits a snap Saito. He takes out Naito and hits blade buster on SANADA for 2. SANADA fires back, jay slams him down and Naito makes the save. KENTA attacks, it breaks down, SANADA takes out Gedo and skull end follows on Jay. He swings him and the moonsault misses, he lands on his feet but Jay hits a sleeper suplex. Blade runner is countered and SANADA cradles Jay for the win. Tetsuya Naito & SANADA defeated KENTA & Jay White @ 14:05 via pin [***] This was good and continued the path moving forward for al four men.

– Post match, Jay low blows and beats down SANADA as KENTA pummels Naito. They get chairs and continue the attack on LIJ. Jay takes the mic and the crowd hates these guys very much. Jay says a new opportunity has come, he will bring SANADA back to reality. KENTA mocks Naito and asks the fans if they enjoyed last nigh at the dome, because he had fun. He won’t go home, despite the chants and keeps stepping on Naito as he talks. He will take these belts from Naito and poses with them.

The 411 on Wrestling Podcast returns to the 411 Podcasting Network for episode 80. On the show, 411’s Larry Csonka Backbodydrop.com’s Ian Hamilton review the two-day NJPW WrestleKingdom 14 extravaganza and then discuss NXT UK problems, & preview Takeover: Blackpool 2020. The show is approximately 210–minutes long.

* Intro
* Attendance/Two Night Move Thoughts: 2:25
* NJPW WrestleKingdom 14 (Day One) Review: 7:40
* NJPW WrestleKingdom 14 (Day Two) Review: 1:12:05
* New Year’s Dash Predictions/Thoughts: 2:31:35
* Discussing NXT UK Problems/Takeover: Blackpool 2020 Preview: 2:35:04

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– Thanks for reading.

– End scene.

8.0

The final score: review Very Good

The 411

NJPW New Year's Dash 2020 was a really great show, it was good in the ring all night and set up Roppongi 3k vs. Suzuki-gun, Fin-Juice vs. the Golden Aces, Shingo vs. Goto, EVIL vs. Ishii. Taichi vs. Okada, Will vs. Zack, SANADA vs. jay, and continued Moxley vs. Suzuki as well as KENTA vs. Naito; a quality night of work from NJPW as Dash did it’s job to set things in motion.