Pantoja’s NJPW The New Beginning in Osaka 2025 Review

NJPW The New Beginning in Osaka

February 11^th, 2025 | EDION Arena in Osaka, Japan | Attendance: 5,502

It’s a rare New Japan PPV card with a lot of singles matches rather than undercard multi-man fluff which is typically what I want. Let’s see how it turns out.

El Desperado and Katsuya Murashima vs. Francesco Akira and Jeff Cobb

I haven’t seen much of the Young Lion Murashima. This Kickoff match was added after Akira challenged Desperado for the Jr. Heavyweight Title (which will happen at the Anniversary Show). They were the focal point here, trading stuff early and going at it with some unexpected intensity. Cobb threw anyone who faced off with him around as he typically does and Murashima brought the usual Young Lion fire that we’ve come to expect, even if he didn’t do anything to really stand out. The interesting bit came at the end where Akira scored a surprise pin on Desperado with a sunset flip in 8:20. Fully expected Murashima to take the loss. That helps build the title match and this was a perfectly fine little opener. [**½]

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Togi Makabe

This is part of Tanahashi’s “final road” and is here for nostalgia. These are two old rivals and former IWGP Heavyweight Champions. And like a lot of matches based around nostalgia, the actual in-ring stuff was something of a swing and a miss. Tana had trouble climbing to the top rope and there was a big miss on the O’Connor Roll spot. The stuff before that was fine since they were playing to the crowd, having fun, and doing what veterans know how to do. It was when they attempted the slightly bigger spots that things got messy. It sucks but it’s sometimes what happens when guys get in there past their primes. Tanahashi won with the O’Connor Roll that he struggled to get to work in 9:24. I can’t be too mad at this. Go Ace. [**]

Drilla Moloney vs. Shingo Takagi

I want stuff like this in my New Japan PPVs. Forget the multi-man tags we can get on any “Road to” shows. This is unexpected but feels important. Plus, it gives Drilla a shot to prove he can hang with a top guy like Shingo. That was the main gist of this match. Drilla never backed down and traded shots with the stronger Shingo. He’d eat a suplex and respond with one of his own before busting out something like a spinebuster and really putting Shingo on the ropes. In a lot of ways this reminded me of Shingo’s win over Kojima at Dominion 2019, which helped catapult him. I popped for Drilla hitting his own Made in Japan and of course, Shingo showed him how to do it properly, both resulting in near falls. Drilla kept coming back and managed to deliver the awesome Drilla Killa to score the upset in 10:40. Hell yeah, that’s what I’m talking about. One of the best in the world against a rising star in front of a hot crowd. My kind of shit. [****]

The Great-O-Khan vs. Shota Umino

Last time I watched Shota, he shit the bed with Zack Sabre Jr. in a Tokyo Dome main event. Of the “new Three Musketeers,” Yota is the only one who is panning out right now. Shota knew the Osaka crowd hated him so he jumped O-Khan before the bell and played the villain. That gave this more of a brawl vibe than expected with some fighting outside and O-Khan using the guardrail to wail on Shota. Whenever Shota was on offense, boos rained down. O-Khan shut him down rather handily and laid into him with forearms to the back of the head. Shota looked dead. He had one final burst of energy but O-Khan ended his hope and beat him with the Eliminator in 9:38. That was almost an extended squash and I liked it that way. Shota isn’t working in this form so this was needed. [***]

Post-match, O-Khan went to cut Shota’s hair but Shota stopped him. He then took the clippers and shaved his own head, which got a positive reaction from the audience. So it looks like they are starting over with Shota, which again, he needed.

SANADA vs. Taichi

I saw a tweet that said the rise and fall of SANADA, who now came out with light up speakers all over his jacket, needs to be studied. I get the idea but I don’t think it does. He never felt like a top guy but they always touted him as one they had to give it a shot eventually. They had him lose a million times to Okada and by the time he won, nobody cared and his reign was as bland as he is so now he’s back to the midcard where he’s more suited. Anyway, SANADA attacked during Taichi’s entrance with a plancha. Don’t love that in back to back matches but both had some personal stuff involved so I get it. They brawled outside and a guitar was used as a weapon before the bell ever rang. I think the biggest issue here was that the intensity lost steam once it officially started. They kind of just had a regular match and only a few moments here or there felt like it had anything extra behind it. SANADA tried to get Taichi DQed via phantom low blow only to take a real one. SANADA ended up hitting one of his own before winning with Deadfall in 8:35. Decent enough but it’s next to impossible to care about SANADA in 2025. [**¾]

Post-match, Taiji Ishimori and SANADA beat on Taichi and TAKA Michinoku until the returning Yuya Uemura made the save. They’re not all the way back but they’re at least back to Just 3 Guys.

IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Championship: Ichiban Sweet Boys [c] vs. Roppongi ReVice

For those unaware, Ichiban Sweet Boys are Kosei Fujita and Robbie Eagles while Roppongi ReVice is Rocky Romero and YOH. Which is telling of where YOH’s career has gone since he’s basically back where’s he started. For the most part, this was your standard Jr. Tag Title match in that there was a good amount of action and it was fast-paced but it lacked something in terms of investment and story. It was like an exhibition which is fine. I like the way Kosei and Robbie work together as their styles complement each other well. Both teams did a good job of interrupting the signature spots of the other that allowed this to have a bit of an air of unpredictability even if it was something as simple as cutting off Rocky’s Forever Clotheslines. Robbie did a tope to the outside and caught a lot of the guardrail, looking like he injured himself. In the end, Kosei put down Rocky with Abandon Hope in 11:43. That was a good match a bump up in quality from the previous two. [***¼]

After the bell, Taiji Ishimori came out and issued a challenge for the belts where he’ll be teaming with Robbie X.

NEVER Openweight Championship: Konosuke Takeshita [c] vs. Boltin Oleg

As evidenced by my Top 100 Matches of 2024 list, Konosuke Takeshita is top ten in the world right now. Their G1 match was very good (***¾) and Boltin won in an upset. This harkened back to the heyday of the NEVER Title, which Takeshita is bringing back. Just a heavyweight slugfest. Boltin throws himself into everything, including a spot where he literally ran into the ring post. It’s the kind of thing that another guy might not do with a lot of vigor but he did. That gave Takeshita a target in Boltin’s shoulder. Takeshita is just so good man. The leap he did for a simple clothesline was so impressive and it added a lot to the move. The way each guy managed to throw the other around is something you just don’t see when they’re in there against others. The crowd got way behind Boltin and came unglued for his comeback sequence. They got into a strike exchange and when Boltin didn’t go down and knocked Takeshita down, it felt like a special moment. Also, when Boltin kicked out at one on a lariat and got up from a running knee, it was awesome. Takeshita had to wear him down with a guillotine before hitting Raging Fire to retain in 11:33. God, that ruled. An awesome fight and further proof that matches don’t need to go 20+ or 30+ to be great. Takeshita is the man and Boltin with a star making performance. [****¼]

Ryohei Oiwa and his mullet came out afterward to lay down a challenge for Takeshita’s NEVER Title.

IWGP Tag Team Championship: The Young Bucks [c] vs. Hiromu Takahashi and Tetsuya Naito

The washed Bucks (I know they say they have bad matches on purpose but let’s be real) against the broken body of Naito and the insanity that is Hiromu Takahashi. This would’ve been rad in 2017 but now it’s kind of sad. That said, they’re veteran wrestlers who know how to put together a match that’s at least good. It also got boosted from not having to go 20+ minutes. They put together something relatively fun in a short stint. We got the usual bit of solid double team moves from the Bucks and I liked what Hiromu and Naito busted out. I didn’t watch World Tag League because I’m not a sadist so I haven’t seen them much as a straight up two man duo. Hiromu and the Bucks handled most of the work since Naito can barely move and has only one working eye. The Bucks missed the EVP Trigger, blocked Destino, and then hit the Trigger but Hiromu made the save. The Bucks had their finisher cut off and Naito eventually hit Matt with Destino to win the titles in 9:48. Why did the Bucks win these belts? The return to Japan has yielded a lot of nothing and they lose in their first defense because the titles mean nothing. There isn’t a single belt in any major promotion with less value/prestige than these. Good for Hiromu though. [***]

IWGP Global Heavyweight Championship: Yota Tsuji [c] vs. Gabe Kidd

This is the main reason why I wanted to watch the show. These two guys feel like the pieces to build around. Gabe is way over, walking through the crowd for part of his entrance and hyping them up. They came face to face at the bell and slapped each other before smirking. That let you know what this was going to be. Not that it wasn’t about winning but it was about these two looking to wage a war and show their fighting spirit. They were out to bring back what made New Japan so special at its highest point. Some of the chops and forearms they delivered were absolutely brutal. Seriously, one section was just them trading chops at a level that brought the crowd to its feet and even saw Yota surprised at how hard he hit Gabe. It’s nuts that Gabe has popped me twice this year on abdominal stretches. The one he did here to stop the Spear was perfectly timed. They just kept up with the vicious shots and the crowd ate it all up. The highlight of the match though was Gabe having another Gene Blaster counter ready, except this time it was into a piledriver. That’s mental. Gabe turned Yota inside out with a lariat late and went for a big knee but got caught with a Gene Blaster from out of nowhere. The crowd came unglued. Neither man could answer the 10 count, giving us a draw after 21:42. An absolutely absurd match in the best way. Two warriors who are looking like the future and present of New Japan. A war and I even loved the result. [****¾]

IWGP World Heavyweight Championship: Zack Sabre Jr. [c] vs. Hirooki Goto

The crowd chanting for Goto throughout his entrance was special. That gave this an atmosphere that is hard to match. You’ll find plenty of better matches in terms of the moves done, technical acumen, and high spots but NOTHING beats being emotionally invested in something. Zack played into the crowd being against him, bringing his brash attitude to the foray as he picked apart Goto in the early stages. The challenger got a breather when he hit Ushigiroshi and stopped Zack’s momentum. I liked Goto opting to use the turnbuckle in place of YOSHI-HASHI to deliver a variation of Shoto. After Zack hit the Zack Driver and applied one of his brutal submissions, you could feel the crowd tense up as they sensed a case of Goto falling to 0-9 in world title matches. Yet somehow, he managed to reach the ropes. That sparked the big Goto comeback and again, the crowd was so into it. He busted out Shoten like the old days to a huge ovation. Then ZSJ trapped him in the European Clutch and it looked like Goto would come up short once again. He survived that and hit GTR twice to finally win the big one after 20:07. See, that’s winning the big one. Not when he won the NEVER Title and they tried to hype it like it was the same thing. A special moment and a great match boosted by the emotional, intense crowd. [****½]

9.0

The final score: review Amazing

The 411

Oh, that’s the New Japan I used to love. This show rocked. Sure not every match hit but nothing was awful, there were four great matches, and most notably, nothing went too long. Look how good your show can be without trying to force 35 minute epics. Add in the red hot crowd and the special moment at the end and this was the best I’ve seen from New Japan in a LONG time.