NJPW The New Beginning 2013 Preview

Will "Machine Gun" have enough ammo to take down the Ace of the Universe?

Check after the jump for my predictions for tomorrow's show:

 

 

Yuji Nagata & Manabu Nakanishi & Tama Tonga & Jushin Liger & Tiger Mask vs.
Takashi Iizuka & Toru Yano & Tomohiro Ishii & Yoshi-Hashi & Jado

This is a traditional NJPW multi man match thrown in as a warm up for the audience with each athlete hitting their major spots.  With Nagata at the helm, a lot of the action should be solid, but it wont be a cant miss matchup.

Winners: Team Nagata

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship match: Time Splitters(c) (Alex Shelley & Kushida) vs. Forever Hooligans (Rocky Romero & Alex Koslov)

I'm always happy to see Shelley and Kushida back on the card and Forever Hooligans have grown into one of the more sought after duos in the world right now.  Their looming ROH appearance is already one of the year's most buzz worthy and rightfully so.  Everytime these guys mix it up, it's always fresh and exciting.  Romero is becoming one of the best douchebag heels in the biz right now and he has been the perennial show stealer in most of their matches.  Look for this one to be a hell of a lot of fun.

 

Winners and STILL IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions: Time Splitters

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship match: Prince Devitt(c) vs. Ryusuke Taguchi

The two former Apollo 55 teammates square off in what should be one of the top two or three contenders for the best match of the night.  Devitt has been the most reliable Junior performer the company has had for a long while now and I don't see him dropping that title anytime soon.  No matter though, if you can count on anything tomorrow, you can bet on these two tearing it up.

 

Winner and STILL IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion: Prince Devitt

 

IWGP Tag Team Championship match: Killer Elite Squad(c) (Davey Boy Smith Jr. & Lance Archer) vs. Ten-Koji (Satoshi Kojima & Hiroyoshi Tenzan)

These two teams are in the midst of an increasingly good rivalry that was highlighted by their match at Power Struggle back in November.  The Killer Elite Squad are getting better and better with each match and I have high hopes that this will be their best outing since winning the belts from the legendary team of Kojima & Tenzan four months ago.

Winners and STILL IWGP Tag Team Champions: Killer Elite Squad

Togi Makabe vs. Yujiro Takahashi

In the famous words of Jim Ross, this one's going to bee a good ol' fashioned Slobberknocker!  Togi Makabe always brings the intensity and he usually boasts some of the loudest crowd reactions of the night.  Should make this brawl all the better.

Winner: Togi Makabe

 

 

Laughter7 (Kazushi Sakuraba & Katsuyori Shibata) vs. Hirooki Goto & Wataru Inoue

Pride legend Kazushi Sakuraba is fresh off his show stealing performance against NJPW megastar Shinsuke Nakamura last month and even in defeat, he has shown just how dangerous he can be inside a wrestling ring.  Both he and his Laughter7 partner Shibata have positioned themselves as "MMA invaders" who come in to each show as extremely disliked outsiders.  It's an element that adds an incredible amount of tension and realism to their matches and will no doubt do the same here.  Wataru Inoue has been a bit of a punching bag for both men and has now enlisted the help of top star Hirooki Goto in taking the shoot fighters down.  This one is going to be brutal in execution, but more than likely painfully beautiful to watch. 

Winners: Laughter7

CHAOS vs. Suzukigun Part One: IWGP Intercontinental Champion Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Kengo Mashimo

I hate to keep heaping praise Shinsuke Nakamura, but the guy really is an event all unto himself.  If you are not very familiar with NJPW and want a good introduction to what makes the company so hot right now, you can start with nearly any Nakamura match over the past year.  The guy is the fucking truth.  This match is the first of two contests that will see dueling heel factions CHAOS (represented by Nakamura and Kazuchika Okada) and Suzukigun (represented by Mashimo and Minoru Suzuki).  When interviewed by Japanese media, Suzuki claimed the feud as a gang style "turf war" that will see his stable rip CHAOS apart bit by bit.  Kengo Mashimo is a new recruit to the Suzuki Army and he is in nearly every way in over his head against a guy like Nakamura.  I wouldn't rule out an upset though after a few shenanigans (maybe an interference from Taka Michinoku) launching Mashimo as a major player, but I've got to go with my boy Shinskay here.

Winner: Shinsuke Nakamura

 

CHAOS vs. Suzukigun Part Two: Kazuchika Okada vs. Minoru Suzuki

Hell fucking yes!!!!  There are very few matches I have been truly clamoring for as much as this one.  If you've been following the blog for a while, then you know I believe that Okada is truly one of the top five best wrestlers in the world today and he is easily, New Japan's breakout star.  He has turned in one triumphant performance after another and look for that to be no different here.  Suzuki is for my money, the best heel in the company and he'll be looking to throw some water on Okada's fire and with all Suzuki's trash talk, a victory over the Rainmaker would hurt CHAOS' morale tremendously.  This will easily be one of the most exciting and hard to predict matches of the night.  The edge of your seat thrills will come one after another until finally, we have our winner.

Winner: I'm going with Okada....by a hair....

IWGP Heavyweight Championship match: Hiroshi Tanahashi(c) vs. Karl Anderson

This is a rare pro wrestling title match where both champion and challenger haven't really been butting heads in interviews and really do seem to have an immense amount of pride and respect towards eachother.  Whether or not that will all fizzle out once the bell rings remains to be seen, but these two are a safe bet for the best match of the night.  You could always call any Tanahashi main event a safe bet, but Anderson deserves some credit as well.  The well known tag team wrestler has had a hell of a singles run in 2012 putting on a pair of fantastic performances against Kazuchika Okada and has even earned a victory over Tanahashi himself in the G1 Climax last year before dropping out in the finals.  Anderson has made it well known that it is his dream to one day hold the IWGP Heavyweight title and even though most view him as a huge underdog here, I think he has all the tools necessary to become king of the mountain.  If there was ever a time to capitalize on that potential, it's right now.  He has already proven that he can beat the very best in-ring performer in the world today, but this time, Tanahashi is prepared.  He will not underestimate Anderson again.  And a focused Tanahashi, is nearly unbeatable.  This should be an excellent main event.  I'm personally pulling for Anderson, but my gut tells me there is only one outcome....

Winner and STILL IWGP Heavyweight Champion: Hiroshi Tanahashi

  

The Verdict

Since Japan started doing iPPVs back in October, I've only written up full reviews for two out of the three here for the site.  Both of those shows got a perfect score.  You want to know why?  Because New Japan Pro Wrestling is the best wrestling promotion in the world right now.  No other wrestling company puts out a product with a better combination of spectacle, variety and overall quality.  Nuff said.

Verdict: BUY