The New Beginning in Sapporo (2018) was a professional wrestling event promoted by New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). The event took place on January 27 and 28, 2018, in Sapporo, Hokkaido, at the Hokkaido Prefectural Sports Center. The first night of the event featured nine matches, two of which were contested for championships, while the second night featured two championship matches out of nine matches overall.
| The New Beginning in Sapporo (2018) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Promotion | New Japan Pro-Wrestling | ||
| Date | January 27-28, 2018[1] | ||
| City | Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan[1] | ||
| Venue | Hokkaido Prefectural Sports Center[1] | ||
| Attendance | Night 1: 4,862[2] Night 2: 5,140[3] | ||
| Event chronology | |||
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| The New Beginning chronology | |||
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In the main event of the first night, Minoru Suzuki defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi to become the new IWGP Intercontinental Champion,[1] and on the second night Jay White defeated Kenny Omega to become the new IWGP United States Heavyweight Champion.[1] This was the thirteenth event under the New Beginning name and the second to take place in Sapporo.
Production
edit| Role: | Name: |
|---|---|
| Commentators | Don Callis (English-language announcer) |
| Kevin Kelly (English-language announcer) | |
| Ring announcers | Makoto Abe |
| Referees | Kenta Sato |
| Marty Asami | |
| Red Shoes Unno | |
| Tiger Hattori |
Background
editIn recent years, NJPW has held the opening day of the G1 Climax tournament in Sapporo. With The New Beginning in Sapporo, the promotion revived an old tradition of holding a show during the annual Sapporo Snow Festival, resulting in the show being promoted under the subtitle Fukkatsu! Yuki no Sapporo Kessen (復活！雪の札幌決戦, "Revival! Sapporo Showdown in Snow").[4] The event aired worldwide on NJPW's internet streaming site, NJPW World, with English commentary provided by Kevin Kelly and Don Callis, the latter of whom replaced Kelly's previous broadcast partner Steve Corino.[5]
Storylines
editThe New Beginning in Sapporo featured nine professional wrestling matches for each night, which involved different wrestlers from pre-existing scripted feuds and storylines. Wrestlers portrayed villains, heroes, or less distinguishable characters in the scripted events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches.[6]
At New Year’s Dash Kenny Omega tried to bring “Switchblade” Jay White into the Bullet Club. White seemingly accepted the offer but rejected it hitting Omega with “Blade Runner”. The next day White joined Chaos and a match between the two was made with the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship on the line.
Results
editNight 1
editNight 2
edit| No. | Results[1] | Stipulations | Times | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Juice Robinson defeated Katsuya Kitamura | Singles match | 9:16 | ||
| 2 | Suzuki-gun (El Desperado, Taichi, Taka Michinoku, and Yoshinobu Kanemaru) defeated Jyushin Thunder Liger, Ryusuke Taguchi, Shota Umino, and Tiger Mask IV | Eight-man tag team match | 8:32 | ||
| 3 | Chaos (Tomohiro Ishii and Toru Yano) defeated Bullet Club (HIKULEO and Yujiro Takahashi) | Tag team match | 6:16 | ||
| 4 | Bullet Club (Bad Luck Fale, Chase Owens, Tama Tonga, and Tanga Loa) defeated Tomoyuki Oka, Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Manabu Nakanishi, and Togi Makabe | Eight-man tag team match | 9:04 | ||
| 5 | Suzuki-gun (Minoru Suzuki and Takashi Iizuka) defeated Toa Henare and Michael Elgin | Tag team match | 8:18 | ||
| 6 | Bullet Club (Cody, Hangman Page, and Marty Scurll) defeated David Finlay, Kota Ibushi, and Kushida | Six-man tag team match | 10:30 | ||
| 7 | Los Ingobernables de Japón (Bushi, Evil, Hiromu Takahashi, Sanada and Tetsuya Naito) defeated Chaos (Gedo, Hirooki Goto, Kazuchika Okada, Will Ospreay, and Yoshi-Hashi) | Ten-man tag team match | 12:19 | ||
| 8 | Roppongi 3K (Sho and Yoh) defeated The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson) (c) | Tag team match for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship | 22:34 | ||
| 9 | Jay White defeated Kenny Omega (c) | Singles match for the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship | 29:54 | ||
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References
edit- ^ a b c d e f g KAIN, Reverend (January 9, 2018). "New Japan Pro Wrestling announce full cards for Fantastica Mania 2018, New Beginning". Cageside Seats. Retrieved January 12, 2018.
- ^ Kreikenbohm, Philip (January 27, 2018). "NJPW The New Beginning In Sapporo 2018 - Tag 1". Cagematch.net. Retrieved January 27, 2018.
- ^ Meltzer, Dave (January 28, 2018). "NJPW NEW BEGINNING IN SAPPORO NIGHT TWO LIVE RESULTS: OMEGA-WHITE". F4wonline. Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Retrieved January 28, 2018.
- ^ 【来年2月シリーズ日程が決定！】なんと“雪の札幌決戦”が復活！2月5日（日）北海きたえーる大会を開催！ 2月11日（土）は大阪府立体育会館!!. New Japan Pro-Wrestling (in Japanese). November 6, 2016. Archived from the original on November 6, 2016. Retrieved January 10, 2017.
- ^ Currier, Joseph (January 17, 2017). "NJPW World finds its new lead English color commentary voice". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Retrieved January 17, 2017.
- ^ Grabianowski, Ed (13 January 2006). "How Pro Wrestling Works". HowStuffWorks, Inc. Discovery Communications. Retrieved January 10, 2017.