New Japan "King of IWGP" Pt.1 results

The night started off with a big upset as the young lion team of Naofumi Yamamoto & Toru Yano beat Kazunari Murakami & Mitsuya Nagai when Murakami was counted out! Yano brawled with Murakami to the outside and whipped him into the barrier before dashing back into the ring as the referee counted 20! Murakami was pissed off and immediately challenged Yano to a singles match! Opening round of the tournament kicked off with Supernova Shinsuke Nakamura beating Hiroshi Tanahashi with a triangle choke. Lots of back and forth action with Nakamura getting the early advantage scoring several take downs and submission attempts. Tanahashi fired back with a fisherman’s buster and a big German suplex but only got two. Tanahashi managed to escape the Shinning Triangle and connect with a Shinning Wizard before locking on the Dragon Sleerper, but the Supernova manage to break the hold and scored a near fall countering a running elbow-shot into a German suplex of his own. Tanahashi almost stole the win countering an armbar attempt into a quick roll-up, but Nakamura prevailed in the end locking on a ground triangle choke for the win. Shockingly, Tanahashi attacked Nakamura after the match and the two had to be pulled apart! Backstage Tanahashi issued the challenge for a U30-IWGP double title match if Nakamura wins the title. Yoshihiro Takayama beat Kensuke Sasaki with the Everest German Suplex Hold. They took it outside early and hit each other HARD in this great back and forth brawl. Takayama hit the big knee lift early on, but Sasaki blocked a second running knee and hit the Northern Lights Bomb out of nowhere! Takayama would rally back hitting a flurry of hard knees in the corner followed by a killer tiger-suplex hold for a 2 count! Sasaki would battle back with a big arm-drag followed by the strangle-hold alpha, but Takayama would make the ropes to break the hold. Takayama would hit a release Everest German and Sasaki would kick out at 2.9, but a second Everest German Suplex Hold would finally put him away. Manabu Nakanishi beat Tadao Yasuda with the Argentine Backbreaker. Nakanishi totally dominated the former IWGP champion here with an onslaught of power moves including a high-impact powerbomb and an overhead slam off the ropes. Yasuda would try to retaliate with strikes, but to no avail as Nakanishi lifted his massive frame up for the submission win. Scott Norton beat Osamu Nishimura with a running lariat. Norton started off strong hitting a series of hard lariats. Nishimura would fire back grounding the big man and attacking his legs with toe-holds and a figure four. But the big man came back and hit the Norton-bomb for a surprising 2.9! Norton followed up with TWO more Norton-bombs, but Nishimura got a boot on the ropes to break the count! Norton fired a FOURTH Norton-bomb and finished off a gutsy performance by Nishimura with a running lariat to advance and meet Nakanishi in the quarter-finals. IWGP Jr. Tag Titles – Jado & Gedo beat Tiger Mask IV & Curry Man in when Gedo hit the Superfly Splash on Tiger Mask. Incredible back and forth action. The challengers came up just a little short and it could be said the champions were lucky to still hold on to the belts here. Masahiro Chono beat Katsuyori Shibata with a Yakuza kick. Chono dominated most of the match striking relentlessly with Yakuza kicks, and even a corner Shinning Yakuza kick! Shibata managed a brief comeback, hitting an STO followed by kicks of his own. Shibata had Chono set for a German suplex when Chono gave him a reverse vitals kick, followed by another Yakuza kick to the face to put him away. Yuji Nagata beat Togi Makabe with the Nagata Lock III. Again, Makabe fell short, but he put up an incredible fight here! Nagata really had his hands full with the youngster who had more than his fair share of near falls on the former IWGP champion! It took a super-Exploder off the top followed by the Nagata Lock III to finally put Makabe away. In the back, Fujita confronted Makabe calling his match nothing special, and just another loss to add to his long list. Makabe responded that at least he's around when the company needs him and not just wrestling one match a year. Makabe then issued a challenge to Fujita who accepted, claiming he'll make short work of Makabe without breaking a sweat. Yutaka Yoshie beat Blue Wolf with a running back blow. In what was arguably the best bout of the night saw these two power monsters go at it, and tossed each other around with ease! Blue Wolf even hit the Mongol Slam TWICE on the 140kg frame of Yoshie, and even super-plexed him! Yoshie was no slouch either as he dropped his huge frame on Wolf with splashes and scored a near fall with a sit-out powerbomb. Wolf came back hitting an exploder suplex but was overcome by Yoshie who won the match with the running uraken out of nowhere! Hiroyoshi Tenzan beat Koji Kanemoto with the Anaconda Vice. Another gutsy showing by Kanemoto against a heavyweight! Kanemoto was obviously overpowered by the former two-time IWGP champion, but used his skill and quickness to evade Tenzan. Kanemoto escaped the Anaconda Vice on not one but THREE occasions, and managed to get a foot on the ropes after a TTD! A superplex followed by a fourth Anaconda Vice finally puts away the Jr ace. New Japan King of IWGP Pt.1 Yoyogi National Gym Toru Yano & Naofumi Yamamoto beat Kazunari Murakami & Mitsuya Nagai by count-out at 9:10 (37%) IWGP Title Tournament – Shinsuke Nakamura beat Hiroshi Tanahashi in 14:53 with a triangle choke. (79%) IWGP Title Tournament – Yoshihiro Takayama beat Kensuke Sasaki in 14:54 with the Everest German Suplex Hold. (85%) IWGP Title Tournament – Manabu Nakanishi beat Tadao Yasuda at 14:26 with the Argentine Backbreaker. (60%) IWGP Title Tournament – Scott Norton beat Osamu Nishimura 12:27 with a running lariat. (65%) IWGP Jr. Tag Titles – Jado & Gedo beat Tiger Mask IV & Curry Man in 29:30 when Gedo hit the Superfly Splash on Tiger Mask. (73%) IWGP Title Tournament – Masahiro Chono beat Katsuyori Shibata in 13:27 with a Yakuza kick. (79%) IWGP Title Tournament – Yuji Nagata beat Togi Makabe in 14:48 with the Nagata Lock III. (80%) IWGP Title Tournament – Yutaka Yoshie beat Blue Wolf in 15:00 with a running back blow. (90%) IWGP Title Tournament – Hiroyoshi Tenzan beat Koji Kanemoto in 13:39 with the Anaconda Vice. (69%) The card for the Finals was announced almost immediately after the show: New Japan Pro Wrestling “King of IWGP Pt.2” (PPV) Tokyo Sumo Hall Ebessan & El Samurai VS Curry Man & Katsuhiko Nakajima IWGP Title Tournament – Shinsuke Nakamura VS Yoshihiro Takayama IWGP Title Tournament – Manabu Nakanishi VS Scott Norton IWGP Title Tournament – Masahiro Chono VS Yuji Nagata IWGP Title Tournament – Yutaka Yoshie VS Hiroyoshi Tenzan Jushin Thunder Liger & Katsushi Takemura VS HEAT & Tiger Mask IV IWGP Title Tournament Semi Final - IWGP Title Tournament Semi Final - Kazunari Murakami VS Toru Yano Togi Makabe VS Kazuyuki Fujita IWGP Title Tournament Finals –