NJPW held its second of the weekend in Hokkaido with Kazuchika Okada defending the IWGP heavyweight title against Tetsuya Naito.
It was their first singles meeting since the second night of Wrestle Kingdom 14 in January 2020 when Naito became Double Champion.
The rivals met again with Okada returning after back-to-back wins on this year’s Wrestle Kingdom events against Shingo Takagi and Will Ospreay.
Naito succumbed to the Rainmaker with the matching nearing the thirty-minute mark.
／#NJPW 新春黄金シリーズ(2/20)を公開‼️
＼メインはIWGP世界ヘビー級選手権試合‼️
場内大熱狂🔥互いに死力を尽くした凄まじい死闘🔥
この死闘を制するのはどちらだ⁉️🆚 @rainmakerXokada × @s_d_naito
📲 #njpwworld で配信中📡👀視聴&登録⏩https://t.co/Tj7UBINMhP#njpw #njgoldenFINAL pic.twitter.com/97uwT8HaEf
— njpwworld (@njpwworld) February 20, 2022
In another championship match, the NEVER Openweight Six-Man tag champions of EVIL, SHO & Yujiro retain their titles against Hirooki Goto, YOH & YOSHI-HASHI for their second defense as Trios champions.
Toru Yano claimed the KOPW 2022 crown defeating Minoru Suzuki in a Dog Cage Match where Suzuki lost the match after being locked inside of a cage.
Suzuki kicked off the year by claiming this year’s crown in a four-way match at Wrestle Kingdom against Yano, CIMA, and Chase Owens.
The crown will be defended throughout the year in stipulation matches with the final holder at year’s end named the champion for 2022.
It was announced on the show that this year’s New Japan Cup will feature 48 participants, which will be revealed at Monday’s press conference – streaming at 4 a.m. ET on New Japan World.
BREAKING NEWS!
Tomorrow, LIVE on @njpwworld, find out the full card for March 1's Anniversary Event, and the 48 MAN New Japan Cup 2022 lineup in a special press conference!https://t.co/cEFFsYKcrQ#njpw50th #njcup pic.twitter.com/CChZFQD3sq
— NJPW Global (@njpwglobal) February 20, 2022
It is by far, the largest field for the annual tournament, which begins on March 2nd at Budokan Hall and will take place throughout the month with the finals on March 27th at Osaka jo-Hall.
Here are the full results from Sunday’s card in Hokkaido in front of 3,751 (Courtesy: Purolove.com):
*IWGP Heavyweight Championship: Kazuchika Okada (champion) over Tetsuya Naito in 29:34
*NEVER Openweight Six-Man Tag Titles: EVIL, Yujiro & SHO over Hirooki Goto, YOSHI-HASHI & YOH in 17:07
*KOPW 2022 Dog Cage Death Match: Toru Yano over Minoru Suzuki in 13:48
*Shingo Takagi, SANADA, Hiromu Takahashi & BUSHI over Hiroshi Tanahashi, Yuji Nagata, Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma in 11:16
*Great O-Khan over Satoshi Kojima in 10:23
*Master Wato & Ryusuke Taguchi over El Desperado & Yoshinobu Kanemaru in 10:31
*Taichi & DOUKI over Tomohiro Ishii & Ryohei Oiwa in 9:11
*El Phantasmo, Taiji Ishimori & Gedo over Robbie Eagles, Tiger Mask & Kosei Fujita in 6:44
