New Japan’s final card of the year was centered around the end of the Suzuki-gun group.
Friday’s card at Korakuen Hall was headlined by the members of the outgoing group paired up in an eight-man tag and concluded with Zack Sabre Jr. pinning the group’s leader, Minoru Suzuki.
After the match, each member took turns speaking about their experiences in Suzuki-gun and sharing their appreciation of Suzuki, who launched the group eleven years ago.
The farewell address included a surprise appearance by Takashi Iizuka, who retired in 2019.
Earlier this month, Suzuki announced that Suzuki-gun would go their separate ways at the end of 2022.
Suzuki: well I said until the end of the year, but I guess we’re taking an end of year vacation, too. We’ll all go different ways. Me included. But this is for damn sure. When I made this group, became a wrestler, no since I was born! #njwk17
— chris charlton (@reasonjp) December 23, 2022
Suzuki: I will NEVER retire until I become IWGP Champion. Old man? Grandpa? For every year that’s a year I’ve gotten stronger. Do you know why I live, why I eat, why my heart beats? It’s for wrestling, and it’s to take the IWGP. #njwk17
— chris charlton (@reasonjp) December 23, 2022
Suzuki: IWGP was conceived and created with my name in its letters. Remember that. That’s it. #njwk17
— chris charlton (@reasonjp) December 23, 2022
Suzuki is scheduled to team with Tatsumi Fujinami and Tiger Mask against Yuji Nagata, Satoshi Kojima & Togi Makabe on the pre-show at Wrestle Kingdom 17 on January 4th.
Chris Charlton noted that in 2022, New Japan drew 265,979 fans to 177 events for an average of 1,503 fans per show and a 35.5% increase from 2021.
Below are the results from Friday’s card at Korakuen Hall:
*Zack Sabre Jr., Taichi, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & DOUKI over Minoru Suzuki, Lance Archer, El Desperado & Taka Michinoku
*Kazuchika Okada, YOH & Master Wato over El Phantasmo, Taiji Ishimori & Gedo
*Tetsuya Naito, SANADA & BUSHI over Hiroshi Tanahashi, Ryusuke Taguchi & Shota Umino
*Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI over Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima
*Shingo Takagi & Hiromu Takahashi over EVIL & Dick Togo
*Jeff Cobb, Great O-Khan, Aaron Henare & Francesco Akira over Ren Narita, Togi Makabe, Tomoaki Honma & Tiger Mask
*Tomohiro Ishii & Toru Yano over Ryohei Oiwa & Kosei Fujita
*SHO & Yujiro Takahashi over Jado & Yuto Nakashima
