Gold changed hands as the first night of NJPW Wrestling Dontaku 2024 took place earlier on Friday.
The main event saw Nic Nemeth retain his IWGP Global Heavyweight Championship against challenger Hiroshi Tanahashi.
After the win, Nemeth was attacked by David Finlay. Once the post-match brawl was broken up, Nemeth took the mic to call Finlay a coward. He demanded a match with Finlay on night 2 of the event and offered to make it a title defense.
Nic Nemeth wants to defend IWGP Global Championship gold against David Finlay…. Tomorrow???? https://t.co/8XqDQh2wv6
— NJPW Global (@njpwglobal) May 3, 2024
Earlier in the show at the Fukuoka International Center, Zack Sabre Jr. lost his NJPW World Television Title to Jeff Cobb. ZSJ’s second reign with the belt lasted just 21 days.
After a trios match that saw El Desperado, Shota Umino & Jon Moxley face House of Torture’s Ren Narita, EVIL & Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Moxley was beaten down by his opponents, with Umino making the save.
Moxley will defend the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship against Ren Narita on Saturday.
NJPW Wrestling Dontaku, night 1 results
- Shoma Kato & Oleg Boltin def. Katsuya Murashima & Togi Makabe
- SHO & Yujiro Takahashi def. TAKA Michinoku & DOUKI
- Yuya Uemura & Taichi def. Callum Newman & Great-O-Khan
- Jado, El Phantasmo & Hikuleo) def. Kosei Fujita, Shane Haste & Mikey Nicholls
- Taiji Ishimori, Chase Owens & KENTA def. Tiger Mask, YOSHI-HASHI & Hirooki Goto
- Tetsuya Naito, Shingo Takagi, Hiromu Takahashi & BUSHI def. Gedo, Drilla Moloney, Clark Connors & Gabe Kidd
- Ren Narita, EVIL & Yoshinobu Kanemaru def. El Desperado, Shota Umino & Jon Moxley
- NJPW World TV Championship: Jeff Cobb def. Zack Sabre Jr. (c)
- David Finlay def. Yota Tsuji
- IWGP Global Heavyweight Championship: Nic Nemeth (c) def. Hiroshi Tanahashi
Bruce Lord & Karen Peterson will host a full review of Wrestling Dontaku on Saturday for members of the POST Wrestling Café.
