The New Beginning in Nagoya (2021)

## The New Beginning in Nagoya

Official logo of the event

**The New Beginning in Nagoya** was a professional wrestling event promoted by New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW). The event took place on January 30, 2021, in Nagoya at Aichi Prefectural Gymnasium. The event featured five matches, one of which was contested for a championship. In the main event, Shingo Takagi would defend the NEVER Openweight Championship against Hiroshi Tanahashi. This was the tenth event under the New Beginning name and the first under the New Beginning in Nagoya name.

Due to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the tour had some restrictions in the attendance, after the Japanese Government lifted the State of Emergency.

## Production

### Background

The event aired worldwide on NJPW's internet streaming site, New Japan Pro Wrestling World, with English commentary provided by Kevin Kelly and Chris Charlaton. The event was announced on January 4, 2020 in the first night of Wrestle Kingdom 15 in Tokyo Dome and it was also announced that the event would be held in the Osaka-jō Hall in the event's history.

### Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, other wrestling promotions began to cancel or postpone their shows in an attempt to prevent further spreading of the COVID-19 virus. At the end of February, following recommendations by the Japanese Ministry of Health regarding the coronavirus outbreak, NJPW canceled the events between March 1 and March 15 including the promotion's Anniversary Event and the first and the second round of New Japan Cup. On March 23, NJPW also canceled the 2020 Sakura Genesis event, which was originally scheduled to take place on March 31. On April 8, NJPW canceled more events from April 11 through May 4, leading to the cancelation of both nights of 2020 Wrestling Dontaku and would also cancel the whole Best of the Super Juniors tournament as a result of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on May 6. Various wrestlers such as David Finlay, El Phantasmo, KENTA, the Guerrillas of Destiny (Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa), Jay White, Juice Robinson, Will Ospreay, Rocky Romero, and Robbie Eagles were unable to work on NJPW events due to travel restrictions because of the COVID-19 pandemic. During this time, NJPW wrestlers and staff created the *NJPW Together* project in order to do bring content to NJPW World with interviews and old archived matches. On May 6, NJPW announced that their Wrestle Dynasty event would be postponed to 2021, due to the effects of the 2019-20 coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. On June 8, during an online press conference, NJPW Chairman Naoki Sugabayashi announced that the promotion would start to held shows on June 15, starting with the *Together Project Special* and the return of the 2020 New Japan Cup between June 16 and July 11, with all shows being held behind closed doors. It was also that the finals of the New Japan Cup and the Dominion in Osaka-jo Hall would be the first shows to allow fans into the arena, but only a third of the venue's normal capacity, after the Japanese Government lifted some restrictions on many regions in Japan.

### Storylines

The New Beginning in Nagoya featured five professional wrestling matches that involve different wrestlers from pre-existing scripted feuds and storylines. Wrestlers portray villains, heroes, or less distinguishable characters in the scripted events that build tension and culminate in a wrestling match or series of matches.

The New Beginning in Nagoya was main evented by Shingo Takagi making his second defense of the NEVER Openweight Championship against Hiroshi Tanahashi. On January 6, at *New Year Dash*, *Los Ingobernables de Japon* (BUSHI, Hiromu Takahashi, Shingo Takagi, SANADA, and Tetsuya Naito) faced Hiroshi Tanahashi, Kota Ibushi, Master Wato, Rocky Romero and Sho in a winning effort. After the match, Takagi nominated Tanahashi to be his next challenger to the NEVER Openweight Championship. Afterwards, in a post-match interview, Tanahashi claimed that he would use the NEVER Openweight Championship to return back to the top. Meanwhile, Takagi was unimpressed with Tanahashi's comments. The title match was announced on January 12. Following their last pre-match on January 25, expressed his ambition of winning the NEVER Openweight Championship, leading Takagi to claim that there was more on the line than just the title, with their objetive making the NEVER Openweight Championship the strongest title in NJPW.

Also at *New Year Dash*, The Empire (Great-O-Khan, Jeff Cobb and Will Ospreay) faced Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima and Yota Tsuji in a winning effort. Afterwards, Opsreay attacked Kojima laying him out with the *Hidden Blade*, while O-Khan taunted Tenzan after laying him out with his finishing move the *TTD*, causing him to be stretchered out of the arena. The matches were officially announced on January 12. On January 23, Tencozy faced Ospreay and O-Khan in a match, which ended by disqualification, after Tenzan attacked O-Khan with a chair. The following day, Tencozy faced Ospreay and O-Khan in a no contest, with Ospreay attacking Tenzan with a chair, before Kojima made the save. Following an another match which ended in a no contest on January 25, Ospreay challenged Kojima to a no disqualification match, which Kojima accepted. Prior to both matches, Tenzan has been incensed at O-Khan's use of his signature move the *Mongolian Chop* following his return from excursion, leading both wrestlers to agree that the loser of their match would be banned from using the *Mongolian Chop*. Both stipulations were oficiallized on Janaury 26.

## Results

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* (c) – refers to the champion(s) heading into the match
* – refers to the video of that match