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NJPW 45th Anniversary Show results (6/3/2017): Title changes and heel turns at New Japan birthday show

Tanahashi and EVIL clashed ahead of their New Japan Cup first round match

New Japan Pro Wrestling celebrated its 45th anniversary today with a big show at Tokyo’s Ota Ward Gymnasium, the same building in which they held their first show way back on this day in 1972.

The birthday show was headlined by a non-title match between IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada and Tiger Mask W, who everyone knows is Kota Ibushi under the mask, and elsewhere four championships were on the line on the stacked card.

The event was held under somewhat of a dark cloud however, as Tomoaki Honma was forced to miss the show (and all events for the foreseeable future) after suffering a career-threatening injury at a live event a few days prior, and many of the stars performed small tributes to Honma throughout the night.

The full results of the show can be found below.

#1 Manabu Nakanishi vs. Tomoyuki Oka

New Japan Dad defeats valiant fighting Tomoyuki Oka. You know exactly how this match went as we’ve seen it a hundred times, although Oka’s progress is clear for all to see.

#2 Jado, Gedo, Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI vs. Minoru Suzuki, TAKA Michinoku, El Desperado & Davey Boy Smith Jr.

Jado was wearing a Honma wristband here, and CHAOS picked up the win when YOSHI-HASHI forced TAKA to submit to the Butterfly lock.

There was nothing particularly special about the match, other than whetting the appetites of those hoping to see Goto and Davey Boy go at it later in the year.

#3 Yuji Nagata, Togi Makabe, Jushin Thunder Liger, Tiger Mask & David Finlay vs. Bad Luck Fale, Kenny Omega, Tama Tonga, Tonga Roa & Yujiro Takahashi

More standard undercard multi-man tag match fare here, with Fale picking up the win for Bullet Club after hitting David Finlay with the Grenade.

Omega was in full undercard live event mode here, focusing more on comedy than pro wrestling, giving very little ideas as to where his year is headed.

#4 IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship – Roppongi Vice (c) vs. Taichi & Kanemaru

The first title change of the night saw the Suzuki-gun duo end the title run of Roppongi Vice a lot earlier than most would have hoped.

There were shenanigans-a-plenty along the way, and Gedo & Jado ran out to save Trent from a beatdown after the match, signalling a likely future title match between the Suzuki-gun duo and the World Class Tag Team.

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