Mike Reviews NJPW The New Beginning 2012

Happy Fighting Spirit Friday Everyone!

I’ve been barely using my New Japan World sub, and seeing as the WWE archives might have disappeared by the time you read this, I’ll be dipping into it more for my reviews. Hence we have The New Beginning 2012 today, which I had to watch on pirate DVD from eBay back in the day.

This is the show that essentially made Kazuchika Okada as a top guy for years to come, as he’d had a pretty underwhelming return against YOSHI-HASHI at Wrestle Kingdom but then immediately made everyone forget that with his performance here (I believe there was even a theory going around at the time that the YOSHI-HASHI match was deliberately flat so as to make this match all the more impressive).

Sadly the entire card isn’t available on New Japan World, but there are enough matches to make a reasonable review.

You can view the full card for The New Beginning below;

NJPW The New Beginning 2012 Card

Pics come courtesy of HANDWERK, Voices of Wrestling and Wikipedia

The New Beginning is emanating from Osaka, Japan on the 12th of February 2012

In our opening bout; YOSHI-HASHI and Yujiro Takahashi defeated King Fale and Tomoaki Honma

In our second bout; Takashi Iizuka, Tomohiro Ishi and Toru Yano defeated Captain Fookin’ New Japan, Jushin Liger and Tama Tonga

Third Match
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Titles
Champs: Apollo 55 (Prince Devitt and “The Funky Weapon” Ryusuke Taguchi) Vs No Remorse Corps (Davey Richards and “Azucar, Azucarrrrrr, Azucarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr” Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrockyyyyyyyyyyy RRRRRRRRRomerrrrrrrooooooooooo)

Devitt would go on to become Finn Balor in WWE. Taguchi wasn’t a full on comedy guy at this stage, but he was getting there. Richards is a former ROH Champ and tagged with Eddie Edwards in both ROH and TNA. Rocky had previously been Black Tiger in New Japan, but now he’s back to just being himself.

Romero and Richards are playing Heels here, with Romero in particular being a great arrogant jerk who doesn’t like it up him when the babyfaces answer his taunts with strikes and holds. Richards plays the more serious member of his team, whilst Devitt does likewise for his tandem. The action here is really good, with all four wrestlers being capable of working a quick clip and delivering believable looking offence.

It’s not just folks doing moves either, as all four wrestlers show differing degrees of personality in there, and they work the standard tag formula, with Richards eventually attacking Devitt illegally from the apron so that the challengers can cut Devitt off and work some heat. Romero and Richards look good on offence during the heat and Devitt sells everything nicely, so it’s a good heat segment and they eventually succeed in getting the crowd to clap for Devitt in hopes that he’ll make the hot tag.

Taguchi’s hot tag segment goes really well, with both of the Heels bumping around well in order to make it work and Taguchi hinting at his future Eddy Guerrero cosplay by delivering the Three Amigos suplexes at one stage. The closing stretch has some good near falls and double team moves, as the work here continues to be really well done and the crowd remains invested in it. We get stereo dives to the floor from the babyfaces at one stage, because of course we do, as this continues to be exciting fun action. Eventually Taguchi takes a tonne of double team moves from the challengers and manages to survive them until Richards is finally able to put him away with a powerbomb in order to win the belts.

WINNERS AND NEW CHAMPIONS: NO REMORSE CORPS
RATING: ****

Thoughts: This was excellent, as they worked it at a quick clip and executed the tag team formula aspect of it well until it was time to go nuts with the near falls and big moves in the closing stages. Some of the near falls were brilliant, as they nailed the timing on pretty much all of them and the fans were having kittens as a result. A really darn great undercard bout that they could have easily placed higher up the card if they’d wanted to because the work was that good

Match Four
Ten Wrestler Elimination Tag
Suzuki-gun (Minoru Suzuki, Lance Archer, Taichi and TAKA Michinoku) and Yoshihiro Takayama Vs Seigigun (Yuji Nagata and Wataru Inoue), KUSHIDA, Tiger Mask IV and Togi Makabe

Suzuki-gun had been around for about 14 months at this stage, and prior to the Bullet Club’s formation they were arguably the scariest Heel faction in the company. It sounds like you can be eliminated by going over the top rope based on the commentary, which will be a handy way for some folk to get eliminated without having to be pinned or submitted. Suzuki and Makabe have the expected slap-fest to start, with eventually everyone on Makabe’s team coming in to wale away on Suzuki as a way to give him a mild bit of comeuppance for his psycho Heel ways.

Inoue actually gets to somewhat hold his own with Takayama at one stage, which is impressive considering that Inoue is so much smaller than Takayama. That being said, Takayama would be willing to let smaller wrestlers hang with him if they were good enough, such as when he had some very fun matches with KENTA in NOAH. TAKA gets to do some fast-paced action with fellow Junior Heavyweights KUSHIDA, Tiger and Inoue at points, and it’s good fun, whilst Taichi does his usual stooging Heel act from the time and is fun with it.

Eventually Archer decides that he’s had enough of these mother loving Junior Heavyweights on this Monday to Friday New Beginning event, and he comes in to quickly whoop some of them in order to put Suzuki-gun ahead. First KUSHIDA ends up taking the Blackout (modified powerbomb). Tiger then gets cheap shotted by TAKA and Taichi, and that allows Archer to get a modified F-5 to send Tiger back to his den. Poor Inoue is then the next to get beasted by the big scary foreigner, although Inoue does manage to get a few two counts first before it’s time to get flung over the top to the floor.

KUSHIDA eliminated by Lance Archer (1) – Blackout

Tiger Mask IV eliminated by Lance Archer (2) – F-5

Wataru Inoue eliminated by Lance Archer (3) – Over The Top Rope

Well, that was sure a clear way of highlighting the pecking order between the Heavyweight and Junior Heavyweights, but it did at least make Archer look like an imposing monster, so that was a benefit from it. Still, I’m not sure I like the message sent there that one average Heavyweight could easily walk in there and eliminate three of the smaller wrestlers. In a company without a lighter weight belt then it would be less on an issue, but New Japan does have a lighter weight class and this made three of them essentially look like chumps when we’re supposed to take their matches seriously when they then wrestle one another.

It then happens the other way around with the Suzuki-gun side, as Makabe quickly rallies and flings out both TAKA and Taichi in rapid succession, thus leaving us with just the Heavyweights, as utltimately they are the only ones that “matter” in this one it seems. Pretty counter-productive booking if you ask me, but I’m sure it appeased the actual stars I suppose.

TAKA Michinoku eliminated by Togi Makabe (1) – Over The Top Rope

Taichi eliminated by Togi Makabe (2) – Over The Top Rope

Makabe and Nagata now have to go it 2 on 3, but they don’t do too badly for themselves at first, with Makabe actually getting the better of Suzuki in a slugfest. However, Taichi clocks Makabe with a chair when the referee isn’t looking, which leads to Suzuki-gun being able to cut Makabe off and work some heat. Takayama gets to come in and fling Makabe around at one stage, which is good fun, and eventually it’s hot tag Nagata, who runs wild on the opposition with the usual array of strikes and suplexes. Nagata was still a super-worker back in 2012 before his body fully broke down, so all of his hot tag sequence is fantastic is fantastic.

Nagata ends up getting cut off as well, which gives him a chance to do some excellent selling whilst the opposition team knocks the cheese toastie out of him. Nagata eventually fires up and fights back, but he gets a little bit over-excited and that allows Suzuki to dodge an attack and send Nagata over the top to the floor in order to leave Makabe in a 1 Vs 3 situation. To be honest, I fully expected Nagata to get eliminated that way rather than getting pinned, and it does leave the door open for some singles matches with Takayama and Suzuki down the line.

Yuji Nagata eliminated by Minoru Suzuki (1) – Over The Top Rope

Makabe bravely fights against the numbers as best he can, but he gets both double and triple teamed, meaning the result is all but academic. They do allow Makabe a few flurries and comebacks though, so he doesn’t lose anything in defeat and, if anything, he kind of gains something by gallantly going out on his shield when faced with such ludicrous odds. Archer ends up getting a Reverse DDT, Takayama adds an Everest German Suplex and then Suzuki puts the finishing touch on things with the Gotch Style Piledriver in order to pick up the three.

Togi Makabe eliminated by Minoru Suzuki (2) – Gotch Style Piledriver

WINNERS: SUZUKI-GUN
MOST ELIMINATIONS: LANCE ARCHER (3)

RATING: **1/2

Thoughts: The action itself was good here, as the likes of Nagata, Makabe and Suzuki were 13 years younger and more capable of really going in there and working, so the wrestling was to a solid standard. The booking was hit and miss though. Once Makabe and Nagata were 2 on 3 against the Heels, they sold well and timed their comebacks well also, so it ended up being a good match that told a nice story. The part of the match where every single Junior Heavyweight was treated like a chump left a bit of a sour taste though, and it dragged the overall rating down for me, even if the standard of wrestling within the contest was mostly good

Match Five
IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Titles
Champs: TenKoji (Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Satoshi Kojima) Vs Bad Intentions (Giant Bernard and “Machine Gun” Karl Anderson)

Bernard would soon be heading to WWE as Lord Tensai, so he was on the way out here and Anderson would end up having to replace him with Luke Gallows. Tenzan and Kojima were long-time partners/rivals, and they had reunited for another run as a Tag Team. Tenzan wasn’t TOTALLY shot at this point, but he was getting there.

Bernard is an absolutely huge man, but there were so many big guys in WWE during his spells there that it never really came across. However, in New Japan where guys that big were at a premium, Bernard was able to be portrayed like an absolute monster, and he’s very good in the role. TenKoji can only really stick and move when it comes to Bernard, whilst they can bump the smaller Anderson around if they need to, so the goal for the Champions mostly revolves around trying to put a beating on Anderson whilst avoiding getting creamed by Bernard.

It’s another example of folks working the classic tag team formula well, although it’s worked at a slower pace than the earlier Tag Title bout. That’s not to say that the bout is slow or a drag though, as Bernard is light on his feet for a guy his size, whilst Tenzan was still mobile enough to do traditional spots in 2012, so no one has any issues keeping up and the match chugs along at a reasonable pace that never really gets boring. Eventually Kojima gets cut off and worked over by the challengers, with the focus on the attack being on Kojima’s left leg and knee.

Kojima sells the heat really well, although I’m not sure limb appendage targeting is really in the challenger’s wheelhouse. They might have had more joy working the back or neck, especially as Bernard in particular likes doing big power moves that focus on that area of the body. Bernard eventually finds nothing but knee waiting for him on a Pump Splash attempt, and that gives us the Tenzan hot tag, complete with Mongolian Chops. You can definitely see that Tenzan was on the road to physical ruin by this stage, even though he’s mostly able to do his traditional moves like the spin kick and diving headbutt successfully. Tenzan just moves a note slower than everyone else, although it’s not like he gets left in the dust or anything.

The finishing stretch is executed well, with Kojima getting to work in his trademark moves and sequences, such as the elbow in the corner followed by the elbow from the top. The crowd enjoys listening to TenKoji playing the hits, and when the challengers fight back with a series of splashes (both normal and of the Senton variety) the crowd comes up for it and digs the action. Both teams have chances to win it, with Kojima even surviving the Magic Killer at one stage in a good near fall, whilst Bernard gets to get kick out of the 3-D from the Champs. Eventually Kojima is able to put Bernard down with a Lariat though, and that’s the three.

WINNERS AND STILL CHAMPIONS: TENKOJI
RATING: ***

Thoughts: This was a good match, but it never threatened to break out of the *** range for me. They worked the formula well and everyone played their respective roles, with the finishing stretch being executed tightly and the crowd enjoying it. The general wear on Tenzan was starting to show at this stage, but he was able to hold up his end here and Kojima was very good throughout the match, with Bernard and Anderson being decent Heel opponents. Thumbs up

Match Six
IWGP Intercontinental Title
Champ: Masato Tanaka Vs Hirooki Goto

MVP was the inaugural Champ, with the idea of the belt being that it would get defended both at home and overseas as New Japan was making its first tentative expansion attempts into North America. Tanaka has since won the belt, whilst Goto was fully into his role as New Japan’s main “nearly man” by this stage (although that status recently ended when he finally won the big belt after years of trying). Tanaka has a adamantium skeleton, so you’d think that he’d have the clear advantage here, but Goto likes to thrown down when given the opportunity, so this one has potential to be a fun slugfest.

Yujiro Takahashi has come down to be at ringside for Tanaka, so he ends up getting involved following the early exchanges so that Tanaka can cut Goto off. It’s interesting seeing Tanaka working as more of a Heel here, as I’m more used to seeing him as a fiery babyface fighting underneath against a bigger opponent like a Mike Awesome. Tanaka is decent at playing the Heel role, but it doesn’t seem like the most natural alignment for someone of his style to have. Goto’s selling is decent and Yujiro fulfils his role of being an annoying jerk very well, so it’s an effective heat segment.

Tomoaoki Honma is at ringside for Goto, but he mostly focuses on providing moral support rather than getting physically involved. Goto keeps making gutsy attempts to fight back, and that succeeds in getting the crowd behind him, which eventually leads to Goto making the comeback with a suplex and some snug strikes. Tanaka sells all of that well, with Yujiro once again trying to get involved to help his buddy. Honma finally decides that he’s seen enough and starts brawling with Yujiro in order to remove him from proceedings, which means we get to see Tanaka and Goto go at it straight for the home stretch.

Goto keeps showing good fire and guts, especially when he pops right up from a Tanaka Superplex at one stage, only to then get Lariated down by the Champ in a really nice sequence. Goto actually gets to survive the Sliding D at one stage, which is one of Tanaka’s big moves (although it’s not as cool as The Diamond Dust). Tanaka being as good as he is here after years of getting his bell rung is super impressive. I don’t think Tanaka gets the credit he’s due for being as good a worker as he was during his peak years, and even in 2012 he could still work like a mofo. Goto holds up his end as well here, and the closing exchanges really are great stiff action. Goto actually manages to bust out a top rope Ushigoroshi at one stage, which Tanaka survives and even replies with a flurry of offence, but it proves to be the last of any real measure, as Goto dodges another Sliding D and wears Tanaka down with big moves before finally getting the win with a standard Ushigoroshi and the Shouten (suplex into a uranage slam).

WINNER AND NEW CHAMPION: HIROOKI GOTO
RATING: ***1/2

Yujiro and Goto do the dramatic face-off following the match, followed by some duelling promos, which looks to be setting Yujiro up as the next challenger. Back in 2012 that would have actually been an interesting match because Yujiro wasn’t totally shot as an in-ring performer yet and could actually get out of second gear when he wanted to. The ringside fans do seem to be genuinely happy that Goto won the belt, which is nice to see and suggests that Goto might have some juice as a genuine World Title holder, unless the past 13 years of ramming home that he’s always destined to be the best man and never the groom has done too much damage to him for it to work in 2025.

Match Seven
“King of Strong-Style” Shinsuke Nakamura Vs “Stardust Genius” Tetsuya Naito

Nakamura was the leader of the CHAOS group at the time. Naito’s previous tag team partner, Yujiro Takahashi, had split on him in order to join Nakamura’s faction, so Naito had been wrestling CHAOS in matches since that point. Nakamura had defeated Naito in their previous two matches, so Naito is hoping that third time will be the charm for him here at The New Beginning. Naito as a smiling hand-slapping babyface is super jarring when you consider how his character was going to drastically change in the coming years. Nakamura almost seems to be taking the impetuous youngster lightly, as his entrance is toned down compared to the usual charisma extravaganza he puts on, and he wrestles at a relaxed pace that is almost bordering on complacence in the early going.

Naito eventually decides that he doesn’t appreciate Nakamura taking him lightly and starts throwing strikes, which leads to Nakamura giving a look that almost says “oh, so we’re doing this then are we?”, leading to Nakamura kicking the absolute fudge out of Naito and taking him outside of the ring for some further punishment. This allows Naito to sprint down the ramp with a flying dropkick though, as they’re doing a good job of telling the story that Naito has had enough of Nakamura being a jerk, whilst Nakamura has allowed his previous two victories to lull himself into a false sense of security when wrestling the up-and-comer.

As the battle rages on; Nakamura gets increasingly more aggressive with his attacks, as now he’s realised that he’s actually got a fight on his hands and he’s almost angry that he’s had to come to The New Beginning and actually wrestle properly when he was hoping to just take it easy and defeat Naito again without much in the way of fuss. Naito’s selling whilst Nakamura works him over is really good, and Nakamura does a very convincing job of being a violent fighter who has been angered into going from placid to terminator mode due to his less experienced opponent pushing his buttons. Naito times his comebacks well and Nakamura is generous with his selling when it’s time for him to make Naito’s offence look good.

We eventually get the big slugfest once we head into the latter stages, with Naito holding his own and taking it to Nakamura, showing that he can hang with the former Top Champ in the company, but Nakamura is still presented as being a really tough wrestler who Naito is just hanging in there with. It’s clever booking as it makes Naito look like a genuine contender without making him look overpowered or giving him “plot armour” to a certain extent. Nakamura is still a very scary man, and almost certainly scarier and tougher than Naito, but Naito is no slouch and he has enough to him that he can overcome Nakamura’s toughness by using his Fighting Spirit and making what shots he does get to fire off count. Naito eventually manages to get Nakamura down and quickly heads up with the Stardust Press in order to get the three count a big win.

WINNER: TETSUYA NAITO
RATING: ***1/4

Thoughts: This one told a good story and had some really good wrestling within it as well. If you chose the “Storytelling” Road Agent note on a TEW game then you’d probably get something like this. Nakamura used body language and facials really well to get across the idea of him almost taking Naito lightly early on, only for him to then get mad and dish out increasingly nastier offence. Naito timed his comebacks well and the match overall did an effective job of making Naito look like he could hang with a top guy and believably win, without going too far and making it look unrealistic. Naito had a hit and miss stint as a babyface singles star until he struck gold with the Heel turn in 2015, but he did well here at The New Beginning and carried his end in a good match

Main Event
IWGP Heavyweight Title
Champ: “The Ace” Hiroshi Tanahashi Vs “The Rainmaker” Kazuchika Okada w/ Gedo

Okada had recently returned from a thoroughly crap excursion to TNA (none of which was his fault) and had been given the new “Rainmaker” gimmick of a rich high living snob, as booker Gedo was keen to get behind the youngster and make a star of him. Okada had made his grand return at Wrestle Kingdom VI, and had a thoroughly meh match with YOSHI-HASHI. Tanahashi, by comparison, was on a role as IWGP Champ and had successfully defend his belt against Minoru Suzuki on that same WK VI card. When Okada came down to challenge Tana following that, some fans even laughed at the notion because Okada’s run in TNA had been so bad and his match with YOSHI-HASHI earlier had been so flat. However, most of those folks wouldn’t be laughing soon…

Okada immediately shows more poise here than he had at WK VI, with his act coming across as a lot more assured and his work being smoothly executed. Tanahashi doesn’t appear to be as relaxed about this match as Nakamura was during the earlier stages of the previous bout, but he seems comfortable in there and doesn’t seem to be approaching the contest without much in the way of trepidation. Okada finds himself stuck in a side headlock for a while early on, with him seeming to have no answer for it, only for him to then bust out his trademark dropkick, with another one sending Tanahashi off the top rope to the floor.

Okada brutally takes the fight to Tanahashi following that, with it seemingly taking everyone by surprise that the guy who had a meh match with YOSHI-HASHI in his grand return is now taking it to the IWGP Champ, and looking cool and mechanically sound whilst doing so. Okada really seems to “get” what his new character entails during this one, as he gets the mixture right when it comes to being an cocky jerk who has an inflated view of himself, but still someone who can handle his business between the ropes, as his dominance of Tanahashi for large swathes of this one demonstrates.

As someone who only really knew of Okada from his terrible TNA run, it was a revelation for me to see him going in there and looking so good against Tanahashi. Okada busts out his impressive looking rolling cravat headlock at one stage, and I don’t think he really does that one anymore, which is a shame as the visual of it where he has the opponent’s legs wrapped up whilst he cinches in the cravat part of the hold has always looked really cool to me for some reason. Tanahashi does eventually mount the comeback after being on the backfoot against the upstart challenger for so long, and he even busts out a High-Fly-Flow from the top rope to the floor onto Okada at one stage.

It’s easy to forget just how darn awesome Tanahashi was when his body wasn’t utterly destroyed. I mean, he could still have good matches even after his body broke down thanks to his selling and charisma, but when his body was still capable of doing everything he wanted to do he was genuinely one of the greatest in-ring performers of his era, if not of all-time. Tanahashi does the old Muto trick of delivering a bunch of Dragon Screw’s in order to put Okada on the defensive, which gives Okada a chance to really sell properly for the first time in the match, and he’s great at it, especially when he does his trademark “sell the hurt appendage after delivering the Tombstone” spot.

Tanahashi ends up losing a tooth somehow in this one, although it only slightly deducts from his unquestionable handsomeness. There’s actually a good submission tease at one stage, where Tanahashi tries to go for the Texas Cloverleaf, but Okada manages to lock up Tanahashi’s arms with his legs before then going back to the cravat, and eventually it’s only due to the ropes that the Champ manages to survive the hold and keep fighting. Okada decides that, hurting leg be darned, he needs to take this to another level, and that involves Okada taking Tanahashi out to the concrete for a Tombstone and a count out tease.

Okada decides that winning via count out isn’t a big enough statement though (although I think it would have led to the belt changing under New Japan rules as count out’s can do that over there) so Okada drags Tanahashi’s limp body back into the ring for an Elbow Drop off the top and an attempt at The Rainmaker. Tanahashi dodges the Rainmaker and gets the Sling Blade though, and now the crowd is really engrossed in this, which is a testament to how good a job they’ve done of making Okada look like an actual contender here, especially as his challenging for the belt was almost a joke to some when it was announced.

The finishing stretch is really well done, as Tanahashi goes for his usual big match victory technique of spamming the High-Fly-Flow splash over and over. However, Okada has Tanahashi scouted and gets his knees up before unleashing a flurry of big moves for some near falls, with the crowd biting on all of them. At this point they could have easily had Tanahashi rally to win and Okada wouldn’t have been hurt at all, as he would have given The Ace everything he could have handled and believably been in contention to win the belt. Okada could go away, lick his wounds, and try again in a match that the crowd would be more invested in because they would have seen what Okada was capable of. However, New Japan decides that they really want this to be the New Beginning (Hey, he just said the name of the show!) and Okada successfully manages to catch Tanahashi with the good version of The Rainmaker after we saw the cruddy one at WK VI, and that leads to a three count to give Okada the belt and SHOCK the crowd.

WINNER AND NEW CHAMPION: KAZUCHIKA OKADA
RATING: ****

Thoughts: These two would go on to have better matches together of course, but this was one heck of a first chapter in their storied rivalry. This was like a manual on how to make a new wrestler/character look like a top star, as Okada took the fight to Tanahashi for the majority of the match and Tanahashi ultimately didn’t see the train coming at him until it was too late, at which point he tried to scramble in order to fix things and just couldn’t manage it. It would have been so easy to just book a match where Okada took the lion’s share of the offence only for Tanahashi to eek out a victory and live to fight another day. That’s standard wrestling booking, and Okada’s performance was so good here that he would have come out of the whole thing ahead even despite losing the match itself. However, New Japan were brave here and went with Okada as the winner, and it gave his post-excursion career a real boost. It’s not like Okada became The Man overnight or anything here, as many folks still needed convincing despite how well Okada did here, but this was the planting of the seed that would eventually grow to being the mightiest oak in the forest. Tanahashi was superb here, as he sold big for Okada and helped the new Champ get through his first big Main Event, but Okada wasn’t a bystander here either. He more than held up his end of things and the result was an excellent match, and amazingly they still had a higher ceiling to hit!

Okada stands upon the defeated carcass of Tanahashi and a star is born, as well as a long feud ignited. Tetsuya Naito heads down to challenge Okada for the Title though, and that’s a pairing we would of course see a lot more of over the years as well.

In Conclusion

Changing the belt to Okada at the time actually got a somewhat negative reaction in some circles, and if any anti-Meltzer folk want to anger up their blood they can read his thoughts on it at the time in that Wikipedia article at the top of the review. Okada was one of the first examples of Gedo’s main booking technique in trying to get a new star over, especially a Heel. By giving Okada the win like this, it showed that Okada COULD win the belt, and thus almost immediately elevated him to a certain tier very early on his run. Tanahashi swiftly won the belt back, but Okada was established as a credible opponent due to the first win, and his natural talent took it from there.

Gedo tried this trick with, amongst others, Tetsuya Naito, AJ Styles, Jay White and EVIL, all to varying levels of success, but he had more success with it than failures. You take an up and coming star, give them a quickie run with the IWGP Title, and if they remain over following it then you give them their “proper” reign when it’s time. The New Beginning was one of the first times it was seen, but the negative reaction that surrounded that kind of booking would follow on to those other wrestlers mentioned, even with previous examples of it working well. It helped that Okada and Tanahashi had such a good match here, as it it gave Okada some credibility as an in-ring performer that he’d been lacking prior to The New Beginning.

As a show overall, The New Beginning wasn’t without the odd questionable booking decision (the way the Junior Heavyweights were treated in the elimination match immediately comes to mind) but the standard of wrestling throughout the show ranged from competent to excellent, and there was nothing here that I would class as “bad”. New Japan hadn’t completely hit it’s stride in 2012, with things really picking up for them once the Bullet Club was introduced, but you could usually expect to get a solid show with a banger of a Main Event, and The New Beginning certainly delivered that.

Recommended show!

If you want some more Japanese wrestling reviews then check out the archives of Maffew, Rick,Alex, J, and Phred, as they’ve got you covered for both modern and classic Japanese action!