The NJPW New Beginning In Sapporo event signified the start of a new era for NJPW as a new crop of foreign talent took center stage in the wake of some older names leaving.
The show built around Nic Nemeth's debut for the promotion saw the officials putting their trust into the wrestling veteran in his very first outing for the company. The star formerly known as Dolph Ziggler not only main-evented the show but also picked up the IWGP Global Heavyweight Championship in his debut match for the promotion.
Nemeth made it very clear in his first promo as the new champion that he will be taking this responsibility very seriously. The Global Champion declared passionately that the title means everything to him and he won't be just sitting on his ass around after this big victory:
This might be 20 more years of me holding this title and defend it in every goddamn night. If that's what it means, that's how I will go into my grave holding this, holding this championship that says, I am better than the best and I don't just sit on my ass now and go home and wait for a call in three months to say it's time to defend it.
You want a shot, you earn it, you step up to me, man to man, face to face, look me in the fucking eye and say, I think, I think. I think I can go with you. I think I can hang and you better believe that I'm gonna knock your head off your fucking body."
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Nic Nemeth wasn't the only name who was trusted by the company to lead it forward. In an event that also featured one of Kazuchika Okada's final matches for the promotion before his departure, Matt Riddle made headlines by picking up the NJPW World TV Championship from the new company president Hiroshi Tanahashi.
NJPW New Beginning In Sapporo Full Results: Nic Nemeth, Matt Riddle And More
Apart from this the show also showcased names such as Shota Umino who now have the responsibility to step up as the next generation of pillars for the legendary promotion. You can check out the full results from the event below:
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- Toru Yano & Tomoya def. Shoma Kato & Tomoaki Honma
- Zack Sabre Jr. def. Yuji Nagata
- HOUSE OF TORTURE (Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Yujiro Takahashi & Ren Narita) def. Boltin Oleg, Togi Makabe & Ryusuke Taguchi
- Kazuchika Okada, YOH, Tomohiro Ishii & YOSHI-HASHI def. Great-O-Khan, Jeff Cobb, Francesco Akira & Callum Newman
- Los Ingobernables De Japon (Tetsuya Naito, Shingo Takagi, Hiromu Takahashi, Yota Tsuji & BUSHI) def. Just Five Guys (SANADA, Taichi, Yuya Uemura, DOUKI & TAKA Michinoku)
- IWGP Women’s Championship Match: Mayu Iwatani (c) def. Mina Shirakawa
- IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship Match: SHO def. El Desperado (c)
- NEVER Openweight Championship Match: EVIL (c) def. Shota Umino
- NJPW World TV Championship Match: Matt Riddle def. Hiroshi Tanahashi (c)
- IWGP Global Heavyweight Championship Match: Nic Nemeth def. David Finlay (c)
With the recent backstage changes and the confirmed departure of top names such as Will Ospreay and Okada, NJPW has a lot of challenges ahead. The latest event, however, was a declaration from the company that they are ready to face the music and there is a new set of faces that are going to help them rebuild the company in wake of older talents leaving.
Related: Hiroshi Tanahashi Acknowledges NJPW's Need For New Stars After Recent Departures
