Two title matches have been announced for NJPW's Road to The New Beginning events.
New Japan Pro-Wrestling announced multiple matches for the NJPW Road to the New Beginning tour. At the January 22nd event, IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion El Desperado and Hirooki Goto will face IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Zack Sabre Jr. and Kosei Fujita. Then, at the January 23rd event, Ryohei Oiwa will face YOSHI-HASHI.
NJPW also announced that El Phantasmo will defend the NJPW World Television Championship against Jeff Cobb at the February 3rd event. Additionally, at the February 4th event, El Desperado will defend the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship against Kosei Fujita,
From NJPW:
February 3's card will be headlined by a match for the NJPW World TV Championship as El Phantasmo seeks his second defence over Jeff Cobb. On the face of things, it's second verse, same as the first for ELP and Cobb after both collided over the TV gold in San Jose on January 11. Yet neither man was happy with how the song ended at Battle in the Valley. A retention for ELP came only as a result of the champion's advantage amid a double countout on the night, thanks in no small part to Cobb launching a human missile at Phantasmo that stopped him breaking the referee's count. Now both champion and challenger have requested no countouts for this rematch, and while both await confirmation of the requested stipulation, the fight is sure to escalate in intensity either way.
After defending the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship against Taiji Ihsimori at Battle in the Valley, El Desperado seeks his second defence against a much younger challenger in Kosei Fujita. Fujita was on the cusp of victory in Wrestle Dynasty's lucha gauntlet match when Ishimori sent the referee crashing into the Japanese Young Punk. Fujita feels like he deserved a shot of his own at the champion and has been granted one, in the same Korakuen Hall sight of an emotional defeat to the current champion during Best of the Super Jr. 31. Will Fujita earn redemption and become the youngest double champion in IWGP history?
The updated lineups are as follows:
NJPW Road to the New Beginning (1/22)
- Hirooki Goto & El Desperado vs. Kosei Fujita & Zack Sabre Jr.
NJPW Road to the New Beginning (1/23)
- Ryohei Oiwa vs. YOSHI-HASHI
NJPW Road to the New Beginning (2/3)
- NJPW World Television Championship: El Phantasmo (c) vs. Jeff Cobb
NJPW Road to the New Beginning (2/4)
- IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship: El Desperado (c) vs. Kosei Fujita
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