Jon Moxley and Kazuchika Okada vs. Minoru Suzuki and Taichi

New Beginning February 1

This match previews two matches from the upcoming tour:

• Kazuchika Okada vs. Taichi on February 2
• Jon Moxley’s defense of the IWGP United States Championship against Minoru Suzuki on February 9

The four men started brawling before the bell and the referee didn’t wait for things to settle down before calling for the bell. The action in the ring consisted entirely of Suzuki and Moxley exchanging fists, kicks, chops, and headbutts. When Moxley gave Suzuki the middle finger, Suzuki grabbed it and spent a lot time twisting it. Both Moxley and Suzuki tagged out.

Okada hit Taichi with a neck breaker, but missed a senton. Taichi and Okada then proceeded to exchange kicks, fists, and upper cuts until Taichi grabbed Okada for a high angle side suplex. On the outside, Suzuki and Moxley fought through the fans and Taichi slammed Okada into the barricade. Suzuki hit Moxley with the barricade and then through chairs on top.

Back in the ring, Taichi held Okada down with a chin lock and then an abdominal stretch. Taichi went for a powerbomb, but Okada countered into a hurricanrana.

With Moxley and Suzuki tagged in, Moxley locked in a sit-down cloverleaf and then to an STF. Suzuki bit Moxley to break the hold and Moxley answered with a bite of his own. Suzuki locked in a cross arm breaker, but Moxley got to the ropes.

Moxley was about to go for the Death Rider, but Taichi broke it up. Okada went for a dropkick, but missed and Moxley knocked Taichi out of the ring. That left Moxley and Suzuki face to face again to exchange forearm shots. Suzuki locked in the rear naked choke and then hit the Gotch style piledriver for the victory.

After the match, Taichi choked out Okada with the camera cables. He rolled Okada back in the ring and tried to lay I’m out with the iron fist, but Okada evaded and hit the dropkick. As Okada went for the rainmaker, Sabre came down and put a sleeper on Okada allowing Taichi to hit the iron fist. Will Osprey then attempted to help Okada, but he got hit with the Zack Driver.

This was a strong tag match especially with Suzuki getting a pin on Moxley and the story development for both the Taichi/Okdada and the Sabre/Osprey matches.

Match Ratings

Six dimensions combine to make up the overall rating. Matches score ratings of 1-10 only if the match lasts for a minimum of 5 minutes.

1. Match Quality– Was the match well wrestled or sloppy?
2. Audience Engagement– Did the live audience care about the match?
3. Competitiveness– Was the match competitive or one-sided?
4. Stakes – Did the match matter?
5. Finish– Did the match end in a satisfying manner?
6. Performance: (1) Poor (2) Below Average (3) Average (4) Above Average (5) Excellent