Photo Credit: New Japan Pro Wrestling

NJPW New Year Dash Live Tonight Feat. Mystery Card, Wrestle Kingdom Fallout & The New Stories of 2017; Wrestlezone Coverage

Hot off the heels of an incredible night at the Tokyo Dome with Wrestle Kingdom 11, New Japan Pro Wrestling returns to Korakuen Hall for their annual New Year Dash event.

For those new to the promotion, think of New Year Dash as the Monday Night Raw the night after WrestleMania. It’s the only card of the year where the matches aren’t announced ahead of time, featuring all the stars from Wrestle Kingdom, often including several of the surprise legends that returned for the New Japan Rumble. Traditionally this is where they run their first major angles of the year, to set up the stories and dynamics that will carry through the early months of 2017.

New Year Dash 2016 saw Bullet Club turn on AJ Styles, attacking the former IWGP Heavyweight Champion and installing Kenny Omega as the new leader of the faction. This was done to write off Styles as he was headed to WWE to make his debut at the Royal Rumble.

Tonight’s show should be an interesting one, as six championships changed hands at Wrestle Kingdom 11, and many of the fallen champions will be looking for a measure of revenge, and to put their names immediately back into title contention. Plus, we have the fallout of Kenny Omega’s loss in the main event to Kazuchika Okada, in what was one of the single greatest professional wrestling matches in history, the question of what is next for fallen ace Hiroshi Tanahashi after his loss to Tetsuya Naito, and a new IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion in Hiromu Takahashi. Michael Elgin, who made his return from injury to win the New Japan Rumble, has also demanded a title match against Naito.

Our live coverage begins at 4:30 a.m. EST. It’s a bit of a late/early morning show, especially for those still exhausted from Wrestle Kingdom, but for those that can’t watch live we’ll have results up all day, and the show will be available for streaming on New Japan World.

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