New Year Dash!! Explained
New Year Dash!! is a professional wrestling event held annually by New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). It is held every year the day after Wrestle Kingdom, the biggest show of the year for New Japan, starting at Wrestle Kingdom 8 in 2014. There have been eight events under the name held so far, with the traditional January 5 date. In 2020 and 2021, with Wrestle Kingdom a two-night event, New Year Dash!! was held on January 6. The event was not held in 2022. After it was confirmed that Wrestle Kingdom would return to a one-day event for 2023, the event returned to its original January 5 date.[1]
Production
Background
New Year Dash!! is traditionally held at Korakuen Hall, a prestigious venue right next to the Tokyo Dome, where Wrestle Kingdom is held. The 2020 edition, however, was held at Ota City General Gymnasium due to the event being the official retirement ceremony for Jyushin Thunder Liger.[2] The 2021 edition was held at Tokyo Dome City Hall, another venue right next to the Dome.[3]
Storylines
New Year Dash!! features professional wrestling matches that involved different wrestlers from pre-existing scripted feuds and storylines. Wrestlers portray villains, heroes, or less distinguishable characters in scripted events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches.[4] New Year Dash!! is the night were New Japan Pro-Wrestling starts many new storylines and feuds after most have ended the night before at Wrestle Kingdom. Dash!! is an exciting show, where fans tune in to see how the promotion will start the year in terms of stories leading into the New Beginning shows.[5] Because of its "reset"-like nature after the company's biggest show of the year, many fans see Dash!! as NJPW's equivalent to the first Raw after WrestleMania in WWE.[6] [7] [8]
Date and venues
| Event | Date | City | Venue | Main event |
|---|
| New Year Dash!! (2014) | January 5, 2014 | Tokyo, Japan | Korakuen Hall | Captain New Japan, Hirooki Goto, Hiroshi Tanahashi & Tetsuya Naito vs. Chaos (Kazuchika Okada, Shinsuke Nakamura, Tomohiro Ishii & Yoshi-Hashi) |
| New Year Dash!! (2015) | January 5, 2015 | Bullet Club (AJ Styles, Doc Gallows, Karl Anderson & Yujiro Takahashi) vs. Hirooki Goto, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Katsuyori Shibata & Tetsuya Naito |
| New Year Dash!! (2016) | January 5, 2016 | The Briscoes (Jay Briscoe & Mark Briscoe) & Toru Yano (c) vs. Bullet Club (Bad Luck Fale, Matt Jackson & Nick Jackson) for the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship |
| New Year Dash!! (2017) | January 5, 2017 | Los Ingobernables de Japón (Bushi, Evil & Sanada) (c) vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Manabu Nakanishi & Ryusuke Taguchi for the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship |
| January 5, 2018 | Los Ingobernables de Japón (Bushi, Evil, Hiromu Takahashi, Sanada & Tetsuya Naito) vs. Chaos (Gedo, Hirooki Goto, Kazuchika Okada, Will Ospreay & Yoshi-Hashi) |
| New Year Dash!! (2019) | January 5, 2019 | Bullet Club (Bad Luck Fale, Gedo & Jay White) vs. Chaos (Kazuchika Okada & Yoshi-Hashi) & Hiroshi Tanahashi |
| New Year Dash!! (2020) | January 6, 2020 | Ota City General Gymnasium | Los Ingobernables de Japón (Sanada and Tetsuya Naito) vs. Bullet Club (Jay White and Kenta) (with Gedo) |
| New Year Dash!! (2021) | January 6, 2021 | Tokyo Dome City Hall | Los Ingobernables de Japón (Sanada, Shingo Takagi, Tetsuya Naito, Hiromu Takahashi & Bushi) vs. Golden Ace (Kota Ibushi & Hiroshi Tanahashi), Roppongi 3K (Rocky Romero & Sho) & Master Wato |
| New Year Dash!! (2023) | January 5, 2023 | Ota City General Gymnasium | Kazuchika Okada and Kenny Omega vs. United Empire (Aaron Henare and Jeff Cobb) |
| New Year Dash!! (2024) | January 5, 2024 | Sumida City Gymnasium | TMDK (Zack Sabre Jr., Kosei Fujita, Shane Haste and Mikey Nicholls) vs Chaos (Tomohiro Ishii and Kazuchika Okada) and Blackpool Combat Club (Jon Moxley and Bryan Danielson) |
|
Results
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
See main article: New Year Dash!! (2020).
2021
2023
2024
External links
Notes and References
- Web site: 2020-11-14. NJPW Announces 2021 New Year Dash. 2021-01-09. WrestleTalk. en-GB.
- Web site: 2020-01-05. NJPW New Year Dash Results: Jushin Liger's Retirement Ceremony, Wrestle Kingdom 14 Fallout. 2021-01-09. Wrestling Inc.. en.
- Web site: NJPW. New Year Dash to hit Tokyo Dome City Hall Jan.6! NEW JAPAN PRO-WRESTLING. 2021-01-09. NJPW. en.
- Web site: How Pro Wrestling Works . Grabianowski . Ed . October 9, 2017 . HowStuffWorks, Inc. . Discovery Communications.
- Web site: 2020-11-13. NJPW Announces Details For New Year's Dash 2021. 2021-01-09. WrestlingHeadlines.com. en-US.
- Web site: Stroud, Brandon. 2016-01-05. Check Out This Huge NJPW New Year Dash Spoiler, Featuring A Major Star Saying Goodbye. 2021-01-21. UPROXX. en-US.
- Web site: 2016-01-05. NJPW New Year's Dash report: Big Bullet Club angle, NEVER trios titles defended. 2021-01-21. WON/F4W - WWE news, Pro Wrestling News, WWE Results, UFC News, UFC results. en.
- Web site: Chris Jericho teases more to come in NJPW with Tetsuya Naito attack at New Year Dash. 2021-01-21. CBSSports.com. en.
- Web site: NEW YEAR DASH !! – 東京・後楽園ホール – 第1試合 20分1本勝負. www.njpw.co.jp.
- Web site: NEW YEAR DASH !! – 東京・後楽園ホール – AJスタイルズがIWGPベルトの奪還を宣言!. www.njpw.co.jp.
- Web site: NEW YEAR DASH !! – 東京・後楽園ホール. www.njpw.co.jp.
- Web site: NEW YEAR DASH !! – 東京・後楽園ホール. www.njpw.co.jp.
- Web site: NEW YEAR DASH !! – 東京・後楽園ホール. www.njpw.co.jp.
- Web site: NEW YEAR DASH!! – 東京・後楽園ホール 2019 1/5（土）. www.njpw.co.jp.
- Web site: NEW YEAR DASH!! – 東京・TOKYO DOME CITY HALL 2021/1/6. 2021-01-09. www.njpw.co.jp. ja.
