NJPW “NJPW 40TH ANNIVERSARY SHOW”, 3/4/12 (WPW/PPV)
Tokyo Korakuen Hall
2,040 Fans – Super No Vacancy Full House

1. Prince Devitt, Ryusuke Taguchi & KUSHIDA beat Tama Tonga, Hiromu Takahashi & Takaaki Watanabe (11:10) when KUSHIDA used the Midnight Express on Watanabe.
2. YOSHI-HASHI & Tomohiro Ishii beat Tomoaki Honma & Captain New Japan (10:19) when YOSHI-HASHI used a Swanton bomb on Captain.
3. Jushin Thunder Liger & Tiger Mask beat Jado & Gedo (8:36) when Tiger used a Tiger suplex hold on Gedo.
4. Togi Makabe, Yuji Nagata & Wataru Inoue beat Minoru Suzuki, TAKA Michinoku & Taichi (12:35) when Nagata used a backdrop hold on Taichi.
5. Toru Yano & Takashi Iizuka beat Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima (14:37) when Yano used the Kuro Kirishima on Kojima.
6. Special 6 Man Tag Match: Shinsuke Nakamura, Masato Tanaka & Yujiro Takahashi beat Hiroshi Tanahashi, Hirooki Goto & Karl Anderson (14:18) when Nakamura used the Boma Ye on Anderson.
7. IWGP Heavyweight Title: Kazuchika Okada (c) beat Tetsuya Naito (28:50) with the Rainmaker (1st defense).

* On the 40th anniversary of Japan’s longest standing and most famous pro wrestling group, two new generation stars headlined for the IWGP Heavyweight Champion with Kazuchika Okada, who shocked the world last month when he dethroned Tanahashi, facing the man who beat Tanahashi’s greatest rival Nakamura on the same show, Tetsuya Naito. Okada survived this grueling half hour challenge against the spirited Naito, pinning him after hitting the Rainmaker to complete a successful V1 defense. Okada declared himself the IWGP champion of a new era after the match. Fans are raving about this match, with the popular Black Eye blog calling it “Amazing amazing amazing! Legendary match.” and saying it was probably even better than the Tanahashi vs. Naito from last October.

* IWGP Tag Team Champions, Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima, suffered an upset loss ahead of their upcoming title defense against Yoshihiro Takayama & Lance Archer, when they fell to CHAOS’ Toru Yano & Takashi Iizuka in a non-title match, Yano pinning Kojima. Should TenKoji retain their belts against Suzuki Gun, it would appear likely that Yano & Iizuka would move into top contendership following this win.

* Hidekazu “Kero” Tanaka, New Japan’s most famous ring announcer of years gone by, made a return as a special guest.