5 Ups & 2 Downs From NJPW New Year Dash 2019

1. Guerillas Of Destiny & Taiji Ishimori Vs. Togi Makabe, Toru Yano & Ryusuke Taguchi

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Togi Makabe famously told Bullet Club to "F*CK OFF" in 2014, but the group have never been more worthy of his four-letter fury than in early-2019.

As unlikely gauntlet winners one night prior, 'Most Violent Players' Makabe and Toru Yano and partner Ryusuke Taguchi were charged with dragging something entertaining out of the tired trio - made particularly awkward by Tama Tonga working his on-the-nose 'Good Guy' gimmick in a ticket-flogging exercise for his WrestleMania weekend car boot sale.

As noted by the announcers early, the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Championships have changed hands on this show before (and have been largely meaningless hot potatoes since their inception), so it was always deemed possible for the babyfaces to prevail despite the disparity in the current booking between the trios.

Ultimately, it wasn't to be. Chase Owens and Yujiro Takahashi confirmed their place alongside the Tongans' reframed Bullet Club to help the trio retain, and a beatdown solidified the reunification. Jay White will do well to avoid injury in 2019 - alongside all the matches he'll be expected to work, his back will be already be killing having to carry so many sacks of sh*t.

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Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation over 7 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back almost 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 60,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett