5 Ups & 2 Downs From NJPW New Year Dash 2019

3. Will Ospreay, Tomohiro Ishii & Hirooki Goto Vs. KUSHIDA, Yuji Nagata, & Jeff Cobb

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Rumours remain rampant that KUSHIDA isn't long for New Japan Pro Wrestling with WWE allegedly beckoning in his near future, and though the Junior division will be well-stewarded by new titleholder Taiji Ishimori should he potentially depart, Will Ospreay will likely play no further role in the league.

The new NEVER Openweight Champion was in fine form against the former IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion just 24 hours removed from his terrifying tussle with Kota Ibushi, and was thankfully able to leave some of the heavy lifting in this belting six-man brawl to sh*tkicking partners Tomohiro Ishii and Hirooki Goto.

A surge from Yuji Nagata late in the match left loads on the table for future singles matches between 'Blue Justice' and a battle-bruised 'Stone Pitbull'. The pair stopped just short of grievous bodily harm in the contest's closing stretch, before tagging out to allow Goto and Jeff Cobb to engage in a full-on fight of their own.

From there it was back to the lightweights at a pace and pitch both break-neck and neck-breaking respectively. They shared a respectful moment together in the aftermath following victory for Ospreay's team - if this was part of KUSHIDA's quiet farewell, one of his final matches made all the right noises.

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Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 8 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 over 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 62,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana 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