NJPW 49th Anniversary Show Results

New Japan Pro-Wrestling held their 49th Anniversary Show at the Nippon Budokan earlier today. The event has been headlined by a match between the IWGP Heavyweight Champion and IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion in recent years and 2021 was no different as Double Champion Kota Ibushi squared off with El Desperado in the main event. On this occasion, though, the Double Title was on the line for the final time. 

No one expected El Desperado to leave the Budokan as Quadruple Champion, but he connected with plenty of offence during the 20-minute match and he and Ibushi battled back and forth throughout. The match ultimately came down to who was able to connect with their finisher and Ibushi repeatedly blocked Despe's Pinche Loco attempts before The Golden Star managed to counter Numero Dos into a Kamigoye. 

The IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion shocked those in attendance when he kicked out but he couldn't survive a second Kamigoye and Ibushi pinned him to pick up the win. 

The New Japan Cup 2021 also got underway on the 49th Anniversary Show and Jeff Cobb faced Satoshi Kojima in the first match of the single-elimination tournament. 

Kojima was able to pin Cobb in a tag team match at Castle Attack, but he was unable to do so today as Cobb managed to survive a KojiCutter and later countered a Strong Arm Lariat attempt into Tour Of The Islands for the 1-2-3. 

The United Empire member now has a date with EVIL in the second round. 

The first-round matchup between Great-O-Khan and Tetsuya Naito also took place on the show and the man with the Chinese hopping vampire gimmick picked up a stunning win over El Ingobernable. O-Khan dominated much of the 20-minute match by working over Naito's knee and even when the former Double Champion connected with a desperation Destino he was unable to make the cover. 

This ultimately allowed O-Khan to regain his composure and he blocked a second Destino attempt and an Enziguri before following up with a hellacious Lariat. The United Empire member then went back to Naito's knee with the Key Lock and Red Shoes Uno called for the bell a couple of minutes later after Naito failed to make it to the ropes. 

O-Khan will face the winner of Toru Yano vs. Bad Luck Fale in the second round. 

The likes of FinJuice, Toa Henare and KENTA also returned to New Japan Pro-Wrestling in tag team matches on the show. 

Check out the full results below:  

• Hirooki Goto, Master Wato, Tomoaki Honma & Gabriel Kidd def. Minoru Suzuki, Taichi, Zack Sabre Jr., & DOUKI 
• EVIL, Jay White, KENTA, Taiji Ishimori & Chase Owens def. Hiroshi Tanahashi, FinJuice, Toa Henare & Ryusuke Taguchi 
• Kazuchika Okada, Tomohiro Ishii & SHO def. SANADA, Shingo Takagi & BUSHI  
• Jeff Cobb def. Satoshi Kojima - New Japan Cup First Round 
• Great-O-Khan def. Tetsuya Naito - New Japan Cup First Round  
• Kota Ibushi def. El Desperado - IWGP Heavyweight & IWGP Intercontinental Double Championship