New Japan Pro-Wrestling
The promotion was founded by Antonio Inoki in 1972 after his departure from the Japan Pro Wrestling Alliance promotion. The first NJPW event took place on March 6, 1972, in Tokyo. Inoki would serve as the president of the promotion until 1989, when he stepped down to pursue a political career as a member of the Japanese House of Councillors. The promotion was a member of the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) from 1975 to 1985 and once more from 1992 to 1993. NJPW was briefly reaffiliated with the NWA in the late 2000s to the early 2010s as well.
The New Beginning in Sapporo (2017)
The New Beginning in Sapporo featured nine professional wrestling matches that involved different wrestlers from pre-existing scripted feuds and storylines. Wrestlers portrayed villains, heroes, or less distinguishable characters in the scripted events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches.
The New Beginning in Sapporo was main evented by Kazuchika Okada making his third defense of the IWGP Heavyweight Championship against Minoru Suzuki. After spending two years away in Pro Wrestling Noah, Minoru Suzuki, along with his Suzuki-gun stable, returned to NJPW on January 5, 2017, attacking Okada and his Chaos stable with Suzuki laying out Okada with his finishing maneuver, the "Gotch-Style Piledriver". Suzuki then declared war on all of NJPW, stating that his stable would take over all of the promotion's championships, just like they had done in Noah. Okada, however, promised to show Suzuki how far NJPW had come during the two years that Suzuki-gun had been away. The main event was officially announced on January 10. In interviews prior to the match, it was claimed that the bad blood between the two started on May 13, 2007, when Suzuki confronted then 19-year old Okada at an event promoted by Último Dragón. The two have since wrestled three singles matches against each other with Okada having won two and Suzuki one. In the days leading to the event, Suzuki targeted Okada's right knee with one attack taking place at a contract signing the day before the event.