The New Beginning in Sapporo (2018)

The New Beginning in Sapporo is an upcoming professional wrestling event promoted by New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW). The event will take place on two nights on January 27 and 28, 2018, in Sapporo, Hokkaido, at the Hokkaido Prefectural Sports Center. Both nights will feature nine matches, two of which will be contested for championships in each night. The first night will be main evented by Hiroshi Tanahashi defending the IWGP Intercontinental Championship against Minoru Suzuki and the second night will be main evented by Kenny Omega defending the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship against Jay White. This was the Twelveth event under the New Beginning name and the second to take place in Sapporo.

Background
In recent years, NJPW has held the opening day of the G1 Climax tournament in Sapporo. With The New Beginning in Sapporo, the promotion revives an old tradition of holding a show during the annual Sapporo Snow Festival, resulting in the show being promoted in Sapporo. The event will air worldwide on NJPW's internet streaming site, New Japan Pro Wrestling World, with English commentary provided by Kevin Kelly and Don Callis.

The first night will be main evented by Hiroshi Tanahashi making his fifth defense of the IWGP Intercontinental Championship against Minoru Suzuki. On January 5, at NJPW's New Years Dash, Tanahashi teamed Michael Elgin, Raymond Rowe and Hanson to face Suzuki teammates Zack Sabre Jr., Lance Archer and Davey Boy Smith Jr. During the match, Suzuki kept attacking Tanahashi's injured leg. After the match, Suzuki stated Tanahashi was his next target. The previous time that the two faced each other was on January 4, 2012 at Wrestle Kingdom VI. The match was officially announced on January 9.

The second night will be main evented by Kenny Omega making his fifth defense of the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship against Jay White. On January 5, at NJPW's New Years Dash after tensions over leadership of the Bullet Club, Kenny Omega stated that Bullet Club had to be united and then he called out Jay White and offered him to join the stable. White seemingly joined the Bullet Club only to hit Omega with the Blade Runner and saiyng that he would come after his belt. Then in the backstage, White stated that he would become the second IWGP United States Heavyweight Champion. The following day, White joined CHAOS in order to face off against Bullet Club. The match was officially announced on January 9.

The CHAOS and Bullet Club return angle resulted in The New Beginning in Sapporo also featuring other prominent matches featuring the stable. On November 5, 2017 after Sho and Yoh won the 2017 Super Jr. Tag Tournament, they were challenged by The Young Bucks, which was accepted by Rocky Romero. On January 4, 2018 at Wrestle Kingdom 12 The Young Bucks defeated Sho and Yoh to win the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship. Following the New Years Dash on the following day, NJPW announced a rematch between the two teams.

Another title match include Bullet Club (Bad Luck Fale, Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa) defending the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship against Ryusuke Taguchi, Togi Makabe and Toa Henare.