RADICAN’S TAKE: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Hirooki Goto at NJPW New Beginning in Osaka tells timeless story

My old man was born to rock
He’s still trying to beat the clock
… Think of me what you will
I’ve got a little space to fill
… So let’s get to the point, let’s roll another joint
And let’s head on down the road
There’s somewhere I gotta go
And you don’t know how it feels
You don’t know how it feels
No, you don’t know how it feels to be me

You don’t know how it feels
You don’t know how it feels
No, you don’t know how it feels to be me

-You Don’t Know How It Feels by Tom Petty

Underdog stories just work really well in pro wrestling, especially when the story involves an underdog overcoming the odds to capture the top title in a promotion. From Mick Foley’s signature WWE Championship win over The Rock on the Jan. 4, 1999 episode of Raw to Daniel Bryan overcoming The Authority and winning the WWE World Hvt. Championship to end WrestleMania XXX to Kofi Kingston beating Daniel Bryan to win the WWE Championship at WrestleMania XXXV (although Kingston was much more than just an underdog to many people) to this past week when Hirooki Goto’s time in NJPW finally came and he beat Zack Sabre Jr. in the main event of The New Beginning In Osaka to capture the IWGP World Hvt. Championship.

The New Beginning In Osaka event sold out in advance due to Goto’s story. People wanted to see Goto finally get the job done and if it didn’t happen on this show, it was never going to happen. Goto is 45 years old. It was ten years to the day of the show when Goto had last gotten a shot at the title when he lost to Kazuchika Okada on Feb. 11, 2015.

Goto was always the bridesmaid and never the bride in NJPW, especially during the last ten years. He had won G1 tournaments in the past, but not recently. Over the last 10 years, Goto has been teased to win G1 multiple times and had fallen short every single time.

2024 was an especially difficult year for Goto in NJPW and in his personal life. His father died and before making the finals of the 2024 NJPW Cup, Goto promised to win the tournament to honor his him, but fell short and lost to Tota Tsuji.

Gota delivered big time in the ring during the G1 Climax 34 Tournament last year. The fans got behind him and his story featured his children in attendance when he beat then IWGP Global Hvt. Champion David Finlay in a block match. Despite the appearance of his children with him in the ring after that match, Goto did not even make it to the playoff round of the tournament, as his hopes were dashed with a loss to Henare before the playoff round began.

Goto has had success in NJPW as one half of Bishamon with Yoshi-Hashi. They’ve won the IWGP World Hvt. Tag Team Championship four times and Goto has also won several NJPW secondary singles titles. Due to his stoic demeanor and shortage of charisma, Goto has never had the chance to be the man in NJPW because he’s always been surrounded by a deep roster of talent up until the last couple of years when NJPW has either lost their top tier talents to WWE or AEW and other top talent such as Tetsuya Naito and Hiroshi Tanahshi began take a backseat due to age and injuries taking a toll on their bodies.

With a venue full of people who wanted to see Goto win, it just felt like it was time for him to have his moment as soon as he walked out after a video of his previous failures in IWGP Hvt. Championship matches aired. The fans chanted his name loudly as he made his entrance.

Goto went into the match saying he wanted to win for his late father and two kids. The match played out perfectly. Goto struggled to survive Sabre’s offense on the mat. Sabre worked over his arm and locked him up in a nasty double arm submission at one point with Sabre trapping both of his arms behind his back at a nasty angle, but Goto managed to get to the ropes.

Goto withstood everything Sabre threw at him down the stretch and put him away with a pair of GTR’s that sent the crowd into euphoria. Goto was joined in the ring after the match by his son and daughter. After the match, several fans could be seen crying on camera. Goto’s tag partner Yoshi-Hashi could be seen jumping for joy outside of the ring with a smile on his face after Goto got the win.

The fans chanted Goto’s name and Goto cried in the ring after mentioning that he had dedicated the match to his father and now he could prove to him finally that he hadn’t wasted 22 years of his life being a pro wrestler because he was a champion now. Gold confetti showed from the rafters of Edion Arena Osaka.

It was a scene that couldn’t have been written any better in terms of how it played out and the emotion it brought out in people watching live and at home. NJPW paid off a story over two decades in the making, but really one that had gained a lot of traction during the last year.

The story worked from a business standpoint as NJPW did its best attendance in the venue since the pandemic started in 2020 and from a storyline standpoint with Goto’s win connecting on an emotional level that so many people can identify with when someone isn’t supposed to achieve a big goal, but they end up achieving it anyway despite the odds against them. It’s not clear where Goto will go from here outside of him wanting to wrestle Hiroshi Tanahashi at the upcoming Anniversary PPV in March and Yuji Nagata setting himself up as a potential future challenger during the post-show press conference.

NJPW hasn’t had a lot of bright spots in the last year from a storyline or business standpoint, but they got the Goto storyline right and for one night the fans were fully aligned with the storytelling to end the show and NJPW gave viewers a good feeling moving forward heading into the NJPW Cup after a show where they pushed a lot of new talent to the forefront, but it was an old face that stole the headlines to end the show.

Contact Sean at pwtorchsean@gmail.com with questions and concerns. Follow him on Bluesky @seanradican.