#Shingo Takagi is also here. very small

[gdwessel]

Sakura Genesis 2021 - 4/4/2021

The traditional Spring megacard has taken place, the first one since 2018. (2019′s was overtaken by G1 Supercard in New York, 2020′s cancelled due to the pandemic.) Hiromu Takahashi made a brief appearance before the first match as well. You can see it now on NJPWWorld, but, well... read on.

Sakura Genesis 2021 - 4/4/2021, Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan (NJPWWorld)

Taichi, Zack Sabre Jr. & DOUKI [SZKG] d. Tama Tonga, Tanga Loa & Jado [Bullet Club] (Sabre > Loa, European Clutch, 10:10)

Kazuchika Okada, Toru Yano, Hirooki Goto, Tomohiro Ishii & YOSHI-HASHI [CHAOS] v. EVIL, KENTA, Yujiro Takahashi, Taiji Ishimori & Dick Togo [Bullet Club] (Yano > Togo, Urakasumi, 11:37)

Great O-Khan, Jeff Cobb & X (X = Aaron Henare) [United Empire] d. Tetsuya Naito, SANADA & Shingo Takagi [Los Ingobernables] (Henare > SANADA, Streets Of Rage, 9:51)

Hiroshi Tanahashi & Satoshi Kojima d. Jay White & Bad Luck Fale [Bullet Club] (Tanahashi > Fale, High Fly Flow, 10:05)

IWGP Juniorheavyweight Tag Team Championship: SHO & YOH [CHAOS] d. El Desperado & Yoshinobu Kanemaru [SZKG] © (YOH > Kanemaru, Direct Drive, 20:48) - Desperado/Kanemaru fail their 1st defense - Roppongi 3K are the 65th champions

IWGP World Heavyweight Championship: Will Ospreay [United Empire] d. Kota Ibushi © (Stormbreaker, 30:13) - Ibushi fails his 1st defense of the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship - Ospreay is the 2nd champion

Immediately post-match, Jeff Cobb of the United Empire flattened Ibushi with a Tour Of The Islands. I expect there to be a grudge match there soon. Ospreay now holds two titles (including RevPro’s Undisputed British Heavyweight belt), and immediately called out Kazuchika Okada for his first defense, however Shingo Takagi interrupted that, and declared he wanted a shot at it. So, I guess it’s Shingo first, probably at Wrestling Dontaku, then presumably Okada at Dominion.

There is a lot to unpack here. After all the hemming and hawing on the part of both Kota Ibushi and New Japan Pro Wrestling about “becoming God,” unifying the titles, committing to an angle that clearly was not popular, the very first defense of the new title goes to Ospreay, whom Gedo and the bookers clearly like. However, between his antics both on social media, and #SpeakingOut, and the recent angle where he gave an OsCutter to Bea Priestley to show just how much he wanted the title that didn’t even go over well with the fans in attendance, this is a wrestler that has alienated a not-small chunk of the New Japan Pro Wrestling audience. It was clear that at some point, Ospreay was going to be IWGP champion. Nobody really expected it to be now, so soon after Ibushi won and unified the titles. This show was pretty United Empire-centric, however, so maybe we should have seen this coming. The fact of the matter is, NJPW have put their brand new main title on someone that legitimately repulses a portion of the NJPW audience.

The only real positive to take from this, is that historically, brand new IWGP champions generally (GENERALLY) have short first title reigns. Recent examples would include Tetsuya Naito, Jay White and EVIL. Historically, Big Van Vader, Tatsumi Fujinami, Riki Choshu, Shinsuke Nakamura and Masahiro Chono (his only reign, cut short due to injury) all had relatively short first reigns with few defenses. It’s the exceptions that you would expect, that have had more significant first reigns -- Antonio Inoki, Keiji Muto/Great Muta, Shinya Hashimoto, Kensuke Sasaki, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Kazuchika Okada, AJ Styles, Kenny Omega. Kota Ibushi’s, frankly, is a little more inflated than it actually was, due to all the drama about unification, as well as the 2-night Wrestle Kingdom 15, making it seem longer than it actually was. I’m pretty sure Ospreay is not going to have a long reign, no longer than Dominion. They seem to be following the pattern of Tetsuya Naito c. 2016 with this storyline, so I expect Shingo to fall at Wrestling Dontaku (a la Tomohiro Ishii) with Okada once more winning this title at Dominion. 

To keep up with the United Empire line of thought, the new X member was Toa Henare (so @damascenocs​ was right again), although going back to being billed as Aaron Henare. (I can’t quite seem to locate when and where he quit going by “Aaron Henry” before going to Henare, and then Toa Henare.) There is kind of a gross subtext here, with Henare being a New Zealander, aka a former British colony, and reverting from a “more native” sounding name like Toa Henare to going by a “civilized, colonial name” in Aaron Henare. Like so many things with regard to Will Ospreay, there is a distinct lack of reading the room here. On the other hand, I don’t actually MIND Henare being part of this, they needed to do something with him after just spinning his wheels in opening tag matches and only ever getting wins over Young Lions for the last few years. He has a new finisher too, sort of a Fisherman’s Death Valley Driver, called Streets Of Rage, a name I confess I love. Post-match, O-Khan attacked Naito’s knee with a chair, so I fully expect this feud to go on for a bit.

In other news about new moves, YOH returned to in-ring action today teaming with SHO, and delivered the winning blow to get the IWGP junior tag belts back around RPG3K’s waists. This new move is called Direct Drive, looks like a butterfly brainbuster or DDT (maybe a bit like Death Rider?). YOH then immediately challenged El Desperado for the IWGP Juniorheavyweight title, which would be YOH’s first-ever I believe. I fully expected this scenario to happen, only with SHO instead. But hey, YOH is back and that’s good.

Post-match, Tanahashi put Jay White into a Texas Cloverleaf, but also finally accepted Jay’s challenge for the NEVER Openweight strap. A challenge has been made by a Bullet Club tandem (KENTA, Yujiro, Ishimori) for the NEVER Openweight 6-Man belts held by Ishii/Goto/YOSHI-HASHI. And finally, Taichi demanded NJPW return the Iron Finger from Hell, implying the office has confiscated it. Hmm.

It wasn’t all bad, but the bad taste left by Will Ospreay and the United Empire, after all the hoopla about the IWGP World Heavyweight title, shows this may in fact be a long year for New Japan Pro Wrestling.

The next show is this Saturday, the beginning of the Wrestling Dontaku cycle. No lineups are announced yet. Probably later tonight or Monday sometime. 

[puroresu-musings]

NJPW G1 CLIMAX 29 Day 13 & Day 14 Review (Aug 3rd and 4th 2019, Osaka, EDION Arena)

Day 13 (A Block)

KENTA vs. Bad Luck Fale  **

Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Lance Archer  ***1/4

Will Ospreay vs. EVIL  ****1/2

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kota Ibushi  ****3/4

Kazuchika Okada vs. SANADA  *****

Day 14 (B Block)

Tomohiro Ishii vs. Toru Yano  ***3/4

Juice Robinson vs. Taichi  *3/4

Hirooki Goto vs. Jeff Cobb  ***1/4

Jon Moxley vs. Jay White  ***1/2

Tetsuya Naito vs. Shingo Takagi  ****3/4

Photos.

The G1 rolled into Osaka for the annual, and prerequisite, classic matches in the tournament. The A Block night on the 3rd was the stronger of the two, and very probably the best night of Block action so far this year, with three fantastic matches back to back. To kick things off, Bad Luck Fale defeated KENTA after a lot of Bullet Club shenanigans. KENTA worked hard here, laying into the big man with some stiff kicks, then turned a Grenade into Game Over in the middle of the ring. This caused Chase Owens to distract the referee as Jado came in with the kendo stick. The old timer misses with the cane and KENTA sends him packing, however the distraction allowed Fale to sneak up from behind and score the win with a school boy at 7:20 of a very frustrating bout. This was nonsense and the loss essentially eliminates KENTA from this years tournament. Oh well. Speaking of which, the next contest was between two guys who are also mathematically eliminated and members of Suzuki-gun, as ZSJ got the sneaky win over the considerably larger Lance Archer. This was really good, with Zack playing the annoying ant to Archer’s giant. After Zack would keep countering Lance’s power moves into submissions, the American Psycho finally hit a big chokeslam, which appeared to win the match for him, but he inexplicably lifted Sabre at 2. Archer then tried Blackout, but Zack rolled through into a cradle to win at the 10:43 mark.

The next three bouts were all tremendous in their own very different ways. Ospreay vs. EVIL was an excellent battle indeed, and featured a white hot crowd. These guys worked incredibly well together, with their different styles meshing seamlessly and producing one of the hottest closing stretches of the tournament. After Ospreay scored a near fall with the corner to corner dropkick, and EVIL rebounded with a huge Lariat, they went into a crazy strike exchange and counter sequence, before EVIL scores a near fall with Darkness Falls. The King Of Darkness tries Everything is Evil, but Will flips out and hits a massive Liger Bomb for a near fall of his own. EVIL ducks Hidden Blade and charges for another Lariat, but runs straight into the Spanish Fly and hits Oscutter for a super believable near fall. He tries the Super Oscutter, but EVIL catches him in a big half and half German, another big Lariat, and scores the win at 17:08 with the STO. Following that were Tanahashi and Ibushi in a rematch of last years final, one of the greatest finals in the history of the G1. This wasn’t as good as that all time classic, but it was a different match really. This was worked at a breakneck pace (it surprisingly only went 15:53), and featured some absolutely fantastic exchanges. After Tanahashi worked over Ibushi’s ankle, and Ibushi worked on Tanahashi’s knee, Tana attempted an HFF to the floor, but Ibushi countered into a springboard top rope Frankensteiner, and from here the match never stopped. Tana escaped that terrifying Lawn Dart into the turnbuckle spot, then tried Sling Blade, but ate a perfectly timed double stomp, and took the Lawn Dart anyway, which never looks fun. Whilst Tana rolled onto the apron, Ibushi hit his other terrifying move; the Deadlift German off the ropes into the ring for a near fall. After Tana escapes a Last Ride attempt, the two engage in an unbelievable strike exchange, which resulted in Kota getting a bloody mouth, and a Tanahashi hand print across the right side of his face, as the crowd goes crazy. Ibushi sold like he was KO’d, but spins round into his massive Lariat for the double down. Ibushi hits the high kick, but Tana counters Kamigoye into three Twist and Shout’s, hits a perfect Sling Blade, but misses the High Fly Flow. Kota battles back with the Boma Ye for a near fall, then Tanahashi counters another Kamigoye attempt into a small package for a believable near fall. Ibushi is up and hits the Ace with a big high kick, but Tana shakes it off and screams, only to eat another, then the match-ending Kamigoye for Ibushi to take the 2 points and eliminate Tanahashi from contention. There was a ‘passing of the torch’ type moment in the post match as the two showed respect for each other, with Ibushi being emotional at finally vanquishing his God (he’s only ever pinned him one other time previous to this, in the 2017 G1) and Tana rolled out of the ring so Ibushi could get his pop.

The main event had a lot to follow, but somehow ended up surpassing them in a highly dramatic match. This was great, and the best match I’ve ever seen these two have together (and probably the best of SANADA’s career). Whereas the previous bouts were super heated sprints, this was a slow burn classic which took its time to weave its tale, and teasing going the distance. Obviously the story here is that SANADA is 6-0 against Okada, having never beaten him once, and Okada is undefeated in this G1 thus far, looking invincible in the process, so SANADA had a hell of an uphill battle. The Osaka faithful were super into this from the outside, and everyone appeared to be behind the underdog SANADA, chanting his name throughout this. In reality, this was every Okada/SANADA match we’ve ever seen, until the closing stretch, which was insanely intense. SANADA tried the springboard dropkick, but Okada catches him in the Air Raid Crash neckbreaker, then tries Rainmaker, but SANADA counters into Skull End, which Okada flips out of after climbing the ropes, and hits a Tombstone. He tries another Rainmaker, but SANADA again blocks it, this time catching him in Keiji Muto’s Dragon Neck Screw off the ropes. They engage in a great forearm and European uppercut exchange, before Okada wipes Cold Skull out with his patented drop kick. Another Rainmaker is turned into Skull End again, but Okada escapes, only for SANADA to hit a Tiger Suplex for a near fall. SANADA lands on his feet after Okada moved from a Moonsault attempt, but manages to lock in Skull End. This time, Okada counters into two Rainmakers, then tries a third, but SANADA hits one of his own which blew the roof off the EDION Arena. After 25 minutes of action, SANADA locks in Skull End once more, this time for a long time, and Okada starts to fade. Red Shoes Unno was fantastic here, selling that Okada might be out and the he was going to stop it, but Okada begins fighting back as the final two minutes are called. SANADA releases Skull End, then tries the Moonsault, but the IWGP Champion gets the knees up. At this point you got the feeling like this was definitely ending in a time limit draw. Final minute, and Okada hits another dropkick, then tries another Rainmaker, but SANADA counters into a pop-up Ace Crusher. With 30 seconds left SANADA hits a Moonsault to the back, and another to the front to score his first win ever over Okada at the 29:47 mark. This was superb stuff with off the charts tension and drama. SANADA cut a promo in the post match saying he loved Osaka to send everyone home happy.

The B Block show on the 14th couldn’t possibly hope to follow that show, but it was still a really good night of G1 action. Firstly, Block action began with Tomohiro Ishii pinning fellow CHAOS stablemate Toru Yano with the Brainbuster in a great 9:36 match-up. This was Yano’s best match of the tournament, even if it probably was Ishii’s weakest, and was just super entertaining throughout. Yano kept trying to steal wins with cradles and roll-up’s and Ishii would constantly prevent Yano from hitting his low blows and shenanigans, destroying him with chops and forearms in the process. The Stone Pitbull finally hit the Sliding Lariat and the Vertical Drop for the win and the 2 points, meaning he’s ver much still alive in this thing. Taichi defeated Juice in a deathly boring 12 minute outing next. I didn’t like this at all, and reached a crescendo of ref bumps and interference, before spat whiskey in Juice’s eyes and scored the pin with Black Mephisto. Whatever. 

Hirooki Goto and Jeff Cobb clashed next. This match too was just there, much like their uber disappointing NEVER Title match at the Cow Palace last year. On paper, these guys should have great matches togerther, however, they never click at all. The work was ultimately good, but it was just missing something, I feel. Goto scored the win at the 11:20 mark after hitting the Ushigoroshi into the Final Cut, then the GTR to get the 2 points. The Jay White/Jon Moxley match that followed, whilst very good, was another disappointment. Once again, there was just too much bullshit and shenanigans for my liking. There was a lot of stalling, a lot of interference, and the token ref bumps, all of which helped to dilute what should have been a very heated match, even if the closing stretch did save it somewhat. Moxley worked over Jay’s knee, locking on the Cloverleaf and an STF, before Jay came back with the suplex into the corner, a Saito suplex and the Deadlift German (which Moxley barely got over on), for a near fall. The Urinage gets a near fall for White, before Mox fires back with his release vertical suplex, which looked great. He then hit the Regal Knee Trembler, and a double arm DDT for a near fall, before White bumped the ref (yawn), and Gedo ran in and nailed Moxley with the brass knuckles. White then hit two sleeper suplexes, a cross arm Bloody Sunday, and the match-winning Blade Runner to end this at the 15:15 mark. I’m a big Jay White fan, I think he’s great and has a superstar aura, and I know they’re protected Moxley something fierce, but really, this sort of stuff does nobody any favours.

Thank God then for the main event, which was tremendous. L.I.J. exploded as Tetsuya Naito took on Shingo Takagi in a fantastic battle. Naito took an incredible beating here, and even though he won, he put Shingo over huge. This couldn’t really have gone any better, and came across like a classic G1 outing. They started with a nice chain wresting and feeling out process, but then Naito spat in Takagi’s face, which lit a fire under the Dragon. Shingo proceeded to destroy his stablemate with some of the hardest Lariats you’ll ever see. He countered a Tornado DDT into a Death Valley Bomb, then tried to cave in Naito’s chest with the Tenryu elbow off the top. Naito escaped a sliding lariat attempt, and hits an enzugiri. He tries the second rope reverse rana, but Shingo escapes and hits Noshigami. Naito counters a Pumping Bomber with a Koppo Kick, then hits Gloria for a near fall. Shingo hits a nasty looking Wheelbarrow German into the corner, then tries the super Death Valley Bomb off the second, which Naito turns into a Frankensteiner. Naito hits the reverse rana, but in trying a Destino, he runs straight into an ungodly Lariat, which looked like it killed him. A Made In Japan attempt is turned into a Dragon Suplex by Naito, but Shingo finally hits M.I.J. for a great near fall, followed by a Pumping Bomber, which decimates Naito, for another near fall. Last Of The Dragon is turned into Destino. They have a strike exchange, which Takagi obviously wins, crumpling Naito with a headbutt, but Naito hits a brainbuster out of nowhere for the double down. Naito hits a Canadian Destroyer, then Destino, but Shingo kicks out at 2.9! Another Destino follows, and Naito finally puts Shingo away at the 27:15 mark. This was fanatastic, and had a great backstory with both guys training at Animal Hamaguchi’s gym as teenagers, and being rivals. The ending was never really in any doubt, and even though I’d have preferred Shingo to have won this, he lost nothing in defeat, in fact he gained everything in that it was very similar to the Nakamura vs. Ibushi G1 23 match at this very building, which was a star making turn for Ibushi.

After this, the standings are that only Okada, Ibushi and EVIL are alive in the A Block (though KENTA holds a tie breaker over Ibushi and EVIL), so only one of those could realistically win, whereas the B BLock has Moxley in the lead, and a whole log jam of guys tied at 8 points. Those being Naito, Jay White, Ishii and Goto.

NDT

[pwchronicle]

New Japan Pro Wrestling “Fighting Spirit Unleashed 2019 - Night 3″ Live Show Report September 29th in Philadelphia, PA

New Japan completed their three-night tour of the Northeast at the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia. Running on their own without the assistance of a domestic promotion, tonight drew a near-capacity crowd of fans from all over. I was last at the Arena over two months ago for EVOLVE 131 (the one that aired live on the WWE Network). That was a no vacancy crowd as well, though I was close to the ring in the North section and really felt the heavy body heat. This time, I secured a Row 10 seat (though it still had good views) in the South section, where it felt considerably cooler. Granted, it’s also late September, and it was more comfortable outside today than yesterday, but I didn’t have as many people surrounding me. The referees were three from Japan (including Red Shoes in the main event) and one from the US (presumably California).

1. Rocky Romero beat Clark Connors with a cross arm breaker out of a Falcon Arrow. Right off the bat, the crowd was up for everyone, including the Young Lions of the LA Dojo. Romero is still a ball of charisma. Romero and Connors exchanged a lot of strikes and chops, with Connors delivering the heavier ones. Connors came close with a nearfall from a small package; the Young Lion nearfalls are a tried and true trope that still hooks the crowd.

2. Mikey Nicholls beat Karl Fredericks with a running Mikey Bomb. The former Nick Miller of NXT (not New GIrl), back to his TMDK moniker with a slight Mad Max aesthetic was pretty evenly matched by the recent winner of New Japan’s Young Lion Cup. Nicholls got heat from the crowd by shoving the ref. Fredericks came close to winning with a half-crab, then Nicholls locked on one of his own for the near submission. Nicholls was able to follow up with a Death Valley Driver and a sliding lariat leading into the finish.

3. Lance Archer beat Alex Coughlin with the EBD claw. During Archer’s entrance, he clocked some ringside attendants and hit Coughlin with a lariat before the bell. He’s not wasting any time. Coughlin went after Archer right at the start after recovering, but the next five minutes was pretty much all Archer. He nearly walked all four top ropes while holding onto Coughlin, only stopping his full trip to spite the crowd. Archer was tremendous here. Coughlin started to mount a comeback and successfully bodyslammed Archer after some failed attempts, but Archer hit him with a spinning splash off the middle rope, as well as the Blackout, prior to the finish.

4. Amazing Red beat Ren Narita with Code Red. Narita has begun his United States excursion, rocking the LA Dojo colors (which are still black and white). Red doesn’t seem like someone who retired, but definitely came off like a humble veteran (in that current-day Rey Mysterio mold), very well-liked by the crowd. Narita stood up to him early on, and he came close to winning with a rolling cloverleaf.

5. Los Ingobernables de Japon (Tetsuya Naito, SANADA, and Shingo Takagi) beat Juice Robinson & Roppongi 3K (SHO & YOH) when SANADA made YOH submit to Skull End. The first big dose of star power of the night, with each of these six guys getting chants before it ended with a chant for “All These Guys.” Naito still wrestled in his shirt, but whatever, tranquilo. Very fun match that had the crowd fully invested; everyone went nuts when SANADA put Robinson in the Paradise Lock. Following the end of the match, Naito and Robinson spat loogies at one another.

6. Los Ingobernables de Japon (EVIL & BUSHI) beat Kota Ibushi & TJP after EVIL hit TJP with Everything Is Evil. The G1 Climax 29 winner Ibushi was beloved, while his still-babyface partner TJP was soundly booed by everyone in the crowd. Interesting dynamic. Everyone looked good here as this continued to build towards Ibushi and EVIL going one-on-one at King of Pro Wrestling next month. This included EVIL taking Ibushi into the front row and working him over against fans’ chairs. Ibushi was taken out of the match towards the end when BUSHI sprayed mist in his face, then hit him with a tope suicida on the floor.

7. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Hirooki Goto, Tomohiro Ishii, YOSHI-HASHI, and the Rock ‘n’ Roll Express (Ricky Morton & Robert Gibson) beat Bullet Club’s Jay White, KENTA, Guerrillas of Destiny (Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa), Chase Owens, and Gedo (w/ Jado) in a 6-on-6 Elimination Match. Within New Japan, eliminations in these matches occur via pinfall, submission, or being thrown over the top rope with both feet touching the floor. I’m usually not a fan of these matches that I’ve already seen from New Japan a few times this year, but I was swayed by being in a crowd for one, especially this crowd, and seeing the star power on display, Individual entrances for everyone. After each team had a chance to run wild on the other, it settled onto Tanahashi getting worked over by the Bullet Club. The first man eliminated was Gedo when he was tossed over the top by both Morton and Gibson. These two are still game for everything. Owens got into it with Morton and attempted to hit him with a package piledriver, but Morton back body dropped Owens and hit him with a Canadian Destroyer to a standing ovation. As Morton celebrated though, Jay White came up from behind him and tossed him over the top to eliminate him. Right after this, I believe it was Owens that rolled up Gibson to eliminate him as well, so both Ricky and Robert got to leave the match together to a big ovation from the crowd. Rock ‘n’ Roll lives on. YOSHI-HASHI had a chance to shine after this. He eliminated Loa by tossing him over the top, and then he fought with Tonga afterward, leading YOSHI-HASHI to end up on the outside apron. While Tonga drew away the ref’s attention, Loa yanked YOSHI-HASHI down the floor, eliminating him. A few moments later, YOSHI-HASHI turned the tables by eliminating Tonga the same way. Down to three on each team, this led into KENTA and Ishii squaring off. They both went over the top rope wound up on the outer edge, striking each other until they both fell to the floor, eliminated simultaneously. Once they got up, they continued fighting to the back, so This Feud Must Continue. White and Goto went at it, continuing to build towards an eventual match for White’s newly won Intercontinental Title. Goto was able to toss White over the top rope to eliminate him, but then right afterward Owens (who I forgot about still being in this match) came up from behind and tossed Goto over the top to eliminate him. As Owens celebrated, Tanahashi came up from behind him. Tanahashi avoided being eliminated (holding onto the top rope and powering himself back into the ring), hit Owens with a sling blade, and pinned him the High Fly Flow to win the match. This match went a little over 20 minutes.

After this, Tanahashi teased leaving the ring, but stayed inside and invited the Rock ‘n’ Roll Express back out, wanting to play guitar with them. Tanahashi retrieved invisible guitars for Morton, Gibson, and himself, they jammed on them, played an encore demanded by the crowd, and then smashed them on the mat in unison. After Ricky and Robert left, Tanahashi thanked us all in the crowd for coming in English, then gave us all a brief lesson in the Japanese language so that he and the crowd could say his closing catchphrase together for the hard cam. Tanahashi ended the night by going around ringside to greet and take pictures with fans.

This show lasted around about two and a half hours, and with no intermission, it flew by. You could consider these three US cards B-Shows, but this one was still very fun to watch in person. Just a great time. Much like what I saw from the New York event on New Japan World, this Philadelphia crowd was hot for everything and treated pretty much all of the wrestlers like superstars. By all accounts a successful tour that I hope will lead to return trips to the Northeast. 

[wrestlingisfake]

Wrestling Dontaku preview

The Wrestling Dontaku tour runs from April 13 to May 4, culminating in two main shows at the end.  (“Dontaku” means “holiday,” although that doesn’t really explain why the tour is called that.)  The tour includes several dates with their own show titles, and I won’t pretend to know why--you kinda just have to roll with it until you find a Reddit thread that explains this stuff.

Like most New Japan tours, there are enough title defenses and special matches to fill out a single big show, but they’re spread across multiple dates.  Normally there’d be two or three dates with most of the key matches, but this time the important stuff is scattered all over the tour.  I’ve picked out the major highlights.

April 20 - Sengoku Lord in Nagoya

Kota Ibushi vs. Zack Sabre, Jr. - Ibushi is defending the IWGP intercontinental championship.  Sabre is the RevPro British champion, although that title is not on the line.  At G1 Supercard, Sabre successfully defended his title against Hiroshi Tanahashi, while Ibushi captured his title to fulfill a quest to emulate Tanahashi.  So Ibushi requested Sabre as his first challenger, in order to face he man who, in Ibushi’s words, “defeated a god.”  It’s also worth noting that Sabre is the one that knocked Ibushi out of the New Japan Cup, so he has the momentum going into this match.

These two always have a good match, so that’s no problem, but there’s little chance of a title change.  Ibushi will likely retain.

Juice Robinson vs. Bad Luck Fale - Juice is defending the IWGP United States championship.  On March 24, Juice defended the title against Chase Owens, but Fale attacked him after the match.  Mikey Nicholls made the save, so this tour features Juice and Nicholls facing Chase and Fale in various combinations.  I suspect the winner of this match is going to end up defending against Nicholls down the line.

Juice is a classic fired-up babyface and Fale is a classic monster heel, so this should be a clinic for hope spots and he’s-just-too-fat moments and size-of-the-fight-in-the-dog comebacks.  I’m not confident it’ll be a three-star wrestling match but it should be good pro wrestling, if that makes sense.  I could dig Fale as champion for a couple of months but I think Juice will retain.

April 22 - Road to Wrestling Dontaku

Ryusuke Taguchi & Toru Yano & Togi Makabe vs. Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa & HIKULEO - Taguchi’s team is defending the NEVER openweight trios championship.  The champs won the title from the Guerillas of Destiny and Taiji Ishimori, but now GOD is teaming with their brother Hikuleo, who is like two Ishimoris tall.

The confusing thing here is that GOD and Yano/Makabe have spent much of 2019 fighting over both the NEVER six-man tag team championship and the IWGP tag team title.  Taguchi/Yano/Makabe won the NEVER title, but then Yano/Makabe failed to win the IWGP title, and then GOD also won the ROH tag title, but Yano stole the IWGP tag belts.  So we’ve got a tag title match about stolen tag title belts, but the stolen belts aren’t the ones on the line, and the victims of the theft still have tag title belts.  It’s kind of ridiculous, and I wish they’d figure out something else to do with the trios title.

The Taguchi team should probably retain, if only so Yano can continue to taunt GOD about how they still can’t get their stolen belts back.

April 26 - Road to Wrestling Dontaku - Aki no Kuni Sengoku Emaki

SHO & YOH vs. Shingo Takagi & BUSHI - Roppongi 3K won the IWGP junior heavyweight tag team title from Shingo and Bushi back in March, so this is the rematch.  These teams have been fighting over the title for months, and if you include the Bushi/Hiromu Takahashi team, it’s more like a full year.  What’s really frustrating is that, no matter who wins, the next contenders for the title will likely be El Desperado and Yoshinobu Kanemaru, who have also been embroiled in this never-ending feud.  I’m begging New Japan to create some new junior tag teams.  I no longer care who wins.

April 29 - Wrestling Hi no Kuni

Jay White vs. Hirooki Goto - White lost the IWGP heavyweight title at G1 Supercard, so it looks like this match has been set up as the first step back into the title hunt.  Goto has really not done anything of note since November, which makes him convenient to feed to White.  I suppose a win a for Goto would be a huge statement to push him towards the top, but I think it’s more likely we’ll see White make a small statement to nudge him away from the bottom.

Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa vs. Toru Yano & Togi Makabe - The Guerillas of Destiny hold both the IWGP heavyweight tag team title and the ROH tag team title, but Yano and Makabe are only challenging for the IWGP title.  Yano stole the IWGP tag title belts shortly after GOD became double champions on April 6.  One of these teams will have momentum coming out of the trios title match mentioned earlier, but let’s not even get into that here.  After going to all the trouble of making GOD double champions, I don’t think they’ll just drop one title here like it’s nothing.  Hell, they haven’t even had a chance to pose with both sets of belts yet.  So the Tongans gotta retain.

Mikey Nicholls vs. Bad Luck Fale - This is the first singles match for Nicholls since starting with the company in the New Japan Cup.  A victory over Fale would put him into the mix for the midcard championships, especially if Fale wins the US title on April 20.  A loss for Nicholls would establish him as a prelim guy at the level of YOSHI-HASHI, David Finlay, or Chase Owens.  I personally think there’s no sense not pushing Nicholls, and it would make a ton of sense for him to win here and challenge Juice for the US championship at Dominion, so I’m predicting that.

May 3 - Wrestling Dontaku Night 1

Dragon Lee vs. Taiji Ishimori - Lee won the IWGP junior heavyweight title from Ishimori on April 6 in a three-way match, but Ishimori wasn’t involved in the fall, so he’s getting a one-on-one rematch here.  This will be the final junior heavyweight title match before the Best of the Super Jr. tournament; the winner of this match will be the champion going into the tournament, which will determine his next challenger.  The only reason I see to put the belt back on Ishimori this early is if Lee is headed back to CMLL after this tour.  But I’m very certain Lee will be booked for BOSJ and Dominion, so you might as well keep the title on him through those shows.

Jeff Cobb vs. Taichi - Cobb is both the NEVER openweight champion and the ROH television champion, but only the NEVER title is at stake.  Taichi earned this shot by pinning Ospreay in a tag match back when Ospreay was champion, and then Ospreay lost the title to Cobb on April 6.  I don’t have any confidence in Taichi, so this match feels like a waste of time, except to test Cobb’s ability to get a good match out of a stall-tastic choke artist.  Cobb will retain.

May 4 - Wrestling Dontaku Night 2

Kazuchika Okada vs. SANADA - This is Okada’s first defense of the IWGP heavyweight championship since regaining it in Madison Square Garden on April 6.  The title has not been successfully defended in a one-on-one match since September, so I think the goal here is to put Okada over someone who doesn’t need to be kept very strong.  Sanada, who lost to Okada in the New Japan Cup finals, fits the bill.  The real intrigue will be about what happens after Okada retains, and who might issue a challenge following the match.

Tomohiro Ishii vs. EVIL - This would be a fairly notable match if not for the fact that there’s no championship or tournament involved.  The winner will presumably get a push--although a push for what is anyone’s guess.  Under the circumstances, I can’t even guess who would win.

Dragon Lee & Will Ospreay vs. Taiji Ishimori & X - Ishimori is teaming with a mystery partner.  “X” is presumably a new member of Bullet Club, and probably a new junior heavyweight since the Best of the Super Jr. tournament is coming up.  The obvious candidate is El Phantasmo from RevPro, since he appeared in a Bullet Club hype video that aired throughout the last tour.  Regardless, you don’t book a mystery partner in a match for the team with the mystery partner to lose, so Ishimori’s team should get their hands raised.

[hazyheel]

NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 14 Day 1 Predictions

Wrestle Kingdom is always in contention for show of the year come December, even though it is usually the first big show of the year. New Japan is just that good. And this year’s card is just as appetizing as past years, even if it is split into a two night event. So we don’t have all the big title matches on one night, but it is still a packed night. Ten huge matches with a lot of big names. i’m still definitely looking forward to it. Here are my predictions for this year’s Wrestle Kingdom.

Oh yeah, also I’m back. Went through a bit of a rough patch in my life (college is hard) but I’m back on the wrestling train. Happy to be blogging again :)

Mayu Iwatani & Arisa Hoshiki vs. Giulia & Hana Kimura: This is a Wonder Ring Stardom showcase match that I did not expect to happen, but here it is. I have heard great things about Stardom, but my only real experience with it was in my small experience with Ring of Honor. So I have only really seen Iwatani wrestle, but she is pretty good, so there is no reason not to look forward to this. Iwatani is currently the World of Stardom Champion (main event), while Hoshiki is the Wonder of Stardom Champion (midcard). Since I have no clue who anyone other than Iwatani are, I am just gonna guess that she will win. This will probably be pretty good. 

Alex Coughlin, Clark Connors, Karl Fredericks & Toa Henare vs. Togi Makabe, Tomoaki Honma, Yota Tsuji & Yuya Uemura: A young lion showcase at the Tokyo Dome. This is probably the biggest stage that any of the young lions have been on, so good for them for getting on the card. I’m gonna say that the US Dojo boys will win this one, only because Fredericks won the Young Lion Cup so he may get the pin. But I will be rooting for my boy Tsuji all the way. This could be good, but I’m not going to get my hopes up.

Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima vs. Manabu Nakanishi & Yuji Nagata: The last pre show match has a few of the older guys on the roster in a tag match. While I’m not a huge fan most of these guys, other than Nagata, they have been working together for a long time and have probably developed a good amount of chemistry. I’m calling TenKoji to win this, because they are an actual tag team. Again, could be a good match, but I’m not willing to bet on it. 

The Great Sasuke, Jushin Thunder Liger, Tatsumi Fujinami & Tiger Mask IV vs. Naoki Sano, Ryusuke Taguchi, Shinjiro Ootani & Tatsuhito Takaiwa: The match opening up the official Wrestle Kingdom Card is Jushin Thunder Liger’s first retirement match, and features a host of Japanese wrestling legends. Now, I don’t know much about old school New Japan, but I definitely recognize a few of these names. I’m gonna say that Liger’s team will get the win on this one, just so he can have one last pin to his name. I’m not expecting much from this match, but the aftermath should be quite touching. 

BUSHI, EVIL, SANADA & Shingo Takagi vs. El Desperado, Minoru Suzuki, Taichi & Zack Sabre Jr: Los Ingobernables de Japon vs. Suzuki-Gun. An 8 man tag that serves to get a bunch of deserving people on the wrestle kingdom card, and preview the British Championship match for night two. Not much else to say about this, but there is a lot of good talent in this match. I’m not normally into the hastily thrown together multi-man tags in New Japan, but this might be good if they step up their game for the Tokyo Dome. I’m going to say that Suzuki-Gun gets the win, because then the heels will get to beat down the faces, and that is always fun. 

Bad Luck Fale, Chase Owens, KENTA & Yujiro Takahashi vs. Hirooki Goto, Tomohiro Ishii, Toru Yano & YOSHI-HASHI: CHOAS vs. BULLET CLUB. Another big 8 man tag that gives a big old Wrestle Kingdom Paycheck to some deserving guys. This match, however, kinda previews two matches. Not only the NEVER Openweight Championship, but the 6-man tag team championships as well. I don’t care much about this match because most of the Bullet Club guys aren’t super exciting to watch, but I’m looking forward to whenever Kenta gets in the ring. I’m gonna call the CHAOS team winning so that there can be a bit of tension between Ishii, Hashi and Yano, because Ishii and Hashi are gunning for Yano’s title on Night two. 

FinJuice vs. The Guerrillas of Destiny for the IWGP Tag Team Championships: The unlikely winners of the World Tag League take on the totally dominant Guerrillas of Destiny. The big story coming into this match is that GOD beat FinJuice in the World Tag League late last year, so they have the edge going into this match. Even though I really want FinJuice to win this, and I’ll probably be rooting for them on the day, I doubt they are coming away with the big win. It’s not even really because they are a bad team, I just don’t think that they want to have Juice with two belts before the main event of night two (spoilers for my later predictions). I hope this is a good match, because I feel like it will be but GOD can be kinda iffy sometimes. But I think it will be pretty good. 

Jon Moxley vs. Lance Archer in a Texas Death Match for the IWGP United States Championship: New Japan does not often use stipulations of any kind, and this is actually quite the big one. In this match, there are no pinfalls. The win can only come from a submission or a KO, to be represented by a ten count. So it’s kinda a hybrid between a submission match and a last man standing match. Very interesting. This match came about on the final day of the World Tag League, when Moxley confronted Archer after his final league match with Suzuki. Because of the violent nature of both of these wrestlers, they busted out the aforementioned violent stipulation. I think that Moxley is winning this match because Archer has really just been a transitional champion. Moxley never actually lost this belt, and it’s a damn shame that we didn’t get the Moxley-Robinson rematch last year. So I think we are gonna get it on Night two. This looks like it’ll be a brutal match with a lot of weapons and maybe even a bit of blood. I’m really looking forward to this wild brawl, because we never see matches like this in New Japan. 

Hiromu Takahashi vs. Will Ospreay for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship: MY LOVELY LOVELY BOY IS BACK! I’ve missed Takahashi so so much. The story of this match goes back a while actually. In 2018, Takahashi won Best of the Super Juniors and went on to beat Ospreay for the Junior Heavyweight Championship at that year’s Dominion. Unfortunately, the next month, Takahashi suffered a broken neck during his match with Dragon Lee at the G1 Special in San Fransisco. So he had to forfeit the title and has been out for a year and a half. While was out, Ospreay won last year’s best of the Super Juniors by beating Takahashi’s stablemate and now heavyweight Shingo Takagi, and went on to beat Dragon Lee at Dominion. He has held onto the title since then with defenses against Robbie Eagles, El Phantasmo and BUSHI, as well as entering the G1 Climax and New Japan Cup while he was still a Junior Heavyweight. After he beat BUSHI, Ospreay offered an open challenge to anyone in the Junior Heavyweight division, and Takahashi returned. And everything was right in the world. I think that Takahashi is winning here, because he never lost his belt and he deserves it back. Also, Ospreay has been flirting with the heavyweight division for a long time, and it’s about time that he moves up. He’s beaten a whole bunch of heavyweights, and he needs to be higher up on the card. This should be an amazing match. Ospreay is probably my favorite wrestler in the world right now, and Takahashi is just as amazing. Any other card and I would’ve predicted this as the match of the night, but Wrestle Kingdom is stacked as hell this year. 

Jay White vs. Tetsuya Naito for the IWGP Intercontinental Championship: This match has higher stakes than the Intercontinental Championship, as it is also to qualify for the main event double championship match of night two. These two absolutely hate each other, and were very passive aggressive when they interacted during their feud last year. Naito lost the Intercontinental Championship to White at Destruction in Kobe last year, and since then, both men have announced that they want to be double champions. So that is where we are with this feud. I think that Naito is winning here, mostly because of my next prediction and the fact that they have held off on a match that they seemed very fond of for a really long time. I think it could be White winning here, because they like him a lot, but it’s Naito’s time to main event in the Tokyo Dome. This should be a really good, if not great, match, but it is kinda falling in the background for me considering Takahashi’s return and the main event. 

Kazuchika Okada vs. Kota Ibushi for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship: The big passing of the torch match that I have been waiting for since I started watching New Japan. These two faced off in the G1 Climax A Block, with Ibushi picking up the big win against the champion. Ibushi went on to win in the finals of the G1 Climax and earn his title shot here. Since then, both men have defended their status, with Okada beating Minoru Suzuki and SANADA to retain his title, while Ibushi defended his contract against KENTA and EVIL. Now the two are on a collision course, and I can’t wait to see them go all out. I think that Ibushi is winning here, because it is his time to shine in the sun. He didn’t leave for AEW with Kenny, and he deserves to be World Champion for that. Also, I NEED THIS. I have literally predicted that he would win the Heavyweight Championship for the past two years, but none of it has happened. I need him to win here. Also, Naito and Ibushi in the main event of night two would be epic. This is the match I am most looking forward to. I can practically see the A+ that I will give it. 

[puroresu-musings]

NJPW BEST OF THE SUPER Jr. 26 Day 8 Review (May 23rd 2019, Tokyo, Korakuen Hall)

Ren Narita vs. El Phantasmo (B Block)  ***1/4

Titan vs. TAKA Michinoku (A Block)  ***1/4

BUSHI vs. Robbie Eagles (B Block)  ***1/4

Tiger Mask vs. Jonathan Gresham (A Block)  ***

YOH vs. DOUKI (B Block)  ***1/2

SHO vs. Marty Scurll (A Block)  ****1/4

Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Rocky Romero (B Block)  ***

Taiji Ishimori vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru (A Block)  **1/4

Will Ospreay vs. Bandido (B Block)  ****3/4

Dragon Lee vs. Shingo Takagi (A Block)  ****3/4

photos.

Well this was by far the best night of BOSJ action so far this year. In terms of consistency, it was amongst the most enjoyable shows of the year. The undercard was an absolute breeze to sit through and the top half of the card was incredible. B Block leader El Phantasmo was predictably victorious over Young Lion Ren Narita in a very fun opener. Narita scored some great near falls which had Korakuen going crazy, but in the end Phantasmo hit his long distance Big Splash for the win in 6:59, to remain undefeated in the tournament so far. Titan beat the winless TAKA Michinoku in another fun bout. This had a messy ending in which Titan hit his Titan de Happonesa finish, and he clearly thought TAKA was supposed to kick out, so it lead to a very awkward pause. The masked man walked away with the win at the 8 minute mark. BUSHI scored his second consecutive tourney win over Robbie Eagles in another fun 8 minute sprint, after pinning the Australian with MX. Tiger Mask’s loss to Jonathan Gresham was a step slower than the high speed stuff we’d seen up to that point, and was a good technical outing. The Octopus scored the 2 points when he pinned the masked legend at 9:21 with a small package. 

YOH and DOUKI had a wild brawl around Korakuen Hall to start their very good clash, which saw YOH score the win in 11:22 of hot action, in which both guys looked great, when he pinned DOUKI with the Dragon Suplex. The other half of Roppongi 3K squared off with Marty Scurll next in an excellent encounter. This was way better than anticipated, with Scurll playing the dastardly heel, and SHO playing the babyface who has to overcome the heel tactics. This was a hard-hitting affair, which saw SHO win after Marty “snapped” the fingers, but he powered through, hitting a couple of big lariats, scored a near fall with the Last Ride onto the knees, then pinned The Villian with Shock Arrow at 13:18, to end a great, dramatic match. If I have one complaint, it’s that SHO didn’t sell the fingers at all, throwing up the question; “why even do the spot?” (it’s also worth mentioning that Jonathan Gresham has been wrestling with his fingers taped to sell this spot since the first night!). The gears changed in the next couple of matches. Firstly, Rocky Romero and Taguchi had a battle of the “coaches”, which saw Taguchi win a fun little 10 minute comedy bout with a cradle. This was fun, but descended into slapstick a little too often for my liking, then Yoshinobu Kanemaru cradled his way to victory over Taiji Ishimori in just 3:51 and by far the weakest match of the night. They teased another countout here, playing on what happened yesterday with SHO, but Ishimori made it back in. After some shenanigans with the whiskey bottle, Kanemaru scored the quick win with a cradle.

The last two matches were amongst the best all year. Will Ospreay and Bandido, who had an excellent match in New York during Wrestlemania weekend, blew that match out of the water with a phenomenal high-flying display that had Korakuen Hall going crazy. The crowd were white hot from the off, and it featured all kinds of madman moves. Bandido hit a terrifying Shooting Star to the floor in which it looked like he might not come out of the tuck. He ended up hitting it perfectly though, and followed up with a springboard rana for a near fall. Ospreay flipped out of a 21 Plex attempt, landing on his feet, then scoring a near fall with the standing Spanish Fly. Bandido hit the top rope Moonsault Powerslam, but Ospreay makes the ropes. Will caught Bandido on a quebrada attempt, then hit Stormbreaker for the win at the 18:03 mark. This was an insane match, probably the best of the tournament so far, and the Korakuen faithful gave Bandido a huge ovation afterwards. This left the battle of the Dragons main event with a very difficult task in following. But!... they did, producing another classic BOSJ match in the process. This was a very different match, but just as tremendous as the one that preceded it. This really picked up after a lariat exchange, when the Jr champion hit a crazy tope suicida, wiping out the first three rows. Lee scored a near fall with the corner double stomp, but Shingo reversed a Desnucadora attempt into a Samoan Drop. Takagi shakes off knee strikes by his masked opponent, then hit Noshigami and the Pumping Bomber for a 2 count. Lee then hit an amazing sequence which saw him nail Shingo with a running knee strike, a rebound German, another knee, a reverse rana, and a third big knee, but Shingo kicked at one to a huge pop.  A fourth knee gets a near fall for the champion, Takagi turns a Desnucadora into Last Of The Dragon to take the win and remain undefeated at 17:20 of a fab match. Both guys looked phenomenal here, and Lee lost nothing in defeat, whereas Shingo continues to look like the best ‘junior’ in the business. This show is well worth checking out. It was great.

NDT

[puroresu-musings]

NJPW Road To WRESTLING DONTAKU (April 26th 2019, Hiroshima Green Arena)

Shota Umino & Ren Narita vs. Yota Tsuji & Yuya Uemura  ***

Hirooki Goto, Dragon Lee & Will Ospreay vs. Jay White, Taiji Ishimori & Hikuleo  ***1/4

Kazuchika Okada, Tomohiro Ishii & Kota Ibushi vs. SANADA, EVIL & Tetsuya Naito  ****1/4

IWGP Jr. Tag Title Match: Roppongi 3K (c) vs. Shingo Takagi & BUSHI  ****1/2

NJPW WRESTLING HINOKUNI 2019 (April 29th, Kumamoto, Grand Messe Arena)

Dragon Lee & Will Ospreay vs. Taiji Ishimori & Hikuleo  ***

Mikey Nicholls vs. Bad Luck Fale  *3/4

Juice Robinson vs. Chase Owens  **1/2

Okada, Ishii, Ibushi & Roppongi 3K vs. SANADA, EVIL, Naito, Shingo & BUSHI  ***3/4

IWGP Tag Team Title Match: Guerrillas Of Destiny (c) vs. Togi Makabe & Toru Yano  **1/2

Hirooki Goto vs. Jay White  ****

Photos.

Well these were truly a tale of two shows. The first, held in front of a white hot crowd in Hiroshima, had a couple of excellent matches, including the best junior tag title match in years. Things opened with your usual, very solid Young Lions match-up, then devolved into the usual, decent enough multi mans, before picking up again with the Goto-gumi vs. White-gumi six man. This was a fun 10 minute sprint, which culminated in Goto hitting the GTR on Hikuleo (of course) to win for his team. The Ibushi and CHAOS/LIJ six man that followed was the best bout these teams have had against each other so far this tour. Which is saying something; These matches have been what has carried this tour so far, and have made these shows go from the usual fare, to must see stuff. This was an all-action 16:58 battle, that built to a fantastic climax. The exchanges between EVIL and Ishii once again drove this, with them stiffing the hell out of each other (that singles match on May 4th should be off the chain). After Ishii scored a near fall with a big Lariat, he nailed a german and a headbutt, but the King Of Darkness cut him off with his STO to win for the Ungovernable team. This was great.

Then the main event, which was even better. As I said, this is the best Junior tag title outing in forever, probably as far back since the Young Bucks/Time Splitters classic at Dominion 2014, and by far the best match on the tour thus far. It too was action packed, with the hard-hitting exchanges between SHO and Shingo really being the highlight here (give me that BOSJ match ASAP), and featured great spots and sequences. It built to a dramatic, and unpredictable, finishing stretch. After Red Shoes was bumped, BUSHI hit a low blow on YOH, followed by a backslide for a very believable near fall. A standing MX from the masked man gets another near fall, then he ate a 3K, but Shingo ran in to break up the pin. YOH then lifted BUSHI up, as SHO detained Shingo, and hit a bridging Dragon Suplex at 25:10, to score the win, and the teams first successful title defence ever. This match was exceptional stuff, and I recommend it to everyone highly.

The Kumamoto show, however, was not as good. in fact, it wasn’t anywhere near. In vast contrast to the hot Hiroshima faithful, the Kumamoto crowd seemed either completely dead or asleep throughout most of this show. Not that it would have helped some of these matches. I missed the beginning of the show, but saw everything from the third match on. Will Ospreay pinned Hikuleo with the Oscutter to win a decent match for he and Dragon Lee. This featured the weakest exchanges so far from Lee and Ishimori, who usually light these matches up. I can only but imagine they’re tired, as some of the stuff looked pretty sloppy. All in all, it was a good match though. Bad Luck Fale inexplicably pinned Mikey Nicholls in a bout which wasn’t very good at all, and performed in front of silence. Also, it isn’t the finish I’d have gone with as Nicholls hardly needed to lose this. Juice Robinson squared off with Chase Owens again for some reason. The work was good, but the crowd didn’t care (who could blame them?). Juice won with Pulp Friction, which hopefully ends this feud now, and Robinson can go on to better opponents. Things got much better in the CHAOS/Ibushi vs. LIJ battle that followed, and it succeeded in waking up the crowd. This was great stuff, yet again, though far from the best of the tour. After SHO scored a near fall on SANADA with a deadlift German, this really broke down; Shingo broke up a SHO Shock Arrow attempt, they trade lariats, before Takagi hits a Pumping Bomber. Ishii breaks up Skull End, EVIL takes him out with a German suplex, Ibushi wipes out EVIL, Naito takes Kota down with a dropkick, BUSHI hit a tope suicida on YOH, and SANADA taps SHO out with Skull End at the 14:40. This was lots of fun.

The same cannot be said of the IWGP Tag Title match, however. Even though it only went 14:50, it felt double that, probably because the crowd were indifferent to what they were seeing. The match was fine, but there was nothing especially interesting about it, featuring the usual quota of shenaningans; ref bumps, interference etc. The finish saw Tanga Loa break up a King Kong Knee Drop pin attempt, Makabe clotheslines him out of the ring, but is distracted by Jado, then Tama Tonga gets a fist-full-of-tights-assisted school boy pin on Makabe to reclaim all their belts, which Yano stole. The main event between Jay White and Hirooki Goto was another excellent bout. In front of a livlier crowd, this would have been even better, as the closing stretch was actually super-dramatic. Unfortunately, it took them a while to get there, and a lot of the early portion was Jay stalling, and/or locking on chin locks for heat. It built to a great finish though, which saw some really creative counters. Goto tried Shouten Kai, but Jay knees himself free. Aramusha cut White off with a big lariat, hit a hanging neckbreaker and scored a near fall with his Kaiten sunsetflip bomb off the top. They exchange strikes, before an interfering Gedo rolls in, but he eats an Ushigoroshi for his troubles. White tries to use a chair, but gets headbutted, then Goto scores a near fall with the reverse GTR. From here they reversed the Blade Runner into the GTR and back again, so many times it was impossible to keep track, and it was great every time. Jay finally hits a sleeper suplex, but Goto popped up, tried a lariat, but ate another sleeper suplex, then was put away with Blade Runner in 23 minutes of an excellent contest. So it looks like Switchblade is getting the Okada/SANADA winner at Dominion, but where Goto goes from here is anyones guess. Especially as the whole story to the match was that he always chokes in the big matches. Many think he should go to All Japan where he’d actually be a big fish in a small pond, as opposed to the treading water he’s doing in NJPW nowadays. I’ve always been a big Goto fan, and at this stage I tend to think those people are right.

NDT

[puroresu-musings]

AJPW CHAMPION CARNIVAL 2018 ~ Day 13, 14 & 15 Review (April 25th-30th, Tokyo, Korakuen Hall)

Day 13:

A Block: Naoya Nomura vs. Shingo Takagi  ****

B Block: Yoshitatsu vs. Yutaka Yoshie  **¾

B Block: KAI vs. Zeus  ***½

B Block: Suwama vs. Dylan James  **½

B Block: Jun Akiyama vs. Naomichi Marufuji  ****½

Day 14:

Jun Akiyama, Zeus, Suwama & Hikaru Sato vs. KAI, Dylan James, Yutaka Yoshie & Yohei Nakajima  ****

A Block: The Bodyguard vs. Ryouji Sai  ***½

A Block: Joe Doering vs. Naoya Nomura  ***

A Block: Shuji Ishikawa vs. Shingo Takagi  ****½

A Block: Kento Miyahara vs. Yuji Hino  ****

Day 15:

Shuji Ishikawa & Suwama vs. Yoshitatsu & Naoya Nomura  ***¾

Jun Akiyama, Joe Doering & Yuji Hino vs. Zeus, The Bodyguard & Shingo Takagi  ****

2018 Champion Carnival Final: Kento Miyahara vs. Naomichi Marufuji  ****½

Photos.

I’ve thoroughly enjoyed this years Carnival. It featured consitently great action, and the final three days at Korakuen Hall were no different. Carny action kicked off on Day 13 with Dragon Gate’s Shingo Takagi scoring a Made In Japan assisted win over youngster Naoya Nomura at 10:41in a great little hard-hitting sprint. The win meant Shingo was very much still alive in the tournament and still had a good chance of winning. Yutaka Yoshie pinned a resurgent Yoshitatsu with a top rope Big Splash in a decent encounter. KAI defeated the mighty Zeus, when he countered a Jackhammer into a small package at the 13:57 mark of a very good bout, to eliminate the big man from contention. Dylan James chokeslammed Suwama out of the tournament to win an OK match-up. And in the main event, old NOAH commerades; Jun Akiyama and Naomichi Marufuji squared off to see who would win the B Block and advance to the finals. This was an excellent, heated match, built around a compelling backstory. Uncle Jun destroyed Maru for most of this match, piledrivering him on the floor, delivering his patented knee drop off the apron, and killing Marufuji with hard knee strikes. Marufuji fought the old grouch off with his own hard strikes, then got a great near fall with the Shiranui as Akiyama got the ropes. Akiyama hit a huge brainbuster, then the Exploder, but Maru kicked at two to a big pop. The match disintegrated in to knee strikes, as Akiyama was just killing Marufuji with knee strikes, but the NOAH boss kept fighting back with his own Ko-oh knees. In the end, it was Maru who came out on top as Uncle Jun just couldn’it take anymore hard knees to the face, and was finally KO’d at 20:53, to send Marufuji to the finals. This was an incredible display from both, and is potentially the match of the tourney. Special praise goes to Akiyama who’s had a great Carnival, and really is the modern day Tenryu in the grouchy old veteran steaks.

Day 14 was an exceptional card of action. In the first Carny bout, Bodyguard, who was injured in the early going of the tournament, submitted Sai with a Camel Clutch in a very good 11 minuter. Naoya Nomura scored a surprise, sub-five minute win over Joe Doering to eliminate him from contention. This was good whilst it lasted, but the finish, which saw Nomura get the three count with a jacknife cradle, fell apart a little bit, which hurt it somewhat. Big Shuj knocked Shingo out of the tournament after he won a fantastic, dramatic match with the Giant Slam at 18:37. I loved this match, it was unpredictable and hard-hitting, with a heated crowd buying every near fall. They maybe kicked out of one too many big moves, but this is a minor gripe as this was a truly excellent encounter. The main event between Miyahara and Hino was also excellent, but was hurt a little by having to follow the previous match. This was completely different and told a great story, with the stakes being high in that the victor wins the A Block and goes to the final. The massive Hino dominated most of this, and Kento did his great sell-jobs throughout. In the end, Kento hit numerous Blackout knee strikes, which weakened the big man from Big Japan. Hino went for his Fucking Bomb finish, but Kento escaped down the back, stunned Hino with another Blackout, then hit his Shutdown Package German for the win out of nowhere at 19:32.

The finals saw a couple of excellent tag encounters. Firstly, the Violent Giants took on “World Famous” Yoshitastu and Nomura in a great doubles clash. Yoshitatsu has had a really good tournament, and seems to have found his footing as a performer again, after being just another face in the crowd in New Japan (lets face it, he’s going nowhere in NJPW), and I’m really happy for him after his career was nearly ended after he botched that Styles Clash back in 2014. He tapped out to a Suwama choke to end this one at around 15 minutes. The super hard-hitting six man semi final was a compelling bout held before a really hot Korakuen faithful. Zeus and Hino’s crazy, at times horrifyingly stiff, chop exchange was the highlight here. The finish saw Doering pin Bodyguard with a Spiral Bomb to end an excellent match at the 18:42 mark. And the 2018 Champion Carnival came to a close as B Block champion, Marufuji, squared off with A Block winner, Kento The Ace, in another tremendous wrestling match. This of course was battle of the knee strike, Blackout vs. Ko-oh, as both have served their owners well in this tournament. They exchanged both throughout, Maru hit a piledriver on the apron, before the Triple Crown Champion battles back with a Blackout in the corner and a big brainbuster for a near fall. Marufuji hits a Shiranui for a near fall, then Kento starts nailing Blackouts and gets another near fall with a delayed German suplex. In a great spot, both guys tried their respective knee strikes at the smae time, but clashed knees. Marufuji then obliterated Kento with his strike and superkick combo. He goes for another Ko-oh, but Miyahara catches him in another delayed German. Marufuji escapes a Shutdown attempt, wipes Kento out with more knees, then hits the Pole Shift into the Emerald Flowsion to win the Carnival at 24:49 of a fantastic bout. This was great, but it felt like the best was yet to come as the two are almost certainly going to have a rematch for the Crown at some point.

NDT

[gdwessel]

Summer Struggle 2020 Nights 9 & 10 - 8/11 & 8/12/2020: Makabe Out, Lineups For Rest Of Tour; Summer Struggle In Jingu Full Card; G1 Climax 30 Dates; NJPW Strong Ep.2 Preview: ACH Returns, Coughlin Injured

So hey, I got real busy and bogged down yesterday and forgot that the tour restarted, and by the time I remembered it I had no time to do this. So here are the results from yesterday and today’s tour shows, which this week are all house shows, so no NJPWWorld video this time out.

- 8/11/2020, Osaka EDION Arena Subarena

Satoshi Kojima & Tomoaki Honma d. Yuya Uemura & Gabriel Kidd (Kojima > Kidd, lariat, 9:57)

Tomohiro Ishii, Toru Yano & SHO [CHAOS] d. Yuji Nagata, Ryusuke Taguchi & Yota Tsuji (Ishii > Tsuji, Boston Crab, 10:18)

Shingo Takagi & SANADA [Los Ingobernables] d. Minoru Suzuki & DOUKI [SZKG] (SANADA > DOUKI, Skull End, 10:58)

Taichi, Zack Sabre Jr., El Desperado & Yoshinobu Kanemaru [SZKG] d. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Kota Ibushi, Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Master Wato (Sabre > Tenzan, Japanese Leg Roll Clutch Hold, 13:41)

Kazuchika Okada, Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI [CHAOS] d. Yujiro Takahashi, Gedo & Jado [Bullet Club] (YOSHI-HASHI > Gedo, Butterfly Lock, 11:08)

EVIL, Taiji Ishimori & Dick Togo [Bullet Club] d. Tetsuya Naito, Hiromu Takahashi & BUSHI [Los Ingobernables] (EVIL > BUSHI, EVIL STO, 13:40)

- 8/12/2020, Ehime Yawatahama Citizen Sport Center

Satoshi Kojima & Ryusuke Taguchi d. Yota Tsuji & Gabriel Kidd (Kojima > Tsuji, lariat, 10:47)

Tomohiro Ishii, Toru Yano & YOSHI-HASHI [CHAOS] d. Yuji Nagata, Tomoaki Honma & Yuya Uemura (YOSHI-HASHI > Uemura, Butterfly Lock, 10:47)

Minoru Suzuki & El Desperado [SZKG] d. Shingo Takagi & BUSHI [Los Ingobernables] (Suzuki > BUSHI, Gotch Style Piledriver, 11:17)

Hiroshi Tanahashi, Kota Ibushi, Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Master Wato d. Taichi, Zack Sabre Jr., Yoshinobu Kanemaru & DOUKI [SZKG] (Tanahashi > DOUKI, High Fly Flow, 12:25)

Kazuchika Okada, Hirooki Goto & SHO [CHAOS] d. Yujiro Takahashi, Gedo & Jado [Bullet Club] (Goto > Gedo, GTR, 10:48)

Tetsuya Naito, SANADA & Hiromu Takahashi [Los Ingobernables] d. EVIL, Dick Togo & Taiji Ishimori [Bullet Club] (Naito > Togo, Destino, 12:04)

Nothing much to report here, besides Togi Makabe is out for the forseeable, to film a movie, apparently. We have lineups for the rest of the tour below, including the four preliminary matches of Kazuchika Okada’s vanity KOPW Tournament, with the stipulations still be be decided by fan vote. Those polls should be opening up soon, for those who wanted to get involved.

- 8/13/2020, Ehime Uwajima City Overall Gymnasium

Satoshi Kojima & Tomoaki Honma v. Yota Tsuji & Yuya Uemura

Yuji Nagata, Ryusuke Taguchi & Gabriel Kidd v. Hirooki Goto, Tomohiro Ishii, & YOSHI-HASHI [CHAOS]

Shingo Takagi & SANADA [Los Ingobernables] v. Minoru Suzuki & DOUKI [SZKG]

Hiroshi Tanahashi, Kota Ibushi, Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Master Wato v. Taichi, Zack Sabre Jr., El Desperado & Yoshinobu Kanemaru [SZKG]

Kazuchika Okada, Toru Yano & SHO [CHAOS] v. Yujiro Takahashi, Gedo & Jado [Bullet Club]

Tetsuya Naito, Hiromu Takahashi & BUSHI [Los Ingobernables] v. EVIL, Taiji Ishimori & Dick Togo [Bullet Club]

- 8/16/2020, Shizuoka Twin Messe

Satoshi Kojima & Ryusuke Taguchi v. Yuya Uemura & Gabriel Kidd

Yuji Nagata, Tomoaki Honma & Yota Tsuji v. Hirooki Goto, Tomohiro Ishii, & YOSHI-HASHI [CHAOS]

Shingo Takagi & BUSHI [Los Ingobernables] v. Minoru Suzuki & El Desperado [SZKG]

Hiroshi Tanahashi, Kota Ibushi, Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Master Wato v. Taichi, Zack Sabre Jr., Yoshinobu Kanemaru & DOUKI [SZKG]

Kazuchika Okada, Toru Yano & SHO [CHAOS] v. Yujiro Takahashi, Gedo & Jado [Bullet Club]

Tetsuya Naito, SANADA & Hiromu Takahashi [Los Ingobernables] v. EVIL, Dick Togo & Taiji Ishimori [Bullet Club]

- 8/26/2020, Tokyo Korakuen Hall (NJPWWorld)

Hirooki Goto, Tomohiro Ishii & YOSHI-HASHI [CHAOS] v. Yota Tsuji, Yuya Uemura & Gabriel Kidd

Hiroshi Tanahashi, Kota Ibushi, Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Master Wato v. Taichi, Zack Sabre Jr., Yoshinobu Kanemaru & DOUKI [SZKG]

KOPW 2020 1st Round: Satoshi Kojima v. El Desperado

KOPW 2020 1st Round: Toru Yano [CHAOS] v. BUSHI [Los Ingobernables]

KOPW 2020 1st Round: SHO [CHAOS] v. SANADA [Los Ingobernables]

KOPW 2020 1st Round: Kazuchika Okada [CHAOS] v. Yujiro Takahashi [Bullet Club]

- 8/27/2020, Tokyo Korakuen Hall (NJPWWorld)

Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima v. Yota Tsuji & Yuya Uemura

Yuji Nagata, Tomoaki Honma & Gabriel Kidd v. Hirooki Goto, Tomohiro Ishii, & YOSHI-HASHI [CHAOS]

Kazuchika Okada, Toru Yano & SHO [CHAOS] v. Yujiro Takahashi, Gedo & Jado [Bullet Club]

Shingo Takagi, SANADA & BUSHI [Los Ingobernables] v. Minoru Suzuki, El Desperado & DOUKI [SZKG]

Hiroshi Tanahashi, Kota Ibushi & Master Wato v. Taichi, Zack Sabre Jr. & Yoshinobu Kanemaru [SZKG]

Tetsuya Naito & Hiromu Takahashi [Los Ingobernables] v. EVIL & Taiji Ishimori [Bullet Club]

When I said the full cards had been released, this also includes the outdoor Summer Struggle in Jingu show on 8/29/2020, at Tokyo Meiji Jingu Stadium. We already knew that EVIL would defend the Double Gold against Tetsuya Naito, as well as Taiji Ishimori challenging Hiromu for the IWGP Juniorheavyweight title; this, in addition to the Finals of the KOPW tournament.

Now, it’s been made official that Shingo Takagi will face off against Minoru Suzuki for his NEVER Openweight title, a match that’s been teased, and very much looked forward to. In addition, Dangerous Tekkers have granted a rematch to Golden Ace for the Heavyweight Tag Team straps. Lastly, Master Wato will continue his quest to defeat all Suzuki-gun juniors by facing off against Yoshinobu Kanemaru. Full card below.

Summer Struggle in Jingu - 8/29/2020, Tokyo Meiji Jingu Stadium (NJPWWorld)

Master Wato v. Yoshinobu Kanemaru [SZKG]

KOPW 2020 Final 4-Way Match: TBD

NEVER Openweight Championship: Shingo Takagi [Los Ingobernables] (c) v. Minoru Suzuki [SZKG]

IWGP Juniorheavyweight Championship: Hiromu Takahashi [Los Ingobernables] (c) v. Taiji Ishimori [Bullet Club]

IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championship: Taichi & Zack Sabre Jr. [SZKG] (c) v. Hiroshi Tanahashi & Kota Ibushi

IWGP Heavyweight & Intercontinental Championships: EVIL [Bullet Club] (c)(c) v. Tetsuya Naito [Los Ingobernables]

We now have the dates for G1 Climax 30. The tournament will kick off on 9/19/2020, and run through 10/18/2020. This is, initially, when G1 Climax was supposed to take place this year, due to the Olympics having supposed to have happened in Summer, but the small matter of the pandemic put paid to that. However, it is interesting to note that NJPW is now essentially caught up to where they were supposed to be had the pandemic not occurred. 

NJPW have announced that talents in A Block will not work B Block shows, and vice versa. This is good, to keep the number of matches at a minimum (I really have grown to like the 4-to-6-match shows since returning), as well as keeping talents from sitting in the locker room when not needed, reducing the number of unnecessary personnel to mitigate COVID-19 spread. No word yet as to whom will be in which blocks, so stay tuned for that. This is a full 19-date G1 Climax, so NJPW are counting on having 20 wrestlers available for G1, it seems.

G1 Climax 30 - 9/19/2020, Osaka EDION Arena - 9/20/2020, Osaka EDION Arena - 9/23/2020, Hokkaido Prefectural Sports Center Hokkai Kitayell - 9/24/2020, Hokkaido Prefectural Sports Center Hokkai Kitayell - 9/27/2020, Hyogo Kobe World Hall - 9/29/2020, Tokyo Korakuen Hall - 9/30/2020, Tokyo Korakuen Hall - 10/1/2020, Niigata Ao-re Nagaoka - 10/5/2020, Kagawa Takamatsu City General Gymnasium #1 - 10/6/2020, Hiroshima Sun Plaza Hall - 10/7/2020, Hiroshima Sun Plaza Hall - 10/8/2020, Okayama ZIP Arena - 10/10/2020, Osaka EDION Arena - 10/11/2020, Aichi Prefectural Gymnasium - 10/13/2020, Shizuoka Hamamatsu Arena - 10/14/2020, Kanagawa Yokohama Budokan - 10/16/2020, Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan - 10/17/2020, Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan - 10/18/2020, Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan

Finally, this week’s episode of NJPW Strong looks pretty interesting. We have several debuts, including ROH’s PJ Black, as well as Blake Christian, someone I’ve seen at Black Label Pro and Game Changer Wrestling shows. Those two will team with Misterioso, in a 6-man that also features the NJPW return of one ACH. ACH was last seen in NJPW on 11/11/2018, defeating Karl Fredericks at Lion’s Break Project 1, before an ill-fated signing to WWE as Jordan Myles that ended in a cloud of controversy and, more to the point, racism. He has since returned to active wrestling in 2020, after initially saying he was done for good. It’s great to see him back in NJPW, especially, as it seemed like Gedo was pretty high on him.

One person who will NOT be appearing is Alex Coughlin, as he has suffered an unspecified injury.

This episode will also feature the semifinals of the New Japan Cup USA. Show card below:

Clark Connors & Jordan Clearwater v. Logan Riegel & Barrett Brown

TJP [FREE], ACH [FREE] & Alex Zayne v. PJ Black [ROH], Misterioso & Blake Christian

New Japan Cup USA Semifinal: David Finlay, Jr. v. Tama Tonga [Bullet Club]

New Japan Cup USA Semifinal: Jeff Cobb [FREE] v. KENTA [Bullet Club]

Yeah, sorry, this one has been an infodump, but there was a lot to write about!