#inoki genome federation

[wrestlingwiththoughts]

Necro Butcher vs. Bob Sapp, IGF Genome12, May 9, 2010

The first volume of Bumfights, A Cause for Concern, was released by Indecline Films in 2002. According to a Wired article, Indecline Films had sold 250,000 copies of that collection of pranks and fights. Per Cagematch, Dylan Summers had become the Necro Butcher by his second professional wrestling match, which was a challenge for the IHW Hardcore title against The Nomad at IHW Death Wish '99 on January 29, 1999. Though Butcher pre-dates the rise (and fall) of Bumfights, one must wonder whether there was something in the zeitgeist that saw the two come about at around the same time in history.

In total, Necro Butcher fought 8 times in the Inoki Genome Federation, and his match against Bob Sapp was his finale. Considering the level of fame that Sapp reached in Japan and Butcher's notoriety, this is probably the match that would stand out the most in Butcher's record in the IGF. Unfortunately, it's not Butcher's best match in that run.

It's a different match than his fight against Minowaman. Minowaman is more technically skilled than Butcher, but Butcher had a size and raw, desperate strength advantage over Minowaman. Butcher had to bring Minowaman down to his level of savagery for Butcher to have a chance. That was simply not an option against Bob "The Beast" Sapp.

It's amazing what coming out in a clean white robe with a feathered neck and accompanied to "Also sprach Zarathustra" can do for you. Aping Ric Flair and beloved by the crowd, Sapp looks like superhuman during his entrance. He overpowers Butcher from the start, and Butcher goes for comedy over drama in his selling to Sapp's bearhug. Butcher is able to turn the tide by elbowing a running Sapp and with a typically mangy Butcher lariat from the corner. They take it outside, and Butcher draws some blood. Unfortunately, the blood just doesn't look as haunting as it did in the Minowaman match.

Sapp and Butcher feel very awkward with each other, and it's slow going even though the match isn't very long. Butcher tries to raise the temperature by choking Sapp with a plastic bag, but the follow-up isn't very effective for Butcher within the match or for the match itself. A roll-up, rakes to the face, and a Russian leg sweep feel too professional after trying to suffocate your opponent with a plastic bag.

The match ends when Sapp hits an overly ambitious Butcher from the top rope and drops him with a powerslam.

Watch the Minowaman match instead.

[wrestlingisfake]

This has some major "Am I a good boy?" energy

[mengs-mullet]

Shinichi Suzukawa  vs. Josh Barnett April 5th, 2017

[kingsankkofa]

Satoshi Ishii

[prowrestlingpost-com]

History of the IWGP Heavyweight Championship – Part 3 | Origins

We continue our look at the History of the IWGP Heavyweight Championship with the reign of Yuji Nagata and concluding with that of Shinsuke Nakamura. Within this period the title certainly saw some darker days. | Origins #njpw #iwgp

Tadao Yasuda’s first and only reign as IWGP Heavyweight Champion lasted a mere 48 days. On April 5th, 2002, he lost the title to someone that actually deserved to hold it. Someone that was actually skilled as a pro wrestler stemming from his NJPW training and origins as an amateur wrestler: Yuji Nagata.  This is part 3 of the History of the IWGP Heavyweight Championship.

Nagata’s reign provided a…

[suzukidotworld]

Hideki Suzuki

Hideki Suzuki is a Japanese professional wrestler who is currently signed to Pro Wrestling Noah. He previously wrestled in WWE, where he performed on the NXT brand under the ring name Hachiman as a member of Diamond Mine, and also worked as a coach at the WWE Performance Center. Trained by Billy Robinson, Suzuki started his career with the Inoki Genome Federation (IGF) promotion in 2008. In 2014, he left IGF to become a freelancer, starting to work for promotions such as Big Japan Pro Wrestling, Pro Wrestling Zero1 and Wrestle-1.

He is a former 2 times BJW World Strong Heavyweight Champion,One time Zero1 World Heavyweight, NWA United National Heavyweight, Wrestle-1 Champion and NWA Intercontinental Tag Team Champion. In 2017, Fighting TV Samurai named Suzuki the MVP in Japanese independent wrestling. Overall he is a 3 times Professional Wrestling World Heavyweight Champion. Photo credit Bject via Wikimedia Commons.

[keepingthespiritalive]

[NOAH NEWS] NOAH’s President Masayuki Uchida and Toho Eiyuden’s President Simon Inoki announced that they will be forming a business alliance going forward.

Toho Eiyuden, also known as Oriental Heroes, based out of Shanghai, China, is what formerly used to consist of IGF (Inoki Genome Federation) before they underwent a split from Antonio Inoki last year. As for this alliance though, it started out with Simon allowing his students to go and train in the NOAH dojo. As they needed an open dojo in Tokyo for training their students. Which KENSO, who now competes as freelance in NOAH, was once (or may still be) involved with training the Shanghai wrestlers. Uchida then thought there could be more to this than just training and the two groups have been in talks since March about a true alliance.

The main details of the alliance are as follows. The aim is for the two promotion to work together in the further development of the China market. That development entails discovering new talent in China, teaching, and even PR work. In Japan. Toho Eiyuden will see their wrestlers in joint training with NOAH’s wrestlers. Then lastly the two promotions will be working together on several shows. The first being NOAH’s upcoming Korakuen Hall show on May 29 in which some of the Toho Eiyuden wrestlers will greet the audience for the first time. Though they will not be competing until the Korakuen Hall show on June 26 and the tour scheduled in July. Then NOAH will be competing for Toho Eiyuden in Shanghai on August 8 & 9th.

http://puroresuspirit.net/tag/noah/

http://puroresuspirit.net/tag/toho-eiyuden/

[tnaimpact]

Kurt Angle vs. Brock Lesnar in Inoki Genome Federation.

[30wwewrestlers-blog]

The Living WWE Legend Ric Flair - He Is Wrestling

When we gaze over the winners of this previous Money in the Bank matches in WWE over the previous 3 decades, you will notice that all of them neglected to secure a place in the primary event. The three wrestlers that have won cash in the bank in the previous 3 years are CM Punk, CM Punk back, and now Jack Swagger.

The issue with WWE's new notion is that they allow a wrestler who doesn't have enough credibility yet, to win the Money in the Bank match. What I mean is that neither Punk nor Swagger were constructed properly prior to their big wins. When they win, the audience doesn't care and the fact that they were even world champions at one point gradually dies out.

The first two winners of this match, Edge and RVD were properly built up before their triumph. To put it differently, they did possess the correct credibility that a wrestler needs to become a main event wrestler. And the two of them did become primary event wrestlers following their triumph. Mr. Kennedy was also treading the proper path, however, he was released by WWE within an episode.

WWE can easily turn this around by just putting in more effort in building the wrestlers before they really acquire the briefcase. This season at Wrestlemania 26, the real winner of the Money in the Bank match should've become Christian, or Kofi Kingston. Both of these had the suitable building required.

I realise that WWE is simply making these wrestlers win those games in order to increase the surprise speed of the fans. But in the process, they're ruining these wrestler's future principal event spots. When a wrestler's first effort in the primary event is messed up, then it's really hard to get WWE management to make the fans accept the wrestler in the main event again.

This situation can easily be turned around in case the current WWE management would take off their idle caps, and put additional effort into making future principal event wrestlers. Hopefully, Vince realizes soon that the Cash in the Bank concept is getting ruined, and determines to do something about it himself.

Ahead of Inoki's rise to fame, wrestling in Japan was little known outside of Japan. Inoki showcased his abilities all over the world for a number of decades, and in doing this he made audiences in America, as well as several different countries around the world, take note of wrestling in Japan. Upon retiring as a supeurstar, Inoki has stayed in the wrestling industry, as a wrestling promotor, and Inoki has revealed himself to be a man that has made a huge difference to professional wrestling.

Inoki's first sport was actually not wrestling, and instead he started his sporting career as a baseball player. This was short lived, and by age 17, Inoki had a position at the Japan Wrestling Association, where he'd learn the trade from which he would move onto create a legacy. In the time he had been the protege of Rikidozan, who perished due to stabbing whilst in America. This left Inoki alone, and up till 1966, he fought in the shadow of this larger, more powerful superstar, Giant Baba.

DID YOU KNOW? Antonio Inoki won the regional Brazilian championships in Discus and Javelin, and then the All literary championships in both Shot Put and Discus?

Inoki subsequently went on to create Tokyo Pro Wrestling, which was Inoki's first preference at being the surface of a provider. During this period of time that he gained much of his experience. Although this business was not moving ahead, other companies now became conscious of exactly 30 WWE Wrestlers Who Died what Antonio Inoki could provide to their businesses, and due to the financial troubles in TPW, the company folded only a year after Inoki had started to lead them. From here he returned to the Japan Wrestling Association, where he'd started his wrestling career seven years earlier.

It was during his second stint in the JWA that Inoki first faced a superstar who had been held with high esteem by fans in America, in the shape of a true wrestling legend, Bruno Sammartino. He was now tagging with Giant Baba, and through a tag match in which Bruno Sammartino had been involved, Sammartino asserts that Inoki attempted to "shoot" on him during a match, which means that Inoki was landing actual strikes on Sammartino. Sammartino responded by beating Inoki, leading to Inoki walking out to the game, clearly displeased with the response from the then world champion. But at this stage in his profession, Inoki was still learning a great deal about the company, and he would start to become recognized by wrestling fans from 1972, when after being chased by JWA, he went onto create New Japan Pro Wrestling.

Whilst in NJPW, Inoki ended Bob Backlund's reign as WWF Champion, but this reign isn't recognised. Under contentious conditions, Backlund regained the name the next day. The championship belt has been provided back to Inoki, but he refused the title along with the record books show Backlund's reign lasted from 1978-83, in spite of the fact that he lost the championship to Inoki, along with the championship was vacant for twelve months. Inoki has turned into a name being said all over the world, and his martial arts career was taking off simultaneous to a similar taking off of his wrestling career.

DID YOU KNOW? Antonio Inoki and Ric Flair battled in North Korea in front of a presence of 170,000 fans, together with Inoki being victorious over the "Nature Boy".

Inoki started his martial arts career by squaring off from Willem Ruska, the Olympic judo champion in the Netherlands. With this event, Inoki was put through physical torture during this match, almost falling victim into a entry defeat on several occasions, as Ruska persistently secured on armbars and sleeper hold, but it had been Inoki's resilience that won the "World's Top Martial Artist Deciding Match", as a result of TKO following three consecutive back suplexes.

It was then time for the biggest and most anticipated match in the history of mixed martial arts, as Antonio Inoki went head-to-head against world champion boxer of the time, Muhammad Ali. The game turned out to be an anti-climax, as Ali's camp enforced numerous rules on Inoki, that the Japanese wrestler was confined to performing slipping kicks for the whole game, and spent almost the whole fight on his spine, as he knew that the rules imposed on this game meant that Ali couldn't throw a punch to Inoki whilst Inoki was down. Inoki was three points up in the final bell, but had all three eliminated due to being penalised. Ali was hospitalized after the struggle, and Inoki was left at an multi-million yen debt, and so was made to continue fighting mixed martial arts matches to repay it.

DID YOU KNOW? Muhammad Ali reportedly saw Inoki training because of their match, and asked "OK, so when do we perform the rehearsal?" And after Inoki responded "No, no. This is not an exhibition. It's a real fight!" Ali subsequently proceeded to enforce rules saying that Inoki couldn't handle or throw Ali, and could just kick him if one of Inoki's knees was in contact with the mat.

Inoki fought twenty MMA fights in total, against top opponents in all sorts of fighting. He fought with the Olympic judo champion, the boxing world champion, in addition to the guy that took the name from Ali, being Leon Spinks. He also took on Andre the Giant, who maintained that Inoki did not represent wrestling well during MMA fights. Inoki responded by fighting Andre, and also back suplexing that the behemoth before winning by TKO. Inoki only had one loss in the end of the MMA career, to Shota Chochishvili, also Inoki put the record straight a month after by beating Shota by entry. Antonio Inoki's MMA listing in the conclusion of his career is 16 wins (9 KO, 5 submissions, 2 pins), 1 reduction (1 KO), 3 draws.

Inoki has since sold his 51.5 percent discuss in NJPW to Yuke's, also has launched his third wrestling firm of his career (Inoki Genome Federation). Inoki began trading talent together with TNA, together with superstars such as Kurt Angle and Brock Lesnar holding the main championship belt of the new, the IWGP title. Inoki was also included in the WWE Hall Of Fame Class Of 2010, which makes him the first Japanese wrestler to be inducted.

Inoki has been in charge of putting Japanese wrestling on the map, in addition to kick-starting mixed martial arts, which today has a larger fanbase than ever. Being inducted into the WWE Hall Of Fame is merely a little testament, into the huge mark that Inoki has abandoned on the wrestling industry. I've been James D, and you have been reading about the career of the man responsible for New Japan

Pro Wrestling, and Enormous evolutions in Japanese wrestling and MMA.

Throughout the Attitude Era of the WWF from the 90's, it was always going to be problematic for a young celebrity to burst on the scene and make a name for his or her But that's exactly what Andrew "Test" Martin failed, which was down to his amazing athletic body, coupled with his ability to make his presence felt when he was connecting with the fans. Martin captured the attention of WWF management, and it was from there that his livelihood became phenomenally huge, with fans from all over the world realising his gloomy and tragic passing in 2009.

During the 90's, Test met up with Bret "The Hitman" Hart and it was from here that he made the decision to start training to join the WWF. With Bret Hart just recently becoming a casualty of the Montreal Screwjob at this point, it appeared that he was eager to get his own protege, in the form of Andrew Martin, performing at the business that he had been headlining PPV's for, within the last decade. As well as from Hart, Martin also had help in creating his own wrestling skills from Dory Funk Jr., who also trained superstars like Edge, Jeff Hardy and Kurt Angle, who were also breaking through in the exact same time as Evaluation.

Test made his debut as a bodyguard, but soon after that he tasked with the WWF Champion at the time, being The Rock.

This was a narrative that got Martin noticed instantly, and unlike the Hardy Boyz who came through the ranks at a similar time, Test was becoming a household name overnight. This showed that WWF management recognized from early on that Test had the charm and in-ring ability required to compete in the ring with the ideal. In Summerslam 1999, Test defeated Shane McMahon to make himself the right to marry Stephanie McMahon onscreen, which was the first indication that Test was going to become a main event fixture.

As Evaluation was going to wed Steph, Triple H interrupted the union and declared that he had already married her, backing it up with video proof. While he'd already been thrust into the public eye by his own engagement with the McMahon family, Test was now involved with one of the best superstars at the moment, and even to this day, in Triple H.

During this moment, Evaluation developed his in-ring skills, as well as his mic skills. This proved pivotal, as he would later go onto become one of the most consistent superstars on the roster during the most prosperous era in the history of the WWF. Afterward, Test moved into the tag team division, where he and Albert would be handled by Trish Stratus, since they included a new, more powerful dimension to the division that has been dominated by large fliers prior to their birth.

Post-T&A, Test moved straight on the singles division, and once again he was extremely successful, because of him being someone who may carry a match on his shoulders, and still make it look great to the fans. It was during that time that he won the majority of his championships, such as the Intercontinental, European and Hardcore Championships. Despite him no longer being in the main event picture, this was the era in which Evaluation revealed himself to be reliable in the ring and onto the microphone.

During the biggest plot in the history of professional wrestling, that being the Invasion storyline during 2001, Test moved back to the tag team division, this time with a guy who had already established himself at WCW, Booker T. Test and Booker went to win the WCW tag team titles on two events, on one stage beating The Rock and Chris Jericho, emphasising just how far that direction trusted Evaluation at a high degree, by mixing him together with three experienced main eventers. He then proceeded onto feud with Edge, in one of the chief feuds of the whole narrative.

Outside of this 5-on-5 main event, Evaluation's match with Edge at Survivor Series was among the most anticipated matches on the card, and these two superstars justified this. Evaluation would earn on-screen immunity on that exact same night, since the WWF recognized that having Evaluation stay on-screen over the forthcoming months, before they began introducing everybody back into programming, could do nothing to harm their evaluations.

[wrestlingwiththoughts]

Necro Butcher vs. Ikuhisa Minowa (aka Minowaman), IGF Genome11, February 22, 2010

When Eddie Futch coined the phrase "Styles make fights," I doubt that he envisioned that the phrase would be used to describe Necro Butcher vs. Ikuhisa "Minowaman" Minowa in a worked shoot bout in the Inoki Genome Federation, Antonio Inoki's laboratory to explore just how far Inokiism could go. Here, we have what could be charitably described as a "freakshow dream fight" between the tough as nails Necro Butcher, always ready to trade blows in the hopes that he can nail you with a .45 caliber slug of a punch, and Minowaman, the legendary underdog of Japanese mixed martial arts who had defeated Bob Sapp at Dream 9: Featherweight GP 2009.

Minowaman is a legendary underdog who won admiration due to his fighting spirit and smaller size. Billed at 5'9" and 195 pounds, he would fight the giants of Japanese MMA, like:

Paulo Cesar da Silva (aka Giant Silva, billed at 7'3" and 445 lbs.),

Mirko Filipovic (aka Mirko Cro Cop, 6'2" and 234 lbs.),

Bob "The Beast" Sapp (6'5" and 329 lbs.), and

Wandelei Silva (5'10" and 185 lbs.).

He might not always win (Sherdog has his professional fighting record at 63 wins, 45 losses, and 8 draws), but he would always fight, and that's the reason to watch fighters fight.

By 2010, Necro Butcher was wrestling full time with Ring of Honor and was wrestling fewer deathmatches. He still played to his reputation as a deathmatch king; he still teamed with Brain Damage and Toby Klein as the Death Match Kings in Chikara's King of Trios 2009, and he would still have unsanctioned matches, falls count anywhere matches, street fights, and even his own branded Butcher's Rules matches in JAPW, CZW, and ROH. He was even still occasionally working in Japan for BJW, the Fighting Ultimate Crazy Kings, and IGF. The brutality of Necro Butcher's matches, however, had transitioned away from barbed wire boards and fluorescent light tubes and to Butcher's wild punches, headbutts, and kicks.

That said, it's not like Butcher wasn't afraid of asking for forgiveness for going back to his old self.

The match's charm is in the contrast; there's a moment where you see Minowaman's cool exterior seem to break, and he starts punching Butcher in the chest with closed fist punches even as the referee admonishes Minowaman to open his fists. Butcher, from the start, is incensed that Minowaman is dodging him and standing up to fight. Butcher really sets the pace for the match; he is the one runs outside to grab a ring bell. He's the one who starts biting Minowaman and attacking his eye. He's the one who drags Minowaman outside the ring and slams him on the concrete. And he's the one to bleed so much that Minowaman's arms, chest, and legs are covered in Butcher's blood. Butcher also mixes in some wrestling color to go with Minowaman's seriousness with a goofy airplane spin, a running bulldog, and a sloppy lariat out of the corner.

As a worked shoot professional wrestling match, it's sloppy. But it's the good kind of sloppy, physically intense with enough uncertainty about how much Minowaman and Butcher are cooperating that it plays into the match's worked shoot nature.

[whowouldwinwrestling]

Bobby Lashley Vs Ron Simmons

If the powerhouse of Bobby Lashley was to face the powerhouse of Ron Simmons who would you think would run over the other ?

Ron Simmons

Ron Simmons is a historically wrestler for being the first WCW world heavyweight champion who is  African American. He also played American football.

He began in the Jim Crockett Promotion/ WCW from 1986 - 1994, then a brief run in ECW from 1994- 1995, He got a push in WWE from 1996 working with Nation of Domination, after he was kicked out he formed a new partner with Bradshaw, Acolytes/APA - 1998 - 2004,  

He is overall a 7 time tag team champion.

Bobby Lashley

Bobby  also did amature wrestling in his college years, like it was an alternative to American football at the time for men. He started working for WWE from 2005 - 2008, He had shortly worked with AAA in Mexico, and then  working in TNA from 2008 - 2010, He left to work on his MMA run, He went to work for 2 years at Inoki Genome Federation , and then after 2014 he returned back to TNA from 2014 - 2018, He then returned to WWE from 2018 - till present.

He is known more for his run with Impact just like Kurt Angle, as they gave him a chance at the Impact World Championship.  



Between the 2 it would be a challenge as who would come out with the win but I think Bobby Lashley may be victorious

Let me know your thoughts who would win between them ?

[actutrends]

Have there ever been fights on New Year’s Eve?

SAITAMA, JAPAN – DECEMBER 31: Nobomitsu Tyson of Japan and Tofiq Musayev of Azerbaijan compete in the bout during the RIZIN. 14 at Saitama Super Arena on December 31, 2018 in Saitama, Japan. (Photo by Etsuo Hara/Getty Images)

New Year’s Eve has traditionally been a hotbed for fight cards for nearly two decades now.

Every New Year’s Eve people get their party on, gathering to feast, count down the final seconds of the current year and make resolutions that will probably only last a month at the most. And for MMA fans, New Year’s Eve is a great time to watch some fights.

Unlike Thanksgiving and Christmas, New Year’s Eve traditionally is a time where MMA promotions ring in the new year with noted events. In fact, it might not be farfetched to say if the NFL has Thanksgiving and the NBA has Christmas Day, then MMA has New Year’s. Most of the New Year’s MMA tradition doesn’t come from the Americas, however, but rather Japan.

Japanese promotions have produced New Year’s Eve cards for about two decades now, with origins stretching back to 2000 with the professional wrestling/MMA mixed Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye events. These ran for four years before being discontinued until the 2010s.

The 2003 event, in particular, featured a who’s who of names from the Japanese pro wrestling world — including Inoki, Tatsumi Fujinami and Yugi Nagata — and MMA world — including Fedor and Alexander Emelianenko, Alistair Overeem, Josh Barnett, Michael McDonald, Lyoto Machida and Rich Franklin.

But as this tradition paused, a new one started thanks to PRIDE. While PRIDE held December 23 events between 2000 and 2002, the promotion created the annual PRIDE Shockwave event in 2003. Holding such a card annually until its 2007 folding, PRIDE Shockwave events took place at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan — where the 2001 and 2002 Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye events were held — and MMA community members look back on the Shockwave cards with high praise.

Since then, Saitama Super Arena has been synonymous with Dec. 31 MMA cards.

The year 2003 also marked the first time kickboxing promotion K-1 held its annual “Dynamite!!” event through 2010, with the 2005-2007 events done in conjunction with the Hero’s MMA promotion. Following PRIDE’s closure, the “Dynamite!!” event was moved to the Saitama Super Arena. And other Japanese promotions — including K-1, DREAM, DEEP and the Inoki Genome Federation (IGF, which revived the Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye events) helped to fill the void left.

New Year’s Eve cards today are most associated with RIZIN, a spiritual successor to PRIDE, who have held such events since its establishment in 2015. Most of these events feature the conclusion of a Grand Prix tournament and/or title fights, with some “gimmick” type matches thrown in (i.e. Floyd Mayweather vs. Tenshin Nasukawa last year).

This year’s event, RIZIN 20, will feature Ayaka Hamasaki defending the RIZIN super atomweight tittle against Seo Hee Ham and the conclusion of the Lightweight Grand Prix. Just days prior, RIZIN will also be co-promoting an event with Bellator MMA, which will feature a showdown of PRIDE legends Fedor Emelianenko and Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, as well as a rematch between Michael Chandler and Benson Henderson.

As for the UFC, it has held events in the days leading up to New Year’s in 2006-2008, 2011-2013 and 2016-2018, but has never held a card on Dec. 31 itself. It did hold a New Year’s Day event, however (with weigh-ins on New Year’s Eve), with UFC 125 — an event that featured one of the classic lightweight title fights between Frankie Edgar and Gray Maynard.

In its heyday, the UFC also aired an Ultimate New Year’s Eve pay-per-view, which was a “best of” show for the year of UFC action.

But last year, the Professional Fighters League (PFL) concluded its first season at The Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York on New Year’s Eve, featuring six tournament final fights and each winner earning $1 million. They’re set to do the same for its second season this year.

So if you’re a fight fan, make sure to add to your New Year’s celebrations with RIZIN, PFL, both, or even a classic PRIDE Shockwave event.

The post Have there ever been fights on New Year’s Eve? appeared first on Actu Trends.

[kingsankkofa]

Mirko Filipovic × Antonio Inoki

[gdwessel]

World Tag League 2021 & Best Of The Super Juniors 28 Night 17 - 12/5/2021; NJPW Strong Episode 69 - 12/4/2021; New Travel Restrictions Implemented Due to Omicron Variant Could Mean WK16 Changes; Suzuki Returns to DDT on 12/26/2021

The tour continued today, with another show streamed live on NJPWWorld. Today featured the 9th round of BOSJ28 matches, with more wrestlers being eliminated from contention at this late stage.

- 12/5/2021, Shizuoka Twin Messe

Yuto Nakashima TLD Ryohei Oiwa (10:00)

Best Of The Super Juniors 28: Taiji Ishimori [Bullet Club] d. DOUKI [SZKG] (Bone Lock, 10:23) 

Best Of The Super Juniors 28: YOH [CHAOS] d. Yoshinobu Kanemaru [SZKG] (Five Star Clutch, 12:11)

Best Of The Super Juniors 28: El Phantasmo [Bullet Club] d. Ryusuke Taguchi (Wristlock, 15:12)

Best Of The Super Juniors 28: Robbie Eagles [CHAOS] d. SHO [Bullet Club] (Ron Miller Special, 14:06)

Best Of The Super Juniors 28: Hiromu Takahashi [Los Ingobernables] d. Master Wato (Timebomb II, 16:30)

Best Of The Super Juniors 28: El Desperado [SZKG] d. BUSHI [Los Ingobernables] (Pinche Loco, 21:08)

Despy and Hiromu win as SHO loses to keep pace at the top. Despy said in a post-main promo he would go to the finals as IWGP junior champion and win BOSJ28. If he’d be the first to do it since Wataru Inoue in 2008, so it seems a little unlikely! Taguchi lost via submitting to a wristlock, but only after getting hit in the junk by the loaded-boot Sudden Death superkick by ELP. YOH is suddenly a contender to make it, mathematically.

Current BOSJ28 standings

SHO - 12pts (6W 0D 3L) Despy - 11pts (5W 1D 3L) Hiromu - 11pts (5W 1D 3L) Eagles - 10pts (5W 0D 4L) ELP - 10pts (5W 0D 4L) Ishimori - 10pts (5W 0D 4L) YOH - 10pts (5W 0D 4L) BUSHI - 8pts (4W 0D 5L) Taguchi - 8pts (4W 0D 5L) Kanemaru - 8pts (4W 0D 5L) Wato - 6pts (3W 0D 6L) DOUKI - 4pts (2W 0D 7L)

By the numbers, only DOUKI and Master Wato are out. They really maybe need to reconsider this Master Wato shtick or consider something else entirely for Kawato because they are not going to do anything with him, and this would have been the time to do it if they were. Technically, BUSHI, Taguchi and Kanemaru are still in it, but with only two matches left to go, and seven wrestlers ahead of them in the standings, it seems unlikely one of them will advance, so we can consider them out I think.

Last night’s episode of NJPW Strong began the Detonation sequence of shows, taped on 11/15/2021 in Riverside CA.

Lio Rush [AEW] & Adrian Quest v. Bateman & Misterioso [Stray Dog Army] (Quest > Misterioso, Phoenix Splash, 10:57)

Alex Coughlin Challenge Series: Josh Barnett [FREE] d. Alex Coughlin (Cross Leglock, 11:47)

JONAH [FREE] d. Lucas Riley (Tsunami, 6:01)

Jay White & Hikuleo [Bullet Club] d. Yuya Uemura & Alex Zayne (Hikuleo > Zayne, Tongan Driller, 10:32)

I believe Zayne is currently out injured but this was taped before that happened. JONAH makes his in-ring debut for NJoA with a basic squash. Josh Barnett has his first dealings with NJPW since 2018, when he was removed from commentary on NJPW on AXS following a shoot incident with Jay White. I wonder how that backstage interaction went. This was his first in-ring match in NJPW since 5/3/2004, when he beat Ken Shamrock by DQ. He did work with Inoki Genome Federation since that time. Barnett showed respect to Coughlin post-match.

Next week’s episode promises Tomohiro Ishii v. Brody King so there’s a hoss fight for you.

On Tuesday November 30, the Japanese government banned entry to all foreign nationals and returned to a 14-day quarantine for returning residents/nationals coming back into Japan, in response to the new Omicron variant of COVID-19. This essentially means anyone not currently in Japan will not be able to get back in, unless they have residency. I think I remember Will Ospreay having residency in Japan, however since his bolting from the country in May it’s unknown if that is actually still the case. If Ospreay is not back in Japan already, it is suddenly very unlikely he will be at Wrestle Kingdom 16 to face the winner of Shingo Takagi v. Kazuchika Okada for the IWGP World Heavyweight title on Night 2, 1/5/2021. The same would go for Jay White, if he was planned to be on the card, or anyone else who left Japan this year to work NJoA, Impact, AEW, etc. 

So basically, the card is subject to change, and so is government policy. The Japanese government is not looking to go back to any states of emergency as yet, but we may be seeing tightening restrictions coming again right as a very big holiday period for wrestling comes, even without the three WK16 events, including the NJPW v. NOAH show on 1/8/2021.

On that very related note, last night DDT revealed that at their Never Mind 2021 In Yoyogi show on 12/26/2021, Minoru Suzuki will return to DDT for the first time in five years. Actually, it’s four-and-a-half years, as the last time was the absolutely bonkers Empty Tokyo Dome match on 6/1/2017, where Suzuki beat DDT founder and then-owner Sanshiro Takagi in a match that went all over an empty Tokyo Dome. No word on who Suzuki’s opponent(s) will be as yet. The show will be live on CyberFight’s Wrestle Universe streaming platform; you all DID get the three-months-free deal for that, yes?

The tour takes a day off tomorrow, and resumes Tuesday with Round 9 of the World Tag League 2021. This one will be streamed live on NJPWWorld.

- 12/7/2021, Okayama Zip Arena

Yuto Nakashima v. Kosei Fujita

World Tag League 2021: Yuji Nagata & Tiger Mask IV v. Taichi & Zack Sabre Jr. [SZKG]

World Tag League 2021: Hiroshi Tanahashi & Toru Yano [CHAOS] v. Minoru Suzuki [SZKG] & TAKA Michinoku [JTO]

World Tag League 2021:  Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma v. EVIL & Yujiro Takahashi [Bullet Club]

World Tag League 2021: Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima v. Great O-Khan & Aaron Henare [United Empire]

World Tag League 2021: Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI [CHAOS] v.  Bad Luck Fale & Chase Owens [Bullet Club]

World Tag League 2021: Tetsuya Naito & SANADA [Los Ingobernables] v. Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa [Bullet Club]

[pwponderings-blog]

Reece’s Rasslin’ Riffs: A Quick Guide to Puro Promotions Part 2

Reece’s Rasslin’ Riffs: A Quick Guide to Puro Promotions Part 2

Welcome back to part 2 of our quick guide to Puro promotions currently active in Japan. Last time we examined the big three of NOAH, All Japan, and New Japan. This week we’ll examine the three other big companies, Inoki Genome Federation, Wrestle-1, and Dragon Gate.   INOKI GENOME FEDERATION During my overview of New Japan, I mentioned how Inoki, after leaving his position with New Japan, fled to…

[thasportsjunkies101]

Brock Lesner to stay in WWE?

Brock Lesner to stay in WWE?

Photo credit: Megan Elice Meadows, via Flickr

Lesner staying with WWE after Wrestlemania?

A report circulating about former UFC World Heavyweight Champion and current WWE World Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesner is claiming that there may be a contract extension past the slated Wrestlemania Pay-Per-View event.

Former WWE Color Commentator & Hall of Famer, Jim Ross, states in a new blog post, that…