#never openweight 6-man tag team championships

[imvgeswrestling]

》》》

[pwrestlingxpress]

Match Card Set for Dominion 2023

After finishing an intense "Best of the Super Jr 30", we now have the official match card for "Dominion 2023" taking place Sunday June 4th in Osaka-Jo Hall. Nine matches will be contested in which eight of the matches all have title implications.

Opening up the main card will be Will Ospreay and Lance Archer in singles competition where the winner will be granted a title shot against reigning IWGP United States Champion Kenny Omega at a event to be determined at a later date.

Second match on the card is the only match that has no title implications but could should Taichi get pinned. It's Tetsuya Naito, Shingo Takagi, BUSHI, and Titan of Los Ingobernables de Japon facing Just 5 Guys' Taichi, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, DOUKI, and Taka Michinoku.

Third up is a rematch from Hiroshima as IWGP Junior Tag Champions Kevin Knight and KUSHIDA make their first title defense against the previous champions TJP and Francesco Akira.

Fourth will be a rematch from "Wrestling Dontaku 2023" as Zac Sabre Jr. makes his eighth title defense of the NJPW World TV Championship against Jeff Cobb. If 15 minutes expires here like it did in Fukuoka, feel like the clock will have to be extended to determine a winner in this championship match.

Fifth on the card is a 3-way to determine the 99th IWGP Tag Team Champions and the 4th NJPW Strong Tag Team Champions. It's Bishamon (Hirooki Goto and YOSHI-HASHI) facing House of Torture (EVIL and Yujiro Takahashi) and the United Empire (Great O-Khan and Aaron Henare). My feeling on this was there was going to be a 3-way no matter what. No one wanted to see a Bishamon/HOT match because of what could happen. Also, crowd would be too one-sided. By doing this, crowd can cheer for Bishamon. Crowd can cheer for the United Empire. As long as House of Torture does not win, this will be fair game.

After the fifth match, we will have our list of G1 Climax 33 participants. Down below (in English ABC order) are the 20 (believe that'll be the number this year) participants I believe will be in this year's tournament. Note that most of them will be from NJPW though I'm hoping we get more than one from AEW and at least one from Pro Wrestling NOAH who will have their own summer tournament (N1 Victory 2023) starting in August.

Lance Archer

Jeff Cobb

David Finlay

EVIL

Hirooki Goto

Tom Lawlor

Tetsuya Naito

Ren Narita

Kazuchika Okada

Will Ospreay

El Phantasmo

Zac Sabre Jr.

SANADA

Taichi

Shingo Takagi

Hiromu Takahashi

Hiroshi Tanahashi

Yota Tsuji

Shota Umino

YOSHI-HASHI

Be surprised I didn't include Great O-Khan or Aaron Henare but this list is if they go with 20 participants which I feel like they will so, it'll be tough to see who will be selected.

After the G1 participants are announced, we're back to action as the NEVER Openweight Championship will be on the line as David Finlay defends against El Phantasmo who has a listed of who to take revenge on for what happened in Ryogoku back at "Sakura Genesis 2023"

The seventh match contested will be for the NEVER Tag Team Championship as Blackpool Combat Club members Jon Moxley, ROH World Champion Claudio Castagnoli, and Shota Umino challenge Tomohiro Ishii, Kazuchika Okada, and Hiroshi Tanahashi. The theme going into this 6-man title match is the fact that Okada is not ready for the next generation to take over. He managed to easily handle Pro Wrestling NOAH's Kaito Kiyomiya at the Toyko Dome back on February 21st. In March and in "Wrestling Dontaku 2023" he was able to handle Ren Narita easily. But when it comes to Shota Umino, every time Okada assumes he can easily handle Umino, the Shooter is apparently one step ahead, and with the edge that he carried from Long Beach, something tells me Okada is going to be in for a rude awakening on June 4, 2023 in Osaka-Jo Hall. Blackpool Combat Club are relentless in getting their way. We saw that at AEW's "Double or Nothing" and here in Osaka-Jo Hall, we'll be seeing the same thing again.

In the semi-main event it's "Best of the Super Jr 30" winner Master Wato challenging the 4-time winner (2018, 2020-22) Hiromu Takahashi for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship. Wato has promised to become the champion in his hometown of Osaka. The question is can he do it against somehow he's yet to beat in Hiromu? We hope to find out on Sunday.

The main event for "Dominion 2023" is one that is very intriguing. From the New Japan Cup 2023 finals to Wrestling Dontaku 2023, a mysterious video was playing that ended with what was mostly likely the sound of a wolf. At the time many thought this video would be Katsuhiko Nakajima due to the darkness of red and the wolf at the end. But as we found out at "Wrestling Dontaku 2023" that was not the case. After SANADA successfully defended his title over Hiromu Takahashi, we found out that the person behind the video was Yota Tsuji whose entrance attire largely resembles Nakajima's Kongo entrance attire. Quickly, Tsuji made an impact as he knocked out every member of Just 5 Guys and ended the night by spearing SANADA almost out of the ring. Since his appearance many have questioned, is he LIJ or not. The fist bump largely suggests he is but all 5 members of LIJ are not saying anything despite a picture of Titan celebrating with Tsuji before "Best of Super Jr 30" began back on May 12, 2023. Many of us expected an answer at the semi-finals and finals of "Best of Super Jr 30" but ended up with nothing. So...now June 4th in Osaka-Jo Hall; SANADA puts his title on the line against somehow who we don't know who he is really with. The hope is that we'll find out either after the second match at this event in Dominion or at the main event itself.

I will be making predictions for "Dominion 2023" alongside some predictions for NOAH's "Sunny Voyage 2023 in Shinjuku Face" later on today (May 29, 2023) so expect those predictions by then .

"Dominion 2023" comes June 4th in Osaka at 4 PM local time/3 AM Eastern/2 AM Central/Midnight Pacific. Go to timeanddate.com and type in the city you currently live in to find the start time to the event in your area. The event will be on NJPW World with Japanese and English Commentary. Hope you all are able to tune in live.

[chucktaylors]

The NJPW fanbase is dying out, and as a primarily AEW fan that got really into NJPW a couple of months ago, heres a couple of NJPW wrestlers I recommend watching/stanning!!

TJP

- Member of United Empire

- One half of the tag team Catch 2/2, with Francesco Akira

- Also known as The Aswang

- Known for a high flying, flexible, flip-based style of wrestling

DRILLA MOLONEY

- Member of Bullet Club: War Dogs

- 44' Calibre

- Usually seen tagging with Clark Conners

- IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champion (2nd reign)

- Former United Empire member

CLARK CONNERS

- Member of Bullet Club: War Dogs

- 100 proof

- Usually seen tagging with Drilla Moloney

- IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champion (2nd reign)

- Cowboy 🤘🏼

GABE KIDD

- Member of Bullet Club: War Dogs

- Im a mad man, dont ya know?

- Known for his hardcore matches and insane/mad/angry personality and style pf wrestling

- Strong Openweight Champion (1st reign)

DAVID FINLAY

- Leader/creator of Bullet Club: War Dogs

- IWGP Global Heavyweight Champion (record setting 2nd reign)

- Beat Ospreay and Jon for the first reign of the IWGP Global Heavyweight Championship

- Sent Will Ospreay out of NJPW, alongside the War Dogs and United Empire

ROBBIE EAGLES

- Member of TMDK (The Mighty Dont Kneel)

- Sniper of the Skies

- Former member of Bullet Club and CHAOS

- Australian Style

El Phantasmo

- ELP

- The HDBNGR (head banger)

- 1/2 of G.o.D with Hikuleo

- He's literally put me on blast before on his story for editing him to songs he doesnt like then we beefed then he wished me happy birthday the next day.

- Former Strong Openweight Tag Team Champion (just lost it like 2 days ago)

- He has an LED jacket and the LED glasses down there on Desperado, he's pretty swag ig

HIRMOU TAKAHASHI

- NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Champion, alongside Bushi and Yota Tsuji

- Timebomb

- Known for his stuffed animal cats, "Daryl"

- Lowk mentally deranged but look how cool his hair and gear is

- He means no harm, rlly

EL DESPERADO

- Former 3 time IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion

- Winner of the recent Best Of the Super Juniors

- Former member of Suzuki-gun

- Also means no harm, rlly

[supakixbabe]

Friendly reminder of the Young Bucks accomplishments in Japan:

NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Champions (3x)

2013 Super Jr's Tournament Winners

IWGP Tag Team Championship

IWGP Jr. Tag Team Championship (7x)

They were the first duo to have won all three of NJPW's team championships.

In a few weeks, we may see a second run with the IWGP Tag belts. A more EVPetty run. 🙏🏽

[melissahausen]

Predictions for AEW worlds end

As always these are who I think will win not necessarily who I want to win.

Participants TBA 20-man Battle Royale for a future AEW TNT Championship match

Nick Wayne why I dunno (don't even know if he's in it 🤣🤣 but why not.

Kris Statlander vs. Willow Nightingale Singles match: Kris

Hook (c) vs. Wheeler Yuta FTW Rules match for the FTW Championship: If it wasnt for the title I'd have probably said yoots but I don't think boring Hook is gonna lose 🙄

4 Ricky Starks, Big Bill, and The Don Callis Family Konosuke Takeshita and Powerhouse Hobbs (with Don Callis) VS Chris Jericho and Sammy Guevara, Sting, and Darby Allin Eight-man tag team match

I'll never count out Darby but DCF are on a roll right now , genuinely don't know who's gonna do it, I'll say Darby and Co but it's not a confident guess lol.

5 Julia Hart (c) vs. Abadon Singles match for the AEW TBS Championship: Julia but I'm team abadon all the way!

6 Swerve Strickland (with Prince Nana) vs. Keith Lee Singles match: swerve.

7 Blackpool Combat Club (Claudio Castagnoli and Bryan Danielson), Mark Briscoe, and Daniel Garcia vs. Brody King, Jay White, Jay Lethal, and Rush Eight-man tag team match.

BCC

BCC

BCC!

8 "Timeless" Toni Storm (c) with Luther vs. Riho Singles match for the AEW Women's World Championship

Timeless Toni dahling

9 Miro vs. Andrade El Idolo (with CJ) Singles match: I dunno man they both deserve it imma say Miro but I'm not confident.

10 Eddie Kingston (c) vs. Jon Moxley Championship Final of the AEW Continental Classic for the inaugural Triple Crown Championship

(ROH World Championship, NJPW Strong Openweight Championship, and the inaugural AEW Continental Championship)

EDDIEEEEEEEEEE

I can't believe he's actually in the finals I'm so happy for him and I just know Jon's gonna put him over like the bestie he is!

11 Christian Cage vs. Adam Copeland No Disqualification match for the AEW TNT Championship:

AAAAAAADAMMMMMM

12 MJF (c) vs. Samoa Joe Singles match for the AEW World Championship

JOE

JOE

JOE

JOE

the 400 odd day reign ends tonighhhhht 😈😈😈

[latestinbollywood]

Who is Mark Briscoe, brother of wrestler Jay Briscoe?

Who is Mark Briscoe:- Mark Pugh, better known as Mark Briscoe, is an American professional wrestler and is currently signed with Ring of Honor. He won the ROH World Tag Team Championship 13 times with his brother Jay Briscoe and was the third ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Champion. These days people are searching for Who is Mark Briscoe, brother of wrestler Jay Briscoe?

Who is Mark Briscoe, brother of wrestler Jay Briscoe?

Mark Briscoe was born on the 18th of January 1985 in Laurel, America and he is Thirty-eight years old as of 2023. Mark Briscoe and Jay Briscoe won the CZW Tag Team Championship on July 14, 2001. Mark and Jay have held the IWGP Tag Team Championship, the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship twice (with Toru Yano), and the ROH World Championship six times. Man Tag Team Championship (with Bully Ray) once. In 2002, Jay Briscoe returned to JAPW. On the 13th of July, Jay Briscoe and Insane Dragon won the JAPW Tag Team Championship at Unfinished Business after scoring identical pinfalls over members of Da Hit Squad.

Who is Jay Briscoe?

Jay Briscoe's real name was Jamin Pugh. He was an American professional wrestler. He spent most of his time with Ring of Honor. He won the ROH World Championship and ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Champions twice. He made his professional wrestling debut on 20 May 2000. He was considered one of the best professional tag team wrestlers in the world.

Jay Briscoe passed away in a car accident on 17 January 2023 in Laurel, Delaware. When he died, he was 38 years old. However, his car accident details are not been revealed yet. AEW and ROH owner Tony Khan confirmed his death news via Twitter, "Sadly, Jamin Pugh has passed away. Known to fans as Jay Briscoe, he was a star in ROH for over 20 years, from the first show until today. Jay and his brother Mark dominated ROH, reigning as champions to this day. We'll do whatever we can to support his family. Rest In Peace Jamin" WWE acknowledged the death of Jay Briscoe who passed away in a car accident today. Class act 🙏❤️ pic.twitter.com/ReWua68dqs — Wrestle Ops (@WrestleOps) January 18, 2023 Read also:- Who is Jay Briscoe's Wife? Read the full article

[gdwessel]

Cards For Remaining Kizuna Road Dates Announced, Including CHAOS v. Third Generation NEVER 6-Man Title Match; SHO Appearing at GLEAT’s 7/1/2021 Show

NJPW finally announced the rest of the Kizuna Road 2021 tour cards, which resumed this Saturday 6/26/2021. Only the two Korakuen Hall shows on 7/1 & 7/2/2021 will be streamed. Interestingly, those two shows will also be carried in Japan by Abema, who are also the owners of both DDT and Pro Wrestling NOAH these days. Still waiting to see if anything is going to come from that.

The tour caps off with another NEVER Openweight 6-Man Comedy Tag Team title match, on 7/2/2021, with the record-breaking CHAOS tandem of Hirooki Goto, Tomohiro Ishii & YOSHI-HASHI defending against the Third Generation, Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima & Yuji Nagata. The night before, there will be three special singles matches to preview the title match.

- 6/26/2021, Miyagi Sendai Sunplaza Hall

Tomoaki Honma & Tiger Mask IV v. Yota Tsuji & Yuya Uemura

El Desperado, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & DOUKI [SZKG] v. Taiji Ishimori, El Phantasmo & Jado [Bullet Club]

Kazuchika Okada, Toru Yano & SHO [CHAOS] v. EVIL, Yujiro Takahashi & Dick Togo [Bullet Club]

Hirooki Goto, Tomohiro Ishii, YOSHI-HASHI & YOH [CHAOS] v. Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima, Yuji Nagata & Master Wato

Kota Ibushi, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Togi Makabe & Ryusuke Taguchi v. Shingo Takagi, Tetsuya Naito, SANADA & BUSHI [Los Ingobernables]

- 6/28/2021, Aichi Nagoya Congress Center Event Hall

Tiger Mask IV & Ryusuke Taguchi v. Yota Tsuji & Yuya Uemura

El Desperado, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & DOUKI [SZKG] v. Taiji Ishimori, El Phantasmo & Jado [Bullet Club]

Kazuchika Okada, Toru Yano & YOH [CHAOS] v. EVIL, Yujiro Takahashi & Dick Togo [Bullet Club]

Hirooki Goto, Tomohiro Ishii, YOSHI-HASHI & SHO [CHAOS] v. Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima, Yuji Nagata & Master Wato

Kota Ibushi, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma v. Shingo Takagi, Tetsuya Naito, SANADA & BUSHI [Los Ingobernables]

- 6/29/2021, Toyama Takaoka Techno Dome

Tomoaki Honma & Ryusuke Taguchi v. Yota Tsuji & Yuya Uemura

El Desperado, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & DOUKI [SZKG] v. Taiji Ishimori, El Phantasmo & Jado [Bullet Club]

Kazuchika Okada, Toru Yano & SHO [CHAOS] v. EVIL, Yujiro Takahashi & Dick Togo [Bullet Club]

Hirooki Goto, Tomohiro Ishii, YOSHI-HASHI & YOH [CHAOS] v. Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima, Yuji Nagata & Master Wato

Kota Ibushi, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Togi Makabe & Tiger Mask IV v. Shingo Takagi, Tetsuya Naito, SANADA & BUSHI [Los Ingobernables]

- 7/1/2021, Tokyo Korakuen Hall (NJPWWorld)

El Desperado, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & DOUKI [SZKG] v. Taiji Ishimori, El Phantasmo & Jado [Bullet Club]

Tetsuya Naito, SANADA & BUSHI [Los Ingobernables] v. Taichi, Zack Sabre Jr. & Minoru Suzuki [SZKG]

YOSHI-HASHI [CHAOS] v. Hiroyoshi Tenzan

Hirooki Goto [CHAOS] v. Satoshi Kojima

Tomohiro Ishii [CHAOS] v. Yuji Nagata

- 7/2/2021, Tokyo Korakuen Hall (NJPWWorld)

Kota Ibushi v. Yota Tsuji

Yuya Uemura v. Shingo Takagi [Los Ingobernables]

El Desperado, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Minoru Suzuki [SZKG] v. Taiji Ishimori, El Phantasmo & Jado [Bullet Club]

Tetsuya Naito, SANADA & BUSHI [Los Ingobernables] v. Taichi, Zack Sabre Jr. & DOUKI [SZKG]

NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship: Hirooki Goto, Tomohiro Ishii & YOSHI-HASHI [CHAOS] (c) v. Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima & Yuji Nagata

Since the pandemic, there have not been a lot of NJPW wrestlers taking outside bookings, the AEW and Impact excursions notwithstanding. OK, maybe I defeated my point. Anyway. 

GLEAT is a relatively new promotion, owned by LIDET, the previous owners of Pro Wrestling NOAH, put together by Kiyoshi Tamura, much of it from the ashes of the now-defunct Wrestle-1 promotion that was founded by Keiji Muto. Their shtick is they have their own style of pro wrestling, but are also resurrecting the “UWF Rules” worked shoot-style wrestling matches that was popular for a time in the 80s and 90s.

Their first major show comes on 7/1/2021 at the Tokyo Dome City Hall, and the main event will feature NJPW’s SHO, wrestling in a UWF Rules match against Takanori Ito. Ito is a product of Wrestle-1, having won tag and singles belts there (but never the main title), but also is a champion full-contact karate practitioner. SHO of course has some background in jiu-jitsu and MMA himself, so this is an inspired pick.

No word on if this will be a continuing relationship between NJPW and GLEAT; when LIDET bought NOAH, they famously kicked out any Bushiroad assistance, financial or talent, but if we are honest, the Jado/Suzuki-gun era of NOAH nearly ran the company into the ground. We’ll keep an eye on this one for now.

No idea how the show will be made available. Probably through “sources.”

[wrestlingmgc]

NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Champions Los Ingobernables de Japon

[thegiftofviolence]

The Dominance of Kota Ibushi ,The Golden Star.

Dramatic Dream Team

IMGP World Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

Independent Junior Heavyweight Champion (1 time)

Ironman Heavymetalweight Championship (3 times)

DDT KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with Gota Ihashi and Kenny Omega (1) and Daisuke Sasaki and Kenny Omega (1)

KO-D Openweight Champion (3 times)

KO-D Tag Team Champion (5 times) - with Daichi Kakimoto (1), Kenny Omega (2), Danshoku Dino (1) & Daisuke Sasaki

Go-1 Climax (2014)

KO-D Openweight Championship Contendership Tournament (2008, 2009)

KO-D Tag League (2005) – with Daichi Kakimoto

DDT48 / Dramatic Sousenkyo (2012, 2014)

Best Match Award (2012) vs. Kenny Omega on August 18

New Japan Pro Wrestling

IWGP World Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

IWGP Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship (3 times)

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Kenny Omega

Best of the Super Juniors (2011)

New Japan Cup (2015)CEO Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Kenny Omega

NEVER Openweight Championship (1 time)

IWGP Intercontinental Championship (2 times)

IWGP Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Hiroshi Tanahashi

[wrestlingchampions]

[pwrestlingxpress]

AEW Has a Problem

Everything that I type here is all in my opinion and it's something I didn't want to discuss at first but feel like it's time to say it. AEW has a problem and that problem is CM Punk.

How did this problem start, you ask? Go back to the post-media event of "All Out 2022" where just minutes after regaining the AEW World Heavyweight Championship, CM Punk lashed out at the media instead of talking about his reaction to the return of MJF (aka Maxwell Jacob Friedman) from earlier that day.

His words caused a backstage brawl that resulted into suspensions of himself and all around him including Matt Jackson, Nick Jackson, Kenny Omega, Brandon Cutler, Michael Nakazawa, etc. Also, due to that brawl, both the AEW World Heavyweight Championship and the AEW Trios Championship were vacated.

The Trios title ended up being help by PAC, Rey Fenix, and Pentagon until January 2023 while the AEW World Heavyweight Championship would be returned to Jon Moxley who regained the title and held onto it until November where he lost in what many can considered controversial fashion to Max Friedman.

Many people including myself were under the impression that a deal was reached where CM Punk would be let go by the company for his actions. Not the case as we learned that this Saturday (June 17, 2023) a new AEW show will premiere called "AEW Collision" and the show will heavily involve CM Punk.

Now...how did people react to his imminent return. Not very good. From everything I heard and read, the reaction was very negative with boos almost all over arenas and on social media. AEW tried to cover it up by finding those who'll cheer his return. It didn't work. Worse than that...the announcement of his return caused slow ticket sales so what happens next...let's announce his return match.

CM Punk, Dax Harwood, and Cash Wheeler vs. Jay White, Juice Robinson, and Samoa Joe. If you're a Jay White fan, you'd be like "yay, Jay's on AEW Collision" in an exciting way but when you read he has to face Punk in 6-man tag action you like "yay, Jay's on AEW Collision" but your excitement meter goes down.

To make matter worse for AEW, they aired a VTR of Punk last night on AEW Dynamite that got the crowd booing even more. And from the people I follow on social media, all were furious that AEW keeps on showing Punk. Some even ask "why has he not been punished yet for his actions" "why is he getting awarded when everyone got punished"

These questions I cannot answer but I can say that AEW has a problem (CM Punk). They've tried almost everything to cover up the problem and instead have made it worse. And now...I read something in which this problem AEW has with Punk is so bad, I don't know how they're going to solve it at this point. That something...an interview that apparently and/or reportedly went out of control. Read some details on it and...it's not good.

The last time I watched AEW was the week before "All Out 2022" in which I was starting to question Punk's booking at the time but was somewhat proud to see Kenny Omega back in the ring. Haven't watched AEW since then and until they release CM Punk, have no intention to watch AEW again though there'll be times I'll watch certain highlights but not a full show.

One more thing I've been reading since they've been announcing his return was a proposed match against KENTA at "Forbidden Door 2023" taking place June 25th in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. From what I read, many are thrilled about the proposed match because this could solve the one issue many have, who really owns the "GTS'. Instead, I read that Punk was "not interested". Reading that really boils me up because how in the world can you not be interested in facing a former GHC Heavyweight Champion, a 3-time GHC Junior Heavyweight Champion, a 3-time GHC Junior Tag Team Champion, a former GHC Tag Team Champion, a former Global League winner, a former IWGP United States Champion, a former NEVER Openweight Champion, and a 2-time (and reigning) Strong Openweight Champion. Why in the world do you say "not interested" to someone is regarded by many to be the best the world has to offer. Read KENTA's response to the proposed match and...it's a interesting one because he'll only do it if it requires the money provided but if Punk is saying "not interested" then why bother.

Again, AEW has a problem that they've yet to solve and based on all I've read, based on all I've heard, and based on almost everything I've said here...are not even going to attempt to solve the problem and it's a shame that this is happening. None of this would have happened if they had just fired Punk. Instead, look where we're at right now. This (AEW Collision with Punk) is going to blow up in their face.

With that...done talking about Punk here. Again, everything I just typed right here on my Pro Wrestling Express is all in my opinion. Feel free to comment on your opinion in this ongoing problem that AEW has no attempt to solve at this time.

[dreamsandflowers]

congrats to SANADA for winning his first NJPW single championship ! For the record he was a 3 times IWGP tag team champions and 3 times NEVER openweight 6-man tag team champions,also 2 times World Tag League winner. Now he's the new IWGP US champion👊👏👏

[supakixbabe]

Young Bucks NJPW accolades:

-NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship

- 2013 Super Jr’s Tournament Winners

- IWGP Tag Team Championship

- IWGP Jr. Tag Team Championship (7x)

They were the first duo to have won all three of NJPW's team championships.

2025 - We run it back

[lifeoutofcontrol]

[wrestlingisfake]

Resurgence preview

It's been a year now since New Japan launched their US-based show, NJPW Strong. I'm sure the original plans involved running US tours with a mix of American regulars and visiting stars from the main Japanese roster. The pandemic, however, limited the scope of Strong, mainly featuring minor leagues on a closed set. It almost felt like a parallel universe with little relationship to the "real" NJPW. Now, finally, the brand gets to do a show in front of an actual crowd, and we get to see this concept the way it was meant to be seen.

The show airs live on NJPWworld (999 yen for one month--about $9.12 US) at 11pm EDT. Or, if you just cannot handle setting up your payment on a Japanese website, you can get the show on FITE.tv for $19.99 US. Both services should make the show available on-demand later, in case you want to wait until you're done watching Triplemania.

Lance Archer vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi - Archer is defending the IWGP United States champioship. The title was in limbo through most of 2020, as Jon Moxley was unable to schedule a defense in either New Japan or AEW. That changed in 2021, as thawing relations between the two promotions led to more Moxley title matches, until he lost the belt to Archer on July 21. Shortly before Archer's first defense on July 28, AEW aired a video of Tanahashi challenging the winner of that match.

This is Tana's first show outside of Japan since the pandemic began, and his first match in California in nearly three years. I'm not sure anyone expected him to be here, given that the New Japan of America operation has focused on building up North American talent rather than bringing in big stars from the home promotion. So this is a special treat for the live audience, above and beyond Archer coming in from AEW.

I expect a pretty straightforward match with Archer killing Tana with big power moves and Tana rallying for a big babyface comeback. In a vacuum I would think either man could end up with the belt. However, the real story to this match is that Tanahashi went out of his way to make a challenge for the US title, but not until after Jon Moxley lost it. So Moxley has accused Tana of ducking him, and it stands to reason that he'll confront the winner of this match to close the show. That feels like a formula for Tana vs. Mox for the title, maaaybe at the AEW pay-per-view on September 5. Everyone sure seems to hope that's where we're headed, so I don't think a lot of people will be pulling for Archer tonight.

Jay White vs. David Finlay - This is White's first defense of the NEVER openweight championship. It's also his first New Japan match since May, as the quarantine procedures for entering Japan have made travel pretty rough for the non-Japanese talent. As I recall, Finlay received this title shot because he pinned White back in March. Finlay hasn't been back in Japan since that tour. Both of these guys have been in Impact Wrestling as of late.

Originally, the idea behind White winning the NEVER title was to set up a match with Hiroshi Tanahashi at one of the Wrestle Grand Slam stadium shows that New Japan scheduled this summer. The aforementioned travel problems seem to have scuttled that, so now White is facing The Other Guy From FinJuice.

The biggest buzz I've heard surrounding this match is that Finlay appeared on Wrestling Observer Live to promote the show and ended up giving fans the impression that he wanted to go to NXT. I mean, Finlay could be fucking with us on that. But it's not a good sign when people are mainly interested in a match because they're looking for signs that one of the participants is fixing to leave the promotion. Not that it affects the finish, of course--Finlay could sign with NJPW for a million years, and he still wouldn't be booked to beat White for a title in 2021.

Tomohiro Ishii vs. Moose - This match kind of came out of nowhere. Ishii isn't exactly a top guy in New Japan but he's always right below that level, clobbering most of the roster and getting clobbered to set up new contenders. Most of the NJPW Strong roster would be underdogs against him. But then, Moose isn't on the Strong roster--he's coming over from Impact, where he's been pushed as a top heel for months. Moose is a 6-foot-5 big mean guy and Ishii is a 5-foot-7 big mean guy, so this should be an interesting contrast. It's easily the most interesting match on the show.

I'd like to see Moose win, since it'd be a slight upset and he could use the momentum for whatever he's doing next. But if he is gonna win, Ishii is going to convince you that he had to work his ass off to earn it. I'm looking forward to this.

Tom Lawlor & JR Kratos & Danny Limelight & Jorel Nelson & Royce Isaacs vs. Lio Rush & Chris Dickinson & Adrian Quest & Fred Yehi & Yuya Uemura - Lawlor is the NJPW Strong champion and his team is the New Japan version of "Team Filthy." The babyface team originally featured Brody King, but he was pulled from the card at the last minute due to "unforeseen circumstances", so Adrian Quest is substituting for him. That's a real tough break for the good guys.

There are several storylines at play here. Lio Rush stepped up as the next challenger for Lawlor's title, and they'll have that match at the August 16 tapings. Dickinson was kicked out of Team Filthy, and is currently aligned with Brody King's Violence Unlimited stable. Uemura had been working on the Japan roster as a Young Lion, but he's just begun his excursion so he has a chance to really express himself as a performer.

If Rush wasn't already positioned as Lawlor's next challenger, I might think this match could end with someone pinning Lawlor. As it is, though, it probably makes more sense for Team Filthy to win in a dominant fashion. Yehi and Quest are basically undercard scrubs, and Uemura just now graduated to that position. Rush and Dickinson aren't going to be able to carry so many weak links.

Juice Robinson vs. Hikuleo - Juice has spent most of 2021 teaming with David Finlay over on Impact, whereas Hikuleo has been wrestling on Strong and more recently on a few AEW shows. Given that Hikuleo is 6-foot-8 you'd expect him to squash everything in his path, but New Japan isn't afraid to have more established stars get the better of him. Whether Juice is one of those more established stars remains to be seen.

Juice biggest career highlight was winning the IWGP US title, and Hikuleo's was challenging for that title a few weeks ago. If one of them is going to be in the hunt for that belt, then winning this match should be step one. As much as I'd like to see Juice back in the chase, I get the feeling it'll be Hikuleo taking that role.

Karl Anderson & Doc Gallows vs. Jon Moxley & X - The Good Brothers (Gallows and Anderson) are the Impact Wrestling men's tag team champions, but their title is not at stake here. I think Moxley was originally booked to team with Syota Umino on this show, but travel restrictions prevented Umino from coming into LA. One way or another, Moxley will have a mystery partner that won't be revealed until the match begins.

The backstory is that Gallows and Anderson have been a thorn in Moxley's side every time he's tried to fight Kenny Omega, or really anybody in Omega's stable. With that in mind, the most logical partner would be Sami Callihan, who has a history with Moxley and unfinished business with Omega's group. People have been asking for a Moxley-Callihan reunion from the minute AEW and Impact started collaborating, and there's no reason it can't happen here. On the other hand, I wonder if that's something New Japan would do as a surprise, as opposed to advertising it ahead of time.

If Moxley's partner isn't Callihan, there's a serious risk that the live crowd will start chanting for Callihan and disrupt the match. So if they're going with someone else, it'd better be good. I suppose Eddie Kingston would be accepted, although again, why would that be something you do as a surprise? Personally, I'm all about Moxley and the cold, deadly eyes of Shooter Umino, so I know I'll be disappointed no matter what. :(

Anyway, it'd be stupid for Moxley's team to lose this match.

Rocky Romero & Fred Rosser & Wheeler Yuta vs. TJP & Clark Connors & Ren Narita - This is a pretty good sampling of the NJPW Strong midcard. Of this group, Romero has the most clout with the main New Japan roster. Rosser is still best known as WWE's Darren Young, the guy from the Nexus who looks exactly like John Cena. Yuta has been making waves on AEW, filling in for Trent Beretta with Orange Cassidy's group, so I guess he and Rocky are both Best Friends Twice Removed or something. TJP is a former WWE cruiserweight champion and Impact X division champion. Connors is one of the guys from the Gekiochi-kun ads--I think he's the one who snaps his fingers to teleport everybody. Ren Narita is the guy who used to wrestle Syota Umino all the time, but Syota is not on this show. :(

Alex Coughlin vs. Karl Fredericks - When Strong started, Coughlin, Fredericks, and Clark Connors were the three Young Lions from the LA Dojo who worked as prelim guys. Since then I believe Connors and Fredericks have "graduated," and Coughlin is still working on it. I'm pretty sure Fredericks is the one in the Gekiochi-kun ads that says "that's pretty cool." I don't remember what Coughlin does in those ads, so clearly he needs to get his ass in gear. Anyway, I guess Fredericks wins.

Bateman & Mysterioso & Barrett Brown vs. The DKC & Kevin Knight & Jordan Clearwater - This is scheduled as a dark match 30 minutes before the live stream begins. I've heard most of these names, but the only one I kinda know is Bateman from whatever goofy stable he's in at Ring of Honor. I dunno, I guess his side wins.

[aknightonthetown]

Guide to New Japan Pro Wrestling (Part 1): General Information

HeavI have decided, out of a mixture of boredom and a sense of helpfulness, to make a guide to NJPW. I think this is needed since New Japan is both a company that is very enjoyable to get into, they have generally great matches with a large backlog of great matches to watch, and one that is kind of difficult to get into. In my experience a lot of terms get thrown around a lot and it can get kind of confusing to keep track of for a while, and I got into it at a point when it was a lot less confusing.

General History

A good place to start with any guide is a brief history. New Japan Pro Wrestling is a Pro Wrestling company based out of Japan, not surprising, and it is not new at all, more surprising. It was created in 1972 by Antonio Inoki:

and has been running shows since then.

Titles

Like most wrestling companies New Japan has a bunch of title belts and I figure part 1 should also kind of explain what they actually are. The most prestigious Title in NJPW is the IWGP (International Wrestling Grand Prix) Heavyweight Championship:

currently held by Tetsuya Naito (any wrestlers brought up here will probably be discussed in another part). Naito also holds the second most prestigious title in the company, the IWGP Intercontinental Title:

And like most companies New Japan has a belt for tag teams:

The IWGP Tag Team titles (Currently Held by Golden☆Ace) However New Japan has a large split in terms of it’s titles and divisions. All of the titles already featured are for Heavyweight wrestlers. Anyone smaller than a heavyweight instead goes for Junior Heavyweight titles. The most prestigious of them being THE IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title (currently held by Hiromu Takahashi):

and the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Titles (currently held by Roppongi 3k):

AND IF THAT WASN’T ENOUGH there are two titles everyone can fight over. The NEVER Openweight Championships. The NEVER Openweight Title (currently held by Shingo Takagi):

and the NEVER Openweight 6 Man Titles for teams of 3 people (Currently Held by Los Ingobernables de Japon):

and finally a title I completely forgot existed until the end cause I am a bit forgetful sometimes The IWGP United States Title (Currently Held by Jon Moxley):

Sorry that this Part 1 got very long, New Japan has a lot of belts and there isn’t much comedy I can add to listing belts and divisions. Next part will just be explaning why there are so many factions and giving brief summaries so should be a bit shorter. If I left anything really obvious out feel free to tell me and if there are any questions about what I have said so far feel free to ask.