#njpw global champion

[maineventpapiuso]

Nic Nemeth AKA Dolph Ziggler got let go by WWE and became the NJPW Global champion.

Mustafa Ali got let go of WWE and won the TNA X Division champion.

This just goes to show that WWE is holding back a lot of the talent.

Every superstar to either leave or be let go of WWE has become a champion in another promotion.

I've said it before and I'll say it again WWE is a sickness to itself.

[droptoeholdyourhorses]

The Best Friends Deserve Bester

Chuck Taylor and Trent Beretta have been teaming together as The Best Friends since August 2013. In January 2014, they won PWG's Dynamite Duumvirate Tag Team Title Tournament, becoming number one contenders to the PWG World Tag Team Championship. They lost their subsequent challenge against The Young Bucks at Mystery Vortex II. The only other time Chuck and Trent have competed for those titles was at 2019's Hand of Doom where they lost to The Rascalz. What that means is that out of seven teams who won the PWG DDT4 between 2007 and 2015, The Best Friends are the only ones to have never held the PWG World Tag Team Championship.

Alright, well maybe they had better luck in NJPW. Trent's a four-time IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champion with Rocky Romero. If Roppongi Vice can succeed, then I'm sure The Best Friends can... come fourth in the B Block in the 2017 World Tag League and finish eighth overall in the 2018 League.

No, that make sense. Best Friends as a team have always been predominantly American based. What about their ROH run in 2017? I know they had a few title matches there.

Loss vs. The Young Bucks in ROH World Tag Team Championship tornado three way match at Best in the World 2017 (also featured War Machine)

Loss vs. Kenny Omega & The Young Bucks in ROH Six Man Tag Team Championship match at Global Wars 2017 Day 3 (teamed with Flip Gordon)

Loss vs. Kenny Omega & The Young Bucks in ROH Six Man Tag Team Championship match on ROH Wrestling Episode #326 (teamed with Rocky Romero)

Loss vs. Motor City Machine Guns in ROH World Tag Team Championship match at Final Battle 2017

Ok, enough messing around. Let's get into the AEW run. Orange Cassidy has done a great job as International Champion. Kris Statlander is enjoying a good reign as TBS Champion. How have Chuck and Trent done?

Win vs. SCU and Private Party at Fyter Fest 2019 to advance to All Out for an opportunity at a first round bye in the AEW World Tag Team Championship tournament (good start)

Loss vs. Dark Order at All Out 2019 (who needs a first round bye anyway?)

Loss vs. SCU in first round of AEW World Tag Team Championship tournament (ah, that bye would have been handy)

Loss vs. Kenny Omega & Adam Page in a Number One Contender's Fatal Four Way (also featured The Young Bucks and Proud & Powerful) (got four-and-a-half stars from Dave Meltzer)

Loss to The Young Bucks in a Number One Contender's Battle Royal (not gonna list all the other teams)

Win vs. Private Party in a Number One Contender's match at Double Or Nothing 2020 (that's more like it)

Win vs. Chris Jericho & Sammy Guevara to remain number one contenders (yes, go on lads!)

Loss vs. Kenny Omega & Adam Page in AEW World Tag Team Championship match on Dynamite: Fyter Fest 2020 Day 1 (ah, damn it)

Loss to FTR in Number One Contender's Gauntlet match (again, not gonna list all the other teams)

Win vs. Proud & Powerful in a Parking Lot Fight (FIVE STARS BAYBEE!)

Loss to reDRagon in a Number One Contender's Battle Royal (AEW love them some battle royals)

Loss to The Young Bucks in a Number One Contender's Casino Tag Team Royale (this was literally the week after the previous battle royal)

Win w/Orange Cassidy vs. The Trustbusters in first round of AEW Trios Championship tournament (ooo, promising)

Loss w/Orange Cassidy vs. Adam Page & Dark Order in semi-final of AEW Trios Championship tournament (never mind, I guess)

Loss w/Orange Cassidy vs. Death Triangle for vacant AEW Trios Championship (can't tell me they shouldn't have won this one given PAC was already All-Atlantic Champion at the time)

Loss w/Orange Cassidy vs. Death Triangle in AEW Trios Championship match (one day lads, one day)

Loss w/Orange Cassidy to AR Fox & Top Flight in $300,000 Three Kings Christmas Casino Trios Battle Royal (we're really taking the piss now with these battle royals)

Loss to Jay Lethal & Jeff Jarrett in Revolution Tag Team Battle Royal (they were literally the runners up in this one, come on)

Loss w/Orange Cassidy vs. House of Black in AEW Trios Championship match (stop teasing me)

Loss vs. Aussie Open in IWGP Tag Team Championship match (they could have had a Japan run after all)

Loss w/Bandido vs. House of Black in AEW Trios Championship match (Bandido's cool but surely it's gotta be Orange for the eventual trios run)

Loss vs. Aussie Open in ROH World Tag Team Championship Fatal Four Way at ROH Death Before Dishonor 2023 (also featured Lucha Bros and The Kingdom) (another big win coming any day now)

Loss vs. Jon Moxley & Claudio Castagnoli in Parking Lot Brawl (four-and-a-half stars for the Parking Lot sequel)

Win w/Orange Cassidy, Eddie Kingston & Penta vs. Jon Moxley, Claudio Castagnoli, Wheeler Yuta, and Proud & Powerful in Stadium Stampede at All In 2023 (the biggest of big wins, another four-and-a-half stars)

Loss to Dark Order in ROH Number One Contender's Battle Royal (great way to follow up that momentum after All In)

Loss to The Righteous in ROH Number One Contender's Fatal Four Way (also featured The Hardys and The Kingdom) (again, great follow up)

Obviously there's been more matches in between the ones I highlighted. The Best Friends have had some good moments here and there but overall, it feels like there's been missed opportunities. No follow up after the initial Parking Lot Brawl. No Trios Championship run. Lost in the shuffle again following All In.

The Best Friends deserve bester.

[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

[solaraurora]

Nic Nemeth (Dolph Ziggler) thriving & living his best life as the new NJPW IWGP Global Champion is what I'm here for. he deserves everything. so happy for him. love him. ❤️‍🔥💖❤️💞🖤

[puroresu-musings]

RevPro HIGH STAKES 2024 Review (Feb 18th, Crystal Palace National Sports Centre, London, UK)

AEW International Championship Scramble - Orange Cassidy (c) vs. Flash Morgan Webster vs. Sha Samuels vs. Spike Trivet vs. Richard Holliday vs. Cameron Khai vs. Shigehiro Irie ***

RevPro Undisputed British Women's Championship - Dani Luna (c) Safire Reed ***

Young Blood vs. Trew & Lacey ***1/4

Luke Jacobs vs. JJ Gale ****1/4+

Mustafa Ali vs. Robbie X ***1/2

Shingo Takagi vs. Trent Seven ***1/2

Ricky Knight Jr. vs. Anthony Ogogo **1/4

Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Connor Mills ****1/2

RevPro Undisputed British Heavyweight Championship - Michael Oku (c) vs. Will Ospreay *****

Photos - BritWresPics

This was an excellent show from the premier BritWres promotion, that featured great action up and down the card, a whole load of good, nothing bad, and the best match of the year so far.

Things kicked off with a fun, but unspectacular Scramble match, that had the surprise inclusions of Shigehiro Irie and AEW's Global champ, Orange Cassidy, who got a huge pop and put his belt on the line here. Which left the finish in no doubt really. This only went 8 minutes, and was essentially just a collection of high spots, and many of the guys didn't do much. I'm a fan of Big Shig, but honestly, he might as well not have been here as his contributions came to one spot. Same with Cassidy to be fair, he was AWOL most of this thing, selling a lowblow from Holliday, but it was still fun stuff. Orange pinned Holliday with the Orange Punch to retain. The RevPro Women's Title was on the line next. This was another good match, but I wasn't a massive fan of the finish, which brought it down slightly for me. Despite seemingly having the match won, Reed inexplicably went to use Dani's title belt, but payed for it as she ate an Elevated German into the ring and a Luna Landing for the champion to retain in 9:44. Alex Windsor Jumped Luna after the match and beat her down and dragged her around with a chain, which one would presume is leading to a dog collar match.

The NJPW Dojo graduates Yuto Nakashima and Oskar Leube took on heel duo Mark Trew and Kieron Lacey in a really good little traditional tag bout next. The heels worked over stocky babyface Yuto, before he made the hot tag to his Germanic Skyscraper of a tag partner, who ran wild and they bumped around like crazy for him. After taking Lacey out with a verion of Total Elimination, Leube caught a Trew crossbody attempt, and deadlifted him onto his shoulders, allowing Nakashima to come off the second rope with a jumping knee, and Oskar hit a massive multiple rotation F-5 for the win at 9:25. They announced a UK Fantasticamania show for May 19th before the next match, which was an excellent slugfest between Luke Jacobs and JJ Gale. This was grand hard-hitting violence, with both guys hitting forearms, kicks and suplexes. After Jacobs caught Gale's leg from a roundkick attempt, he captured his arm too and hit a sickening headbutt. JJ scored a nearfall with a flash small package, then got another super close nearfall with his Gale Force spinning Oscutter as the crowd went crazy. Gale missed a 450, before eating a serious of stiff Lariats from Jacobs, which lead to Luke scoring the win at 17:02 with a Steiner Screwdriver. Great stuff here, and I hope we see more from both guys at the top of the card in 2024. Jacobs vowed to win the Revolution Rumble in the post match.

Mustafa Ali took on Robbie X in a very good flippity spot fest next. This was all-action, with a non-stop stream of flying and springboard moves. The finish came when both guys fought in the top, Ali hit a Sunsetbomb off the top, then a match winning 450 Splash to win at the 13:08 mark. Ali looked super happy to be here, and put on a good showing, so I'm under no doubt that he'll do great in New Japan and the Indys, after years of being in wrestling purgatory. Shingo took on Trent Seven next in a match that was made less than 24 hours before they came through the curtain. Originally Takagi was to take on Gabe Kidd (which I would have been all in on as that sounds awesome), but Kidd suffered an undisclosed injurey in the insane Cage Match he was in in Osaka. If I were a betting man though, I'd say it was likely a concussion from that insanely stiff Henare slap he took near the end, not to mention the crazy chairshots. This was ultimately a very decent match, but at 21:58, it was way too long, and it was another of those matches where too much stuff was kicked out of. There was no need to work this like it was a Tokyo Dome main event; Shingo kicked out of a Pump Handle Emerald Flowsion, Trent kicked out of a sitout Burning Hammer, Takagi kicked out of a middle rope Emerald Flowsion, then a short piledriver, Shingo then escaped a Seven Star Lariat and hit a Last of The Dragon... but after a delayed cover Trent kicked out(!). Seven kicked at one from a Sliding Bomber, but ate a few more Pumping Bombers to finally allow Shingo to win. This would likely have been great if it was around 14 minutes, but it outstayed it's welcome a little and they just kicked out of way too much for no reason.

Next up, Anthony Ogogo defeated RKJ in what was by far the weakest match of the night. This was perfectly fine, nothing was bad, the crowd were respectably hot, and RKJ tried his damndest to have a good match, but this ultimately didn't click. Former Olympic Boxer Ogogo scored the win at 13:30 with two great looking punches. Which were the best looking things he'd done all match. What followed was an excellent technical wrestling match, as Zack Sabre Jr. took on Connor Mills, which was my second favourite of the night. This featured exemplary mat work, as both guys exchanged submission holds, with Mills aggressively working over the left leg, and Zack focussing on the left arm. After both failed to tap the other out, frustrations flared and this broke down into a nasty strike battle, with some seriously stiff slaps back and forth. In the end, after Mills kicked out of a Zack Driver, Sabre Jr. turned up the pace and put the younger wrestler away after a series of PK's at the 21:25 mark. Great, great stuff.

Then the Main Event, which was Will Ospreay's RevPro swan song before going fulltime with AEW, and was one of the best matches you'll ever see. I loved their match at High Stakes 2022, but this one was considerably better than that classic, with off the charts drama, heat, storytelling and big fight feel. This was outstanding. The stipulations were that there were no referee stoppages allowed, but if Amira threw in the towel (like she did in their last match), then Oku would lose the title, and Ospreay threw the bloody towel from the forst match at her to use. The crowd were white hot from the off, and neber cooled down once during this epic battle. There was way too much to reasonably recap here, but everything was great. Oku worked over Will's knee in preperation of the Half Crab, but came up bloody from going into the ringpost. Ospreay worked him over, taunting Amira to throw the towel, but she responded by spitting on him, which Ospreay responded by kicking her into the guardrail to loud boos. Oku went crazy with a fiery comeback that included hitting the old El Generico Tornado DDT through the ropes to the floor, which Ospreay juiced from, then locked on the most dramatic Figure Four since Muto/Takada, but Ospreay made the ropes. Will hot the Oscutter for a nearfall, and Oku hit a reverse rana which spiked Ospreay, but as he celebrated, Ospreay popped up and hit a Hidden Blade to the back of the head for the double down. Oku then turned a Storm Breaker attempt into a package tombstone, but missed a Frog Splash. He landed on his feet though and hit Ospreay with his own Hidden Blade. In a callback to their 2022 match, Oku started hitting numerous Hidden Blades, but pulled Ospreay up at two every pin attempt. He tried another but The Ariel Assassin countered with the real deal Hidden Blade. Ospreay hit the flip out of a clothesline into a powerbomb spot, then transitioned into a Styles Clash for a near fall. Amira is dragged into the ring and she pushes Oku out of the way of a Hidden Blade, taking the move herself, leading to Ospreay pushing her unconscious body out of the ring. Oku rolls through another Hidden Blade into the Half Crab, but as he leans back into the bridge, Ospreay pulls him out of it, flips him over and hits a devastating Tiger Driver 91, another Hidden Blade and finally the Storm Breaker, but Oku kicks out at 2.9999, which blows the roof off the National Sports Centre. Oku then turns a Tombstone attempt into a Sega Mega Driver, in tribute to Mad Kurt, finally hits the Frog Splash to the back, goes back up and hits a second to the front, but Ospreay kicks out at the last minute. As he does, Oku grabbed his leg and turned it into the Half Crab as the fans went crazy. Ospreay fought to the ropes, but a revived Amira flipped him off, Oku pulled him to the centre, bridges back, and Ospreay finally tapped at the 47:12 mark, giving Oku the biggest win of his career. This was all brilliant.

In the post match, Ospreay handed Oku the title, symbolically passing the torch, Oku offered the handshake, which was expected, and Ospreay cut an emotional promo to say goodbye to a scene he's invested so much into. He thanked New Japan and RevPro, as well as the fans, for all they've done for him, and he promised his best stuff was still to come. He then said teary fairwells, before nemsis Zack Sabre Jr. appeared at the curtain to give him a hug and a kiss. All in all, this was an excellent show that's well worth checking.

NDT

[thebuginthecornerofyourroom]

New Japan has a serious problem with its main event scene, and I think Okada knows, and I think that's why he's leaving.

In any well formed company, you have to build the titles not only with a champion but with people around them. The people around the belts have to keep rotating as they come to keep the scene fresh and keep the belt interesting.

WWE is built around Roman for the big belt, and they have the WHC as an alternative main event in case the UWU fails, and around them they have a good selection of people: Punk, Cody, Gunther, Jey, Priest, LA Knight, AJ, Randy, etc, even some that are in the midcard but one can build if needed, like Lashley.

In AEW, now the situation is similar, they have Joe and immediately you have Hangman and Swerve, then Jay, Mox, Bryan, Eddie, Darby, Hook, Orange, Ospreay starts soon, etc.

In NJPW however, the main event lately has been kinda bleak for two reasons: 1, they have let go a big chunk of their main event stars and 2, They haven't been building any young stars in order to step up to the main event.

Like, New Japan has had, and then let go, stars like: Nakamura, AJ, The entire Elite, Jay White, Ibushi, Shibata, Ospreay and now Okada, which were all to-go people to carry the world title, especially Okada. And only now they have been building towards new people, but the people they are building are still fresh, and not within the world title picture.

It's not like they haven't tried other people, although surprisingly, the only people they have "tried" with that are still with the company have been members of Los Ingobernables.

Now Naito has it, and probably cannot defend it every event because he has joint issues, but who else is around the belt? Narita, Tsuji and Shooter are still too green. Tanahashi is busy being president. Finley sucks and he just won the Global belt. Evil just fucking sucks. Shingo has been booked like shit since forever. Ishii and the rest of the veterans cannot take it because they're veterans. Who's left? Sanada again? Zack? Will they give it to a Junior like Desperado or Hiromu? To Mox, so he takes the belt away? Who else is there if Naito fails?

Shooter better start developing a better personality because I swear this shit has to go somewhere quick.

[wrestlingisfake]

G1 B Block finals preview

Jeff Cobb (5-3, 10 points) vs. Yota Tsuji (4-4, 8 points) - Cobb is the NJPW World television champion, but the title isn't on the line during this tournament.

Cobb needs a win or a draw to clinch a spot in the top three, whereby he would advance to the knockout stage. If he loses, he and Tsuji will both be at ten points, and it's possible that as many as four other wrestlers will join them in a giant tie. Those tie scenarios are pretty lousy for Jeff. If he loses here, the best he can hope for is if Hirooki Goto wins, and Konosuke Takeshita and David Finlay both win/draw. That would set up a three-way deadlock for third place, where Tsuji, Cobb, and Goto are 1-1 against each other. That sort of thing never actually happens in these tournaments, though, so for all intents and purposes, Cobb can't afford to lose.

Tsuji is in a must-win situation; a draw won't help him. Even if he wins, though, he's at the mercy of the tiebreakers. He'll be in good shape as long as Goto fails to reach ten points. If Goto wins, though, Tsuji's best path is if Ren Narita wins/draws, and David Finlay loses.

There's no specific personal issue between these two. However, at the start of the tournament Cobb was bellyaching about all the talk of a new generation taking over, and Tsuji is clearly at the forefront of that talk. So now Cobb needs to put up or shut up, against the most imposing of the Reiwa Musketeers. I think both guys are cool, so as long as I get a good fight I suppose I don't care which one wins. But realistically, New Japan isn't going to build the next decade around Cobb. Tsuji is the future, so we might as well hurry up and get there.

Ren Narita (5-3, 10 points) vs. Konosuke Takeshita (4-4, 8 points) - Like Cobb, Narita needs a win or a draw to clinch a spot in the top three. If he stays at ten points, he'll need Goto to win and Finlay to win/draw, but that will only set up deadlock ties that may not do him any good.

Takeshita can clinch a berth if he wins and Goto doesn't win. If they both win, however, Takeshita's best path is if Finlay wins/draws and Cobb loses.

I had been expecting this to be a matchup of two ruthless heels. But throughout the tournament, Takeshita has been acting like a babyface, belying the ruthless attitude he has in AEW under the tutelage of Don Callis. Thing is, heel Takeshita might be able to outmanuever Narita's cheating, but a babyface Takeshita is going to fall for every old trick just like every other babyface. I'm not thrilled to predict Narita as the winner here, but I suppose if we have to have one House of Torture guy in the knockout stage, I'd prefer him over EVIL.

David Finlay (5-3, 10 points) vs. El Phantasmo (3-5, 6 points) - Finlay's IWGP global title is not on the line during this tournament. In singles matches, these two are tied at one win apiece.

Finlay can clinch a berth with either a win or a draw. Otherwise, his destiny (like so many others) lies in the hands of Hirooki Goto. If Goto fails to win against Henare, then Finlay clinches no matter what happens in this match. On the other hand, if Goto wins his match, then Finlay can't advance without more help; he'll need Narita to lose, and to avoid a deadlock he'll want Cobb to win or draw.

For ELP, the tournament is already over. The best he can do is fight for pride. You can say that about anybody who's mathematically eliminated, but in this case it means more, given how depressed Phantasmo was at the start. After Finlay kicked him out of Bullet Club in 2023, ELP found new purpose with the Guerillas of Destiny, but in 2024 everybody else in that stable left New Japan to go to WWE. Now Phantasmo has gotten out of that funk and regained his fighting spirit...just in time to face his archnemesis.

Simply beating Finlay would be a big moral victory for Phantasmo, and potentially spoiling his G1 would be even better. But if ELP gets a win tonight, there's a good chance he'll be in line for a global title shot, which would really turn things around for him. Personally I think that's a more interesting outcome than Finlay advancing out of the block, but I'm not very certain it'll happen. Anyway, I'm rooting for Phantasmo.

Hirooki Goto (4-4, 8 points) vs. HENARE (3-5, 6 points) - Henare is the NEVER champion, but the gold isn't at stake here. Since Henare is mathematically eliminated, his primary motivation is to score his first-ever singles win against one of the guys he reveres as the embodiment of fighting spirit.

Of the six wrestlers who are still alive in this block, Goto has the most tiebreaker wins over them, with three. That gives him the advantage, or at least a deadlock, in every potential tie scenario. But he won't be in those scenarios unless he wins this match. And those scenarios won't matter if Cobb, Finlay, and Narita each clinch a berth at 11 or 12 points. Goto needs at least one of those three to lose--preferably Finlay, to avoid deadlocked ties.

Heading into this tournament, I was surprised Goto was the one aging veteran that wasn't put out to pasture--even his tag team partner YOSHI-HASHI didn't make the cut. So I wasn't expecting him to do well, but he's turned a lot of heads with his performance. If he makes it through I think a lot of people will be happy for him. But for me, Goto's been the Charlie Brown of this promotion since I got here, and I just can't work up any enthusiasm for a big comeback. My man is Henare, and I need him to maul Goto like a bear. Just give me this one thing, Gedo, please.

Shingo Takagi & Tetsuya Naito & BUSHI vs. Great-O-Khan & Callum Newman & Francesco Akira - This is a preview of Takagi vs. Khan in the quarterfinals tomorrow. Interestingly, both of them scored big wins over the world champion, Naito, during the block matches. Since they can't both win the G1, I'll be curious to see if either of them decide to chase the world title on the next tour. As for this match, it's basically filler, and Akira or (more likely) Bushi will drop the fall.

Shota Umino & Tomoaki Honma vs. EVIL & Dick Togo - On August 12, Umino handed Evil the loss that finally knocked him out of the tournament. I assume Evil wants revenge. A major factor in the match was Hiroshi Tanahashi running in to counter House of Torture's interference, so it feels like an Evil-Tana program is being set up. I doubt this match will advance the plot very much. Honma will probably lose here.

SANADA & TAKA Michinoku vs. Gabe Kidd & Jake Lee - Sanada, Kidd, and Lee are all out of the tournament and waiting for the next chapters of their respective stories. I suppose Kidd could start some shit with Sanada, but he's got beefs with so many wrestlers it's hard to say which will be his next challenger for the STRONG title. Michinoku should lose here.

Oleg Boltin & Toru Yano vs. Katsuya Murashima & Shoma Kato - Boltin was originally scheduled for a block match tonight against Yuya Uemura, but that was canceled when Yuya suffered an injury on August 10th. It's a real shame, since Uemura had a decent chance to advance out of the block with a win, and I was looking forward to seeing if he could go all the way. In any case, Boltin is finished with the tournament at four wins and five losses, which isn't bad for his first try. This should be a simple squash match for him and Yano; Murashima and Kato have no chance of winning.

[pwrestlingxpress]

My Take on the official reunion of AXIZ and the rumored reunion of the Golden Lovers

Back in 2018 I wrote two-three opinion articles on the Reunion of the Golden Lovers (Kenny Omega and Kota Ibushi). Before anyone reads the rest of this new opinion article I'm typing please click here to read the previous opinion article titled " Six Months Later...Golden Lovers Merge While The Shield Reunites".

Now...this new opinion article will talk about the rumored reunion of the Golden Lovers and the official reunion of AXIZ.

Some of you may now be thinking "AXIZ, who are they and what do they have to do with the Golden Lovers?" The answer to this question is not much but here I want to talk about their history and that's what my plan is.

In December 2018, the Golden Lovers abruptly went on hiatus after winning their final match against Hiroshi Tanahashi and Will Ospreay in Korakuen Hall. A few weeks before that in the same arena, Katsuhiko Nakajima was a finalist for the 2018 Global League Tournament (now N1 Victory) facing Kaito Kiyomiya in which Nakajima lost to the then-22 upstart athlete from Saitama. What happened afterwards was so in the dark that not many knew until they saw it though various photos. After the match between Kiyomiya and Nakajima, Go Shiozaki comes out seemingly to congratulate the winner (both were tag partners through most of 2018) but instead went to console the person that was pinned. Right after that, Shiozaki and Nakajima teamed up to win the GHC Tag Team Championships but lost the belts almost a week later in controversial fashion.

We now fast forward ourselves to February 2019 where by then the Golden Lovers have quietly split up with Kenny Omega gone to AEW and Kota Ibushi staying in NJPW where over in Pro Wrestling NOAH, Katsuhiko Nakajima and Go Shiozaki were given a second chance at regaining the GHC Tag Team Championships and on February 24th, that's what they did. Backstage after winning the titles for a second time, they decided to call themselves "AXIZ".

From that date on until August 2020; AXIZ was seen by many as one of the best tag teams in pro wrestling. According to Cagematch, both AXIZ and the Golden Lovers were ranked in the top 10 tag teams of all time (as of May 7, 2023 at 9:30 PM Eastern) with AXIZ ranked at No. 4; Golden Lovers at No. 9. With that ranking, one can say AXIZ surpassed the Golden Lovers but there's always a debate on which team is better no matter what the ranking is.

AXIZ's second reign as champions ended on June 13th but immediately were given a rematch in which they manage to win back the belts a third time and hold on to the belts until January 5, 2020. The day before that, Go Shiozaki became a 4-time GHC Heavyweight Champion by defeating Kaito Kiyomiya and in the process have one of the longest reigns in its title history. Despite Go now being a singles champion, both him and Nakajima were hoping for another tag title shot after losing them but COVID hit and much changed. On the same night Go Shiozaki was to have his first title defense in his fourth reign as GHC Heavyweight Champion, Katsuhiko Nakajima approached GHC National Champion Takashi Sugiura with the intentions to challenge and win the title. On May 9, 2020 in the main event; Nakajima would pin Sugiura to become the second GHC National Champion.

By the time pro wrestling was back doing live events in some capacity, AXIZ was on top not just in tag team but in singles as well with Go as the GHC Heavyweight Champion and Katsuhiko as the GHC National Champion. Everything seemed to be rolling for the two when wrestling live events resumed but the rolling would stop when the month of August 2020 hit.

August 4, 2020; Katushiko Nakajima would lose the GHC National Championship to Kenoh. 26 days later, after losing a chance to become 4-time GHC Tag Team Champions with Go Shizoaki, Nakajima breaks up AXIZ to join Kongoh. Though AXIZ was done in Nakajima's eyes, as I learned it was not the case for Go. Despite the betrayal, Go still believed himself to be a part of AXIZ and awaited the day Nakajima would return to reform the tag team.

While they waited, Nakajima and Shiozaki would wrestle 3 times in singles competition. First time was November 22, 2020 for the GHC Heavyweight Championship with Nakajima as the challenger (which he earned by winning N1 Victory 2020) and the champion being Shiozaki. Most times I compare this match to the one at "Wrestle Kingdom 15" between Will Ospreay and Kazuchika Okada because of the brutality and the fact the way they fought, it would most times scare me. Despite me saying that, in a match that went nearly 43 minutes, Go retains the title while sustaining an injury in the later minutes of the match itself. The second time they would meet would be on January 1, 2022 where by then it was Katsuhiko Nakajima who was the champion with the now-returning Go Shiozaki being the challenger. On that date, both wrestled what many considered to be a 2022 MOTY contender. Nakajima would emerge victorious from that match with a new finishing move that has not been seen since. The third time they met was on March 23, 2022 in which by then, there was no title, only pride. Go Shiozaki was starting a new streak while Katushiko Nakajima was looking for answers after losing the GHC Heavyweight Championship 35 days after defending it against Shiozaki. The third match went a lot faster than their previous two. Go would emerge victorious in a match that was nearly 20 minutes long. Their previous two matches went over 30 minutes.

Go would go on to win the GHC Heavyweight Championship for a record fifth time but would become the first of three straight V0 Champions when he lost the championship on his first defense to Satoshi Kojima at CyberFight Festival 2022. After losing the title, Go struggled to find himself and ended up eventually being out of action after N1 Victory 2022. Meanwhile, Katsuhiko Nakajima was trying his best to stay on track but in most tag matches, he ended up becoming the guy to eat the pin. At the N1 Victory 2022 block finals, both were in line to win their block but needed help. Neither of them made the finals in which Nakajima's backstage comments could be what I consider the first clue to a AXIZ reunion.

By the time 2023 hits, rumors started to spread on a Golden Lovers reunion that was even seen in various episodes of the YouTube web series "Being The Elite" in which in some scenes (haven't watched the series since 2019 so I'm going based only on photos) Kenny can be seen texting someone. Many believe that to be Kota Ibushi but as of right now, nothing is official yet.

Surprisingly, there were little to no rumors of AXIZ reuniting but seeds were being planted for the possibility. Those seeds in my opinion started on January 4, 2023 when Kongoh went to the Tokyo Dome to confront Los Ingobernables de Japon with the intention to "settle the score".

If you look at the video below, you'll notice that Nakajima does not have the same expression as the rest of Kongoh does which can tell you that it was starting. More than that, while the rest of Kongoh left in an orderly fashion, Nakajima left with the look that said "Sorry about that" as a way of apologizing for the abrupt appearance. He did the same thing at the official "Wrestle Kingdom 17 in Yokohama Arena" press conference which involved 5 of the 6 (at the time) LIJ members and 5 of the 8 (at the time) Kongoh members.

Seeds were planted a lot more when (according to all I was able to read) during the Road to NOAH's Tokyo Dome event on February 21st, Kenoh decided to dig into a history that I think Nakajima didn't want to talk about, that of him and AJPW's Kento Miyahara. The match (which was a 6-man tag) went on with apparently no issues. Kongoh managed to come out victorious, but Nakajima's backstage comments would leave many including Kenoh puzzled.

The possibilities increased a lot more when Go Shiozaki made a surprise appearance in Sendai on April 16th to announce his in-ring return.

Later on that same night, Katsuhiko Nakajima walked in as the challenger for the GHC Heavyweight Championship, this time held by newcomer Jake Lee. Something I didn't notice live but eventually did was the gear that Nakajima was wearing. He was wearing the same ring attire he wore on January 1, 2022. On the build back then, a stipulation was suggested that if Nakajima was to lose the title to Go Shiozaki, he would have to leave Kongoh and reform AXIZ. Since Nakajima won that night, the stipulation never came to fruition. But on that April 16th date, Nakajima walked into the title match against Jake Lee apparently with that stipulation in his mind. He ended up losing the title match in over 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, as rumors continue to spread of the Golden Lovers reuniting, Kenny Omega is reunited with a rival by the name Konosuke Takeshita in which he (as of this typing) has joined Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson to be part of "The Elite". Despite joining though, Kenny remained suspicious of Takeshita's intentions. Those intentions may be the key to the Golden Lovers reuniting again but only time will tell what the intentions may be or already are.

May 4, 2023; Ryogoku Kokukigan; Go Shiozaki returns in 6-man tag action by teaming with Kaito Kiyomiya and Yoshiki Inamura to face the Konogh members of Katsuhiko Nakajima, Kenoh, and Manabu Soya. In the match, Nakajima wore the same gear he wore back on January 1, 2022 and April 16, 2023. Meanwhile, Go Shiozaki comes out in the gear he wore when he won his fourth GHC Heavyweight Championship on January 4, 2020. The 6-man tag turned into somewhat of a blowout as though there were times of shine for Shiozaki and his team, it was not enough to defeat Kongoh. Nakajima would end up getting the winning pin by pinning Shiozaki. It was after the match though that the rumors became reality.

AXIZ officially reunited and on May 14th will have their first match together since August 28, 2020.

My take on this is that....Katsuhiko Nakajima was betrayed by Kenoh. To me, Kenoh betrayed him by abruptly deciding to go to the Tokyo Dome not understanding everyone may have different plans. Then by the time he dug into a history he shouldn't have, that was the end. So on May 4, 2023 in Ryogoku, Nakajima came into Ryogoku with the intention to officially reunite AXIZ. How it happened is in the video above. I've been waiting years to see AXIZ live in action and now on May 14, 2023; me and many will be to get the chance to do just that.

Meanwhile, as we await the reunion of the Golden Lovers, down below is a picture of them reuniting back in January 2018, ten months before AXIZ was formed.

Should the Golden Lovers reunite this could increase the chance of a possible dream match: Golden Lovers vs. AXIZ at either a future NOAH event or at "The Forbidden Door" in late June. The reason I'm saying this is there's not just rumors of a Golden Lovers reunion, there's also rumors about Kota Ibushi joining Pro Wrestling NOAH. It would be something if all these rumors come true. Right now, only one has come to light. AXIZ is back as we await the date the Golden Lovers reunite once again.

[openshanklygates]

Brothers

Whumpril 2024 April 4th, 2024 SWAYING Cal Finlay (OC) Main Verse

He swayed when he got nervous. It was a habit he had shown since he was younger. Back then, instead of more proof that he was on the spectrum Cal Finlay had simply been told to stop. His brother didn't sway, their father had once pointed out, because he knew how to control himself. He knew how to listen. Yet, no matter how much he tried to stop the swaying, Cal found that it brought him peace.

Today was one of the days where he found himself swaying the most.

For The Love of Progress II was going to be a fun show for those in attendance. Cal had been so thankful that he had been invited. Progress Wrestling was, after all, where he had begun his wrestling journey. He may have been working in Japan with his brother these days, but his heart laid with the company where it all began. Had everything gone right, he would have been booked on the show, but Cal knew how important the match with the Grizzled Young Vets was for his friends Maddox and Harlow.

It was a surprise, then, to see his brother David make his way out to the ring with his partner Lyra Dawn at his side. Why was David here? When had he gotten here? Cal tried to recall if his brother had told him he would be coming to the show, tried to remember if David had been on his flight. In truth, they hadn't spoken much since David had lost the IWGP Global Championship the same night that Cal had become the NJPW Television Champion at New Beginning. David had never been interested in Progress. Why now?

Cal didn't realize he had been swaying on his feet as his brother began his tirade.

It started with the statements against Will Ospreay and Spike Trivet. Cal hadn't really cared about that. The war that had been waged against Ospreay and his men in the United Empire still played hell on his body, his bicep especially. And Trivet? Cal had never forgotten how the so-called sovereign lord had humiliated him by sending a straight jacket to his house during their feud. It wasn't until David had started in on his best friends, Maddox and Harlow, that Cal felt his anger building towards his brother. He couldn't stop the show like this, he couldn't say whatever he wanted about his home.

Cal's swaying turned into footsteps and he found himself standing across from David in the ring, microphone in hand. "Enough, David. Enough. These people don't wanna hear it. Maddox deserves his spot as champ."

David gave Cal a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes, clapping a hand to his brother's shoulder, "There's that fire, Cal! I'm glad you're finally standing up to me! And here, in Progress, where I have such big news to tell everyone!"

Cal looked confused, brow furrowing in thought, "News?"

"War Dogs have needed some tuning up for a while, Cal," David gave an almost sad look in his brother's direction, "and you? Well...I just don't think you make the cut."

Cal didn't realize what was happening until the forearm caught him from behind. This group of attackers had some familiar faces among them, David and Lyra's partner Jace Sweeny mostly, but otherwise it was overwhelming to pick anyone out. The four men to one was too much, even if Cal threw some hearty punches. This wasn't happening. This couldn't be happening. Hadn't he been a good brother? Hadn't he always done everything he could to support David?

The biggest of the three, a muscular beast of a man with his hair pulled tight into a knot at the top of his head, took hold of Cal's arms as David paced back and forth. "Please..." Cal muttered a quiet plea, being forced to kneel on the mat as he was held firm, "We...we can talk about this..."

David stopped, holding a hand out to Lyra, who produced the shillelagh that he had been carrying for so long. He admired it for a moment, speaking plainly, "Look at me, Cal."

"David pl-"

David placed the shillelagh under Cal's chin, pushing his head up so that their eyes met, a sneer on his face, "I told you to look at me, Cal. Why can't you ever listen?"

As David slammed the weapon into his temple, Cal found himself swaying again.

This time it was in pain as he fell, unconscious to the mat.

[hashiyangame]

【WWE 2K23】NJPW・新日本プロレス：IWGP GLOBALヘビー級選手権試合：ニック・ネメス vs デビッド・フィンレー by はしやんのゲームチャンネル WWE 2K23の動画です。 WWE 2K23は、ビジュアルコンセプトによって開発され、2023Kスポーツによって公開されたプロレスゲームです。 再生リスト WWE 2K23：G1CLIMAX33 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHsFVyRGtPE&list=PLEdhw1WC7PXOmnxqYc6I3ryEkQ6FkfYmQ その他再生リスト WWE 2K23：新日本プロレス https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Of_TQyhn810&list=PLEdhw1WC7PXMg_dmiucgpHgjEbAhMCNhF WWE 2K23：BOSJ30 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4FwskZ31y8&list=PLEdhw1WC7PXOTnqVkz9Uwx9p0qcIz8J-Q キャプテン翼 RISE OF NEW CHAMPIONS https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wz0AZG4TKO0&list=PLEdhw1WC7PXNiBvZgCgWVPLRhtpbLdoT5 ファイナルファンタジー７リメイク https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEdhw1WC7PXMgglHqBzhLHo9Y8DIZX92G #WWE2K23#プロレス#はしやん via YouTube https://youtu.be/X5kT2LnH7Jc

[wrestlingclubelite]

NJPW reveals the title belt for the IWGP Global Championship.

NJPW has revealed the design for the new IWGP Global Championship belt. During the Wrestle Kingdom 18 press conference held on Tuesday night, NJPW Chairman Naoki Sugabayashi introduced the new championship, with the inaugural champion set to be determined at Wrestle Kingdom 18 on January 4 in a three-way match featuring David Finlay, Will Ospreay, and Jon Moxley. This development follows an…

[cavenewstimes]

Tag Team Match Added To Impact And NJPW Multiverse United 2 Event

Feedzy Read More  During this past Saturday’s Impact Wrestling pay-per-view, Slammiversary, it was announced that Impact X-Division Champion Lio Rush and Trey Miguel are going to be teaming up to face Mike Bailey and IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Hiromu Takahashi for the Impact and New Japan Pro-Wrestling event entitled Multiverse United 2.  As seen below, NJPW Global also confirmed the match…

[omegavtrigger]

Women’s Wednesday: Natalya

[gdwessel]

Rumors About Ospreay + Unrest In The NJPW Locker Room; Government Adds Okinawa to State Of Emergency, Another Extension Possible; Quick Review of DSOTR Collision In Korea; Shota Umino News!; Ren Narita on Dark Elevation; Satoshi Kojima In Impact Next Week

Strap in because this is going to be a long one.

There are rumors and reports coming out now (mostly from one source, the Voices of Wrestling website, from behind a Patreon paywall) that Will Ospreay's injury may not be what it seems, and there is growing discontent to the point of "mutiny" among the non-Japanese wrestlers regarding the state of emergency, the last-minute decision to resume touring when some were already travelling out of Japan, and the constant need for quarantining when coming back into Japan. Unfortunately this is as much as I can say, because this is behind a paywall, so until it gets made for public consumption I’m kinda limited in what I can say.

I can totally buy that all is not well within NJPW, especially after the COVID-19 bubble has burst. I've already discussed the creative malaise happening in the company right now. That there seems to be backstage dissent shows possible signs of trouble ahead for the promotion, and this golden period that we've been accustomed to is well and truly over. (I mean, it already was once lockdown happened, but they did the best they could, in my honest opinion, including a Pretty Good if not great WK15. Right now, creatively, we are below 2nd-half 2018 levels of poor.) But NJPW has weathered these storms before, although not with a global pandemic looming over everything. I am willing to give them the benefit of the doubt that Ospreay is indeed injured, because a) they haven't exactly been shy about wrestlers being injured and needing to vacate titles before b) if Ospreay is legit injured, he is far more likely to receive treatment as a citizen of the UK from the (somehow still alive if not totally hobbled by Brexit) NHS, as opposed to Japan's healthcare system which is far more like the US model. Some wrestlers are swearing up and down he is injured, from the rumors. Ospreay certainly hasn’t said anything in his own words, beyond RTing NJPW’s announcement of his injury and vacating the title, and posting a pic of himself kissing the belt. RevPro kinda sorta said something but were also pretty vague. But for an injury suffered on 5/4/2021, this pic posted on 5/18 does not look like someone who just had such a severe neck injury they need to fly back to the UK (mind you, it COULD have been taken much earlier than that). Indeed, Ospreay’s still-active Twitter is more focused on Hana Kimura at the moment*. All this said, professional wrestling by it’s very nature has a baked-in amount of bullshit as part of it, so that this injury might be phony is always a distinct possibility.

It is utterly believable there is conflict between wrestlers and management, and communication is piss-poor at best. It is also believable that NJPW and Bushiroad are only taking their cues from a government Hell-bent on holding an Olympics an overwhelming majority of those polled are against, and who are treating the extended state of emergency as a vague suggestion rather than as a, you know, state of emergency. Pretending everything is hunky dory hasn't worked so far, so not sure why NJPW, nor the Japanese government, think eventually it will. (And NOAH is on my shit list right now too.) On that note, the government has now officially added Okinawa to the state of emergency. There is also talk that it will be extended further, as a government subcommittee member is quoted in the article as saying “it is difficult to think” that it will be lifted on 5/31/2021. Among that talk is word that Tokyo particularly will be under a stricter lockdown if this goes on. On a piece of actual GOOD news, it has been announced that the government has approved both the Moderna and AstraZeneca versions of the vaccine, so perhaps the vaccination rates will start to go up at last.

* - The anniversary of Hana Kimura’s tragic death is tomorrow (5/23/2021). I still sometimes struggle with the idea she is gone. Tonight at 10:30pm EDT (which is 5/23/2021 12:30pm in JST), FITE TV will be showing a live Hana Kimura tribute show put on by her mother, Kiyoko Kimura. Have a look in if you can

I was able to watch the Vice Dark Side Of The Ring episode on Collision in Korea, the two-night joint NJPW & WCW show from May Day Stadium in Pyongyang, North Korea, on 4/28 & 4/29/1995, as it aired Thursday. It will hit YouTube here pretty soon. I am working on a podcast project about this documentary, and the (WCW version of the**) show itself, with the good lads at the Days Of Thunder podcast, so I won't talk too much here, but I will say a few things about it:

I did appreciate the detail here, as well as being able to get an interview with Antonio Inoki for this, especially as he was the principal driver of this show happening. I did also like that they took time to detail Inoki's mentor, and the "father of puroresu," Rikidozan, who himself was a North Korean national by birth. I did not appreciate the mythical pathos they added to the death of Rikidozan, which by all accounts was a random street fight with yakuza over a perceived insult (stepping on Rikidozan's shoe). I also felt they could have done a better job explaining the situation between Japan and North Korea at the time. When the event was first proposed to the NJPW roster, Scott Norton recounts Masahiro Chono telling Norton that "they want us dead," but it took until introducing former CNN foreign correspondent Mike Chinoy nearly halfway through the documentary to (briefly) explain the brutal colonialism that Japan wreaked on North Korea in the first part of the 20th century.

Also, as salacious as DSOTR can get, I am very surprised one of the most famous rumors/stories about this show did not get discussed, the internet wrestling legend that Kensuke Sasaki and Akira Hokuto were, erm, Quite Vocal when they were together, which of course did eventually lead to their marriage four months later which continues to this very day. But that was also part of another critique I had, which is, they mainly focused on the WCW part of the events, when this was an NJPW promoted show. The way it was told on DSOTR, the only Japanese wrestlers there were Antonio Inoki, Shinya Hashimoto, Akira Hokuto and Bull Nakano. I'd love to hear more from the NJPW side of things, besides how proud Inoki was of this political stunt that did not get him re-elected to the Diet anyway.

Overall, I do recommend watching this when and how you can, because it is absolutely bonkers. I will definitely keep you posted on when the podcast project for this drops. ** - I've tried looking for the NJPW version and have failed so far. NJPWWorld only has two matches from this, Antonio Inoki v. Ric Flair, and Akira Hokuto v. Bull Nakano. The WCW version is not officially released, even on WWE Network, so yeah search the internet to see it.

We finally have an update on Shooter! That is, Shota Umino. Earlier in the week, RevPro's official Twitter had a tweet saying This Summer, showing Umino in not only his white/pink Tanahashi-esque tights, but holding his Death Riders jacket from Jon Moxley, that Shota retweeted, making this his first tweet since September 2019. Two days later, a hype video appeared with footage of Shooter, including performing Death Rider. Now a Sports Illustrated article is claiming that Shooter was supposed to have reunited with Mox on the NJPW Strong episode that had Mox & Chris Dickinson face Yuji Nagata & Ren Narita, but Umino had an unspecified injury preventing that. (They further say that Mox v. Nagata’s IWGP US title match was originally set for Strong but Tony Khan convinced NJPW to hold it on AEW Dynamite.) Umino's last match listed on Cagematch was on 3/14/2020 in ATTACK! Wrestling in Cardiff, Wales, on the winning side of a 6-man tag match with Kyle Fletcher & Kid Lykos II defeating Shigehiro Irie, Chief Deupty Dunne & Los Federales Santos, Jr. It's great to have him back wrestling again, and I hope we get that reunion with Moxley soon enough too.

As an update to an item from an earlier post, it appears that the Ren Narita v. Royce Isaacs match that was teased but then not aired on AEW Dark this past Tuesday will actually be on AEW Dark: Elevation this coming Monday instead. Also part of that will be approximately 35 other matches (I only slightly kid), one of those being Rocky Romero v. JD Drake. This usually drops on YouTube at 7pm EDT / 6pm CDT Mondays.

This past Thursday on Impact, a video package showed that Satoshi Kojima would be appearing on next week's episode. This will be Kojima's first time ever wrestling in Impact under any name, as the last time NJPW and TNA were working together, Kojima was still away in All Japan Pro Wrestling. No word as to what he will be doing or whom he will be wrestling.

Also on Impact, Juice Robinson & David Finlay Jr. successfully defended the Impact World Tag Team titles against Ace Austin & Madman Fulton... before getting blindsided by two members of the Violent By Design unit (in this case, ECW veteran Rhino and former AJPW Triple Crown champion + cancer beater Joe Doering) with whatever Impact's version of a Anytime Anywhere Challenge is, and took the belts from FinJuice. They claimed FinJuice were going back to Japan, but, erm, who knows if that's the case or if it was for a time period when Wrestle Grand Slam was still a thing that was happening.

Also also, it seems Don Callis is no longer in any executive capacity at Impact. This is a little significant as it seems it was Callis who opened the negotiations back up for Impact to work with NJPW. Of course, lately he's spent more time as an on-screen heel manager for Kenny Omega, the Good Brothers and now the Young Bucks on both AEW and Impact programming. We'll see how much longer Kenny Omega's belt collector shtick goes on for with Callis no longer part of creative or management.

And that is actually it for now! Yipes!

[fallynleaf]

(This is under a cut because it’s a long post about wrestling awards, but it’s also about creative storytelling in bleak conditions, the incredible emotional power of stories about love, and Japanese women’s wrestling taking important strides in bucking the idol-culture-esque trend where joshi wrestlers are expected to retire before they get married)

I don’t really put much stock into wrestling awards, because it’s all extremely subjective, and many of them, like the Tokyo Sports Awards, are heavily kayfabed/politicked anyway, but the 2020 Net Pro-Wrestling Awards, which were voted on by fans in Japan, were really fascinating to me.

The top 10 promotions were [source]:

NJPW

NOAH

DDT

Stardom

Muscle

TJPW

AEW

ChocoPro

AJPW

Ice Ribbon

This list is interesting, because it basically reflects the direction our own discord server’s interest took this year (though we’d probably rank them in a different order). The top promotions in our server currently are probably NJPW, NOAH, TJPW, Stardom, DDT, AEW, and ChocoPro, (not necessarily in that order). I’ve spent a lot of time over the past year thinking about which companies did the best job, creatively, with having to adapt to pandemic-era wrestling conditions, and I think this list reflects that somewhat. Many of these companies produced matches and performers that really stood out despite putting on shows in less than ideal conditions.

I’m especially happy that ChocoPro did as well as it did (beating WWE, you love to see it). It’s a very small promotion, but out of all of the companies in the list, it’s the only one that was specifically designed to operate in pandemic conditions, and it has a genuinely innovative format that was born from that. It’s also very accessible! ChocoPro operates with a no paywall model, and it’s distributed on youtube completely for free!

Also, four of these companies are directly part of the DDT family (and ChocoPro has extensive DDT connections), and two others (AEW and NJPW) currently have former DDT wrestlers as their world champions. I constantly think about how DDT has had more influence on the wrestling industry as a whole than most people really give it credit for, haha, but 2020 really proved that. DDT is simply better at creative adaption than most.

The top 10 MVP list was [source]:

Go Shiozaki (NOAH)

Tetsuya Naito (NJPW)

Hiromu Takahashi (NJPW)

Tetsuya Endo (DDT)

Minoru Fujita

Kota Ibushi (NJPW)

El Desperado (NJPW)

Kenta (NJPW)

Asuka (WWE)

Katsuhiko Nakajima (NOAH)

Fans voted Go Shiozaki as the top MVP of 2020, and that made me happy, because it’s very deserved!! He narrowly missed out on receiving the Tokyo Sports MVP award, so I’m glad to see him recognized here. Go truly did carry NOAH throughout 2020, and he really put the company back on the map again for many people.

I had no interest in watching NOAH before this year, but I ended up watching Go Shiozaki vs Kazuyuki Fujita from the March 29 show because I heard so much about it, and it blew me away. I’ve already talked about this match in bits and pieces; it’s the one that starts with a literal 30-minute staredown. It was a very avant garde decision to make, because it changes the entire structure of the match (it was a title match with a 60-minute time limit), and it’s something they never could have gotten away with if they’d had a crowd in the venue. But, performing in an empty arena, they could do it. It’s amazing how compelling it can be, just watching two wrestlers stare at each other, but it was really, really cool.

That match was Go’s first title defense (he won the GHC title shortly before the pandemic shut everything down), and he’s really had quite the run with the title ever since. The next thing he did that got me to tune back in to NOAH was when he got betrayed by his tag partner (Katsuhiko Nakajima, number 10 on the list), which of course pushed all of my favorite wrestling narrative buttons.

There’s just something about Go that makes him so compelling. It was even enough to get some friends of mine who primarily root for heels to really want him to succeed, haha. And I just really have to commend him for that. He was a late-blooming ace tasked with the incredibly rough responsibility of representing his company through a dramatic business shakeup while also weathering a global pandemic that drastically affected every aspect of the wrestling medium itself, and he was still able to put on innovative performances and tell very emotional stories and bring in new fans even in less than ideal conditions.

Some highlights from the list of top matches [source]:

1. Hiromu Takahashi vs El Desperado (12/11) NJPW 2. Go Shiozaki vs Katsuhiko Nakajima (11/22) NOAH 3. Go Shiozaki vs Kazuyuki Fujita (3/29) NOAH 4. Go Shiozaki vs Takashi Sugiura (12/6) NOAH 5. Tetsuya Naito vs Kazuchika Okada (1/5) NJPW 6. Go Shiozaki vs Kenoh (8/10) NOAH 7. Yuka Sakazaki vs Mizuki (11/7) TJPW 9. Tetsuya Endo vs Daisuke Sasaki (11/3) DDT 10. Kazuchika Okada vs Kota Ibushi (1/4) NJPW 11. Tetsuya Naito vs Hiroshi Tanahashi (9/20) NJPW 16. Hyper Misao vs Super Sasadango Machine (11/20) TJPW

There are a few things that really stand out to me here (I omitted matches from promotions that I don’t watch because I can’t speak to those). The first is that Go is all over this list lol. He’s in four of the top ten matches!

The second thing is that wrestling fans really enjoy stories about love. This is the least surprising thing to me, because those kinds of stories are ultimately why I watch this medium, but it’s still amazing to see that reflected in lists like this. In the list above, the top ranked matches in NJPW (#1), NOAH (#2), TJPW (#7), and DDT (#9) are all matches that are explicitly about love. They’re all different stories and different matches, but love is at the core of all of them.

I giffed all four of those matches (linked above!), and wrote up a short explanation of the stories for everything except for Despy/Hiromu, who have a dynamic that is too complicated for me to attempt to summarize. But they have explicitly described their feelings for each other as “love,” and have talked about their matches in terms of “making love.” I also wrote up a post about those three NOAH, TJPW, and DDT matches specifically.

It’s amazing to me how wrestling is, on its surface, a medium that revolves around hate and competition, but beneath that, it’s really a medium about love and cooperation. There’s simply far more at stake in a match between wrestlers who love each other (or who once loved each other) than there is in a match between wrestlers who hate each other.

I was surprised but happy to see that Hyper Misao vs Super Sasadango Machine got number 16 on this list, even though that match really did a number on me emotionally. This match was incredibly nontraditional. It involved a retirement announcement, a powerpoint presentation, a Bachelorette parody, a poetry contest, a retirement match, an unretirement, and a marriage announcement.

Misao started off by announcing that she was retiring, which devastated me. But by the end of the match, she decided that she wasn’t going to retire until peace and love had returned to the world, and she also decided that she wasn’t going to wait to pursue her other dream, too, which was to get married. Her husband-to-be came out into the ring, and the company put out a marriage announcement up on the website, and everybody cheered and celebrated the announcement. Misao became the first married wrestler on the TJPW roster.

This might not seem notable, but there are very, very few Japanese women wrestlers who are married and who are still actively wrestling. Joshi wrestlers often have very short careers and early retirements, and it is common for them to quit wrestling in order to get married. Misao also started her wrestling career fairly late: she began wrestling at 25, and almost quit at 30. In addition to all of that, she loves wrestling very unconventional matches (case in point: this one), and worries that her nontraditional style isn’t what fans are interested in seeing.

So, considering all of that, I love the fact that this match is getting so much positive recognition. It was very creative and emotional, and the reception to it really demonstrates how much the fans truly love Misao, as unconventional as she may be, and how happy we all are that she decided to get married and keep wrestling. I hope this match helps pave the way for other joshi wrestlers, too.

As always with awards like these, I wish there was more women’s wrestling represented, but it’s fascinating to look back at a year like the one we just had, and think about some of the things that resonated with me, and how those same things were received by other fans.

[wrestlingisfake]

The problem I have with this new IWGP global title is that "global championship" literally just means "world championship," and New Japan already has one of those. But then, I never thought the US title made any sense either, and Will Ospreay changing it to a UK title didn't help.

The concept here is that the world title will always be the tippy-toppy belt for all the biggest domestic shows, but the global title will be taken all over the world to represent New Japan in foreign markets. But that was the same pitch Ospreay made for his UK belt. And it was the same idea behind the US title, and the IWGP intercontinental title before that. The STRONG championships all have a similar mandate.

This idea never sticks, though, because whenever New Japan gets real traction in a foreign market, they send the world champion over there to headline shows. There's no particular reason not to send the world champion all over the world. Because that's literally what "world champion" means.

Having an "I'll defend this title all over the world" championship which isn't the world championship is only compelling if it's a shiny new toy. So it's no wonder New Japan has a glut of midcard titles that used to matter. Which then leads to the exhausted trope of a midcard champion saying his belt was a joke until "I mAdE tHIs rEleVaNt aGaIn!" I mean, a championship is supposed to be relevant because it's awarded to the guy who is best at beating up all the other guys. Except a secondary title can't be that, because it is--by definition--secondary to the world title.

I understand why New Japan keeps falling into this trap. It would be neat for Will Ospreay (or Jon Moxley, or David Finlay) to win this global belt and be The Guy outside of Japan. If NJPW is doing a show in Australia or England or the US, the global champ is there. If an international partner wants to book an NJPW title bout, the global champ is the guy to call. It sounds cool, but there's no reason to think it's actually going to happen this time. It'd be more plausible at this point to create a Japan title that stays in Japan, and put the world title on your traveling champion.