#njsse

[gdwessel]

New Japan Cup 2021 Night 13 - 3/20/2021; Update on State Of Emergency; NJPW Strong Episode 31 - 3/19/2021

The Finals for the New Japan Cup 2021 are now set, and you can see how we got there now on NJPWWorld. 

- 3/20/2021, Sendai Xebio Arena (NJPWWorld)

Jeff Cobb & Great O-Khan [United Empire] d. Juice Robinson & Yuya Uemura (Cobb > Uemura, Tour Of The Islands, 8:44)

Toru Yano, YOSHI-HASHI & SHO [CHAOS] d. Bad Luck Fale, Chase Owens & Jado [Bullet Club] (Yano > Jado, Schoolboy, 7:58)

Tetsuya Naito, SANADA & BUSHI [Los Ingobernables] d. Taichi, Zack Sabre Jr. & DOUKI [SZKG] (SANADA > DOUKI, Skull End, 11:19)

Kota Ibushi, Hiroshi Tanahashi & Kazuchika Okada [CHAOS] d. Jay White, KENTA & Yujiro Takahashi [Bullet Club] (Ibushi > Yujiro, Kamigoye, 10:26)

New Japan Cup 2021 Semifinal: Will Ospreay [United Empire] d. David Finlay Jr. (Stormbreaker, 21:04) 

New Japan Cup 2021 Semifinal: Shingo Takagi [Los Ingobernables] d. EVIL [Bullet Club] (Last Of The Dragon, 22:43)

Shingo gets the win over his former stablemate, whilst Ospreay ends the Cinderella run for Finlay. With that, the Final is set, and it will be the second tournament final meeting between Shingo v. Ospreay. The first time, of course, was the Best Of The Super Juniors 26 final on 6/5/2019, which Ospreay would win. Since that time, neither man wrestle as a juniorheavyweight anymore (and to be fair, Shingo never was), Ospreay has become a heel unit-leader, and Shingo has been the best wrestler in NJPW for the last three years, and possibly the overall best in the world (in my opinion) were it not for Jon Moxley. The last singles match between these two was last year’s G1 Climax, when Shingo beat Ospreay on 9/27/2020. Hell of a venue for a rubber match, then.

Kota Ibushi returns to the lineups, after being out for most of this tour. We still don’t have the IWGP World Heavyweight title belt. Ibushi’s presence here is for the winner of the Cup tomorrow to stare him down so we can start the build to Sakura Genesis on 4/4/2021. 

On that very related note, it would seem that Sakura Genesis, and the Road to Sakura Genesis mini-tour, will take place in a more relaxed environment, as the government is now lifting the state of emergency on Monday in Tokyo, Saitama, Chiba and Kanagawa, which had been extended whilst the rest of the country had already lifted it. The government is citing a reduction by 80% in COVID-19 infections since January, although, as you can imagine, there is criticism of this, which is not in any way unfounded, especially since, cynically, it seems the government’s focus is not health & safety, but more, the beginning of the Olympic torch relay this coming Thursday 3/25/2021 in Fukushima.  As we’ve mentioned before, the government is Hell-bent on the Olympics happening, and, well, it hasn’t exactly been a smooth road for them to achieve this goal, not least because the pandemic is still going. (No word on whether or not Kazuchika Okada will still be a torch-runner for Aichi Prefecture, as reported here way back in December 2019.)

The articles do state that prefectural leaders are still asking citizens to act as if they are still in emergency, and are asking restaurants, cinemas, etc. to end at 9pm rather than 8pm under the order. This will probably lead NJPW to go back to the 6-match cards in Tokyo, including Sakura Genesis, rather than the 4- or 5-match shows that have been going on since the state of emergency was declared. 

There is still every possibility another state of emergency could be declared, especially if COVID-19 infection numbers start rising once this order ends Monday. However, the world at large seems to be working towards opening back up, and to be fair, vaccinations are a huge part of this, but the pandemic is nowhere close to being over as yet either.

The Road to Strong Style Evolved continues on NJPW Strong, with two more qualifiers for the New Japan Cup USA 2021 happening here.

Jeff Cobb [United Empire] d. Alex Coughlin (Tour Of The Islands, 5:58)

New Japan Cup USA 2021 Qualifier: Ren Narita d. Misterioso (Narita Special #3, 11:12)

New Japan Cup USA 2021 Qualifier: Brody King [ROH] d. Bateman [ROH] (Gonso Bomb, 13:25)

Brody King wins a pretty physical affair, whilst Ren Narita’s push on Strong continues. Both of them go on to the New Japan Cup USA later in April. Jeff Cobb is here to remind us that this is a show that is pre-taped weeks and months in advance. Next week’s episode features two more qualifiers, with "Dirty Daddy” Chris Dickinson v. Blake Christian (spoiler: Blake Christian is now at the WWE Performance Center), and Clark Connors v. *spits* TJP.

The finale to the New Japan Cup 2021 is tomorrow, and will be live on NJPWWorld. As has been the standard, we don’t have the full card for this yet. But let’s face it, we’re here for one match and one match only tomorrow.

- 3/21/2021, Sendai Xebio Arena (NJPWWorld)

New Japan Cup 2021 Final: Shingo Takagi [Los Ingobernables] v. Will Ospreay [United Empire]

More TBA

[stardust79260]

Kota Imitating Kenny in the background is couple goals! ❤️

[cruiserweights]

My heart hurts

[itsbigbenn]

Top 5 matches of the year (in no specific order)

Golden Lovers vs Young Bucks

Almas vs Gargano

Jericho vs Omega

2018 royal rumble match

Ospreay vs Scurll vs Kushida vs Takahashi

[vicsy]

Here is a long ass thread of me pouring my heart out about Golden Lovers vs Young Bucks. I though I should share.

[litsubishi]

botchamania

[tiffanylatrice-blog]

Golden lovers vs Young Bucks, I knew it would make me emotional. What a excellent match. Goosebumps. My loves did that.

[riverforasong]

There was a point in The Young Bucks vs The Golden Lovers where Kenny has Matt up on his shoulders for the One Winged Angel, and he hesitates for a second, much like he did before an earlier V-Trigger, and Matt starts to shout “Come on! Come on! JUST DO IT ALREADY,” grabbing Kenny’s hand and putting it behind his own neck, and Kenny hits him with the OWA. He goes for the pinfall when it’s broken up at 2.999 by his brother Nick who, in the chaos after breaking up the pin, cradles his brother’s head and tells him, even though he’s probably unconscious, “This is not over, do you hear me!” and then looks up at Kenny and Kota and screams “THIS IS NOT OVER!.” He then begins a 1 on two assault taking on both members of the Golden Lovers, even though he’s tired and outmatched, complete with a Dragon Ball Z scream at the end. , and If I ever see another Ill thought out "The Young Bucks have no Psychology" hot take, I’m gonna kick the author right in the stomach. Wrestling is awesome, I will fight you on this.

[geeemcee]

one last wear

[wwememelord]

Updated my relationship status #njsse #njpw #kennyomega #kotaibushi #goldenlovers #wrestlingmemes #wrestling #prowrestling #lol #memes #wwememelord

[thehiterevolution]

@hiroshi_tanahashi @taguchiryusuke @kushida_ts @dragon_lee95 vs Tetsuya Naito, @seiya_sanada Bushi and @timebomb1105 - - - - #wwe #sdlive #wwenxt #raw #205live #wweshop #wearenxt #youtube #smackdown #wwf #ufc #prowrestling #ufcfightnight #ufcfightpass #wcw #impactwrestling #mondaynightraw #njSSE #strongstyleevolved #losingobernablesdejapon #hiroshitanahashi #kushida #dragonlee #ryusuketaguchi

[gdwessel]

New Japan Cup 2021 Night 8 - 3/13/2021; NJPW Strong Episode 30 - 3/12/2021

The tour resumed today, with two bangers of second-round New Japan Cup matches. You can see this now on NJPWWorld.

- 3/13/2021, Aichi Prefectural Gymnasium (NJPWWorld)

YOSHI-HASHI, Tomohiro Ishii & Toru Yano [CHAOS] d. David Finlay Jr., Yota Tsuji & Gabriel Kidd (YOSHI-HASHI > Kidd, Modified Butterfly Lock, 11:17)

Will Ospreay, Great O-Khan & Jeff Cobb [United Empire] d. Zack Sabre Jr., Taichi & DOUKI [SZKG] (O-Khan > DOUKI, Eliminator, 7:51)

SANADA, Tetsuya Naito & BUSHI [Los Ingobernables] d. Yuji Nagata, Kazuchika Okada [CHAOS] & SHO [CHAOS] (SANADA > SHO, Skull End, 11:43)

Jay White, EVIL & Bad Luck Fale [Bullet Club] d. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Juice Robinson & Toa Henare (EVIL > Henare, EVIL STO, 11:41)

New Japan Cup 2021 2nd Round: KENTA [Bullet Club] d. Minoru Suzuki [SZKG] (Go2Sleep, 16:20)

New Japan Cup 2021 2nd Round: Shingo Takagi [Los Ingobernables] d. Hirooki Goto [CHAOS] (Last Of The Dragon, 23:51)

Shingo directly addresses Ibushi post-main, confident as he is of winning this Cup. KENTA defeats Minoru Suzuki in their first singles encounter since 8/27/2005 in Pro Wrestling NOAH, when Suzuki won that one. Maybe it won’t take over 15 years for the rubber match between them. KENTA v. Shingo in the quarterfinals will happen on this coming Tuesday, 3/16/2021, along with Toru Yano v. EVIL.

The Road to Strong Style Evolved continued last night on NJPW Strong, along with two more qualifiers for the New Japan Cup USA.

Logan & Sterling Riegel d. Barrett Brown & Adrian Quest (Logan > Brown, Small Package, 11:33)

New Japan Cup USA 2021 Qualifier: Hikuleo [Bullet Club] d. Jordan Clearwater (Samoan Driver, 7:57)

New Japan Cup USA 2021 Qualifier: Fred Rosser d. JR Kratos [Team Filthy] (Schoolboy, 14:16)

With this, Rosser and Hikuleo join “Filthy” Tom Lawlor and Lio Rush in the New Japan Cup USA, whenever they decide to run that tournament. The Riegels are still wearing the Brody King balaclavas in their entrance. Next week will feature Brody King v. Bateman in an intra-ROH New Japan Cup USA qualifier, as well as Ren Narita v. Misterioso.

Later tonight is Impact Wrestling’s pre-taped Sacrifice event which, among other matches, will see FinJuice challenge The Good Brothers for the Impact World Tag Team titles. If you really want to see it, it’ll be on Impact’s app, or FITE TV, and maybe even on Twitch somewhere. Also later on I’ll be recording and posting a bumper-length episode of my AEW Dynamite podcast Boom Goes The Dynamite on the PWOM Podcast Network, and we have... a lot to discuss!

Tomorrow’s show continues the second round, with a match that has been run about a thousand times before, however never with both as heels as far as I am aware. Either way, the loser will eliminate their whole stable from the Cup. We’ll see how this goes! 

- 3/14/2021, Hyogo Baycom Gymnasium (NJPWWorld)

David Finlay Jr., Yota Tsuji & Yuya Uemura v. YOSHI-HASHI, Tomohiro Ishii & Toru Yano [CHAOS]

Minoru Suzuki, Taichi & DOUKI [SZKG] v. KENTA, Bad Luck Fale & Chase Owens [Bullet Club]

Hirooki Goto, Kazuchika Okada & SHO [CHAOS] v. Shingo Takagi, Tetsuya Naito & BUSHI [Los Ingobernables]

Hiroshi Tanahashi, Juice Robinson & Toa Henare v. Jay White, EVIL & Yujiro Takahashi [Bullet Club]

New Japan Cup 2021 2nd Round: Yuji Nagata v. SANADA [Los Ingobernables]

New Japan Cup 2021 2nd Round: Zack Sabre Jr. [SZKG] v. Will Ospreay [United Empire]

[stardust79260]

Golden Lovers in the house!! 😃😃

[njpwdaily]

@AXSTV_PR: Thank you @NacionESPN2 for letting Kazuchika Okada and Josh Barnett show you the ways of Strong Style! #NJPW #NJSSE

[itsbigbenn]

YOUNG BUCKS HAS BROKEN FREE FROM THE DARKNESS KNOWN AS #TEAMCODY AND JOINED THE LIGHT AS #TEAMKENNY

[vicsy]

What did I do?