#re | tama tonga

[wishyouloveme]

Black ropes 18+

Song rec-S&M (Rihanna)

Warnings: Bondage (BDSM), Smut, Swearing.

A/N Note: Part 2 of the 30 parts of kinkvember, Minords DNI. Further links: @wishyouloveme (my main blog)

@Star's Kinkvember list!! – @wishyouloveme on Tumblr

Pairing: Tama Tonga (Alipate Aloisio Leone) x Fem! Reader

Further information: Reply in the comments of the kinkvember post to be added to the tag list!! Tag list: @harmshake @lilucey @whatdoeseverybodywant @boundbyeeclipse @velvel1901 @bloodlinesceo

Anons are always open!

The idea hadn’t really come to you two naturally, it was kind of brought alone. One of your friends had brought up something her and her mans was trying out ropes and stuff in the bedroom.

That got you thinking and wondering if Tama would do something like that, or maybe the idea would send him running for the hills, but you had to ask. If you didn’t ask you wouldn’t know, right?

“Tama” You say quietly, your hands slipping over his shoulders as you two watch a movie. “Hm? My love?” He asks softly, looking up at you. “I have a question” You say gently, running your hand through his hair carefully, watching his face. “Okay” He says, tilting his head at her as he listens, grinning slightly, his pearly whites on display. “Do you think we could try bondage tonight?” You ask softly, your hands stilling out of nervousness. He had always been down to try something once, but it still made you nervous when asking about new things, especially new sexual things neither of you knew if you liked. 

Intricate patterns were strewn over your back in black rope, specialized knots that you were actually very curious about where he learned it all. “Baby, where’d you learn this?” You ask, your voice full of astonishment and admiration for how careful and loving he was being with you to make sure the ropes weren’t cutting into your skin, or cutting off any circulation.

“When we started with handcuffs and other shi’,I took a class” He admits quietly, making intricate patterns with the rope over your stomach and down the apex of your thighs,making a shudder run through your body, and your thighs clench.

You let out a quiet whine, your head tipping back slightly, your leg opening more for him. “Aw baby” He replies with a smirk, and gently taps at your clit, kissing in between the designs on your skin, making you let out another whimper.

“Please T, Don’t tease me” You whimper out, and he lets out a gentle chuckle before kissing up your body, blowing cold air onto your nipple, making you gasp. He smirks, and kisses your nipple, before gently taking it into his mouth. You let out a gasp and a moan, opening your legs more. You wanted him so fucking bad. He smirks, and lets go of your nipple with a slight ‘pop’, and kisses his way up, before kissing you, hands going around to take off his jeans, pulling back to pull his jeans down his legs. You admire him as you lay there, biting your lip as you watch.

“You sure you’re okay with this, baby?” He asks carefully,gently grabbing your ankles and tugging you towards him, spreading your legs open again. You nod rapidly, your heart fluttering faster as you watch his hand come up.

He bites his lip as he gently and weightlessly runs his fingers through your folds, making you gasp quietly, and your head tip back, moaning slightly. He steps forward, pulling down his boxers with one hand, getting onto the bed, pumping his dick slowly as he gently pushing two fingers into you. He leans down, kissing you as he slowly pushes into you, letting out a tiny grunt “shit. We do this so often, but your still tight as hell.” He groans quietly, kissing you more.

“You feel so good” He whispers to you, thrusting into you slowly to get you re-used to his size. No matter how many times you guys did this, you still were fucking amazed at the sheer size and feeling of him.

[pwrestlingxpress]

G1 Climax 33 Blocks and Match Cards Announced

As if the day couldn't get any crazier, NJPW just announced the blocks for the 32 participants with an interesting twist. First up though, here are the four blocks of 8 for "G1 Climax 33"

For those wanting Kiyomiya/Okada II may have to wait until the Knockout stage since as seen above Kaito will be in Block A while Okada will be in Block B. Plus, instead of each match going 30 minutes, 20 minutes are on the clock which makes this G1 much faster than previous G1 Climax Tournaments in its history.

Blocks A and B will be competing on July 15, 18, 21, 25, 27, and August 1 with Both Block Finals set for Osaka on August 5th and 6th.

Blocks C and D will be competing on July 16, 19, 23, 26, 30, and August 2nd with the C Block Finals taking place on August 8th in Yokohama and the D Block Finals taking place on August 9th in Hamamatsu

A more interesting change is how the G1 Climax 33 winner will be determined. The Top 2 from each of the four blocks will advance to a knockout stage that'll start on August 10th in Funabashi

The Four winners from August 10th will then advance to the semi-finals on August 12th in Ryogoku with the two winners from those two semi-final matches facing each other in the finals to determine the G1 Climax 33 winner.

In addition, block matches have also been announced down below:

July 15, 2023 in Sapporo Night 1:

B Block Match: El Phantasmo vs. YOSHI-HASHI

A Block Match: Gabriel Kidd vs. Chase Owens

B Block Match: KENTA vs. Tanga Loa

A Block Match: Ren Narita vs. Shota Umino

B Block Match: Great O-Khan vs. Kazuchika Okada

A Block Match: Kaito Kiyomiya vs. Yota Tsuji

B Block Match: Will Ospreay vs. Taichi

A Block Match: Hikuleo vs. SANADA

July 16, 2023 in Sapporo Night 2:

C Block Match: David Finlay vs. Tomohiro Ishii

D Block Match: Toru Yano vs. Hirooki Goto

C Block Match: Aaron Henare vs. Mikey Nicholls

D Block Match: Alex Coughlin vs. Shane Haste

C Block Match: Eddie Kingston vs. Shingo Takagi

D Block Match: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi

C Block Match: EVIL vs. Tama Tonga

D Block Match: Jeff Cobb vs. Tetsuya Naito

July 18, 2023 in Yamagata

A Block Match: Chase Owens vs. Kaito Kiyomiya

B Block Match: KENTA vs. Great O-Khan

A Block Match: Gabriel Kidd vs. Hikuleo

B Block Match: Tanga Loa vs. Taichi

A Block Match: Yota Tsuji vs. Ren Narita

B Block Match: Will Ospreay vs. YOSHI-HASHI

A Block Match: Shota Umino vs. SANADA

B Block Match: El Phantasmo vs. Kazuchika Okada

July 19, 2023 in Xebio Arena Sendai

D Block Match: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Toru Yano

C Block Match: David Finlay vs. Mikey Nicholls

D Block Match: Alex Coughlin vs. Jeff Cobb

C Block Match: EVIL vs. Eddie Kingston

D Block Match: Shane Haste vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi

C Block Match: Aaron Henare vs. Shingo Takagi

D Block Match: Tetsuya Naito vs. Hirooki Goto

C Block Match: Tama Tonga vs. Tomohiro Ishii

July 21, 2023 in Niigata at Ao-re Nagaoka

B Block Match: Tanga Loa vs. YOSHI-HASHI

A Block Match: Gabriel Kidd vs. Ren Narita

B Block Match: Great O-Khan vs. El Phantasmo

A Block Match: Chase Owens vs. Hikuleo

B Block Match: KENTA vs. Will Ospreay

A Block Match: Kaito Kiyomiya vs. Shota Umino

B Block Match: Taichi vs. Kazuchika Okada

A Block Match: Yota Tsuji vs. SANADA

July 23, 2023 in Nagano

D Block Match: Alex Coughlin vs. Zack Sabre Jr.

C Block Match: Mikey Nicholls vs. Tama Tonga

D Block Match: Shane Haste vs. Hirooki Goto

C Block Match: Eddie Kingston vs. Aaron Henare

D Block Match: Tetsuya Naito vs. Toru Yano

C Block Match: Shingo Takagi vs. Tomohiro Ishii

D Block Match: Jeff Cobb vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi

C Block Match: EVIL vs. David Finlay

July 25, 2023 in Korakuen Hall Night 1

B Block Match: Great O-Khan vs. Will Ospreay

A Block Match: Gabriel Kidd vs. Shota Umino

B Block Match: KENTA vs. Taichi

A Block Match: Chase Owens vs. Yota Tsuji

B Block Match: El Phantasmo vs. Tanga Loa

A Block Match: Hikuleo vs. Ren Narita

B Block Match: YOSHI-HASHI vs. Kazuchika Okada

A Block Match: Kaito Kiyomiya vs. SANADA

July 26, 2023 in Korakuen Hall Night 2

C Block Match: EVIL vs. Aaron Henare

D Block Match: Alex Coughlin vs. Hirooki Goto

C Block Match: Mikey Nicholls vs. Shingo Takagi

D Block Match: Toru Yano vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi

C Block Match: Eddie Kingston vs. Tomohiro Ishii

D Block Match: Shane Haste vs. Tetsuya Naito

C Block Match: David Finlay vs. Tama Tonga

D Block Match: Jeff Cobb vs. Zack Sabre Jr.

July 27, 2023 in Tokyo at the Ota City Gymnasium

A Block Match: Chase Owens vs. Shota Umino

B Block Match: Taichi vs. YOSHI-HASHI

A Block Match: Gabriel Kidd vs. Kaito Kiyomiya

B Block Match: Great O-Khan vs. Tanga Loa

A Block Match: Yota Tsuji vs. Hikuleo

B Block Match: KENTA vs. El Phantasmo

A Block Match: Ren Narita vs. SANADA

B Block Match: Will Ospreay vs. Kazuchika Okada

July 30, 2023 in Aichi at the Dolphin's Arena

C Block Match: David Finlay vs. Aaron Henare

D Block Match: Jeff Cobb vs. Toru Yano

C Block Match: Eddie Kingston vs. Mikey Nicholls

D Block Match: Alex Coughlin vs. Tetsuya Naito

C Block Match: EVIL vs. Tomohiro Ishii

D Block Match: Shane Haste vs. Zack Sabre Jr.

C Block Match: Shingo Takagi vs. Tama Tonga

D Block Match: Hirooki Goto vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi

August 1, 2023 in Kagawa at Takamatsu

A Block Match: Kaito Kiyomiya vs. Hikuleo

B Block Match: Great O-Khan vs. YOSHI-HASHI

A Block Match: Chase Owens vs. Ren Narita

B Block Match: El Phantasmo vs. Taichi

A Block Match: Gabriel Kidd vs. SANADA

B Block Match: Will Ospreay vs. Tanga Loa

A Block Match: Yota Tsuji vs. Shota Umino

B Block Match: KENTA vs. Kazuchika Okada

August 2, 2023 in Hiroshima

D Block Match: Alex Coughlin vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi

C Block Match: EVIL vs. Mikey Nicholls

D Block Match: Shane Haste vs. Toru Yano

C Block Match: Aaron Henare vs. Tomohiro Ishii

D Block Match: Jeff Cobb vs. Hirooki Goto

C Block Match: Eddie Kingston vs. Tama Tonga

D Block Match: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Tetsuya Naito

C Block Match: David Finlay vs. Shingo Takagi

August 5, 2023 in Osaka - A Block Finals (Full Match Card/Order to be announced at a later date):

Gabriel Kidd vs. Yota Tsuji

Chase Owens vs. SANADA

Kaito Kiyomiya vs. Ren Narita

Hikuleo vs. Shota Umino

August 6, 2023 in Osaka - B Block Finals (Full Match Card/Order to be announced at a later date)

KENTA vs. YOSHI-HASHI

Will Ospreay vs. El Phantasmo

Tanga Loa vs. Kazuchika Okada

Great O-Khan vs. Taichi

August 8, 2023 in Yokohama at the Yokohama Budokan - C Block Finals (Full Match Card/Order to be announced at a later date):

Mikey Nicholls vs. Tomohiro Ishii

Aaron Henare vs. Tama Tonga

EVIL vs. Shingo Takagi

David Finlay vs. Eddie Kingston

August 9, 2023 in Hamamatsu - D Block Finals (Full Match Card/Order to be announced at a later date):

Alex Coughlin vs. Toru Yano

Shane Haste vs. Jeff Cobb

Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Hirooki Goto

Tetsuya Naito vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi

G1 Climax 33 starts in Sapporo on July 15th and will end on August 13th in Ryogoku. All 19 events will air on NJPW World with English Commentary. Go there to find the start time for each event and see who'll be "Born in the Ring".

[riiingsoldiers-blog]

aren’t i just the luckiest birthday girl? @untouchablcs

[gdwessel]

New Japan Cup 2022 Night 3 - 3/7/2022; NJPW Strong Taping in Philly 5/15/2022; AJPW Dream Power Series 2022 Night 1 - 3/7/2022; Full Card for TJPW Grand Princess ‘22 3/19/2022

Happy International Women’s Day. The full card for Tokyo Joshi’s Grand Princess ‘22 show at Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan will be down at the bottom part of the post.

New Japan Pro Wrestling

The final batch of 1st Round matches for the New Japan Cup 2022 took place yesterday, in a show you can see now on NJPWWorld.

- 3/7/2022, Tokyo Ota Ward Gymnasium

Will Ospreay, Great O-Khan, Jeff Cobb & Aaron Henare [United Empire] d. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Togi Makabe, Tomoaki Honma & Ryohei Oiwa (Henare > Oiwa, Rampage Tackle, 9:48)

Yujiro Takahashi, Taiji Ishimori & El Phantasmo [Bullet Club] d. Tetsuya Naito, SANADA & BUSHI [Los Ingobernables] (ELP > BUSHI, CRII, 10:10)

El Desperado, Taichi, Zack Sabre Jr., Yoshinobu Kanemaru & DOUKI [SZKG] d. Kazuchika Okada, Toru Yano, Hirooki Goto, YOSHI-HASHI & YOH [CHAOS] (Sabre > YOH, Cross Armbreaker, 12:01)

New Japan Cup 2022 1st Round: Chase Owens [Bullet Club] d. Jado [Bullet Club] (C-Trigger, 7:13)

New Japan Cup 2022 1st Round: EVIL [Bullet Club] d. Ryusuke Taguchi EVIL STO, 7:26)

New Japan Cup 2022 1st Round: Hiromu Takahashi [Los Ingobernables] d. SHO [Bullet Club] (Inside Cradle, 15:45)

New Japan Cup 2022 1st Round: Shingo Takagi [Los Ingobernables] d. Tomohiro Ishii [CHAOS] (Last Of The Dragon, 23:32)

I do recommend the main and semi-main from this show. Some good stuff on here. So now the last of the 2nd Round matches have been determined:

- 3/13/2022, Hyogo Baycom Gymnasium

New Japan Cup 2022 2nd Round: Minoru Suzuki [SZKG] v. Hiromu Takahashi [Los Ingobernables]

New Japan Cup 2022 2nd Round: Tama Tonga [Bullet Club] v. EVIL [Bullet Club]

New Japan Cup 2022 2nd Round: Tiger Mask IV v. Chase Owens [Bullet Club]

New Japan Cup 2022 2nd Round: Tanga Loa [Bullet Club] v. Shingo Takagi [Los Ingobernables]

More TBA

Hiromu v. Suzuki will be something.

Another NJPW Strong taping has been announced, at the good ol’ ECW (2300) Arena in Philly for 5/15/2022. Tickets go on sale for that on Friday at 10am EST.

The 2nd Round begins tomorrow, which will be live streamed. Only three Cup matches due to Hiroyoshi Tenzan’s withdrawal, with Taichi advancing to the 3rd Round on a bye.

- 3/9/2022, Tokyo Korakuen Hall

Hiroshi Tanahashi & Tiger Mask IV v. Bad Luck Fale & Chase Owens [Bullet Club]

Tetsuya Naito & BUSHI [Los Ingobernables] v. Gedo & SHO [Bullet Club]

Will Ospreay, Great O-Khan, Jeff Cobb & Aaron Henare [United Empire] v. El Phantasmo, Taiji Ishimori, EVIL & Yujiro Takahashi [Bullet Club]

Hiromu Takahashi, Shingo Takagi & SANADA [Los Ingobernables] v. MInoru Suzuki, Taichi & DOUKI [SZKG]

New Japan Cup 2022 2nd Round: Hirooki Goto [CHAOS] v. Dick Togo [Bullet Club]

New Japan Cup 2022 2nd Round: Yoshinobu Kanemaru [SZKG] v. CIMA [#STRONGHEARTS]

New Japan Cup 2022 2nd Round: Kazuchika Okada [CHAOS] v. Master Wato

All Japan Pro Wrestling

All Japan began the Dream Power Series 2022 tour yesterday, with a lot of prelude tag matches to coming title matches.

Dream Power Series 2022 Night 1 - 3/7/2022, Kanagawa Yokohama Hodogaya Public Hall (AJPW.tv)

Atsuki Aoyagi & Rising HAYATO [NEXTREAM] d. Takao Omori & Ryo Inoue (HAYATO > Inoue, Boston Crab, 9:04)

Shu & Kei Brahman [FREE] d. Izanagi & Black Menso-re (Kei > Izanagi, Acai DDT, 8:14)

Yoshitatsu d. Seigo Tachibana (10:01)

TAJIRI & Yusuke Kodama [TOTAL ECLIPSE] d. Shotaro Ashino & Dan Tamura [Evolution] (TAJIRI > Tamura, La Magistral, 10:38)

Ryuki Honda & Hokuto Omori [TOTAL ECLIPSE] d. Suwama & Hikaru Sato [Evolution] (Omori > Sato, 12:48)

Kento Miyahara & Yuma Aoyagi [NEXTREAM] d. Shuji Ishikawa & Kohei Sato (Miyahara > Ishikawa, 22:39)

Wrestling logic says Miyahara is not retaining the Triple Crown but it is but the first show of the tour. Hikaru Sato took a direct loss to his World Juniorheavyweight title challenger too.

The tour resumes Saturday at Korakuen Hall, with an All Asia Tag Team Championship title match main event between champions Hokuto Omori & Yusuke Kodama v. Dan Tamura & Abdullah Kobayashi.

Tokyo Joshi

As promised, here is the now-revealed full card for Grand Princess ‘22, Tokyo Joshi’s big show at Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan on 3/19/2022. It will be shown live on Wrestle Universe. Juria Nagano’s debut is now a tag match, and another interpromotional match has been added, an 8-person match between TJPW & the other DDT sub-brand that I don’t report on, Ganbare Pro Wrestling.

Grand Princess ‘22 - 3/19/2022, Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan (Wrestle Universe)

Juria Nagano Debut Match: Suzume & Arisa Endo v. Moka Miyamoto & Juria Nagano

Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling v. Ganbare Pro Wrestling: Nao Kakuta, Mahiro Kiryu, Haruna Neko & Kaya Toribami v. Yuna Manase, Moeka Haruhi, HARUKAZE & YuuRI [Ganbare Pro]

Hyper Misao v. Sanshiro Takagi

Yuki Kamifuku v. Asuka

Nodoka Tenma v. Yuki Aino

Sakisama, Mei Saint-Michel, Martha & Yukio Saint Laurent v. Marika Kobashi, Raku, Pom Harajuku & Ram Kaichow

Hikari Noa v. Hikaru Shida [AEW]

International Princess Championship: Maki Itoh © v. Yuki Arai

Princess Tag Team Championship: Yuka Sakazaki & Mizuki © v. Rika Tatsumi & Miu Watanabe

Princess of Princess Championship: Miyu Yamashita © v. Shoko Nakajima

Back on Thursday.

[wrestlingisfake]

New Japan Fake Rankings, 2/23/2020

Heavyweight singles division - babyfaces

Tetsuya Naito (IWGP hwt. champion, IWGP intercontinental hwt. champion)

Kazuchika Okada

Shingo Takagi (NEVER owt. champion, NEVER owt. trios champion)

Tomohiro Ishii

EVIL (NEVER owt. trios champion)

Will Ospreay (RPW British hwt. champion)

SANADA

Hirooki Goto

Heavyweight singles division - heels

Jay White

KENTA

Minoru Suzuki

Lance Archer

Bad Luck Fale

Unranked: Mikey Nicholls, Toa Henare, YOSHI-HASHI, Yuji Nagata

Just about everyone listed above should qualify for the New Japan Cup, although I’d say Yoshi and Nicholls are on the bubble.  The winner of that will likely be Naito’s next challenger, and since that doesn’t need to be a huge match, it feels like nearly anyone could win.

There’s been talk of Lance Archer getting an offer from AEW, which may or may not cause him to leave New Japan, but we’ll have to see where that goes.

If the heel side seems a little weak that’s because New Japan has three babyface stables (the “home team” or “Hontai,” CHAOS, and Los Ingobernables de Japon) and two heel stables (Bullet Club and Suzuki-gun).  Traditional face vs. heel matchups are common, but the booking is more focused on faction vs. faction.

Heavyweight tag team division - babyfaces

Golden Ace - Hiroshi Tanahashi & Kota Ibushi (IWGP hwt. tag team champions)

FinJuice - David Finlay & Juice Robinson

Toru Yano & Colt Cabana

Heavyweight tag team division - heels

Dangerous Tekkers - Zack Sabre, Jr. & Taichi

The Guerillas of Destiny - Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa

Unranked: GBH (Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma), TenKozy (Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima), Chase Owens & Yujiro Takahashi

This division has by now withered to the point that Zack Sabre is mocking it, which suggests it’s as disastrous as the United Kingdom, so that’s not good.  What’s discouraging here is that New Japan has some heavyweights sitting around without much to do, but even if it put them into new teams (I’m thinking Nagata & Henare or perhaps Nicholls and Yoshi-Hashi) it still wouldn’t push them as credible contenders.  Sooner or later they’ll put Evil and Sanada back together for another run, but that’s not enough.

Junior heavyweight singles division - babyfaces

Hiromu Takahashi (IWGP jr. hwt. champion)

Ryu Lee (ROH television champion)

BUSHI (NEVER owt. trios champion)

Robbie Eagles

Junior heavyweight singles division - heels

El Phantasmo

Taiji Ishimori

Unranked: DOUKI, Gedo, Jado, Tiger Mask

With Ospreay formally moving up to heavyweight, Hiromu’s next logical challengers appear to be Phantasmo, Ishimori, and Eagles.  Those feuds would probably cover most of 2020, although I’d personally like to see Sho or Yoh go after him before the end of the year.

Junior heavyweight tag team division - babyfaces

Roppongi 3K - SHO & YOH (IWGP jr. hwt. tag team champions)

The Mega Coaches - Ryusuke Taguchi & Rocky Romero

Junior heavyweight tag team division - heels

El Desperado & Yoshinobu Kanemaru

You can tell the division is pretty thin when R3K has to be programmed against their own coaches, for lack of anything new to do.  They appear to be setting up Hiromu Takahashi and Bushi as the next challengers.  Interestingly, if Hiromu and Bushi win the junior tag title, there would be a total of four double champions in LIJ.

Young Lions

New Japan Dojo: Yota Tsuji, Yuya Uemura

LA Dojo: Alex Coughlin, Clark Connors, Gabriel Kidd, Karl Fredericks, Ren Narita

New Zealand Dojo: Michael Richards

On excursion: Great-O-Kharn, Hikuleo, Kawato-san, Syota Umino

I hadn’t noticed that all but two of the Japanese rookies had been sent abroad, which explains why so many of the gaijin guys have been appearing lately.  (Narita is an odd case where he went on excursion from one dojo to another,  for some reason.)  It seems like New Japan should be rolling out a new class of students pretty soon.  It also feels like it’s about time for O-Kharn and Kawato to return home.

Part-timers:

Alex Zayne

Amazing Red

Chris Jericho (AEW world champion)

Jeff Cobb

Jon Moxley (IWGP United States hwt. champion)

Marty Scurll

TJP

Volador Jr.

All of these men have appeared on a New Japan show in recent months, and are listed on the official English website roster.

Historically, New Japan has had partnerships with Ring of Honor and CMLL, and regularly brings in talent from both promotions.  A bunch of CMLL guys recently appeared on the Fantastica Mania tour, but only one (Volador) is listed on the official roster right now.  On the other hand, the official roster lists a bunch of ROH guys, but only one (Scurll) has actually appeared on a New Japan show in nearly a year.  So the status of these relationships will need to be clarified in 2020.

In case you haven’t followed the AEW/New Japan drama: The fact Jericho and Moxley prominently work for both groups does not mean they have an alliance.  Both guys just have separate contracts with each organization; they’re both big enough stars that neither group wants to stand in the way of them working for the other.  Other AEW stars have the “can work for New Japan whenever you want” clause (most notably Kenny Omega), but New Japan hasn’t made the call to try to bring any of them in.

Jeff Cobb’s ROH contract ended a while back, and AEW hasn’t convinced him to sign with them, so for now he’s free to work with ROH, AEW, and NJPW as he pleases.  I personally expect someone to throw enough money his way to lock him down, but it’s not clear who that will be.

Inactive

TAKA Michinoku (right foot - undisclosed injury)

Taka was sidelined back in May 2019, and while he may have recovered by now, he’s yet to reappear on television.  It’s actually pretty amazing there aren’t more guys on New Japan’s injured list--I assume that’s a combination of a) downtime between tours and b) gutting through things that WWE’s doctors  would never tolerate.

[hazyheel]

Wrestling Dontaku 2019 Day 2 Review

First match was a Young Lion tag team match, with Yota Tsuji and Yoya Uemura against Ren Narita and Shota Umino. Narita and Uemura were incredibly vicious towards each other during the match. At one point, Narita was stomping on Uemura’s head in his corner for far to long, so Umino had to tag himself in to pull his partner away. Tsuji and Umino had went back and forth in tests of strength as well as heavy strikes. Match didn’t go too long, with Narita attacking Uemura on the outside while Umino hit the fisherman buster for the win.

Narita and Uemura actually fought a bit after the match, with Narita coming out ahead.

Grade: B. This is a very promising class of young lions. I can really see Narita being a despicable member of Suzuki-Gun later on. I don’t know where Umino would go, but he definitely has a future as well. The four of them put on a good match, with the more experienced members coming out on top.

Next was a huge ten man tag. Ryusuke Taguchi, Tiger Mask, Toa Henare, YOSHI-HASHI, and Jeff Cobb against Minoru Suzuki, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, El Desperado, TAKA Michinoku, and new NEVER Openweight Champion Taichi. Cobb was right up in Taichi’s face before the match, even pushing away his teammates who were attempting to calm the situation. TIger Mask and TAKA started out with heavy kicks right off the bat. In a similar spot to night 1, YOSHI-HASHI was up on the top rope for TAKA to be thrown into his ass, but TAKA reviersed it and threw Taguchi into him, followed by Suzuki locking in a sleeper on the top rope. At one point, Cobb was able to hit Kanemaru and Desperado with a double flapjack. Henare and Taichi squared off at one point, possible foreshadowing given Henare’s wishes to compete for the NEVER Openweight Championship. Cobb was able to hit Taka with a tour of the islands, but the two were not legal at the time. Taichi then absolutely nailed Henare with a superkick for the win, while the rest of Suzuki-Gun distracted the rest of the faces. 

Grade: C+. The match wasn’t super spectacular, and it doesn’t really seem to be leading anywhere. Everyone seemed to be phoning it in during this match, even Cobb’s moves didn’t seem like they were hitting particularly hard. Taichi’s new championship was the main focus of this match, with Taguchi, Cobb and Henare all wanting a match. While Cobb was taken out by Taichi during the match, and Henare ate the pin from Taichi, Taguchi actually has a singles match coming up against Taichi at a Japanese independent event. We will see how that turns out, but I would be into a match between the two for the championship. Possibly see a move to the heavyweights from Taichi.

And now a 6-man tag team man. Jushin Thunder Liger (who was over as hell), Toru Yano and Togi Makabe against Jado and the Guerrillas of Destiny. Jado tried to start with a handshake, but neither Liger nor the ref would take the shake. He eventually convinced Liger, shaking the hand, hugging him and then holding his arm high. However, it was during that holding of Liger’s arm that Tonga Loa attacked from behind. Liger was heavily targetted during the match, to the point that Rocky Romero started to hype up the crowd while still on commentary. Tama Tonga distracted the ref and Jado went to hit Yano with a kendo stick, but Makabe caught it and attacked Jado. Jado was then hit with a clothesline from Makabe, a shotai from Liger and a low blow from Yano for the win.

Grade: C. Another pretty nothing match. Makes sense for Jado to take the pin, but it didn’t do really anything for Yano to pin him. The action wasn’t doing all that much for me, and I don’t think this really affected the tag division. Maybe it will, but we will see.

Then we had an 8-man tag, Jay White, HIKULEO, Chase Owens and Bad Luck Fale, against Juice Robinson, Mikey Nicholls, Hirooki Goto and Tomoaki Honma. Goto wanted White to start off, but Owens ran in and attacked to start the match. Goto could hardly keep his hands off of White during the match, desperately lunging at him on the apron. Hikuleo was working well with Honma, seeming as if he could be getting a minor push. Nicholls and Robinson worked together almost like a tag team during this match, hitting a double suplex onto Hikuleo. In the finish, Robison nailed Hikuleo with a left hand to god, and then pump friction for the win. Juice’s new challenger showed another video after the match. 

Grade: B-. Decent match here. There was a good amount of story here between Goto and White, as well as the budding tag team between Robinson and Nicholls. Between the ropes, nothing special. Though there was a Kokeshi, so that made me happy. Still no clue about the guy who is debuting, although I now realize my prediction of Kawato was way off. 

Into the special tag match, Will Ospreay and Dragon Lee, still the champion, against Taiji Ishimori and ........... El Phantasmo! Shocker. Ospreay seemed pretty pissed that Phantasmo joined BULLET CLUB, although I don’t know if there was any history between the two in RevPro. Ospreay insisted on started the match against Phantasmo, but the heels attacked before the match anyway. Phantasmo showed his stuff, such as walking around the top rope into a hurricanrana, similar to Fenix. Ishimori and Lee still had a stiff exchange, really laying into each other after their war from the night before. At one point, Phantasmo hit a cool looking tightrope moonsault to the outside to both of his opponents. The heels then hit a cool tag team move, with Ishimori hitting a codebreaker off of Phantasmo’s shoulders onto Ospreay, then holding him in place for a moonsault from Phantasmo. Phantasmo even countered an Os Cutter with a superkick. Phantasmo then hit an arm trap facebuster for the win.

Grade: B+. Very good debut. All of these guys worked well together, and Phantasmo got to show off his cool offense. Beating Ospreay really was a big win, even if he has beaten him before. In New Japan, that is a big deal. BULLET CLUB even worked really well together as a team, so Robbie Eagles may need to watch his ass. His spot may be on the line. I liked the match, and Phantasmo has a lot of momentum going into the best of the super juniors. 

In a rematch from night one, Kota Ibushi and Roppongi 3k took on Tetsuya Naito, BUSHI and Shingo Takagi. The beginning of this match was basically a series of singles matches as each wrestler took on their rival one on one. Naito played mind games with Ibushi throughout the match. At one point, Naito went for his classic leg sweep in the corner into a swinging dropkick on SHO, but he landed on his feet when he swung in, attacking Ibushi on the apron and then hitting a running dropkick instead. Takagi and Ibushi had a striking contest in the middle of the ring, and it was pretty intense. Ibushi lost the initial exchange of strikes, but put him on the mat after a series of chops and kicks. At one point, Naito nailed the most dangerous version of Gloria that i had ever seen by dropping Ibushi right on the back of the neck for a near fall. Yoh showed off his underrated strength by hitting Naito with a huge Falcon’s arrow. In the finishing stretch, BUSHI nailed a beautiful suicide dive to Ibushi, while Naito hit YOH with a destino for the win.

After the match, Naito said that he wanted the title match to come at Dominion. Ibushi accepted. Predictable, but I’m glad we are getting the match.

Grade: B+. Better than the first night, I thought this match had a lot more energy to it. The strikes were harder and everyone was moving faster and working together better. There was the added tension of the intercontinental championship match looming over, and I think that the challenge was the reason that they kicked this match into another gear. I almost gave this an A-, but I don’t think it was quite there. 

In a surprise appearance, Hiroshi Tanahashi came out to cut a promo. Tanahashi had an elbow injury at G1 Supercard. He talked about how he was at a low point at this time last year, but he went on to win the G1, and then the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. But he slid back down the mountain when he lost his championship and then got injured. But he said that he would return at the BOSJ finals. Everyone was happy, untiil Jay White showed up. He said that he is next in line for a title shot, and then attacked Tanahashi’s elbow. Gedo slid White a pair of chairs, and he was about to re break Tanahashi’s elbow, before the Young lions ran in and pinned White down.

Into the singles matches of the night, EVIL took on Tomohiro Ishii, in the blowoff of a month’s long feud. The two ran right at each other once the bell rang. They beat each other down with elbows and forearms straight to the face. Evil continued to work on the leg of Ishii, the same leg that he worked over during their tag match on night one. Evil was even able to out chop Ishii early in the match. Ishii was able to fight his way back, hitting a superplex despite his injured knee. His advantage did not last long, as Evil was able to hit a twisting neck breaker on the outside, followed by his home run with chairs. It was odd to see Ishii fighting from behind in this match, but he often was due to the huge target on his leg. Ishii was able to lock in a scorpion deathlock, revenge for the several times that Evil has locked Ishii in the hold, but Evil made it to the ropes. Ishii then worked over Evil’s leg, using similar tactics to Evil’s. Evil hit a terrifying german suplex, planting Ishii nearly on the top of his head. The next several sequences were simply to show how even the two men were, ending in stalemates. In the finish, Ishii was able to stand before Evil, nailing a running lariat and then a brainbuster for the win. 

Grade: A. Even though Ishii came away with the win, this match showed that Evil can still hang in the main event. Ishii still limped at the end of the night, so Evil was put over big. The two men beat the hell out of each other, leaving yet another notch in Ishii’s belt for this year. I don’t think he has had a single bad singles match this year. Just another great match for Ishii, and another great match for Evil. This was my match of the night.

And in the main event, Kazuchika Okada vs. SANADA for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. Big rematch from the New Japan Cup finals. Sanada entered with a new haircut and a trimmed beard, as well as new tights. He essentailly had a new look, which actually threw me off a bit. For whatever reason, the new look made me think that he could actually win the match. The match started with some slow paced grappling, which clued me in to the type of intensity that this would evolve into. The two had a series of rollups and trips that mirrored each other, which was an interesting way to show their similarities. The two would have short spurts of intensity, but didn’t really go at a fast pace for too long at a time. At one point, Okada hit his signature big boot over the barricade, but then followed it up with a huge splash as well, with some crazy air. Okada was very careful about getting locked into submissions from Sanada, particularly skull end and the paradise lock. Sanada nearly got the win with a pinning combination, but not only did Okada kick out, but he transitioned into the camel clutch. Sanada was hit with a spinning rainmaker, but Okada was not able to follow up with the regular rainmaker. Sanada fought out of Okada’s grasp by kicking off of the turnbuckles, locking in skull end for a tense submission sequence. Okada just about passed out in the hold, but Sanada went up for the moonsault. He hit one to the back, but Okada got his knees up on the second. Okada was able to lock in a skull end of his own, but only to turn it into a tombstone, where the two struggled to hit the others with the piledriver. Sanada then o’connor rolled into another skull end. Okada countered into two rainmaker attempts, only for Sanada to hit one of his own for a near fall. When Sanada attempted to kick off the turnbuckle for another skull end, Okada trapped him for a jumping tombstone and then a rainmaker for the win. 

After the match, the two shook hands, but not before Sanada asked for one more match, which Okada agreed to. Okada then cut a promo, pretty basic stuff this time around. Just saying that he wanted to make everyone love professional wrestling. But then, a video package played, with Chris Jericho making yet another challenge. This time, for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship at Dominion. Okada accepted.

Grade: A-. Not quite as good as the match before it, but the tension was higher because of what was on the line. Great work from both of them, the slow build really gave every move an important feel. Sanada isn’t quite ready, but I think by this time next year, he will be champion. This loss keeps him in contention for a win in the G1, and it has convinced me that Sanada really is the future of this company. Not as good as their finals match, but still very entertaining. In regards to the Championship match at Dominion, should be a great match, and looks like that card is going to blow the world away. 

Overall grade: B

Pros: Young Lions delivered; El Phantasmo debut; LIJ vs. roppongi/ ibushi; evil vs. ishii; IWGP Heavyweight Championship; jericho announcement; good commentary.

Cons: BULLET CLUB vs. Liger, Yano, Makabe

[mercy-misrule]

that was such a good g1 night. everyone was just so good. (no spoilers re wins or losses)

one of my favourite little moments was a camera catching Kenny saying ‘why do I do these things?’ after a big ass leap.  the real questions.

sanada v kenny rocked, naito v goto rocked, but ishii v kota was just outstanding. holy shit.

what i really liked about all three of these matches is that all of them had such great flow, energy. Naito v goto was fierce and tough, kenny v sanada was explosive and kota v ishii was fuckin brutal.

and there was a clear narrative to follow.

goto and naito have history, there’s tension, there’s a nastiness to this fight. it feels loaded.

 Ishii thought that Kota wasn’t bringing his A game so he provoked and prodded the monster until it burst out of hiding. And boy did it ever.

Kenny targeted the leg that Sanada had targeted of Ibushi the night before. He was making a point

He created a weakness where there had not been one before. Kenny was vicious and Sanada adapted and evolved with the flow, dug deep into his strength. 

I just. I really really liked these matches. juice v yano was fun too! it was actually my second fave yano match. (the first was kota’s, that was awesome)

and im deeply bored of the OG antics, because i’m not getting to see potential cool matches. I wanted more of zsj v tama tonga then we got.

[whatculturerp]

WELCOME TO WHATCULTURERP, MARIA, YOU’VE BEEN ACCEPTED AS YOUR FIRST CHOICE, KENNY OMEGA!

SEND US YOUR ACCOUNT WITHIN 24 HOURS. IF YOU FAIL TO DO SO THE ROLE WILL BE RE-OPENED FOR THE PUBLIC. PLEASE MAKE SURE YOUR ASK BOX IS ON AND READY TO ROLEPLAY. ANY FURTHER QUESTIONS? PLEASE LET US KNOW.

* SEND US YOUR RP BLOG VIA MESSAGES OR THROUGH OUR INBOX.

NAME/AGE/TIMEZONE:

Maria / 20 / CST

FIRST CHOICE:

Kenny Omega

SECOND CHOICE:

Juice Robinson

GENDER YOUR CHARACTER IDENTIFIES WITH:

Male

RULES CONFIRMATION:

Indeed, I have read the rules! They are extremely important in an RPG, and without them, it would be a complete mess. As for the most important rule, I think that is to not do any bubble roleplaying. It’s extremely important to communicate with everybody, so to have that as a rule is very appreciative!

DESIRED CONNECTIONS:

TBH probs more Bullet Club members + NJPW wrestlers!

PARA SAMPLE:

This G1 tournament has always been the most grueling event of the year for Kenny. He had been completely exhausted after all of the matches that he had to take part in, especially since he had to wrestle all of them with a fractured heel. Part of Kenny wanted to take time off to focus on his recovery, but most certainly not in a tournament like this. The G1 has always been a memorable experience for Kenny. In his two previous G1s, he’s made it to the finals. Now, with 12 points, heading into the last couple days before the final, it makes him extremely nervous. Not only did Kenny now have to wrestle with a fractured heel, but he also has to wrestle with stitches in his mouth, considering that his lip busted in one of his matches against Tomohiro Ishii, in which he had lost. The next couple days, he had lost to Toru Yano, due Tama Tonga making a statement. Now, Kenny has to beat his best friend, in a match that hasn’t happened in 6 years, Kota Ibushi. In their last encounter, Ibushi had beaten Kenny. Now that Kenny has improved, and now that he’s the IWGP Heavyweight Champion, he feels more confident in himself. He knows that he’ll have to do whatever it takes to win this G1, even if it means beating his best friend. He has to fulfill his dream of changing the world, after all, and from the looks of it, nobody’s stopping him.

OTHER:

Super excited to be here! I cannot wait to share my experience with each and every single one of you! To answer the mobile question, I’m on mobile pretty often, considering that I’m so used to the app & stuff.

[njpwdaily]

NJPWDAILY SUPERLATIVES 2017 PUT SOME RESPECK ON THEIR NAME (MOST UNDERAPPRECIATED) → Tomohiro Ishii (18% of votes)

This “Stone Pitbull” is, in many people’s eyes, the proverbial bridesmaid of New Japan when it comes to top-tier championships and tournament glory. But what he lacks in those accolades, he more than makes up for with impressive, show-stealing matches and a tenacious attitude mixed with his hard-hitting in-ring craft. His standout matches in 2017 include a classic against Kenny Omega in the New Japan Cup, and nearly every G1 Climax 27 match (and that’s a lot of them one should re-watch). That’s how often Tomohiro Ishii delivers, and that especially warrants all the respec(k)(t) in the world to his name.

RUNNER-UPS: BUSHI (11%), Hirooki Goto & SANADA (7%), Tama Tonga, Chase Owens, David Finlay, YOSHI-HASHI, Zack Sabre Jr. & Ryusuke Taguchi (5%), Jay White, Taichi & others (2%)

[buttdawg]

New Beginning in Nashville: A Buttdawg Special Report

NJPW is in the middle of a U.S. tour, and it turned out that they were doing a show pretty close to where I live, right when I had scheduled some time off, so I figured “what the hell?” and bought a ticket.    Then I finally saw the lineup for the show and I was like “ehhhhh...”  But then it turned out to be really great!  

I guess two things got me on board with this show.    First, Wrestle Kingdom 14 hype was in full swing when I bought the ticket, so I wanted More of That.    Second, I watched a bunch of matches from the World Tag League a few months ago, and a big chunk of those shows were set in smaller, cozier venues with no English commentary.    Some of them didn’t even have Japanese commentary, and I’m pretty sure those were the ones where I could see basketball backboards in the background.    One was in Osaka-jo Hall, and I thought that was a big arena, but it turned out the show was in the “sub arena”, which sounds awesome.    So I imagined what it might be like to go to a show like that, and then I realized they’re doing them in America this month.  

This was in the War Memorial Auditorium, which I think holds like 2,000 people.    Low four digits, definitely.    Pretty sure the WWF used to run house shows here, because every time I think the words “War Memorial Auditorium” I hear it in Howard Finkel’s voice.  On the way down, I listened to this piece by Jim Valley about how the WWE is no longer turning a profit on their live events, for the first time ever.    He blames guys like Seth Rollins who complain about their fans instead of enticing them to buy tickets.   Would toay’s WWE even run a house show in a venue this small?   All I know is the WMA had 560 in attendance, and everyone seemed pretty happy to be there.   There’s a market for wrestling tickets.    New Japan didn’t fly all these guys out to Tennessee to break even.  

Anyway, I wasn’t too jazzed about the card, and for most of January I was starting to wonder if I’d let my enthusiasm get the better of me. but once I found the place and got my bearings, I was very pleased.  The WMA looks even smaller in person than it does on the website.    Imagine a high school gym with a stage and a balcony.   You walk into the theater and the ring is right in front of you.   The merch stand is to your right.    I don’t think there’s a bad seat in the house, unless you’re sitting behind a really tall guy or something.  

As for the card, the audience made it feel special.  They had this big monitor on the stage, and they opened with a video package about the tour, and everyone popped when they heard the announcer, even though he’s speaking Japanese.    He’s the guy you hear at the start of every show thought, so hearing his voice just makes the whole thing feel important.  

I wasn’t really prepared for that, I guess.  There were a lot of kids there, and I guess I was surprised that so many people from so many demographics would be this familiar with the product.   I’ve only been watching New Japan for about seven months, so the filthiest casual was probably me.    

Match 1: Alex Zayne & Misterioso d. Alex Coughlin & Ren Narita (9:46)

I have no idea who most of these guys are.    I’ve probably seen Coughlin before, but I spent the whole match thinking he was Karl Fredericks.    The crowd recognized Zayne and Misterioso, though, because they were behind those guys the whole match.     I started to think Zayne had family in the crowd, and he’s from Lexington, Kentucky, so it’s not impossible. 

Match 2: YOSHI-HASHI d. Karl Fredericks (8:48)

This was when the real Karl Fredericks came out.    The monitor on the stage displays the names of the participants throughout the match, but I couldn’t see it very well because of the glare from the lighting.   Crowd was behind Karl all the way, I guess because he’s been a Young Lion long enough that he’s due to start winning matches one of these days, but not tonight.   I mean, Yoshi’s in CHAOS, so he ought to be a face, right?  

Match 3: Colt Cabana & Toru Yano d. Clark Conners & TJP (13:22)

I’m not a huge fan of Colt and Yano, but they were the first guys I’d consider ““real”““ stars to come out.   TJP won the Cruiserweight Classic in WWE, but I had to keep reminding myself of that while the match went on.  

The comedy wrestling works a lot better live.   My favorite bit was when Colt brazenly stuck his hands in the air and challenged Conners to a test of strength spot.   “TEST OF STRENGTH” he said loud enough for everyone to hear him.    Then as soon as they got locked up Colt looked over his shoulder and said “Oh my God, he’s really strong!”

This was the only match I tried to take pictures for, because I wanted to capture Yano untying the turnbuckle pad.    I also managed to get this pic, of Young Lions putting it back together after the match was over.

Seriously, it takes like two guys to fix those things.   Yano’s a real jerk.  

Anyway, during this match, there was a kid further back in the balcony who was really rooting for TJP and Conners.    As the show continued, it became clear that this kid was in the tank for all the heels.   It took me a while to catch on to this, because sometimes I can’t tell if Yano’s a face or a hell.    But no, this kid was rooting for all the heels.    Not like in a smarky “the faces are jerks!” kind of way, either.   It’s like this kid just watched enough matches to objectively decide that guys like Lance Archer rules and Colt Cabana’s kind of a dick.    Same, kid.   Same.  

So during the match Yano and Colt are making Conners look like a real geek, to the point where it’s practically a face-in-peril situation (again, are we sure Yano and Colt aren’t evil?).    So this kid’s begging Conners to make the hot tag to TJP.   Then the other team makes a tag, and the kid goes “Not you!”   Priceless. 

Match 4: Jeff Cobb d. Satoshi Kojima (10:02)

This match kind of represents my flip-flopping towards the card.   They’re doing a tournament in the U.S., and they bring the worst two guys in CHAOS, nobody from LIJ, the only champions they booked were the shithole tag champions and they’re not even defending the belts... but they got Jeff Cobb, by gum.    It just felt very underwhelming, but once he came out, and I’m sitting there like fifty feet away from him, I’m like “Yeah, Jeff Cobb’s a cool guy.   This is great.”    Watching wrestling on TV has a way of raising your expectations to unrealistic levels, I guess.    Once you’re sitting there watching these guys in person, the equation changes.   

I wasn’t super-thrilled to see Cobb facing Kojima, since they had no issue, and Kojima jobbed all the way through the World Tag League, but by this point in the show I was just pleased to get to see Jeff Cobb strut his stuff.   This was how American wrestling used to work in the 80′s and 90′s, and it still does, I just had to get re-accustomed to it.   Everyone was hot for Kojima, either because he’s a legend or because he was wearing hot-orange ring gear to pander to the UT fans in the audience.   Well I went to UK so fuck you, Kojima, you deserved to lose to Cobb.   

And the match was very competitive, to the point where Cobb was all exhausted at the end, and Kojima went over to shake his hand after it was over, so a feel-good moment for the audience.   Nice.

Match 5: Lance Archer d. Yuji Nagata (11:16)

Never mind that shit, everybody dies!   Lance comes out and he was basically my favorite guy on this card.   Crowd was pretty into Lance too, so he takes the mic and says “Nashville, Tennessee!   Who wants a T-shirt!?”    crowd gets all excited, and then he just throws it.... onto the mat, and he goes “Nope!” and everyone is pissed!   Except me, Lance Archer fucking rules.  Also, Roots-for-Heels Kid probably didn’t mind, but we didn’t hear from that kid until the middle of the match, when Lance was basically mugging Blue Justice.     I salute Yuji Nagata for wearing Wildcat blue in a sea of orange bullshit, but as they say, everybody dies.

The crowd haaaates Lance, and he just milks it for all it’s worth.   The fans can’t help Yuji--his fate is sealed--so they make fun of Lance’s fashion sense.   They mock the red braid at the end of his mohawk, they make fun of his back tattoo, calling it a “tramp stamp”, and so on.    Lance just yells back at them.   “Shut up!” “Booooooooooo.”   Lance is the fucking man.   Even the ref was afraid of him, which makes Nagata look like a million bucks for even putting up a fight.      I wanted more Suzuki-gun guys at this show, but honestly, one was plenty.    Lance wins with the EBD claw, and that’s it.   

Match 6: Hiroshi Tanahashi d. Yujiro Takahashi (10:38)

Yujiro doesn’t have Pieter with him, although no one seems concerned by this.  From what I can tell, they only bring out Pieter when Yujiro is booked for bigger venues.   That’s probably got more to do with Pieter’s contract than anything else, but I like to think all these smaller towns in Japan take one look at Bullet Club and go “Look, you’re not doing that stripper crap in our building.”  

Big response for Tanahashi.    They did the hockey chant for him and everything “Ta-na-ha-shi (clap, clap, clap-clap-clap)”.   Nothing particularly notable about the match, but Hiroshi went around ringside hugging and taking photos with fans at ringside.  He’s a real class act. 

Match 7: Rocky Romero, David Finlay, & Juice Robinson d. Bullet Club (Chase Owens, Tanga Loa & Tama Tonga) (13:52)

This was originally supposed to be an eight-man tag with Kota Ibushi on the face team and Jado on the Bullet Club side.   Turns out Kota came down with the flu, so they just scaled it back to a six-man.   I also read that Karl Fredericks got injured, so he’s off the tour too.   I guess that happened on this show, because he seemed fine Sunday night, and the announcement came out before the show on the 27th started.

Anyway, now I see the value in New Japan’s strategy of using multi-man tag matches for tours like these.   If someone has to pull out, they just shuffle around partners or scale back eight-mans to six-mans, and so on.   I guess if things really got bad, they could just do seven singles matches, so as long as they have fourteen healthy performers, they can manage.  

Roots-for-Heels Kid was in full-effect here.   Again, not really sure if the kid’s Bullet Club 4-life, or just hates Juice Robinson as much as I do, or maybe the kid takes pity on Chase Owens.   But that kid really wanted Bullet Club to win.   Too bad it wasn’t in the cards.

One moment that stuck out to me was when the faces were doing pretty well, and enough stuff was going on that I didn’t notice Jado whacking someone with the kendo stick until it had already happened.    They do that bit in every G.O.D. match.   Face is doing okay, he runs the ropes, and then whack, Jado hits him right as he bounces off the ropes near the G.O.D. corner.   I’ve watched enough Guerrilas of Destiny matches by now that it’s become predictable, even formulaic, but this time, I never saw it coming.   I think that’s because on video, they’ve got the camera man anticipating that spot.    The camera angles of the guy running the ropes practically warns you what’s about to happen.    When you see it live, you have to be your own cameraman, and figure out which parts of the ring to watch.   I was in the second row of the balcony, with a great view of the ring, but not of Jado.    I could see him, but not his lower body, to give you an idea.    By contrast, there were fans on the floor who were directly behind him the whole match, so they could see every move he made.   So it’s a completely different experience depending on where your seat is.   And that’s why they do the kendo stick spot in every match.

Anyway, big chunks of the match were brawls, and eventually FinnJuice and G.O.D. fought their way out of the theater, so it came down to Rocky and Chase wrapping up the match by themselves.   I wasn’t sure what to make of Rocky Romero wrestling, since I’ve only ever seen him doing commentary, or managing Roppongi 3K.    But it turns out he’s really good, so now I don’t understand why they keep him stuck behind a desk all the time.  Maybe he’s semi-retired or something?  

After the match, Rocky cuts the end-of-show promo, and explains that Kota couldn’t be here, so now it’s going to be Chase Owens vs. Rocky Romero in the Atlanta show.    Chase takes the mic and says “Maybe I don’t want to wait until Atlanta?   Who wants to see me and Rocky go here, tonight!”    The crowd is up for it, and then he shouts “Then buy another ticket!” and leaves in a huff.   Classic, total classic.   Rocky thanks everyone for supporting NJPW, the best wrestling in the world, and the crowd goes home happy. 

So yeah, good show all around, and they even had the whole thing done in two hours.    I had no idea what to expect, but if I’d known they would be finished by 7pm I might have just driven home that night instead of getting a hotel.    Well, I’ll keep that in mind for next year.

[biggoldbelt]

Tama Tonga Teases Potential Reunion With Karl Anderson & Luke Gallows

Tama Tonga Teases Potential Reunion With Karl Anderson & Luke Gallows

It has previously been reported that WWE Superstars Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows recently turned down a new offer from WWE to re-sign with the company when their currently deals with the company expire. With Anderson & Gallows said to be on their way out of WWE, and finished with the company when their contracts expire in September, the two were pulled from the road in what was obviously a…

[placetobenation]

July 2nd, 17:00 from Long Beach Convention Center, California

The second of two shows in Long Beach sees the junior tag titles defended, the semi-finals and final of a tournament to determine the first-ever IWGP US champion, and Billy Gunn’s attempt to take the Intercontinental title from Hiroshi Tanahashi. Let’s get to it.Here we go…

Jushin Thunder Liger, David Finlay & KUSHIDA vs. Yoshi Tatsu, Yohei Komatsu & Sho Tanaka

Komatsu and Tanaka were given an ample share of the spotlight here and used it to isolate first Liger and then Kushida with their tag team continuity. After that, Tatsu and Finlay went at it, with special disdain from the crowd reserved for the former. Tatsu attempted the Pedigree, but it was blocked, and with his teammates also tied up in submission moves, Finlay forced him to tap with the Stretch Muffler. Solid, energetic opener. **1/2

IWGP US Championship tournament semi-final

Kenny Omega vs. Jay Lethal

Omega went straight at Lethal’s taped ribs with kicks, then drove him onto the apron with a front suplex. A crossbody was missed and Lethal rolled-through the One-Winged Angel, hit the Lethal Injection, and followed with three suicide dives! A diving elbow earned two and the figure-four was briefly applied before Lethal continued to work the leg. A second Lethal Injection was countered to a lungblower and that allowed Omega to refocus his attention on the ribs, driving knee shots into them for two. The leapfrog bulldog was nicely countered into a Blue Thunder Bomb, but Omega bounced back with a Snapdragon Suplex, Cross-legged Ushigoroshi and series of jumping knee strikes for a near-fall. Deadlift Doctor Bomb – two-count only. Another brutal knee allowed Omega to lift Lethal to his shoulders, and despite a reversal attempt, the One-Winged Angel connected to put Omega through to the final. Strong match here, with straightforward and consistent psychology, good intensity and likely Lethal’s best singles performance in a New Japan ring. ***3/4

IWGP US Championship tournament semi-final

Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Tomohiro Ishii

Sabre Jr. was twice floored by an elbow after attempting some uppercuts of his own, then he foolishly tried to headbutt Ishii, who punished him with chops. Sabre Jr. found an opening to work Ishii’s left arm, however, and a coil lock wrenched the shoulder, forcing Ishii to resort to a spitwad and nasty headbutt to take the advantage back. Up top, Ishii fought hard to land a delayed superplex for two, but Sabre Jr. landed a Northern Lights suplex into a double-wristlock which had the Stone Pitbull scrambling to the ropes. A nasty wristlock was met with a backdrop, but Sabre Jr. countered into the European Clutch for two. Despite receiving a headbutt to the chest, Sabre Jr.’s countered the sliding lariat into a brutal looking grapevined submission, from which Ishii just (just) made the ropes. Ishii replied to kicks with a brutal elbow, but Sabre Jr. jumped back on with a deep double-wristlock. He followed with a Penalty Kick, but Ishii immediately popped up and hit back with a huge lariat! Brainbuster! One, two, three and Ishii’s in the final. Loved this. Both men are standouts in their styles and what might’ve been a clash actually meshed very well. Can’t wait to see it again in the G1. ****1/4

Juice Robinson, Jay White, Volador Jr., Dragon Lee & Titan vs. Los Ingobernables de Japón (BUSHI, EVIL, SANADA, Hiromu Takahashi & Tetsuya Naito)

Naito teased Volador to start, but the CMLL man got the better of Hiromu and Bushi who were next to enter, then Titan found himself outnumbered and LIJ initiated a big brawl around the ring. Sanada tied both Titan and Juice in the Paradise Lock, then Naito landed a low dropkick for two. Titan eventually fired back to make the tag to Juice, who ran wild on offence, nailing a pair of cannonballs before being crotched on the top-rope. Dragon Lee and Hiromu were in next for a fantastic sequence, culminating in Hiromu’s belly-to-belly to the buckle, then White and Evil faced-off. White was missile dropkicked by Bushi and LIJ rushed the ring to isolate the New Zealander, then a parade of signatures allowed Titan to land a top-rope asai moonsault, while White nailed Bushi with a Rock Bottom and twisting flatliner for the win. ***

Michael Elgin, Hanson & Raymond Rowe vs. Bullet Club (Hangman Page, Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa)

Bullet Club were accompanied by Chase Owens and walked to ring by none other than Haku! The big men got by far the better of the opening minutes, with several displays of power and teamwork keeping them in control, but it was Tama Tonga’s speed which turned the tide, with Hanson’s beard proving a useful leash by which to control him. A mistake allowed Elgin to squash Page with a slingshot splash and, after dispatching GOD, a Falcon Arrow earned two. Page was then saved by his teammates after a double-team, War Machine’s Fallout was blocked, and GOD dealt with Elgin, but Hanson flattened them with a rolling senton from the top. After Rowe rallied, Page flipped in with a lariat then spiked him with the Rite of Passage piledriver for the win. Standard fare. **3/4

***INTERMISSION***

IWGP Junior Tag Team Championship

The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson & Nick Jackson) (c) vs. Roppongi Vice (Baretta & Rocky Romero)

Matt quickly went for the sharpshooter on Romero, the move which brought them the titles at Dominion, then missed sentons and dropkicks all round eventually led to a brief run from Roppongi Vice. Nick was assisted in a very nice springboard moonsault to both opponents on the outside and from there the Bucks took control of Romero. A swanton hit the knees, but the tag was prevented when Matt pulled Baretta from the apron and powerbombed him on the ramp! Romero was hit with an apron-hung swanton for a two-count then the beatdown continued until Romero freed himself from the Indytaker only to find there was no-one in his corner. A double clothesline ensured that the hot tag was finally made, but Baretta’s run was cut short by a buckle bomb and Romero was powerbombed onto his partner’s back, then the Bucks smartly nailed a 450 and moonsault to Baretta’s back, but somehow only got two.

The sharpshooter was cinched in, and things looked bad, but Romero saved his partner with a springboard dropkick, then a jumping knee Doomsday Device from the apron got rid of Matt and Baretta spiked Nick on the apron with a piledriver! Back in, Baretta nailed a Gotch-style Piledriver – two-count only! Romero got rid of Matt and then Nick was crunched with Strong Zero but he kicked out again! Romero went for a suicide dive, but was caught by Matt and Nick came flying off the ropes for a Meltzer Driver to the floor! Back in, Baretta took superkicks to the back, then Romero suffered another Meltzer Driver and a final sharpshooter forced him to tap! The Bucks retain.

Post-match, Ricochet appeared and took out the Bucks with a tope con hilo before challenging for the titles with his coach, Ryusuke Taguchi! After that, Romero got on the mic and listed Roppongi Vice’s accomplishments before saying he think it’s time they call it a day and giving Baretta his blessing to compete as a heavyweight on his own. A fantastic end to their story over the past year.

As for the match, well, they weren’t helped by the camerawork/direction, which was awful throughout and missed several key moments. The call-backs were nicely done and it felt suitably definitive as a closing chapter, but while I enjoyed it, I felt it was the lesser of their three encounters this year. ***1/2

Bullet Club (Cody, Marty Scurll, Yujiro Takahashi & Bad Luck Fale) vs. Mark Briscoe, Jay Briscoe, Will Ospreay & Kazuchika Okada

Mark and Marty had an amusing opening sequence, then Cody’s indecision led to a “We Want Fale!” chant (which is a first), then a Yujiro chant(!), then it all got very silly – not that I minded. Eventually, Jay and Cody faced-off and the match began in earnest. Ospreay got a moment to shine then, but Cody did his best luchador impression with a hop-up armdrag and Bullet Club rushed the ring. After some hip-swivelling antics, Scurll and Ospreay went at it, then Jay got the better of Yujiro. Okada and Fale were next, with Okada able to use the big man’s momentum to land a scoop slam! Ospreay nailed a counter-stunner to Cody, but Scurll’s sickening finger break set off a chain of offence all-round, culminating in Scurll using his umbrella to counter Okada’s Rainmaker and Cody nailing the champ with the Beautiful Disaster. Ospreay scored a Sasuke Special, but upon re-entering the ring was caught by Cody’s Cross Rhodes to give Bullet Club the win.  A bit of fun to pick the crowd up and it did the job. ***

IWGP Intercontinental Championship

Hiroshi Tanahashi (c) vs. Billy Gunn

Gunn used his height and strength advantage initially before Tanahashi was able to work a side headlock to ground his opponent. A back suplex from Gunn broke the hold and he proceeded to target Tanahashi’s injured arm, wrapping it around the ringpost and over the guardrail. Back in, Gunn’s Jackhammer earned two and a side kick floored the former Ace, but Tanahashi reclaimed the advantage by pulling down Gunn’s trunks. That didn’t last long, though, and Gunn returned the ass-exposing favour, following-up with a cobra clutch slam for a two-count. Tanahashi hit back with a neckbreaker, but the High Fly Flow missed the mark and Gunn nailed the Fameasser! One, two, no! Gunn demanded Tanahashi “Suck It!” but instead got a slap and a Sling Blade for his arrogance. High Fly Flow for the win and Tanahashi retains!

Both men seemed to be moving through treacle, but it wasn’t the disaster I feared it might be. It was basic, certainly, but effective. Has to be said, Tanahashi really isn’t looking so good at the moment and I hope he’s somewhat protected during the G1. **1/2

IWGP US Championship tournament final

Kenny Omega vs. Tomohiro Ishii

After both men dodged the other’s moves, Omega decided to slap Ishii’s head and pepper him with kicks, but Ishii soon tired of that and dumped Omega with a suplex. Outside, Ishii chopped his opponent out into the crowd, but when they made it back to ringside he was suplexed onto the floor by Omega. Back in, Ishii took control again with strikes. Omega did his best to hang on, returning in kind when able, but got caught with a powerslam. Omega spiked Ishii with a DDT to turn the tide and the Finlay Roll/moonsault combo earned two before he sent Ishii to the floor with a leapfrog bulldog and followed with a tope con hilo!

Omega feigned injury to allow the Bucks to set-up a table, then, fully fit, nailed Ishii on the back of the head with a missile dropkick. He pummelled Ishii in the corner and landed a ‘rana to quell a comeback, then they fought on the apron, perilously close to the table, with Ishii biting the top-rope to block the Dragon Suplex. Omega persisted, however, and found the strength to dump Ishii on his head and through the table! Somehow Ishii broke the count, but was brutalised with several knee strikes from Omega for a near-fall. He managed to counter the One-Winged Angel to a DDT, then nailed a lariat and both men were down. Up top, Ishii scored a top-rope superplex and dragged himself over for the cover, but it only got two, and then it was Main Event Chop Battle time. V-Trigger from Omega! Lariat from Ishii – two-count only! Brainbuster from Omega for two. Ishii brushed off a German and the sliding lariat landed for another two-count. One-Winged Angel from Ishii! 2.9! Wow. And another brutal knee floored Ishii.

Both men staggered into strikes, with Omega’s palm thrust setting up the Cross-legged Ushigoroshi. Snapdragon Suplex, V-Trigger, one-count only! Ishii wouldn’t stay down, even after a reverse frankensteiner, so Omega lifted him, clasped the wrist and spiked him to the mat with the One-Winged Angel. One, two, three! Kenny Omega is the inaugural IWGP United States Heavyweight Champion!

Post-match, Cody snatched the title from Omega… then hugged him and put the belt around his waist. All of Bullet Club came out and they lifted Kenny onto their shoulders to celebrate. Omega gave a babyface promo to close the show and promised New Japan would be back with an even bigger show next year. The match was very good indeed – at least on par with their previous bouts this year, which is really something after the weekend they’ve had. Would’ve been nice to see the armwork from earlier in the evening paid off, but it’s not like that impeded my enjoyment. ****1/2

Final thoughts: First off, this was a looong show and it felt like it. The card didn’t build in as purposeful a manner as most Japanese shows and that meant the multi-man tags in particular were a slog. Seven matches on each night would’ve been plenty and I’d have focused more on the native talent of New Japan than guys who are regular faces in the US. That said, the junior tag title match delivered a satisfying end to one of my favourite pieces of character booking over the last year and the tournament matches were all good to great, with Ishii and Omega delivering amazing performances over the two nights and the final an especially impressive feat given what had come before.

I’ll be back with a G1 Climax Primer soon ahead of the mammoth tournament to come. See you then.

[pwrestlingxpress]

The video above is the official commercial for G1 Climax 27 presented by LAWSON ticket.  The video is courtesy of New Japan on YouTube.  Down below is the full schedule of the G1 Climax including the video that highlights the Key Matches taking place during the event.  Those key matches are in parenthesis. 

Monday July 17th (A Block): Hokkaido at the Hokkaido Prefectural Sports Center Hokkai Kitayell - Event will start at 3 PM Japan Time

Hiroshi Takahashi vs. Zack Sabre Jr. (Key Match)

Kota Ibushi vs. Tetsuya Naito (Key Match)

Yuji Nagata vs. YOSHI-HASHI

Togi Makabe vs. Bad Luck Fale

Hirooki Goto vs. Tomohiro Ishii

Thursday July 20th (B Block):   Tokyo at the Korakuen Hall - Event will start at 6:30 PM Japan Time

SANADA vs. EVIL (Key Match)

Minoru Suzuki vs. Kenny Omega (Key Match)

Kazuchika Okada vs. Toru Yano

Michael Elgin vs. Tama Tonga

Satoshi Kojima vs. Juice Robinson (aka former NXT Superstar CJ Parker)

Friday July 21st (A Block):   Tokyo at the Korakuen Hall - Event will start at 6:30 PM Japan Time

Kota Ibushi vs. Zack Sabre Jr. (Key Match)

YOSHI-HASHI vs. Tetuya Naito (Key Match)

Yuji Nagata vs. Hirooki Goto

Togi Makabe vs. Tomohiro Ishii

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Bad Luck Fale 

Saturday July 22nd (B Block):  Tokyo at the Korakuen Hall - Event will start at 6:30 PM Japan Time

Kenny Omega vs. Tama Tonga (Key Match)

Minoru Suzuki vs. SANADA (Key Match)

EVIL vs. Juice Robinson 

Kazuchika Okada vs. Michael Elgin

Satoshi Kojima vs. Toru Yano

Sunday July 23 (A Block):  Tokyo at the Machida Gymnasium - Event will start at 6:00 PM Japan Time

Kota Ibushi vs. Tomohiro Ishii (Key Match)

Togi Makabe vs. Hirooki Goto (Key Match)

Tetsuya Naito vs. Bad Luck Fale

YOSHI-HASHI vs. Zack Sabre Jr.

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Yuji Nagata 

Tuesday July 25 (B Block):  Fukushima at the Big Palette Fukushima - Event will start at 6:30 PM Japan Time

Toru Yano vs. Kenny Omega (Key Match)

Kazuchika Okada vs. SANADA (Key Match)

Tama Tonga vs. EVIL

Juice Robinson vs. Minoru Suzuki

Satoshi Kojima vs. Michael Elgin 

Wednesday July 26 (A Block): Miyagi at the Sendai Sunplaza - Event will start at 6:30 PM Japan Time

Togi Makabe vs. Kota Ibushi (Key Match)

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Hirooki Goto (Key Match)

Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Bad Luck Fale

Tomohiro Ishii vs. YOSHI-HASHI

Tetsuya Naito vs. Yuji Nagata

Thursday July 27 (B Block):  Niigata at the Ao-re Nagaoka - Event will start at 6:30 PM Japan Time

Minoru Suzuki vs. EVIL (Key Match)

Michael Elgin vs. Kenny Omega (Key Match)

SANADA vs. Toru Yano

Juice Robinson vs. Tama Tonga

 Kazuchika Okada vs. Satoshi Kojima 

Saturday July 29 (A Block): Aichi at the Aichi Prefectural Gymnasium - Event will start at 6:00 PM Japan Time

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. YOSHI-HASHI (Key Match)

Tomohiro Ishii vs. Tetsuya Naito (Key Match)

Hirooki Goto vs. Zack Sabre Jr.

Kota Ibushi vs. Bad Luck Fale

Togi Makabe vs. Yuji Nagata 

Sunday July 30 (B Block): Gifu at the Gifu Industrial Hall - Event will start at 4:30 PM Japan Time

Satoshi Kojima vs. Kenny Omega (Key Match)

Juice Robinson vs. Kazuchika Okada (Key Match)

Michael Elgin vs. SANADA

Minoru Suzuki vs. Tama Tonga

EVIL vs. Toru Yano

Tuesday August 1 (A Block):  Kagoshima at the Kagoshima Arena - Event will start at 6:30 PM Japan Time  

Yuji Nagata vs. Tomohiro Ishii (Key Match)

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kota Ibushi (Key Match)

YOSHI-HASHI vs. Bad Luck Fale

Tetsuya Naito vs. Hirooki Goto

Togi Makabe vs. Zack Sabre Jr.

Wednesday August 2 (B Block):  Fukuoka at the Fukuoka Citizen’s Gymnasium - Event will start at 6:30 PM Japan Time

Satoshi Kojima vs. Minoru Suzuki (Key Match)

Kenny Omega vs. EVIL (Key Match)

Kazuchika Okada vs. Tama Tonga

SANADA vs. Juice Robinson

Michael Elgin vs. Toru Yano  

Friday August 4 (A Block): Ehime at the Item Ehime - Event will start at 7:00 PM Japan Time

Tetsuya Naito vs. Zack Sabre Jr. (Key Match)

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Togi Makabe (Key Match)

Kota Ibushi vs. Yuji Nagata

Hirooki Goto vs. YOSHI-HASHI

Tomohiro Ishii vs. Bad Luck Fale 

Saturday August 5 (B Block):  Osaka at the EDION Arena OSAKA (aka the Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium) - Event will start at 5:00 PM Japan Time

Satoshi Kojima vs. SANADA (Key Match)

Kazuchika Okada vs. EVIL (Key Match)

Minoru Suzuki vs. Michael Elgin

Tama Tonga vs. Toru Yano

Kenny Omega vs. Juice Robinson

Sunday August 6 (A Block):  Shizuoka at the Act city Hamamatsu - Event will start at 4:00 PM Japan Time

Togi Makabe vs. Tetsuya Naito (Key Match)

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Tomohiro Ishii (Key Match)

Hirooki Goto vs. Bad Luck Fale

Kota Ibushi vs. YOSHI-HASHI

Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Yuji Nagata 

Tuesday August 8 (B Block):  Kanagawa at the Yokohama Cultural Gymnasium - Event will start at 6:30 PM Japan Time

Kenny Omega vs. SANADA (Key Match)

Kazuchika Okada vs. Minoru Suzuki (Key Match)

Juice Robinson vs. Toru Yano

Michael Elgin vs. EVIL

Satoshi Kojima vs. Tama Tonga

Friday August 11 - Sunday August 13:  Tokyo at the Ryogoku Sumo Hall (aka Ryogoku Kokugikan) - The Friday and Saturday events (aka August 11th and 12th) will each start at 6:30 PM Japan Time while the August 13th event (aka the Sunday Event) will start at 3 PM Japan Time

August 11, 2017 (A Block): Kota Ibushi vs. Hirooki Goto - Key Match

August 11, 2017 (A Block):  Tomohiro Ishii vs. Zack Sabre Jr.

August 11, 2017 (A Block):  Bad Luck Fale vs. Yuji Nagata

August 11, 2017 (A Block):  Togi Makabe vs. YOSHI-HASHI

August 11, 2017 (A Block):  Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Tetsuya Naito - Key Match

August 12, 2017 (B Block):  Toru Yano vs. Minoru Suzuki - Key Match

August 12, 2017 (B Block):  Tama Tonga vs. SANADA

August 12, 2017 (B Block):  Michael Elgin vs. Juice Robinson

August 12, 2017 (B Block):  Satoshi Kojima vs. EVIL 

August 12, 2017 (B Block):  Kazuchika Okada vs. Kenny Omega - Key Match  

August 13, 2017:  G1 Climax 27 Finals - A Block Winner vs. B Block Winner

New Japan World will provide coverage for all the events in which 6 of these will provide English commentary.  The G1 Climax starts on July 17th in Hokkaido and will end on August 13th in Ryogoku Sumo Hall.  The press conference for the event will be coming very soon. I’m expecting it to air after WWE RAW’s Pay-Per-View event scheduled for July 9th since I believe that’s where a lot of the G1 Climax Press Conferences take place which is at least the week before the event.  Stay tuned to all wrestling sites for more updates on the G1 Climax and enjoy the month-long event starting on July 17th.

[gdwessel]

Full Power Struggle Tour Lineups; Update on Kota Ibushi; Sugabayashi Says More Matches On Cards Going Forward; Aaron Henare, Yuto Nakashima Return To Ring Action; Update on My Status

The full lineups for the Power Struggle show and Road to Power Struggle tour have been announced now. I'm still not very enamored with only getting a two-day respite after something as long and tiring as G1 Climax, but I don't make the schedules. Last year, there was a five-day break between G1 and the beginning of Road to Power Struggle. Maybe next year, now that the Olympics are done and dusted, and we are slowly moving out of the pandemic wrestling era, we can get a proper break after G1 Climax in 2022.

On a related note, NJPW held a press conference yesterday, featuring Kazuchika Okada reiterating his desire to not hold the Wrestle Kingdom Challengers Contract Briefcase, but rather the v4 IWGP Heavyweight title belt instead. NJPW Chairman Naoki Sugabayashi said he would consider Okada's request.

Sugabayashi also gave an update on Kota Ibushi's injuries, stating that they have determined Ibushi suffered a dislocated shoulder, which is still bad but not as bad as breaking one's arm. NJPW have refused to give a timetable for his return until a "more thorough appraisal" has been determined.

Sugabayashi also went on to say that due to states of emergency being over, and the overall decrease in positive COVID-19 cases and the increased vaccination status across Japan, that NJPW will begin to increase the number of matches on shows once more. This, honestly, is a bad move. One thing I've been generally positive about during the pandemic wrestling era in Japan was the decrease in the number of matches on shows, ending a lot of the endless-prelude-tag-match rut that a lot of tours are. It's indicative of a company that has a huge roster and doesn't know what to do with all of them. Shorter shows were a lot more digestible, and a lot less skippable. Now we'll be slowly inching towards 10-match Korakuen Hall shows once again. Nature is healing I guess (imagine me rolling my eyes so hard at that statement, God why did I even write that?). NJPW owner Takaaki Kidani last month said as much in Tokyo Sports, that they were going to increase the number of matches, so I guess this is their window to do so.

On that note, several wrestlers who have not been seen in some time make their return on this tour. Among those is the United Empire's Aaron Henare, who was last seen during Wrestling Dontaku Night 2 on 5/4/2021, on the winning side of a United Empire v. Los Ingobernables de Japon 6-man tag match. Since then, he has not wrestled, so it's unknown if he had an injury, or if he was one of the many who chose to return to his home country during the states of emergency in Japan. (Fellow New Zealander [Tongan-born but Auckland-residing] Bad Luck Fale hasn't been seen since 4/4/2021, and Jay White has been in America the last few months.) Also returning to action is Young Lion Yuto Nakashima, who was seen during G1 Climax doing ring attendant duty. Nakashima will be basically re-debuting beginning the 10/31/2021 show in Fukushima against fellow trainee Ryohei Oiwa. Nakashima had his formal debut on 2/14/2021 against Yuya Uemura, but dislocated his left elbow less than thirty seconds into the match. Hopefully this one will go better for him.

As for Power Struggle itself, we sorta knew what was to come. Zack Sabre Jr. beat Shingo Takagi during G1 Climax, so he challenges for the IWGP World Heavyweight title. (So did Kota Ibushi, mind, but he's not available right now.) Tama Tonga beat Kazuchika Okada during G1, so Tonga challenges Okada for the challenge rights.  Hiroshi Tanahashi takes on KENTA for the IWGP US title. Yano and O-Khan go for the Provisional KOPW2021 trophy. Goto/Ishii/YOSHI-HASHI go for 10 defenses of the NEVER 6-man tag belts against the House of Touture. There is also an IWGP Juniorheavyweight Tag Team challenge during the third night at Korakuen Hall on Tuesday, as Flying Tiger (Robbie Eagles & Tiger Mask IV) go after El Desperado & Yoshinobu Kanemaru's tag straps, as a preview for Eagles v. Despy for the IWGP Juniorheavyweight title. To be honest I don't see Eagles dropping this before Best Of The Super Juniors, coming up soon, so he should be going into Wrestle Kingdom 16 as champion.

Full tour lineups:

Road to Power Struggle - 10/24/2021, Tokyo Korakuen Hall (NJPWWorld)

Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Ryusuke Taguchi & Master Wato v. Robbie Eagles [CHAOS], Tiger Mask IV & Ryohei Oiwa

Hirooki Goto [CHAOS], Tomohiro Ishii [CHAOS], YOSHI-HASHI [CHAOS] & Kosei Fujita v. EVIL, Yujiro Takahashi, SHO & Dick Togo [Bullet Club]

Toru Yano [CHAOS] & Satoshi Kojima v. Great O-Khan & Aaron Henare [United Empire]

Hiroshi Tanahashi & Yuji Nagata v. KENTA & Gedo [Bullet Club]

Kazuchika Okada [CHAOS], Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma v. Tama Tonga, Tanga Loa & Jado [Bullet Club]

Elimination Match: Shingo Takagi, SANADA, Hiromu Takahashi & BUSHI [Los Ingobernables] v. Zack Sabre Jr., El Desperado, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & DOUKI [SZKG]

- 10/25/2021, Tokyo Korakuen Hall (NJPWWorld)

Ryohei Oiwa v. SHO [Bullet Club]

Ryusuke Taguchi & Kosei Fujita v. Hiromu Takahashi & BUSHI [Los Ingobernables]

Toru Yano [CHAOS] & Togi Makabe v. Great O-Khan & Aaron Henare [United Empire]

Satoshi Kojima & Tomoaki Honma v. Shingo Takagi & SANADA [Los Ingobernables]

Robbie Eagles [CHAOS], Tiger Mask IV, Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Master Wato v. El Desperado, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Zack Sabre Jr. & DOUKI [SZKG]

Elimination Match: Hiroshi Tanahashi, Kazuchika Okada [CHAOS], Hirooki Goto [CHAOS], Tomohiro Ishii [CHAOS] & YOSHI-HASHI [CHAOS] v. KENTA, Tama Tonga, Tanga Loa, EVIL & Yujiro Takahashi [Bullet Club]

- 10/26/2021, Tokyo Korakuen Hall (NJPWWorld)

Yuji Nagata & Ryusuke Taguchi v. SANADA & Hiromu Takahashi [Los Ingobernables]

Hirooki Goto [CHAOS], Tomohiro Ishii [CHAOS], YOSHI-HASHI [CHAOS] & Master Wato v. EVIL, Yujiro Takahashi, SHO & Dick Togo [Bullet Club]

Toru Yano [CHAOS] & Tomoaki Honma v. Great O-Khan & Aaron Henare [United Empire]

Hiroshi Tanahashi & Togi Makabe v. KENTA & Gedo [Bullet Club]

Kazuchika Okada [CHAOS], Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima v. Tama Tonga, Tanga Loa & Jado [Bullet Club]

Shingo Takagi & BUSHI [Los Ingobernables] v. Zack Sabre Jr. & DOUKI [SZKG]

IWGP Juniorheavyweight Tag Team Championship: El Desperado & Yoshinobu Kanemaru [SZKG] (c) v. Robbie Eagles [CHAOS] & Tiger Mask IV

- 10/27/2021, Ibaraki Lily Arena Mito

Kosei Fujita v. SHO [Bullet Club]

Togi Makabe, Ryusuke Taguchi & Master Wato v. Robbie Eagles [CHAOS], Tiger Mask IV & Ryohei Oiwa

Hirooki Goto, Tomohiro Ishii & YOSHI-HASHI [CHAOS] v. EVIL, Yujiro Takahashi & Dick Togo [Bullet Club]

Toru Yano [CHAOS] & Yuji Nagata v. Great O-Khan & Aaron Henare [United Empire]

Hiroshi Tanahashi & Tomoaki Honma v. KENTA & Gedo [Bullet Club]

Kazuchika Okada [CHAOS], Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima v. Tama Tonga, Tanga Loa & Jado [Bullet Club]

Shingo Takagi, SANADA, Hiromu Takahashi & BUSHI [Los Ingobernables] v. Zack Sabre Jr., El Desperado, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & DOUKI [SZKG]

- 10/29/2021, Aomori Martial Arts Hall

Ryusuke Taguchi v. Kosei Fujita

Robbie Eagles [CHAOS] & Ryohei Oiwa v. El Desperado & Yoshinobu Kanemaru [SZKG]

Toru Yano [CHAOS] & Yuji Nagata v. Great O-Khan & Aaron Henare [United Empire]

Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Master Wato v. SANADA & Hiromu Takahashi [Los Ingobernables]

Hirooki Goto [CHAOS], Tomohiro Ishii [CHAOS], YOSHI-HASHI [CHAOS] & Tiger Mask IV v. EVIL, Yujiro Takahashi, SHO & Dick Togo [Bullet Club]

Hiroshi Tanahashi, Kazuchika Okada [CHAOS], Togi Makabe, Satoshi Kojima & Tomoaki Honma v. KENTA, Tama Tonga, Tanga Loa, Gedo & Jado [Bullet Club]

Shingo Takagi & BUSHI [Los Ingobernables] v. Zack Sabre Jr. & DOUKI [SZKG]

- 10/30/2021, Iwate Industrial Cultural Center Apio

Ryohei Oiwa v. Yujiro Takahashi [Bullet Club]

Togi Makabe, Ryusuke Taguchi & Master Wato v. Robbie Eagles [CHAOS], Tiger Mask IV & Kosei Fujita

Toru Yano [CHAOS] & Tomoaki Honma v. Great O-Khan & Aaron Henare [United Empire]

Hirooki Goto, Tomohiro Ishii & YOSHI-HASHI [CHAOS] v. EVIL, SHO & Dick Togo [Bullet Club]

Hiroshi Tanahashi & Yuji Nagata v. KENTA & Gedo [Bullet Club]

Kazuchika Okada [CHAOS], Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima v. Tama Tonga, Tanga Loa & Jado [Bullet Club]

Shingo Takagi, SANADA, Hiromu Takahashi & BUSHI [Los Ingobernables] v. Zack Sabre Jr., El Desperado, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & DOUKI [SZKG]

- 10/31/2021, Fukushima Big Palette

Yuto Nakashima v. Ryohei Oiwa

Robbie Eagles [CHAOS] & Kosei Fujita v. El Desperado & Yoshinobu Kanemaru [SZKG]

Toru Yano [CHAOS] & Tomoaki Honma v. Great O-Khan & Aaron Henare [United Empire]

Togi Makabe & Ryusuke Taguchi v. SANADA & BUSHI [Los Ingobernables]

Hirooki Goto [CHAOS], Tomohiro Ishii [CHAOS], YOSHI-HASHI [CHAOS] & Master Wato v. EVIL, Yujiro Takahashi, SHO & Dick Togo [Bullet Club]

Hiroshi Tanahashi, Kazuchika Okada [CHAOS], Yuji Nagata & Tiger Mask IV v. KENTA, Tama Tonga, Tanga Loa & Jado [Bullet Club]

Shingo Takagi & Hiromu Takahashi [Los Ingobernables] v. Zack Sabre Jr. & DOUKI [SZKG]

- 11/1/2021, Saitama Kumagaya Citizen Gymnasium

Yuto Nakashima v. Kosei Fujita

Robbie Eagles [CHAOS] & Ryohei Oiwa v. El Desperado & Yoshinobu Kanemaru [SZKG]

Toru Yano [CHAOS] & Togi Makabe v. Great O-Khan & Aaron Henare [United Empire]

Yuji Nagata & Tiger Mask IV v. SANADA & Hiromu Takahashi [Los Ingobernables]

Hirooki Goto [CHAOS], Tomohiro Ishii [CHAOS], YOSHI-HASHI [CHAOS] & Ryusuke Taguchi v. EVIL, Yujiro Takahashi, SHO & Dick Togo [Bullet Club]

Hiroshi Tanahashi, Kazuchika Okada [CHAOS], Tomoaki Honma & Master Wato v. KENTA, Tama Tonga, Tanga Loa & Jado [Bullet Club]

Shingo Takagi & BUSHI [Los Ingobernables] v. Zack Sabre Jr. & DOUKI [SZKG]

- 11/4/2021, Ishikawa Komatsu City Yoshitsune Arena

Yuto Nakashima v. Ryohei Oiwa

Robbie Eagles [CHAOS] & Kosei Fujita v. El Desperado & Yoshinobu Kanemaru [SZKG]

Toru Yano [CHAOS] & Yuji Nagata v. Great O-Khan & Aaron Henare [United Empire]

Tomoaki Honma & Master Wato v. SANADA & BUSHI [Los Ingobernables]

Hirooki Goto [CHAOS], Tomohiro Ishii [CHAOS], YOSHI-HASHI [CHAOS] & Tiger Mask IV v. EVIL, Yujiro Takahashi, SHO & Dick Togo [Bullet Club]

Hiroshi Tanahashi, Kazuchika Okada [CHAOS], Togi Makabe & Ryusuke Taguchi v. KENTA, Tama Tonga, Tanga Loa & Jado [Bullet Club]

Shingo Takagi & Hiromu Takahashi [Los Ingobernables] v. Zack Sabre Jr. & DOUKI [SZKG]

Power Struggle 2021 - 11/6/2021, Osaka EDION Arena (NJPWWorld)

Ryohei Oiwa & Kosei Fujita v. Yoshinobu Kanemaru & DOUKI [SZKG]

Togi Makabe, Tomoaki Honma & Tiger Mask IV v. Tanga Loa, Gedo & Jado [Bullet Club]

Yuji Nagata, Ryusuke Taguchi & Master Wato v. SANADA, Hiromu Takahashi & BUSHI [Los Ingobernables]

NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship: Hirooki Goto, Tomohiro Ishii & YOSHI-HASHI [CHAOS] (c) v. EVIL, Yujiro Takahashi & SHO [Bullet Club]

Provisional KOPW2021 Championship: Toru Yano [CHAOS] (c) v. Great O-Khan [United Empire]

IWGP Juniorheavyweight Championship: Robbie Eagles [CHAOS] (c) v. El Desperado [SZKG]

IWGP US Heavyweight Championship: Hiroshi Tanahashi (c) v. KENTA [Bullet Club]

IWGP World Heavyweight Challenge Rights: Kazuchika Okada [CHAOS] (c) v. Tama Tonga [Bullet Club]

IWGP World Heavyweight Championship: Shingo Takagi [Los Ingobernables] (c) v. Zack Sabre Jr. [SZKG]

So, uh, yeah. About the other day. I will admit, there were some external circumstances very much coloring my views that day, but it didn't make them feel any less real in retrospect. NJPW is not a barrel of monkeys right now, creatively. But we've been here before. I've talked (a lot) about the second half of 2018 nearly breaking both myself and @damascenocs​. These things are cyclical and will have up and down periods. Right now this is very much a down period. I am feeling a lot better the last couple of days, so I'm not running away screaming (yet) but I may be rethinking how I approach this blog very soon, to prevent a total burn-out. Thanks for reading.

[wrestlingisfake]

Power Struggle preview

This is New Japan's big show of the fall, which finishes up the aftermath of the G1 Climax and sets the stage for Wrestle Kingdom in January. Of course, the G1 only just ended a couple of weeks ago, so this year's Power Struggle feels more like an epilogue than the next chapter. In any case, these are the biggest NJPW matches you're going to see for the rest of 2021.

The show will stream live, Saturday morning at 4am EDT. It'll be on NJPW World for anyone who pays 999 yen ($8.81 US) for the month of November. Or you can pay for a month and watch on demand whenever you like. The show will be available with commentary in English and Japanese.

Shingo Takagi vs. Zack Sabre Jr. - Sabre defeated Takagi by submission during the G1 Climax, so now he gets to challenge Shingo for the IWGP world heavyweight title. The winner of this match will almost certainly be the defending champion at the first night of Wrestle Kingdom, on January 4.

I'm looking forward to seeing this again, but I have to admit it's a relatively weak main event on paper. Since Takagi won the title, New Japan has been pretty good about pairing him up with bigger names. Sabre just isn't at that level, and I don't expect this match alone to get him there. Setting that aside, it's a good clash of styles, as Sabre will look to manipulate Takagi's joints, and Shingo will hit Zack really hard a lot.

Takagi wouldn't even be champion right now if not for some bad luck in the topcard earlier this year, so there's no pressing need to keep the title on him all the way to January. However, a title change now isn't going to set business on fire or raise the prestige of the championship. All New Japan can do is play the hand it was dealt--they've got Shingo as champion and they should push him hard with it until someone better is ready to be coronated. In light of that, I think this match is little more than a formality before Shingo and Kauchika Okada face off to close the show and start the road to Wrestle Kingdom.

Kazuchika Okada vs. Tama Tonga - Okada is defending his "right to challenge" certificate, the contract he earned by winning the G1 Climax, which entitles him to a world title match at Wrestle Kingdom. Normally the bearer of the contract carries it around in a briefcase, similar to WWE's Money in the Bank contract. But Okada has decided to represent the contract with the old IWGP heavyweight title belt, which was retired a few months ago when the heavyweight championship was replaced with the world heavyweight championship. In any event, the winner of this match will take the contract and the belt to Wrestle Kingdom and challenge for the world title on January 4th...or 5th...or 8th. I find this all rather confusing.

Tama is normally a tag team guy, but he's also the only man to score a win over Okada in the G1, spoiling an otherwise perfect run. He needed that rub to look credible in this match, but now it's all about Okada getting his win back. So the best you can hope for is Tama looking great in a losing effort.

The right to challenge contract has been defended many times over the past few decade, but it's only changed hands once, when Jay White cheated to take it from Kota Ibushi last year. I really can't imagine them doing that twice in a row. I suppose Okada could just win it right back later, but I don't think they'll go to that trouble. He should just win here.

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. KENTA - Tana is defending the IWGP United States championship. Since he was beaten by Chase Owens in a huge upset at the G1 Climax, it looked like Owens would get this shot, but his Bullet Club teammate Kenta cut ahead in line. Chase said he wants the winner of this match, but he also wanted this match, so I'm not sure it matters what he wants.

I don't particularly care which of these guys winds up with the title, so all I can really go by is what they have planned for the future. If they're sending the belt back to the US to appear on NJPW Strong, Florida resident Kenta makes more sense as the defending champion. But I suppose Tanahashi could fly in to do the occasional tour. On the other hand, the belt may be staying in Japan, perhaps in anticipation of a marquee match, which suggests Tana would hold it for at least a couple of months. It felt like Tanahashi vs. Jon Moxley was on the horizon a while back, but whatever plans they had are probably up in the air now. This is all a lot of balloon juice to say I have no idea who wins this match.

Robbie Eagles vs. El Desperado - Eagles won the IWGP junior heavyweight title from Desperado back on July 25, so now Despy gets a rematch. On October 26, Eagles and Tiger Mask won the junior tag title from Despy and Yoshinobu Kanemaru, so poor Despy just can't catch a break. The winner of this match will presumably be the champion heading into the Best of the Super Jr. tournament next week, and defend the title against the winner of that tournament in January.

I kinda want to see Eagles keep the belt, but at the same time I don't like giving one junior all the belts for lack of anything better to do. Of course, if Despy wins the singles belt here, they'll probably just run back with Despy & Kanemaru winning the tag belts from Eagles & Tiger Mask. They really need to work on the depth issues in this division. At any rate, I guess I'm picking Eagles.

Toru Yano vs. Great-O-Khan - Yano is defending his possession of the KOPW trophy; whoever holds it at the end of the year will be the KOPW 2021 champion. This match will be contested with "amateur rules", so in theory they have to follow the rules in college or the Olympics or whatever, but I'm pretty sure one of them will sneak in a low blow or a punch to the face for a cheap win. There's no reason to give the trophy to O-Khan unless you're trying to take it more seriously, and why start now? So Yano wins with a Greco-Roman nutshot.

Tomohiro Ishii & YOSHI-HASHI & Hirooki Goto vs. EVIL & SHO & Yujiro Takahashi - This is a rematch from October 21; Evil's team beat Ishii's team, so now Ishii's team is putting the NEVER trios title at stake. It was a good idea to keep the belts on one trio for a year, but it's probably about time for a title change. That doesn't mean it has to happen at this show, with this team. But New Japan is gearing up the "House of Torture" branding for Evil, Sho, Yujiro, and Dick Togo, so a title run would make sense, and I don't see them capturing any other belts anytime soon. Actually, if it keeps Evil's shenanigans in the midard against midcard trios, then fine, give him the trios title.

Hiromu Takahashi & SANADA & BUSHI vs. Ryusuke Taguchi & Master Wato & Yuji Nagata - Hiromu, Bushi, Taguchi, and Wato are presumably gearing up for the Best of the Super Jr. tournament. I'm not sure whether Sanada and Nagata have tag team partners for the World Tag League tournament, but maybe we'll find out during this show. I could see either Bushi or Wato losing here, so it's a real pick-em.

Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma & Tiger Mask vs. Tanga Loa & Jado & Gedo - Makabe and Honma won the 2016 World Tag League, but then Honma's neck injury prevented them from entering together until 2019, and then they sat out 2020 as well. Hopefully they're back in this year. I'm sure Tanga Loa will be teaming with Tama Tonga. Tiger Mask should certainly be in BOSJ. I'm less sure about Jado and Gedo--are they even within the weight limit for BOSJ anymore? If not, I guess they could take a slot in World Tag League! Hell, maybe they could do double duty! New Japan in 2021 is weird enough to try anything.

I suppose this could go either way, but I think Jado and Gedo are two weak links in one team, which is bad news for Tanga Loa.

DOUKI & Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. Kosei Fujita & Ryohei Oiwa - I'd actually kind of forgotten Douki exists, but I guess he would come in for the Best of the Super Jr. Kanemaru should also be in. Sometimes a Young Lion is thrown into the mix, but it'll depend on the size of the field and whether they can get enough bodies. I don't actually know if Fujita or Oiwa are under the 100-kilogram weight limit, but they both look like they are. One thing's for sure, Fujita and Oiwa ain't winning this match. They'll be lucky if Douki doesn't beat them with his pipe.