An F4WOnline Editor since 2019, Ethan has been covering wrestling and MMA since 2011. He has hosted The Wrestling Life Podcast since 2014, and is a former Baltimore Sun TV/Tribune Media contributor. He is also a Baltimore Ravens and Baltimore Orioles fan.
Renee Paquette is joining SiriusXM for a weekly combat sports and pro wrestling show with UFC fighter Miesha Tate, beginning Monday.
Paquette made the announcement on Twitter on Thursday. The weekly show will air from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. Eastern time beginning on Monday, September 13.
In addition to the weekly show with Tate, Paquette announced that she will also be joining SiriusXM’s Busted Open show as a special contributor “from time to time” for a segment called “Keeping it Real with Renee.”
Busted Open is hosted by Dave LaGreca, Bully Ray, Mark Henry, Tommy Dreamer and Ryan McKinnell.
Paquette said on Twitter that she will continue to do her Oral Sessions podcast with The Volume Sports in addition to her new roles with SiriusXM.
Paquette said on Twitter that she will continue to do her Oral Sessions podcast with The Volume Sports in addition to her new roles with SiriusXM.
Paquette left WWE where she worked as on-air personality Renee Young in August 2020 after seven-plus years with the company. Paquette was under an employee contract rather than an independent contractor deal and was subject to a lengthy non-compete. Paquette stated in an interview last month that the non-compete with WWE was nearly up.
Her cookbook, Messy In The Kitchen: My Guide to Eating Deliciously, Hosting Fabulously and Sipping Copiously, was published in May 2021. Paquette and husband Jon Moxley welcomed their first child, Nora, in June 2021.
AEW has announced two new matches and a Darby Allin interview for this Friday’s Rampage.
Following a Ruby Soho vs. Jamie Hayter match on this week’s Dynamite, Britt Baker, Hayter and Rebel against Soho, Riho and Kris Statlander was announced for Friday’s show. Soho defeated Hayter on Dynamite, then was attacked by Baker and Rebel. Riho and Statlander then ran in for the save to set up the trios match.
Brian Pillman Jr. vs. Max Caster is also set for Rampage. Pillman and tag partner Griff Garrison had an in-ring confrontation with The Pinnacle on Dynamite, leaving Garrison laying. As Garrison and Pillman were in the trainer’s room later, Caster approached and announced the match for Friday.
Also announced for Friday, Darby Allin and Sting will speak. Allin will face Shawn Spears on next week’s Dynamite. Spears’ manager Tully Blanchard also teased a future match with Sting in issuing the challenge for Spears vs. Allin.
Originally set for All Out, Friday’s show will also have PAC taking on Andrade El Idolo.
Here is Friday’s full lineup:
AEW Rampage, Friday, 10 p.m. Eastern time —
PAC vs. Andrade El Idolo
Darby Allin & Sting interview
Britt Baker, Jamie Hayter & Rebel vs. Ruby Soho, Riho & Kris Statlander
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Robbie Eagles has been added to the September 25 and September 26 NJPW Strong Autumn Attack shows in the Dallas/Fort Worth area.
Eagles is coming off his first successful defense of the IWGP Jr. title at Sunday’s Wrestle Grand Slam in MetLife Dome. Eagles retained by defeating Hiromu Takahashi by submission. Eagles won the title at Wrestle Grand Slam in Tokyo Dome on July 25, defeating El Desperado.
No matches have been officially made for Eagles at Autumn Attack. Tickets for the dates in Garland, Texas are on sale now.
Here are the announced lineups:
NJPW Autumn Attack night one, Saturday, September 25 —
Minoru Suzuki vs. Fred Rosser
Will Ospreay vs. Karl Fredericks
Robbie Eagles vs. TBA
NJPW Autumn Attack night two, Sunday, September 26 —
Lio Rush vs. Taiji Ishimori
Minoru Suzuki & Lance Archer vs. Tom Lawlor & Royce Isaacs
Ruby Soho’s first AEW Dynamite opponent has been announced.
Soho will take on Jamie Hayter on this week’s show. Soho made her AEW debut as the surprise entrant in the women’s Casino Battle Royale at Sunday’s All Out pay-per-view. Soho won the match to earn a future Women’s World Championship match against Dr. Britt Baker, D.M.D., though no official date for the title match has been announced.
This will be Soho’s first singles match since a May 7 loss to Carmella on WWE SmackDown.
Hayter returned to AEW and aligned with Baker after the main event of Rampage on August 13. Hayter’s victory over Red Velvet on the August 25 edition of Dynamite was her first match for AEW since November 2019. She worked primarily for STARDOM, OTT and RevPro throughout 2020 and the first half of 2021.
Here is the announced lineup for Wednesday’s Dynamite:
The final Friday night episode of NJPW Strong will feature talent from the LA Dojo. Strong moves to Saturdays at 8 p.m. Eastern time beginning on September 18.
In this week’s main event, Dojo graduate Karl Fredericks and Ren Narita will square off.
In the second match, LA Dojo graduate Clark Connors will take on current student Alex Coughlin.
In the opener, current Dojo trainees Kevin Knight will do battle with The DKC. Knight and DKC teamed against Yuji Nagata and Yuya Uemura on the most recent Strong tapings. That match will air during the Fighting Spirit Unleashed editions of the show.
Strong will air at 10 p.m. Eastern time this Friday on NJPW World. The show will also be available on demand immediately following airing.
Here is Friday’s full lineup:
NJPW Strong LA Dojo Showcase 2, Friday, September 10, 10 p.m. Eastern time on NJPW World–
The Elite held a seance to try to bring back Adam Cole from the dead. Instead, they summoned Sour Boy.
After The Elite left the room, Cole appeared. He thought he was at PWG and was calling out for Super Dragon. He looked at his phone and realized that four years had passed. He sad that he still tastes Monster in his mouth.
The Elite —
The gang went shopping at a discount store for their Dynamite gear before last week’s episode.
We got our second Sour Boy bit in the first ten minutes of the show.
Cutler Cam footage was shown from Dynamite.
Matt Jackson gave an update on his stolen Nike Dior shoes. He still hasn’t gotten the shoes back.
Ric Flair made a cameo in the episode. The Elite went to a steakhouse. Kenny Omega was going to pick up the tab, but the bill said that Flair had already covered it. Flair was briefly shown from a distance.
Footage from Friday’s fan fest was shown.
Footage of The Bucks vs. Lucha Brothers from All Out aired.
The episode closed with scenes of Adam Cole and Bryan Danielson in the go position before their entrances at All Out, then Cole and Britt Baker embracing, then Cole and The Elite happy to be back together.
Miscellaneous bits —
Peter Avalon and Leva Bates did a Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake-based series of jokes.
Ryan Nemeth is still addicted to The Cream. He took a shot of The Cream in a movie theater.
Bryan Danielson said that no one thing led to his choice to join AEW, but ultimately a desire to physically push his limits was a driving force.
“I hate to say this, but… Vince [McMahon] and I have a great relationship. And I love him, I do. Sometimes he’s overprotective of me. And I want to be able to push my limits,” Danielson said at the post-All Out media scrum. Danielson debuted for AEW in the show-closing segment of All Out.
“That’s one of the things that I love about this, is the physicality of what we do and being able to push my limits.”
Danielson stated that a desire to have a portion of his life be “wild” also contributed to his decision.
“I don’t know how many of you are married or have kids. When you’re married and you have kids, your life becomes a little bit tame. I love it, but it’s a little bit tame,” Danielson said.
“I need one part of my life that’s a little bit wild.”
Danielson also revealed that WWE was going to allow him to do things outside of the company, but did not specifically state if that would have entailed wrestling elsewhere. Perhaps to that end, Danielson expressed a desire to do some work in NJPW and also in Mexico.
“WWE was so gracious to me as far as the offer that they gave me. They were going to let me go do some other stuff outside,” said Danielson. “I really battled back and forth, because there’s a lot of people there that I consider family, that actually are my family, and people that I love there. So, it was a really tough decision.”
Danielson said that there was no one tipping point that led to his decision to leave WWE, but pointed to AEW’s Brodie Lee tribute show as one of the first things that got him thinking of making a move to AEW.
In response to a question about the possibility of his wife Brie Bella joining AEW, Danielson downplayed the possibility.
“That would be very difficult. It was hard for me to go, because I have so many ties within WWE. She’s happy there, she has so many business connections there, so I don’t know,” said Danielson.
Bryan also addressed the possibility of not leading his signature “Yes!” chants, as he wants to make certain that doing so would not in any way be a snub to WWE.
I respect the people that I have worked for before and their intellectual property,” Danielson said. “The fans doing it is great, but I’m not sure if I’m going to do it. ”
That’s how Adam Cole described his choice to join AEW as he spoke to the media at the post-All Out scrum. Cole debuted in the closing segment of the All Out pay-per-view.
Cole said that working in WWE had been his dream since he was a child, but that the passion of the AEW crew and fans helped make his choice to leave and join AEW.
“When you think about where I was, that was my dream since I was nine years old,” said Cole. “…But I knew in my heart pretty early on that I wanted to come here [to AEW].”
“It was no knock whatsoever on them [WWE]. I had a very excellent four-year experience. But I wanted to come back and work with a crew who I love being around 24/7, a crew that is just as passionate about pro wrestling as I am, and fans that feel the exact same way that we do.”
According to Cole, he was not anticipating to be a free agent until December.
But circumstances were different than both Cole and his former wrestling home anticipated, as Cole’s contract actually came due in June. Cole revealed the details of his WWE deal and how his new agreement with AEW came together very quickly.
“I was under the impression that it was six months later,” said Cole. It was a surprise to me, it was a surprise to them [WWE]. All of a sudden I went from thinking December was when I was going to start talking about a new contract, to all of a sudden we were talking about in three days.”
Cole confirmed reports that he signed a short-term extension of his WWE deal to finish up his NXT angle with Kyle O’Reilly, who he called “one of my best friends in the entire world.”
Cole also confirmed that he met with Vince McMahon prior to leaving WWE. He described McMahon as “intimidating,” but said that their meeting was positive.
“The talk went great,” said Cole. “We had a really, really good conversation about a lot of different things. The actual conversation itself was awesome. I had no bad experience with him whatsoever.”
“He is an intimidating man. He definitely commands respect in a lot of ways, but the experience itself was totally fine.”
Cole also addressed the future of his Twitch channel. In response to a question about knowing he won’t have to give up his channel as he presumably would have had he stayed with WWE, Cole confirmed that it was important to him.
“It’s incredibly important to me,” said Cole. “Twitch was sort of something I started over the pandemic and wanted to do for a long time, but hadn’t really taken the time to teach myself.”
“Initially, I really did do it just because I really like video games…” “But then what started from the Twitch stream was this community of people that would all come together and literally share that passion over video games,” Cole said.
“I have gotten so many messages from people who are going through a really, really rough time, and the only thing they looked forward to at that time were those streams. I feel a connection with a lot of these people. I know a lot of them by name. Social media can be a really nasty place sometimes, and there is not of that in the Twitch streams.”
“So I adore doing that, I’m so happy that I’m still doing it. I don’t plan on stopping anytime soon.”
CM Punk believes that this moment in wrestling history is bigger than the WCW vs. WWF Monday Night War of the 1990s.
“I’m not Hogan, I’m not Savage, Daniel Bryan and Adam Cole, they’re not The Outsiders. I see the parallels. This is totally different. And I’ll go ahead and say it, people can quote me, they’ll be pissed off about it, to me, this is bigger,” said Punk.
Punk made the statement during the post-All Out media scrum at Now Arena.
He was quick to point out, though, that his focus is not on any outside force as competition to AEW, and that his and the company’s primary objectives are engaging and pleasing their own fans.
“I’m not personally in the business of a war or competing. I know who competition is and competition isn’t,” said Punk.
“To me, we focus on ourselves, focus on the talent we have, and we focus on the people in the building. And I think that’s how we grow,” Punk said. “It’s not about throwing stones.”
Punk did allude to WWE, though never mentioned the company by name.
“I know TNT loves ratings, I know that everybody’s going to look at stuff and compare the two. For a company that’s only been around for two years, I think they’re doing great. And if you’re competing with somebody on another night that’s got a 30-year head start, well that’s fine,” said Punk.
“To me, our competition is our audience. And as long as we keep them engaged and keep them happy, then that’s what we’re doing.”
AEW Full Gear is moving dates as the company’s final pay-per-view of the year will now be held on Saturday, November 13th instead of Saturday, November 6th.
The news was announced during All Out.
However, the location is unknown as there’s an event already booked on the 13th in the Chaifetz Arena in St. Louis, Missouri.
AEW is currently still scheduled for a Rampage event on Friday, November 5th in the same building, but no announcement was made as to a date change for that event.
Since the original Full Gear date was announced, two major combat sports events were scheduled for November 6th: UFC 268 from Madison Square Garden and a Canelo Alvarez vs. Caleb Plant boxing PPV.
Full Gear 2021 will be the third in the event’s chronology. The 2019 edition was held in Baltimore and headlined by a Kenny Omega vs. Jon Moxley lights out match and Chris Jericho defending the AEW World title against Cody Rhodes in the semi-main event.
Full Gear 2020 was held in Jacksonville at Daily’s Place. Moxley defending the AEW title against Eddie Kingston in an I Quit match headlined while Jericho faced MJF in the semi-main event.
The Butcher made his return from injury at tonight’s AEW All Out PPV in Chicago.
The Butcher aligned with tag team partner The Blade and the rest of the Hardy Family Office as they participated in a post-match attack on Orange Cassidy on The Buy-In pre-show following the Cassidy, Jurassic Express, Chuck Taylor and Wheeler Yuta vs. Matt Hardy, Private Party and TH2 ten-man tag.
Butcher has been out of action since April with a reported thumb injury. His last match was a TNT title shot against then-champ Darby Allin at The House Always Wins event. Butcher wrestled twice that night, winning a battle royal to earn the title shot earlier in the show.
Real name Andy Williams, The Butcher is also a guitarist for Every Time I Die. The band has a new album coming out in October. The group also has a few tour dates scheduled for the rest of 2021, with a full-scale worldwide tour beginning in January 2022.
New IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions were crowned today at NJPW Wrestle Grand Slam.
El Desperado and Yoshinobu Kanemaru defeated Taiji Ishimori and El Phantasmo in 20:28 to win back the titles. This marks the fourth IWGP Jr. Tag title reign for the Suzuki-gun tandem.
Ishimori and ELP’s third reign ends after another defeat at the hands of Desperado and Kanemaru. Desperado and Kanemaru defeated Ishimori and ELP to win the 2021 Super Junior Tag League on August 17 in Korakuen Hall.
The two teams have traded the titles for the better part of a year. Desperado and Kanemaru won the vacant titles last September, then lost them to Ishimori and ELP in January. Desperado and Kanemaru got the belts back in February, then dropped them to SHO and YOH in April. SHO and YOH then lost the titles back to Ishimori and ELP in June.
While the reign is the fourth for Kanemaru and Desperado as a unit, this marks the sixth total reign for Kanemaru, as he has also held the Junior Tag titles with Taichi and Tsuyoshi Kikuchi.
Shingo Takagi defends the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship against EVIL in the main event of night two of Wrestle Grand Slam in MetLife Dome.
The match will mark Shingo’s return to the ring after being out of action after a positive COVID-19 test announced on August 17.
In the semi-main, Robbie Eagles will try for his first defense of the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship. He faces Hiromu Takahashi, who has just returned to NJPW after missing six months with a torn pectoral.
The IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championship will be on the line as Taichi and Zack Sabre Jr. defend against Tetsuya Naito and SANADA, plus Hirooki Goto and YOSHI-HASHI in a three-way.
The first of four title matches on the evening, Taiji Ishimori and El Phantasmo will defend the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship against Super Junior Tag League 2021 winners El Desperado and Yoshinobu Kanemaru.
In the main card opener, Kazuchika Okada and Tomohiro Ishii will face Jeff Cobb and Great-O-Khan. Cobb defeated Okada on yesterday’s Wrestle Grand Slam show.
On the pre-show, winners of yesterday’s STARDOM showcase match Momo Watanabe and Saya Kamitani will take on Giulia in Syuri in today’s showcase.
Our live coverage begins with the pre-show at 1:30 a.m. Eastern time.
This was a more complex match than last night’s STARDOM showcase. I think last night’s was just slightly better, but this had more star power and was very good as well.
Giulia and Momo began with a brief bit of chain wrestling, then quickly tagged out. Same pattern as the match last night. Syuri and Kamitani tagged in. Kamitani was quickly cut off.
Syuri and Giulia used quick tags and went to work on Kamitani. Momo jumped in for an illegal double team save. Kamitani connected with a one-legged dropkick to Giulia. Momo then got a tag and continued working on Giulia.
Giulia made her own comeback and hit a missile dropkick. Syuri tagged in for a shotgun dropkick and a near fall on Momo. Momo hit a uranage for a two count, then tagged Kamitani.
Kamitani and Syuri traded strikes. Kamitani hit a pump kick for a two count. Syuri and Giulia doubled up on Kamitani. Syuri used a shining wizard for a two count. Kamitani hit a frankensteiner and a springboard crossody from the top rope to the floor.
Kamitani hit a northern lights suplex for a two count, then hit Star Crusher. She went to the top for a phoenix splash, but Giulia cut her off from the apron.
Syuri used an arm capture superplex for a near fall, then used a kimura to set up a stretch muffler. Momo saved, but Giulia hit her with a northern lights bomb to clear the deck for Syuri and Kamitani.
Syuri hit a series of kicks. Kamitani hit a poison rana. Syuri hit a high kick for a two count. Giulia and Syuri hit a tandem slam.
Syuri then used a Byakko stretch muffler to submit Kamitani.
This was a solid opener with some impressive work from Cobb and some cool dropkicks from Okada.
This quickly broke down into a brawl around ringside. Cobb hit Okada with a release belly-to-belly on the floor. Cobb and O-Khan worked Okada over in the ring. Okada came back with an air raid crash neckbreaker to Cobb and tagged out.
Cobb and Ishii traded power moves. Ishii hit a vertical suplex. Cobb then hit Ishii with a release belly-to-belly. Ishii was cut off and isolated in United Empire’s half of the ring. Okada entered to even the odds and hit a flapjack to Cobb.
Ishii and O-Khan traded strikes in the ring as Cobb and Okada rolled to the floor. Cobb and O-Khan used tandem offense on Ishii, but Okada broke up a pin attempt. Cobb plucked Okada out of the air as he jumped for a dropkick. Okada escaped a Tour of the Islands and hit dropkicks to both Cobb and O-Khan.
Ishii escaped an Eliminator from O-Khan, but O-Khan got it on his second attempt and pinned Ishii as Cobb held Okada on the floor.
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship: El Desperado & Yoshinobu Kanemaru defeated Taiji Ishimori & El Phantasmo to win the titles (20:28)
This division really needs some new blood. These guys have traded the titles and almost exclusively wrestled each other for a year now. This was good but they have had a few better matches this year.
Bullet Club overcame a Suzuki-gun jumpstart before the bell. ELP used a springboard crossbody and a quebrada on Kanemaru. Kanemaru came back with kicks to ELP’s left leg. ELP took a bump on his head off a dropkick to the knee.
Kanemaru and Desperado went to work on ELP’s left leg. Desperado used an Indian deathlock. ELP and Ishimori came back on Desperado and used their comedy back rake offense and crotch stomps in the corner with Desperado in the tree of woe. Kanemaru tried to save and ended up getting crotch stomped as well.
Desperado hit a spinebuster to ELP, but Ishimori pulled Kanemaru off the apron to prevent a tag. Ishimori hit a sliding German to Desperado for a near fall. Desperado managed a tag. Kanemaru cradled Ishimori for a two count. ELP hit a senton to Kanemaru out of an Ishimori codebreaker.
Kanemaru caught ELP in a figure four. ELP forced a rope break. Kanemaru and Desperado continued to attack ELP’s left leg. Desperado used Numero Dos on ELP while Kanemaru used a camel clutch on Ishimori. ELP forced another rope break.
ELP rolled up Desperado while holding the tights for a near fall. ELP and Desperado traded strikes. ELP loaded his boot and hit Desperado with two kicks. ELP hit Desperado with his own Pinche Loco for a two count.
Ishimori hit the Cipher Utaki to Desperado. ELP followed with Thunder Kiss 86 for a near fall with Kanemaru saving. Ishimori hit a moonsault to the floor to take out Kanemaru. ELP took off his loaded boot. Desperado ducked the boot. Ishimori bumped the referee.
Kanemaru hit Ishimori with a whiskey bottle. Desperado hit ELP with the loaded boot. Desperado then hit Pinche Loco and pinned ELP.
IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championship: Taichi & Zack Sabre Jr. (w/Miho Abe) defeated Tetsuya Naito & SANADA & Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI to retain the titles (26:43)
This was a lot of fun.
The rules for the match were that only two guys could be legal at a time. This proved to be more of a suggestion than a rule as this was pure chaos. It was nearly impossible to tell who was legal at any given time. Just move, move, move, move, move.
SANADA used a paradise lock. Sabre used a Euro clutch for a near fall. Naito used a jackknife cradle for a near fall. YH hit a powerbomb for a near fall. Taichi hit an axe bomber. SANADA used an O’Connor roll for a near fall.
It appeared to come down to SANADA and YH. Goto hit a plancha to both Sabre and Taichi to take them out. YH hit a meteora to SANADA for a near fall. SANADA avoided Kharma. YH avoided Skull End and hit a lariat.
SANADA blocked a butterfly lock attempt from YH. Naito saved. SANADA hit a TKO to YH for a near fall with Goto saving. SANADA hit a back suplex to YH for a near fall. Sabre and Taichi got back in. Naito hit a swing DDT and took out both Sabre and Taichi.
YH broke out of Skull End and cradled SANADA for two. YH broke the hold again and used another cradle for two. SANADA used Skull End with a body scissors. He gave up the hold to try a moonsault, but Taichi blind-tagged himself in.
Sabre caught Naito in an octopus as he tried to save YH. Taichi then hit Black Mephisto and pinned YH.
**********
G1 Climax 31 announcement —
Block finals will be on October 20, with A Block and B Block winners facing off on October 21. Here is the field of 20:
A Block
Kota Ibushi
Tetsuya Naito
Shingo Takagi
Zack Sabre Jr.
Toru Yano
Tomohiro Ishii
Yujiro Takahashi
Tanga Loa
KENTA
Great-O-Khan
B Block
SANADA
Taichi
YOSHI-HASHI
Hirooki Goto
Jeff Cobb
EVIL
Tama Tonga
Chase Owens
Kazuchika Okada
Hiroshi Tanahashi
**********
*****Intermission*****
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship: Robbie Eagles defeated Hiromu Takahashi to retain the title (24:07)
This was excellent. The leg work from last night’s tag match came into play, so you were rewarded for paying attention. This is easily the biggest win of Robbie’s career and Hiromu is such a star that he wasn’t hurt by the loss.
It should not come as a shock to you that they began with a lightning-quick series of counters and reversals. Eagles hit a stomp to Hiromu’s left leg to soften it up for the Ron Miller Special. Eagles hit a flip dive to the floor and they crashed into the barricade.
Eagles brought the action back inside the ring at the five minute mark. He stomped at both of Hiromu’s legs. Hiromu got a brief flurry of offense, but Eagles went back after the legs. He hit a 619 to the legs and a springboard dropkick to the left leg.
Eagles used the Ron Miller Special. Hiromu crawled to the ropes to force a break. Hiromu blocked turbo backpack and hit a DVD into the buckle. Hiromu followed up with a sunset bomb.
Eagles beat the count back in after the sunset bomb at 19. Hiromu hit a lariat for a near fall just past 15 minutes. Eagles blocked a pop-up powerbomb, but Hiromu hit two thrust kicks and victory royale for a two count.
Eagles grabbed two quick cradles for near falls. Hiromu hit Dynamite Plunger for a near fall. Hiromu was bleeding from the mouth. Hiromu hit a lariat, then an inverted DDT. They fought to the top rope. Eagles escaped the corner and hit a dropkick to Hiromu’s left leg as he was prone on the top rope.
Eagles hit turbo backpack off the top rope, but only got a two count. Eagles hit two thrust kicks and a 450 splash to the legs. Eagles used the Ron Miller Special again. This time it was enough, as Hiromu tapped out.
**********
Desperado came to the ring after the match He said he wants a rematch, but not just a rematch, a rematch with the Junior Tag titles on the line as well.
I’m not sure if this is a pair of matches with Desperado and Kanemaru against Eagles and Tiger Mask, or if they’re talking about a singles match.
Hopefully we’ll get some clarity when the match is officially announced.
**********
IWGP World Heavyweight Championship: Shingo Takagi defeated EVIL (w/Yujiro Takahashi, SHO & Dick Togo) to retain the title (30:20)
The Bullet Club interference and ref bumps are beyond parody at this point. This was a mess of interference, ref bumps, run-ins, ejections, returns after ejections, weapon shots, ring announcer bumps and everything else.
SHO jumped on the apron with a chair right off the bat. Shingo was distracted, allowing EVIL to attack. Shingo grabbed a side headlock, but EVIL powered him down. They traded chops. Shingo hit a shoulder tackle.
Shingo hit a suplex for a near fall. EVIL rolled outside. Shingo whipped him into the barricade. Togo provided a distraction. EVIL bumped Shingo into the barricade and the ring announcer. They did the spot again and the ring announcer went flying.
EVIL hit a baseball swing chair shot. Yujiro exposed a buckle. EVIL whipped Shingo into the exposed steel. EVIL threw Shingo outside. EVIL took the ref as Togo, Yujiro and SHO tripled up on Shingo on the floor. Red Shoes refused to count the pin as Shingo was thrown back inside.
EVIL used an abdominal stretch. Togo interfered to provide more leverage. SHO and Yujiro got involved as well. Red Shoes kicked at EVIL’s arm to break up the human centipede.
EVIL hit a vertical suplex for two. Shingo made a comeback with a series of chops and a DDT. Yujiro, SHO and Togo interfered again on the floor. They took the referee. Shingo set EVIL and Togo up at the ring announcer’s table, then bumped SHO and Yujiro into them.
Red Shoes finally ejected Togo, Yujiro and SHO.
Shingo hit noshigami, a wheelbarrow suplex and a sliding lariat. EVIL used Red Shoes for a Magic Killer. EVIL hit a top rope superplex. EVIL used a scorpion deathlock, but Shingo forced a rope break.
EVIL hit Darkness Falls for a two count. Shingo blocked two Everything is EVIL attempts and got shot into the exposed buckle. Shingo flew out of the corner for a lariat into a double down.
Togo made his way back to the ring. Shingo hit Made in Japan, but Togo pulled Red Shoes out of the ring before the three count. Togo choked Shingo with his ligature. Shingo broke free, but Yujiro ran back in and hit Shingo with Pimp Juice. EVIL made a cover, but Shingo kicked out and threw EVIL into Red Shoes for yet another ref bump.
Togo choked Shingo again. BUSHI ran in for the save. SHO hit a German to BUSHI. SHO hit a chair shot to Shingo’s head. SHO went for Shock Arrow, but Naito and SANADA ran in for the save.
Togo apparently bladed somewhere here, as he popped up with a bloody face and hit a belt shot to Naito. EVIL hit Shingo with a low blow. Shingo and EVI fought over the belt. The referee came to just as Shingo was about to use the belt.
Shingo blocked a low blow and hit a lariat to EVIL. Shingo hit a Pumping Bomber at 30 minutes, then connected with Last of the Dragon and got the pin.
**********
Hiromu limped to the ring after the match. Shingo cut a promo and talked about having COVID and his tough last few weeks. He put over Hiromu and put over his LIJ teammates.
A new champion was crowned at today’s NJPW Wrestle Grand Slam in MetLife Dome night one event.
Toru Yano regained the provisional KOPW 2021 title, defeating Chase Owens in 28:03 in a No-DQ I Quit match. This is the second time that Yano has claimed the provisional KOPW 2021.
Owens won a New Japan Ranbo at Wrestle Grand Slam in Tokyo Dome on July 25 to take the title away from Yano. Yano was the first to hold the provisional title in 2021, winning it on January 5 at Wrestle Kingdom 15 in a four-way that also involved Owens, BUSHI and Bad Luck Fale.
Yano was the first and only holder of the KOPW title in 2020. He won the original provisional title at Summer Struggle in a tournament final four-way over Kazuchika Okada, SANADA and El Desperado. He cemented himself as the official KOPW 2020 by defeating Fale in a bodyslam or no corner pads match.
Today’s match was the second Yano vs. Owens KOPW match on a major NJPW show this year. The two also met at Castle Attack in a Yano-style Texas strap match on February 27.
