New Japan Pro Wrestling announced Sunday that Stardom matches set for both nights of September’s Wrestle Grand Slam will air live on New Japan World, complete with English commentary, for the first time.
The news comes two weeks after the initial announcement that Stardom would have a place on the two events. The participants have yet to be announced.
This isn’t the first time NJPW has showcased its sister company on its events, holding dark matches prior to Wrestle Kingdom in past years. However, broadcast restrictions with Japanese television partner Samurai TV prevented those matches from airing on New Japan World.
The following matches are set for the MetLife Dome in Saitama, Japan, on September 4th and 5th:
Night One
IWGP U.S. Champion Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kota Ibushi
King of Pro Wrestling Champion Chase Owens vs. Toru Yano in a no DQ, I Quit match
Kazuchika Okada vs. Jeff Cobb
Night Two
IWGP World Champion Shingo Takagi vs. EVIL
IWGP Tag Team Champions Zack Sabre Jr. and Taichi vs. Tetsuya Naito and SANADA vs. YOSHI-HASHI and Hirooki Goto
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Robbie Eagles vs. Hiromu Takahashi
Big news!
Wrestle Grand Slam at MetLife Dome will see STARDOM showcase matches on both nights, on @njpwworld for the very first time!
NJPW’s Summer Struggle tour wrapped up today with a Korakuen Hall finale.
Hirmou Takahashi returned after being sidelined with a torn pectoral. He took on Suzuki-gun’s DOUKI in the main event.
Hiromu’s Wrestle Grand Slam opponent, IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Robbie Eagles, faced Master Wato in the semi-main.
Kazuchika Okada and Jeff Cobb’s tag team series continued. Okada and Togi Makabe faced Cobb and Great-O-Khan. Okada and Cobb will face off at Wrestle Grand Slam on September 4.
A preview of the IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championship match at Wrestle Grand Slam was featured in the second match of the night. Hirooki Goto, YOSHI-HASHI and Ryusuke Taguchi took on Minoru Suzuki and IWGP Tag champs Zack Sabre Jr. and Taichi.
The opener featured new Young Lions Ryohei Oiwa and Kosei Fujita meeting for the fourth time in as many nights.
Below are results from today’s show.
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Ryohei Oiwa drew with Kosei Fujita (10:00)
The Young Lions went to their fourth consecutive time limit draw.
Eagles won by submission with the Ron Miller Special.
Hiromu Takahashi defeated DOUKI (29:43)
Hiromu won with Time Bomb.
These guys tore the house down. DOUKI works harder than anyone on every show he’s on and Hiromu was great in his comeback match.
Eagles and Hiromu had a brief staredown after the match. Hiromu cut a promo on the IWGP Junior title. Eagles left, then Hiromu addressed the crowd for a long time as the show closed. His promo might still be going on.
**********
Here are the announced lineups for Wrestle Grand Slam:
NJPW Wrestle Grand Slam in MetLife Dome night one, Saturday, September 4, 4 a.m. Eastern time on NJPW World —
IWGP United States Championship: Hiroshi Tanahashi (c) vs. Kota Ibushi
Kazuchika Okada vs. Jeff Cobb
Provisional KOPW 2021 No DQ, I Quit match: Chase Owens (c) vs. Toru Yano
NJPW Wrestle Grand Slam in MetLife Dome night two, Sunday, September 5, 2 a.m. Eastern time on NJPW World —
IWGP World Heavyweight Championship: Shingo Takagi (c) vs. EVIL
IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championship: Taichi & Zack Sabre Jr. (c) vs. Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI vs. Tetsuya Naito & SANADA
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship: Robbie Eagles (c) vs. Hiromu Takahashi
NJPW’s Summer Struggle tour continued today with the third of four straight nights in Korakuen Hall.
Jeff Cobb and Great-O-Khan took on Kazuchika Okada and Satoshi Kojima in the main event. Cobb and Okada will square off at Wrestle Grand Slam on September 4.
Bullet Club took on Suzuki-gun in the semi-main event, a preview of an upcoming IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship battle.
The opener featured new Young Lions Ryohei Oiwa and Kosei Fujita meeting for the third time in as many nights.
Below are results from today’s show.
**********
Ryohei Oiwa drew with Kosei Fujita (10:00)
The Young Lions went to their third consecutive time limit draw.
NJPW has made the first four match announcements for the September 25 and September 26 Autumn Attack shows in the Dallas/Fort Worth area.
On night one, Minoru Suzuki will face Fred Rosser. Rosser is an NJPW Strong regular, while Suzuki will be embarking on a rare tour of the United States this fall.
Also added to night one, Will Ospreay will take on Karl Fredericks. Ospreay returned to NJPW at Resurgence on August 14 and declared himself the true IWGP World Heavyweight Champion.
On night two, Lio Rush will face IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champion Taiji Ishimori in a singles match. Rush is next in line to challenge Tom Lawlor for the NJPW Strong Openweight Championship.
Suzuki and Lance Archer vs. Lawlor and Royce Isaacs has also been added to night two. Isaacs recently joined Lawlor’s Team Filthy on NJPW Strong, while Archer faced Hiroshi Tanahashi in the main event of Resurgence.
Tickets for NJPW Autumn Attack in Garland, Texas are on sale now.
Here are the lineups:
NJPW Autumn Attack night one, Saturday, September 25 —
Minoru Suzuki vs. Fred Rosser
Will Ospreay vs. Karl Fredericks
NJPW Autumn Attack night two, Sunday, September 26 —
Lio Rush vs. Taiji Ishimori
Minoru Suzuki & Lance Archer vs. Tom Lawlor & Royce Isaacs
NJPW’s Summer Struggle tour continued today with the second of four straight nights in Korakuen Hall.
Members of CHAOS took on a Suzuki-gun squad in an elimination match main event, while Jeff Cobb and Great-O-Khan faced Kazuchika Okada and Tomoaki Honma in the semi-main.
KOPW 2021 Chase Owens and his next challenger Toru Yano were in action on the undercard, as were IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Taiji Ishimori and El Phantasmo.
The opener featured new Young Lions Ryohei Oiwa and Kosei Fujita meeting for the second consecutive night. They drew in Tuesday’s opener.
NJPW has added three big names to their Showdown events in Philadelphia’s 2300 Arena on Saturday, October 16 and Sunday, October 17.
Will Ospreay, Minoru Suzuki and Lance Archer have been announced for the show.
Ospreay made his return to NJPW at Resurgence in Los Angeles on August 14 after being sidelined for three months with a neck injury. In his return promo, Ospreay declared himself the rightful IWGP World Heavyweight Champion, promising to defend his version of the title on NJPW Strong.
For Suzuki, Showdown will mark his first appearances at the former ECW Arena.
Archer is a two-time former IWGP United States Champion and headlined Resurgence against Hiroshi Tanahashi.
Tickets are on sale now for NJPW Showdown.
Here is the full list of talent advertised for Philadelphia:
NJPW’s Summer Struggle tour continued today with the first of four straight nights in Korakuen Hall.
Hirooki Goto, YOSHI-HASHI and Robbie Eagles of CHAOS took on Suzuki-gun’s Taichi, Zack Sabre Jr. and DOUKI in the six-man tag main event.
Kazuchika Okada and Jeff Cobb were on opposite sides of a tag match in the semi-main event. Okada and Cobb will battle on night one of Wrestle Grand Slam in MetLife Dome on September 4.
Provisional KOPW 2021 Chase Owens teamed with Jado against Toru Yano and Ryusuke Taguchi. Owens will defend the KOPW title against Yano at Wrestle Grand Slam.
The opener featured the debut of new Young Lions Ryohei Oiwa and Kosei Fujita.
NJPW has revealed the lineup for night two of Summer Struggle USA on this Friday’s NJPW Strong.
In an eight-man tag main event, Juice Robinson, Lio Rush, Brody King and Chris Dickinson will face Team Filthy’s Tom Lawlor, JR Kratos, Jorel Nelson and Royce Isaacs. Rush is the next contender for Lawlor’s Strong Openweight Championship.
In singles action, Karl Fredericks will take on NJPW newcomer Alexander James. James defeated Kevin Knight in his debut on the August 6 Strong.
Also set for Friday, Wheeler Yuta, Adrian Quest and The DKC will face Bateman, Misterioso and Barrett Brown in a trios match.
Strong airs Fridays at 10 p.m. Eastern time on NJPW World and is available on demand after airing.
Here is Friday’s full lineup:
NJPW Strong Summer Struggle USA, Friday, August 27 —
Juice Robinson, Lio Rush, Brody King & Chris Dickinson vs. Tom Lawlor, JR Kratos, Jorel Nelson & Royce Isaacs
Karl Fredericks vs. Alexander James
Wheeler Yuta, Adrian Quest & The DKC vs. Bateman, Misterioso & Barrett Brown
NJPW has announced the cards for the final four Summer Struggle events of 2021.
Hiromu Takahashi’s return match after being sidelined with a torn pectoral muscle headlines the final leg of the tour. He will take on DOUKI in the main event of the Friday, August 27 show.
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Robbie Eagles will take on Master Wato in a tuneup match on the same show. Eagles will defend his title against Hiromu on the second night of Wrestle Grand Slam in MetLife Dome on Sunday, September 5.
IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Shingo Takagi, Tetsuya Naito, SANADA, BUSHI, EVIL, Yujiro Takahashi, Gedo and Dick Togo are all absent from the lineups. Shingo and BUSHI tested positive for COVID-19 last week, while the others were pulled from subsequent events due to close contact.
Two new Young Lions will also debut at Summer Struggle. Ryohei Oiwa and Kosei Fujita will face each other in singles matches on each of the four nights.
Here are the full lineups:
NJPW Summer Struggle, Tuesday, August 24, 5:30 a.m. Eastern time on NJPW World —
Hirooki Goto, YOSHI-HASHI & Robbie Eagles vs. Taichi, Zack Sabre Jr. & DOUKI
Kazuchika Okada & Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Jeff Cobb & Great-O-Khan
Toru Yano & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Chase Owens & Jado
Satoshi Kojima & Master Wato vs. Tomoaki Honma & Tiger Mask
Ryohei Oiwa vs. Kosei Fujita
NJPW Summer Struggle, Wednesday, August 25, 5:30 a.m. Eastern time on NJPW World —
Elimination match: Hirooki Goto, YOSHI-HASHI, Robbie Eagles & Tiger Mask vs. Taichi, Zack Sabre Jr., El Desperado & Yoshinobu Kanemaru
Kazuchika Okada & Tomoaki Honma vs. Jeff Cobb & Great-O-Khan
Toru Yano & Togi Makabe vs. Chase Owens & Jado
Minoru Suzuki & DOUKI vs. Taiji Ishimori & El Phantasmo
Ryohei Oiwa vs. Kosei Fujita
NJPW Summer Struggle, Thursday, August 26, 5:30 a.m. Eastern time on NJPW World —
Kazuchika Okada & Satoshi Kojima vs. Jeff Cobb & Great-O-Khan
El Desperado, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Minoru Suzuki vs. Taiji Ishimori, El Phantasmo & Jado
Hirooki Goto, YOSHI-HASHI & Tiger Mask vs. Taichi, Zack Sabre Jr. & DOUKI
A pair of NJPW Dojo Young Lions will make their debuts at Tuesday’s Summer Struggle event.
Ryohei Oiwa and Kosei Fujita will make their Korakuen Hall debuts this week, facing each other in singles matches on each of the four Summer Struggle shows scheduled for this week on August 24, 25, 26 and 27.
Both Oiwa and Fujita were part of December 2020 NJPW tryouts. Both also joined the NJPW Dojo in April 2021.
Oiwa, 22, is 5’10” and weighs in at 198 pounds, according to NJPW. He has an amateur wrestling background, wrestling throughout middle school and through his college career. He placed third in the 2018 JOC nationals in the 86 kg weight class.
Fujita, 19, is also 5’10” and weighs 183 pounds. He also has an amateur background, claiming the JOC Western and Central Japan freestyle tournament in the 80 kg weight class in high school.
Oiwa and Fujita will fill the void left when Yuya Uemura and Yota Tsuji graduated from the NJPW Dojo and were sent on international excursion earlier this month.
These two had a good match tonight. Morris looked good, but it was Coughlin who really stood out. He looked like a million bucks, and his new mustache makes him look like the hypothetical lovechild of the Incredible Hulk and Ron Swanson. He ragdolled Morris around early on, but the Drama King put Coughlin away later with a front-falling DDT to win his first match in New Japan.
TJP, Ren Narita & Clark Connors defeated Danny Garcia Fred Yehi & Fred Rosser
We saw another debut tonight in Danny Garcia. He’s 22 and has been active in the US indies and has had matches on AEW television recently. He and TJP were in first for their teams. Kelly mentioned Garcia has an amateur wrestling background.
Later, Connors was later able to get the upper hand over Fred Rosser before tagging TJP back into the match. Narita and Connors charged the blue corner and knocked Rosser’s partners off the apron. Rosser was able to recover in the meantime and was able to bodyslam Connors and tag out to Fred Yehi next. Yehi cleaned house for a bit, but Connors exploded in response, catching Yehi with a snap powerslam as he came off the ropes, and later a spear.
Garcia and Ren Narita were in the for their teams towards the end of the match. Narita landed a front suplex off the ropes; Garcia returned the offense with a low dropkick to the back of Narita’s head. Narita then blocked a suplex attempt from Garcia and locked him in a manji-gatame octopus hold, then transitioned to a bridging wristlock suplex for two. Narita put Garcia away next after a high bridging front suplex, picking up the win for his team.
Narita and Rosser had a small dust-up afterward. Narita pointed at Garcia and implied that Rosser may be the next wrestler he pins.
West Coast Wrecking Crew (Jorel Nelson and Royce Isaacs w/ JR Kratos) defeated Violence Unlimited (Brody King and Chris Dickinson)
Dickinson and Isaacs kicked things off. The story was that WCWC are Dickinson’s replacements in the Team Filthy group. Nelson and Isaacs quickly went into double-team offense and kept Dickinson in the blue corner for as long as they could as they went to work on Dickinson’s left knee. Isaacs locked Dickinson in a kneebar; Nelson smashed Dickinson’s knee across the ring post.
Dickinson threw some “Hail Mary” elbows at Isaacs late in the match. He finally was able to land a deadlift German suplex before tagging Brody King in. King hadn’t actually been in the match yet at this point. King put Nelson in a Boston crab but Isaacs broke it up. Dickinson used a single-underhook suplex on Isaacs, and later a fisherman’s buster on Nelson. WCWC had to resort to more double-teaming to kill Dickinson’s momentum, and since the referee couldn’t stop the two, King decided to stop them himself. When he brought the fight onto the floor, he found JR Kratos waiting for him with a huge lariat, neutralizing King for the last moments of the match.
Back in the ring, Isaacs landed a full-nelson-to-German suplex on Dickinson, which conveniently placed him in position for a big diving elbow drop off the top ropes from Nelson to put Violence Unlimited away and pick up the win. Dickinson continues to get screwed over by his old stablemates in Team Filthy.
Afterward, we saw Team Filthy minus “Filthy” Tom Lawlor backstage. Kratos looked at his cell phone and read a text from Lawlor that said he saw the match and he liked what he saw. He must be watching it on a closed-circuit channel. Isaacs said that they lost to King & Dickinson in the Tag Team Turmoil tournament, but since joining Team Filthy, they’ve now beaten the ROH team, calling it their “return on investment.” Isaacs also called out the Good Brothers and told them to watch their backs.
Final thoughts:
The Strong train continues to move along in terms of storyline. Dickinson is still fending off Team Filthy, Ren Narita picked a fight with Fred Rosse, and Alex Coughlin continues to impress despite his losing streak.
In terms of action, if you liked what you saw on Resurgence last weekend then tonight was more of that. We got high-quality matches all around, with Morris vs. Coughlin and the main event as the two to watch closely.
A fan vote has decided the stipulation for the KOPW 2021 match on night one of NJPW Wrestle Grand Slam in MetLife Dome on Saturday, September 4.
Chase Owens will defend the provisional 2021 KOPW title against Toru Yano in a No DQ I Quit match. A poll on NJPW’s Twitter account decided the stipulation.
Yano proposed the ultimate winner, while Owens had proposed a Texas strap match. Yano’s choice won by a 75.47 percent to 24.53 percent margin in a poll with 17,598 total votes.
Owens vs. Yano, Hiroshi Tanahashi defending the IWGP United States Championship against Kota Ibushi, pus Kazuchika Okada vs. Jeff Cobb are now set for night one of Wrestle Grand Slam.
Here are the announced lineups for both nights:
NJPW Wrestle Grand Slam in MetLife Dome night one, Saturday, September 4 —
IWGP United States Championship: Hiroshi Tanahashi (c) vs. Kota Ibushi
Kazuchika Okada vs. Jeff Cobb
Provisional KOPW 2021 No DQ I Quit match: Chase Owens (c) vs. Toru Yano
NJPW Wrestle Grand Slam in MetLife Dome night two, Sunday, September 5 —
IWGP World Heavyweight Championship: Shingo Takagi (c) vs. EVIL
IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championship: Taichi & Zack Sabre Jr. (c) vs. Tetsuya Naito & SANADA vs. Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship: Robbie Eagles (c) vs. Hiromu Takahashi
Three more names have been added to NJPW’s Autumn Attack shows in Texas on September 25 and September 26.
After making his return to NJPW at last week’s Resurgence event in Los Angeles, Will Ospreay will take part in the Autumn Attack shows in the greater Dallas area. Ospreay appeared at Resurgence and declared himself the true IWGP World Heavyweight Champion, asserting that he was never pinned or submitted for the title. Ospreay declared Shingo Takagi the interim IWGP Champion and promised to defend his version of the title in NJPW Strong.
Lance Archer has also been added to the Autumn Attack events. Archer is fresh off main eventing Resurgence, losing the IWGP United States Championship to Hiroshi Tanahashi.
Minoru Suzuki has also been announced for the Texas shows. Suzuki’s last appearance in the US was at a Warrior Wrestling show in December 2019, where he defeated Tom Lawlor.
Tickets for the Autumn Attack events in Garland, Texas are on sale now, with prices ranging from $29 to $149.
Here is the list of talent advertised for Autumn Attack so far:
A match between Hiroshi Tanahashi and Kota Ibushi has been set for Wrestle Grand Slam after Tanahashi issued a challenge to Ibushi.
In a post-match interview after winning the IWGP United States title this past weekend at NJPW’s Resurgence event, Tanahashi called out Kota Ibushi as his next challenger at Wrestle Grand Slam in MetLife Dome. NJPW later shared a video of Ibushi saying that the direct path for him was best, and that he must face Tanahashi, accepting the challenge. NJPW later confirmed the match for the Wrestle Grand Slam card that will take place on September 4.
Ibushi has been out of action since July 2, when he defeated Yota Tsuji in a singles match. He has been suffering from aspiration pneumonia. Despite initial reports, the pneumonia is no way related to side effects from a COVID-19 vaccine.
Wrestle Grad Slam in MetLife Dome will take place over two days, on September 4 and 5. A singles match between Jeff Cobb and Kazuchika Okada and Toru Yano vs. Chase Owens for the KOPW title has been announced for September 4.
Shingo Takagi vs. EVIL for the IWGP World Heavyweight title, Zack Sabre Jr. and Taichi vs. SANADA and Tetsuya Naito vs. YOSHI-HASHI and Hirooki Goto in a three-way match for the IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team titles, and Hiromu Takahashi vs. Robbie Eagles for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight title has been announced for September 5.
NJPW confirmed this evening that Shingo Takagi and BUSHI have both tested positive for COVID-19.
The company further said that their conditions are not becoming worse and are undergoing the appropriate treatment.
“Two wrestlers, Shingo Takagi and BUSHI, who presented with a fever and missed their match on the day of the August 15 event were immediately tested in accordance with COVID protocols, with the tests returning positive,” New Japan’s statement reads. “Their fevers went down and their conditions are not becoming worse. According to protocols and under medical advice, they are isolating and receiving appropriate treatment.”
Takagi and BUSHI were removed from the Summer Struggle tour on Sunday after both were suffering from high fevers. In the days since, six other wrestlers have been removed from the Summer Struggle tour due to COVID-19 contact tracing: Tetsuya Naito, SANADA, EVIL, Yujiro Takahashi, Gedo, and Dick Togo. Takagi, the current IWGP World Heavyweight Champion, is set to defend the title against EVIL at Wrestle Grand Slam in MetLife Dome on September 5.
Stardom, who is under the same parent company as NJPW, has canceled several shows in the last two weeks due to COVID-19 contact tracing that led to some in their roster having to quarantine.
