Brody King and Minoru Suzuki look to battle at Capital Collision next month following a challenge backstage at Windy City Riot.
Minoru Suzuki was being interviewed backstage when Brody King walked up to Suzuki’s face and challenged him to a match at Capital Collision, which takes place on May 14 in Washington, D.C.. The two got into a shoving match before King walked away.
This was the third challenge laid out at tonight’s Windy City Riot show in Chicago for NJPW’s next pay-per-view. Eddie Kingston came out and challenged Tomohiro Ishii, who defeated Suzuki on tonight’s show. Ishii immediately accepted the match. And after defeating Will Ospreay in the main event, Jon Moxley challenged Hiroshi Tanahashi.
Other names slated for Capital Collision include Kazuchika Okada, Jay White, Will Ospreay, Jeff Cobb, Tom Lawlor, and Fred Rosser.
On tonight’s show, King teamed with David Finlay and Juice Robinson to defeat JONAH, Bad Dude Tito, and Shane Haste of TMDK in a Chicago street fight.
Time to chat AEW DYNAMITE BEACH BREAK! Join on-air personality Denise Salcedo as she covers the show, shares her honest thoughts and provides in-depth analysis on all the stories and characters. Plus she also incorporates commentary from the live audience!
Two new matches have been announced for next week’s AEW Dynamite.
After making a surprise debut this week, Brody King will see his first in-ring action in AEW, teaming with Malakai Black against The Varsity Blonds. Black has been targeting the Blonds for weeks, and King aligned himself with Black in his debut.
Also announced, FTR will take on The Nightmare Family’s Lee Johnson and Brock Anderson. The match was set up during this week’s Dynamite, when FTR and Tully Blanchard confronted Johnson, and Brock and Arn Anderson in a backstage segment.
Both new matches were announced during tonight’s AEW Rampage.
Dynamite next week will take place in Washington, DC. Here is the lineup:
Britt Baker & Adam Cole vs. Kris Statlander & Orange Cassidy
Following his debut on last night’s Dynamite, AEW has officially announced the signing of Brody King.
AEW posted a graphic on Thursday morning announcing that King is All Elite. King aligned with Malakai Black on last night’s Dynamite, with the two going by the name “The Kings of the Black Throne.”
King made his AEW debut by taking out Penta El Zero Miedo, Griff Garrison, and Brian Pillman Jr. on Dynamite.
Penta El Zero Miedo defeated Matt Hardy on last night’s show and then sent a message saying that he was going to teach Black some respect. The lights went out, then Black started brawling with Penta when they came back on. Garrison and Pillman ran in to make it three-on-one.
But Black started laughing at Penta, Garrison, and Pillman and then pointed to something. The lights went out for a second time, and King was in the ring when they came on again. He attacked Penta, Garrison, and Pillman, then King and Black laid out Garrison with a double-team powerslam.
Brody King appeared on tonight’s Dynamite, aligning himself with Malakai Black.
After Penta El 0 M defeated Matt Hardy on tonight’s show, Black appeared as he and Penta brawled. The Varsity Blonds (Griff Garrison and Brian Pillman Jr.) then came to the ring, and together they attacked Black three-on-one. The lights went out, and when they came back on King appeared, attacking the Varsity Blonds and Penta. The end of the segment had King and Black, who were referred to as The Kings of the Black Throne, standing tall.
Brody King is best known for his run in Ring of Honor, where he was originally part of Villan Enterprises. He later helped form the Violence Unlimited stable, which ran until the end of last year when ROH released everyone from their contracts. King also currently works for New Japan Pro Wrestling, appearing on NJPW Strong regularly.
King and Black have teamed before in PWG, and are the current PWG Tag Team Champions, defeating Black Taurus and Demonic Flamita for the vacant titles back on September 26.
New Japan Strong talent and now former Ring of Honor wrestler Brody King has reportedly signed with AEW, a tease of which may have been seen Wednesday on Dynamite.
Bodyslam.net’s Cassidy Haynes reported the news Wednesday night, confirmed by what he said were multiple sources.
Haynes said one source said the deal was done as early as Thanksgiving weekend, nearly immediately after the news of Ring of Honor going dark in Q1 of 2022 and releasing all contracted wrestlers as a result. Haynes believed Wednesday’s House of Black vignette featuring Malakai Black was the tease of his impending debut as Black was with a black hooded person.
King appeared with Black at PWG’s Mystery Vortex in August, saving Bandido from an attack. The two have been friends for more than five years.
The 34-year-old King was part of last Saturday’s ROH Final Battle pay-per-view, teaming with Rocky Romero, Homicide and Tony Deppen in a win over EC3, Eli Isom, Taylor Rust and Tracy Williams. Outside of ROH and New Japan Strong appearances, he has also been appearing more frequently on the indies as of late and will work for GCW this weekend.
King had been with ROH since 2018, signing a new deal in early-2020.
Tonight’s episode of NJPW Strong was taped in Riverside, CA at the New Japan Detonation show.
Jonathan Gresham defeated Gabriel Kidd
Kidd shook announcer Kevin Kelly’s hand and told him he loved him before the match. Kelly told him the same. This was Kidd’s first match in six months after what’s reported to have been a tumultuous year for him.
They shook hands before the match. When it kicked off, the two went into a fluid mat exchange that lasted a few minutes. Gresham had an arguable edge over the younger Kidd, but even still, it was hard for either to gain the upper hand. Neither threw strikes or resorted to dirty technique.
Not being able to take Kidd down or get a real advantage frustrated and annoyed Gresham midway through the bout. He’d later “accidentally” poked Kidd in the eye. This was disputable, albeit in a kayfabe kind of way. Gresham apologized and offered his hand. A lot of the crowd booed this, but some sounded delighted.
Gresham teased throwing a punch or elbow over the course of this. He got a lot of mileage out of this and was able to get the crowd to react without having to do all that much. It was a good sub-story within the match.
At around ten minutes in, Kidd bodyslammed Gresham. He later went to put Gresham away with the Billy Robinson-style single-arm suplex he’s known to use, but Gresham escaped. After a series of reversals, Gresham picked up the win with a headscissors pin combination.
United Empire (WIll Ospreay, Jeff Cobb & TJP) defeated LA Dojo (Ren Narita, Karl Fredericks & Clark Connors)
This turned out to be a pretty exciting tag match. Both teams jaw-jacked with each other and it quickly turned into a brawl. The bell rang. Fredericks landed a crazy tope con giro to the floor in the first minute. The LA Dojo team was fired up for this one.
After the Dojo babyfaces worked TJP over for a few minutes, Cobb got involved to even the score when he launched Narita into a guardrail on the floor behind the ref’s back. It got a good reaction from the crowd. He’d later ragdoll Narita around the ring, impressing the crowd with a squatting deadlift vertical suplex, again propelling him comically far.
Ospreay used a spinning backbreaker on Narita. He chopped Narita and the sound rang out like a pistol firing. Connors eventually caught the hot tag after Narita threw Ospreay coming off the ropes with a front suplex. Connors cleaned house.
Before the ten-minute announcement sounded, Connors caught TJP with an insane snap powerslam, then speared Ospreay on the apron.
TJP later took Narita out with a cradle back suplex. Fredericks and Cobb were in the ring together next when Fredericks caught Cobb with a big spinebuster. He earned a two-count after a jumping elbow drop.
Connors went to spear TJP towards the end of the match but he couldn’t because his knee gave out. Earlier on, TJP had hyper-extended Connors’ knee, so it’d already been tenderized. He locked in a modified scorpion deathlock. This gave Cobb a chance to stamp Fredericks out completely after a Spin-Cycle suplex. Connors broke up the pin. Cobb then put Fredericks down with a Tour of the Islands for a decisive-looking pin.
Despite the match being over, TJP kept hold on his submission lock, ripping on Connors’ knee. Narita tried attacking the group but staff held him back. Narita escaped and tried taking the three heels out, but he’d get stomped out again. United Abominations posed with their belts in the ring. The crowd showered them with boos. The group messed with Kevin Kelly at the announcers’ table before they’d exit to the back.
NEVER Openweight Championship match: Tomohiro Ishii (c) defeated Brody King to retain
What a match.
They didn’t waste any time getting into the violence. In terms of style, this was the total opposite of Gresham vs. Kidd. They exchanged elbows and shoulder blocks. Neither would go down, neither wanted to give an inch. The bigger King was able to take Ishii down a few times, though, once laying him out after a senton.
Ishii went for a vertical suplex but King shut it down quickly. He blasted Ishii with chops. The first two were so loud. Ishii took a number of them and insisted King throw more at him until he collapsed in the corner. Ishii’s chest was bright red.
It looked like they’d been through actual war by the five minute mark. Ishii somehow was able to spike King with a brainbuster and later chop and elbow him hard in the opposite corner. King was barely able to survive Ishii’s offensive and flattened him with a lariat.
King crushed Ishii in the corner with a cannonball. Ishii reacted like he’d gotten into a car accident, just pure agony. King used a piledriver for two.
They traded nasty elbows. The crowd seemed half in support of King, half in support of Ishii. Ishii threw King with a release German suplex off the ropes. He tried taking King out with a number of lariats of his own, but King wouldn’t go down. King went down after a headbutt, then Ishii went for a Sliding D. King caught Ishii. They were up on their feet and eventually Ishii laid King out with a lariat.
King shouted his tag team partner Chris Dickinson out before dropping Ishii on his head with a Death Valley Bomb for two.
King went for the Gonzo Bomb but Ishii slipped out. They played cat-and-mouse some more until King blasted Ishii with another huge lariat. King went for the Gonzo Bomb but again Ishii escaped, then dazed the giant King with an enzuigiri kick. In the end, Ishii lifted King into the air, then drilled him into the mat with a picture-perfect vertical-drop brainbuster for the win.
Final thoughts:
This was one of the best episodes of NJPW Strong front-to-back. This one has to go in the top five, at least. The six-man tag match sounded like a blast for the crowd. Kidd and Gresham told such a great and physical story. The main event between King and Ishii is as good as one would expect. As a fan, all I can ask for is a lot more of this. Hope there’s a rematch planned for next year.
Three matches have been announced for this week’s episode of NJPW Strong.
In the main event, NEVER Openweight Champion Tomohiro Ishii will face Brody King in a non-title match. The match will be the first singles meeting between the two.
In the second match, United Empire’s Will Ospreay, Jeff Cobb and TJP will take on Karl Fredericks, Clark Connors and Ren Narita in trios action.
In Saturday’s opener, Jonathan Gresham will face Gabriel Kidd. Kidd issued the challenge to Gresham during the prior set of Strong tapings.
The Detonation episodes of Strong were taped on November 15 in Riverside, California. Saturday’s show will also be available on demand immediately following airing.
Here is the full lineup:
NJPW Strong Detonation night two, Saturday, December 11, 8 p.m. Eastern time on NJPW World–
Tomohiro Ishii vs. Brody King
Will Ospreay, Jeff Cobb & TJP vs. Karl Fredericks, Clark Connors & Ren Narita
The Briscoes’ GCW Tag Team titles will be on the line at Blood on the Hills.
Game Changer Wrestling announced today that Jay & Mark Briscoe will defend their Tag Team titles against Brody King & PCO at Blood on the Hills on Friday, December 17. The show is taking place at the Ukrainian Cultural Center in Los Angeles and will be available live via Fite TV.
The Briscoes made their surprise GCW debut this October, setting up a Tag Team title match against Mance Warner & Matthew Justice. The Briscoes defeated Warner & Justice at War Ready later that month to win the titles.
The Briscoes’ first GCW Tag Team title defense took place at ROH’s Honor for All show last month. They retained against Effy & AJ Gray.
Before Blood on the Hills, The Briscoes will defend their titles against Ninja Mack & Dante Leon at GCW’s So Alive this Saturday.
King and PCO are both returning to GCW at Blood on the Hills.
Matt Cardona & Chelsea Green vs. Bussy (Effy & Allie Katch), Bandido vs. Blake Christian, Jonathan Gresham vs. AJ Gray, Tony Deppen vs. Jigsaw, and Jacob Fatu vs. Dark Sheik are also set for Blood on the Hills.
Another wrestler who has been a top star for ROH is headed to Game Changer Wrestling this December.
GCW has announced that Brody King will be in action at their Blood on the Hills show in Los Angeles on Friday, December 17. The event is taking place at the Ukrainian Cultural Center and will be available live via Fite TV.
ROH World Champion Bandido has also been announced for Blood on the Hills. In addition to that show, Bandido will be wrestling at GCW events in Houston on Friday, December 3 and Dallas on Saturday, December 4.
ROH announced this week that the promotion will be going on hiatus after December’s Final Battle pay-per-view and taking the first quarter of 2022 to “work internally to reimagine ROH.” ROH talent won’t have their contracts renewed after Final Battle and are able to work wherever they want starting immediately.
ROH’s The Briscoes won the GCW Tag Team titles from Mance Warner & Matthew Justice at War Ready last weekend.
It was also announced today that AEW’s Thunder Rosa will be wrestling at GCW’s show in Dallas on December 4. The show is titled So Alive.
Quinn McKay welcomed us to the show and ran down the card for tonight’s show. McKay promoted a “protege vs. mentor” match between Brian Johnson and PJ Black, as well as a four corners survival match between Brody King, Jay Lethal, Kenny King and Shane Taylor.
Brian Johnson defeated PJ Black in a Pure Rules match (10:58)
Black and Johnson exchanged some mat wrestling in the early stages of the bout, but Black was able to come out on top and take control in the match.
Johnson would eventually escape from the clutches of Black by using his first rope break. Johnson rolled to the outside and looked to catch a breather, but was met with a dive from Black.
After a short commercial break, the broadcast returned as Johnson was in a cradle submission. Johnson immediately used his second rope break as Black taunted.
In the final stages of the match, Johnson and Black traded multiple chops and strikes. Black grabbed Johnson by the beard and suplexed him before following it up with a springboard splash. Once Black went to attempt the pin, Johnson used his third and final rope break. Black tried to capitalize on a weary Johnson, but was met with an eye poke and Johnson’s signature “The Process” neckbreaker which resulted in a pin.
Brody King defeated Jay Lethal, Kenny King, and Shane Taylor (9:21)
Lethal and Brody started the match. Brody attempted to use the same strategy that he beat Lethal with previously, but was met with a fire of rapid defense from the former ROH World Champion.
Taylor tagged himself in and had a short exchange with Lethal, which resulted in him hurting his leg. Kenny tagged himself in and squared off with Lethal. Kenny replicated a few of Lethal’s signature maneuvers, including his signature cartwheel dropkick.
Kenny was still in full control of the match after a commercial break. Brody came in for Lethal and exchanged frying pan chops with Kenny, before Kenny was able to slip to the outside and hit a blockbuster neckbreaker on Brody.
Kenny went for a running maneuver but Taylor tripped him up, allowing Brody to clothesline him. Taylor tagged himself in and went face to face with Brody. Taylor clocked Brody with a devastating forearm that sent him reeling to the outside, which allowed Kenny to slip in the ring and try to take advantage of a distracted Taylor.
Kenny was able to lift up Taylor for a blue thunder bomb, to which Brody came in and picked the bones. Brody threw out Kenny and hit Taylor with a clothesline on the jaw, which allowed him to pick up the win.
Final Thoughts: Both matches on this week’s ROH TV were good matches that had purpose behind them. Black/Johnson was good and advanced the storyline of Johnson joining the Pure division. The four way match was also good for a few reasons, including Taylor getting his hands on Kenny King (but not too much) and despite losing the match, getting some shine. It seems as if the company is building to a Bandido/Brody King match, which should be really good.
Weekly ROH TV (along with MLW and a few others) proves week in and week out that one hour wrestling shows are the best.
In recent weeks I’ve introduced a scale in order to let you know if the current week of TV is worth your while. The scale is as followed:
Must Watch TV
Go Out Of Your Way
Recommend Viewing
Watch YouTube Clips
Avoid At All Costs
This week’s episode of ROH TV is: Recommended Viewing
The team of Brody King and Malakai Black are the new PWG World Tag Team Champions.
The title win took place after King and Black defeated Black Taurus and Demonic Flamita at tonight’s Threemendous VI event at the Globe Theater in Los Angeles, California. It was announced prior to the start of the match that the winners would become the new champions. This marks the first time either Black or King have held the titles.
Dezmond Xavier and Zachary Wentz were the previous champions, having won the titles back in April 2018, holding the championships for over 1,200 days. Both signed with the WWE in late 2020 and have since appeared on NXT television as Wes Lee (Xavier) and Nash Carter (Wentz), who have held the NXT Tag Team Championship since April 7 of this year.
PWG’s World champion, Bandido, will defend the title against former champion Davey Richards in tonight’s Threemendous VI main event.
Ring of Honor and New Japan Strong talent Brody King revealed that he recently tested positive for COVID-19 despite being fully vaccinated.
While on the Wrestling Inc. podcast, King said that had the virus last week but tested negative last Sunday.
The head man of VLNCE UNLTD was set to appear in a ten-man tag match at NJPW Resurgence last Saturday, but was pulled on the day of the show due to “unforseen circumstances.”
King said that it started with him experiencing a bad head cold and that he immediately got tested because “you just can’t assume anything anymore” and blow it off as allergies or a cold.
After testing positive, King quarantined in his basement for a week and was relieved to know that both his wife and children have continued to test negative.
On the recent location change for ROH Death By Dishonor, the former Six-Man Tag Team Champion said he was bummed out by the change because he was looking forward to performing there and to see his friends at the shows.
He is scheduled for both of this weekend’s ROH Glory by Honor shows in Philadelphia, PA.
PWG has announced the card for their next show, Threemendous VI, on September 26.
Bandido will defend the PWG World title against Davey Richards, who in the last year has made a return to the independent scene. Richards is a former PWG World Champion, defeating Kenny Omega for the title back on February 27, 2010 at As The Worm Turns.
Malakai Black and Brody King will face Demonic Flamita and Black Taurus in a tag match that was set up at Mystery Vortex VII earlier this month.
Dante Martin of AEW will be making his debut on the show. Alex Zayne and Jake Atlas, who were released earlier this month from WWE, will be making their returns. A six man tag match has been announced, with Martin, Zayne, and Jack Cartwheel facing Atlas, Trey Miguel, and Myron Reed.
Alex Shelley will also make his return to the promotion, facing Jonathan Gresham.
Here is the card for Threemendous VI, which will be held at the Globe Theatre in Los Angeles:
Bandido vs. Davey Richards for the PWG World title
Malakai Black and Brody King vs. Demonic Flamita and Black Taurus
Alex Shelley vs. Jonathan Gresham
Dante Martin, Alex Zayne, and Jack Cartwheel vs. Jake Atlas, Trey Miguel, and Myron Reed
AJ Gray vs. JD Drake vs. Lee Moriarty
Aramis and Rey Horus vs. Dragon Lee and Laredo Kid
The company’s website announced that due to “unforeseen circumstances”, King would not be able to compete.
“Due to unforeseen circumstances, Brody King will be unable to compete at Resurgence,” they wrote. “We apologize to fans who were looking forward to seeing King wrestle, and appreciate your understanding.”
Changes have been made to two of the matches on tonight’s card. King was scheduled to compete in a ten-man tag match, teaming with Yuya Uemura, Chris Dickinson, Lio Rush, and Fred Yehi against Team Filthy (Tom Lawlor, Danny Limelight, JR Kratos, Jorel Nelson, and Royce Issacs). Adrian Quest will replace King in this match.
Quest was originally scheduled to compete in a dark match, teaming with Kevin Knight and The DKC against Barrett Brown, Bateman, and Misterioso. Jordan Clearwater will replace Quest in that match.
Resurgence will take place tonight at The Torch at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
