Tag: Bullet Club War Dogs

NJPW King of Pro Wrestling notes: Aaron Wolf, Bullet Club War Dogs & LIJ

Posted on by Bryan Rose

News and notes from NJPW King of Pro Wrestling.

EVIL won the NEVER Openweight title from Boltin Oleg Monday morning at Sumo Hall. After the match, he and the rest of House of Torture continued their beatdown on Boltin. Young lions entered the ring in an attempt to end the brawl, but things only continued until Aaron Wolf entered the ring and cleared house, taking down members with judo throws. He and EVIL met face to face, indicating a showdown may be imminent.

Backstage, the Olympic gold medalist in judo challenged EVIL to a match for Wrestle Kingdom 20. It had been previously announced that he would be making his professional wrestling debut on January 4.

In the co-main event, Yota Tsuji defeated Gabe Kidd to win the IWGP Global Championship for the second time. After the match, the two hugged and showed signs of respect towards one another. The rest of Bullet Club War Dogs came to the ring as the remnants of Los Ingobernables de Japon (Titan, Shingo Takagi, and Hiromu Takahashi) entered the ring to back up Tsuji. However, there wasn’t any confrontation, and instead the two factions ended up shaking hands. Announcers were confused as to what this could mean.

The Young Bucks issue challenge to Bullet Club War Dogs for NJPW Resurgence

Posted on by Bryan Rose

The Young Bucks are headed to Resurgence, and they aren’t coming alone.

Prior to the main event, Nicholas and Matthew Jackson appeared on the video screen. They said that they saw Bullet Club War Dogs weren’t booked yet for Resurgence, which takes place on May 9 in Ontario, California. They said they were down for a fight, but there were a lot of War Dogs and only two of them. Matthew then suggested they know “a couple of OG friends” that are always up for a fight, saying that would be “too sweet.”

The reference to “OG friends” is a strong hint that The Young Bucks may bring in Karl Anderson and Doc Gallows, former members of the Bullet Club during The Young Bucks’ run in NJPW. They were released from WWE back in February during a wave of WWE releases.

After taking a sabbatical from AEW, Nicholas and Matthew resurfaced last weekend at Dynasty, costing Swerve Strickland the AEW World title. On this week’s Dynamite, the two explained they attacked Swerve on behalf of their friend Hangman Page. They also expressed interest in associating with Jon Moxley, who they congratulated on successfully taking over AEW.

NJPW Power Struggle notes: El Desperado returns, SANADA, new champions crowned

Posted on by Bryan Rose

Notes from Monday morning’s Power Struggle.

Most of NJPW’s show in Osaka was built towards Wrestle Kingdom 19. After taking a leave of absence earlier in the year, El Desperado returned to NJPW and issued a challenge to DOUKI for January 4 at the Tokyo Dome for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight title. Desperado told DOUKI that he wanted this version of DOUKI that has been champion since the summer. DOUKI accepted Desperado’s challenge.

Desperado had won this year’s Best of the Super Juniors tournament and defeated SHO to win the IWGP Junior Heavyweight title. However, he only held the title for 19 days, losing to DOUKI during the New Japan Soul tour in July. 

SANADA, meanwhile, turned his back on Just Five Guys and revealed he was the newest member of Bullet Club War Dogs. Taichi had the match won against David Finlay for the IWGP Global Heavyweight Championship when SANADA emerged, wearing a Just Five Guys tracksuit. However, he took off his jacket to reveal he was wearing a Bullet Club t-shirt. That allowed Finlay to lay out Taichi to retain the title.

After the match, SANADA took out Taka Michinoku and Taichi and fended off DOUKI who attempted to enter the ring. After boasting about Yuya Uemura being out of action, Finlay issued a challenge to Yota Tsuji for Wrestle Kingdom. Tsuji entered the ring and accepted the challenge.

One title change took place at Power Struggle, with Henare & Great-O-Khan defeating TMDK (Shane Haste and Mikey Nicholls) to win the IWGP Tag Team titles together for the first time. TMDK had held the titles for 119 days, defeating Chase Owens and KENTA at Dominion back in June. The upcoming World Tag League tournament starting later this month will likely determine the next challengers.

Two title changes at NJPW Strong Independence Day night one

Posted on by Joseph Currier

The opening night of NJPW Strong Independence Day included a pair of tag team title changes.

Bullet Club War Dogs are now in possession of the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team titles and the Strong Openweight Tag Team titles. Clark Connors & Drilla Moloney defeated TJP & Francesco Akira to win the Junior Heavyweight belts, while Alex Coughlin & Gabe Kidd claimed the Strong Openweight titles by defeating Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI.

There will be a chance for the faction to add more gold as Coughlin & Kidd challenge Goto & YOSHI-HASHI for the IWGP Tag Team titles at Strong Independence Day night two on Wednesday. Goto & YOSHI-HASHI are entering that match at a disadvantage after Coughlin & Kidd continued to attack them following their match on night one.

David Finlay introduced Connors as a new member of Bullet Club at NJPW Capital Collision this April. Moloney, Coughlin, and Kidd were then added to the group at Dominion last month.

Here’s the full lineup for Strong Independence Day night two:

  • Final Death match: Jon Moxley vs. El Desperado
  • NJPW Strong Openweight Champion KENTA defends against Eddie Kingston
  • IWGP Tag Team Champions Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI defend against Alex Coughlin & Gabe Kidd
  • NJPW Strong Women’s Champion Willow Nightingale defends against Giulia
  • Hiroshi Tanahashi, Tomohiro Ishii & The DKC vs. Tom Lawlor, Jorel Nelson & Royce Isaacs
  • Lance Archer & Alex Zayne vs. Bad Dude Tito & Kosei Fujita
  • Drilla Moloney & Clark Connors vs. YOH & Rocky Romero
  • Homicide & Ryohei Oiwa vs. TJP & Francesco Akira
  • JR Kratos vs. Oskar Leube
  • Kickoff match: Ryusuke Taguchi, Master Wato & Boltin Oleg vs. Dragon Libre, Takahiro Katori & Rekka