On Wednesday night, it was announced that CMLL’s Caristico and NJPW’s Ryusuke Taguchi and Taiji Ishimori will be taking part in the tournament. TJP, Dragon Lee, and SHO are the other three entrants that have been officially confirmed thus far.
There will be 16 wrestlers in the tournament. Though they’ve yet to be officially announced, Will Ospreay, El Phantasmo, and YOH have been featured on advertising for the Super J-Cup.
Jushin Thunder Liger, who NJPW has announced is the producer of the Super J-Cup, won’t be an entrant in the tournament but will be wrestling on all three nights.
The first round of the Super J-Cup will take place at the Temple Theater in Tacoma, Washington on Thursday, August 22. The tournament will continue at the San Francisco State University Student Life Event Center in San Francisco, California on Saturday, August 24. It will then conclude at Walter Pyramid in Long Beach, California on Sunday, August 25.
The lineup for ROH’s Summer Supercard event is starting to take shape.
Alex Shelley will be challenging for the ROH World Championship at the show. Matt Taven is the current champion and is defending his title against Jay Lethal at ROH’s Manhattan Mayhem television tapings on July 20.
After taking a hiatus from pro wrestling in July 2018, Shelley returned at June’s post-Best in the World tapings and set up that he’d be challenging the winner of Taven vs. Lethal. Shelley, Lethal & Jonathan Gresham vs. The Kingdom (Taven, Vinny Marseglia & TK O’Ryan) is set for ROH’s Mass Hysteria show on July 21.
A CMLL trios match has also been announced for Summer Supercard. Caristico, Soberano Jr. & Stuka Jr. will team against Barbaro Cavernario, Hechicero & Templario. Cavernario and Templario will be making their ROH debuts in the match.
Summer Supercard is being held at the Mattamy Athletic Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada on Friday, August 9, which is during SummerSlam weekend in the city. Summer Supercard will feature wrestlers from ROH, NJPW, CMLL, and the NWA. The show will air live on HonorClub.
Since NJPW’s G1 Climax will still be going on, none of the participants in the tournament will be wrestling at Summer Supercard.
NWA Worlds Heavyweight Champion Nick Aldis will defend his title against a member of Villain Enterprises (Marty Scurll, PCO, Brody King, or Flip Gordon) at Summer Supercard. In storyline, Scurll gets to choose which of the four Villain Enterprises members will get the title shot.
Jushin Thunder Liger will be facing off with three opponents in his CMLL farewell match.
CMLL announced yesterday that Liger will face Caristico, Negro Casas, and Ultimo Guerrero at their show on Friday, July 19. The event is taking place at Arena Mexico in Mexico City.
It will be a “Relevo CMLL” match. Two wrestlers will be in the ring at a time, with them being able to tag in and out. There will only be one fall in the match.
Liger announced at a press conference in March that he’ll be retiring at the Tokyo Dome in January 2020. NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 14 is taking place at the Tokyo Dome on January 4 and January 5.
Liger, Juice Robinson & Toru Yano vs. Tetsuya Naito, Shingo Takagi & BUSHI is set for the opening night of this year’s G1 Climax in Dallas, Texas on July 6. Liger has also been announced as the producer of NJPW’s Super J-Cup tournament, which is being held in Tacoma Washington on August 22, San Francisco, California on August 24, and Long Beach, California on August 25.
A recap of Matt Taven winning the ROH World Championship at Madison Square Garden opened the show.
Ian Riccaboni and Caprice Coleman called the action from ringside in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Matt Taven came to the ring alone. The crowd littered the ring with streamers. Taven said, “I earned this…and I deserve this.” He ran down his own accolades. The crowd was actually supporting him respectfully.
As Taven was ranting about someone needing to earn an opportunity, the lights went out and Flip Gordon’s music hit. Gordon walked out on the ramp wearing a suit and said that he already earned his shot by winning the Sea of Honor tournament last year.
Gordon said that his knee is 100 percent and that ROH officials have declared him the number one contender. Gordon said he’s ready to challenge Taven.
A recap of the Jonathan Gresham and Silas Young feud aired.
Silas Young defeated Jonathan Gresham
An intense Code of Honor handshake started it off as Gresham was not going to be intimidated by the larger Young. A double hip toss sent both men to the floor. Outside of the ring, they exchanged some chain wrestling, which included a series of headlock takeovers.
Back in the ring, Young grounded Gresham as he showboated. Gresham finally fought free and landed a monster chop that got Young’s attention. This started a chop exchange that Gresham got the better of by using a closed fist. Young had gotten to him.
Next, Young used some nice chain wrestling to get the upper hand. Each man threatened a closed fist. Gresham attempted to counter out, but Young kept reversing into a wristlock. Gresham eventually got out of the hold with a dropkick that sent Young flying.
Young bailed to the floor and grabbed both a chair and the ring bell hammer. As referee Todd Sinclair took away the chair, Young blasted Gresham with the hammer. He then hooked on an abdominal stretch on Gresham. The referee had no choice but to stop the match as Gresham was out.
A replay of the finish of Kelly Klein defeating Mayu Iwatani at Madison Square Garden aired. This was to set up the angle that happened after that match with the Allure group debuting, featuring Mandy Leon, Angelina Love, and Velvet Sky.
Klein cut a promo saying that the Women of Honor World Championship was about wrestling, and that she’s going to give Allure the attention they desire. Klein said she’s there to clean up the hot mess they created.
ROH replayed the entire Rush vs. Dalton Castle match from Madison Square Garden, which Rush won in 16 seconds. This set up the heel turn by Castle as he destroyed the Boys post-match.
Riccaboni and Coleman talked about the disgusting actions of Bully Ray laying out Tenille Dashwood. This led to a promo by Mark Haskins and Tracy Williams. They said they are going to handle Bully Ray, but before they do, they’re going to take out The Kingdom.
The Briscoes defeated Soberano Jr. & Caristico
Mark Briscoe started it off with Soberano. Some kicks by Soberano set up a springboard hurricanrana onto Mark, who then tagged in Jay Briscoe. Caristico got Jay’s attention by hitting a back handspring flip and a hurricanrana of his own. Caristico used a springboard flipping arm drag to send Jay to the floor, where The Briscoes then regrouped.
After the break, Jay was beating up Caristico in the ring. He tagged in his brother Mark, who unloaded with punches. The Briscoes cut the ring in half, isolating Caristico in the corner. Finally, a double back handspring caught both Briscoes and gave Caristico the space he needed to tag in Soberano.
The two luchadores used some tandem flying maneuvers to send the Briscoes to the floor. Soberano did a running backflip dive on the brothers and Caristico followed that up with a high crossbody off the top turnbuckle.
Caristico was in the ring with Mark, who got hit with a kick and a flying crossbody — but Caristico only got a two count. Soberano hit a Doomsday-style crossbody off of Caristico’s shoulders, but Jay broke up the pin.
Jay landed a Spicolli driver for a two count. The Briscoes hit Redneck Boogey, but Soberano kicked out at two. Jay then hit a Jay Driller and Mark followed that up with the Froggy Bow to get the win.
The atmosphere in Arena Mexico became proverbially electric when hosting an outstanding match in the Gran Alternativa tournament finals on Friday night in Mexico City.
The main event featured Caristico teaming with Soberano Jr. to win the tournament in a tag team match against Ultimo Guerrero & Sanson. The annual CMLL tag team tournament pairs veteran luchadores with young up-and-comers the promotion wants to establish as future stars.
Amongst the brawling and trios matches that filled out the undercard, Dragon Lee and Barbaro Cavernario did what they could in trying to steal the show with the ten minutes they got in a lightning match.
The rudos captured the first and third falls to take the match. In the first fall, Virus pinned Blanca after dropping a flying elbow, and Raziel tied Imperial in a knot to submit him. The tecnicos began a comeback in the second fall, leading to Imperial submitting Virus and Blanca submitting Raziel.
The rudos would curtail a tecnicos rally in the third fall, with Raziel pinning Blanca after Raziel delivered a neckbreaker while Virus held Blanca in a Romero Special. Virus then submitted Imperial with a stump puller to win the match.
Misterioso Jr., Polvora & captain Dragon Rojo Jr. defeated Drone, Guerrero Maya Jr. & captain Stuka Jr.
The rudos won the second and third falls en route to taking the match. The first fall had a triple roll-up spot by the tecnicos for a near fall. Right afterwards, the rudos tried triple roll-ups of their own for a two count. To end the first fall, Drone and Stuka stretched the other two rudos as Guerrero Maya pinned rudo captain Dragon Rojo after a hurricanrana.
To end the second fall, Dragon Rojo came off the top with a double foot stomp for a pinfall on Guerrero Maya while Polvora also covered Drone after giving him an off the top rope sit-out version of Farooq’s Dominator.
The tecnicos fired up as the third fall got underway, but not before Dragon Rojo took time to tear at Drone’s mask. To end the match, Misterioso dropped Stuka into a Gory Bomb and covered the tecnico captain for the pinfall. Misterioso also stole Stuka’s mask.
The match started as a wild brawl during the introductions as Los Ingobernables attacked. They brawled all around the ring. When they got back in the ring, Pierroth jumped off the middle rope into a senton to pin Vangellys. To end the first fall, Rush charged into a corner on Terrible for an assist in setting up Kraneo pinning Terrible.
The brawling continued like this was 1979 and they were in a concession stand in Tupelo, minus the condiments. Los Ingobernables looked to keep on dominating, but their opponents rallied. Terrible applied a Boston crab on Rush to submit the rudo captain, evening the falls.
Into the third fall, Los Ingobernables left Kraneo hanging at one point as they did a Zbyszko stalk. Terrible eliminated Kraneo when he pinned him after a splash off the top. Rush then eliminated Terrible by pinning him.
Pierroth covered Vangellys for a pinning attempt, but the referee was distracted trying to get Terrible out of the ring. Pierroth went to confront the ref when Vangellys fouled Pierroth with a blatant low blow. With his back turned, the ref never saw the foul. Vangellys covered Pierroth, which the ref did see as he counted three for the deciding pinfall.
Vangellys cut a promo on Pierroth afterwards. Rush responded with a promo of his own. Since the beef remains between Vangellys and Pierroth, this feud must continue.
Dragon Lee defeated Barbaro Cavernario in a lightning match
Being a one fall match hampered by a ten-minute time limit, they had a great bout while it lasted. The first dive by Dragon Lee came a minute and a half into the match. Moments later, he jumped off the top rope with a frog splash for a near fall. Shortly thereafter, Cavernario cut him off and took control.
Cavernario set him up for Shattered Dreams but instead gave him into a codebreaker. The action spilled to the outside, where Cavernario did his crazy tope suicida through the turnbuckles. An even crazier DDT by Cavernario got a near fall. For another near fall, Dragon Lee caught Cavernario with a running Spanish Fly.
With the clock ticking past the eight-minute mark, Cavernario splashed Dragon Lee and covered him for a two count. Dragon Lee finished off Cavernario with a Del Rio double foot stomp, followed by a pinfall with about 30 seconds of time remaining.
Angel de Oro, El Valiente (w/ KeMonito) & captain Niebla Roja defeated Negro Casas (w/ El Perico Zacarias), Euforia & captain Gran Guerrero
Valiente replaced Diamante Azul, who was advertised as part of the tecnico side of this trios match. The tecnicos won in two straight falls, though that included a disqualification in the second fall. In a scene similar to a previous trios match on the card, the rudos ambushed the tecnicos during an entrance.
Los Guerreros Laguneros were back to their routine of administering a beatdown on Niebla Roja. Still, the tecnicos made a comeback to win the first fall. Angel de Oro pinned Euforia with a hurricanrana, and Valiente submitted Casas with a Romero Special.
The rudos again gained an advantage as the beatdown resumed. That led into Niebla Roja leading a comeback that culminated in a parade of dives. Gran Guerrero unmasked Niebla Roja for a DQ to end the match.
Following the DQ, Gran Guerrero cut a promo on Niebla Roja. That could possibly lead to a match down the line for Roja’s light heavyweight title that he recently won.
Caristico & Soberano Jr. defeated Ultimo Guerrero & Sanson in the Gran Alternativa tournament finals
The tremendous atmosphere inside Arena Mexico hosted an outstanding match, which is worth going out of your way to see.
In the first fall, Guerrero ripped Soberano’s mask as Sanson also tore at Caristico’s mask. Guerrero catapulted Sanson into a double foot stomp on Soberano, followed by Sanson pinning Soberano. Guerrero then applied Pulpo Guerrero on Caristico for a submission to win the first fall.
Caristico and Soberano made a comeback in the second fall, leading to some spectacular flying that lit the crowd on fire. Soberano ripped the mask of Sanson. Evening the falls, Soberano pinned Guerrero with a victory roll while Caristico submitted Sanson with the Black Widow.
The place was electric as the climactic final fall began. A spectacle of flight gave way to a brawl on the floor. That set up Guerrero doing his signature spot of leaping over the barricade into a flying body block.
Guerrero became a base for Soberano to fly, but he would also deadlift Soberano into a superplex. Guerrero also went back to the top rope to give Soberano a super gourdbuster. Soberano kicked out at two and a half, and he countered seconds later with a Frankensteiner off the top for a two count.
Sanson and Caristico tagged in to trade near falls as they squared off. Guerrero made the save on a cover, then he and Caristico traded near falls. Guerrero powerbombed Caristico off the top rope, and Guerrero took a Frankensteiner off the top from Caristico.
Soberano and Sanson fought each other in the closing moments. Sanson lifted Soberano in a torture rack, then spun him around into a sit-out powerbomb. Upon a save by Caristico that also brought Guerrero back into the ring, Soberano executed a guillotine moonsault on Guerrero to eliminate him via pinfall
As that unfolded, Caristico launched into the application of La Mistica to submit Sanson and win the match.
Having joined Ultimo Guerrero as the only luchadores to win the tournament on three separate occasions throughout the years, Caristico was under the guise of a different name when he won previously in 2007 (as Mistico teaming with La Sombra) and 2004 (as Mistico teaming with El Hijo del Santo).
Soberano Jr. gets another tournament victory as the rocket stays firmly attached to his back in his continuing push up the cards.
The winners stuck around afterwards, but so did Ultimo Guerrero. He shook hands and posed for selfies with adoring fans gathered at ringside. The masses were sent home with a happy ending to conclude a stellar show.
