COVID-19 protocols have forced changes to an NJPW event for a third consecutive day.
IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Shingo Takagi, Tetsuya Naito, SANADA, BUSHI, Yujiro Takahashi, Gedo and Dick Togo were all originally scheduled to take place in Tuesday’s Summer Struggle event at Korakuen Hall. All have been pulled from the show.
Shingo and BUSHI presented with fevers at Sunday’s untelevised show and were pulled from that event. The two underwent PCR tests, but NJPW said in a statement that they are still awaiting the results of the tests. The other five were close contacts after sharing a ring with them on Saturday, so they were pulled from Monday and Tuesday’s shows, though those five were allowed to work Sunday’s event. EVIL was pulled from Monday’s event, but was not scheduled to wrestle on Tuesday’s show.
Gedo and Togo were already mathematically eliminated from the Super Junior Tag League, but were forced to forfeit Monday’s tournament match. Their scheduled tournament match for Tuesday has been ruled a double forfeit following SHO and YOH’s dissolution as a team on Monday’s show.
Shingo is currently still scheduled to defend the IWGP World Heavyweight title against EVIL in the main event of Wrestle Grand Slam in MetLife Dome on Sunday, September 5.
Here is the updated card for Tuesday’s show:
NJPW Summer Struggle, Tuesday, August 17, 5:30 a.m. Eastern time on NJPW World —
Super Jr. Tag League: Taiji Ishimori & El Phantasmo (4-0) vs. El Desperado & Yoshinobu Kanemaru (3-1)
Super Jr. Tag League: Robbie Eagles & Tiger Mask (3-1) vs. Ryusuke Taguchi & Master Wato (2-2)
Hirooki Goto, YOSHI-HASHI, Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima vs. Taichi, Zack Sabre Jr., Minoru Suzuki & DOUKI
“Several of our athletes are undergoing mandatory at-home isolation, due to contact tracing with the coronavirus infection,” the statement said. “As a result, our August 21st (Sat) and 22nd (Sun) shows have been cancelled. Thank you for your continued support for Stardom.”
Earlier this week, Stardom canceled shows that were scheduled to take place this past weekend, August 14 and August 15. They have not ran a show since August 13, the sixth day of their 5STAR Grand Prix Tournament.
New Japan Pro Wrestling, who share a parent company with Stardom, has also seen wrestlers being pulled due to possible interaction with COVID-19. After Shingo Takagi and BUSHI were pulled from Sunday’s Summer Struggle event due to fever, six more wrestlers (Tetsuya Naito, SANADA, EVIL, Yujiro Takahashi, Gedo, and Dick Togo) were pulled from Monday’s show due to contact tracing.
An music event promoter in Kansas City, Missouri, canceled a post-Raw Monday meet-and-greet with WWE’s Jeff Hardy on Sunday afternoon because they claim he has COVID-19.
“We regret to inform you that the event with Jeff Hardy to take place on Monday July 26, 2021, at recordBar in Kansas City, MO will have to be postponed to a later date. Jeff Hardy just tested positive for covid this morning, and will have to quarantine for the next two weeks, and will not be participating in any live events for the next two weeks,” the Facebook post read.
As of now, neither Hardy nor WWE has commented publicly on the claim. However, a source confirmed the positive test and that Hardy will indeed be off Raw the next two weeks and any scheduled house shows during that time.
Last week, the 43-year-old surprisingly defeated NXT Champion Karrion Kross in the latter’s debut match on the show. Hardy’s old theme “No More Words” also made a comeback on the show — Hardy’s first match on Raw since a late-June battle royal appearance.
Kota Ibushi is out of Saturday morning’s Summer Struggle in Sapporo card.
NJPW announced this evening that Ibushi is currently affected by side effects from a COVID-19 vaccination and as a result, will not be able to participate in tonight’s card. Ibushi was scheduled to team with Master Wato in the opener against Yota Tsuji and Yuya Uemra. Instead, Wato will face Uemura in a singles match.
The company said that Ibushi would continue to be monitored and decisions will be made regarding participation in upcoming matches. He is still scheduled for the second night of Summer Struggle in Sapporo on Sunday, where he will team with Master Wato to face Shingo Takagi and BUSHI of Los Ingobernables de Japon. He is also scheduled for Wrestle Grand Slam at the Tokyo Dome on July 25, where he will face Shingo Takagi for the IWGP World Heavyweight title.
Tonight’s show will have a IWGP Junior title match in the main event, with El Desperado defending the title against Taiji Ishimori. The following night will have a IWGP Tag Team title match, with Tetsuya Naito and SANADA challenging Zack Sabre Jr. and Taichi.
Suwama has vacated the AJPW Triple Crown title after testing positive for COVID-19.
All Japan Pro Wrestling announced this morning that Suwama has tested positive and as a result, will vacate the title. He was scheduled to defend the championship against Jake Lee on June 26 at the Ota Ward Gymnasium in Tokyo. No further details regarding the Triple Crown title were announced.
Tokyo Sports further reported that Suwama had felt sick around the 18th, then tested positive the following day. The original COVID-19 test Suwama took was negative, but a follow-up PCR test later confirmed the positive result.
Suwama held the Triple Crown title for 454 days, defeating Kenyo Miyahara on March 23, 2020. He was on his seventh reign as champion, a record for the title. The title defense against Lee would have been his eighth title defense.
Another AJPW wrestler, Zeus, was pulled from last year’s Real World Tag League in November after testing positive for COVID. He returned to in-ring action the following month.
Kazuchika Okada appeared in person for the first time since testing positive for COVID-19 tonight at Korakuen Hall.
He appeared at the start of tonight’s Road to Wrestle Grand Slam event. He said he was doing great. He spent most of the promo talking about still wanting his match for the IWGP World Heavyweight title at Wrestle Grand Slam in Tokyo Dome. He closed the promo by saying that next time people see him, he will be in his ring gear.
Okada was pulled from the second night of Wrestling Dontaku and was later confirmed to have COVID-19. Taichi and El Desperado have also since confirmed that they too have tested positive. NJPW has confirmed that nine wrestlers overall tested positive following their May 4 event.
Will Ospreay and Okada were scheduled to meet in the main event of Wrestle Grand Slam at the Tokyo Dome. However, Ospreay vacated the IWGP World Heavyweight title on May 21 due to a neck injury. Both the Tokyo and Yokohama Wrestle Grand Slam events were delayed due to the state of emergency in Japan being extended through the end of the month.
El Desperado is the latest NJPW talent to reveal his COVID-19 diagnosis.
In a Twitter thread he posted tonight on social media, Desperado detailed the symptoms he has been dealing with during his illness, including general muscle joint pain, a high fever, “unbelievable” back pain, “the most dizziness I’ve ever had”, and a terrible cough. He ended his thread by thanking the staff and nurses in Tokyo.
Desperado is the latest NJPW talent to confirm he has tested positive for COVID-19, with Kazuchika Okada and Taichi in recent days also confirming their status. NJPW has confirmed that nine wrestlers have tested positive following the second night of Wrestling Dontaku.
Desperado was originally scheduled to defend the IWGP Junior Heavyweight title against YOH on the second night of Wrestling Dontaku. However, both men were removed from the card, and the title match never took place. Desperado has been champion since February 28, winning a three way match for the vacant title that also included El Phantasmo and BUSHI.
New Japan Pro Wrestling’s Kazuchika Okada and Taichi revealed that they have tested positive for COVID-19.
Tokyo Sports reported that Okada confirmed in a recent interview that he had tested positive. He said that he felt sick and had lost his sense of taste, but it has since returned. Taichi confirmed to Tokyo Sports that he also tested positive. He appeared on this morning’s Road to Wrestle Grand Slam event via video and said had a high fever, but is recovering now.
Okada was pulled from the second night of Wrestling Dontaku on May 4 when two participants in a match he took part in the night prior had fevers. He and others involved in that match were removed from the second night’s card. NJPW later announced that nine people had tested positive for COVID-19, causing the company to cancel their shows through May 22 when they resumed their schedule.
Taichi competed in the second night of Dontaku, but has not wrestled on the current tour.
Wrestle Grand Slam in Tokyo Dome was scheduled to have an IWGP World Champion Will Ospreay vs. Okada title match. However, the event and the other Wrestle Grand Slam show in Yokohama were delayed due to the COVID-19 emergency in Japan being extended through the end of the month.
Ospreay has since vacated the title, returning to the United Kingdom to seek treatment for a neck injury.
NJPW announced that they will return to running shows starting on May 22.
The company released a statement saying that they will resume their Road to Wrestle Grand Slam tour starting this Saturday in Nagoya. They also announced dates for May 24, 25, and 26 at Korakuen Hall.
NJPW made the move to cancel their events as 9 people tested positive for COVID-19 following the second night of Wrestling Dontaku. Today’s statement said that these wrestlers have continued to display minor symptoms and have received medical treatment. The company said further that wrestlers and staff will only be allowed to participate after diligent screening.
The two scheduled dome events in Yokohama and Tokyo have been delayed due to the state of emergency being extended in Japan to the end of month.
The second night of Wrestling Dontaku had to be rearranged due to wrestlers being taken off due to safety precautions. A scheduled match between El Desperado and YOH for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight title had to be removed from the card altogether.
The state of emergency in Japan, combined with nine COVID test failures, has led New Japan Pro Wrestling to postpone both its 5/15 show at the Yokohama Baseball Stadium and 5/29 show at the Tokyo Dome.
It had become curious coming off the 5/4 Dontaku show at the Fukuoka Convention Center that no direct angles happened to set up matches with three major shows in the next five weeks. It was more notable when no press conference was held in the two days after Dontaku for the stadium shows.
The government announced a state of emergency through the end of May. It had already been decided that attendance at the 5/15 and 5/29 show and all entertainment events in a number of major cities in Japan be capped off at 5,000. The capacity limit had been known for some time, so the shows being called off is likely because of being cautious due to the COVID outbreak as they legally could run the events at a limited capacity. Also, most likely, the nine wrestlers affected would be available for the Tokyo Dome show, even if it would be touch-and-go for Yokohama Arena. WWE and AEW both have put people on the show 11 days after positive tests so a 5/15 date would have been touch-and-go, but New Japan as a company also may have been more cautious. Given we don’t know who tested positive, there could be other issues such as the advance for both of the shows and if they could put together a show worthy of stadium events, and certainly 5/15 would appear to have been hard to do so.
Seven additional NJPW wrestlers have tested positive for COVID-19.
The company released a statement tonight saying that upon further testing, seven more wrestlers have tested positive for COVID-19. This is in addition to the two wrestlers that NJPW confirmed have tested positive. The statement reads:
As a result of PCR testing conducted across the roster following the May 4 Wrestling Dontaku event in Fukuoka, New Japan Pro-Wrestling has learned of seven positive tests for COVID-19.
As previously reported, two wrestlers who presented with a fever on the day of the May 4 event were immediately tested in accordance with COVID protocols, with the tests returning positive.
In light of this news, all those who had close contact with the infected parties, in addition to every wrestler on the roster, received PCR tests, with a further seven wrestlers testing positive.
All those who tested positive are experiencing mild symptoms or are asymptomatic. According to protocols and under medical advice, all are isolating and receiving appropriate treatment.
NJPW pulled Kazuchika Okada, Minoru Suzuki, El Desperado, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, SHO, and YOH from the second night of Wrestling Dontaku after two wrestlers came down with a fever. As a result, several matches had to be changed and the IWGP Junior Heavyweight title between El Desperado and YOH was removed.
The company announced earlier this week that both of their stadium shows in Yokohama and Tokyo were being postponed due to the COVID-19 state of emergency in Japan being extended through the end of May.
Dave Meltzer recaps the AEW Blood and Guts special, both nights of NJPW’s Wrestling Dontaku.
Also in this issue:
Idea of War Games, Blood & Guts coverage, understanding the ratings and business notes.
Ospreay vs. Takagi, Dontaku coverage and New Japan COVID issues explained.
Notes on the upcoming AEW & WWE PPV shows.
Saturday’s UFC coverage.
The life of Randy Savage, what was and wasn’t covered by A&E, aspects that were and weren’t true.
AAA Rey de Reyes coverage and a major bout of international stars set up with Omega vs. Andrade.
Debut of a new promotion with lots of international stars coming to PPV.
Dragon Gate Dead or Alive coverage.
Lots of new info on exactly how people watch the major wrestling shows.
How many different people actually tuned in to see the different wrestling shows last week and why it’s far more than people realize.
Champion Carnival finals notes.
Hall of Famer returns to start new major promotion.
Story behind the Reigns vs. Bryan match.
More into detail on the ratings than any other source, how every segment on NXT and AEW did as well as how it did with different age groups, genders and more, plus a look at all other wrestling shows of the past week.
Results of the major pro wrestling events of the past week.
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FRIDAY NEWS UPDATE
Garrett Gonzales and I are doing a show tonight on Brian Pillman, coming off last night’s Dark Side of the Ring episode. Kim Wood will be our guest and we are taking listener questions on Pillman for tonight to be sent to [email protected]. Bryan and I will be back tomorrow night talking about the fallout of Blood & Guts, UFC, Bellator and more.
Regarding the two New Japan stadium shows in May that have been postponed due to the state of emergency in Japan, the plan is to run both the Yokohama Arena and Tokyo Dome shows later this year when things are better. It’s also been noted that if the state of emergency is extended past 5/31, that Dominion, on 6/6, would be in jeopardy of taking place as scheduled. More notably, we are getting far too close for comfort for the Olympics in Tokyo in August. There are good and bad things about Japanese culture but they are generally not into vaccinations like American culture and right now that is not a good thing.
The AEW numbers for Wednesday were phenomenal considering it was Cinco de Mayo and their main audience is males 18-49. It was the first time AEW in its history ever finished first in cable, and not only did it beat everything in cable in the key demo but also beat both CBS and NBC programming head-to-head. The current issue goes deep into what the numbers mean and what they would have done on a more normal Wednesday.
Smackdown tonight is the Retro show featuring Seth Rollins vs. Cesaro. 205 Live tonight features the debut of Ikkeman Jiro (Jiro Kuroshio) & August Gray vs. Tony Nese & Ariya Daivari and the debut of Ari Sterling (Alex Zayne) vs. Samir Singh.
The trial of Alberto Rodriguez (Alberto El Patron) that was scheduled for this week has been moved to 8/2, believed to be COVID related.
Bellator tonight on Showtime at 9 p.m. Eastern:
Michael Venom Page (174.75) vs. Derek Anderson (175)
Patricky Pitbull Freire (155.5) vs. Peter Queally (155)
Anthony Rumble Johnson (205) vs. Jose Augusto (204.75) in a light heavyweight Grand Prix tournament first round match
Juan Archuleta (135) vs. Sergio Pettis (134.75 for the bantamweight title
UFC tomorrow night has the prelims starting at 6 p.m. on ESPN+ and the main card at 8 p.m. on ESPN:
Prelims:
Christian Aguilera (170.5) vs. Carlston Harris (170.5)
Jun Yong Park (186) vs.Tafon Nchukwi (186)
Ludovit Klein (146) vs. Michael Trizano (146)
Kyle Daukaus (186) vs. Phil Hawes (186)
Main card:
Angela Hill (116) vs. Amanda Ribas (115.5)
Diego Ferreira (160.5) vs. Gregor Gillespie (156)
Maurice Greene (237) vs. Marcos Rogerio de Lima (264.5)
Neil Magny (170.5) vs. Geoff Neal (171)
Donald Cerrone (170) vs. Alex Morono (170.5)
Marina Rodriguez (125.5) vs. Michelle Waterson (125)
Ferriera missed weight by 4.5 pounds and has been fined 30 percent of his purse to Gillespie. The Phillipe Lins vs. Ben Rothwell heavyweight fight is off because Lins wasn’t medically cleared to compete. Ryan Benoit weighed 129, missing weight by three pounds, but he could barely stand up on the scale and his fight with Zarrukh Adashev was canceled. He needed help just to step onto the scale.
ROH is doing an angle where Rush, Dragon Lee, Kenny King and Bestia del Ring have been suspended for the month of May. The suspension was due to the attack on Amy Rose at the PPV and for using weapons.
Matt Taven & Mike Bennett challenge Tracy Williams & Rhett Titus for the ROH tag titles on the 5/22 TV show
Last night’s Dark Side of the Ring drew 272,000 viewers and 0.09 in 18-49. It would be the third highest viewership for any show ever on VICE, trailing previous Dark Side episodes on Owen Hart and Chris Benoit.
New Japan Strong tonight at 10 p.m. Eastern
Kevin Knight & The DKC vs. Barrett Brown & Adrian Quest
Misterioso vs. Jordan Clearwater vs. Royce Issacs
Jon Moxley & Chis Dickinson vs. Yuji Nagata & Ren Narita
Sara McMann vs. Ketlen Vieira is scheduled for 8/28. Vieira beat McMann four years ago via submission with a triangle.
Soriano vs. Christos Giagos is scheduled for a lightweight fight on 5/15.
Norman Dumont vs. Felicia Spencer will take place on 5/22 according to an announcement by Spencer. This will be Spencer’s first fight since losing a featherweight title match to Amanda Nunes.
AEW
As of 7 p.m. Eastern time, there were 827 tickets still unsold for the Wednesday Dynamite tapings in Jacksonville.
OTHER NOTES
Chael Sonnen has signed a new multi-year contract extension with ESPN. He will continue to cover UFC events every weekend and co-host the show Ariel & The Bad Guy with Ariel Helwani on ESPN+.
Bellator has announced Tim Johnson vs. Valentin Moldavsky for the interim heavyweight title on 6/25. They are doing an interim title because Ryan Bader is currently competing in the light heavyweight tournament and until he loses, wouldn’t be able to defend the heavyweight title. If and when Bader loses in the tournament, he would then face the interim champion.
PFL had its first show on ESPN last night:
Renan Ferreira tapped out from a triangle, but the ref didn’t see it, and Werdum softened his hold and got pounded out in just 2:32 of the first round in a major upset.
Kayla Harrisin finished Mariana Morais via strikes in just 1:23 of round one
Brandon Sayles beat Mohammed Usman (Kamaru’s brother) via choke at 3:42 of round two
Larissa Pacheco b Julija Pajic via strikes in :51 of round one
Bruno Cappeloza stopped Ante Delija via knockout in :46 of round one
The next PFL show is 6/10 with the debut of Claressa Shields. The show did 324,000 viewers on ESPN last night and 0.09 in 18-49.
MCW has a fan convention on Saturday at 1000 Joppa Farm Rd, in Joppa, MD featuring Matt Cardona.
AAW tonight live on FITE TV at 8:30 p.m. Eastern time:
Mance Warner vs Fred Yehi for AAW heavyweight title
Myron Reed vs. Mat Fitchett for AAW Heritage title
Davey Vega vs. ACH
Skye Blue vs. Allysin Kay
Lio Rush vs. Laredo Kid
Hakim Zane vs. Dante Leon
CWE in Canada announced that due to governmental regulations the May tour has to be canceled. They are hoping to return to action on 7/2 in Winnipeg but aren’t putting tickets on sale until they find out they can do the scheduled tour.
Court Bauer sent out a funny tweet about Wednesday’s show, which got a lot of attention with the reveal of Luis Fernandez-Gil (formerly Dario Cueto) as a new regular character. “Thank you for watching the season finale of MLW Fusion last night. It was the highest social media engagement in MLW history. I’m not exactly sure what that means but I’m told it’s a good thing.” Cueto’s new name will be Cesar Duran.
Arena Mexico will be allowed to open up to 500 fan shows starting on 5/17 so it appears the 5/28 PPV show will be its first with fans.
Congratulations to Patric Laprade, whose Les Anti-Ods de la Lutte podcast was nominated for the Canadian Podcast Awards in the sports category and is the only French language podcast nominated. Laprade also noted that his biography of Andre the Giant, written with Bertrand Hebert, has sold more than 15,000 copies, and made the Quebec best sellers list. The book took second in this year’s Observer awards and is well worth checking out. Really, if you have any interest at all in Andre, you should read it.
On Friday May 7, the Japanese government announced an extension to the state of emergency currently in place in Tokyo and other prefectures. In light of this announcement, as well as current COVID-19 infection status, and in order to prevent any potential further spread of the virus, New Japan Pro-Wrestling has arrived at the decision to postpone the Wrestle Grand Slam events in Yokohama Stadium and the Tokyo Dome previously scheduled for May 15 and 29 respectively.
The company said that new dates for the upcoming shows are currently being finalized. They ask for fans to retain their tickets, and that any fan that is unable to attend the new dates will be eligible for a refund.
The only match officially announced for either show was an IWGP World Heavyweight title match between Will Ospreay and Kazuchika Okada for the Tokyo Dome event.
Originally set to expire on May 11, Japan extended its state of emergency until the end of May. This applies to the Tokyo, Osaka, Hyogo, and Kyoto prefectures. Two more prefectures, Aichi and Fukuoka, have been added to the list.
Two New Japan Pro Wrestling wrestlers have tested positive for COVID-19.
NJPW released a statement on their website tonight confirming that two wrestlers have tested positive and are currently showing mild symptoms. The company did not name the two individuals. This follows yesterday’s removal of six wrestlers (Kazuchika Okada, Minoru Suzuki, El Desperado, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, SHO, and YOH) from the second night of Wrestling Dontaku after two of the indviduals developed fevers prior to the start of the card.
Additionally, NJPW said in their statement that other wrestlers and staff who have been in contact with the two wrestlers are “currently being monitored in a controlled environment and are receiving relevant tests.”
The company also noted that all wrestlers and staff for the Road to Dontaku tour returned negative PCR tests prior to the start of the tour.
Several matches set for the second night of Wrestling Dontaku were changed as a result of the protocols. The IWGP Junior Heavyweight title match between champion El Desperado and challenger YOH was removed from the card entirely.
Six wrestlers were removed from this morning’s NJPW Wrestling Dontaku card due to COVID-19 protocols.
Kazuchika Okada, Minoru Suzuki, El Desperado, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, SHO, and YOH were all removed from tonight’s card. New Japan Pro Wrestling wrote on their website that several matches had to be changed, including the IWGP Junior Heavyweight title match between El Desperado and YOH, which was removed from the card altogether.
The website said that one wrestler that was scheduled to appear on the show this morning had a fever, and was currently going through examination, including PCR and antibody testing. They also said that one other wrestler who has been part of the events since May 1 in Beppu is also undergoing evaluation.
NJPW’s website said the show currently taking place would continue after consulting with their medical committee. The following changes to the card have been made:
Second match: Master Wato and Hiroyoshi Tenzan will face Taiji Ishimori and Yujiro Takahashi, replacing Kazuchika Okada and SHO vs. Minoru Suzuki and Yoshinobu Kanemaru
Fourth match: Ryusuke Taguchi, Toru Yano, and Hiroshi Tanahashi will face Jay White, EVIL, and Dick Togo, replacing the Wato/Taguchi/Tenzan/Yano/Tanahashi vs. Togo/Ishimori/Yujiro/EVIL/Jay White bout
Fifth match: El Desperado vs. YOH for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight title has been removed from tonight’s card.
