NJPW has revealed the cards for their New Beginning USA tour, which starts later this month.
The tour will kick off on January 24 in Tampa, Florida. The show will be headlined by Hiroshi Tanahashi, Kota Ibushi, Juice Robinson, David Finlay & Rocky Romero vs. Tama Tonga, Tanga Loa, Yujiro Takahashi, Chase Owens & Jado in an elimination match.
Other notable bouts for Tampa include YOSHI-HASHI vs. Lance Archer and Jeff Cobb vs. Alex Zayne.
YOSHI-HASHI will be in another singles match on January 26 in Nashville, Tennessee when he faces Karl Fredericks. Satoshi Kojima vs. Cobb, Yuji Nagata vs. Lance Archer, and Tanahashi vs. Yujiro Takahashi are also set, and Ibushi, Robinson, Finlay & Romero vs. Tonga, Loa, Owens & Jado will be the main event.
Tanahashi, Ibushi, Robinson, Finlay & YOSHI-HASHI will team against Tonga, Loa, Yujiro Takahashi, Owens & Jado on January 27 in Durham, North Carolina. That show will also have TJP vs. Misterioso, Cobb vs. Fredericks, and Ren Narita vs. Archer.
January 30 in Miami will be headlined by Tanahashi & Ibushi vs. Tonga & Loa. Cobb will face Narita in a singles match, Zayne will take on Archer, and The Rock ‘n’ Roll Express will face Colt Cabana & Toru Yano.
The final show of the tour will take place on February 1 in Atlanta, Georgia. That card will have an IWGP Tag Team title match featuring new champions Robinson & Finlay defending against former champions Tonga & Loa. Ibushi will face Owens in a singles match, Cobb will face Archer, and Tanahashi & The Rock ‘n’ Roll Express will team against TJP, Zayne & Clark Connors.
Full cards for the tour are available below:
Tampa (January 24) —
Elimination match: Hiroshi Tanahashi, Kota Ibushi, Juice Robinson, David Finlay & Rocky Romero vs. Tama Tonga, Tanga Loa, Yujiro Takahashi, Chase Owens & Jado
YOSHI-HASHI vs. Lance Archer
Jeff Cobb vs. Alex Zayne
TJP & Karl Fredericks vs. Colt Cabana & Toru Yano
Satoshi Kojima & Yuji Nagata vs. Ren Narita & Alex Coughlin
Clark Connors vs. Misterioso
Nashville (January 26) —
Kota Ibushi, Juice Robinson, David Finlay & Rocky Romero vs. Tama Tonga, Tanga Loa, Chase Owens & Jado
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Yujiro Takahashi
Yuji Nagata vs. Lance Archer
Satoshi Kojima vs. Jeff Cobb
TJP & Clark Connors vs. Colt Cabana & Toru Yano
YOSHI-HASHI vs. Karl Fredericks
Ren Narita & Alex Coughlin vs. Alex Zayne & Misterioso
Durham (January 27) —
Hiroshi Tanahashi, Kota Ibushi, Juice Robinson, David Finlay & YOSHI-HASHI vs. Tama Tonga, Tanga Loa, Yujiro Takahashi, Chase Owens & Jado
Ren Narita vs. Lance Archer
Jeff Cobb vs. Karl Fredericks
The Rock ‘n’ Roll Express & Alex Zayne vs. Colt Cabana, Toru Yano & Rocky Romero
Satoshi Kojima & Yuji Nagata vs. Clark Connors & Alex Coughlin
TJP vs. Misterioso
Miami (January 30) —
Hiroshi Tanahashi & Kota Ibushi vs. Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa
Juice Robinson, David Finlay & Rocky Romero vs. Yujiro Takahashi, Chase Owens & Jado
Alex Zayne vs. Lance Archer
Jeff Cobb vs. Ren Narita
The Rock ‘n’ Roll Express vs. Colt Cabana & Toru Yano
Satoshi Kojima & Yuji Nagata vs. Karl Fredericks & Alex Coughlin
YOSHI-HASHI & Misterioso vs. TJP & Clark Connors
Atlanta (February 1) —
IWGP Tag Team Champions Juice Robinson & David Finlay defending against Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa
Kota Ibushi vs. Chase Owens
Jeff Cobb vs. Lance Archer
Hiroshi Tanahashi & The Rock ‘n’ Roll Express vs. TJP, Alex Zayne & Clark Connors
Colt Cabana & Toru Yano vs. Yujiro Takahashi & Jado
YOSHI-HASHI & Rocky Romero vs. Alex Coughlin & Misterioso
Satoshi Kojima & Yuji Nagata vs. Karl Fredericks & Ren Narita
Juice Robinson and David Finlay are this year’s World Tag League winners.
They defeated EVIL and SANADA at this morning’s World Tag League finals, their first time winning both individually and as a team. Finlay scored the pinfall for his team after hitting a springboard stunner off the middle rope.
After the match and the trophy presentation, the rest of the babyface roster came out with Zimas to celebrate FinJuice’s win. Robinson called out current IWGP Tag Team champions Guerillas of Destiny, who came out with Jado. Robinson officially challenged the team to a title match at the Tokyo Dome. Tama Tonga bluntly replied by flipping off everyone in the ring as the trio left.
It had boiled down to three teams going into the finals: EVIL and SANADA, Guerillas of Destiny and Robinson & Finlay. GoD lost their match against Tomohiro Ishii and YOSHI-HASHI in the semi main event, putting them out of the tournament.
EVIL & SANADA were going for a third straight win tonight after winning in 2017 and 2018.
NJPW has named David Finlay’s replacement in the New Japan Cup.
It was announced last night that Ryusuke Taguchi is replacing Finlay in the single-elimination tournament. Taguchi’s opponent in the first round is Hiroyoshi Tenzan, with them set to face each other in Hyogo on Sunday (March 10).
Finlay was forced out of the New Japan Cup after suffering a left shoulder injury at ROH-NJPW Honor Rising night two on February 23. Finlay tweeted after the injury happened: “Thanks to everyone for all the positive vibes! I did dislocated my shoulder last night but it’s back in now. I’ll see a doctor when I’m home to see what the damage is but hopefully it’s nothing too serious. Thanks again to everyone. See you in the mountains!”
NJPW noted that when Finlay will be able to return to the ring is currently undecided.
This year’s New Japan Cup has 32 participants. It will begin at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo this Friday (March 8) and conclude in Niigata on March 24. The winner of the tournament will challenge for Jay White’s IWGP Heavyweight Championship at ROH & NJPW’s G1 Supercard at Madison Square Garden on April 6.
Though the tournament has yet to get underway, an injury has forced a change to the New Japan Cup lineup.
NJPW announced on Wednesday night that David Finlay will miss the New Japan Cup due to a left shoulder injury. A replacement for Finlay has yet to be announced. He was scheduled to face Hiroyoshi Tenzan in a first round match on March 10.
The shoulder injury happened during the main event of NJPW-ROH Honor Rising night two on February 23. Finlay was teaming with Juice Robinson against ROH Tag Team Champions The Briscoes and was hurt when he went for an uppercut off the top rope towards the end of the match. After the injury, Mark Briscoe hit the Froggy Elbow on Finlay and Jay Briscoe pinned him.
Finlay tweeted after the Honor Rising show: “Thanks to everyone for all the positive vibes! I did dislocated my shoulder last night but it’s back in now. I’ll see a doctor when I’m home to see what the damage is but hopefully it’s nothing too serious. Thanks again to everyone. See you in the mountains!”
NJPW noted that the date for when Finlay will be able to return is currently undecided.
The New Japan Cup will begin on March 8 and conclude on March 24. The winner will challenge for Jay White’s IWGP Heavyweight Championship at Madison Square Garden on April 6.
It appears that WWE has officially taken the first steps towards Ronda Rousey, Becky Lynch, and Charlotte Flair all being involved in the main event of WrestleMania 35.
An angle where Vince McMahon suspended Lynch for 60 days and announced that Charlotte would be taking her place at WrestleMania closed last Monday’s episode of Raw. Charlotte aligned with Vince and fully turned heel, with Vince calling her someone with charisma, someone with charm, and someone who knows their lane and stays in it.
The show didn’t sell out, even in one of WWE’s best markets. The show had more good than bad, with the highlight being the main event, the men’s Chamber match where Daniel Bryan retained and the crowd got so strong behind Kofi Kingston in the Mustafa Ali slot that Vince McMahon changed plans for Fast Lane to put Bryan vs. Kingston on top.
The show was the brainchild of Motoko Baba, to run a big Baba celebration show in 2019, 20 years after his early 1999 death. With her passing away last year, it was her nieces and nephews who put the show together.
All but one count of Mark Hunt’s lawsuit against the UFC, Dana White and Brock Lesnar on the grounds they conspired against him to allow a juiced up Lesnar to fight him at UFC 200 was thrown out of court.
The 2020 Royal Rumble will take place on 1/26 at Minute Maid Park in Houston. Most likely that would also mean Takeover on 1/25 at the Toyota Center, Raw on 1/27 and Smackdown on 1/28.
FOX this weekend started advertising 10/4 as the debut of the new Friday Night Smackdown show.
“Fighting with My Family,” the Dwayne Johnson Seven Bucks Entertainment movie about Growing Up as Paige, which has its big national release on 2/22, has gotten great word-of-mouth so far.
Chris Jericho noted that while he and Gedo are on the same page, that New Japan management hasn’t talked with him about a new deal.
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SUNDAY NEWS UPDATE
WWE
Dave Meltzer has sent in the following in regards to injuries that took place over the weekend:
There was an injury scare last night as Drew McIntyre seemed to have suffered a knee injury during a house show in Tupelo, MS. The match had to go home early, but he is believed to be fine.
Noam Dar suffered what could possibly be a serious knee injury suffered in a match against Mark Andrews during the NXT UK tapings yesterday. He is to be examined in the US when he comes back.
Mark Andrews was knocked out during the match with Dar. It may be a concussion, but the belief is that it wasn’t too serious.
Aleister Black said his goodbyes to NXT during a house show in Daytona Beach, Florida this weekend. He along with the other call-ups will still be part of the NXT TV tapings at least through the next TakeOver.
Dave Schilling, who has written in the past for Bleacher Report, VICE and The Guardian says that he will be joining the WWE creative team next month.
The Rock surprised moviegoers who were watching Fighting With My Family in Atlanta, appearing at a screening of the movie.
Nikki Bella won the WIN award this weekend for best actress in a reality series.
Pro Wrestling
David Finlay wrote on Twitter yesterday that he dislocated his shoulder during the ROH tag team title match on 2/23, writing “Thanks to everyone for all the positive vibes! I did dislocated my shoulder last night but it’s back in now. I’ll see a doctor when I’m home to see what the damage is but hopefully it’s nothing too serious. Thanks again to everyone. See you in the mountains!”
All Japan announced the blocks for this year’s Champion Carnival, which starts on April 4 and runs through April 29.
Block A has Kento Miyahara, Kengo Mashimo, Yuma Aoyagi, Zeus, Gianni Valletta, Ryouji Sai, Dylan James, Shuji Ishikawa,Yuji Okabayashi
Block B has Joe Doering, Jake Lee, Naoya Nomura, Yoshitatsu, Daichi Hashimoto, Sam Adonis, Suwama, Takashi Yoshida, Joel Redman
WALTER vs. David Starr, Fenix vs. Rey Horus, Axel Dieter Jr. vs. Maris Al-Ani, Pentagon Jr. vs. Mark Davis, Timothy Thatcher vs. Lucky Kid, Ilja Dragunov vs. Daisuke Sekimoto, Chris Brookes vs. Shigehiro Irie, and Jurn Simmons vs. Avalanche in a falls count anywhere match are the first round matches in this year’s wXw 16 Carat Gold tournament. The tournament is taking place from March 8-10, with those first round matches happening on the first night.
Starrcast LLC has applied a trademark for the term “Dead Man Talking.”
This week’s MLW Fusion episode is available on YouTube. It has Aerostar vs. Rey Horus, Mance Warner making his debut against Jimmy Yuta, and Rich Swann vs. Lance Anoa’i.
Ed in San Antonio presents the WRESTLEMANIAWeekend Events (more to be added):
Sunday, April 6th, at 12:00 pm: Lunch (all you can eat) at Churrascaria Plataforma ($90 per person), located at 316 W. 49th street in Manhattan. Purchase tickets here~!
Luxury Bus to MetLife Stadium for Wrestlemania: We will depart from the Hilton Midtown (site of Wrestlecon) located at 1335 Avenue of the Americas. Departure time is 4:00 pm and will return from MetLife approximately 30 mins after the event. Times are subject to change, and cost $67.00 per person for the round trip. Purchase tickets here~!
New Japan and Ring of Honor ran the second out of two Honor Rising shows tonight, featuring ROH, ROH tag team and IWGP tag team title matches.
Toa Henare and Jonathan Gresham defeated Zack Sabre Jr. and Taka Michinoku
Good opener. Gresham looked great, he and Sabre had some cool exchanges. He should really be back here soon, he would fit right in and he got over both nights.
Sabre seemed to have tweaked his knee while running to the corner. He worked most of this match, but tagged out to Taka. He and Gresham went at it as they had some nice exchanges, including a shooting star press from Gresham that looked really good. Taka eventually submitted to Gresham’s Octopus stretch.
They mentioned that the participants for the New Japan Cup will be revealed this Monday on the company’s website.
Marty Scurll defeated Robbie Eagles
This was fine. Pretty athletic, people were into Marty and the match overall but it was short. It also felt like a there was just a bunch of moves with no real story.
A lot of this match featured some back and forth that got over with the crowd. Scurll dodged a 450 splash by Eagles at one point. Eagles met him on the top rope and hit a super frankensteiner off the top rope for a good nearfall.
Scurll went for the fingers spot, but Eagles escaped. As Eagles hit the ropes, Scurll grabbed him and sunk in the chickenwing. Eagles immediately tapped out.
Colt Cabana and Toru Yano defeated Delirious and Cheeseburger
This was fun, and the crowd had fun with everyone’s antics. Colt Cabana and Cheeseburger wrestled and due to the size discrepancy, there was a lot of comedy. Most of this match was, really. Delirious and Yano were in and Colt Cabana introduced not one, but two turnbuckle posts. Yano smashed Cheeseburger with one, but he rallied back and struck Cabana with the shotei palm strike.
Cabana took down Delirious but was repulsed when grabbing his feet. Delirious low blowed Cabana and rolled him up, but he kicked out. Cabana cut off Delirious, hit the Chicago skyline (a snake eyes across the turnbuckle) then used his feet to roll up Delirious for the win.
Will Ospreay and Hirooki Goto defeated Jeff Cobb and Dalton Castle
A good match. They kept Cobb isolated, knocking out Dalton multiple times during the the match. He may still be injured as Cobb worked most of the match, though Dalton did get involved here and there. Ospreay in this match looked excellent. Ospreay hit the elbow to the back of the head then hit the stormbreaker for the pinfall victory.
Tetsuya Naito and Shingo Takagi defeated Matt Taven and Vinny Marseglia
This was alright, a standard tag team match. Everyone worked hard and for the most part, the crowd was into it. Kingdom got the heat on Shingo until he finally tagged in Naito who cleared house. Shingo came in and hit the pumping bomber on Marseglia, with Naito capping it off with the Destino for the victory.
Jay Lethal defeated TK O’Ryan to retain the ROH World title
This was very average, at best. O’Ryan just isn’t there as a singles yet and they had a competent, okay match that was nothing special.
Lethal entered the ring and immediately hit a suicide dive, taking out O’Ryan and suplexing him on the mat. Once back in the ring, they had a decent back and forth match. Lethal hit the Lethal Combination but O’Ryan cut him off on the top rope, but Lethal countered with and inverted suplex.
Lethal applied the figure four, then went for the Lethal Injection. O’Ryan escaped and tried for a pin with an O’Connor roll. Lethal escaped the roll, springboarded off the ropes and hit the Lethal Injection for the win.
Matt Taven jumped Jay Lethal after the match, grabbing the ROH title and said that he’ll see Lethal in Vegas for the Anniversary show.
Guerillas of Destiny defeated SANADA and EVIL for the IWGP tag team titles
Real good, action-packed match. These two teams have great chemistry with one another and had another hot match tonight. GoD are the most pushed and consistent team on the roster right now, so putting the titles back on them makes sense, especially after what happened following the next match.
Some good back and forth to start things off. Eventually, the challengers took the champions to the outside and started to brawl with them around the arena. Heels worked on SANADA until he cut them off and made the hot tag to EVIL, who went at it with Tanga Loa.
After SANADA was tagged back in, he and EVIL hone in on Tama Tonga. He escaped the magic killer and hits a gun stun on EVIL. SANADA grabs him and puts him in the skull end and looked to finish with the moonsault. Tonga rolls out of the way, sending SANADA crashing to the mat.
Loa entered the match, but EVIL followed with a lariat to the corner. They take Tonga for the magic killer but he shoves SANADA into the ref. GoD take control, grab SANADA and hit the super powerbomb for the win, making them five time IWGP tag team champions.
The Briscoes defeated Juice Robinson and David Finlay to retain the ROH tag team titles
This was a pretty hot match until David Finlay injured his shoulder, landing badly doing an uppercut off the top rope. It was serious enough that the match grinded to a halt and went right to the finish. Hopefully it’s nothing too serious but it didn’t look good here.
More hot back and forth action to start things off. Mark launched off with a giant tope con hilo to the floor, wiping out Lifeblood. Good back and forth throughout the match. Lifeblood are also starting to gel well as a team, taking out the Briscoes with stereo rolling sentons to the outside.
Lifeblood tried to go for the Doomsday Device but Jay cut them off, hit a superplex on Finlay as Mark landed the froggy bow for a nearfall. Finlay countered with a roll-up and cleared the ring, tagging to Juice. Finlay went for a uppercut but landed badly on his shoulder on impact. He told referee Todd Sinclair that his shoulder went out. They immediately went to the finish, with Mark posting Juice then landing the froggy bow on Finlay, with Jay covering to retain the titles.
Jay started the post-match promo saying they’re still the tag team champions. They brought up the Guerillas of Destiny, who are the new IWGP Heavyweight tag team champions. They officially challenged the Guerillas of Destiny for a title vs. title match for the G1 Supercard event on April 6.
Guerillas of Destiny came out. Tanga Loa accepted the challenge on their behalf as the two tag team champions held up their titles. They did a fake out on the Briscoes, left the ring as Jay said they’ll meet them at MSG as the show closed.
A pretty hot show overall. The tag team titles matches were good and work overall was pretty strong. We also have our first official match for the G1 Supercard, which sounds really cool and intriguing on paper. If the first match is indicative of anything, these two promotions are going to have some hot matches during WrestleMania weekend.
New Japan Pro Wrestling’s three-show New Beginning USA tour wrapped up at the War Memorial Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee on Saturday night.
– Katsuyori Shibata did the pre-show welcome with Clark Connors in the ring with him.
– Karl Fredericks defeated Alex Coughlin in 9:48
Fredericks submitted him with a Boston crab right as the 10-minute time limit was coming up.
– Shane Taylor & Lance Archer defeated Colt Cabana & Jonathan Gresham in 11:12
Taylor got the pin on Cabana after hitting a modified piledriver.
– The Great O-Kharn defeated Harlem Bravado in 10:34
The Iron Claw slam got the win for O-Kharn.
– Marty Scurll defeated Clark Connors in 13:51
Scurll submitted him with the crossface chicken wing.
– Jeff Cobb defeated Brody King in 22:27
The Tour of the Islands got the win for Cobb.
– IWGP United States Heavyweight Champion Juice Robinson, David Finlay & Tracy Williams defeated Beretta, Chuckie T & Rocky Romero in an elimination tag match in 31:26
Eliminations could occur via pinfall, submission, or being thrown over the top rope. It came down to Robinson and Romero, with Robinson hitting Pulp Friction to win.
The eliminations were:
Finlay threw Chuckie T over the top rope
Romero sent Williams over the top rope
Finlay pinned Beretta
Romero threw Finlay over the top rope right after he pinned Beretta
Robinson pinned Romero after hitting Pulp Friction
Robinson got on the microphone and thanked the fans to close the show. Both teams showed each other respect.
New Japan Pro Wrestling was in the United States this weekend for a pair of four-match shows in Anaheim, California. The events took place at the Anaheim Expo Center as part of CharaExpo USA 2018.
The cards featured members of the NJPW roster and three young lions from the promotion’s California dojo (Alex Coughlin, Clark Connors, and Karl Fredericks).
Here are the results:
Show one (Saturday) —
– Alex Coughlin and Karl Fredericks went to a 10-minute time limit draw
– Ryusuke Taguchi defeated Rocky Romero with a roll-up
– David Finlay defeated Jushin Thunder Liger with a stunner
– NEVER Openweight Champion Hirooki Goto defeated ACH with the GTR in a non-title match
This was originally supposed to be Goto vs. Jeff Cobb, but Cobb missed the first show due to a flight delay. Finlay & Liger vs. ACH & Clark Connors was turned into the Finlay vs. Liger singles match.
Show two (Sunday) —
– ACH defeated Karl Fredericks with a bridging German suplex
– Jushin Thunder Liger defeated Clark Connors by submission
– Jeff Cobb & Ryusuke Taguchi defeated Rocky Romero & NEVER Openweight Champion Hirooki Goto when Cobb hit the Tour of the Islands on Romero
– IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Kenny Omega defeated David Finlay with the One Winged Angel in a non-title match
Omega got on the microphone and thanked the crowd to close the show.
More information has been released for next month’s Lion’s Break Project 1 in California.
New Japan’s English website announced tonight that a special singles match between Hirooki Goto and Jeff Cobb will take place on the first card on November 10. On the following day, Kenny Omega will take on David Finlay in another special singles match.
Other announced participants for the two shows include Jushin Thunder Liger, Ryusuke Taguchi, ACH and Rocky Romero. Clark Connors and Alex Coughlin, who wrestled in the dark match at Fighting Spirit Unleashed, will also participate on the show.
In addition, two meet and greet sessions will take place at the New Japan Dojo in Carson, California also on November 10 and 11. Liger, Taguchi, Romero and Cobb will participate on the first day while Finlay, ACH, Goto and Omega will participate on the second day. NJPW President Harold Meij will also be participating in the meet and greets.
Lion’s Break Project 1 will take place at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, California.
Road to Power Struggle continued today with a stop at Korakuen Hall. Tag team bouts dominated as usual, hyping the various matches going down at Power Struggle.
Meanwhile, we also saw the semifinals of the Jr. Tag Team Tournament, with Ricochet and David Finlay facing ACH and Taiji Ishimori in the main event. The other semifinal bout had Ryusuke Taguchi and CMLL’s Fuego teaming to take on Roppongi Vice.
Teruaki Kanemitsu defeated Hirai Kawato
Both guys have filled out compared to earlier this year. Kanemitsu has size, at least compared to Kawato who is pretty tiny. Solid young boy match with a lot of basic back and forth sports. Kanemitsu got the win, submitting Kawato with the Boston crab.
Yoshitatsu & Juice Robinson defeated Yujiro Takahashi & Bone Soldier by DQ
This was on the same level as their worst match of the year candidate a few weeks ago. Devoid of heat, uninteresting wrestling,and a bad finish to boot. Yoshitatsu cut a promo on Bone Soldier and jumped him as the match started. Yujiro worked on Yoshitatsu for a bit, then Juice got the hot tag, which made this match a bit better than the last tag but not by much.
Other than that, there was absolutely no heat for this match. Then Bone Soldier just low blowed Yoshitatsu for the DQ. He put on a full nelson, then tried to choke him, but Robinson made the save. This feud is quickly outpacing Titus O’Neil and Darren Young for worst feud of the year in record fashion.
Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima, Jushin Liger & Tiger Mask defeated Yuji Nagata, Manabu Nakanishi, Angel de Oro & Titan
Standard eight-man tag match. Angel de Oro and Titan looked good when they were in. Tenzan worked with them as well and looked good. Tiger Mask gained the win for his team with the tiger suplex hold on Titan.
Another standard match, mostly good action throughout with Ishii getting the win with the brainbuster on Chase Owens, who was wearing some sort of pumpkin face paint. GoD taunted Ishii after the match that sent him in a rage, brawling with Tonga into the crowd.
The roster for January’s Fantasticamania shows are as follows: Atlantis, Mistico, Volador Jr., Maximo Sexy, Dragon Lee, Titan, Stuka Jr., Blue Panther Jr., Soberano Jr., Ultimo Guerrero, Euforia, Ephesto, Barbaro Cavernario, Hechicero, Okumura and Raziel.
Kenny Omega & The Young Bucks defeated Will Ospreay, Gedo & Kazuchika Okada
Great match, blew away everything on the show up to this point. Your usual great Young Bucks six-man with plenty of cool spots galore, plus Ospreay is one of the best high flyers in the world and he showcased that here.
Omega and Matt were dressed as Ghostbusters while Nick was playing the ghost. Actually pretty amazing outfits, loved it! This was a fun tag match full of the normal spots you’d see whenever The Elite team up. Ospreay was on point with his great offense as well, putting on Nick’s ghost costume and launching off with a corkscrew. The last few minutes of this were great with Ospreay doing a double hurricanrana on the Young Bucks.
Everyone ran in to do some great spots. Ospreay went for the springboard cutter but Omega grabbed him. Matt came in and accidentally superkicked Omega. Ospreay went for the Sasuke Special but Omega grabbed him and the Young Bucks hit the Indytaker on the outside. A triple superkick followed but Gedo broke it up. Omega hit the One Winged Angel on Ospreay and picks up the in.
Solid match. Crowd was into this since Ingobernables are hot as a unit right now. Tanahashi and SANADA had some cool exchanges in preparation for their singles bout next week. Honma was on a hot streak, laying out Naito with a lariat. But BUSHI misted him and Naito rolled him up for the win. Shibata went after EVIL after the match but was laid out with a belt shot and the STO.
Rocky Romero & Baretta defeated Fuego & Ryusuke Taguchi in a tournament match
Fuego and Taguchi have such terrific chemistry as a comedy face tag team, it’s actually amazing they’ve never done it until now. Taguchi worked the first half of the match, both on offense and defense. Fuego made the hot tag and did a step up crossbody to the floor. Romero got in and was running wild until he got derailed with an assisted dropick by Taguchi.
Baretta ran in and did a giant tope to the floor. Taguchi came back with the Dodon but Baretta kicked out. Fuego came in, and after laying out Taguchi on the floor, Romero helped Baretta pin him with the dudebuster/dropkick combo. RPG Vice did tease dissension throughout the match, but were fine after.
ACH & Taiji Ishimori defeated Ricochet & David Finlay in a tournament match
This was fine. Not bad by any means, but I expected more. Also felt pretty short. Some good back and forth wrestling from ACH and Ricochet, some cool dives, but not really much of anything. Crowd was quiet in spots, which hurt the match. ACH and Ishimori won the match, getting the win with their stereo 450 splashes.
That makes it Roppongi Vice vs. ACH and Taiji Ishimori for Power Struggle.
RPG Vice came in after the match. Romero cut a promo in Japanese, then said this is New Japan territory and he’ll send Ishimori and ACH back to NOAH. Ishimori then cut a promo to close out the show.
A good show overall. Tag matches can get a little too same-y at times, but the last three matches were pretty good, especially the six-man.
This is a battle between New Japan (Kuwato) and NOAH (Kiyomiya) rookies. NOAH young lions wear green instead of black like in New Japan, but both are required to have boston crab as finishers, as was the case here. A lot of the match was Kuwato being worked on. Kiyomiya got the win with a Boston Crab. Kuwato wasn’t pleased after the match and the two brawled for a bit, slapping and kicking each other.
Shiro Tomoyose vs. Teruaki Kanemitsu
Apparently my theory about all NOAH rookies wearing green was wrong. Tomoyose is a NOAH rookie as well, but is wearing black. Apparently all NOAH rookies choose a color to wear, and Tomoyose’s color is black. Kanemitsu is taller than Tomoyose, but Tomoyose is more stout and looks a bit more physically imposing. He controlled a lot of the match, but Kanemitsu made a comeback and had him in a Boston crab for a long time. He eventually escaped, but Kanemitsu had his arm and was going for a submission when the bell rang, a time limit draw. Good, basic match.
Kanemitsu went for a handshake after the match but Tomoyose would have none of it. Tomoyose eventually was convinced to shake hands, but then Kanemitsu tricked him by slapping the taste out of his mouth and bailing. These New Japan kids are pretty rude this morning.
Hitoshi Kumano vs. Ayato Yoshida
Kumano is another NOAH rookie; he wears red. Yoshida represents Michinoku Pro. The latter had a lot of good looking strikes. This was solid, if not unspectacular. Kuwano got the win with a chokeslam/spinebuster combination.
Yoshinari Ogawa vs. David Finlay
Finlay showed a lot of great fire early. In terms of presence and look he really outshines White, who is a bit better in the ring. Ogawa controlled a lot of the match and kept it on the ground, working on Finlay’s left arm. Finlay made a good comeback and kicked out of a back suplex. Finlay looked like he was going to capture Ogawa’s arm in an armbar, but in transition Ogawa held him down and pinned him. Cool finish to a pretty solid match.
Captain NOAH & Genba Hirayanagi vs. Muhammed Yone & Ryusuke Taguchi
This was a total comedy match, at least the first half of it. Genba’s gimmick apparently is that he likes to use the testicular claw on everyone, as he did during the early parts of the match. Taguchi wore an afro like Yone’s, I guess to match. NOAH and Taguchi had a chop battle and Taguchi teased doing the Flair flop, since that is Jado’s thing (he’s Captain NOAH, spoilers) but NOAH fell anyway. This was VERY LONG. Not terrible or anything but felt way longer than it needed to be. This was at least a twenty minute segment or longer when it needed to be half that.
Taguchi finally got the win for his team after two sliding hip attacks on Genba. Captain NOAH cut a promo after the match. No idea what he said.
Naomichi Marufuji vs. Jay White
This was pretty good. White does the little things Finlay doesn’t that really add to the match, though Finlay is a bit more dynamic in what he does. Marufuji gained control early but White made a comeback and hit some very nice spots. This was one of the first times where he did more than just the basic stuff he does in his prelim matches and didn’t look totally out of place, though there were a few moments that looked a bit off. Shiozaki eventually cut him off and won with the sliced bread. This was given some decent time and was a very good match while it lasted.
Go Shiozaki vs. Juice Robinson
Juice has definately improved since working regularly in Japan. I wouldn’t say he’s as good as Finlay or White, but he’s perfectly fine and doesn’t look lost out there – he gets it. Much like the story of other matches on this card, Shiozaki worked on Robinson after dodging some punches and was in control until Robinson made a comeback. He kept kicking out of nearfalls, but eventually he could not kick out of a sick lariat dished out by Shiozaki, and that was the end of Robinson. Pretty solid match.
Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima, Yuji Nagata & Manabu Nakanishi vs. Katsuhiko Nakajima, Maybach Taniguchi, Masa Kitamiya & Quiet Storm
New Japan old guard were the faces here. Storm and Nakanishi traded big guy spots, which is funny since Storm is about a head shorter than Nakanishi. I’ve complained on here before that no one should buy Nakanishi and Nagata’s finish because they’ve never submitted anyone with the armbar/torture rack they do. Well this time, it actually did work. While Nagata didn’t have an armbar in, he did pin Quiet Storm with a backdrop suplex while Nakanishi had Taniguchi in the torture rack. Perfectly okay eight man tag, but nothing memorable.
Nagata got a mic and introduced his two guys that are training in the New Japan dojo. One is Ota, who is a high level wrestler, and Kitamura, who is also a wrestler and jacked to the gills. He teased they might wrestle on the next Lion’s Gate show.
For the most part, everything was good. Marufuji/White was probably the best match on the show.
