Tag: fighting spirit unleashed

NJPW reveals cards for Fighting Spirit Unleashed East Coast tour

Posted on by Joseph Currier

NJPW has finally revealed the cards for their Fighting Spirit Unleashed East Coast tour.

The tour will begin at the Lowell Memorial Auditorium in Lowell, Massachusetts this Friday (September 27). Night two will take place at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City the next night, then the tour will conclude at the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on Sunday.

Night one will be headlined by Kazuchika Okada, Hiroshi Tanahashi & Kota Ibushi facing SANADA, EVIL & Tetsuya Naito in a six-man tag match. The show will also feature an IWGP Tag Team title match, with Guerrillas of Destiny (Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa) defending against Roppongi 3K (SHO & YOH).

Okada & Ibushi will again team up on night two as they take on SANADA & EVIL in the main event. KENTA will defend his NEVER Openweight Championship against YOSHI-HASHI, and Hiroshi Tanahashi will team with The Rock ‘n’ Roll Express (Ricky Morton & Robert Gibson) against Naito, Shingo Takagi & BUSHI.

The New York City show will air live on New Japan World with Japanese commentary. Tiger Hattori will also be honored as he referees in New York for the final time before retiring.

The main event of night three will be an elimination tag match. It will be Tanahashi, Hirooki Goto, Tomohiro Ishii, YOSHI-HASHI & The Rock ‘n’ Roll Express vs. Jay White, KENTA, Tonga, Loa, Chase Owens & Gedo. Okada won’t be appearing in Philadelphia.

After taking part in last month’s Super J-Cup, Amazing Red and TJP will return for the Fighting Spirit Unleashed tour. Here are the full cards for all three shows:

Night one (Lowell, Massachusetts, September 27) —

  • Kazuchika Okada, Hiroshi Tanahashi & Kota Ibushi vs. SANADA, EVIL & Tetsuya Naito
  • IWGP Tag Team Champions Guerrillas of Destiny (Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa) defending against Roppongi 3K (SHO & YOH)
  • Hirooki Goto, YOSHI-HASHI & Rocky Romero vs. Jay White, KENTA & Gedo
  • Tomohiro Ishii & Amazing Red vs. Shingo Takagi & BUSHI
  • The Rock ‘n’ Roll Express (Ricky Morton & Robert Gibson) vs. Chase Owens & Jado
  • Juice Robinson & Mikey Nicholls vs. TJP & Clark Connors
  • Lance Archer vs. Ren Narita
  • Karl Fredericks vs. Alex Coughlin

Night two (New York City, September 28) —

  • Kazuchika Okada & Kota Ibushi vs. SANADA & EVIL
  • NEVER Openweight Champion KENTA defending against YOSHI-HASHI
  • Hirooki Goto, Tomohiro Ishii & Amazing Red vs. Jay White, Chase Owens & Gedo
  • Hiroshi Tanahashi & The Rock ‘n’ Roll Express (Ricky Morton & Robert Gibson) vs. Tetsuya Naito, Shingo Takagi & BUSHI
  • Rocky Romero, SHO & YOH vs. Tama Tonga, Tanga Loa & Jado
  • Juice Robinson & Mikey Nicholls vs. Clark Connors & Alex Coughlin
  • Lance Archer vs. Karl Fredericks
  • TJP vs. Ren Narita

Night three (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, September 29) —

  • Hiroshi Tanahashi, Hirooki Goto, Tomohiro Ishii, YOSHI-HASHI & The Rock ‘n’ Roll Express (Ricky Morton & Robert Gibson) vs. Jay White, KENTA, Tama Tonga, Tanga Loa, Chase Owens & Gedo in an elimination match
  • Kota Ibushi & TJP vs. EVIL & BUSHI
  • Juice Robinson, SHO & YOH vs. Tetsuya Naito, SANADA & Shingo Takagi
  • Amazing Red vs. Ren Narita
  • Lance Archer vs. Alex Coughlin
  • Mikey Nicholls vs. Karl Fredericks
  • Rocky Romero vs. Clark Connors

NJPW announces talent for Fighting Spirit Unleashed tour

Posted on by Bryan Rose

NJPW has confirmed a number of names for next month’s Fighting Spirit Unleashed tour.

The following names have been announced, featuring most of NJPW’s factions:

  • NJPW’s main unit consisting of Hiroshi Tanahashi and Kota Ibushi
  • CHAOS members Kazuchika Okada (Lowell and New York City only), Tomohiro Ishii, Hirooki Goto and YOSHI-HASHI
  • Los Ingobernables de Japón members Tetsuya Naito, EVIL, SANADA, Shingo Takagi and BUSHI
  • Bullet Club members Jay White, Tama Tonga, Tanga Loa and KENTA

More participants, including matches, have yet to be announced and will be revealed at a later date. It was also noted that Kazuchika Okada would not be appearing on the Philadelphia card.

The tour will start on September 27 at the Lowell Memorial Auditorium in Lowell, Massachusetts, which still has tickets available. The last two shows, which take place at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York and the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia, are both sold out.

NJPW announced this weekend they will also be returning to San Jose before the end of the year, as they will run the San Jose Civic on November 9.

NJPW coming to East Coast for Fighting Spirit Unleashed tour

Posted on by Joseph Currier

During the first night of the G1 Climax, NJPW announced a three-show East Coast tour for September.

NJPW’s Fighting Spirit Unleash tour will begin at the Lowell Memorial Auditorium in Lowell, Massachusetts on Friday, September 27. The second show will take place at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City on Saturday, September 28, then the tour will conclude at the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on Sunday, September 29.

Tickets for the shows will go on sale on Friday, July 26.

NJPW noted that “September 28 will see a particularly emotional night in the Hammerstein Ballroom, as legendary referee Tiger Hattori counts down to his retirement.”

The Lowell and New York City shows will begin at 7 p.m. Eastern time, while the Philadelphia event will start at 5 p.m. Eastern.

NJPW last came to the East Coast this April when they partnered with ROH for G1 Supercard at Madison Square Garden.

As was previously announced, NJPW’s Super J-Cup tournament will take place across three shows on the West Coast in August. The Super J-Cup dates are in Tacoma, Washington on Thursday, August 22, San Francisco, California on Saturday, August 24, and Long Beach, California on Sunday, August 25.

AXS TV to air NJPW Fighting Spirit Unleashed on delay

Posted on by Joseph Currier

New Japan Pro Wrestling’s next show in the United States will be airing on AXS TV a few days after taking place.

AXS announced today that Fighting Spirit Unleashed, which will be held at the Walter Pyramid in Long Beach, California on September 30, will be premiering on the channel at 8 p.m. Eastern time on October 5. The show is taking place on a Sunday and then airing on AXS on Friday.

Jim Ross and Kevin Kelly will be the broadcast team for the event, with Kelly filling in for Josh Barnett due to Barnett having a scheduling conflict.

“I had a conflicting event with one of my fighters in Japan,” Barnett said, “otherwise I’d be there to call this event and have my partner Jim Ross’ back, as always. I’ll be back next time!”

“While I will miss working with my normal broadcast partner Josh Barnett, I am excited for the opportunity to work again with Kevin Kelly, whom I broadcast with for the first time 20 years ago,” Ross said. “Kevin has great knowledge from working on NJPW World, so he’ll bring another perspective to the broadcast and, as we all know, anything can and usually does happen. It should be a heck of a night.”

Cody Rhodes challenging for Juice Robinson’s IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship, The Young Bucks defending their IWGP Tag Team titles against Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa, and Will Ospreay vs. Marty Scurll in an IWGP Junior Heavyweight title tournament semifinal match have been announced for Fighting Spirit Unleashed.

KUSHIDA vs. BUSHI is the other semifinal match in the eight-man tournament, with them facing off at Destruction in Kobe on September 23. The finals are scheduled for King of Pro Wrestling on October 8.

Three matches announced for NJPW Fighting Spirit Unleashed

Posted on by Joseph Currier

Three matches are official for NJPW’s next show in the United States.

Cody Rhodes challenging for Juice Robinson’s IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship, The Young Bucks defending their IWGP Tag Team titles against Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa, and Will Ospreay vs. Marty Scurll in an IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship tournament semifinal match have been announced for Fighting Spirit Unleashed, which will take place at Walter Pyramid in Long Beach, California on September 30.

Ospreay vs. Scurll is part of a four-man tournament to decide the next Junior Heavyweight Champion. KUSHIDA will face BUSHI at Destruction in Kobe on September 23 in the other semifinal match, and the finals will be held at King of Pro Wrestling on October 8.

Hiromu Takahashi had to relinquish the Junior Heavyweight title after suffering a neck injury at last month’s G1 Special in San Francisco.

Cody was set up as Robinson’s next challenger when he pinned Robinson during a tag match at the G1 finals. The Young Bucks and Tonga & Loa are on opposite sides of the feud between the Bullet Club and the Bullet Club OGs, and Tonga, Loa, & Taiji Ishimori won the NEVER Openweight Six-Man Tag Team titles from The Young Bucks & Scurll at the G1 finals.

NJPW Fighting Spirit Unleashed tickets to go on sale next week

Posted on by Bryan Rose

Tickets for the upcoming NJPW Fighting Spirit Unleashed event will be going on sale next week.

New Japan announced this morning that tickets will go on sale August 1, next Wednesday, starting at 10:00 a.m. PST. Prices will start at $50 and will go up as high as $300 for Arena Premium Gold seats. Those who who get Premium Gold or Silver tickets will receive a currently unknown limited edition gift.

This would be the third show New Japan has ran in California this year. They started with Long Beach back in March, where the Golden Lovers defeated the Young Bucks in the main event. Earlier this month they ran the Cow Palace in San Francisco where Omega defeated Cody to retain the IWGP title. Fighting Spirit Unleashed will be bringing New Japan back to Long Beach for the second time this year.

Fighting Spirit Unleashed will take place on September 30 at the Walter Pyramid.

NJPW returning to Long Beach this fall with Fighting Spirit Unleashed

Posted on by Bryan Rose

New Japan will be back in the Los Angeles area this fall with a number of events.

NJPW President Harold Meij announced today at a press conference in San Francisco that the promotion will be returning to Long Beach this fall with Fighting Spirit Unleashed. It will be held on September 30 and will once again be at the Walter Pyramid.

In addition, two shows featuring only Young Lion talent will take place in Anaheim on November 10 and November 11. These shows will be called The Lion’s Break, possibly similar to smaller scale young lion events held in Japan called Lion’s Gate Project.

This would be the third time New Japan has ran a big show in California this year. Along with Strong Style Evolved back in March, they will be running one of their most ambitious international events yet tomorrow with the G1 Special in San Francisco event at the Cow Palace.