Tag: Ishii

Ring of Honor TV live results: Former Oro Mensah debuts, Lee Moriarty in action

Posted on by Jeff Moss

The former Oro Mensah in WWE NXT makes his debut in Ring of Honor tonight as part of this week’s HonorClub show.

The 29-year-old now going by “The Main Man” Oro will have tough competition as he takes on Tomohiro Ishii.

Ring of Honor Pure Champion Lee Moriarty will battle CMLL’s Xelhua in a Proving Ground match where if the challenger beats or draws the champion, they earn a future title shot.

In an eight-man tag team match, Team CMLL (the debuting Difunto, Volador Jr., The Beast Mortos & Hechicero) will take on AR Fox, Serpentico, Angelico, and Alex Zayne.

Leila Grey takes on Taya Valkyrie while Gringo Loco takes on Willie Mack in a rematch from 2023.

The card is rounded out by Lance Archer in action against an opponent(s) to be named.

**********

Thursday night is here and that means it’s time for more hot, saucy Ring of Honor Action!

Alex Zayne, AR Fox & Spanish Announce Project (Angelico & Serpentico) vs. Difunto, Hechicero, The Beast Mortos & Volador Jr.

And what better way to kick off a show than with Luchadores and plenty of ’em! Hechicero has a date with Bandido for the ROH world title at the end of the month, Mortos is mor-tastic and SAP are everlasting favorites. This should be fun!

Angelico and Hechicero started things off. Angelico’s agility was a nice offset to Hechicero’s power, which was on display through a flurry of technical chain wrestling. Respect was shown as the two traded dance moves as well.

Difunto tagged in to face Fox and if you haven’t seen Difunto, it’s worth a google. He’s kind of a caveman/skeleton/sasquach and he’s got a really unique luchadore style. It threw Fox off and he tagged in Zayne. To meet him though was Mortos, who you never want to see staring you down.

Zayne stacked Mortos up in the corner for a hurricanrana, followed by some knees to the back and a senton. Mortos actually showed some vulnerability and tagged in Volador to face Serpentico. Volador looked a little sluggish as Serpentico bounced around him, but all he was able to get out of it was a two count.

Serpentico went for a dive through the ropes, but Lance Archer, who had accompanied Hechicero tot he ring, tripped him up, sparking an all hands on deck brawl. Angelico was the only one left standing and Difunto sent him into the corner with a dropkick. Angelico got quadruple teamed, until a dropkick sent him out of the ring.

Zayne jumped in but met the same fate, getting stacked in the corner. Difunto went coast to coast from the top turnbuckle and dropkicked him. Hechicero continued the assault until Zayne rolled out and was replaced by Fox. Clearly one team has seen too many Segal movies as they keep trying to attack one at a time.

Fox found his footing though, delivering elbows to Difunto and Mortos in the corners, followed by a cutter to Mortos. Fox and Zanye hit sentons from the top rope on Hechicero one after the other, but just a two count.

SAP cleared the ring, leaving Zayne and Hechicero in the ring. Hechicero climbed the ladder and hit a big knee on Zayne’s face. The two rolled through a bunch of pinning combinations with Hechicero finally able to nail Zayne’s shoulders to the mat and pick up the win.

Match Result: Difunto, Hechicero, The Beast Mortos & Volador Jr. defeated Alex Zayne, AR Fox & Spanish Announce Project (Angelico & Serpentico)

A beat down began after the match, but the music of Bandido hit and the Champion came to the ring with back up. Brody King, Tomohiro Ishii and more came down and cleared out the bad guys.

-Next, the Premier Athletes were in the back trying to cut promos in spanish regarding their upcoming CMLL match. Daivari got frustrated until Sterling pointed out that the Athletes are undefeated in Lucha Rules matches. Which, I supposed, technically is true.

Willie Mack vs Gringo Loco

Then, it was time for my favorite part of any wrestling show: the big guys hitting each other bigly match! Mack and Loco almost seem like they could be alternate dimension versions of each other as they are both big men who move with crazy agility.

The crowd was hot as they locked up with Loco putting on a wristlock. Mack flipped it around and seemed to threaten Loco’s junk, causing the luchadore to back off. The two exchanged a really fun chain ending with a slam attempt from Mack that Loco reversed mid air and landed on his feet.

“It’s kind of like that movie, The Parent Trap” interjected Ian Riccaboni as Loco and Mack found themselves at another stalemate. This time, Loco asked Mack to turn this into a dance contest and the two gyrated their hips, with the winner being, I dunno, Loco I guess.

Mack sent Loco to the outside and went for a dive, but Loco moved, stopping Mack short and leading to him casually humping the ring. Buy it dinner first, Mack!

Eventually the wrestling started with Loco going up top and hitting a swichfoot moonsault, but took too much time and Mack rolled out of the way. He hopped to his feet and delivered a shoulder block to Loco. Mack went up top but Loco followed him, dragging him down with a tightrope spanish fly!

Loco leapt off the rope, but Mack grabbed him and hit a stunner followed by shining wizard. Mack then went up top for a frog splash and that put Loco down for good (as it would any human).

Match Result: Willie Mack defeated Gringo Loco

That was a cool match, but man was it ever slow. Both these guys can move fast when they need to so it really stands out when they slow it down. Still great though.

Lance Archer vs Ren Jones

Archer appeared with his music, dragging Jones down the entrance ramp, bouncing his head off of pretty much anything he could find. Jones tried to fight back, but Archer chopped him against the barricade again and again.

Finally, Archer threw Jones in the ring and the bell rang, just in time for Archer to deliver half a dozen big elbows in the corner. Archer lifted Jones from the top rope and hit a blackout in the middle of the ring, ending the match before it began, kind of.

Match Result: Lance Archer defeated Ren Jones

Leila Grey (w/Christopher Daniels) vs. Taya Valkyrie (w/Johnny TV, Mansoor & Mason Madden)

I understand Grey’s instinct to bring Daniels with her as backup, but they are still outnumbered 2-to-1 so maybe bring a few more friends next time? SkyFlight came out on the entrance ramp, but not down to the ring. Which seemed weird.

Grey and Valkyrie kicked things off like you’d expect, with a posedown followed by some hard chops from Grey. Grey sent Valkyrie into the corner and delivered a hard lariat for a two count. TV and Daniels shouted encouragement from ringside.

TV grabbed Grey’s ankle under the ropes, giving Valkyrie an opening to take control. She stopmed Grey’s leg, working it over. Valkyrie sent Grey to the outside, giving her a chance to make out with TV. Valkyrie then threw Grey back into the ring, locking in a wristlock-based abdominal stretch.

Grey fought out of it though, sending Valkyrie to the mat with a clothesline, and then the two hit simultaneous head slams, knocking themselves both down. The two traded punches with Grey hitting a surprise cutter, but only getting a two count.

TV jumped up on the ring apron to cause a distraction, but Daniels ran around and pulled him down. That gave Grey an opening for another cutter into a dragon sleeper. Valkyrie held on as long as she could, but ended up being forced to tap out.

Match result: Leila Grey defeated Taya Valkyrie

-Backstage, Willie Mack mused that since he was back on ROH TV, maybe he should go for that TV title? That summoned Nick Wayne, who dared Mack to try and take it from him. This seemed to confuse Mack, but I assume it means a match at some point. Or maybe not. You never know.

Tomohiro Ishii vs Oro

Oro is making his ROH debut here after a spell in NXT. The bad news is that he clearly drew the short straw and has to face the NJPW Strong Openweight Champion and turtleneck enthusiast, Ishii in said debut.

Ishii refused a code of honor, choosing instead to send Oro into the ropes. Oro was looking to make an impression here, but Ishii was having none of it, absorbing offense and dishing out punishment. Oro went up top for a splash but Ishii caught him on the way down.

Oro picked up the speed, trying to out-pace Ishii with some backflip kicks and a chop that seemed to actually hurt Ishii, which is rare. Oro’s strikes were just as hard as Ishii, causing the NJPW star to stagger as Oro hit a suplex. This is impressive as I feel that Ishii has way more density and atomic weight than the average human.

Ishii delivered a suplex of his own as it was Ishii’s turn to chop in the corner. Ishii planted Oro with a big lariat, but couldn’t land the brainbuster. Oro hit a springboard moonsault and dragon suplex, but only got a two count.

The two traded headbutts and shots in the center of the ring with Oro coming out on top to deliver a springboard thrust kick. Oro tried a hammerlock, but Ishii lariated him into next week and hit that brain buster. Oro was out and Ishii picked up the victory.

Match Result: Tomohiro Ishii defeated Oro

I gotta say, a solid debut for Oro. He kept pace with Ishii and it was in no way a one-sided affair. He flew a little too close to the sun, but looked good doing it.

ROH Pure Title Proving Ground Match: Lee Moriarty [c] vs. Xelhua

Main Event, Pure Rules and Proving Ground time! Moriarty has held that Pure title for well over a year at this point, defeating some pretty impressive challengers. For those that need a reminder, both men get three rope breaks, one closed fist and a 10 minute time limit. If the challenger can win or last the 10 minutes they earn a future title shot.

The match started with Moriarty keeping things slow, looking to work the clock. Xelhua hit a standing frog splash though and the speed picked up. Moriarty lured him in for an ankle takedown and the two became an entanglement of limbs.

Moriarty came out on top as the two tried to overpower each other with roll throughs. Moriarty slapped on a cobra lock and Xelhua had to use a rope break at 6:44. Xelhua tied up Moriarty in a crazy pretzel, but Moriarty was able to get his foot on the rope for a break at 5:25.

Xelhua wrenched Moriarty’s knee, working the leg. Moriarty hit a springbaord forearm, but it was only a two count. Moriarty put a modified facelock figure four on Xelhua, but was too close to the ropes and at 3:54, Xelhua used his second rope break.

Things picked up with a series of arm drags into a backbreaker from Xelhua. He hit an inside cloverleaf next, forcing a second rope break from Moriarty at 2:34. Time was definitely ticking away and Moriarty hit a straightjacket into a Border City Strech. Xelhua managed to worm out of it, and locked in a crazy waist surfboard hold.

With barely 90 seconds left, the two started trading shots with Moriarty ending it with a flurry of forearms and a second Border City Stretch. Xelhua had nowhere to go, but wiggled free, locking Moriarty in a hold as the clock ticked down to 15 seconds.

Moriarty was trapped, but held on until the time expired. That means that Xelhua has earned a future shot at the ROH Pure Title.

Match Result: Lee Moriary vs Xelhua went to a time limit draw

You don’t see Moriarty on the losing end of a proving ground match very often! Cool way to end the show!

AEW Collision Maximum Carnage live results: Texas Death Match, Continental title defense

Posted on by Suit Williams

Tonight’s Maximum Carnage edition of AEW Collision from Cleveland, Ohio, will feature two ends of the wrestling spectrum: a violent Texas Death Match and a Continental title defense.

Former AEW World Champion Hangman Page will square off with Christopher Daniels in a Texas Death Match. The two have an extensive history outside AEW and Daniels, who hasn’t wrestled since last September, will have contend with Page in his speciality match.

AEW Continental Champion Kazuchika Okada will defend against old NJPW rival Tomohiro Ishii in their first singles bout since 2020’s G1 tournament.

AEW World Champion Jon Moxley, Claudio Castagnoli, Wheeler Yuta, Chris Jericho, Big Bill & Bryan Keith will take on Cope, FTR, Powerhouse Hobbs & The Outrunners.

Adam Cole, Roderick Strong & Kyle O’Reilly go heads-up against The Infantry & Lee Moriarty.

The card is rounded out by Julia Hart vs. Harley Cameron, Dustin Rhodes vs. Adam Priest, and Lance Archer & Brian Cage vs. Top Flight.

**********

Collision started with words from Rated FTR, The Outrunners, Powerhouse Hobbs, Kazuchika Okada, & Hangman Page. Collision was live (to tape) from Cincinnati, Ohio, and our announce team was Tony Schiavone, Nigel McGuinness, & Matt Menard.

Texas Death Match – Hangman Page defeated Christopher Daniels by knockout

An ugly, vicious beating from the Hangman here as he dominated Daniels here. Daniels had some slight hope spots, but Page was unrelenting in his beating here and left him down for the count. A great match, and a great way for Daniels to go if the rumors of his retirement are true.

A vice principal no longer, Daniels came out as the Fallen Angel. Page slapped Daniels in the face and took him to the floor before drilling him with a chair to the head. Daniels was lacerated as Page pulled barbed wire out from under the ring and whipped Daniels with it as we went to the first commercial.

We came back to both men on the apron, stood over Chekov’s Table. Daniels backdropped Page into the ring, but Page threw Daniels into a chair wedged into the corner. We got a replay of Hangman dropping Daniels with a pop-up powerbomb through chairs during the commercial, and after we got back to full screen action, Page double-stomped Daniels through a table.

Daniels got up at the count of seven, with Page responding by pulling out another table with barbed wire taped all over it. Hangman set it up in the ring and looked to go for a Deadeye off the ropes, but Daniels countered with a uranage off the ropes into the barbed wire table. Daniels fired up, but Page quickly shut him down with a clothesline to the ramp. Daniels dodged a Buckshot but had an Angel’s Wings attempt countered with a backdrop into the ring.

Page went for a barbed wire assisted Buckshot, but Daniels countered with a facebuster and a Muta Lock. Page raked at Daniels’ eyes with the barbed wire to escape, but Daniels countered the Deadeye again with the Angel’s Wings. Daniels hit the Best Moonsault Ever, then sat part of the broken barbed wire table over Page and hit another one.

Page popped up at a count of nine with a bloody mouth, dropped Daniels with a lariat, and hit a Tombstone on a chair. Daniels’ arm was limp, and Page followed up with a Deadeye on a chair. Daniels got up, but Hangman dropped him with a Buckshot Lariat to the back of the head. Daniels was unmoving as the referee counted him out, giving Page the win by knockout. Page went to leave but came back to lay Daniels out with the Angel’s Wings. The referee and the ringside doctor checked on an unmoving Daniels as the announcers sold the beating he had taken.

Toni Storm Town Hall

Tony Schiavone welcomed Technicolor Toni Storm to the ring for an interview. Storm said that her dreams were coming true, as she would wrestle in the building where she saw her first wrestling match. Schiavone asked Storm about Mariah May, and Storm called her the best in the business. She said that she had yet to introduce herself to May and wanted to introduce herself to her next week on the Homecoming episode of Collision. Schiavone tried to get through to Storm that they had been in a feud, but Storm cut him off and said that since they were both Toni/Tony, then it was Toni Time.

We got a recap of Wednesday’s trios match before we cut to words from the Hurt Syndicate from after the match. MVP believed that their win made them the #1 contenders to the tag team titles and challenged Private Party to a title match on Dynamite, which was confirmed by an on-screen graphic.

The Undisputed Kingdom (Adam Cole, Kyle O’Reilly & Roderick Strong) defeated Shane Taylor Promotions (Lee Moriarty, Carlie Bravo, & Shawn Dean) (w/Shane Taylor)

Solid trios match here as the Kingdom finally pivots away from MJF. This had a good energy to it, and both teams would be good additions to the Trios division.

We got quick tags to start, with the Kingdom getting the first nearfall with a double suplex on Dean. Dean cut off O’Reilly from the floor, allowing STP to get heat as we went to a commercial.

O’Reilly got the tag out to Cole, who ran wild. Cole got a nearfall with a brainbuster over the knee. Strong tagged in and had a flurry of offense on Dean before getting saved by his partners on a nearfall. The Kingdom hit all of their finishers before finishing Dean off with a Total Elimination.

After the match, Shane Taylor laid out all three of the Kingdom and talked trash to Matt Menard. TNT Champion Daniel Garcia came out to take the fight to Taylor, and all the babyfaces worked together to take Taylor down and out. After the match, the Kingdom stared down Garcia before thanking him for the help.

We got a recap of the issues between the Don Callis Family, Kenny Omega, & Will Ospreay. We cut to an interview Alicia Atout held with Will Ospreay after Dynamite. Ospreay said that his battles with Omega were legendary, and they were linked through Don Callis. Ospreay said that it was time to have a chat with Omega and wanted to do it on Dynamite.

Murder Machines (Brian Cage & Lance Archer) defeated Top Flight (Dante & Darius Martin) (w/ Leila Grey)

A bad night at the office for Top Flight.

The Machines jumped Top Flight to start the match and pinballed them around until Darius dodged a corner charge from Archer. Cage tagged in and kept control until Darius landed an enzuigiri. Dante got a tag in and laid in some strikes before dropping Archer with a springboard cannonball. Cage and Archer quickly cut them off and hit a Chokebomb for the dominant win.

After the match, Action Andretti and his poofy coat came out to talk trash to Top Flight. Lio Rush attacked Top Flight from behind, and they laid out Top Flight.

The Learning Tree was backstage with Lexy Nair. They had none of Lexy’s muckraking and stirring the pot between the Learning Tree and the Death Riders. Jericho went over his history with Jon Moxley before saying they would prove why the Death Riders should trust them tonight.

TNT Champion Daniel Garcia & Matt Menard were backstage with Lexy Nair, but the Undisputed Kingdom interrupted them. Cole thanked Garcia again for their help before lamenting that Menard and Garcia didn’t have a third man to challenge for a trios match. Garcia said that he walked into Daily’s Place three years ago with two men he didn’t even know and left with a contract. Menard said that they would call their friend Angelo Parker to accept their challenge for next Saturday.

Max Caster Town Hall

(The end of the Acclaimed, and not a moment too soon. I was in the building at All Out 2022 for the Acclaimed’s breakout match with Swerve In Our Glory – remember them? – and they were a naturally over team of AEW originals. But they were about a year passed their sell-by date, and their Trios Title reign heavily impacted those titles in a negative manner. With that said, I have enjoyed how they’ve gone about breaking the team up, with Bowens getting fed up with Caster’s arrogance and ego. Caster in particular has done a good job of being an annoying weasel heel, and he’s gotten some good heat. I’m interested in seeing how these two do on their own.)

Max Caster was in the ring with a Louis Vuitton bag, getting booed by the crowd. He said that there had been a lot of rumors about the Acclaimed but wanted to clear the air with his partner Anthony Bowens. Bowens came to the ring, and Caster said that there was a misunderstanding between the two. Caster was upset that Bowens wouldn’t call him the Best Wrestler Alive, and Bowens immediately cut him off.

Bowens said that he had protected Caster for five years because he was his partner and he became Bowens’ best friend. Caster made him a liar, because he was an arrogant edgelord piece of s**t. The people thought he sucked, leading to Caster pulling out a framed trademark calling himself the Best Wrestler Alive. Bowens said that he was more than Caster’s partner, and that he had every tool he needed to be a World Champion. He was an ambassador for AEW, the pride of AEW, and wrestling’s five-tool player, and he didn’t need a piece of paper to prove it.

Billy Gunn came out to try and calm things down. Caster said that Gunn didn’t care about them and only attached himself to The Acclaimed to get attention for himself. (The man makes a point.) He said that Gunn made the team about himself when it should be about him, the best wrestler alive…oh, and Bowens too. Caster said that Bowens was his best friend, while Gunn’s own sons didn’t want anything to do with him. Gunn got in Caster’s face, and Caster told Bowens that if he wanted to keep the team together, he would pick him over Gunn.

Bowens threw up the scissors, but when Caster went to scissor him, Bowens gave him the middle finger. Caster threw a tantrum, telling Bowens that The Acclaimed was done because he said they were done. Caster said that he would prove that he was the Best Wrestler Alive, and that Bowens and Gunn would suck without him. Bowens and Gunn scissored one last time to end the segment.

We got footage of Swerve Strickland at a pro-am golf event, rubbing elbows with various celebrities, including recent Monday Night Raw guest Travis Scott. Does that count as a jump? Anyway, Strickland was backstage with Lexy Nair, who asked about his match with Ricochet on the February 5th Dynamite. Strickland said that this wasn’t cat-and-mouse, this was lion-and-rodent. Strickland planned on getting his hands on Ricochet far before February 5th.

AEW Continental Title Match – Kazuchika Okada (c) defeated Tomohiro Ishii

(The word from the tapings is that Ishii hurt his ankle or his leg during this match, which would explain why this was far from what you would expect when you see these two paired up against each other. They basically cut to the closing stretch of a good match before actually having the good match, which is unfortunate as I was looking forward to this.)

Okada was cautious to lock up with Ishii to start before Ishii laid into him with a chop. Okada raked Ishii’s eyes before Ishii dropped him with a shoulder block. Okada bailed out of the ring, but Ishii dropped Okada with another shoulder block on the floor as we went to a commercial.

After the break, the announcers noted that the doctors had to check on Ishii’s ankle during the break. Ishii hit a superplex out of the corner, but Okada caught him with a neckbreaker as he tried to follow up. Okada hit the big elbow drop and did the middle finger pose, but Ishii popped up and grabbed the finger to give Okada one of his own. Okada raked the eyes and hit a landslide, but Ishii countered a Rainmaker with a lariat of his own.

Ishii went for another lariat, but he got cut off with a dropkick. Okada went for another Rainmaker, but Ishii cut him off with a pair of headbutts. Okada caught Ishii with a short-arm lariat, but Ishii powered through and hit another headbutt. Ishii hit a sliding lariat for a nearfall. Ishii went for a brainbuster, but Okada cut him off with a dropkick to the back. Okada grabbed the ring bell from ringside but only used it as a distraction. Okada hit a ripcord low blow, then hit the Rainmaker to win and retain the title.

The Gates of Agony were backstage, putting themselves over and telling AEW to send the best they had to Daily’s Place next week. During the next match, it was made official that the Gates of Agony would take on Brody King & Buddy Matthews.

Dustin Rhodes defeated Adam Priest

Rhodes dumped Priest high on a scoop slam, then went for the Shattered Dreams before the referee cut him off because, y’know, it’s a kick to the nuts. Rhodes was undeterred, hitting the Cross Rhodes and the Final Cut for the win.

We got a highlight video for Brody King & Buddy Matthews, with the encouraging words from Will Ospreay & Adam Copeland played over their highlight reel.

Julia Hart defeated Harley Cameron

As the match began, it was announced that Julia Hart would be taking on Jamie Hayter in a rematch on next week’s Dynamite.

Cameron came out with sunglasses on, or as her people would call them, sunnies. She sold her eyes being damaged after taking the glasses off, but she brought the fight to Hart. Hart clawed at Cameron’s eyes to get control, then dug her fingers into Cameron’s eyes while having her tied up in the ropes.

After a commercial break, Hart countered a fireman’s carry into an Octopus Hold. Cameron fought out of the hold, but Hart peppered Cameron with strikes in the corner before hitting a DDT for a nearfall. Cameron fought to the ropes as Hart tried to lock on Hartless, but Hart dropped her onto the turnbuckle and hit a rabbit lariat before locking on Hartless for the quick submission win.

We got a recap of Samoa Joe’s return to AEW on last week’s Dynamite, followed by the announcement that he would take on Nick Wayne on Dynamite this coming week.

That announcement was cut short, as we cut to the back where The Learning Tree was standing over Powerhouse Hobbs. Jericho had his bat, and Big Bill walked off with Hobbs’ knee brace.

Powerhouse Hobbs, Rated FTR (Cope, Cash Wheeler, & Dax Harwood) & The Outrunners (Truth Magnum & Turbo Floyd) defeated Death Riders (Jon Moxley, Claudio Castagnoli, & Wheeler Yuta) & The Learning Tree (Chris Jericho, Big Bill, & Bryan Keith)

(This main event caused a bit of a furor on social media, but it ended up being a fun fireworks match. The showcase at the end of the day was on Hobbs, who comes out of this important week looking pretty good. If he’s getting programmed with the Learning Tree moving forward, I would have him quickly put them away. The fact that I can’t definitively say whether putting the Ring of Honor World Title on him would be a positive move says everything about the state of ROH these days, but it would be a nice statement of intent to put a World Title on him.)

Hobbs was not out with his team as the match started, with Jericho and Harwood starting off with slaps and chops. Keith tagged in, but Harwood got the better of him and took him to the tecnico corner. Keith escaped to his corner and went to tag Big Bill, but Yuta tagged himself in to get pinballed by FTR. Some back and forth with Yuta and the Outrunners led to a Pier Six brawl breaking out as we went to a commercial.

After the break, Harwood was your mustache-in-peril as the Learning Tree worked him over. Jericho offered Moxley a tag, and Moxley accepted it as the two of them stared each other down. Mox hit Harwood with a piledriver before Yuta tagged in to put more work in on Harwood. Harwood ducked a Busaiku Knee and hit a German suplex, then dodged a Big Bill corner charge to tag in Cope.

Cope ran wild and went for a spear on Jericho, but Cope cut him off with a Codebreaker. Turbo Floyd tagged in and ran wild with bodyslams, eventually hitting the Predator elbow on Jericho and Keith. Another Pier Six brawl broke out, with Cope hitting Moxley with an Impaler DDT on the ramp. Cope went for a spear, but PAC cut him off as the referee was distracted. The Death Riders went to take out Cope’s leg, but Wheeler hit a dive off of the stage.

The Death Riders and Rated FTR brawled through the crowd, but Powerhouse Hobbs hobbled to ringside to tag in and fight off The Learning Tree on one leg. Hobbs and Big Bill faced off, with Hobbs winning the exchange. Jericho got hit with Total Recall, and Hobbs caught Keith trying to hit him with the ROH World Title. Hobbs hit Keith with the spinebuster to get the win.

The Week In Japanese Wrestling: A Block booking mars tremendous NJPW G1

Posted on by Alan Counihan

The following originally appeared in this week’s Figure Four Weekly.

What has been a tremendous G1 Climax was slightly marred this past weekend by some very disappointing booking in the A Block.

Coming into the tournament, it seemed pretty likely that the Kazuchika Okada vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi match on the final night of the block would be the match to decide who would get to the final. But, it would have been nice for some other scenarios to still be viable past July 31st.

But on the show in Gifu this past Sunday – the midway point of the tour – they completely killed everything else that could be intriguing in the Block, and all it took was three results to do it.

Tomohiro Ishii lost to Tama Tonga, stalling at four points and making him a non-player at this juncture. He had a huge match in Osaka today with Okada that was made a lot less interesting going into it. SANADA started the G1 with a huge career boosting win over Tanahashi, and everyone was ready for him to soar and be a key guy in the block. Since then, he’s gone 1-4, taking him out of play two weeks before we get to Sumo Hall.

The biggest disappointment of all is that his Sumo Hall opponent is also out of contention. Hiroyoshi Tenzan’s miracle run in his final G1 Climax was looking like the most exciting thing in the tournament after his 2-0 start and great performances. He’s lost four in a row since then and his loss to Kazuchika Okada in Gifu ended his chances, also taking away what many hoped would be one of the biggest moments of the tour with the legend veteran beating the champ.

The story is clear now. Tanahashi, who got off to a very slow start, is going to win out until we get to Sumo Hall. Okada is going to drop points in one of his matches and then it will all come down to their match. There is nothing at all wrong with that story, but it would have been nice if other matches in the last two weeks had meaning.

Thankfully, the B Block still has a lot of viable scenarios and there are many guys who could be players on finals night.

That Block also produced the show of the tournament at the weekend in Nagoya. The final four bouts of the show were all great with the main event being arguably the best match of the tour. Tetsuya Naito and Katsuyori Shibata had an easy story for their match. Shibata was mummified with his shoulder, collarbone and leg all taped up after several gruelling matches. Naito had attacked his leg on the prior show throughout their tag bout and put him in a leglock after the bell which he refused to break.

Shibata was coming for blood, but there was not a whole lot he could do due to the injuries. Naito taunted him throughout the match, slapped him around and toyed with him. It came back to bite him though as Shibata finally got his opportunity and took out Naito’s wheel in return. The last few minutes were classic as the two wrestlers scratched and clawed to get the win.

Shibata finally hit his PK but he didn’t go for the pin as normal. He wanted retribution and he grabbed Naito by the neck, sunk in a choke, and held it until the former IWGP champ passed out. Then, in a fitting touch, he kept it locked in after the bell right up until the point where he would have been DQ’d.

NJPW G1 Climax 26 opening night live results: Tanahashi vs. SANADA; Okada vs. Marufuji

Posted on by Dave Meltzer

The 26th edition of the NJPW G1 Climax tournament kicks off at 2 AM EST Monday morning (U.S.)/7 AM UK from the Hokkaido Prefectural Sports Center with lots of intrigue, questions, and eventually answers.

Send your thumbs up, thumbs down, and thumbs in the middle to [email protected]

Tonight’s show features five A block matches along with four tag team matches. The show will be aired on New Japan World.

For those of you looking for previews, check out the Big Audio Nightmare’s prediction show, as well as this feature by F4W Online staffers picking their most anticipated match and wrestler for the tourney. Additionally, Bryan Rose has created a guide for first-timers that you should really read.

Our coverage begins at 2 AM EST.

************

TIGER MASK & JUSHIN LIGER & MANABU NAKANISHI & KATSUYORI SHIBATA VS. CAPTAIN NEW JAPAN & RYUSUKE TAGUCHI & KUSHIDA & TOMOAKI HONMA

Nakanishi beat Captain to win with the Hercules cutter, which is a torture rack into the TKO.  At times the match was great, when Kushida was in with Tiger Mask and when Shibata was in with Honma.  It was way better than the usual opener 2/3 of the way through, partially beacuse they kept Captain and Nakanishi out of the ring.  Then they tagged in.  There was some comedy as Captain’s team kept ignoring him and refusing to tag him in.  He got a nice reaction when he finally tagged in but people also recognized it was the end for them.

SATOSHI KOJIMA & JUICE ROBINSON VS. TORU YANO & KATSUHIKO NAKAJIMA

Nakajima pinned Robinson after a penalty kick and brainbuster.  Match was okay.  Nakajima didn’t stand out but did a few cool things.  Yano didn’t do much at all.  Kojima’s timing is on point but he didn’t do much special. 

YUJIRO TAKAHASHI & KENNY OMEGA VS. YOSHI-HASHI & GEDO

Another basic match.  Gedo did comedy spots and Yoshi-Hashi looked good.  Omega did comedy spots and Takahashi didn’t look good.  Takahashi pinned Gedo with the Tokyo Pimps (dominator).  Prelim Omega is very different from big match Omega.

MICHAEL ELGIN & YUJI NAGATA & DAVID FINLAY VS. TETSUYA NAITO & EVIL & BUSHI

Started a little quiet considering Naito is in the match.  Elgin came out wearing both his IC title and Elite belt.  Good power stuff with Elgin vs. Evil.  The finish saw Bushi pin Finlay after a codebreaker, and then a second one cming off the top rope.  

TOMOHIRO ISHII VS. HIROYOSHI TENZAN

This was great.  It seemed at first the idea of Tenzan’s last G-1 wasn’t getting over like I thought it would.  But largely due to Ishii, the match was great and there was super heat down the stretch with all the near falls.  Kojima was in Tenzan’s corner cheering him on.  There were the sick ramming head-butts that have no place, especially at their age.  Lots of big moves.  Ishii survived the Anaconda buster and Tenzan driver.  Tenzan was bleeding from the mouth.  The finish saw Tenzan use a Kojima style lariat and a moonsault for the pin.

TOGI MAKABE VS. TAMA TONGA

A hard hitting match but nothing compared to the previous match.  Tonga looked good most of the way.   Makabe won clean with a belly-to-belly superplex and the King Kong kneedrop off the top rope.  

HIROOKI GOTO VS. BAD LUCK FALE

This wasn’t flashy but was hard hitting and Goto carried it well.  Goto kicked out of a splash.  He also kicked out of the Grenade.  Fale went for a brainbuster but Goto got behind him and choked him down, hit the final cut (GRT) and got the pin.

HIROSHI TANAHASHI VS. SEIYA SANADA

Tanahashi is clearly not at his best physically but he is a genius at putting a match togehter.  Just a super match where every move meant something.  From a timing standpiont,Sanad ais awesome.  Tanahashi did his main event style match here, with the high fly flow to the floor.  Great struggles to get to the ropes by Sanada on a Tanahashi cloverleaf and by Tanahashi on a Sanada dragon sleeper.  The big move was Tanahashi going for the high fly flow after a German suplex, but Sanada hit the RKO out of nowhere with perfect Randy Orton timing.  Sanada hit a moonsault but Tanahashi kicked out.  He did a second moonsault and then used the dragon sleeper and Tanahashi tapped out. 

KAZUCHIKA OKADA VS. NAOMICHI MARUFUJI

Super match, very much put together like an Okada vs. Styles match with the great twists and turns at the finish.  Okada could never hit his tombstone or rainmaker.  Marufuji could never hit the shiranui (sliced bread).  Marufuji’s timing and stiffness on his chops, kicks and knees were great.  Among the highlights were him doing a running dive over the top, a dropkick from one side of the ring to three-quarters of the way across.  Okada went for the rainmaker but Marufuji used a knee to the left arm, a hard spin kick to the head and a jumping knee, followed by a fisherman suplex into a emerald flowsion and Marufuji got the pin.

Quite the newsworthy opening night with Tanahashi losing via submission and the IWGP champion Okada losing via clean pin to the outsider. With Marufuji winning, this also means he’ll probably get an IWGP title shot in the fall.   

NJPW Wrestling Dontaku results: Super Juniors lineups; IWGP champ Naito vs. Ishii

Posted on by Bryan Rose

Captain New Japan & Juice Robinson vs. Bad Luck Fale & Yujiro Takahashi

This did not last long at all. Fale pinned Captain New Japan quickly with the grenade in under 3 minutes. I don’t know why Yoshitatsu let this guy in his Bullet Club Hunter club, he’s worthless in every way.

Tiger Mask & Ryusuke Taguchi & Jay White & David Finlay vs. Kazushi Sakuraba & Yoshi-Hashi & Will Ospreay & Gedo

Fun little match. Usual good eight man match you’d see on the first half of any New Japan show. Ospreay’s offense is so dynamic. He had a great dynamic with Finlay as they did some fun spots together. He did the Sasuke special at one point during the match, taking everyone out in the process. He ended up getting the win for his team after a springboard diamond cutter.

Rocky Romero & Trent Baretta vs. IWGP Junior Tag Champs Matt Sydal & Ricochet 

Really good match. I think they’ve had better, but this built up nicely and had some good near falls toward the end. RPG Vice had the heat early. Ricochet did this great move where he caught Baretta in mid air while he was executing a tornado DDT, countered into a northern lights suplex, floated over then gave him a brainbuster. Sydal gave Baretta a reverse rana, then aided Ricochet in laying out Romero with a double Benadryller. They followed with the stereo shooting star presses and pinned RPG Vice to regain the junior titles.

Hiroshi Tanahashi & Michael Elgin & Yoshitatsu vs. NEVER Six-Man Tag Champ Kenny Omega & Young Bucks for Never

Good match, though like the previous match, their last bout was a bit better. Unlike their previous match, where they had crazy spots just about everywhere, they mostly kept this in the ring for most of the match. Elgin made a great comeback for his team. Tanahashi and Omega were in there when Omega went to use the hairspray but it hit Tiger Hattori instead. Elite acted like they were helping him, but then Omega low blowed him because he’s mean.

That’s when the weapons were brought out. Elgin powerbombed Matt Jackson into a ladder, but Omega came back and with the help of the Bucks, powerbombed Elgin through a table on the floor. They gave Yoshitatsu the triple kick, then Omega pinned Yoshitatsu with the One Winged Angel to win the titles.

Tanahashi cut a promo after the match, asking Kenny Omega for a rematch, saying he is the next Intercontinental champion. Kenny said no, but then took out the ladder and said if he wanted a ladder match, then he would say yes. They both climbed to the top of the ladder and shook hands, so it’s on.

Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma vs. Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa for IWGP tag team titles

Okay match, mostly picked up toward the end. Guerrillas of Destiny just lack something here. Makabe and Honma are great singles guys, and have had great matches but this program just doesn’t seem like it’s going anywhere. Tama Tonga and Makabe had some great back and forth that got the crowd into the bout. Tonga and Tanga took out Makabe on the outside as they cornered Honma. He tried to fight his way out of losing, but didn’t work as the brothers laid out Honma with their finish to retain the titles.

This year’s Best of the Super Junior lineups:

  • A Block: Kushida, Ryusuke Taguchi, Kyle O’Reilly, Matt Sydal, Rocky Romero, Gedo, Bushi, Matt Jackson
  • B Block: Jushin Thunder Liger, Tiger Mask, Nick Jackson, Will Ospreay, Trent Beretta, Bobby Fish, Ricochet, Volador Jr.

No real surprises other than Volador Jr. He and Will Ospreay make the B block far more interesting. I’d really like to see how their singles match goes down.

Katsuyori Shibata vs. Yuji Nagata for Never title

Good match. Started off slow with some mat wrestling, then picked up from there. They had a better G1 match, but this was good stuff while it lasted. Shibata went for the penalty kick but Nagata grabbed him and gave him a big boot and backdrop driver. Shibata mounted a comeback but Nagata put him down on the ground, gave him a penalty kick and pinned him with the backdrop driver to win the title.  Shinpei Nogami, the biggest fan of Yuji Nagata you’ll ever see, freaked out after the match and kept screaming “JUSTICE!”

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Kushida vs. Jushin Liger

Really good match. Different than most junior heavyweight matches. Kushida is one of th best all around workers in wrestling today just by how he’s able to adjust to any style and have a great match no matter what.

This was a more traditional match, working on body parts and applying submissions. Liger worked on Kushida’s leg early in the bout and kept working on it throughout. Liger can’t fly like he did back in the day but as far as technical wrestling goes he’s really good. Liger hit the shotei once, then went for it again but Kushida blocked it and countered with the hoverboard lock. Liger took a while, but eventually submitted.

Kushida grabbed a mic and said that he’d like to see Liger wrestle for many years to come. Liger said if the champion thinks so, he might have to challenge again down the line.

Hirooki Goto vs. Evil

Another good match. Kinda short, but it was explosive as they went at right away. A lot of brawling, and a lot of back and forth stiff shots. Goto kicked out of a fireman’s carry into a spinebuster, but then Evil gave him the STO and pinned him clean in the middle, just like that. Pretty surprising.

Kazuchika Okada vs. Sanada

Really good match. Another match that had some good back and forth early. Sanada’s really good, definitely upper midcard/main event kind of character. Okada did the rainmaker pose but Sanada came back and put him in the Skull End submission. He missed the moonsault. Okada went to go for the rainmaker but Sanada kept dodging and trying for the Skull End. Sanada got him back down to the floor but Okada transitioned back to the tombstone, laid out Sanada with that then pinned him with the rainmaker. That’d probably put him in line for a rematch against Naito soon.

IWGP Champion Tetsuya Naito vs. Tomohiro Ishii

Awesome match, especially in the last ten minutes or so. Sure enough, Okada was out there with Ishii to second him, along with Gedo. They had a straightforward match for a while, pretty solid back and forth offering until Evil interfered, hitting Ishii with a steel chair. Ishii was working on Naito’s leg and had an ankle lock in as Chaos warded off Los Ingobernables.

Eventually they got free, but Ishii held his own until Okada made the save. Ishii hit the sliding D and went for a brainbuster but Naito countered with a DDT. Ishii countered the Destino and laid him out with an inverted brainbuster (that’s a new one!) for a nearfall. Finally, Ishii whipped Naito across the ropes but he came back with a forearm, then pinned him with Destino to retain the title.

Okada took shirt off and stared down Naito after the match. He didn’t respond at first, but eventually they had a staredown as Okada left. After all the ceremonies, Naito cut a promo asking Kidani to see the pop he’s getting in front of his crowd, and that he knows Okada wants a title shot but he has to “tranquillo”.

– This was a really good show. Everything was good for the most part, with the IWGP and Jr. title matches being really exceptional.

New Japan on AXS report: Ishii battles Honma in a match of the year candidate

Posted on by Bryan Rose

More New Begining coverage is on the menu for today’s New Japan on AXS, as we return after two weeks with a match of the year contender. The most interesting thing to remember on this show is that Tomoaki Honma was never scheduled to be on this show – Togi Makabe was set to defend the NEVER title against Ishii, but pulled out the day of the show due to suffering a flu. Fate is a funny thing sometimes.

Today’s bouts are from the February 14, 2015 New Beginnings show in Sendai.

Kota Ibushi and Tetsuya Naito vs. Toru Yano and Kazushi Sakuraba kicks things off. I’ve said this before, but man has Naito totally changed his look and persona in the last few months. This was only about ten months ago, but Naito has changed himself so much in that timespan this looks like a match from years ago, especially when you consider Ibushi’s been gone for a while. Ibushi and Sakuraba had some cool exchanges. It’s unfortunate that Ibushi and Sakuraba’s proposed match at the Toyko Dome isn’t taking place as they had some pretty good chemistry. Considering I’ve seen many World Tag League matches in the last couple of weeks which feature formulaic, solid wrestling, this was refreshing. A really good match with everyone getting some shine, and didn’t feel formulaic in the least bit. Everyone worked hard, even Yano, and that made this an exciting bout. Yano did his shoving opponent into the ref/low blow spot, but Naito transitioned during the execution and pinned Yano in a flash pin. Nice to see Naito beat Yano at his own game.

Hiroshi Tanahashi, Hirooki Goto and Katsuyori Shibata took on the Bullet Club, consisting of Karl Anderson, Doc Gallows, and Tama Tonga. This was fine, but felt like I’ve seen it before. A better version of a six man tag you’d see on any New Japan house show this year. Tanahashi gave Tama Tonga the slingblade, high fly flow, then pinned him

Main event hype time. Ishii said that he knew that Makabe couldn’t fight him due to getting the flu, but he didn’t know why he was facing Honma since he just lost to Ibushi a few days ago. He hasn’t thought much on Honma as his eyes were only on Makabe heading into this fight.

The match aired, and it hurt. Hurt bad. These two chopped and slapped the crap outta each other, repeatedly dropped each other on their heads and decapitated them with lariats in one hell of a match. Dave gave this ***** when it aired earlier this year, and I would have to agree with his. It’ll be on many people’s top 10 lists this year, and not a bad match to watch this time of year considering the Observer awards coming next month. Just a hellacious battle that proves that you can book a guy to lose all the time, but he can still be over if he’s given the opportunity. Honma very rarely pins a guy, but he gives it his all so much in every match people are into him, and makes his matches that much more special. The near falls in this match were so incredible. Even though you KNEW Honma wasn’t winning, this match was so great in making you believe he might be the next NEVER champion. After Honma kicks out of a sliding D to the side of the head (!), Ishii lays him out with a brainbuster and pins him in an excellent match.

Honma questioned himself why he couldn’t win in a situation like this. He promised a win next time. He’s not going anywhere, and that’s not changing anytime soon. Ishii says it’s only a temporary belt and won’t wear it until he beats Makabe. Prepare yourself.

Ishii, again a man of few words, says he doesn’t have much thoughts on the match. He wants to surpass the IC title with the Never title. He wants to win the belt and wear it in front of Makabe. Deep down, he feels the same with all opponents, and when he faces them he wants them to be fired up just as much as he does.

Excellent show this week, very much recommended if you haven’t seen this match yet. Be warned, however, as it’s not for the weak of heart.