Tag: iwgp junior heavyweight title

Two title matches announced for NJPW Road to The New Beginning tour

Posted on by Bryan Rose

Two title matches will take place at Korakuen Hall in the next month.

NJPW will visit Korakuen Hall multiple times during their Road to The New Beginning tour that kicks off later this month. On January 23, El Desperado will defend his newly-won IWGP Junior Heavyweight title against Yoshinobu Kanemaru. On February 4, new Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions TJP and Francesco Akira will defend their titles in a Wrestle Kingdom rematch against Clark Connors and Drilla Moloney of Bullet Club War Dogs.

January 24 will see a singles match between Shota Umino and Ren Narita. Umino has been looking for a measure of revenge ever since Narita turned on him in December, aligning himself with the House of Torture.

February 4 at Korakuen Hall will see members of United Empire take on Bullet Club War Dogs in singles action. Henare will face Gabe Kidd, Jeff Cobb will face Alex Coughlin, and David Finlay will face Callum Newman. The following day will see Los Ingobernables de Japon face Just Five Guys in a gauntlet match.

Here are the key matches for the Road to The New Beginning tour:

January 23 at Korakuen Hall

  • IWGP Junior Heavyweight title: El Desperado defends against Yoshinobu Kanemaru
  • SHO vs. Master Wato

January 24 at Korakuen Hall

  • Shota Umino vs. Ren Narita
  • Tetsuya Natio and Hiromu Takahashi vs. SANADA and DOUKI

February 4 at Korakuen Hall

  • IWGP Junior Tag Team titles: TJP and Francesco Akira defends against Clark Connors and Drilla Moloney
  • David Finlay vs. Callum Newman
  • Henare vs. Gabe Kidd
  • Jeff Cobb vs. Alex Coughlin

February 5 at Korakuen Hall

  • Gauntlet match: Los Ingobernables de Japon (Tetsuya Naito, Shingo Takagi, Yota Tsuji, Hiromu Takahashi, and BUSHI) vs. Just Five Guys (SANADA, Taichi, Yuya Uemura, DOUKI, and Taka Michinoku)

Two title matches announced for NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 17

Posted on by Bryan Rose

A four-way for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship, as well as the finals for the NJPW World Television title has been added to Wrestle Kingdom 17 on January 4.

NJPW confirmed during a press conference Tuesday morning that Taiji Ishimori will defend the IWGP Junior Heavyweight title at the Tokyo Dome against El Desperado, Master Wato, and Hiromu Takahashi in a four-way match. This follows events that took place at Declaration of Power on Monday morning. The finals of a sixteen-man tournament to crown the first NJPW World Television Champion will also take place on January 4.

At Declaration of Power, Wato defeated Ishimori in a singles match. Following the match, Wato was about to cut a promo when both Takahashi and Desperado came out and wanted the next shot at the IWGP Junior Heavyweight title. It was eventually decided that a four-way would take place.

KUSHIDA was originally set to return to action at Declaration of Power, facing Ishimori in a singles match. However, NJPW took KUSHIDA off the show due to still being ill with hand, foot, and mouth disease and instead announced that Wato would be taking his place.

The introduction of the NJPW World Television title took place at Declaration of Power. The tournament will begin this Friday at Korakuen Hall and will continue through the rest of the year.

Here is the current card for Wrestle Kingdom 17:

  • IWGP World Heavyweight title: Jay White defends against Kazuchika Okada
  • IWGP Junior Heavyweight title: Taiji Ishimori defends against Master Wato, Hiromu Takahashi, and El Desperado in a four-way match.
  • NJPW World Television title finals

Four titles change hands at NJPW Wrestling Dontaku 2022

Posted on by Bryan Rose

Four titles changed hands during this morning’s NJPW Wrestling Dontaku 2022 event.

Hiroshi Tanahashi won the vacant IWGP United States title, while Taiji Ishimori won the IWGP Junior Heavyweight title. Bad Luck Fale & Chase Owens of the Bullet Club won the IWGP Tag Team titles, and Tama Tonga won the NEVER Openweight title.

Tanahashi won the United States title by defeating Tomohiro Ishii after two high fly flows. This is his second reign with the championship. After the match, Chase Owens came to the ring and distracted Tanahashi long enough for a hooded figure to come in and attack Tanahashi, eventually revealing himself to be Juice Robinson.

Ishimori won the IWGP Junior Heavyweight title for a second time, defeating El Desperado after 176 days. The finish of the match had Desperado going for a second pinche loco, but Ishimori countered into his bone lock submission. Desperado submitted soon after.

Fale & Owens defeated Jeff Cobb & Great-O-Khan and Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI in a three-way match to win the IWGP Tag Team titles. The duo won the titles for the first time with their finisher, a rocket launcher elbow drop. This ends the United Empire’s reign with the titles after only 22 days, winning the titles back at NJPW Hyper Battle on April 9 over former champions Goto & YOSHI-HASHI.

Tonga defeated EVIL to win the NEVER Openweight title for the first time, picking up the win with the gun stun. Immediately after the match, The Good Brothers came out and attacked Tonga. Tanga Loa came to the ring in an attempt to make the save, but was also taken out. This ends EVIL’s reign with the NEVER Openweight title after 116 days, defeating Tomohiro Ishii at Wrestle Kingdom 16 on January 4.

Elsewhere on the card, Ryusuke Taguchi and Master Wato retained the IWGP Junior Tag Team titles, retaining over Yoshinobu Kanemaru and DOUKI. In the main event, Kazuchika Okada retained the IWGP World Heavyweight title over Tetsuya Naito.

New IWGP Junior champion crowned at NJPW Castle Attack

Posted on by Bryan Rose

El Desperado won the IWGP Junior Heavyweight title tonight for the first time on the second night of NJPW Castle Attack in Osaka-jo Hall.

Desperado pinned El Phantasmo in a match that also featured BUSHI. The finish had BUSHI being taken out by ELP’s loaded boot. Desperado then got the better of ELP, pinning him after two Pinche Locos (angel’s wings).

This marks the first Junior title win for El Desperado. He also won the IWGP Junior Tag Team titles with Yoshinobu Kanemaru on February 25, winning that championship for the third time.

The match at tonight’s Castle Attack event was originally set to be a singles match between Hiromu Takahashi and El Phantasmo. However, Takahashi had to vacate the Junior title after tearing his left pectoral muscle, putting him out of action for the next six months. When vacating the title, Takahashi asked BUSHI to take his place. The match was later announced as a three-way, also including Desperado.

IWGP Junior Heavyweight title bout set for NJPW Castle Attack

Posted on by Ethan Renner

El Phantasmo, BUSHI and El Desperado will square off for the vacant IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship at Sunday’s NJPW Castle Attack event. NJPW made the announcement this evening. 

The Jr. Heavyweight title was officially vacated at today’s Road to Castle Attack event at Korakuen Hall. Former champ Hiromu Takahashi announced that he was unable to make his scheduled title defense on Sunday against El Phantasmo and asked that BUSHI take his place in a match for the vacant belt. 

In today’s main event, Desperado and Yoshinobu Kanemaru defeated Phantasmo and Taiji Ishimori to capture the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team titles. Desperado then cut a promo asking to either be added to the match with ELP and BUSHI or to face the winner of that bout at the March 4 NJPW Anniversary event. 

Phantasmo then hit Desperado with a Sudden Death superkick. BUSHI ran in and laid out ELP with a codebreaker to complete the three-way angle. 

Desperado tied for the block lead in the 2020 Best of the Super Juniors tournament and scored wins over both Hiromu and BUSHI on the tour before falling to Hiromu in the BOSJ Finals. Phantasmo won both the 2019 and 2020 Super J-Cup tournaments. 

Sunday’s Castle Attack show will feature four title matches. Here is the lineup for both nights of Castle Attack:

Saturday, February 27, 2 a.m. Eastern time on NJPW World

  • Kazuchika Okada vs. EVIL
  • Tomohiro Ishii vs. Jay White
  • KOPW 2021 Provisional Championship YTR style Texas strap match: Toru Yano (c) vs. Chase Owens
  • Hirooki Goto vs. Tama Tonga
  • YOSHI-HASHI vs. Tanga Loa
  • Hiroshi Tanahashi, Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima vs. Great-O-Khan, Will Ospreay & Jeff Cobb

Sunday, February 28, 12 a.m. Eastern time on NJPW World

  • IWGP Intercontinental Championship: Kota Ibushi (c) vs. Tetsuya Naito
  • IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship: El Phantasmo vs. BUSHI vs. El Desperado
  • NEVER Openweight Championship: Hiroshi Tanahashi (c) vs. Great-O-Khan
  • IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championships: Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa (c) vs. Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI
  • Kazuchika Okada, Tomohiro Ishii & Toru Yano vs. EVIL, Jay White & Chase Owens
  • Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima vs. Will Ospreay & Jeff Cobb

Hiromu Takahashi vacates IWGP Junior Heavyweight title

Posted on by Bryan Rose

Hiromu Takahashi has officially vacated the IWGP Junior Heavyweight title.

At today’s Road to Castle Attack event, Hiromu came out to start the show. He said that for the sake of the junior heavyweight division, he would relinquish the title. He then asked BUSHI to wrestle in his place at Castle Attack on February 28 against El Phantasmo.

Takahashi tore his left pectoral muscle on February 19, during a match where he teamed with Shingo Takagi to defeat Tomoaki Honma and Kota Ibushi. After initially being taken off the tour for evaluation, it was announced that he would miss up to six months due to the injury.

Tetsuya Naito, who has been out of action with a knee injury, returns on tonight’s show at Korakuen Hall, teaming with Shingo Takagi and SANADA to take on Kota Ibushi, Yuji Nagata, and Tomoaki Honma. He will face Kota Ibushi for the IWGP Intercontinental title as scheduled on February 28.

Finals set for NJPW Junior Heavyweight title tournament

Posted on by Joseph Currier

Coming out of tonight’s show in Long Beach, California, the finals of NJPW’s IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship tournament are set.

Marty Scurll and Will Ospreay renewed their rivalry at Fighting Spirit Unleashed, with Scurll hitting his Graduation finisher to advance to the finals. The other semifinal took place at Destruction in Kobe earlier this month. KUSHIDA defeated BUSHI, becoming the first wrestler to get a spot in the finals.

Scurll will face KUSHIDA at King of Pro Wrestling on Monday, October 8 to decide the new Junior Heavyweight Champion.

Due to the neck injury that Hiromu Takahashi suffered in his match against Dragon Lee at July’s G1 Special in San Francisco, NJPW announced last month that the Junior Heavyweight title had been vacated. Scurll, KUSHIDA, Ospreay, and BUSHI were the four wrestlers included in the tournament.

Kenny Omega defending his IWGP Heavyweight Championship against Kota Ibushi and Cody Rhodes in a three-way match is also set for King of Pro Wrestling. The full card should be announced in the coming days.