Tsuji defeated Konosuke Takeshita in the co-main event of Wrestle Kingdom 20 on Sunday to win the IWGP World Championship for the first time and the IWGP Global Championship for a second time. He got the win after hitting the gene blaster and applied a Boston crab. Takeshita attempted to will himself not to tap out, including biting his hand, but eventually couldn’t take the pain and tapped, giving Tsuji his first-ever World championship win.
As Tsuji was giving a speech afterwards thanking the fans, Jake Lee jumped him from behind and hit a running boot to the corner. He then posed with the IWGP World Heavyweight title, making it clear he was next in line for the title. He had returned earlier in the night as the newest member of the United Empire.
Takeshita had held the title for 83 days, defeating Zack Sabre Jr. at King of Pro Wrestling back in October. He had previously won the G1 Climax tournament in August, but chose to challenge for the title quickly instead of waiting for Wrestle Kingdom.
When NJPW returns to the United States this April and May, the company’s top title will be on the line.
NJPW has announced that the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship will be defended at both Windy City Riot (Friday, April 11) and Resurgence 2025 (Friday, May 9). The title is currently held by Hirooki Goto, who became the new champion by dethroning Zack Sabre Jr. earlier this week. NJPW has not announced who will be challenging for the belt at either of these two events.
A veteran of the NJPW roster for more than 20 years, Goto finally reached the top of the company with his IWGP World Championship win. His first defense will be against Hiroshi Tanahashi at NJPW’s 53rd Anniversary show on March 6. The winner of that match will defend their belt against the New Japan Cup tournament winner at Sakura Genesis on April 5, less than a week before Windy City Riot.
Wintrust Arena in Chicago is hosting Windy City Riot, while Resurgence will be held at Toyota Arena in Ontario, California. Tickets for Resurgence are going on sale to the general public this Friday (February 14). Windy City Riot tickets are already available.
There were also IWGP World Championship matches at both Windy City Riot and Resurgence last year. Jon Moxley won the belt from Tetsuya Naito in Chicago before retaining against Shota Umino at Resurgence. Moxley, Naito, Sabre, and Goto are the most recent title holders.
The NJPW Ranbo has officially been added to Wrestle Kingdom 19.
The annual battle royal will take place on the kickoff portion of NJPW’s January 4 event. Additionally, El Phantasmo has been added to what will now be a four-way match for the New Japan World Television title.
After the Great-O-Khan retired the KOPW Championship at Road to Tokyo Dome, he suggested that the winner of the Ranbo should get a shot at the IWGP World Heavyweight title. New Japan confirmed the match and stipulation on Sunday.
ELP made his return on Saturday morning’s show and announced that he was medically cleared. After a match featuring the House of Torture, Jado appeared as Santa Claus and gave Narita a gift. When Narita opened it, it was a pair of ELP’s sunglasses, signaling ELP’s return after taking time off due to a cancer diagnosis.
NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 19 (Saturday, January 4) —
IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Zack Sabre Jr. defends against Shota Umino
Tetsuya Naito vs. Hiromu Takahashi
IWGP Global Champion David Finlay defends against Yota Tsuji
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion DOUKI defends against El Desperado
NEVER Openweight Champion Shingo Takagi defends against Konosuke Takeshita (Takeshita’s AEW International Championship will also be on the line if still champion)
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. EVIL
Four-way match: NJPW World TV Champion Ren Narita defends against Jeff Cobb, Ryohei Oiwa, and El Phantasmo
IWGP Women’s Champion Mayu Iwatani defends against AZM
Four-way match: IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions KUSHIDA & Kevin Knight defend against Robbie Eagles & Kosei Fujita, TJP & Francesco Akira, and Clark Connors & Drilla Moloney
Kickoff: NJPW Ranbo battle royal for future IWGP World title shot
After Shota Umino issued a challenge to Sabre following his successful IWGP World Heavyweight title defense at Power Struggle, Ricochet’s AEW music suddenly played. From behind, Ricochet springboarded off the ropes and laid out Sabre. He then cut a promo saying it’s been six years since he’s been in New Japan and wanted a shot at Sabre’s title, issuing the challenge for January 5 at Wrestle Dynasty.
Ricochet then said he was going to give Sabre a parting gift as he went to the corner. Umino, who had left the ring, came back and made the save for Sabre. He attempted to help Sabre back on his feet, but Sabre attacked Umino in response and turned his focus back on Ricochet. An unhappy Umino then attacked Sabre and posed with the IWGP World Heavyweight title as the Wrestle Kingdom theme played.
After leaving WWE earlier this year, Ricochet made his debut for AEW at All In back in August. In recent weeks, he has focused on Konosuke Takeshita and the AEW International Championship, making a surprise appearance at a Maple Leaf Pro Wrestling event last month. He and a mystery partner will face Takeshita and Kyle Fletcher this Wednesday on Dynamite.
The full card for Destruction in Kobe has been announced.
Overall, the show will have five title matches. Announced for the card in Kobe include Henare defending the NEVER title against Shingo Takagi, DOUKI defending the Junior Heavyweight title against House of Torture’s Yoshinobu Kanemaru, and the team of Oleg Boltin, Hiroshi Tanahashi, and Toru Yano defending the NEVER Six-Man Tag titles against EVIL, SHO, and Yujiro Takahashi of the House of Torture.
In addition, Hirooki Goto will wrestle in a singles match against Gabe Kidd. Zack Sabre Jr., who has challenged for the IWGP World Heavyweight title at King of Pro Wrestling on October 14, will tag with Kosei Fujita and a mystery challenger against SANADA, Taichi, and Taka Michinoku.
The two title matches that have been previously announced include IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Tetsuya Naito defending against Great-O-Khan and David Finlay defending the IWGP Global Championship against YOSHI-HASHI.
The full card for Destruction in Kobe:
IWGP World Heavyweight title: Tetsuya Naito defends against Great-O-Khan
IWGP Global Championship: David Finlay defends against YOSHI-HASHI
NEVER Openweight title: Henare defends against Shingo Takagi
IWGP Junior Heavyweight title: DOUKI defends against Yoshinobu Kanemaru
NEVER Openweight Six-Man Tag Team titles: Oleg Boltin, Hiroshi Tanahashi, and Toru Yano defend against EVIL, SHO, and Yujiro Takahashi
TMDK (Zack Sabre Jr., Kosei Fujita, and TBA) vs. Just Five Guys (SANADA, Taichi, and Taka Michinoku)
Hirooki Goto vs. Gabe Kidd
Los Ingobernables de Japon (Yota Tsuji, Hiromu Takahashi, and BUSHI) vs. United Empire (Jeff Cobb, Callum Newman, and Francesco Akira)
Yuji Nagata, Tomoaki Honma, and Tiger Mask vs. Shota Umino, Ryusuke Taguchi, and Dragon Dia
A challenge for the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship was accepted for AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door.
After Jon Moxley successfully retained the title at Forbidden Door, he said he would defend the title anywhere at any time and asked for anyone to come to the ring to challenge him. After a pause, Tetsuya Naito came out and issued the challenge for Forbidden Door later this month in New York. Moxley accepted the challenge.
It was Moxley that defeated Naito back at Windy City Riot in February to win the title for the first time. He has defended the title both in NJPW and in AEW, most notably defeating Powerhouse Hobbs on an episode of AEW Dynamite.
At Sunday’s Dominion event in Osaka-jo Hall, Moxley retained the title, defeating EVIL in a lumberjack match. The finish had Moxley give EVIL the death rider on top of a barbed wire baseball bat to remain IWGP World Champion. EVIL and the rest of House of Torture have spent most of the year terrorizing the company with their antics, leading to Moxley bringing in the third generation of NJPW stars to assist him during the lumberjack match.
SANADA and Jungle Boy are squaring off at Forbidden Door.
The IWGP World Heavyweight Champion appeared via video on Wednesday’s Dynamite. He said at Forbidden Door he planned to show the world the strength of an IWGP champion and will do that by issuing an open challenge for June 25 in Toronto. Later in the show, Jungle Boy was interviewed and said he accepted SANADA’s open challenge, saying his goal this year is to still become a champion.
SANADA has been the IWGP World Heavyweight Champion since April 8 at Sakura Genesis, when he defeated Kazuchika Okada. His most recent title defense took place at Dominion, when he successfully defended the title against Yota Tsuji. Jungle Boy, meanwhile, was one of three challengers for MJF’s AEW World title at Double or Nothing last month but ultimately failed to win the title.
Here is the updated lineup for Forbidden Door:
IWGP World Heavyweight title: SANADA defends against Jungle Boy
AEW World Championship: MJF defends against Hiroshi Tanahashi
IWGP United States Championship: Kenny Omega defends against Will Ospreay
Title matches have been announced for NJPW’s Golden Series tour that begins on January 20 and will run through February 20.
The final two nights of shows in Hokkaido will have title matches. On February 20, Kazuchika Okada will defend the IWGP World Heavyweight title against Tetsuya Natio, Toru Yano will face Minoru Suzuki for the KOPW 2022 provisional trophy, and NEVER Six Man Tag Team Champions EVIL, Yujiro Takahashi, and SHO are set to defend against Hirooki Goto, YOSHI-HASHI, and YOH.
February 19 will have Hiroshi Tanahashi defending the IWGP United States title against SANADA, Hirooki Goto and YOSHI-HASHI defending the IWGP Tag Team titles against EVIL and Yujiro Takahashi, and IWGP Junior Tag Team Champions Robbie Eagles and Tiger Mask defending against El Phantasmo and Taiji Ishimori.
Additionally, Tomohiro Ishii will challenge for the NEVER title against EVIL in a lumberjack match February 13 in Osaka, while El Desperado will defend the IWGP Junior Heavyweight title against Master Wato on February 11 in Miyagi.
The championship matches come as a result of events that went down at Wrestle Kingdom 16 earlier this month. After defeating Jeff Cobb, Naito challenged Okada at the end of the January 3 card, with Okada accepting. Master Wato pinned Desperado in a tag match on the January 5 card, and Toru Yano ended up handcuffing Suzuki to the ring ropes following their match.
Double or Nothing is the lead story in the new issue of the Wrestling Observer. Match-by-match coverage, star ratings, poll results, surprising PPV numbers and reasons why it happened, the atmosphere, what did and didn’t work and the signing of Mark Henry and the situation with Lio Rush.
Also in this issue:
WWE front office hires, their background, the shift in company strategy an how they fit in, as well as the reasons for the controversy regarding Jamie Horowitz and what happened when he was at FOX.
WWE cutting of Braun Strowman, Lana, Ruby Riott, Aleister Black, Murphy and Santana Garrett, reasons all were let go as well as the future prospects for all of them individually.
WWE schedule going forward, with the shows through September, the exclusive first word on plans for NXT going on the road, and a SummerSlam update.
New Japan/WWE talks, the history of Vince McMahon and booking of WWF talent in Japan when working with the Japanese, next Takeover show, more firings, U.K. and Canadian ratings, next week’s TV show and most-watched WWE videos.
A major feature on the life of 60s and 70s star Tony Marino, from his bodybuilding days to his start in wrestling, his international tours, the Battman gimmick from the Batman TV show, his biggest career shows, being part of setting the all-time indoor pro wrestling gate record for North America in 1970 and more.
More detail on ratings than any other source, how every segment on NXT and AEW did with different age groups and more, all other wrestling shows of the past week, how many different viewers the shows had which is very different from the television number, breakdown of who watches the shows, how they watch, DVR numbers and how long the average fan watches.
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SUNDAY NEWS UPDATE
We have two weekend shows up. There is one show with Garrett Gonzalez going over all the news of the past week and AEW shows and then we have another show with Bryan Alvarez talking Smackdown, TV, tomorrow’s Dominion show, UFC, Smackdown and more.
The Kazuchika Okada interview we talked about on last night’s show previewing the Dominion match with Shingo Takagi over the vacant IWGP title.
For this week there was a lot of stuff that trended mainstream on Google, mostly related to tonight’s Floyd Mayweather vs. Logan Paul fight. The fight was the No. 1 trend yesterday with 1 million searches, which is notable because usually these things are big only on fight day itself. Last night’s UFC show with Jairzinho Rozenstruik knocking on Augusto Sakai in the first round was No 10 with 50,000. On Friday, Mayweather vs. Paul was No. 1 with 2.5 million searches which is outright incredible for two days in advance. On Wednesday, Braun Strowman was No. 5 at 200,000 due to his being released and Mayweather vs.Paul was No 12 with 100,000. On Monday, Tyron Woodley was No. 6 at 200,000 and Jake Paul was No. 10 at 200,000.
The Mayweather vs Paul fight ended up with Paul weighing in at 189.5 pounds and he cut to make that weight. Mayweather was 155 and didn’t cut as he was contracted at 160. So legit Paul is probably going in with a 45 pound weight advantage. The card airs on Showtime PPV:
Mayweather vs. Logan Paul
Badou Jack vs. Dervin Colina
Jaret Hrud vs. Luis Arias
Chad Johnson (Chad Ochocinco) vs. Brian Maxwell – Johnson is an ex-NFL star making his boxing debut at 43 years old
New Japan Dominion takes place at 5 a.m. Eastern Monday morning from Osaka Jo Hall in what is traditionally one of the company’s big events of the year:
Zack Sabre Jr. & Taichi & Douki vs. Tetsuya Naito & Sanada & Bushi
Desperado vs. Yoh for IWGP jr. title
Kota Ibushi vs. Jeff Cobb
Kazuchika Okiada vs. Shingo Takagi for the vacant IWGP title
Ariel Helwani said that his contract with ESPN ends a week from Tuesday and he’s not renewing. “I have some very exciting news to share about my future very soon. Stay tuned for that. This was 100 percent my decision.” Helwani explaining his decision on Instagram can be found here.
Awful Announcing talks about The Action Network as a destination for Helwani as well as that he would not be exclusive to them.
The A&E Biography series comes to a conclusion at 8 p.m. Eastern tonight with the episode on Bret Hart. The New York Post talked to Bret Hart about tonight’s show.
Warrior Wrestling from last night in Chicago Heights, IL before about 1,000 fans: Jake Something b Warhorse, Deonna Purrazzo b Ray Lyn, KC Navarro b Cole Radick, Beast Man b Kongo Kong, Matt Cardona b Sam Adonis, Kylie Rae b Holidead to retain the Warrior title. Rae did well in her return. Trey Miguel b Lee Morarity, the eight-man Lucha series with Aramis, Gringo Loco, Black Taurus, Dragon Bane, Arez, Canis Lupus, Golden Dragon, Laredo Kid, led to Aramis & Arez & Laredo Kid & Bane over Gringo Loco & Taurus & Lupus & Dragon, then Aramis & Arez over Laredo Kid & Bane and finally Aramis b Arez to become the first WW Lucha champion. They tore down the house for 25 straight minutes. This was said to probably be the best match in the history of the promotion. They still enforced mask rules and social distancing but the weather was great and it looked to be their biggest crowd for an outdoor event to date. (thanks to Lance LeVine)
The University of South Florida police department issued a media alert saying they were looking for help identifying a suspect for grand theft for stealing things from the arena that WWE tapes Raw & Smackdown in on 5/22. If anyone has information they are asked to call the USF police at 813-974-2628.
The promotion of SummerSlam as the first time the show has ever been in an NFL stadium is technically incorrect since Wembley Stadium hosted the show in 1992 and the NFL has been holding the International Series game at the stadium since 2007 and have a game scheduled there again in 2022 (thanks to David Taylor)
OTHER NEWS
Results of the key fights from last night’s KSW show in Gdansk, Poland, its first before a live crowd in more than one year:
Mariusz Pudzianowski (15-7) beat Lukasz Jurkowski (17-12) via TKO from punches 1:23 of round three
Salahdine Parnasse (15-1-1) beat Filip Pejic (15-5-2) via choke 4:14 of round two
Darko Stosic (15-4) beat Michal Kita (20-13-1) via knockout 4:05 or round one
Patrik Kinci (24-9) beat Thomasz Rmanowski9 (13-8) via TKO from punches 3:36 of round two
Roman Szymanski (14-6) beat Donovan Desmae (14-7) via decision 30-27, 29-28, 29-28
Karolina Owczarc (4-1) beat Monika Kucinic (1-1) via decision 30-27, 30-27, 29-28
Ivan Ersian (10-1) beat Przemyslaw Mysiaala (24-11-1) via TKO from punches 4:02 round one
Damian Stasiak (13-7) beat Andrewy Lezhnev (19-10) via submission for a triangle choke 2:41 of round one
Adam Niedzwiedz (8-4) beat Jakub Kamieniarz (9-8) via arm triangle submissions 4:32 of round two
World League Wrestling from last night in Troy, MO: Kyle Roberts b Jon Webb, Brandon Espinosa b Colton Theron Vaught, Moose Powell b Camaro Jackson, Leland Race b Stephan Newton, Superstar Steve Fender b Derek Stone, Rahim de la Suede won three-way over Jayden Dominic Rose and Sean Patrick (thanks to Patrick Brandmeyer)
Billy Scott, a star with the UWFi in the 90s, is coming out of retirement for the first time in ten years facing Dominic Garrini for Paradigm Pro Wrestling on 7/9 in Indianapolis at the Marion County Fairgrounds. The show is part of a weekend of shows that will include ICW No Holds Barred, Asylum Wrestling Revolution and No Peace Underground Wrestling, with all shows airing on IWTV. Scott vs. Garrini will be under a modern version of UWFi rules. Scott was a protege of Billy Robinson and best known for winning a mixed match over former world cruiserweight boxing champion James Warring.
Jody Fleisch and Laura Di Matteo will return to Progress on the next show which airs on 6/19 on Peacock and WWE Network.
AAW on 6/11 at 115 Bourbon Street in Merrionette Park, IL at 7:30 p.m. has Mance Warner vs. Jake Something for the AAW title, Kris Statlander vs. The Hyan for the AAW women’s title, Manders & Matthew Justice vs. Deonn Rusman & Joeasa for the AAW tag titles, AJZ vs. Schaff, Josh Alexander vs. Mat Fitchett, Fred Yehi vs. Lio Rush plus Myron Reed, Ace Austin, Madman Fulton, Davey Vega, John E. Bravo, Hakim Zane, Gringo Loco and more.
Due to a number of reasons, the key one being TNT picking up the NHL, WarnerMedia will be moving AEW Dynamite and Rampage to TBS starting in January.
After negotiations that went very quickly, so quickly that the television situation in key foreign markets like the U.K. and Canada were not settled, a series of deals were put into place.
The main show, Dynamite, will continue to run 8-10 p.m. on Wednesdays, but be moved from TNT to TBS. AEW received an eight figure fee increase to move the show since the prior contract called for it being on TNT through the end of 2023. It is believed the new deal for the complete package was not extended from the original deal.
Rampage, the second show, will debut on Friday nights from 10-11 p.m. on TNT on 8/13, and also be moved to TBS in January.
Rampage will generally be taped on Wednesday nights but there will be special Friday night live tapings on PPV weeks. It appears they will run in the city they are doing the PPV in. For example, on 11/5, it was already announced for a taping at the Chaifetz Center in St. Louis, and Full Gear will be in the same building on 11/6.
Will Ospreay has vacated the IWGP World heavyweight title as he is out of action with a neck injury.
NJPW released a statement Thursday morning and revealed that Ospreay suffered the injury during the second night of Wrestling Dontaku. They said he would not be participating in the next series of events and will return to the United Kingdom for rehabilitation. No timetable is set for his return and as a result, the IWGP World Heavyweight title is now vacant.
An announcement on what comes next for the IWGP World Heavyweight title will be made at a later date. Ospreay had held the IWGP World Heavyweight title for 46 days, defeating Kota Ibushi at Sakura Genesis on April 4th.
Ospreay defeated Shingo Takagi on the second night of Wrestling Dontaku on May 4th to retain the title. He was scheduled to defend against Kazuchika Okada at May 29th’s Wrestle Grand Slam at the Tokyo Dome. However, that and the other stadium show set for Yokohama were delayed due to Japan extending their COVID-19 state of emergency through the end of May.
NJPW has not run any shows since May 4th due to nine wrestlers testing positive for COVID-19. They plan to resume shows on May 22nd.
There is just one more Road to Sakura Genesis show on Thursday, April 1, an untelevised event in Fukushima. This short tour then concludes with Sakura Genesis in Sumo Hall on Sunday, April 4, headlined by Kota Ibushi vs. Will Ospreay for the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship.
Here are the results from today’s event:
Kota Ibushi was presented with the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship to kick off the show.
NJPW unveiled the new IWGP World Heavyweight Championship belt in a ceremony at the start of today’s Road to Sakura Genesis event in Korakuen Hall.
Kota Ibushi came to the ring to begin the ceremony with the IWGP Heavyweight and IWGP Intercontinental titles. He relinquished the belts to NJPW officials, officially ending their lineage. A roll call video played for both the Heavyweight and Intercontinental titles, then the new World Championship belt was unveiled.
The new IWGP World Heavyweight Championship belt incorporates all four previous IWGP Heavyweight belt designs into the main plate, while the side plates are modeled after the Intercontinental title’s.
Ibushi was presented with the new belt and officially recognized as the first IWGP World Heavyweight Champion.
Ibushi will make his first defense of the title on Sunday, April 4 at Sakura Genesis, facing 2021 New Japan Cup winner Will Ospreay in the main event. The show will air live on NJPW World at 4 a.m. Eastern time.
New Japan Pro Wrestling will reveal the IWGP World Heavyweight championship belt prior to the new title’s first defense at Sakura Genesis.
The company announced this morning that the new championship will be revealed at Korakuen Hall on March 30 during the Road to Sakura Genesis event. The championship will be defended by Kota Ibushi for the first time at Sakura Genesis on April 4, when he faces Will Ospreay.
It was announced earlier this month that the IWGP Heavyweight and Intercontinental titles would be merged into a new championship, the IWGP World Heavyweight championship. Ibushi’s win over Desperado at the 49th Anniversary show on March 4 marked the final defense of both titles.
This effectively ends the lineage of both titles. The IWGP Heavyweight title dates back to 1987, when Antonio Inoki won the championship in a tournament final, defeating Masa Saito. The Intercontinental title was established in 2011 when MVP defeated Toru Yano in a eight-man tournament final in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
