Two new matches have been added to Thursday’s Impact Wrestling.
NJPW’s Juice Robinson will face Doc Gallows in a singles match. Finjuice (Robinson and Dave Finlay), the current Impact Tag Team Champions, successfully retained their titles at Rebellion, defeating The Good Brothers (Gallows and Karl Anderson). Finlay, Robinson, and Eddie Edwards will face Kenny Omega, Gallows, and Anderson at Under Siege on May 15 following the end of the last episode of Impact Wrestling, where Omega and The Good Brothers laid out Edwards and Finjuice.
Rachael Ellering, meanwhile, will face Kiera Hogan. Ellering made her in-ring debut at Rebellion as Jordynne Grace’s tag team partner, replacing Jazz who was forced to retire last month. Together, they defeated Hogan and Tasha Steelz to win the Knockouts Tag Team titles.
Segmemts already announced for Impact include:
NJPW’s El Phantasmo debuts
Moose vs. James Storm in a number one contender qualifying match
Rhino vs. Chris Sabin in a number one contender qualifying match
Trey Miguel vs. Rohit Raju in a number on contender qualifying match
Two new champions were crowned during tonight’s Impact Sacrifice event on Impact Plus.
A new X-Division champion was crowned, with Ace Austin defeating TJP to win the championship for the second time. He ended TJP’s third reign with the championship after 92 days. Austin defeated TJP after pinning him with a double stomp and The Fold.
FinJuice (David Finlay and Juice Robinson) defeated The Good Brothers (Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson) in the co-main event to win the Impact World Tag Team titles, with Juice coveiring Anderson following a doomsday device. FinJuice, who are signed to New Japan Pro Wrestling, are holding the titles for the first time. Anderson and Gallows had held the titles for 120 days, winning them from The North (Ethan Page and Josh Alexander) back on November 14.
Rich Swann in the main event unified the Impact and TNA Heavyweight titles, defeating Moose. He will move on to the Rebellion pay-per-view event on April 24, where he faces AEW World Champion Kenny Omega in a title vs. title match.
Tonight’s Impact Wrestling on AXS will feature the contract signing for the Good Brothers vs. FinJuice Tag Team title match on this Sunday’s Sacrifice special on Impact Plus.
In the preview video, the signing goes from laughs to clenched fists rather quickly. The two teams united last week in a win over XXXL and Reno Scum with a tag title match seemingly in the cards ever since David Finlay and Juice Robinson debuted.
Also on Tuesday’s show, former X-Division champions Ace Austin and Chris Bey will go one-on-one after current champion TJP tricked the two into a match as they were confronting him on last week’s show, and Rohit Raju will team with Shera to take on Beer Guns (Chris Sabin and James Storm).
On the BTI pre-show, the aforementioned TJP will battle Madman Fulton in a non-title match.
Our live coverage begins at 8 PM Eastern.
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TJP defeated Madman Fulton (with Ace Austin) in the BTI match.
TJP won with the Mamba Splash. Austin and Fulton attacked him after the match.
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Opening video recapped last week’s match where the Good Brothers and FinJuice teamed up to defeat XXXL and Reno Scum, that eventually led to dissension and the challenge made for a tag team title match at Sacrifice. Also featured, was the main event where Purrazzo defeated Grace and Hogan, only to be attacked by ODB.
Jazz (with Jordynne Grace) defeated Tasha Steelz (with Kiera Hogan)
The team of Jazz and Jordynne Grace will be challenging for the Knockouts tag team titles at Sacrifice. Last week, Hogan and Grace clashed in the 3-way that also included Deonn Purrazzo, this time around, it’s time for Jazz and Steelz.
Steelz started the match cocky, making fun of Jazz, so Jazz got in some offense in order to teach her a lesson. Steelz finally took Jazz seriously and cut her off. They went back and forward for a couple of minutes.
Jazz got a couple of near falls before locking in an STF for the submission win. This was really good once they started going back and forward.
– Gia Miller interviewed ODB about challenging for the Knockouts title at Sacrifice. ODB said she’d be a 5-time Knocked Up Champion soon. Susan confronted ODB and challenged her to a match. ODB was fantastic.
– D’lo Brown & Matt Striker ran down tonight’s card. D’Amore is set to make an announcement about the Swann vs Moose match at Sacrifice.
– Backstage, Trey Miguel saw Sam, one of his trainees, the one that was approached by Sami Callihan last week. Sam said that Callihan told him that if he showed up at Impact and challenged Miguel, he’d wimp out. Sam pushed Miguel’s buttons into accepting the match.
– We got a video package for Swann vs Moose, similar to last week’s, with Moose talking about going for Swann so he’ll be taken seriously, while Swann wanting to beat Moose, who is stronger and faster, but doesn’t want it as much as he does.
Beer Guns (James Storm & Chris Sabin) defeated Desi Hit Squad (Rohit Raju & Mahabali Shera)
These two teams have had a slight feud going for some weeks after Storm’s beer got spilled by Raju. Storm defeated Raju in last week’s episode of BTI, but ended with problems between Storm and Shera.
Story of the match was that Storm and Shera wanted each other, so even when Sabin and Storm had control over Raju, Storm threw it away to get Shera in. Storm was able to get the upper hand on Shera, but when he tagged in Sabin for the double team, Shera regained control and cut off Sabin.
Eventually, Storm got the hot tag and ran wild over Raju. After a couple of minutes, Raju managed to bring down Storm and get ready for the kill, but Shera, who was still hot, jumped in and interrupted Raju to attack Storm. Raju and Shera exchanged words, allowing Sabin and Storm to recover with Sabin hitting Cradle Shock for the win on Raju.
– Backstage, XXXL and Reno Scum discussed who lost last week’s match. Decay interrupted them. XXXL walked away because they didn’t want to deal with Rosemary, but Reno Scum was all in for a match with Decay at Sacrifice.
– Deaner was finally let out of his week-long punishment. James Storm and Chris Sabin approached them and called out EY for the things they were doing to Deaner. Violent By Design attacked Beer Guns and left them laying.
– Brian Myers confronted D’Amore and tried to get Eddie Edwards terminated if he wanted to avoid a lawsuit. D’Amore said that he and Edwards can settle things at Sacrifice in a No Rules match.
– Prior to the match, Sami Callihan came out to cut a promo and call Miguel a quitter, saying the only good thing Miguel has ever done is train Callihan’s new protege.
Trey Miguel defeated Sam Beale
Last week, we saw Callihan go to Trey Miguel’s gym, attack the trainers and trainees there, cause some mayhem, and try to recruit one of Miguel’s guys, Sam Beale
Match lasted one minute when Miguel locked in Beale in a submission and tapped him out.
After the match, Callihan dropped Beale with a package piledriver and used his magic hacking skills to disappear.
– Sabin and Storm cut a promo to EY, asking whatever happened to him. They’ve known EY for 20 years and don’t know where he went wrong. Storm said that at Sacrifice, they’re coming for Violent By Design. Jake Something walked up to them and offered his help to neutralize EY while Beer Guns worked the match.
– We got our weekly AEW commercial with Tony Khan and Tony Schiavone. They said they had a big buyrate at Revolution, they talked about some of the results from Revolution, and even referenced that Omega is terrible at building exploding rings and Eddie Kingston’s actions at the end of the pay per view.
– Good Brothers and FinJuice sat down with D’Amore for the contract signing. D’Amore couldn’t get them to sign because they were challenging each other to drink some shots. D’Amore eventually left and told them to sign the contract and get it back to him. They just kept drinking shot after shot after shot before finally signing the contract. Last shot ended all over the Good Brother’s face before they started brawling all over D’Amore’s conference room.
Chris Bey defeated Ace Austin (with Madman Fulton)
Ace Austin and Chris Bey were both in the #1 contendership 3-way match along with Black Taurus, the match that was won by Austin after Fulton helped him take out Bey. Chris Bey wants revenge on Austin, and after being tricked by TJP, this match came about.
The match was fantastic. It started with a good series of reversals and chain wrestling.
The match then turned into a more aerial match, with Austin gaining control of the match after a couple of kicks and dives on Bey.
Bey made a comeback and the match proceeded with both men going back and forward, some amazing sequences of counters and dodges. At one point, both men fought on top of the turnbuckles, ending with both men spilling to the floor after Austin failed to hit a double underhook superplex.
There were a couple of great near falls, a big one when Austin blocked the art of finesse, only to get hit with the Verta-bey-ker for a near fall.
At the end, Austin was hurt and had to hide behind Fulton and allowed Austin to attack Bey. TJP came out and made sure to lure Fulton to the back, but with the distraction, Bey recovered and hit the art of finesse for the win. Great match.
At this point, Bey may get added to Austin vs TJP.
– Over at Swinger’s Paradise, Josh Alexander confronted TJP for not taking Austin seriously. Cocky TJP said that he beat Alexander, and so he’ll beat Austin too. Alexander told him he’ll be coming after him if he retains.
– Rohit Raju confronted Shera for costing him his second match. Shera attacked Raju and told him he didn’t owe him anything.
ODB defeated Susie
Purrazzo, Kimber Lee, and Susan have been feuding with Jordynne Grace, Jazz, and ODB for some weeks. ODB pinned Susan when both teams met in a 6-woman tag match, and so Susan wanted to get some revenge on ODB.
Match was a squash, ODB beat on Susan from bell to bell, hitting all her signature moves. Susan’s only hope spot came after poking ODB’s eyes, but the advantage didn’t last long. Match ended when Susan threw out all of ODB’s alcohol, ODB got angry, and finished off Susan for the win.
After the match, Purrazzo and Lee came out and attacked ODB until Grace and Jazz made the save. Hogan and Steelz joined the brawl and attacked Grace and Jazz, who they’ll be wrestling at Sacrifice. Heels dominated the ring afterwards. This was good for what it was.
Brown and Striker ran down the Sacrifice card, including the newly added matches of Edwards vs Myers, VBD vs Beer Guns, Decay vs Reno Scum, and Dashwood and Kaleb vs Havok and Nevaeh.
– It was time for D’Amore’s announcement. Moose came out to the ring to hear the announcement and called out D’Amore, who came out and brought out Rich Swann to give the announcement to both men.
D’Amore announced that the main event of Sacrifice will be a title vs title world title unification match. D’Amore also added that whoever wins as the World champion, will be defending at Rebellion against Kenny Omega, in an Impact Championship vs AEW Championship, winner takes all match.
Afterwards, we saw Don Callis talk with Omega, telling him that things are going according to plan.
Three title matches were announced Tuesday for March 13th’s Sacrifice on Impact Plus.
A match for the Tag Team titles was announced as The Good Brothers (Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson) will defend against New Japan Pro Wrestling’s David Finlay and Juice Robinson, aka FinJuice.
The two teams have traded exchanges in the last few weeks. On this week’s Impact, the two teams defeated XXXL (Larry D and Acey Romero) and Reno Scum (Luster The Legend and Adam Thornstowe) in an eight-man tag. The winners all had a staredown afterward.
The X-Division title will be on the line as TJP will defend against former champion Ace Austin. Austin defeated Black Taurus and Chris Bey in a number one contenders three way Tuesday. Austin later confronted TJP backstage, which then led to Chris Bey appearing and challenging Austin for a match on next week’s Impact.
Finally, ODB will challenge Knockouts Champion Deonna Purrazzo. Tuesday’s show ended with ODB attacking the champion for her attack on ODB backstage last week. The Impact veteran made it clear as the show was going off the air that she wanted a title match.
Here is the current card for Sacrifice:
Impact World Champion Rich Swann vs. TNA Champion Moose
Knockouts Tag Team Champions Fire ‘N Flava vs. Jordynne Grace and Jazz
Knockouts Champion Deonna Purrazzo vs. ODB
Impact Tag Team Champions Good Brothers vs. David Finlay and Juice Robinson
As announced at the end of Saturday’s No Surrender, New Japan’s Juice Robinson and David Finlay will be in the Impact Zone Tuesday night to make their intentions known.
The show will also feature Tommy Dreamer vs. Moose in an old school rules match. Dreamer was on the losing end of his match with Impact World Champion Rich Swann Saturday while Moose is the next top challenger to Swann’s title. In other action, X Division Champion TJP will defend against no. 1 contender Josh Alexander while Willie Mack, Daivari, Suicide and Trey Miguel will square off in a four-way.
Before the show, Impact will launch “Behind The Impact”, a weekly pre-show that will focus on angles and interviews with Impact talent. Tonight’s debut will feature Decay (Black Taurus and Crazzy Steve with Rosemary) vs. Team XXXL (Larry D and Acey Romero).
Our live coverage begins at 8 PM Eastern.
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Opening video recapped No Surrender, including the Good Brothers retaining against Private Party and Beer Guns. Rich Swann retained against Tommy Dreamer, followed by the beat down at the hands of Moose. And finally, the tease debut of FinJuice.
X Division Champion TJP defeated Josh Alexander to retain the title
Alexander won a title shot at TJP after winning the Triple Threat Revolver match at No Surrender. TJP defeated Rohit Raju to retain such title.
This was a great, fast paced, exchange of submission work and reversals. TJP went after Alexander’s arm, while Alexander focused on the back and legs. It wasn’t until TJP changed his game to aerial moves, that he managed to get some momentum, but it consequently made Alexander go for strikes as a counter.
At one point, Alexander went for a Jay driller from the top rope, but TJP blocked it, went for the mamba splash, only to get countered by Alexander with an ankle lock. Finish saw TJP hit the detonation kick and mamba splash for the win. This was a great match.
Alexander lost the title shot he had just earned, so hopefully this is not the last time these two wrestle for the title.
– Gia Miller interviewed Dreamer about his recent meeting with D’Amore. Dreamer had requested a match with Moose after the attack from No Surrender, and the match will be Old School Rules.
– Backstage, Myers and Hernandez met up. Hernandez wanted his share of the money, which Myers properly paid. Hernandez also got paid to beat Cardona in tonight’s match. After Myers left, Bahh approached him and tried talking Hernandez to gamble. Hernandez agreed to invest in Bahh.
– D’lo Brown & Matt Striker ran down tonight’s card, hyping up the debut of Juice Robinson and David Finlay, who will be taking on Reno Scum.
Trey Miguel defeated Willie Mack, Suicide, & Daivari
These are four of the eight participants that lost the Triple Threat Revolver match at No Surrender. Now that Alexander has lost his title shot, these four are looking to get on the winning side and start building up numbers to get a title match.
Ok match, aside from a couple of minutes that Daivari and Suicide got together, it was all mostly 3-way action with someone always being taken out. No one in particular looked impressive, but everyone did get a chance to show off a little bit. At the end, Miguel hit a meteora on Daivari for the win.
Backstage, Callihan waited for Miguel. He told him that Miguel has no passion and that he always fails when it matters. Miguel sucked it up and walked away.
– Ace Austin walked up on D’Amore and TJP having a talk. Austin brought up that he won the Super X Cup and he still hasn’t had his title shot for the X Division title. D’Amore said that next week, they’ll have a 6-man match, with the winning team advancing to a 3-way #1 contendership. Austin said he wouldn’t jump D’Amore’s hoops.
Matt Cardona defeated Hernandez (with Brian Myers)
Prior to No Surrender, Cardona inserted himself between Myers and Edwards’s issues, when Myers hired Hernadez to take out Edwards, Cardona made the save for Edwards. At No Surrender, Myers pinned Cardona, and tonight, he hired Hernandez to take out Cardona for good.
Match saw Cardona dominate the match until Myers distracted the referee, allowing Hernandez to low blow Cardona and cut him off. Hernandez worked over Cardona’s back for a bit before making a comeback and winning with the radio silence. Nothing match.
Gia Miller interviewed Cardona after the match. She asked about Myers, but Cardona cut her off to say that he’s not here for Myers, and wanted to wrestle for himself. Myers cut him off to tell Cardona that Impact was his. Due to the distraction, Hernandez attacked Cardona, which brought out Eddie Edwards for the save. Cardona poked Myers’ eye accidentally.
– We got our weekly AEW commercial with Khan and Schiavone. Khan said he got nothing for St. Valentine, but instead he gave many gifts, one of which was money to Impact, that he passes as charitable donations. They run down the card for Dynamite, teasing that the forbidden door is open and anyone can show up now.
– Havok and Nevaeh talk about losing another shot at the tag team titles at No Surrender. Dashwood and Kaleb with a K walked up to them and teased them in her usual Dashwood way. Havok and Nevaeh are still not on the same page.
FinJuice (Juice Robinson & David Finlay) defeated Reno Scum (Luster The Legend & Adam Thornstowe)
This is FinJuice’s debut on Impact Wrestling, and the return of Reno Scum after some months away from the promotion.
This was a good introduction for Robinson and Finlay, even with Reno Scum getting so much offense on them. Match saw Reno Scum cut off Finlay for a couple of minutes before Robinson got the hot tag. Finish saw Robinson pin Thornstowe after a Superplex by Finlay, and a top rope splash from Robinson.
Robinson, who had dropped off Wrestle Kingdom due to injury, looked healed and in good condition.
After the match, the Good Brothers came down to welcome FinJuice. They made fun of FinJuice, calling them young boys. They teased them for remembering when they had to carry Anderson’s and Gallows’ bags over in Japan.
Robinson told them that this isn’t 2015 and they’re not young boys anymore, and instead invited them to get some beers, FinJuice had the first round as long as Anderson could keep up.
– Rohit Raju and Mahabali Shera shared a drink. Raju blamed Shera for losing the X Division match at No Surrender. Shera eventually pushed him off, but accidentally fell into James Storm and spilled his beer. Storm took out Raju, so Shera and Storm got face to face. Sabin broke off the fight before it got violent. No match was pacted, but we could be getting Desi Hit Squad vs Beer Guns soon.
Swinger invited Storm and Sabin to his Swinger’s Palace. They did some comedy with Alisha and Fallah Bahh, who got kicked out for not having money.
Tenille Dashwood (with Kaleb with a K) defeated Nevaeh
This match was booked after Dashwood antagonized Nevaeh and Havok earlier.
Nevaeh had the power advantage until Kaleb aided Dashwood to get some heat. Nevaeh made her comeback and started chasing the finish, but she could keep Dashwood down for the 3 count, and as frustration set in, Dashwood hit a taste for Tenille and the spotlight kick for the win. Ok match, nothing special.
Nevaeh’s losing frustration will continue for now.
– We got a promo by Violent By Design. Deaner addressed Jake Something about being invited to join them and he had chosen to be something else, and because of that, he’ll be punished. At No Surrender, he got the pin, but he lost the war. Deaner told EY and Doering that this is family business, and next week, he’ll defeat them in a tables match, and if he fails again, he’ll suffer the consequences of his failures. Good promo.
– Backstage, Deonna Purrazzo and Kimber Lee tried to stop Susan from challenging Jazz to match,they told her to manage her emotions and instead, she walked up to D’Amore and asked for Susan and Lee to get a shot at the Knockouts tag team titles. D’Amore decided that next week, Lee and Susan get a match against Jazz and Grace for the #1 contendership match for the tag titles.
– Brown & Striker ran down next week’s card. Ace Austin, Chris Bey, and Black Taurus vs Willie Mack, Josh Alexander, & Trey Miguel, and Deaner vs Jake Something in a tables match.
Moose defeated Tommy Dreamer in an Old School Rules match
After the main event ended at No Surrender, Moose ran down and attacked the Impact World Champion Rich Swann and Tommy Dreamer. With Swann being out tonight, Dreamer decided to do something about it and challenged Moose to an Old School Rules match.
Commentary sold it perfectly, Moose is a dangerous man, give him a weapon, and he becomes more dangerous, and that was the story of the match. Moose beat up Dreamer from the get go, Dreamer had some early shots in, but they didn’t do much damage to Moose.
Dreamer had to rely on the groin claw in order to finally slow down Moose and get a desperation cutter to get him down. Dreamer got a couple of weapon shots in before Moose cut him off again. Moose ended up setting a table that he got speared through, but he recovered again and finished off Dreamer for the pin. Not good enough for a main event, it was somewhat boring.
After the match, Moose posed as the show went off the air.
NJPW’s Juice Robinson and David Finaly will appear on Impact Wrestling this Tuesday.
A video aired at the end of tonight’s Impact Wrestling showing highlights of Finlay and Robinson as the NJPW logo was shown. Impact’s social media later confirmed that the two were headed to Impact, and would appear on this Tuesday’s edition of Impact Wrestling.
The duo are former IWGP Tag Team champions and most recently competed in the 2020 World Tag League tournament, losing to Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa in the finals. Robinson was originally scheduled to face KENTA for the IWGP United States title shot briefcase at Wrestle Kingdom 15. However, he was sidelined with a fractured orbital bone in December, putting him out of action. Satoshi Kojima replaced him in their match on January 4 in a losing effort.
Impact has had several stars from AEW appear on their weekly television. Kenny Omega, Matt Hardy, and Private Party have all appeared on Impact over the last couple of months. NJPW’s KENTA also made an appearance on AEW Dynamite, attacking Jon Moxley. Moxley will defend the IWGP United States title against KENTA on the February 26th edition of NJPW Strong.
Satoshi Kojima challenged KENTA to face him at Wrestle Kingdom 15 for the IWGP United States Championship right to challenge certificate. Kojima issued the challenge at today’s Road to Tokyo Dome event.
KENTA had been set to defend his briefcase against Juice Robinson on night one of Wrestle Kingdom on January 4th. NJPW announced today that Robinson has suffered a fractured orbital bone and will be unable to compete.
Kojima and KENTA were on opposite sides of a tag match at today’s event. KENTA and Jay White defeated Kojima and Toa Henare after White pinned Henare with a Blade Runner.
Kojima stated that after 30 years in the business, “I’m going for it,” and asked if KENTA would accept a challenge from a 50 year-old man. KENTA attempted to hit Kojima with his briefcase. Instead, Kojima ducked the shot and hit a cutter. Kojima then went for a lariat, but Jay White made the save, pulling KENTA out of the ring.
Wrestle Kingdom 15 will be held over two nights on January 4th and January 5th, 2021. Both shows will air live on NJPW World at 3 a.m. Eastern time.
Here are the current lineups:
January 4 —
IWGP Heavyweight Championship & IWGP Intercontinental Championship: Tetsuya Naito (c) vs. Kota Ibushi
Kazuchika Okada vs. Will Ospreay
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Great-O-Khan
KENTA vs. ? for the IWGP United States Championship right to challenge certificate
IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championships: Taichi & Zack Sabre Jr. (c) vs. Guerillas of Destiny
Hiromu Takahashi vs. El Phantasmo
New Japan Rambo
January 5 —
IWGP Heavyweight Championship & IWGP Intercontinental Championship: Winner of Naito-Ibushi vs. Jay White
IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship: Taiji Ishimori (c) vs. Hiromu-ELP winner
SANADA vs. EVIL
NEVER Openweight Championship: Shingo Takagi (c) vs. Jeff Cobb
IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Championships: El Desperado & Yoshinobu Kanemaru (c)vs. Master Wato & Ryusuke Taguchi
Juice Robinson is off Wrestle Kingdom 15 following an injury on a recent Road to Tokyo Dome show.
NJPW’s website announced this morning that as a result of a fractured orbital bone, Robinson will not be able to compete on both this morning’s Road to Tokyo Dome event or Wrestle Kingdom 15 next month. The company had just confirmed during today’s press conference that the match was scheduled for January 4. Robinson did not attend the event due to the injury.
The company’s website stated that “further announcements on the status of KENTA’s Tokyo Dome opponent will be made in due course.”
Robinson last competed in the main event of the Road to Wrestle Kingdom card on December 22. He teamed with Kota Ibushi and SHO in a losing effort against Jay White, KENTA, and Gedo.
Robinson was originally scheduled to compete this morning in a tag match with Toa Henare, facing KENTA and Jay White. Satoshi Kojima will replace Robinson on the card.
The full cards for both nights of Wrestle Kingdom 15 have been announced.
NJPW has added a King of Pro Wrestling Ranbo that will take place on January 4. There will be 22 entrants. The final four participants will move on to January 5, where they will compete in a 4-way match. The winner of that match will be the KOPW champion to kick off 2021.The 2020 champion will be determined this morning when Bad Luck Fale and Toru Yano will face against one another in a bodyslam or last corner pad match at the final Road to Tokyo Dome event of the tour.
Additionally, based on challenges made during this week’s Road to Tokyo Dome tour, KENTA will defend his IWGP US title briefcase against Juice Robinson. That match has been made for January 4.
The full cards for Wrestle Kingdom 15 are as follows:
January 4:
Tetsuya Naito vs. Kota Ibushi for the IWGP Heavyweight and Intercontinental titles
Kazuchika Okada vs. Will Ospreay
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Great-O-Khan
KENTA vs. Juice Robinson for the IWGP US title contract briefcase
Taichi & Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Guerillas of Destiny for the IWGP Tag Team titles
Hiromu Takahashi vs. El Phantasmo
King of Pro Wrestling Ranbo
January 5:
Winner of Naito-Ibushi vs. Jay White for the IWGP Heavyweight and Intercontinental titles
Taiji Ishimori vs. Hiromu-ELP winner for the IWGP Jr. title
SANADA vs. EVIL
Shingo Takagi vs. Jeff Cobb for the NEVER Openweight title
El Desperado & Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. Master Wato & Ryusuke Taguchi for the IWGP Jr. Tag Team titles
4-way match for the KOPW title
Dark match featuring Stardom talent
NJPW’s New Year Dash!! event will take place on January 6 at Tokyo Dome City Hall
KENTA will defend his right to challenge contract for the IWGP United States Championship against Juice Robinson at Wrestle Kingdom 15.
KENTA said during today’s Road to Tokyo Dome show that he accepted Robinson’s challenge for the match. Robinson proposed the bout in backstage comments after yesterday’s Road to Tokyo Dome show.
KENTA had originally stated in post-match comments both yesterday and today that he does not want the match with Robinson, and is only interested in facing the United States Champion, Jon Moxley.
KENTA clarified in his backstage promo today that he sees the match with Robinson as an opportunity to face the fans in a match, according to NJPW commentator Chris Charlton’s translation.
Moxley won the U.S. title for a second time on the first night of Wrestle Kingdom 14 on January 4th of this year, beating Lance Archer. Archer had won the title after Moxley had been stripped for not being able to defend the title in 2019 due to travel issues related to a typhoon.
Moxley has managed two successful defenses during his current reign with the title. He defeated Robinson on night two of Wrestle Kingdom 14 on January 5th, then beat Minoru Suzuki at The New Beginning in Osaka on February 9th.
Moxley has not been able to defend the title since due to pandemic-related travel restrictions. Still, it is noteworthy that NJPW made the decision not to strip Moxley this time, when they stripped him under similar circumstances just last year.
Robinson is a two-time IWGP U.S. Champion himself and will now face KENTA for the right to challenge Moxley, the man who ended Robinson’s second reign with the title at the Best of the Super Jrs. 26 final in June 2019.
KENTA, Jay White and Gedo defeated Robinson, Kota Ibushi and SHO in the main event of today’s show at Korakuen Hall.
Wrestle Kingdom 15 will be held over two nights on January 4th and January 5th, 2021. Both shows will air live on NJPW World at 3 a.m. Eastern time.
Here are the lineups so far:
Unspecified night —
IWGP U.S. Championship right to challenge contract match: KENTA vs. Juice Robinson
Wrestle Kingdom 15 night one, January 4th —
IWGP Heavyweight & Intercontinental double title match: Tetsuya Naito (c) vs. Kota Ibushi
IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championship match: Taichi & Zack Sabre Jr. (c) vs. Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa
Kazuchika Okada vs. Will Ospreay
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Great-O-Khan
IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship number one contender’s match: Hiromu Takahashi vs. El Phantasmo
Wrestle Kingdom night two, January 5th —
IWGP Heavyweight & Intercontinental double title match: Tetsuya Naito or Kota Ibushi vs. Jay White
NEVER Openweight Championship match: Shingo Takagi (c) vs. Jeff Cobb
EVIL vs. SANADA
IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship match: Taiji Ishimori (c) vs. Hiromu Takahashi or El Phantasmo
The winners for both the World Tag League and the Best of the Super Juniors have been decided.
Hiromu Takahashi has won the Best of the Super Juniors tournament for the second time, defeating El Desperado in the tournament finals. It was a fierce back and forth match; at one point, Desperado’s mask had been ripped so much that he took it off and continued fighting. But after two time bombs, Hiromu pinned Desperado to win the tournament.
After the match, Hiromu praised Desperado, saying there was plenty more still to come. He told Desperado that he won this time, but he will see him again.
Hiromu said that before he faces Ishimori, there is something that he needs to do. He says he wants the winner of the Super J Cup tournament that takes place this weekend.
He thanked the fans, saying he loves the Jr. heavyweight division and NJPW.
In the semi-main event, The Guerillas of Destiny defeated FinJuice (Juice Robinson & David Finlay) thanks to interference from both Jado and KENTA. Jado, who was repeatedly ejected from the arena only to return anyway, distracted the referee long enough to allow KENTA to come into the ring and strike Juice Robinson with his US title contract briefcase. This allowed Tanga Loa to pin Robinson following an assisted powerbomb off the top rope.
This marks the first time the team has won the trophies. Previously, they made it to the finals in 2016, 17, and 18, but lost all three times.
The full card for the Best of the Super Juniors/World Tag League finals has been revealed.
The Best of the Super Juniors 27 finals will headline the card. Hiromu Takahashi and El Desperado advanced to the finals on Sunday morning’s card. The World Tag League finals will serve as the co-main event, with David Finlay and Juice Robinson squaring off against The Guerillas of Destiny (Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa).
Tag matches round out the undercard. Wrestle Kingdom 15 opponents Kota Ibushi and Tetsuya Naito will face off in a tag match. Kazuchika Okada and Will Ospreay will also face off in a six-man tag team match. A match between the Bullet Club and CHAOS stables will open the card.
Here is the full card for Friday’s show, which takes place at Budokan Hall:
Hiromu Takahashi vs. El Desperado in the Best of the Super Juniors 27 finals
David Finlay and Juice Robinson vs. Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa in the World Tag League 2020 finals
Kota Ibushi and Master Wato vs. Tetsuya Naito and BUSHI
Shingo Takagi and SANADA vs. EVIL and Yujiro Takahashi
Kazuchika Okada, Hiroshi Tanahashi, and Toa Henare vs. Will Ospreay, Jeff Cobb, and Great-O-Khan
Toru Yano, SHO, and Robbie Eagles vs. Bad Luck Fale, Chase Owens, and Taiji Ishimori
The Best of the Super Juniors and World Tag League finals have been set.
Hiromu Takahashi and El Desperado will meet in the Best of the Super Juniors 27 finals, both reaching 14 points. Jr. championTaiji Ishimori also finished with 14 points. Takahashi and Desperado both have wins over Ishimori, however, which eliminates him from the tournament.
After Desperado defeated BUSHI to advance to the finals, Takahashi came out and confronted Desperado as the two had a staredown.
Meanwhile, Juice Robinson and David Finlay will meet the Guerillas of Destiny in the World Tag League finals. After Finlay & Robinson defeated Hirooki Goto and YOSHI-HASHI to advance, the Guerillas of Destiny jumped Finlay and Robinson before they could cut a celebratory promo. Jado called GoD the leaders of the tournament and that they would be the winners come Friday.
Robinson & Finlay and GoD both finished with 12 points. Champions Taichi and Zack Sabre Jr. also had 12 points, but they lost to both teams.
This would be the second time that Robinson and Finlay have reached the finals, winning the tournament last year over EVIL and SANADA. They went on to defeat the Guerillas of Destiny at Wrestle Kingdom 14 for the IWGP Tag Team titles.
The finals for both tournaments will take place on December 11 at Budokan Hall. Here are the final scores for both tournaments:
NJPW has announced the lineup for Friday’s NJPW Strong. This week’s event is the first in a series of Road to Detonation shows.
In the main event, Jeff Cobb, Rocky Romero, PJ Black and Fred Rosser will face Team Filthy, comprised of Tom Lawlor, Rust Taylor, JR Kratos and Danny Limelight. Kratos and Taylor have aligned themselves with Lawlor, including during his NJPW Showdown match against Rosser.
Juice Robinson and ACH will tag against Adrian Quest and Jordan Clearwater. This will serve as a tune-up match for ACH before the Super-J Cup on December 12th. Clearwater is still in search of his first win on NJPW Strong.
In the opener, Clark Connors will face Logan Riegel. Connors has teamed with The DKC in taking on Logan and his brother Sterling in tag action on recent episodes of Strong. In two tag matches, the teams have traded victories.
Strong airs Fridays at 10 p.m. Eastern time on NJPW World.
