Tag: master wato

NJPW reveals participants for Best of the Super Juniors 27

Posted on by Bryan Rose

The participants for this year’s Best of the Super Juniors 27 tournament have been announced

This year’s format is a dramatic change from last year’s tournament. Instead of two blocks and twenty entrants, this year there is only one block with ten wrestlers. The top two wrestlers who score the most points will meet each other in the finals.

Most of this year’s participants are NJPW regulars. Robbie Eagles, who has not appeared on a New Japan Pro Wrestling card since the COVID-19 pandemic, will make his return on this tour. Master Wato, who returned from excursion earlier this year, will make his Best of the Super Juniors debut.

The ten participants for this year’s tournament include:

  • Ryusuke Taguchi
  • Master Wato
  • SHO
  • Robbie Eagles
  • Hiromu Takahashi
  • BUSHI
  • El Desperado
  • Yoshinobu Kanemaru
  • DOUKI
  • Taiji Ishimori

The finals will take place on December 11 at Nippon Budokan.

The tournament, which usually runs in May, will instead run in conjunction with this year’s World Tag League. The original tour was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

NJPW announces tournament for IWGP Junior Tag Team titles

Posted on by Bryan Rose

The IWGP Jr. Tag Team titles have been vacated.

One half of the champions, SHO, appeared at today’s press conference and officially vacated the titles, saying that YOH is unlikely to come back before the end of the year due to a knee injury. SHO had said they would be vacating the titles in a post-match interview at Summer Struggle in Jingu.

As a result, a four team round robin tournament will start on September 3. The two teams who score the most points will face off in the finals of the tournament on September 11. 

The following teams will compete:

  • Ryusuke Taguchi & Master Wato
  • Hiromu Takahashi & BUSHI
  • El Desperado & Yoshinobu Kanemaru
  • Taiji Ishimori & Gedo

SHO and YOH had held the titles for 239 days, defeating El Phantasmo and Taiji Ishimori at Wrestle Kingdom 14 on January 5, their second reign as champions. The duo had successfully defended the title twice before vacating.

Hirai Kawato returns to NJPW as Master Wato

Posted on by Bryan Rose

Hirai Kawato has returned to NJPW under a new gimmick.

After weeks of vignettes highlighting a new character called “The Grand Master”, NJPW showed a new vignette this morning revealing that the The Grand Master is none other than Kawato, who will be going under the name Master Wato.

Wato then made his live entrance, eventually posing in the ring. He cut a short promo, then posed again. DOUKI then came out and jumped Wato, beating him down. He eventually had to be carried to the back.

Wato, 23, had not been seen in NJPW since January 2018 when he went on his excursion to CMLL. He spent two years in Mexico under the name Kawato-san, winning the CMLL World Lightweight championship once. He also lost a hair vs. hair match to Dulce Gardenia on January 1 of this year.

The semifinals of the New Japan Cup are being held tonight. The winners of these matches will face each other in the finals on July 11. The winner will face IWGP Heavyweight and Intercontinental champion Tetsuya Natio the following day at Dominion. Both events will be held in front of a limited amount of fans at Osaka-jo Hall.