NJPW announces four-day Oceania Cup event for Australia in 2023

NJPW has announced a four-day Oceania Cup event set for Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, Australia in 2023. 

The promotion announced the event in a joint press release with the local Wagga Wagga government. The event was made possible by a grant from the New South Wales government according to the release. 

No dates or participants have been announced for the Oceania Cup. 

The press release: 

TUESDAY DECEMBER 13 2022

TOKYO, JAPAN/WAGGA WAGGA NSW AUSTRALIA

The Wagga Wagga economy will receive a stimulus boost with an influx of visitors set to spend big in local shops, cafes and businesses in 2023, thanks to the NSW

Government’s Regional Events Acceleration Fund. Duty MLC for Wagga Wagga said a grant for GLO Sports will ensure New Japan Pro Wrestling’s 1st ever Oceania Cup event boosts regional tourism and stimulates the local economy.

“This funding will allow the event to increase visitation to town, support local businesses and boost economic recovery post pandemic and natural disasters,” Mr Fang said. “NJPW will be holding the four-day event which will incorporate fan engagement sessions, appearances from high-profile legend wrestlers, an inclusive event for people with disability and elite professional wrestlers from all over the world.”

“This iconic event will accelerate the local economy by putting Wagga Wagga on the world map and exhibiting it as a great location for future events.”

NJPW President Takami Ohbari said NJPW welcomed the funding from the NSW Government.

“After the 2022 launch of our Oceania brand TAMASHII, we are proud to bring professional wrestling to inland Australia for the first time ever in Wagga Wagga, NSW in 2023,” Mr Ohbari said. “We are truly excited to showcase NJPW fighting spirit, and we want to especially thank the NSW Government, a great friend of Japan in business and sport, for supporting NJPW.”

GLO Sports Managing Director Cam Vale said they are proud to facilitate the partnership between NJPW and the NSW Government. “GLO Sports is proud to be able to facilitate a partnership in bringing a high-profile sporting brand like NJPW to regional NSW,” Mr Vale said. “I have been fortunate to have worked with Destination NSW on many occasions in my career and I am excited about the opportunities the NJPW event will bring to engage local business and community stakeholders, showcasing Wagga Wagga as a great location for signature events like this”

Deputy Premier and Minister for Regional NSW Paul Toole said the Regional Events Acceleration Fund is supporting the growth of existing regional events and attracting new major domestic and international events to regional NSW.

“Money is rolling out right across regional NSW helping local events go from strength to strength and putting regional NSW on the map,” Mr Toole said. “We know that hosting events in regional areas attracts visitors to towns, and those guests will spend money in local shops, grab a bite to eat at a local restaurant or café, and boost regional businesses and economies.”

“Since its inception, the Regional Events Acceleration Fund has supported the delivery and development of 85 events, with more than one million visitors travelling to the regional areas where these events are held.”

The $40 million Regional Events Acceleration Fund is part of the $2 billion Regional Growth Fund, designed to support growing regional centres, activate local economies and improve services and community infrastructure for regional communities.

For further information, including program guidelines and eligibility criteria, go to: nsw.gov.au/REAFund.

NJPW reveals full card for Southern Showdown in Melbourne

NJPW has announced the full card for their Southern Showdown event in Melbourne, Australia.

The show will be headlined by a tag team match, with Kazuchika Okada & Hiroshi Tanahashi facing Jay White & Bad Luck Fale. As was announced at Dominion, new IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Will Ospreay will defend his title against Robbie Eagles in Melbourne.

Ospreay, who won this year’s Best of the Super Juniors tournament, defeated Dragon Lee to win the IWGP Junior Heavyweight title at Dominion. Ospreay then went to the English commentary table and said that he wanted his first defense to be against Eagles.

IWGP Tag Team Champions Guerrillas of Destiny will face Juice Robinson & Mikey Nicholls in a non-title match in Melbourne, and Rocky Romero is taking on El Phantasmo in a Best of the Super Juniors rematch

Southern Showdown in Melbourne is taking place at Festival Hall on Saturday, June 29. It will air live exclusively as an iPPV on Fite TV, then it will be uploaded to New Japan World 72 hours later.

NJPW’s Michael Craven explained why the show isn’t airing live on NJPW World: “Expanding into a new market brings with it new challenges; while we did not have the infrastructure in place in Australia for the quality of stream World viewers deserve, FITE have stepped up and offered their world class production and distribution expertise for the event.

“We realize how important it is that NJPW World has complete coverage of every single major event we put out, but also want to accommodate those fans that want to watch live, and that’s what drove us to go with FITE for the timed exclusivity deal.”

NJPW has also announced the card for their house show in Sydney, Australia on June 30.

Here’s the full lineup for the Melbourne event:

  • Kazuchika Okada & Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Jay White & Bad Luck Fale
  • IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Will Ospreay defending against Robbie Eagles
  • Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa vs. Juice Robinson & Mikey Nicholls
  • Rocky Romero vs. El Phantasmo
  • Tomohiro Ishii & YOSHI-HASHI vs. Yujiro Takahashi & Chase Owens
  • Toru Yano, SHO & YOH vs. Taiji Ishimori, Gedo & Gino Gambino
  • Slex vs. Aaron Solow
  • Toa Henare, Shota Umino & Ren Narita vs. Mark Tui, Andrew Villalobos & Michael Richards

Title match set for NJPW Southern Showdown

After winning the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship at Dominion, Will Ospreay already has his first title defense set.

Ospreay went to the English commentary table after winning the title and announced that he wants to defend it against Robbie Eagles at Southern Showdown in Melbourne, Australia on Saturday, June 29. Eagles, who is from Australia and has faced Ospreay multiple times before, defeated Ospreay during this year’s Best of the Super Juniors tournament.

Ospreay defeated Dragon Lee at Dominion to become IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion. Ospreay got the title shot by defeating Shingo Takagi to win the Best of the Super Juniors. Ospreay was the winner of the B Block, only losing to Eagles and El Phantasmo in his tournament matches.

This is Ospreay’s third reign as IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion.

Southern Showdown is taking place at Festival Hall in Melbourne. The show will air live exclusively as an iPPV on Fite TV, with it being uploaded to New Japan World 72 hours after.

“Expanding into a new market brings with it new challenges; while we did not have the infrastructure in place in Australia for the quality of stream World viewers deserve, FITE have stepped up and offered their world class production and distribution expertise for the event,” NJPW’s Michael Craven told Fox Sports Australia.

“We realize how important it is that NJPW World has complete coverage of every single major event we put out, but also want to accommodate those fans that want to watch live, and that’s what drove us to go with FITE for the timed exclusivity deal.”

NJPW officially announces Sydney event for Southern Showdown

New Japan Pro Wrestling has officially added a Sydney date to their return to Australia.

NJPW will hold a show at the University of New South Wales Roundhouse on Sunday, June 30. It will be a “smaller, more intimate event” than their show at Festival Hall in Melbourne on June 29.

Tickets for the event in Sydney will go on sale at noon AET on Friday, April 26. There is no pre-sale for the show.

The two-show Southern Showdown tour will be the first time NJPW has come to Australia since their Fallout Down Under events in February 2018.

Dave Meltzer reported on the Southern Showdown shows in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter: “It will be a two-show tour with a date in Sydney as well. Melbourne will be the major show and will air live on New Japan World. Sydney will be promoted as a house show. If the shows do well, that will make a difference in New Japan’s plans for the Australian market for 2020.”

NJPW returning to Australia for Southern Showdown

New Japan Pro Wrestling has set a date for their return to Australia.

It was announced overnight that NJPW Southern Showdown is coming to Melbourne, Australia on Saturday, June 29. The event will take place at Melbourne’s Festival Hall.

NJPW has a registration page open for a mailing list pre-sale, with pre-sale tickets being made available at noon AET on April 24. Tickets will then go on sale to the general public at noon AET on April 26.

NJPW’s English-language Twitter account noted that more details for a second event in Sydney, Australia will be coming soon.

In February 2018, NJPW ran a four-show Fallout Down Under tour in Australia.

Southern Showdown is taking place in Melbourne a week before this year’s G1 Climax opens at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas. After the G1, NJPW is coming to the Copper Box Arena in London, England on Saturday, August 31 for Royal Quest.

NJPW Sydney live results: Chaos vs. Bullet Club

Submitted by reader Dan Lennard. Additional thanks to Joseph Reynolds.

– KUSHIDA defeated Rocky Romero

The fans loved both guys. KUSHIDA won by submission with the Hoverboard Lock.

– Yuji Nagata defeated Jack J. Bonza

They essentially had a squash match, with Nagata beating him with a backdrop hold. There was nothing wrong with this, but it was too short.

– SANADA & EVIL defeated Robbie Eagles & Mick Moretti

This was the only match where the fans were solidly behind the locals, though there were plenty of Los Ingobernables de Japon fans in the crowd. EVIL got the pin on Eagles in a very fast-paced bout.

– The Bullet Club (Kenny Omega, Bad Luck Fale, Chase Owens & Guerrillas of Destiny) defeated TMDK (Jonah Rock, Damian Slater, Marcius Pitt, Slex & Elliott Sexton)

The best match of the night up to this point. The Bullet Club was super over, especially Omega. Everyone hit their big moves and all the Aussies got in some great offense, including an interesting spot where Slex got heat on Omega.

In the end, Omega hit the One Winged Angel on Slater for the finish. Omega spoke to the crowd after, mentioning that it’s funny they’re booed in Japan but cheered in Sydney. He thanked everyone and pointed out that Fale helped put the tour together.

– Minoru Suzuki & Lance Archer defeated Juice Robinson & Toa Henare

Everyone was into everything Suzuki did. He was probably the third most over wrestler of the night (behind Okada and Omega), with the fans singing along to his theme music before and after the show.

The match was fun and ended when Suzuki hit Henare with a Gotch-style piledriver. Suzuki beat the heck out of Henare for most of the bout. The crowd also loved Suzuki when he did a brief post-match promo.

– Tomohiro Ishii defeated Gino Gambino

This match started slow — there were mostly NJPW fans in the crowd and they clearly didn’t know many of the Australian wrestlers. Despite that, this got a big reaction by the end.

Ishii gave Gambino a lot and it was very back and forth. The ending seemed slightly botched as Ishii appeared to deadlift Gambino for a brainbuster. Ishii then stormed to the back, but maybe that’s how he is all the time.

– Chaos (Kazuchika Okada, Jay White & Will Ospreay) defeated The Bullet Club (Cody Rhodes & The Young Bucks)

The crowd hatedCody, and he played up being the bad guy throughout the match. There was a lot of comedy in the opening minutes, but it soon turned into a sensational bout and was probably the match of the night.

The MVP for the show had to be Ospreay, who was on fire. Everyone was great, though. The ending came when Okada hit Matt Jackson with a Rainmaker for the pin.

Everyone in Chaos spoke following the match. White got booed mercilessly when he accidentally called us Melbourne fans instead of Sydney fans. Ospreay was rolling on the mat laughing — even Okada mocked him when he had the microphone. Okada also said NJPW will definitely be coming back to Australia for another tour.

All in all, this show was sensational from top to bottom. Every match was good, and a couple were great. Lines for all merchandise, particularly Bullet Club and Young Bucks merch, was insane.

NJPW Melbourne live results: Okada & Omega face off in six-man tag

Submitted by reader Will Taylor

New Japan Pro Wrestling’s tour of Australia continued today, with Festival Hall in Melbourne hosting the second stop of the four-show tour. The rivalry between Kazuchika Okada and Kenny Omega continued as they were on opposite sides of the six-man tag main event.

– Lance Archer defeated Elliot Sexton

Archer did a promo before the match and said if he’s learned anything from the meet and greet, it’s that Melbourne sucks. He won with the Blackout in a physical match.

– Yuji Nagata defeated Chase Owens

Nagata hit a back suplex to win. The crowd wasn’t too hot for this, but there were some chants for Nagata.

– SANADA & EVIL defeated Bad Luck Fale & Gino Gambino

SANADA low-blowed Gambino and rolled him up for the pin.

– Cody Rhodes & The Young Bucks defeated Juice Robinson, KUSHIDA & Toa Henare

The crowd was super into this match. The Bucks and Cody were the most over people in it, but Robinson and KUSHIDA received chants as well.

Cody did the Kenny Omega Terminator pose and got mostly booed by the crowd. The Young Bucks looked confused but did a triple dive with him. Henare was pinned after the Bucks hit him with the Meltzer Driver.

Following the match, Cody cut a promo and mentioned that his father also wrestled at Festival Hall. Cody said the Bullet Club is fine, but Matt Jackson replied that it isn’t because things aren’t right with Omega. They filmed a bit for Being the Elite where the whole audience screamed “F*ck The Revival.”

– Damien Slater & Marcius Pitt defeated Robbie Eagles & Mick Moretti

This had lots of good wrestling, but the crowd wasn’t really into it. Slater and Pitt won with a double-team cutter on Eagles.

– Jay White defeated Slex

White used the Blade Runner to win.

– Minoru Suzuki defeated Jonah Rock

The crowd loved Suzuki. He won with the Gotch piledriver and received a standing ovation from the fans. After that, he grabbed a mic and said “I will be back” to a huge pop.

– Kenny Omega & Guerrillas of Destiny defeated Kazuchika Okada, Tomohiro Ishii & Rocky Romero

Omega and Okada got the loudest reactions on the show, but The Young Bucks, Cody, and Suzuki were close. Tanga Loa and Romero worked much of the match, so the pop was massive when Omega and Okada finally faced off and did their moves.

The Bullet Club team won after Omega hit the Cross Rhodes and the One Winged Angel on Romero.

Omega did a promo after the match and said this part of Bullet Club is fine, but Cody is not and he will deal with him. Omega thanked the crowd to end the night.

NJPW Adelaide live results: Okada & Ishii vs. The Young Bucks

Image: Elle. Report submitted by reader Damon Delaney.

New Japan Pro Wrestling’s four-show tour of Australia began at the Titanium Arena in Adelaide today, with Kazuchika Okada teaming with Tomohiro Ishii against The Young Bucks in the main event. Here’s a rundown of the show:

– Yuji Nagata defeated Chase Owens

Nagata used a backdrop hold for the finish. He was very popular and playful, while Owens was very much a heel.

– Minoru Suzuki & Lance Archer vs. Jonah Rock & Slex went to a double countout

There were big boos for the finish, but Suzuki and Rock got a lot of love from the crowd. Rock is local to Adelaide.

There was a five-minute break to fix the bottom rope after it had been taken off when Suzuki and Rock were fighting/rolling over the top of it.

– Cody Rhodes defeated Rocky Romero

Cody hit the Cross Rhodes to win. He was super popular, so they had Romero play the bad guy. There were big chants of “We want Brandi” from the audience.

There was also a “Thank you, Cody” chant after the match. He gave a speech thanking the crowd and singled out Bad Luck Fale as the person who put the tour together, even asking that the audience gives Fale more love than they’ve given anyone else.

– Kenny Omega, Bad Luck Fale & Gino Gambino defeated KUSHIDA, Juice Robinson & Toa Henare

Omega pinned Henare after the One Winged Angel. Omega was the most popular person in the match, but there were lots of “Thank you, Fale” chants. Both Gambino and Robinson also received an abundance of “Juice” chants.

After the match, Omega spoke about this being a night of firsts and closed the promo by saying goodbye and goodnight.

– SANADA & EVIL defeated Guerrillas of Destiny

Both teams had lots of fun and played to the audience in this one.

– Jay White defeated Elliot Sexton

White got the pin after hitting the Blade Runner. He was the beloved fan favorite, with Sexton responding with plenty of hate towards the crowd.

– Kazuchika Okada & Tomohiro Ishii defeated The Young Bucks

Okada hit three Rainmakers on Matt Jackson before pinning him. Okada got possibly the loudest reaction of the night. The Young Bucks were very popular, but the love for Okada was immense.

Okada finished the night by asking the fans how they enjoyed the show, which got a big cheer. He asked if they wanted more, with that getting the loudest “Yes” chants I’ve ever heard live. Okada kept playing to the fans before announcing that they’d be back with more New Japan Pro Wrestling.

This was overall an excellent show, though the attendance was possibly marred by it being on the opening night of our biggest arts festival (the Adelaide Fringe) and the relatively short time from when the show was announced to when it took place.

Okada & Ishii vs. Young Bucks to headline NJPW show in Adelaide

A tag team main event is set for the first show on New Japan Pro Wrestling’s tour of Australia.

At the Titanium Arena in Adelaide on February 16th, Kazuchika Okada will team with Tomohiro Ishii against The Young Bucks. The other main event matches for the four-show tour will be announced this week.

After the Adelaide show, the tour will have stops at Festival Hall in Melbourne on February 17th, the Quaycentre in Sydney on the 18th, and HBF Stadium in Perth on the 19th. The shows aren’t listed on the New Japan World schedule.

Okada, Ishii, The Young Bucks, Kenny Omega, Cody Rhodes, Minoru Suzuki, Jay White, Yuji Nagata, KUSHIDA, SANADA, EVIL, Bad Luck Fale, Tama Tonga, Tanga Loa, Juice Robinson, Lance Archer, Chase Owens, Rocky Romero, and Henare are the NJPW wrestlers that have been advertised for the tour. Will Ospreay will be appearing in Sydney and Perth as well.

NJPW coming to Australia next month for four-city tour

After more than a year of talking about it, New Japan Pro Wrestling suddenly announced a four-city tour of Australia for February.

While it was known they would tour in 2018, particularly after the great reception Kazuchika Okada got in his appearance with Melbourne City Wrestling for his match with Slex, it was a surprise it would come before the next United States date.

“New Japan Fallout Down Under” will consist of four shows, a February 16th date at the Adelaide Titanium Arena, a February 17th date at Festival Hall in Melbourne, February 18th in Sydney at the Quay Centre, and February 19th in Perth at HBF Stadium. All four shows will be configured for crowds of less than 5,000 fans. Festival Hall is best known as the weekly home of World Championship Wrestling during the heyday of pro wrestling in Australia.

Wrestlers announced for the tour are Okada, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Minoru Suzuki, The Young Bucks, KUSHIDA, Cody, Tomohiro Ishii, EVIL, SANADA, Tama Tonga, Tanga Loa, Juice Robinson, Bad Luck Fale, and Lance Archer. Will Ospreay is also booked for Sydney and Perth.