Tag: njpw covid-19

COVID-19 protocols force changes to Sunday, Monday NJPW shows

Posted on by Ethan Renner

NJPW has announced that four wrestlers are off Sunday’s event in Chiba and Monday’s Korakuen Hall show due to medical protocols. 

Hirooki Goto, YOSHI-HASHI, Taiji Ishimori, and Jado have been removed from the shows either because they presented with fevers, or had close contact with someone who presented with a fever. 

Two tag matches on each event have been modified due to the protocols. 

Monday’s show is set to air on NJPW World. Here is the lineup: 

NJPW New Year’s Golden Series, Monday, February 7, 4:30 a.m. Eastern time on NJPW World —

  • Ryusuke Taguchi & Master Wato vs. El Desperado & Yoshinobu Kanemaru
  • Kazuchika Okada, Hiroshi Tanahashi & Togi Makabe vs. Tetsuya Naito, SANADA & Shingo Takagi
  • Tomohiro Ishii & YOH vs. EVIL & SHO
  • Toru Yano, Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima & Yuji Nagata vs. Minoru Suzuki, Taichi, TAKA Michinoku & DOUKI
  • Tiger Mask & Tomoaki Honma vs. Gedo & Yujiro Takahashi
  • Hiromu Takahashi & BUSHI vs. Ryohei Oiwa & Kosei Fujita
  • Great-O-Khan vs. Yuto Nakashima

Six NJPW wrestlers still sidelined due to COVID-19 protocols

Posted on by Ethan Renner

For the third consecutive day, NJPW has pulled six wrestlers off a show due to COVID-19 protocols. 

Toru Yano, Tomoaki Honma, Satoshi Kojima, Minoru Suzuki, Taichi, and TAKA Michinoku will miss their third consecutive New Year’s Golden Series event on Sunday after one of the six presented with a fever prior to Friday’s show. 

Sunday’s untelevised event in Tochigi will proceed with six matches rather than the planned seven. 

The promotion has not announced which of the six wrestlers had the fever.

NJPW is four days into the 32-day, 20-event New Year’s Golden Series, although the key matches on the tour do not take place until February 19 and February 20. 

The next broadcast show will be on Saturday, January 29, with that event at Korakuen Hall being available on demand the next day. 

The next live broadcast on NJPW World will be on Monday, February 7, again from Korakuen Hall in Tokyo.

COVID-19 protocols force changes to NJPW New Year’s Golden Series

Posted on by Ethan Renner

For the second consecutive day, COVID-19 protocols have forced changes to NJPW’s New Year’s Golden Series tour.

Toru Yano, Satoshi Kojima, Tomoaki Honma, Minoru Suzuki, Taichi, and TAKA Michinoku will miss their second straight show on Saturday, after one of the six presented with a fever prior to Friday’s event at Korakuen Hall. 

NJPW made the announcement on their website.

The match card for Saturday’s show has been reduced from seven matches to six following the announcement, and four matches have had the participants changed. 

Saturday’s event is essentially a house show in Gunma with no broadcast on NJPW World. Thursday’s tour opener aired live, while Friday’s event will be available on demand sometime Saturday. 

New Year’s Golden series is a 19-show tour. The tour is scheduled to conclude with three title bouts on Sunday, February 20, including a Kazuchika Okada vs. Tetsuya Naito IWGP World Heavyweight Championship match. 

The tour’s penultimate night on February 19 will also feature three title matches, headlined by a Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. SANADA IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship bout.

Seven wrestlers to miss NJPW event due to COVID-19 protocols

Posted on by Ethan Renner

COVID-19 protocols have forced changes to an NJPW event for a third consecutive day. 

IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Shingo Takagi, Tetsuya Naito, SANADA, BUSHI, Yujiro Takahashi, Gedo and Dick Togo were all originally scheduled to take place in Tuesday’s Summer Struggle event at Korakuen Hall. All have been pulled from the show. 

Shingo and BUSHI presented with fevers at Sunday’s untelevised show and were pulled from that event. The two underwent PCR tests, but NJPW said in a statement that they are still awaiting the results of the tests. The other five were close contacts after sharing a ring with them on Saturday, so they were pulled from Monday and Tuesday’s shows, though those five were allowed to work Sunday’s event. EVIL was pulled from Monday’s event, but was not scheduled to wrestle on Tuesday’s show.

Gedo and Togo were already mathematically eliminated from the Super Junior Tag League, but were forced to forfeit Monday’s tournament match. Their scheduled tournament match for Tuesday has been ruled a double forfeit following SHO and YOH’s dissolution as a team on Monday’s show. 

Shingo is currently still scheduled to defend the IWGP World Heavyweight title against EVIL in the main event of Wrestle Grand Slam in MetLife Dome on Sunday, September 5. 

Here is the updated card for Tuesday’s show: 

NJPW Summer Struggle, Tuesday, August 17, 5:30 a.m. Eastern time on NJPW World —

  • Super Jr. Tag League: Taiji Ishimori & El Phantasmo (4-0) vs. El Desperado & Yoshinobu Kanemaru (3-1)
  • Super Jr. Tag League: Robbie Eagles & Tiger Mask (3-1) vs. Ryusuke Taguchi & Master Wato (2-2)
  • Hirooki Goto, YOSHI-HASHI, Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima vs. Taichi, Zack Sabre Jr., Minoru Suzuki & DOUKI
  • Toru Yano & Togi Makabe vs. Chase Owens & Jado
  • Tomoaki Honma vs. Great-O-Khan