Tag: southern showdown

Two more title defenses set for NJPW Southern Showdown

Posted on by Joseph Currier

The IWGP Tag Team titles and Revolution Pro Wrestling British Cruiserweight Championship will be on the line in matches at NJPW Southern Showdown in Melbourne, Australia this Saturday.

NJPW has announced that IWGP Tag Team Champions Guerrillas of Destiny (Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa) will defend their titles against Juice Robinson & Mikey Nicholls in Melbourne. El Phantasmo will also defend the RevPro British Cruiserweight Championship against Rocky Romero.

Both matches were announced as non-title when the card for Southern Showdown was first revealed.

Robinson & Nicholls defeated Tonga & Loa in a non-title match at NJPW’s Kizuna Road show this Tuesday. After the match, Robinson & Nicholls said they wanted the Tag Team titles.

Phantasmo retained his British Cruiserweight title against Ryusuke Taguchi at Tuesday’s Kizuna Road show. In his post-match comments, Phantasmo said the British Cruiserweight title would be on the line against Romero.

Phantasmo vs. Romero is a rematch from this year’s Best of the Super Juniors. Romero defeated Phantasmo in their tournament match.

Southern Showdown in Melbourne is airing live exclusively as an iPPV on Fite TV at 5 a.m. Eastern time on Saturday morning. It will then be uploaded to New Japan World 72 hours after the event.

Here’s the card for the show:

  • Kazuchika Okada & Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Jay White & Bad Luck Fale
  • IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Will Ospreay defending against Robbie Eagles
  • IWGP Tag Team Champions Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa defending against Juice Robinson & Mikey Nicholls
  • RevPro British Cruiserweight Champion El Phantasmo defending against Rocky Romero
  • 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

NJPW reveals full card for Southern Showdown in Melbourne

Posted on by Joseph Currier

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

Posted on by Joseph Currier

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

Posted on by Joseph Currier

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

Posted on by Joseph Currier

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.