The Super J-Cup 2020 tournament will make its return next month.
During the announcement of this year’s Best of the Super Juniors 27 participants, the company also announced that they will be holding a Super J-Cup tournament next month in the United States. Eight wrestlers will compete in a single elimination tournament, with the winner being crowned this year’s J-Cup winner.
Like with previous J-Cup tournaments, some wrestlers will represent different promotions across the United States. Impact, ROH, and Game Changer Wrestling will all have representatives.
Notable talent included in this year’s tournament include ACH, who will make his tournament debut, and Lio Rush, who will make his debut for UWN Primetime Live this Tuesday. Chris Bey, representing Impact, will also participate, while Rey Horus will represent ROH.
The participants for this year’s tournament include:
TJP
ACH
Lio Rush
Chris Bey (Impact)
Rey Horus (ROH)
Blake Christian (Game Changer Wrestling)
Clark Connors (LA Dojo)
El Phantasmo (Bullet Club)
In last year’s tournament, El Phantasmo defeated Dragon Lee in the finals.
The show, which will take place on one night, will air live on December 12 on New Japan World.
Here are the results from the third and final night of the Super J-Cup, which featured both the semifinals and the finals of the tournament.
– Semifinals: Dragon Lee defeated Caristico
Lee pinned Caristico with the Descunadora.
– Semifinals: El Phantasmo defeated Will Ospreay
Phantasmo pinned Ospreay after the CR2.
– Alex Coughlin defeated Shota Umino
Coughlin submitted Umino with a Boston Crab for the win.
– Jonathan Gresham defeated Clark Connors
Gresham won via referee stoppage.
– Soberano Jr. defeated Ren Narita.
Soberano got the win after the Tornillo.
– Juice Robinson defeated Karl Fredericks.
Robinson submitted Fredricks with an elevated Boston Crab.
– Jushin Thunder Liger, TJ Perkins, Amazing Red and Ryusuke Taguchi defeated Robbie Eagles, Rocky Romero, SHO and YOH.
Red pinned Romero.
– Jay White & Taiji Ishimori defeated Tetysuya Naito and BUSHI
White pinned BUSH to win the match for his team.
– Finals: El Phantasmo defeated Dragon Lee to win the Super J-Cup.
After the match, ELP cut a promo and called out Jushin Thunder Liger, issuing a challenge for the Tokyo Dome. Liger didn’t accept or deny the challenge.
The full card is set for NJPW’s Super J-Cup finals.
The show is taking place at Walter Pyramid in Long Beach, California tonight (August 25). The card will open with the two Super J-Cup semifinal matches, with the winners advancing to face each other in the main event.
Will Ospreay vs. El Phantasmo and Caristico vs. Dragon Lee are the semifinal matches.
Ospreay defeated Amazing Red in the first round and SHO in the quarterfinals, Phantasmo defeated Robbie Eagles and TJP, Caristico defeated BUSHI and Soberano Jr., and Lee defeated YOH and Ryusuke Taguchi.
Tetsuya Naito, Jay White, and Juice Robinson will also be in action at the Super J-Cup finals. Naito & BUSHI are teaming against White & Taiji Ishimori in the semi-main event. Robinson is facing LA dojo Young Lion Karl Fredericks in a singles match.
All three nights of the Super J-Cup will be uploaded to New Japan World in September. Here’s the card for the finals:
Super J-Cup finals
Tetsuya Naito & BUSHI vs. Jay White & Taiji Ishimori
Jushin Thunder Liger, Ryusuke Taguchi, Amazing Red & TJP vs. Rocky Romero, SHO, YOH & Robbie Eagles
Juice Robinson vs. Karl Fredericks
Soberano Jr. vs. Ren Narita
Jonathan Gresham vs. Clark Connors
Shota Umino vs. Alex Coughlin
Super J-Cup semifinals: Will Ospreay vs. El Phantasmo
F4W NEWSLETTER: Figure Four Weekly: Sasha Banks returns to WWE Joseph Currier looks at the return of Sasha Banks and what it means for the women’s division. Plus, Bryan Rose’s Japan notes, and Vinny’s TV reviews.
The return of Banks gives Lynch the opponent she’s needed since WrestleMania. After winning the biggest women’s match in company history, Lynch was put in an impossible position by WWE. She had to maintain her momentum without having any credible opponents to face. Lacey Evans was a poor choice for her first challenger.
One of WWE’s most important goals should have been elevating Lynch and the women’s division further. It was always known that Rousey wouldn’t be with WWE forever. It’s great that Rousey was able to have main event-level matches with the company. It’s great that the Rousey/Lynch/Charlotte Flair rivalry was so deserving of its top spot going into WrestleMania.
But a year of progress doesn’t mean that much if you don’t continue to build upon it. Instead of Lynch facing someone who was near her level, her opponent was a wrestler who wasn’t even in a star in NXT.
The birth of the Wednesday Night War is the top story in the new edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
We discuss how the NXT to USA deal came about, when NXT wrestlers were told, how this impacts the WWE/Fox relationship, and what this means for the NXT brand, going forward.
We have details on the finances of the NXT to USA deal, and we break down the head-to-head aspect of NXT vs. AEW. We also have comments from a major television executive who gives his perspective on the deal, as well as the potential for audience burnout.
A story on the latest AEW TV taping sellouts is also featured in the new issue. We also have notes on the secondary ticket market demand for all of the AEW shows.
An obituary for Eddie Marlin is also in the new issue, with a ton of details on his life.
Also in this issue, Ryan Frederick covers this past weekend’s UFC show, and we have detailed TV ratings and business notes on the show.
We also wrap up our G1 coverage with a detailed breakdown of each individual’s star ratings for the tournament.
We have full coverage of all the WWE television shows from the past week.
As always, we have in-depth looks at the ratings of all the major shows,the key demos for the WWE shows and what can be learned from them.
We also have the results of all the major pro wrestling events around the world over the past week.
ORDERING INFO: Order the print Wrestling Observer right now and get it delivered via mail, by sending your name, address, Visa or Master Card number and an expiration date to [email protected] or by going to www.paypal.com directing funds to [email protected].
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If you order by mail with a check, cash or money order to P.O. Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228, you can get $1 off in every price range.
THURSDAY NEWS UPDATE
Forbes listed Dwayne Johnson once again as the highest paid actor, earning $89.4 million between June 1, 2018 and June 1, 2019. It noted he’s getting a $23.5 million guarantee for the Jumanji sequel, and gets a big cut from the gate from his franchise movies. He also gets $700,000 per episode of Ballers. It also noted Robert Downey made $55 million for “Avengers: Endgame” when his percentage of the box office was included. Chris Hemsworth was second to Johnson at $76.4 million.
The Super J Cup starts tonight at the Temple Theater in Tacoma, WA. Reminder, this show will not be airing on New Japan World until September, nor will any of the tournament. The winners of tonight’s matches advance to San Francisco on Saturday night. Tonight’s show has
Jushin Liger & Karl Fredericks vs. Ren Narita & Shota Umino
Rocky Romero vs. Soberano Jr.
Clark Connors vs. TJ Perkins
Caristico vs. Bushi
Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Jonathan Gresham
Robbie Eagles vs. El Phantasmo
Dragon Lee vs. Yoh
Taiji Ishimori vs. Sho
Will Ospreay vs. Amazing Red
The foreigners being brought in for CMLL’s 8/30 World Grand Prix are Matt Taven, Kenny King, Jay Briscoe, Mark Briscoe, Mecha Wolf 450, Oraculo, Luke Hawx and Big Daddy. No, not that Big Daddy, although imagining him working Arena Mexico would be something. It’s Big Daddy Yumyum, who had a very brief run years back in New Japan as part of Bruce Tharpe’s NWA stable. They also announced they would not be streaming this show live. The Mexican names in the tournament are in the current Observer.
The Kota Ibushi vs. Jay White G-1 final airs Saturday on AXS.
WWE
I’m not sure what this says about the country but there was a poll done on who would win between Jon Jones and Brock Lesnar. Now of course Jones got the majority of votes, but there were 17 states where Lesnar got more votes than Jones, mostly in the Northeast.
WWE Smackdown, with a few guys from Raw, are currently in South America and have a show tomorrow in Bogota, Colombia to go along with shows on Saturday in Lima, Peru and Sunday in Panama City.
Lacey Evans will be appearing on the Military Makeover season premiere show on 8/30 with host Montel Williams.
Alexander Wolfe comes to wXw on 11/23 for a show in Dresden, Germany. It will be the first time in five years he’s wrestled in his home town, since just before leaving and going to WWE.
Mark Madsen vs. Danilo Bellurado has been added to the UFC show on 9/28 in Copenhagen, Denmark.
MISCELLANEOUS
Pro Wrestling Revolver tomorrow night in Dayton, OH at The Brightside with Tessa Blanchard vs. Daga, Jessicka Havok vs. Jimmy Havoc, Jody Threat vs. Rickey Shane Page, Nevaeah vs. Jake Crist, Kris Statlander vs. Ace Austin and Zoey Skye vs. Ace Romero.
Carlo Di Bliae was named the President of One Italy earlier this week as the promotion continues to expand worldwide.
Fred Rosser, the former Darren Young, is taking bookings through Bill Behrens at [email protected] He is based out of Los Angeles. Other names that can be booked through Behrens include Amber O’Neal out of Charlotte and Sinn Bodhi out of Las Vegas.
Combate Americas on 9/20 in Mexicali,Mexico is headlined by Rafa Garcia (10-0) vs. Erick Gonzalez (10-3) to become the first Combate Americas lightweight champion, plus Aaron Brink (29-26) vs. Oscar Cota (10-2).
Arn Anderson will appear on 10/12 for CWA in Hot Springs,AR at Convention Center Hall D
Singapore Pro Wrestling announced Alex Cuevas & Aiden Rex vs. T-Hawk & Lindaman for its 9/15 show with Kenny Omega.
Jake Roberts is scheduled for an Australia tour from February 7-18, 2020 doing talk shows in Geelong, Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth, Canberra, Sydney and Brisbane. (thanks to Kevin Chiat)
Riho of AEW will be working for New Taiwan Entertainment on 9/14.
Jazzy Gabert is currently touring with the Udo Lindenberg (famous German singer) tour where some characters wrestle in a ring on a stage and she’s part of that and also helped train the performers
Private Party vs. Pentagon Jr. & Fenix is set for Northeast Wrestling on 9/13 in Waterbury, CT.
Ignite Wrestling on 9/14 in Vero Beach, FL at the Walking Tree Brewery with Aaron Epic vs Erick Stevens for their singles title and Kaci Lennox vs. Kilynn King for their women’s title.
MLW Fusion will have Teddy Hart vs. MJF on Saturday night’s show along with El Hijo de L.A. Park vs. Zenshi. Monday on Bein Espanol has L.A. Park vs. Jimmy Havoc in a street fight.
IWF has a tournament on Sunday at 6 p.m. at the Nutley, NJ Rec Center. Tito Santana and Bull James appear on the show. They also run 10/11 in Wayne. NJ at the PAL with Tito Santana, Tony Atlas and Bull James.
There is a 25 percent off VIP Fan Fest tickets for the Warrior Wrestling show on 9/1 in Chicago Heights, IL. If you go to http://www.warriorwrestling.net and use the code FLASH you can get 25 percent off VIP tickets to meet Mick Foley, Austin Aries, Pentagon Jr., Fenix, Brian Cage,Caristico, Tessa Blanchard and many more.
George Kittle of the San Francisco 49ers talks being a WWE fan (thanks to Mike Kuzuk)
University of Illinois offensive coordinator Rod Smith (no relation to head coach Lovie Smith) works his longtime Ric Flair fandom into his job, especially the social-media part (thanks to Matt Kaufman)
Joseph Currier looks at Rey Mysterio’s current WWE run and the value he could still have to the company. Plus, Vinny’s TV reviews.
After three years away from the company, Mysterio made his full-time return to WWE last fall. His current run hasn’t been a failure, but this is the time when he’s freshest to WWE and the fans. That hasn’t really been capitalized on.
Mysterio won the US title from Samoa Joe at Money in the Bank, but his reign never got a chance to begin. He had to vacate the title after separating his shoulder. Wherever WWE was going with Mysterio’s son Dominick being by his side against Joe, that’s seemingly been dropped. When Mysterio returned, he was demolished by Bobby Lashley in his first match back.
Mysterio also participated in a number one contender’s battle royal last month, with Rollins winning and advancing to challenge Brock Lesnar at SummerSlam. Mysterio defeated Zayn at Raw Reunion, though the segment was mostly about returning legends getting to appear. RVD, Sgt. Slaughter, The Hurricane, and Kurt Angle stopped Zayn from walking out. Mysterio then hit the 619 and a frog splash to get the win.
Raw Reunion capitalized on the nostalgia of returning wrestlers from previous eras. Mysterio appearing on the same episode as them showed how much of an opportunity WWE is missing with him. Even at 44 years old, Mysterio is such an incredible in-ring performer. He can still be one of the most marketable people on the roster and one of the wrestlers with the most mainstream appeal. He can still connect as a top babyface. He’s a Hall of Fame wrestler that still has a ton of value to the company. WWE moved on from John Cena too quickly when he should have had time left as a top star, and they shouldn’t make the same mistake with Mysterio.
The early career of Harley Race, his road to the world title and his battles with Hulk Hogan is the lead story of a special double issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
We examine why Race made such a convincing champion, the story behind his seventh world title win over Ric Flair and how Vince McMahon attempted to sabotage what at the time was the biggest pro wrestling event in history. We look at how the Flair vs. Race storyline at the first Starrcade went down, how Flair first became NWA champion, McMahon’s big move right before Starrcade, how many modern wrestlers copied him, what he was known for in Japan, the incident with Hogan and the story behind why there was so much of a delay in the Hogan vs. Race program in WWF and why it didn’t draw well.
We look at how Race first got involved in pro wrestling, the auto accident that killed his wife and nearly ended his career, his early career, how he got his first major career break at the age of 21, the legend of Bruiser & Crusher vs. The Dolly Sisters tag team, Race the street fighter, the creation of the world tag team championships in Australia, and his rise in the NWA. We look at the unique situation that led to his first world title reign, why it was never planned and how his work in seven weeks as champion changed his entire career. We also look at the road to his second world title.
We also update the G-1 Climax tournament with coverage of all the shows this past week with match-by-match coverage, star ratings and poll results.
We cover the biggest event of the year in Mexico, TripleMania, with business notes, lots on the debut of Cain Velasquez, the story behind his moves, the return of L.A. Park, The Elite, with match-by-match coverage with star ratings and poll results on the show.
We also explore how the creative changes impacted the SummerSlam show, with notes on the different changes, the Takeover card, and the ticket demand going into the big weekend.
We look at yet another new WWE television show being proposed, Dwayne Johnson retiring as a wrestler, notes on Hobbs & Shaw, NXT business, WWE rules regarding U.K. talent, Goldberg pay, WWE looking at a major acquisition, WWE thinking about house show changes and why, WrestleMania 2021 news, an update on WWE show in Saudi Arabia, and an update on WWE touring schedule.
We have notes on how TV will be routed come October, Fox talks abut Smackdown, lots of WWE injury updates, intergender matches, WWE ticket sales, Mae Young Classic 2019, a new WWE producer, Reigns talks Dean Ambrose, Lio Rush update, a surprise return to WWE in two weeks, complaints at NXT live events about fans, Evolve news, WWE market value, most-watched shows on WWE Network, as well as a rundown on all WWE live events held over the past week with results, highlights and business notes.
We’ve got full coverage of the UFC event in Newark headlined by Colby Covington’s win over Robbie Lawler.
We also look back at the PWG 16th anniversary show, the rise of PWG, and the Battle of Los Angeles participants.
We also have full coverage of all the WWE television shows from the past week.
As always, we have in-depth looks at the ratings of all the major shows,the key demos for the WWE shows and what can be learned from them.
We also have the results of all the major pro wrestling events around the world over the past week.
ORDERING INFO: Order the print Wrestling Observer right now and get it delivered via mail, by sending your name, address, Visa or Master Card number and an expiration date to [email protected] or by going to www.paypal.com directing funds to [email protected].
Rates in the United States are $14.50 for 4 issues, $35.50 for 12, $70 for 24, $116 for 40 and $149.50 for 52.
In Canada and Mexico, the rates are $16 for 4, $27 for 8, $38.50 for 12, $76 for 24, $126 for 40 and $162.50 for 52.
For the rest of the world, rates are $18 for 4, $48.50 for 12, $93 for 24, $155 for 40 and $201.50 for 52.
If you order by mail with a check, cash or money order to P.O. Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228, you can get $1 off in every price range.
MONDAY NEWS UPDATE
Bryan and I will be back talking Raw, SummerSlam, UFC next weekend and all the wrestling and MMA news with Wrestling Observer Radio tonight. You can send questions to the show to [email protected]
Regarding last night, Katsuyori Shibata has not been cleared to wrestle. We don’t have more info and very very few people knew about the angle last night before it happened. The angle was one of the best angles you’ll ever see, with an in-depth story of Shibata being the person who got KENTA his job in New Japan and trained him for his comeback, only to have KENTA join Bullet Club and Bullet Club beat down his proteges Clark Connors and Karl Frederick in the brawl. Shibata ran in and everyone flew with every blow he did but the number got to him and KENTA gave him a PK, the move he popularized and choked him out and then sat on him and mocked him. The pop when he started on offense was unreal and the heat when KENTA laid him out was as well.
When you saw the angle you for sure would figure it’s building KENTA vs. Shibata, which should be a super hot program, and that makes all the sense in the world. I guess we’ll know tonight or tomorrow when the new cards are announced if there’s any follow-up. Shibata has always wanted to return but doctors have said in the past that there is no way he’d be cleared. Still, he did a lot more than you’d think, and medical diagnosis can change over time. But we were told this morning shortly after the show that the word was Shibata was not cleared for a match. Edge was told he would never be allowed to do anything physically in the ring but was cleared to do that spear spot last night, so never in pro wresting is a funny term.
Lots of talk regarding Sasha Banks. Becky Lynch cut a promo with Kenny McIntosh on Banks which led to speculation, especially since a few months ago the idea was Banks would probably return late summer. Everyone has been mum on Banks of late and nobody infernally has denied an imminent return, but nobody has confirmed it either.
For Google trends over the weekend, SummerSlam did 500,000 searches making it the most searched for item on the Internet yesterday. That’s the equivalent of a weak UFC PPV show. 500,000 should be considered expected level for the show. Also yesterday, Mike Perry was the No. 11 searched item with 50,000 and Trish Stratus was No. 13, also with 50,000. On Saturday, UFC 241 was No. 12 with 50,000, which is amazing for a show a week in advance where the topic really only came up on the ESPN television Cormier doc on E:60, and during the live show from Uruguay, which had a limited audience on ESPN+. Valentina Shevchenko was No. 13 also with 50,000.
Will Ospreay is in the Super J Cup tournament. NJPW hasn’t officially announced it, but he talked about it earlier today and he was on the original poster and had talked about wanting to wrestle Amazing Red, who is in the tournament. But the lineup for Super J Cup in two weeks and the London show in three weeks should be announced imminently. .
WWE
They are doing a TV angle where Brock Lesnar will not be given a rematch with Seth Rollins.
Steve Austin will appear on Raw tonight on Skype to promote his Straight Up Steve Austin show that debuts at 11 p.m. after Raw.
Raw in particular tonight should get a big rating coming off SummerSlam. The key thing to watch for is if they’re able to keep the third hour strong like they’ve been doing the past several weeks.
NXT is taping on Thursday at Full Sail University.
Regarding last night’s Observer radio, when Dolph Ziggler was using the term “failing to show up” for Goldberg, it wasn’t about the idea he didn’t show up for matches, but it was a sports term for being there and not doing anything.
UFC
Jessica Eye returns to action on the 12/14 show in Las Vegas, a PPV show, against Viviane Araujo.
MMA Junkie reported Kevin Holland vs. Antonio Arroyo on 11/16 in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Holland talked about it in social media but the story said the bout is in the works but not confirmed.
MISCELLANEOUS
ITV officially announced what we reported a few days ago, that the 8/31 AEW All Out show will air on regular PPV in the U.K. on ITV Box Office. In addition, ITV 4 will be airing the one-hour Buy In preshow,which will include the women’s Casino Royale match to determine one person who will challenge for the AEW title on the 10/2 television debut when the championship will be determined.
Defyance Forever on 8/23 in Tacoma,a WA at the Temple Theater has announced Jushin Liger & Karl Fredericks & Alex Coughlin vs. Brian Pillman Jr. & Mike Santiago & Ethan HD, Juice Robinson vs. Randy Myers, Dragon Lee vs. Douglas James, Rocky Romero vs. Clark Connors and Matt Cross vs. Cody Chhun vs. Guillermo Rosas vs. Judas Icarus.
TMart Promotions is running The Gathering a Mid Atlantic legends reunion from Thursday through Sunday at the Charlotte Hilton University Hotel. Names listed are Ricky Steamboat, Barry Windham, Kevin Sullivan, Lanny Poffo, Ron Fuller, Jake Roberts, Tommy Dreamer, Kurt Angle, Boogeyman, Brutus Beefcake, Dennis Condrey, Randy Rose, Bobby Eaton, Stan Lane, Lex Luger, Kendo Nagasaki, Greg Gagne, Marc Lowrance, Carlos Colon, Missy Hyatt, Hollywood John Tatum, Larry Zbyszko, Fidel Sierra, Ricky Santana, Sheik Adnan Al-Kaissey, Shane Douglas, Dark Journey, Baron Von Raschke, Al Perez, Jimmy Golden, Bobby Fulton, Rob Parker, Mr. Hughes, Swoggle, Scarlett Bordeaux, Katarina Leigh, Lodi, Tommy Young, Tim Horner, Leilaini Kai and many others.
Santana Garrett debuted ten years ago this week, on August 15, 2009. They are celebrating that at Team Vision Dojo with $10 training sessions with Garrett in Orlando.
AWA on Saturday night in Queensland, Australia: EC Diamond won Battle Royale, Xadner Sullivan won three-way over Adam Brooks and Sebastian Matters, Mitch McCarthy won three-way over JL Gold and Zeke Andino, Retro Bros b Divine Darkness, Punch Drunk Instria b Gino Gambino, Xander Sullivan b Mitch McCarthy to win AWA open weight title in tournament final, Jessica Troy b Kellyanne, High Manatee b Jake Nova & Jesse Daniels & Tim Kade in a ladder match. This was Gambino’s last show in Australia for the near future. (thanks to Kevin Chiat)
Chris Jericho has a new website.
CWE from Saturday night in Winnipeg: Mentallo b Chad Dazzle, Kevin Cannon b Maverick West, Sam Davidson b Dragneel, Kevy Chevy b Kelly Russell-DQ, Adam Knight b Math Magician, Bobby Jay & Kevy Chevy b Kevin Cannon & Scott Ripley. Next show is a free show Saturday in Arborg, Manitoba.
Tenille Dashwood was announced as returning to Australia in August for NHPW.-
NJPW’s Rocky Romero, NJPW Los Angeles dojo Young Lion Clark Connors, ROH’s Jonathan Gresham, and CMLL’s Soberano Jr. will be taking part in the Super J-Cup. There are three entrants left to be announced for the tournament.
TJP, Dragon Lee, SHO, Caristico, Ryusuke Taguchi, Taiji Ishimori, YOH, BUSHI, and Amazing Red are the other entrants that have been confirmed for the tournament thus far.
Jushin Thunder Liger is the producer of the Super J-Cup and will be wrestling in non-tournament action on all three nights.
The Super J-Cup will begin at the Temple Theater in Tacoma, Washington on Thursday, August 22. The second night is taking place at the San Francisco State University Student Life Event Center in San Francisco, California on Saturday, August 24. The tournament will then conclude at Walter Pyramid in Long Beach, California on Sunday, August 25.
On Wednesday night, it was announced that CMLL’s Caristico and NJPW’s Ryusuke Taguchi and Taiji Ishimori will be taking part in the tournament. TJP, Dragon Lee, and SHO are the other three entrants that have been officially confirmed thus far.
There will be 16 wrestlers in the tournament. Though they’ve yet to be officially announced, Will Ospreay, El Phantasmo, and YOH have been featured on advertising for the Super J-Cup.
Jushin Thunder Liger, who NJPW has announced is the producer of the Super J-Cup, won’t be an entrant in the tournament but will be wrestling on all three nights.
The first round of the Super J-Cup will take place at the Temple Theater in Tacoma, Washington on Thursday, August 22. The tournament will continue at the San Francisco State University Student Life Event Center in San Francisco, California on Saturday, August 24. It will then conclude at Walter Pyramid in Long Beach, California on Sunday, August 25.
The first three entrants have been confirmed for next month’s Super J-Cup tournament.
NJPW announced on Thursday that TJP, SHO, and Dragon Lee will be taking part in the tournament. There will be 16 entrants in total.
TJP trained at NJPW’s Los Angeles dojo and wrestled for the promotion earlier in his career. He also participated in the Best of the Super Juniors tournament in 2011.
TJP was released by WWE this February. He returned to Impact Wrestling in June, though he isn’t under contract with them.
SHO, Lee, Will Ospreay, Caristico, El Phantasmo, and YOH have been included on advertising for the Super J-Cup. NJPW is hyping the tournament as an “international junior heavyweight wrestling festival.”
Jushin Thunder Liger is the producer of the Super J-Cup and will be wrestling at all three shows, but he won’t be one of the entrants in the tournament.
The Super J-Cup will begin at the Temple Theater in Tacoma, Washington on Thursday, August 22. The San Francisco State University Student Life Event Center in San Francisco, California will host the second round of the tournament on Saturday, August 24, then the semifinals and finals will be held at Walter Pyramid in Long Beach, California on Sunday, August 25.
Jushin Thunder Liger will be in action at NJPW’s Super J-Cup shows, but he won’t be one of the entrants in the tournament.
NJPW has announced that Liger will be wrestling in non-tournament action at all three of next month’s Super J-Cup events. Liger is also being billed as the “producer” of the Super J-Cup.
Liger’s matches for the shows have yet to be revealed. Liger wrestling at the events comes in advance of him retiring at the Tokyo Dome in January.
The list of participants for the Super J-Cup has also yet to be announced. The tournament will feature 16 entrants. Will Ospreay, Dragon Lee, Caristico, El Phantasmo, SHO, and YOH have been included on advertising for the tournament.
The first round of the Super J-Cup will take place at the Temple Theater in Tacoma, Washington on Thursday, August 22. The San Francisco State University Student Life Event Center in San Francisco, California will host the second round on Saturday, August 24. The semifinals and finals will then be held at Walter Pyramid in Long Beach, California on Sunday, August 25.
NJPW is bringing the Super J-Cup to the United States.
At NJPW’s post-Dominion press conference, it was announced that the Super J-Cup is returning and will be held across three shows in the West Coast of the United States this August. This will be the first Super J-Cup tournament since 2016.
The first round will be held at the Temple Theater in Tacoma, Washington on Thursday, August 22. The second round will then take place at the San Francisco State University Student Life Event Center in San Francisco, California on Saturday, August 24, and the tournament will conclude with the semifinals and finals taking place at Walter Pyramid in Long Beach, California on Sunday, August 25.
Tickets for all three shows will go on sale on Monday, June 24 at noon Pacific time.
Participants for the Super J-Cup have yet to be announced, but it will be a 16-wrestler tournament and will feature entrants from NJPW, ROH, CMLL, and other promotions.
Jushin Thunder Liger was announced as the producer of this year’s Super J-Cup.
The 2016 Super J-Cup crowns its winner on Sunday morning with the tournament finals airing live on NJPW World from Tokyo, Japan.
We’re looking for your thoughts on this show, the UFC show, the NXT show and the ROH show with thumbs up, thumbs down, thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match to [email protected]
Going into the show, Jushin Thunder Liger, Taichi, KUSHIDA, Kenoh, Ryusuke Taguchi, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Matt Sydal, and Will Ospreay are all still alive in the tournament. The card will feature second round matches, semifinal matches, and the tournament final.
And the show will also feature notable appearances from competitors outside of the tournament, as The Young Bucks defend their IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship against familiar rivals in the Motor City Machine Guns.
The GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship will be on the line as well, with Atsushi Kotoge and Daisuke Harada defending against ACH and Taiji Ishimori. And the show will feature CMLL stars as Volador Jr., Titan, and Caristico take on Ultimo Guerrero, Gran Guerrero, and Euforia in a six-man tag.
Our coverage starts at 2 a.m. ET/11 p.m. PT. The full card is:
Super J-Cup tournament finals match
IWGP Junior Tag Team Champions The Young Bucks (Matt & Nick Jackson) vs. The Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin) for the titles
GHC Junior Tag Team Champions Atsushi Kotoge & Daisuke Harada vs. ACH & Taiji Ishimori
Super J-Cup tournament semifinals match
Super J-Cup tournament semifinals match
Volador Jr., Titan, & Caristico vs. Ultimo Guerrero, Gran Guerrero, & Euforia
Matt Sydal vs. Will Ospreay in a second round tournament match
Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru in a second round tournament match
KUSHIDA vs. Kenoh in a second round tournament match
Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Taichi in a second round tournament match
David Finlay, Eita, & Yuma Aoyagi vs. BUSHI, Kaji Tomato, & Gurukun Mask
EITA & DAVID FINLAY & YUMA AOYAGI VS. BUSHI & KAJI TOMATO & GURUKUN MASK
Okay match. Eita, Gurukun Mask and Aoyagi did some cool dives at the end. Bushi pinned Finlay coming off the top rope with a codebeaker. After the match, Bushi turned on his teammates, blowing mist in Tomato’s eyes after Tomato offered him a tomato, and then Bushi started tearing up Gurukun’s mask.
JUSHIN LIGER VS. TAICHI IN THE QUARTERFINALS
Nothing to this match. Desperado kept interfering. It ended up on the floor in the aisle with Liger fighting with Desperado and Taichi. Taichi kicked Liger and Desperado just held Liger on the ground while Taichi ran in to beat the count and win via count out quickly. Taichi had his girl with him who was hitting on Liger before then making out with Taichi. After the match Liger hurled a chair at them and hit Desperado right in the from far away and he went down selling the knee and limped to the back.
KENOH VS. KUSHIDA IN THE QUARTERFINALS
This was an excellent technical match. If you’re into top level matwork this was it. But a big issue today is that the crowd is small and because of that it doesn’t have the big event feel. They exchanged moved and submissions on the mat with Kushida constantly going for the hoverboard lock until getting the armbar in the middle for the submission. This sets up Kushida vs. Taichi next.
RYUSUKE TAGUCHI VS. YOSHINOBU KANEMARU IN QUARTERFINALS
This was good, but lacked heat which is looking like the theme of the show. Kanemaru kicked out of the Dodon and Taguchi kicked out of a DDT off the top rope but Kanemaru followed that up with his touch out, which is a brainbuster for the clean pin. Kanemaru is the GHC jr. champion so he figured to not get eliminated here.
WILL OSPREAY VS. MATT SYDAL IN QUARTERFINALS
In an upset, Sydal pinning him clean with a shooting star press after a reverse Frankensteiner off the middle rope. Athletically, this blew away anything this week but this is just not a crowd where you can be in the match of the year because they were so quiet, although in the end you could see they really liked it. There was an awesome high spot early. Ospreay did the Space Flying Tiger drop and a lot of things that were blow away like Sydal giving Ospreay a lariat and Ospreay doing a spin bump and landing on his feet. It wouldn’t be my call to beat Ospreay here.
TITAN & CARISTICO & VOLADOR JR. VS. ULTIMO GUERRERO & GRAN GUERRERO & EUFORIA
Very good match and the crowd appreciated it but didn’t go wild for it. It was almost exactly what you’d think. The first several minutes of heel heat saw nobody care because there was no interest in personalities or storyline. Once they did the first sequence of dives the crowd was into it. Caristico is nowhere near 100% due to a broken pelvis and he was the big star from his days as Mistico. Titan and Volador were great and the heels did their jobs. The biggest reaction was Volador doing a big plancha into a hurricanrana. Caristico kicked out of the Guerrero special. Volador pinned Gran Guerrero after a top rope Spanish fly. This was pretty much their Friday night Arena Mexico match but without the intense fan reaction.
KUSHIDA VS. TAICHI IN THE SEMIFINALS
Taichi attacked him before the match with the mic stand. At one point Kushida made a comeback and was on the top rope for a dive to the floor, Taichi’s girl got in front of Taichi so he wouldn’t dive. Taichi used the ring bell and played heel and got good heat. Kushida came back with the hoverboard lock but Desperado distracted the ref who missed Taichi furiously tapping. Taichi hit Kushida in the head with a chair and used the Gedo clutch for a strong near fall. Kushida also kicked out of a last ride power bomb and scored the pin with a spinning move into a cradle. After the match Taichi and Desperado attacked him again.
Editor’s note: The remainder of the show was covered by Bryan Rose
MATT SYDAL VS. YOSHINOBU KANEMARU
Good back and forth match. You can tell they were going forward with a champion vs. champion finals results since Kanemaru is the current GHC junior champion. Sydal tried for the shooting star press but Kanemaru got the knees up, smashed him with a lariat and picked up the win to go to the finals.
GHC TAG TEAM CHAMPIONS ATSUSHI KOTOGE & DAISUKE HARADA VS. ACH & TAIJI ISHIMORI
Pretty good match. ACH in particular looked strong here and should be a regular in NOAH going forward as he could definitely be a new bright spot in that division. Cool spot at one point was ACH and Ishimori hitting stereo 450 splashes, but both Kotoge and Harada got the knees up and cradled them for a double near fall. Kotoge and Harada isolated Ishimori and pinned him after a bridging German suplex by Harada.
After the match, the champions called out Gedo & Jado. Jado came down to the ring, and Gedo left commentary to accept their challenge. Guess them getting a win on the G1 finals card made sense in the end.
IWGP JUNIOR TAG TEAM CHAMPIONS THE YOUNG BUCKS VS. THE MOTOR CITY MACHINE GUNS
This was really good, one of the better matches of the night but the crowd, which was cold for a lot of the show, was just there. Bucks were wearing gear with Dave Meltzer’s face plastered all over. MCMG looked good, as did the Bucks. Lots of great back and forth sequences towards the end. The Bucks laid out Shelley on the outside with an Indytaker, then pinned Sabin after hitting the Meltzer Driver.
Bucks got on the mic after the match and said they have won the IWGP Jr. tag team championships, but they want to do something that has never done before – they challenged the Briscoes, who hold the heavyweight tag team titles. If this is the next step toward unifying these two divisions, I’m all for it.
KUSHIDA VS. YOSHINOBU KANEMARU FOR THE SUPER J-CUP
Pretty good match, but again the crowd was just there and didn’t feel like a big tournament was concluding, or that two junior world champions were going at it. Taka Michinoku got involved, pulling the ref out of the ring at one point. KUSHIDA fought off the brainbuster attempts by Kanemaru. Taichi also got involved but Taguchi thwarted him. KUSHIDA got in the hoverboard lock and Kanemaru tapped.
KUSHIDA was awarded the golden jacket as Alex Shelley, his former tag team partner (I guess it’s former for right now) helped him put it on. They shared a nice moment as everyone came out and posed for a group picture to close out the show.
While the card for the finals of the 2016 Super J-Cup will feature matches to crown its champion, the show will also be aided by some significant appearances by competitors not in the tournament.
The Young Bucks will defend their IWGP Junior Tag Team Championship against the Motor City Machine Guns on the August 21st tournament finale. The two teams have long been rivals dating back to their matches in PWG and time together in TNA, and they have recently renewed their feud in Ring of Honor.
The GHC Junior Tag Team Championship will also be on the line as Atsushi Kotoge and Daisuke Harada defend against the team of ACH and Taiji Ishimori. The challengers earned the shot by winning Pro Wrestling NOAH’s Junior Tag League tournament.
The show will also feature a six-man tag of CMLL competitors with Ultimo Guerrero, Gran Guerrero, and Euforia battling Volador Jr., Titan, and Caristico.
In tournament action, there will be four second round matches with the winners going on to the semifinals. Those semifinal matches will determine who will fight for the right to become the Super J-Cup winner in the show’s main event.
The show will take place on August 21st and will air live on NJPW World at 2:00 a.m EST. The full card is:
Super J-Cup tournament finals match
IWGP Junior Tag Team Champions The Young Bucks (Matt & Nick Jackson) vs. The Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin) for the titles
GHC Junior Tag Team Champions Atsushi Kotoge & Daisuke Harada vs. ACH & Taiji Ishimori
Super J-Cup tournament semifinals match
Super J-Cup tournament semifinals match
Volador Jr., Titan, & Caristico vs. Ultimo Guerrero, Gran Guerrero, & Euforia
Matt Sydal vs. Will Ospreay in a second round tournament match
Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru in a second round tournament match
KUSHIDA vs. Kenoh in a second round tournament match
Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Taichi in a second round tournament match
David Finlay, Eita, & Yuma Aoyagi vs. BUSHI, Kaiji Tomato, & Gurukun Mask
