The storied career of Hiroshi Tanahashi comes to an end in mere weeks when he retires following his last match at Wrestle Kingdom 20 at the Tokyo Dome.
In this episode of the Pacific Rim Pro Wrestling Podcast, Fumi Saito and Jim Valley talk about the life, career and influence of the man Fumi calls one of the top two most influential wrestlers of this century, who he best compares with, his key moments, Scott Hall’s opinion and more.
Wrestling Observer Radio with Bryan Alvarez and Dave Meltzer is back with tons to talk about including Tanahashi vs. Okada at the Dome, Aaron Wolf, Miranda Alize and Nixon Newell, Arena Mexico, the Montreal Screwjob, ratings, AEW Collision and Smackdown TV reports, and more! A fun show as always so check it out~!
Timestamps: Start: Okada/Tanahashi confirmed for NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 20, more NJPW notes 8:21: Miranda Alize & Nixon Newell walk out of AEW Collision 15:13: Soberano Jr. returns & other CMLL notes 19:48: Chris Jericho turns 55, ‘Christy’ film bombs 24:12: David Otunga on Bret Hart’s contract & Survivor Series 1997 28:57: Ratings, WWE Raw lineup, Pro Wrestling NOAH notes 32:43: WWE SmackDown recap 45:13: AEW Collision recap
It’s time for the Saturday edition of Wrestling Observer Live with Jim Valley.
This week’s introduction of the AEW National title has reignited the old argument about too many titles in wrestling. How many is too many? Three? Five? Eleven?
Until Friday, Giulia was one of two women’s champions on WWE SmackDown. Is she a bigger star after being U.S. Champion? It’s not the number of titles — it’s what you do with them.
A story on the life of Shad Gaspard is the lead in the new issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
We cover the circumstances of his tragic death, notes from his family and friends, his acting career, his childhood, his thoughts about MMA, what world champion MMA fighter did he tell to pursue MMA before pro wrestling, and look at his wrestling career.
Whether Vince McMahon is doing an end-around to get out of paying people money owed and then restarting the league. We look at why the people he owes money to believe that is the case.
The new issue also covers:
A preview for Double or Nothing II.
Update SummerSlam, more on Ric Flair’s new deal, more on Drew Gulak leaving WWE, brand-to-brand changes, IC title tournament, key person in directing television shows leaving, Backlash update, In Your House update, Jim Cornette’s comments on Becky Lynch and Dana Brooke, Seth Rollins and Dana Brooke respond, Glenn Jacobs talks shutting down businesses, WWE star nominated for major sorts award, Lio Rush talks leaving WWE, Nikki Bella talks her back, sports ratings for the past week, Canadian ratings for recent weeks, top amateur star talks going to WWE, WWE market value right now and the most-watched shows of the past week on the WWE Network.
Complete coverage of this past week’s UFC show.
A feature on the career of Kevin Randleman, the newest UFC Hall of Fame inductee, nothing his amateur wrestling days, his fighting days and his pro wrestling days. We look at his most famous fights and biggest pro wrestling matches.
A lot more looking back 21 years ago to the tragic death of Owe Hart. We look at comments by Martha Hart and Jerry McDevitt and go back through the legal proceedings.
The highest television rating for any pro wrestling match in history and the legend of Kim Il, a forgotten South Korean sports legend.
The movie “My Dad is a Heel Wrestler,” starring Hiroshi Tanahashi.
Full coverage of all the WWE and AEW television shows from the past week.
In-depth looks at the ratings of all the major shows, the key demos and quarters for AEW and WWE, what happened head-to-head and what can be learned from them.
Results of all the major pro wrestling events around the world over the past week.
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WEDNESDAY NEWS UPDATE
WWE
Matt Riddle, Sony Deville, Kane, Johnny Gargano, and Candice LeRae are on today’s episode of The Bump.
In a video that aired on The Bump this morning, MVP, The New Day, Drew McIntyre, John Cone, Tyson Kidd, Bobby Lashley, Natalya, Jeff Hardy, Dolph Ziggler, Shelton Benjamin, and John Morrison shared their memories of Shad Gaspard.
When asked about a potential return to the ring after her pregnancy, Becky Lynch told ESPN: “Yeah. It’s one of those things where I know what I feel and think as a person without a child. I don’t know what that’s going to look like when I do have one, and that’s my priority. I’ll tell you, it’ll give me more motivation than ever, I could imagine. But this isn’t the end of me, one way or the other.”
WWE posted pictures of the fight pit that’s being used for Matt Riddle and Timothy Thatcher’s “cage fight” on NXT tonight. Kurt Angle is the special guest referee for the match.
Free matches for today include a six man tag from the June 10, 2019 Raw and Kane vs. Bray Wyatt in a no holds barred match from WWE Backlash 2016.
Other Wrestling
The rest of Terrace House Tokyo’s season has been canceled following the death of Hana Kimura. The show had previously been on hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Sports Illustrated interviewed Hiroshi Tanahashi about NJPW not running shows during the COVID-19 pandemic, saying that running shows now “presents the wrong image of professional wrestling to society and would deal a black eye to the industry that might still remain even after the pandemic ends.”
Sports Illustrated also talked to Dark Side of the Ring executive producer Evan Husney. When asked about a third season, Husney said “A third season is something everybody involved wants to do. Vice wants to make a Season 3, we would love to see it happen, and we’re in those stages of conversation. Right now, there are just a lot of question marks about the future of production, and even the future of the world. Our show deals with a lot of travel, and we’d love to go international to places like Japan in Season 3, but there is a lot of uncertainty in terms of that.”
Chris Jericho confirmed that Rock ‘n’ Wrestling Rager cruise is going forward, setting sail on February 1-5, 2021 from Miami to the Bahamas. Ted DiBiase, Hacksaw Jim Duggan, Bully Ray, Candice Michelle, comedian Brad Williams, and bands Fozzy and Stryper have been announced for the cruise. There will also be wrestling by AEW.
Mandy Leon talks about her first match in ROH, which was also her first match ever.
MMA
Amanda Nunes vs. Felicia Spencer, Raphael Assuncao vs. Cody Garbrandt, Aljamain Sterling vs. Cory Sandhagen, Neil Magny vs. Anthony Rocco Martin, and Sean O’Malley vs. Eddie Wineland will be the main card for UFC 250 on June 6.
Dana White said the UFC is talking about booking Petr Yan vs. Jose Aldo for the vacant bantamweight title. The championship was vacated following the retirement of Henry Cejudo. There’s no date or location set for the vacant title fight yet.
Ariel Helwani noted that for this weekend’s UFC event, fighters are getting throat swab tests instead of the nasal tests that were taken at the Jacksonville events.
Colby Covington says he is not a member of American Top Team anymore.
Ronda Rousey suffered a broken right hand throwing punches in last night’s WrestleMania main event match.
The injury was reported as significant. Rousey’s final WWE appearance for an undetermined period of time was scheduled for Raw tonight in Brooklyn, but as of this writing, it’s unclear whether she will still be there.
– We do know Brock Lesnar has already flown home and won’t be on tonight’s show. There is no word about his future or next match but he is currently not advertised for anything. However, he being linked to a proposed August 17th UFC heavyweight championship against the titleholder Daniel Cormier.
– The decision to put Lesnar vs. Seth Rollins on first on the main show last night wasn’t made until 5:30 PM, after the first match on the show had already taken place.
– We don’t have more details now, but Hiroshi Tanahashi was legitimately injured in his match against Zack Sabre Jr. at Saturday’s Madison Square Garden show. He’s been taken off the schedule, and we hope to have an update on him shortly.
Throughout the week leading into December 31st, we’ll take you back to some of Dave Meltzer’s top-rated matches of the past year, starting with the five star matches and ending up with a seven star classic.
We kick off with our floor: five star ratings. In 2018, 15 matches got that honor, a mix of New Japan Pro Wrestling, NXT, and even an indie group out of Spain.
What follows are edited versions of Dave’s writeups from the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, available in full for subscribers. Also, a big shoutout to Cagematch.net who makes research for this ridiculously easy.
And now, enjoy looking back at part two of three of Dave’s five star matches from 2018 in the order in which they happened. Based on this list alone, it was a hell of a year. Here’s part 1 and part 2 if you missed it.
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kazuchika Okada
NJPW G1 Climax finals | August 10, 2018
“Tanahashi went to a 30:00 draw with Okada in the A block final. Because Tanahashi came in with a 7-1 record and Okada at 6-2, Tanahashi only needed a draw to win. Tanahashi vs. Okada at this point has to be considered among the greatest long-term programs in wrestling history. Nearly every match has been a match of the year candidate, ironically, perhaps except this one because of what a freaky year this has been. Still, this was a tremendous match with the story that Tanahashi hit the high fly flow to the back, but Okada kicked out, just as time expired.
Tanahashi needed the visual of being strong to go to the final and, in theory, if he goes all the way to the Tokyo Dome main event. You could argue for the win to make it more clear, but it appears the plan now, based on Tanahashi at the press conference, is to do Tanahashi vs. Okada for the briefcase sometime this fall with the idea of a longer time limit match and thus the draw and not doing the pin makes long-term sense.
So the draw accomplished two things. The first is it leaves an opening for Okada to still be in the title match at the Tokyo Dome, as he’s been every year since 2013. Okada is coming off his record-setting title run, and since losing the title, he has not gotten a rematch. The draw was a surprise if only because Tanahashi and Okada had draws in their last two G-1 matches, in 2013 and 2016 and you just wouldn’t think they’d do it again. But the key is that in the Tanahashi vs. Okada program, Tanahashi hasn’t beaten Okada since January 4, 2015, and given that pretty much every match that has had a finish has been past the 30:00 mark there is a story there as well.
There was the belief earlier this year that maybe, with Okada becoming the clear major star, that he never would never lose to Tanahashi again. But very clearly, this will be the biggest briefcase match in history.
I would not say this was the best match of G-1, although some would. In some ways it was my favorite, because as far as a match where every single move meant something, this was pretty much textbook. It was paced perfectly and while hard hitting and very physical, it was never scary at any time. But as big as this seemed, the next two nights rocked the crowd more.”
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kazuchika Okada
IWGP Title Shot Contract On The Line
NJPW Destruction In Kobe | September 23, 2018
“The story behind the match is that this was their 13th career singles match, and Okada came in with a 5-4 edge in wins with three of the matches being 30 minute draws in G-1 competition. But Tanahashi hadn’t beaten Okada since January 4, 2015, nearly four years ago. Also, every match the two have had in at least six years has gone either to a 30 minute draw or longer.
With three high-profile big show classics in one year, this feud is very much like Okada vs. Omega in 2017 and Flair vs. Steamboat in 1989. It’s all a matter of opinion, but I’d rate the May match the best because of the story elements which I think is the best of the 13 matches the two have had. This was a different match, but similar in quality to the G-1 match. It would be among the best of the series, but not top three.
The crowd was pro-Tanahashi in a big way. Tanahashi dropkicked Okada off the apron and hit a pescado, but in doing so, started selling the left knee. His ability to sell the left knee with his facial expressions is as good as anyone. Okada started doing some Negro Navarro style knee submissions. Okada dropkicked the knee as Tanahashi hung upside down in the corner, and used a kneebreaker and a figure four. Tanahashi reversed the figure four and the two rolled into the ropes. They were fighting on the floor, when, out of nowhere, Tanahashi gave Okada a tombstone piledriver on the floor. The story is Tanahashi could have won via count out, but instead did a high fly flow to the floor, and of course, his knee went out, leading to him selling the knee like crazy. As far as the ability to produce a long dramatic match where every move means something, Tanahashi is one of the greatest of all-time.
Both were fighting over a tombstone piledriver but couldn’t get it until Okada dropkicked Tanahashi in the left knee. They each kept reversing out of big moves. Okada chop blocked the knee, but Tanahashi hit a sling blade as Okada went for the rainmaker. Tanahashi went for a high fly flow but Okada got up and dropkicked him and hit the tombstone. But Okada’s left knee went out. Tanahashi ducked two rainmakers but Okada finally hit a spinning rainmaker. He went for another rainmaker but Tanahashi hit the dragon suplex for a near fall. Tanahashi went to the top rope but Okada dropkicked him. Okada teased a tombstone piledriver off the middle rope, and then a gut wrench superplex but Tanahashi blocked. Okada fell off the ropes and as he was falling, Tanahashi jumped off and crushed him with a high fly flow. Tanahashi went to the top, but Okada got to his knees, not standing, and was hit with another high fly flow. Tanahashi did a third one on the prone Okada for the pin.”
Kazuchika Okada & Tomohiro Ishii vs. Kenny Omega and Kota Ibushi
NJPW Fighting Spirit Unleashed | September 30, 2018
“The tag team main event where Omega & Ibushi beat Okada & Ishii had four of maybe the six best wrestlers in the world right now, and it was perhaps the best tag team match of the year. Really, the Omega & Ibushi vs. Young Bucks match in the same building would be its challenger. They were very different. This past week’s match was crisper and reached more of a fever pitch in the New Japan realistic style and had the great explosive moves at the right time. The prior match had a unique emotional element, was built with a most in-depth story going in and was longer and told more of a story. It’s really a matter of taste.
This was a great match. The story was to keep Omega and Okada apart for most of the match as this was the first time the two were in the same match in the U.S. So a lot of early action was Ibushi vs. Ishii. The one thing about this match is that every combination, Omega vs Okada, Omega vs. Ishii, Ishii vs. Ibushi and Ibushi vs. Okada, give you constant match of the year level action and intensity. Omega did an ugly DDT on Ishii and got up limping but that didn’t play a part in the match. Omega & Ibushi did the golden triangle, which was Omega giving Okada a moonsault off the middle rope to the floor and Ibushi doing the same to Ishii. At 13:00, Omega and Okada finally squared off and started throwing the elbows. They did a series of reversals until Omega hit the snap dragon suplex. Okada hit a dropkick on Omega and went for the rainmaker, but Ibushi saved.
Omega used a V trigger and Ibushi a moonsault on Okada. Ibushi did a plancha on Ishii. After a series of reversals, Okada hit the tombstone on Omega and Ishii followed with a sliding lariat on Omega, but Ibushi saved. Okada went for the rainmaker but Omega ducked and hit a uranage. Ishii and Ibushi started trading elbows. Ibushi did a standing double knees moonsault on Ishii. Omega picked up Ishii and power bombed him into a moonsault by Ibushi for a near fall. Okada went for a dropkick and Omega stepped back, caught him and power bombed him, and Ibushi followed with a Pele kick. Ibushi and Ishii did another crazy exchange and blows that was ridiculous. Ibushi was bleeding from the mouth.
Ibushi went for the Kamagoye but Ishii ducked and went for a German suplex, but Ibushi landed on his feet and clotheslined him back. It ended when Omega hit a high kick on Ishii and Omega & Ibushi did the double golden trigger for the pin. Omega then did an interview with The Young Bucks in the ring and talked about wrestling Ibushi when Cody came out to set up the three-way and then Omega ended the show.”
Hiroshi Tanahashi and Will Ospreay vs. Kenny Omega and Kota Ibushi
NJPW Road To The Tokyo Dome | December 15, 2018
“The 12/15 show featured the annual dream tag team match, and this year’s version may have been the best tag team match of the year. The best tag match of the year to me was Young Bucks vs. Omega & Ibushi, largely due to the storytelling. But as far as crisp action and excitement, Omega & Ibushi’s win over Tanahashi & Ospreay was better. Ospreay, who was pinned by Omega’s One Winged Angel in 28:46, was the star of the match with his fire, facial expressions, and intensity. The big spot was Ibushi doing a ropewalk super Frankensteiner off the top and Ospreay flew over and landed on his feet. The camera work captured this amazingly as Ibushi made his face that seemed to say, “I hear the crowd but as long as I don’t turn around I can pretend he didn’t do that.” So, Omega opened 2018 with a ***** match and ended it with a ***** match. The show ended with Omega & Ibushi doing a promo which included Omega singing and snow coming down from the ceiling.”
Starting Saturday and twice a day, we begin our dive into Dave’s top six rated matches of the year, all above the ***** mark.
Uemura used his better physique to his advantage to throw more powerful elbow shots and chops, but Narita worked over the back throughout the match. Narita landed a ton of chops before a series of slams set up a Boston crab for a victory.
Jushin Liger, Tiger Mask, and Ryusuke Taguchi defeated Shota Umino, Tomoyuki, Oka, and Yuji Nagata
Nagata prevented a Romero special, so Liger disposed of him and went to apply it again, but Umino prevented it. Taguchi ate a barrage of corner shots before Umino missile dropkicked Taguchi down for 2.9. Another Boston Crab was locked on, but it didn’t get the win win. A la majistral cradle got 2, but a Taguchi hip attack got 2.9. A Taguchi jumping high kick followed by a double-armed chickenwing facebuster end it.
SHO & YOH and Rocky Romero defeated TAKA Michinoku, Taichi, and Takashi Iizuka
Taka hit YOH in the corner with a running kick before landing another one on him. Iizuka got the iron fingers and threatened the referee, but SHO avoided them and landed a series of forearms. However, Iizuka hit an inverted atomic drop and TAKA superkicked SHO for 2. YOH ran wild with superkicks while Romero hit a suicide dive on the floor to Taichi. SHO hit a backstabber on Iizuka before a pump knee strike hits. SHO got the iron fingers and felt their power before landing the Iron Fingers from Hell on Iizuka and landing the 3K to win it.
Toa Henare, Big Mike, Togi Makabe, and David Finlay defeated YOSHI-HSHI, Toru Yano, Tomohiro Ishii, and “Switchblade” Jay White
Finlay and Switchblade went at it with Finlay hitting a jumping European uppercut and a charging variant in the corner. Switchblade landed a snap Saito suplex, but ate an Irish curse backbreaker. YOSHI-HASHI came in with Big Mike for more forearms and chops. A jumping mule kick got HASHI an edge before a running blockbuster and everyone hit charging attacks in the corner before Ishii landed a German and HASHI laid Mike out with a lariat. Henare saved it at 2, but gets tossed outside. Everyone was standing around on the floor, leading to HASHI ducking low and Big Mike hitting a flip dive on the pile. Mike caught HASHI and apron powerbombed him. Mid-ring, he hit the giant lariat to get 2 and a buckle bomb set up the Elgin bomb for the win.
Tetsuya Naito, EVIL, SANADA, BUSHI, and Hiroumu Takahashi Desperado, Kanemaru, Davey Boy Smith Jr., Lance Archer, and Minoru Suzuki
LIJ poses before Suzuki-gun is out and Lance sprays the crowd down. Suzuki jumps Naito while he’s kneeling and they brawl on the floor. Bushi hits a double rana on Desperado and Kanemaru. Takahashi lands a big dropkick on Desperado for 2. Kanemaru sends him to the floor where hte brawl continues and extends to include DBS Jr. and Suzuki tearing apart barricades to smash Naito with. Archer and Hiromu go at it in one of the biggest size-mismatches you’ll see in New Japan this year. Hiromu lands some chops, but eats a pounce that sends him to the apron – where Suzuki lightly kicks him to get him to move out of his way so Archer can resume his punishment.
Davey Boy comes in and deadlift Saito suplexes him before throwing him across the ring with a butterfly suplex. Suzuki tags in to face Hiromu, and this is going to be fantastic. He shuffles around before round kicking his chest, picks him up, and round kicks him again. Minoru Suzuki smiles in a menacing manner before locking on a half-crab that Naito makes a save for. This offends Suzuki, so he dashes at him and kicks him off the apron before Desperado comes in and slaps Hiromu. Hiromu lands a palm strike and goes to tag EVIL, but KES prevents it and teases a Hart Attack that Hiromu turns into a DDT before tagging EVIL in.
EVIL takes care of Davey and Archer before bringing SANADA in – but Davey hits a double Northern Lights on them before tagging Archer in for a Demolition Decapitation splash and a Hart Attack on SANADA for 2. Killer Bomb is set up, but SANADA kicks Davey away and hits a springboard dropkick to Archer. NAITO AND SUZUKI ARE IN and Suzuki lands a series of elbows, a corner kick, and his charging PK while a giant “NAITO” chant breaks out. Naitro hits his corner carging kick and goes for the basement dropkick, but Suzuki catches hte foot and locks on a kneebar.Suzuki locks on a kneebar and an armbar before turning it into a figure four. Naito is saved by a rope break, but his bandaged right knee is in even more trouble – so Suzuki mockingly kicks his head and wants his best shot – which he laughs on before measuring him for an elbow strike.
Suzuki lands measured elbow strikes while Naito responds with overhand chops. Naito goes for the eyes, but gets locked in a sleeper before going for the Gotch piledriver. However, Naito senses it and kicks away for a rope-assisted tornado DDT. Suzuki kicks the right leg more and tosses him in for an Irish whip, but Naito drops down and Suzuki-gun lands corner charges on him. Kanemaru hits a diving DDT before EVIL makes a save. Kanemaru hits a charging kick, but Naito sets him up for an EVIL kick, corner charge from his team, and then a double team-assisted shotgun dropkick from Hiromu for before landing Destino on him for the pin. This was an awesome ten man tag and a perfect use of the format. Naito talks smack to Suzuki after the match and Suzuki has to be restrained to avoid beating him up.
NEVER Openweight Champion Hirooki Goto defeated Juice Robinson
Juice gets a nice reaction coming out, while Goto’s theme plays and the fans clap along. Juice works on him with headlocks and armbars for a bit. Goto gets a hiptoss and they meet in the middle for a shoulder charge where no one budges. Goto rains down corner forearms, so Juice responds in kind before a slap exchange breaks out and he sends Goto outside to eat a tope. While he’s down, Juice lands a series of punches from the mount – showing that while he may look goofy, he can still kick ass. They brawl on the floor and Goto lands a sick neckbreaker on the barricade – which plays into just about every major move in his arsenal. Juice is placed up top for a draping neckbreaker, which hits and he rolls outside to heal up.
He’s outside for a 17 count, rolls back in, and recovers more before Goto just goes out and chucks him inside to wrench his neck and gets an extended headscissors. Goto hits a diving elbow for 2. Goto attempts to drive his elbow into the nose, but gets blocked and Juice lands a side kick to get his first major blow. Juice lands his punching combo, but Goto ducks the last shot, so Juice chops him instead. A lariat hits, but Goto doesn’t budget and they both lariat each other until Juice lands a sliding Hart Attack lariat to send him down. A corner lariat hits for Juice, but he goes back to the other corner and eats a lariat of his own – only to do the same to Goto when Goto tries it. Juice charges back again, so Goto thinks he has a chance, but Juice ducks his spinkick and lands a cannonball for 2. Juice goes up top, buto Goto goes to the floor only to eat a crossbody anyway. Juice hits a crossbody mid-ring for 2, leaving him absolutely gobsmacked. Juice sets up Pulp Friction, but Goto avoids that and eats a German, only to get up and land a sick lariat, that Juice gets up from, only to eat the ushigoroshi.
A mid-ring elbow exchange fires up Juice, who wins that only to eat a round kick, but then land a big dropkick, but take a running kick to the chest on his way back up to his feet! Juice gets up in the corner and eats the corner spinkick that Goto set up earlier. A Saito suplex hits and further damages Juice’s neck before a second one lands. Red Shoes teases a stoppage, but Goto picks him up and signals for the GTR. Another Ushigorishi hits and gets 2.9! Goto sets him up top for some elbow strikes and teases a super ushigoroshi, but Juice fights out and wants a powerbomb – but Goto avoids that and eats a burning hammer to hte knee and a giant left-arm lariat for 2.9!
Juice lands a giant brainbuster for another 2.9 count, leaving him even more shocked than before. Goto locks on a sleeper to further damage the neck and weaken Juice, but Jucie backs him into hte corner. Juice runs up the corner, but still can’t escape until he snapmares his way free. Reverse GTR hits for Goto, leading to the GTR, but Jucie gets a small package for 2. Goto almost eats a Pulp Friction, but avoids that, giving Juice an opening for a giant elbow strike. A second one hits and Juice fires up and goes for another Pulp Friction. Goto avoids that and lands a shouten kai for 2.9.
Goto lands a round kick to the chest and a GTR ends it. After the match, Big Mike comes in and squares off with Goto and says that Goto has something he wants – the NEVER Openweight Title. He says he will be Goto’s next challenger, but Taichi comes down and attacks Goto, leading to Big Mike running him off. Mike grabs the title so Taichi doesn’t snatch it, and Goto rips it from his hands. The main event participants come out, with Tana getting a fantastic reaction and Ospreay’s reaction eclipsing Tana’s. Ospreay does his pose right in KUSHIDA’s face when he comes into the ring. Okada’s reaction tops everyone’s as he calmly climbs to the top and strikes his signature pose.
KUSHIDA and Hiroshi Tanahashi defeated Will Ospreay and IWGP Champion Kazuchika Okada
Ospreay and KUSHIDA did a ton of matwork to start. KUSHIDA locked on a headscissors that Ospreay couldn’t counter, so he got a rope break. Ospreay teased a dive, but backflipped mid-ring and posed for a fakeout. Tanahashi tagged in and the crowd chanted for Okada, who tagged in and the fans got into a chant-off for the heavyweight legends.
Tanahashi was put into the ropes, but his experience allowed him to use an opening and elbow Okada in the jaw. Tanahashi avoided a rainmaker and Okada avoided a slingblade, but Tanahashi couldn’t avoid a spike DDT. They brawled on the floor and Okada teased a tombstone, but Tanahashi avoided it while Okada kept carrying him around, impressive given his size. They all fought in the crowd for a bit before Ospreay tossesd KUSHIDA into a chalkboard.
Ospreay came in to face Tanahashi and hit a sliding dropkick before executing a double-armed torture lock. Okada came in to pick the bones and work over the bad arm. Tanahashi fought off both members of Chaos, but ate a tombstone. Okada got a cobra clutch while Ospreay hit a space flying tiger drop on KUSHIDA. KUSHIDA ran in and saved Tana with a dropkick before slapping the turnbuckle pad to motivate him to tag out. KUSHDA dropkicked Okada down to a huge “KUSHIDA” chant. He hit a tope con hilo off the top to the floor on Ospreay before hitting a slingshot DDT on Okada mid-ring. KUSHIDA got an armbar, but Okada made it to the ropes.
Okada avoided a punt, but ate a discus elbow and tagged Ospreay in. Ospreay hit a corner European uppercut and a basement hesitation dropkick before a standing SSP got 2. KUSHIDA mule kicked his way out of the head-trapped superkick and hit a somersault DDT. Tana comes in and dragon screwed Okada before hitting a twist and shout on Ospreay for 2. He went for a dragon suplex on Ospreay, but Okada dropkicked him in the back of the head before dropkicking KUSHIDA on the jaw. Tanahashi avoided another tombstone on the floor and landed a slingblade. Ospreay superkicked Tanahashi down before landing the kneeling tornado kick. KUSHIDA’s springboard dropkicked Ospreay’s arm before executing the Hoverboard Lock to put him in position for the High Fly Flow, which ended it.
Editor’s Note: Every day this week, we’ll take you back to one of Dave Meltzer’s top-rated matches of the past year, starting with No. 10 and going through No. 1. What follows is an edited version of Dave’s writeup of that match from the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
Tetsuya Naito vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi
NJPW G1 Climax A Block Finals | August 11
*****
Tetsuya Naito pinned Hiroshi Tanahashi in 26:42 to win the A block
This was fantastic storytelling. As compared with a lot of the guys in the tournament having great matches, this was safer and more of a work of art that a car crash action movie (not that car crash action movies aren’t art in a different way).
For purposes of the match, it was Tanahashi with the bad right arm and Naito somewhat selling the shoulder. Tanahashi also had a knee and a rib injury by this point, but that didn’t play into the match. Tanahashi started stomping Naito when he did the tranquillo pose. Tanahashi came off the ropes with a crossbody into a dropkick to the bad biceps. Naito started working on the right arm. Tanahashi did the high fly flow to the floor and again started selling the arm. He went for the Texas cloverleaf, but the idea was that with his weakened biceps, he couldn’t get it. The crowd was super hot at this point.
He went for a dragon screw but Naito started punching the biceps and snapped his arm over the top rope, followed up by a slingshot dropkick to the arm. Tanahashi came back with a straitjacket German suplex. From superplex position, Naito started working for a Kimura and then hit a top rope Frankensteiner, which Tanahashi turned into a sunset flip and then hit a dragon screw. Naito used a German suplex. Later, Tanahashi used two sling blades and a crossbody off the top, but missed a high fly flow.
Naito had some offense and then came the highlight. Tanahashi finally got the Texas cloverleaf, but Naito struggled to the ropes. Referee Red Shoes Unno told Naito he was going to stop it, which meant more because of the Sabre-Ishii finish. Just as Unno went to stop it, Naito made the ropes. The intensity was tremendous here.
Naito came back with a tornado DDT and a Destino off the top rope that Tanahashi kicked out of. Naito tried another Destino but Tanahashi hit two Twist And Shouts. Naito reversed the third into a destino, then hit a second one and got the pin.
This wasn’t the best tournament match for flashy moves, but for psychology, it beat everything up to this point.
Suzuki-gun returned to New Japan, laying waste to Chaos and made clear they wanted all of their titles, with Suzuki gunning for the top title. Juice Robinson scored a big upset win over Goto, making himself next in line for the NEVER title. Elgin scored a win over Naito, looking to take the Intercontinental title back down the line. Dragon Lee made his return, laying out Hiromu Takahashi and challenged for the IWGP Jr. title, much to the chagrin of KUSHIDA, who also wants another crack.
Good opener. Ricochet is excellent, in case you didn’t know. Not just him doing great spots, but how he does it in execution, it’s virtually flawless at times. The match boiled down to Henare fighting for his team, but as like with other young lions, took the pin here. Finlay did the rolling senton, Ricochet hit a shooting star press and Finlay covered for the win.
Finlay went into the crowd and hugged his mom after the match in a nice moment.
Yujiro Takahashi & Hangman Page defeated Yoshitatsu & Billy Gunn
This wasn’t that good. The crowd wasn’t into it aside from a few faint Billy Gunn chants. Yujiro laid out Yoshitatsu on the outside with the pimp juice DDT. Page laid out Gunn with a lariat then pinned Yoshitatsu with the Rite of Passage (Omori Driver).
YOSHI-HASHI & Roppongi Vice defeated The Young Bucks & Adam Cole
Bucks (and even Cole) tried to do the Meltzer Driver but were taken out by Baretta. Bullet Club made their comeback. Cole gave the Last Shot to Romero and Nick followed with a knee strike but Romero kicked out. YOSHI-HASHI made a good comeback but Cole cut him off. He was going for the Last Shot but YOSHI-HASHI cradled him and got a flash win.
Cole and the Bucks laid out YOSHI-HASHI after the match, drilling him with a double superkick/Last Shot combo. That seems to indicate YOSHI-HASHI getting an ROH title shot down the line.
Team 2000 (Scott Norton, Hiro Saito, Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima & Cheeseburger) defeated Bullet Club (Kenny Omega, Tama Tonga, Tanga Loa, Bad Luck Fale & Bone Soldier)
All of Team 2000 posed for a picture and Tiger Hattori pulled Cheeseburger away in a funny spot. Both teams did the Wolfpac sign before the match. Omega tried to get Norton to join the Bullet Club, but he wasn’t interested.
There was a hilarious spot where Norton laid everyone out, then Cheeseburger came in to do the Wolfpac sign again, but instead Norton opted to Gorilla Press Cheeseburger out of the ring. He was supposed to wipe out all the Bullet Club members on the outside, but instead they grabbed him and just threw him back in the ring. Cheeseburger tried to do Kojima’s chops in the corner on Fale but it didn’t exactly work. Kojima laid out Bone Soldier, allowing Cheeseburger and Saito to land a couple of sentons, then Kojima pinned him with the lariat.
Michael Elgin & KUSHIDA defeated Tetsuya Naito & Hiromu Takahashi
Good action. KUSHIDA focused on Takahashi and Elgin set his sights on Naito. Good back and forth action by everyone involved. Elgin took Naito and gave him a German suplex into the turnbuckle, then smooshed Takahashi on top of Naito after a running Death Valley Driver. Naito low blowed Elgin but all of a sudden Dragon Lee ran out and took out Naito, then wiped out Takahashi on the outside with a dive. Elgin proceeded to score the win with a running Death Valley Driver.
Dragon Lee posed with the title after the match, shaking hand with Elgin. He and KUSHIDA had a staredown as well, with KUSHIDA making his intentions known.
Shibata and Ospreay started things off. Ospreay motioned that he wanted the RPW British Heavyweight Championship. He and Shibata had a nice early exchange. It ended up becoming a brawl on the outside with Ishii taking Makabe and throwing him into a sign in the crowd. All good, solid action throughout. It continues to be clear that Robinson has improved tons since joining New Japan. Everyone came in and were trading spots. Goto and Robinson went at it. Goto pelted him with clotheslines but Robinson responded with one of his own. Shibata flew in and hit the penalty kick. Robinson hit the unprettier and pinned Goto in a big upset.
Juice Robinson was holding the NEVER title, making clear he was challenging next when all of a sudden, Suzuki-gun ran in for the big return and started to clear house on Chaos. Davey Boy Smith Jr, Lance Archer, Desperado, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Taichi, Takashi Iizuka & Taka Michinoku all came in and destroyed whoever was in their path. Taichi and Taka Michinoku laid out Roppongi Vice and Killer Elite Squad laid out Yano. Okada came in and tried to clear house, but the boss himself Minoru Suzuki came in and laid him out with the Gotch piledriver. Suzuki said he wants to rule this ring again and all the belts will be theirs. This got really great heat.
Manabu Nakanishi, Hiroshi Tanahashi & Ryusuke Taguchi defeated EVIL, SANADA & BUSHI for the NEVER Six-Man tag titles
A solid main event with some good action. Crowd was into this and treated it like a big deal. Nakanishi worked in here longer than you’d think. A big cluster went down during the final moments of the match. Nakanishi scored the win with the Hercules cutter, winning the titles for his team. These titles are quickly becoming redundant, but they were never that interesting to begin with so it doesn’t matter much.
Nakanishi closed the show off with a promo.
Final Thoughts —
A good show to set up events leading to the New Beginning shows next month. The return of Suzuki-gun has its plusses and minuses (Iizuka, Taichi) but it does set up an exciting future main event in Okada vs. Suzuki. Nothing blow away here, but a fun show that did what was needed to start New Japan’s year with a bang.
We are already at the third day of World Tag League action, this time held in Guma. You’ll find prelim results, thoughts on the tournament matches and latest rankings below. Let’s do this!
Prelim results:
– Teruaki Kanemitsu defeated Hirai Kawato after Kawato submitted to the Boston Crab.
– Katsuyori Shibata, Jushin Thunder Liger, Yuji Nagata and Tiger Mask defeated Yoshitatsu, Billy Gunn, David Finlay and IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion KUSHIDA when Nagata pinned Finlay following the backdrop driver.
– SANADA, BUSHI and EVIL defeated Togi Makabe, Tomoaki Honma and Ryusuke Taguchi when SANADA submitted Taguchi with the skull end.
– IWGP Champion Kazuchika Okada, Hirooki Goto, Tomohiro Ishii and YOSHI-HASHI defeated Kenny Omega, Bad Luck Fale, Chase Owens and Bone Soldier when Goto pinned Bone Soldier with the GTR.
Main show results:
– Yujiro Takahashi and Hangman Page defeated Manabu Nakanishi and Henare
Henare and Nakanishi come off as a good team based on the look alone while Henare comes off as a total heavyweight, at least by New Japan standards. He was worked on a lot throughout this match. This was an okay match since Henare did most of the work on his team. Yujiro got the win with the Pimp Juice DDT on Henare.
– IWGP Tag Team Champions Guerillas of Destiny defeated Leland Race and Brian Breaker
The action was fine, but the crowd was dead for a lot of it. Breaker comes off as having something while Race is just kinda there, at least at this point in the tournament. Tonga took out Breaker and sent him to the outside. They ganged up on Race and leveled him with the Guerilla Warfare for the win.
– War Machine defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi and Juice Robinson
This ws a good match. War Machine is very good, Tanahashi provided the star power and Juice works hard. It all came together here. Juice was worked on for the bulk of it until Tanahashi made the hot tag. He kept beating on War Machine until he tired out and War Machine went back on the offensive. Juice came back but War Machine dominated him. They went for their wheelbarrow/springboard clothesline combo, but Juice rolled up Rowe for a cool nearfall. They levelled Juice with a double chokeslam but he still kicked out. They finally hit Fallout to end the match.
– Tencozy defeated Rush and IWGP I-C Champion Tetsuya Naito
This was a pretty standard main event. Rush took out Kojima early outside of the ring and both Ingobernables worked on him for a long time. Then, Kojima just fired back with a lariat and pinned Rush — an anticlimactic finish. This was fine, but nothing special. Tencozy then cut a promo to close out the show.
War Machine/Tanahashi and Juice was great, and the show was fine overall, but there’s nothing here fans absolutely need to watch.
New Japan Pro Wrestling’s final tournament of the year started this morning as World Tag League kicked off at Korakuen Hall, with the winners very likely getting a shot at the heavyweight tag titles at WrestleKingdom 11. Here are prelim results and recaps of the main tournament matches:
Teruaki Kanemitsu defeated Hirai Kawato by submission with a Boston crab. Kanemitsu showed pretty good fire. Solid match overall.
Yoshitatsu, Billy Gunn, KUSHIDA & Ryusuke Taguchi defeated Togi Makabe, Tomoaki Honma, Jushin Liger & David Finlay when Billy Gunn pinned Finlay with the famouser. They teased a Makabe/Gunn showdown after the match since their respective teams are facing off soon.
SANADA, EVIL & BUSHI defeated Tiger Mask, Yuji Nagata & Katsuyori Shibata when SANADA submitted Tiger Mask with the Skull End. It looked like SANADA was injured early after botching a leapfrog on Nagata, but he finished the match just fine.
Kazuchika Okada, Hirooki Goto, Tomohiro Ishii & YOSHI-HASHI defeated Kenny Omega, Bad Luck Fale, Chase Owens & Bone Soldier when YOSHI-HASHI pinned Owens with Karma. The match got a ton of heat toward the end when Okada and Omega were in.
War Machine defeated Henare & Manabu Nakanishi
This was better than you’d think. War Machine are pretty good. Henare shows a lot of potential and Nakanishi didn’t look nearly as bad as he usually does. Henare kicked out of an aided powerslam and Nakanishi broke up a pin to save him. War Machine isolated Henare again then pinned him with Fallout (belly-to-back suplex/legdrop from the top rope combo).
Decent match. Page worked a lot of it. Breaker and Race looked fine but don’t really stand out. Page looks good while Yujiro is, well, Yujiro. Breaker comes off as a big powerhouse type and works well with that style.
Yujiro and Page were looking to finish it but Page was shoved to the floor. Breaker did a big dropkick that sent Yujiro to the corner, then Race pinned him with an assisted standing sliced bread.
Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima defeated Guerrillas of Destiny (Tama Tonga & Tanga Roa)
This was a pretty solid match throughout, but nothing interesting. GoD are coming off as a more polished team, and will probably be even more polished when this tournament is all over. It seems like Tencozy haven’t actually been a team in forever even though they are in eight and six-man tags all the time. Kojima hit the cutter on Roa, gave him a lariat to the back of the head, then one more to the throat for the win.
Tetsuya Naito came to the ring, wearing a white suit. BUSHI followed, then EVIL, and of course SANADA followed. The ref wanted answers. After a minute or so, another man came out wearing the Ingobernables hood. He revealed himself to be none other than original Ingobernables member, Rush from CMLL.
Tetsuya Naito & Rush defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi & Juice Robinson
This was just okay, but it picked up toward the end. Crowd was into Rush and were very into the main event. Rush’s offense looks (and probably is) super stiff and he spent a lot of the match beating up Juice Robinson. Rush drilled Tanahashi with the Rush Driver and Naito followed suit with the Destino on Robinson to score the win.
Naito cut a promo on Tanahashi after the match and reaffirmed Rush’s standing in the group to close out the show.
A solid show overall. Nothing blow away, but this tour isn’t going to have a lot of out of this world matches anyway. Everything’s being set up for WrestleKingdom.
New Japan Pro Wrestling and Sakura Events announced their official lineup for an iPPV show happening on November 12th in Auckland, New Zealand.
The main event features The Young Bucks & Kenny Omega vs. Kazuchika Okada & Rocky Romero & Baretta, designed to start the hard push for the Okada vs. Omega Tokyo Dome NJPW main event on January 4th, 2017.
The show is called “On the Mat” which was the name of the very popular local pro wrestling show in the 70s in the era of Steve Rickard and King Curtis Iaukea. The $18 iPPV will be held under the bill of Charity Pro Wrestling at The Trusts Arena in Auckland.
New Zealand native and ROH wrestler Jay White will be pushed as a local star in facing R.J. Brewer, the former John Walters. Brewer is being pushed a foreign heel and avowed Donald Trump supporter playing on nationalism.
The third main event will be Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Dalton Castle with the idea of allowing Castle the opportunity to be in a classic Tanahashi singles match.
Other matches announced are The Haku Dynasty (King Haku teaming with his sons Tama Tonga & Tanga Roa) vs. local radio DJ Nasty Nate, Hooligan Marcus Kool & Juice Robinson; David Finlay & Kushida vs. Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly, Gedo & Yoshi-Hashi vs. Yujiro Takahashi & local powerhouse Bad Luck Fale; Jon Strongman Andersen vs. El Terrible from Mexico, Hirooki Goto vs. Paul Sayres and Henare of New Japan vs. Hiku Leo’o, which will be the pro debut of the youngest son of Haku.
Kevin Kelly will be the lead announcer on the show.
A number of New Zealand celebrities have been announced including boxer Brown Butter Bean, who will referee the White vs. Brewer match, Princess of Flowers, who will manage Andersen; New Zealand X Factor contestant Ashley Tonga, who will manage El Terrible, as well as TV personalities Niko Goulter and Sisters Singh.
Nine shows down, a lot more to go as the G1 continues its major tour all across Japan, this time at the Gifu Industry Hall.
Tiger Mask & Yuji Nagata defeated Michael Elgin & David Finlay when Tiger Mask pinned Finlay with a butterfly suplex off the top rope.
Satoshi Kojima, Manabu Nakanishi, Jushin Thunder Liger, & Katsuyori Shibata defeated Katsuhiko Nakajima, Gedo, YOSHI-HASHI, & Toru Yano after Satoshi Kojima pinned Gedo with a lariat.
Kenny Omega & Yujiro Takahashi defeated Captain New Japan & Ryusuke Taguchi when Yujiro pinned Captain New Japan with the Pimp Juice DDT. I typed that before the match even finished. It would be kind of cool if CNJ got a sneaky win here somewhere to break the monotony, but what can you do.
BUSHI, SANADA, & Tetsuya Naito defeated KUSHIDA, Tomoaki Honma, & Juice Robinson when EVIL pinned Robinson with an STO.
Tama Tonga defeated Tomohiro Ishii
This was pretty solid and built up over time. Tonga did his old waist lock DDT for a near fall. Ishii blocked the Gun Stun. Ishii went for a brainbuster, but Tonga countered it with a Gun Stun in midair, then followed with a second for the win. Good while it lasted.
Bad Luck Fale defeated SANADA
SANADA took Fale to the outside where he worked him over with a hammer, choking him. This was alright but nothing special. Fale went for the Bad Luck Fall, but Sanada dodged and went for a roll-up. Fale came back with the Grenade and the Bad Luck Fall for the win. It was a match.
Naomichi Marufuji defeated Togi Makabe
Marufuji pelted Makabe early with kicks, and Makabe responded by chopping him silly. Crowd started to pick up as Marufuji turned the tide. He laid out Makabe with more of his kicks then hit the Sliced Bread #2 for the win. This was just okay and felt kind of short.
Kazuchika Okada defeated Hiroyoshi Tenzan
Crowd was firmly for Tenzan as the bell rang. It was simply a good match until Okada brought it into high gear. Tenzan kept avoiding the Rainmaker and came back with an Anaconda Buster slam and the Anaconda Vise.
Okada was gaining momentum when Tenzan came back with a series of headbutts and went for the moonsault, but Okada dropkicked him as he was climbing and hit a German suplex and a Rainmaker for the win. This grew to be pretty fun with hot action and a good crowd.
Hiroshi Tanahashi defeated Hirooki Goto
This was slow to start. Just some perfectly okay wrestling, not much else. They did a lot of grappling. Crowd was into this, but it was hard for me to get into it personally. Tanahashi finally laid Goto out with a DDT, then hit two High Fly Flows and pinned Goto. Weird, not very interesting match.
Tanahashi played the air guitar for the crowd after the match.
Probably the worst card on the tour so far. It wasn’t terrible, but aside from Okada vs. Tenzan, which was fun, other matches on this show weren’t.
It keeps rollin’ on as we enter the seventh night of G1 competition. Will Hiroshi Tanahashi score that big win he needs? Let’s find out on the results of today’s show, which took place in Saitama:
Tiger Mask & Jushin Thunder Liger defeated David Finlay & Ryusuke Taguchi when Tiger Mask pinned Finlay after a butterfly suplex from the top rope.
Yuji Nagata, Satoshi Kojima, Tomoaki Honma, & Manabu Nakanishi defeated YOSHI-HASHI, Toru Yano, Katsuhiko Nakajima, & Gedo when Kojima pinned Gedo with the lariat.
Yujiro Takahashi & Kenny Omega defeated Michael Elgin & Captain New Japan when, as usual, Yujiro pinned Captain New Japan with his new DDT finish.
EVIL, BUSHI, & Tetsuya Naito defeated Katsuyori Shibata, KUSHIDA, & Juice Robinson when EVIL pinned Juice Robinson with the STO. Like with Elgin the other day, Naito put Shibata in a leglock after the match since they’re due to wrestle down the line.
Togi Makabe defeated Hiroyoshi Tenzan
This started off with your usual back and forth, though it did get stiff in spots. Tenzan had the Anaconda Vise in for a good while but Makabe escaped to the ropes. Pretty good, solid match with Makabe getting the win with a Samoan drop and the King Kong knee drop off the top rope.
SANADA defeated Hirooki Goto
Good, solid action to start. Crowd didn’t seem to be interested, though it started to pick up once action kept rolling.
SANADA locked in the Skull End submission. Goto came back, but SANADA cut him off and applied the Skull End again. Goto refused to tap out, so SANADA let him go, went to the top rope, and hit the moonsault for the win. Another solid match.
Tomohiro Ishii defeated Naomichi Marufuji
The match started off pretty smoothly, then went towards a more stiff style that’s more Ishii’s fare with chops and other hard hitting moves.
Crowd got really into this as time went on. Marufuji laid him out with kicks, but Ishii came back with a headbutt and a lariat. Ishii then hit a brainbuster and got the win. Wish it went a bit longer, but was good for what it was.
Kazuchika Okada defeated Tama Tonga
This didn’t have a lot of heat going for it, except for when Okada was in control. Tama Tonga just doesn’t seem to be over even though he’s gotten a couple of big wins on this tour.
The action was pretty solid. After a few initial rusty days, Tonga has proven he can hang with anyone. Tonga tried the gun stun but Okada dodged. Tonga missed a charge, ate a German suplex, then was pinned with the Rainmaker. Solid match.
Hiroshi Tanahashi defeated Bad Luck Fale
The storyline for Tanahashi so far in this tournament is that he’s suffered a number of losses and really needs to get back on track at this point with a win tonight.
This went to the outside early, and Fale just flung a barricade right on top of Tanahashi. That seems so dangerous given his injury. He came back and worked on his shoulder, which wasn’t very interesting. Tanahashi went to the top rope, but Fale slapped him right out of the ring.
Tanahashi made his comeback with a hurricanrana then hit a slingblade. He tried for another but Fale got his feet up. Tanahashi kicked out after Fale hit the Grenade. Fale grabbed him and went for the Bad Luck Fall, but Tanahashi escaped and rolled him up for the win.
Great finish as it continues the storyline that Tanahashi is still recovering from injury while also giving him the much needed win at the same time.
Tanahashi closed the show with a few air guitar solos.
A decent show overall. These shows don’t feel like the G1 shows of the past. Seems like the goal is to have decent to good matches on the undercard and at least deliver in the main event. It conserves bodies for sure, and that is a positive, but is also a bit disappointing considering previous years.
