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  • NJPW G1 Climax Tournament 8-15 live results: Okada vs. Nakamura; B block winner to be decided

    by Bryan Rose, WrestlingObserver.com

    Welcome to this morning’s coverage of the last G1 Climax show before the finals late tonight/Sunday morning. Hiroshi Tanahashi won the A block, beating AJ Styles in a great main event last night, but tonight there are several variables that will either allow Shinsuke Nakamura, Karl Anderson or Kazuchika Okada to advance.

    Sho Tanaka & Yohei Komatsu vs. Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly

    Didn’t last long, but this was pretty good and heated while it lasted. Typical match where Tanaka and Komatsu would get the occasional offense, but reDragon would cut them off. They laid out Komatsu then pinned Tanaka with the Chasing the Dragon.

    The Young Bucks immediately ran in after the bell rant and laid out their challengers tomorrow with the titles. David Finlay and Jay White ran in, and their match immediately started.

    Young Bucks vs. Jay White & David Finlay

    Also a solid, short match. White and Finaly were on offense for a while and looked pretty good. At one point both Bucks missed Stinger splashes and did Sting’s mannerisms and everything. Matt pinned White after hitting the Indytaker.

    Toru Yano & Kazushi Sakuraba & Yoshi-Hashi & Michael Bennett & Matt Taven vs. A.J. Styles & Doc Gallows & Bad Luck Fale & Tama Tonga & Cody Hall

    Another solid tag match. The Kingdom worked a lot of this match. AJ Styles and Sakuraba were in at one point and AJ had him in the calf killer but Sakuraba transitioned into an armbar before it was broken up. After Toru Yano distracted Tama Tonga, taking him out Benett hit a twist of fate on Hall and Yoshi Hashi hit the swanton bomb for the win.  

    Hiroshi Tanahashi & Togi Makabe & Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Katsuyori Shibata & Kushida vs. Tetsuya Naito & Kota Ibushi & Manabu Nakanishi & Captain New Japan & Ricochet

    Solid match. It was basic, but it was fun and again Ricochet and Kushida were the highlights of the match. They also had Ibushi pair off with Makabe as that seems to be the NEVER title fall program. Naito also antagonized Shibata on the apron early in the match, perhaps a tease of a feud between these two as well. He took him out again towards the end as everyone exchanged offense again. Tanahashi, who was not in the match much at all, took out NCJ with the sling blade then pinned him with the high fly flow.

    Shibata and Naito had a confrontation after the match, with Shibata putting him in a sleeper. Shibata enters the ring and goads Naito on but he bails. Seems like this is a match for tomorrow or for next month. 

    Yujiro Takahashi vs. Tomoaki Honma

    Good match. A lot of the story was based on if Honma could get another win to start a streak. He got in a lot of offense and hit many kokeshis. Good back and forth stuff between the two throughout. Honma kicked out of a fisherman’s suplex at one and tried for a Bernard driver but Yujiro low blowed him and hit the Miami Shine for the win. I thought that was Toru Yano’s thing? 

    Tomohiro Ishii vs. Michael Elgin

    This was a completely insane match and without a doubt one of the best matches of the year. Think of all the insane matches Tomohiro Ishii has had over the last few years and double it and you have this match. Just insane in terms of brutality and stiffness. Some people won’t like this match because of that but this was better than Honma/Ishii from this year and Ishii/Goto from last year. Just some insane spots here and the place went crazy towards the end. Elgin gave Ishii a death valley driver on the apron then gave him a running powerbomb into the guardrail. He followed that up with the deadlift falcon arrow superplex but Ishii mounted a comeback. He blasted him with a lariat and a sliding D but Elgin kicked out. He kept kicking out of everything Ishii gave him, including another lariat. Elgin deadlifted him with a powerbomb but Ishii fought back and gave him a massive headbutt, another lariat (which Elgin kicked out of) then pinned him with a brainbuster. Have I said this match was insane? 

    Hirooki Goto vs Yuji Nagata

    Good match. Started off slow, but told a nice story and became pretty good towards the end. Story of this match was Goto completely dominating Nagata for most of the bout, dishing out offense and working on Nagata’s ribs, which has been a problem for him throughout the tournament. Nagata finally made a comeback by sinking in the white eyes armbar out of nowhere. Goto didn’t tap out and from here it became more of an even contest. They traded forearms but Goto cut him off. Nagata came back with a spinning heel kick and pinned him with the back drop hold. This puts Goto out of the tournament.

    Karl Anderson vs. Satoshi Kojima

    This was fine, but nothing special. Good heat towards the end. Kojima laid him out during the match with a DDT on the apron. Anderson made the comeback and hit a cutter off the top rope. Kojima came back with one of his own. He went for the lariat (Anderson had worked on his arm earlier and sold it before going for it) but Anderson went for the Gun Stun. Kojima blocked it and hit the lariat to pin him and eliminate him from the tournament. From here, whoever wins in the main event advances to the finals. 

    Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Kazuchika Okada for the B block championship

    This was awesome. I think it was close to their finals match from last year, if not a bit better. Just a different feeling for this one from the get go. Okada took over early by giving Nakamura a huge dropkick through the barricade then gave him a draping DDT from the barricade onto the mat. Good, solid back and forth. Okada’s playing the somewhat subtle heel by mocking Nakamura here and there. Nakamura hits the boma ye but misses another and Okada takes it to the outside where he tombstones Nakamura on the floor. Nakamura came back but Okada kicked out of another boma ye and a death valley driver. He charged for another but Okada hit a huge dropkick. Nakamura avoided the rainmaker once but Okada backslided him and hit the rainmaker. He gave him the tombstone but Nakamura avoided the rainmaker and transitioned into the armbar. He shifted to a gogoplata, then flattened him on his back and continued to wrench on the arm until Okada submitted. The last few minutes were incredible with the counters and the heat from the audience.

    So that makes it Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Shinsuke Nakamura for tomorrow’s G1 championship match.

    FINAL STANDINGS

    Block A:

    Hiroshi Tanahashi- 14

    AJ Styles- 12

    Tetsuya Naito- 10

    Bad Luck Fale- 10

    Katsuyori Shibata- 8

    Togi Makabe- 8

    Kota Ibushi- 8

    Toru Yano- 8

    Hiroyoshi Tenzan- 6

    Doc Gallows- 6

    Block B:

    Shinsuke Nakamura- 14

    Kazuchika Okada- 14

    Karl Anderson- 12

    Hirooki Goto- 12

    Tomohiro Ishii- 10

    Michael Elgin- 8

    Yujiro Takahashi- 6

    Satoshi Kojima- 6

    Yuji Nagata- 6

    Tomoaki Honma- 2

  • PBC on Spike report: Tarver vs. Cunningham

    By Jeremy Wall

    Antonio “Magic Man” Tarver (31-6-1, 22 KOs) fought Steve “USS” Cunningham (28-7-1, 13 KOs) to a split draw after twelve rounds in the main event of Spike’s PBC show on Friday, August 14th in front of 5,843 at the Prudential Center in Newark. It was Tarver’s first televised fight in years, although he has remained somewhat active on small shows. The show was promoted by Lou DiBella and aired on Spike from 9pm ET to just after 11pm ET.

    The real story, though, was Krzysztof Glowacki (25-0, 16 KOs) defeating Marco Huck (38-3-1, 2 KOs) to win the WBO Cruiserweight title by eleventh round knockout in a fight of the year candidate. If Huck had defeated Glowacki, Huck would have broken the record for most consecutive Cruiserweight title defenses at fourteen. It was a great fight that elevated Glowacki from a nobody to a minor star.

    The main event between Tarver and Cunningham was clearly put together as a showcase fight for the 46-year-old Tarver, with Tarver doing promos before the fight talking about how it is his destiny to win a heavyweight title. As unlikely as that is, Tarver fought as well against Cunningham as one could expect from a 46-year-old who averages about one fight a year. Tarver will also become a grandfather for the first time next month.

    Tarver looked fleshy weighing in at 217 pounds for the bout, with a noticeable spare tire. He was actually down in weight compared to the heaviest he had ever been, which was against Johnathan Banks last December where Tarver came in at 225 pounds and knocked Banks out in the seventh round. Tarver’s flabbiness didn’t seem to create an issue with cardio, however, as Tarver is a plodding fighter who throws punches at a measured pace, allowing him to go the full twelve rounds without gassing.

    The last time Tarver was seen on American television was when he went to a split draw defending the IBO Cruiserweight title against Lateef Kayode on June 2nd, 2012 in Carson. The fight aired on Showtime. Tarver ended up testing positive for Drostalolone in his pre-fight urinalysis and the fight was subsequently ruled a no-contest. Tarver’s career looked finished after the bout, fighting only twice more moving up to heavyweight, once in 2013 where he stopped Mike Sheppard in the fourth round and then the win over Banks in 2014.

    Fortunately for Tarver, Al Haymon and PBC came along with their bloated fight schedule and they need fighters with a bit of star power. Tarver had been working as a colour commentator for PBC on Spike.

    “Antonio is a true champion behind the microphone and inside the ring,” said Jon Slusser, senior VP of Spike Sports, in a press release announcing the fight back in July. “It’s only fitting that Spike televise this great event between Tarver and Cunningham. We’re looking forward to an exciting night of boxing.”

    “This is a big fight for me. PBC was designed for the new, young stars but I’m thankful they’ll let an old guy like me steal the spotlight on Friday night,” said Tarver at a pre-fight presser in New York.

    For Friday’s broadcast Tarver was replaced on commentary by Shawn Porter. Porter’s father Kenny was also interviewed by host Dana Jacobson. Shawn did a good job, not great, but he’s got a future in broadcasting if he wants one. Porter is a super babyface, however. He doesn’t have a ton of charisma, but what charisma he does have comes off as similar to Christy Mathewson or Ricky Steamboat, to pull out a couple of obtuse references. He has somewhat the opposite charisma of Floyd Mayweather Jr in many ways and would have been my choice for Floyd’s opponent on September 12th.

    Anyway, back to Tarver. Tarver is really most famous for two things and not much else. First, he was the guy who finally defeated Roy Jones Jr when Jones was in his prime. They had three fights. First was a November 8th, 2003 bout that Jones won by majority decision. They did a rematch on May 15th, 2004, where Tarver stopped Jones in the second round, which was the beginning of the end of Jones as a top fighter, although like Tarver, Jones continues to fight weak opponent on smaller shows to this day, including a bout on Sunday. They had a third match on October 1st, 2005, which Tarver handily won by unanimous decision. Jones was actually in the audience at the Prudential Center for Friday night’s fight, as he was scouting Marco Huck, who he wanted to fight for Huck’s cruiserweight title.

    Tarver went on to lose his Light-Heavyweight title to Bernard Hopkins by unanimous decision in 2006. Tarver later suffered back to back losses to Chad Dawson in 2008 and 2009.

    The second thing that made Tarver famous was playing Mason “The Line” Dixon in Rocky Balboa, which was Sylvester Stallone’s major comeback movie of sorts a few years ago. It was the sixth Rocky film and probably the best since the first one about thirty years earlier. That film role probably introduced Tarver to a wider audience than would have known him from the Roy Jones fights, and probably extended his career by giving him a boost in name value to the point where in 2015 at 46 years old he could headline a PBC show on Spike.

    Cunningham, 39, came into the fight off a unanimous decision loss to Vyacheslav Glazkov in March and had only won four of his last nine fights dating back to 2011. He was a former IBF Cruiserweight champion and had fought many of the top cruiserweights, including a twelfth round TKO win over Huck on December 29th, 2007, but also losses to Yoan Pablo Hernandez (twice), Tomasz Adamek, and Krzysztof Wlodarczyk. Cunningham spent the best years of his career fighting in Europe where the Cruiserweight titles are most popular.

    “I fought in Europe so much, fighting this close to home is a little scary,” said Cunningham, who comes from Philadelphia, in a pre-fight presser. “There are a lot of eyes on you. But that’s what we do. We handle pressure and do what we do. If a fighter doesn’t have nerves they’re either lying or don’t have it in them.”

    He moved up heavyweight in 2012 with mixed results, including another loss to Adamek and a seventh round knockout loss to Tyson Fury.

    Cunningham was a good opponent for Tarver if PBC’s goal was to showcase that Tarver’s still got it at 46. Cunningham is well past his prime and much smaller than Tarver, coming in at 204 pounds. He has a much longer reach and is slightly taller, but Tarver at 46 is probably at least as good as Cunningham at 39.

    It was a dull fight, but it had to follow the Huck-Glowacki bout that might be a fight of the year candidate. Tarver’s offense was slow and he kept the fight at a measured pace until the fourth round when he caught Cunningham with a right cross. Cunningham’s legs were rubbery, but he didn’t go down. Cunningham’s eyes ended up swollen by the end of the bout. It was a close fight, though, that easily could have been judged either way fairly, with neither guy looking particularly like a winner.

    The scorecards were 115-113 Cunningham, 115-114 Tarver and 114-114. Spike’s unofficial scorer Steve Farhood had Tarver winning by two points. A draw was fair. Tarver landed 141 of 450 punches for 31-percent and Cunningham landed 154 of 678 punches for 23-percent. The punch stats look more in favour of Tarver than what the fight looks like when you actually watch it round by round.

    Tarver and Cunningham each earned $250,000 for the fight, respectively.

    The goal was to give Tarver a showcase fight on cable and despite the draw PBC probably achieved that goal. Tarver could have looked much worse at 46 years old against a somewhat younger and lighter opponent. He didn’t look great and I don’t think anyone is excited for another Tarver bout, but he looked as good as he reasonably could for his age.

    Tarver wasn’t pleased with the decision though.

    “He didn’t hurt me and couldn’t get to my body. I did what I had to do but didn’t get the win. We got a draw and I’m not satisfied with it at all,” Tarver said after the fight.

    Cunningham felt better about the draw. “I have nothing to be ashamed of and I’ll get together with my team and family and talk about what we do next,” he said.

    Tarver is talking about fighting Wladimir Klitschko for Klitschko’s belts, which is unlikely since Tarver is a PBC guy and Klitschko is HBO.

    “I want to face Wilder and Klitschko. I ain’t got nothing else to prove man,” Tarver said in a conference call in July. “I’m going to prove it August 14. They know who I am. I’ve got five championships to my name. I don’t have to prove nothing. They know who I am and they know when I’m ready to fight, I’m going to tough out for anybody.”

    Boxing purists will hate the idea, but the next fight to make is Deontay Wilder vs Tarver. PBC isn’t for boxing purists anyway, as they are trying to capture a new audience using mostly showcase fights to build star power in select boxers.

    The reason the Wilder fight ought to be the next fight for Tarver is that they can do the fight on NBC and Tarver’s name will bring a bit of added viewership from the type of people who don’t regularly watch boxing, but watch the Rocky movies. Wilder would easily defeat Tarver. The whole thing with Wilder is that he is clearly the PBC fighter most likely to breakthrough and become a major star with an audience that will only watch boxing when major stars are involved. That audience is the difference between a somewhat profitable boxing match and a tremendously profitable boxing match. The whole deal with Wilder right now is to build him, fight by fight, into the kind of fighter who attracts that crossover mainstream audience.

    A solid win over Tarver would be one more fight that helps getting Wilder to PBC’s goal of creating a mainstream star to follow Floyd Mayweather once Mayweather retires. It’s not that beating a middle-aged Tarver would turn Wilder from a popular fighter with boxing fans to a mainstream star. But it is one more brick in the wall towards building Wilder into a legit star.

    In the co-main, Krzysztof Glowacki (25-0, 16 KOs) knocked out Marco Huck (38-3-1, 26 KOs) in a thrilling eleventh round upset to capture the WBO Cruiserweight title. It was both one of the biggest upsets and one of the best fights of the year. Huck (pronounced “Hook”, so that his nickname is “Captain Hook”) was considered the best cruiserweight boxer in the world and was looking to break the record for most consecutive successful cruiserweight title defenses at fourteen. Huck is now stalled at thirteen defenses, tying him with Johnny Nelson of England.

    Glowacki took quite a bit of punishment throughout the early rounds of the fight, but dished the punishment back. There were a lot of headshots delivered by both fighters. In the sixth round, Huck dropped Glowacki with a left hook to the head. Glowacki tried desperately to stay on his feet, but his legs gave out and he was knocked down. The fight slowed a bit after that knockdown with Glowacki nervous to engage in obvious fear of being knocked down again.

    Glowacki came back in the eleventh round, though, hitting Huck with a left-right combo to the head that dropped the champion. Huck struggled back to his feet, but was clearly dazed and Glowacki went in for the kill, pummeling Huck against the ropes until referee David Fields stepped in and called the fight at 2:39 of the eleventh.

    Huck landed 127 of 395 punches for 32-percent. Glowacki landed 147 of 436 punches for 34-percent. Glowacki landed 42 of 169 jabs for 25-percent compared to Huck’s lowly 10 of 130 jabs for 8-percent. Huck connected with slightly more power punches with 117 of 265 for 44-percent compared to Glowacki’s 105 of 267 for 39-percent. Glowacki’s jabbing and his tremendous chin were what largely made the difference in this fight.

    Huck was leading on all three scorecards at the time of the stoppage, with two cards 96-93 for Huck and the third 95-94.

    Huck split with long-time trainer Ulli Wegner before the bout and was training with Don House for the first time. Huck’s last loss was coincidentally against Cunningham, by twelfth round TKO on December 29th, 2007. After the fight both Huck and Glowacki were taken to Rutgers University Hospital for observation.

    “The US market is now open to me, and fans around the world are going to have to respect the cruiserweight division now,” said Glowacki after the fight.

    “I mean Glowacki-Huck has to be fight of the year,” Lou DiBella told The Ring after the fight. “Glowacki is the Undertaker. He came back from the dead. How he got up from the sixth round I have no idea.”

    Glowacki earned $60,000 for the fight. Huck earned $350,000 and was the highest paid fighter on the card.

    During the broadcast Jimmy Smith pointed out that both Glowacki and Huck are power fighters with a fan friendly style similar to Sergey Kovalev or Gennady Golovkin. I think that’s about right. Glowacki and Huck definitely displayed that fan friendly power punching style against one another.

    ““When I was knocked down in the sixth round I didn’t know where I was and it took me a whole round to regain myself,” said Glowacki after the fight. ”I still cannot hear well. I was listening to my corner though and when I heard that there was only one minute left in the eleventh round I knew I had to come on strong.”

    The Prudential Center was filled with Polish fans, though. Many fans had flown in from Poland as the card was loaded with Polish fighters. Besides Glowacki, on the undercard there was also major heavyweight prospect Artur Szpilka (20-1, 15 KOs, 26 years old), undefeated featherweight Kamil Laszczyk (21-0, 8 KOs, 24 years old), and undefeated middleweight Maciej Sulecki (21-0, 6 KOs, 26 years old).

    All four Polish fighters won their bouts. Of the four bouts featuring Poles, only the Glowacki fight aired on Spike. Despite that, the extra hot Polish crowd gave Glowacki’s win a “fight of the year” atmosphere that it otherwise wouldn’t have had without all the Polish fans in attendance, with loud chants of “Glowacki” throughout the fight.

    Prior to facing Huck in New Jersey, Glowacki had fought all twenty-four bouts of his pro career in his native Poland. Although coming into the fight with a great record, he was largely an unknown to the point where The Ring didn’t have him listed in their top ten cruiserweights.

    Huck was also making his US debut after fighting all of his previous 41 professional fights in Germany. He was born Serbia, but lives in Germany.

    “When I eventually go back up to heavyweight I want to fight the top guys right away. Maybe I’ll go fight Deontay Wilder, that is definitely an interesting option,” Huck said at a pre-fight presser.

    It was somewhat of a big deal that PBC signed Huck earlier this year to bring him over to the US, since most of the best cruiserweight fights take place in Europe. Huck is German and Germany is one of the boxing hotbeds in Europe.

    PBC has signed a number of European stars, both from the UK and from continental Europe, which makes me think that the company may have long-term plans for hosting fights in Europe. I don’t think running shows in Europe is a good idea for a company that makes its money from American television due to the time zone differences, but PBC is tremendously ambitious, so nothing would surprise me.

    There are a few possible fights for Glowacki. First would be a rematch with Huck, because of how exciting the first bout was and because Huck might still be favoured to win again and is a major star that PBC could headline wtih in Germany if PBC ever decided to cross the Atlantic. PBC is paying Huck well and the best way to utilize him would be in a rematch, and considering how exciting the first fight was, pretty much everyone who saw it would want to see a rematch. If booked, a rematch ought to take place on network television instead of cable, so that as many eyeballs are watching it as possible.

    Second would be a bout with Roy Jones Jr, who was ringside watching the fight in order to scout Huck, who Jones has been trying to get a fight with. Huck had talked about fighting Jones in America before he was defeating by Glowacki. I think PBC needs to utilize more older stars to try and put over their younger fighters with star potential. Jones would fit that mold. The problem is that Jones is a colour commentator for HBO and although it doesn’t seem like he has an exclusive to fight only with HBO since Jones fights regularly on small shows around the world, HBO probably wouldn’t like him fighting for the competition.

    Third would be a bout with Beibut Shumenov or BJ Flores. Shumenov beat Flores for PBC on NBC Sportsnet a few weeks back. Shumenov didn’t look that good, though, and his win over Flores was a close, yet dull fight. This would be the weakest of the three major options for Glowacki’s next bout, but is still possible because both Shumenov and Glowacki are cruiserweight PBC fighters who garnered major wins on cable.

  • Lashley announced for Bellator’s last big show of the year

    Bellator has announced that its final major show of 2015 will take place on 11/6 in St. Louis at the Scottrade Center.

    Bobby Lashley of TNA will be fighting on the show, which will be headlined by Patricio Pitbull Freire vs. Daniel Straus for the featherwieight title.  

  • New Japan on AXS results 8-14-15: Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Kushida for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight title

    by Bryan Rose, WrestlingObserver.com

    Tonight’s show are highlights from Destruction in Kobe, which took place on September 20, 2014 in Kobe World Hall.

    First up on the docket we have Takahasi Iizuka and Minoru Suzuki taking on Kazushi Sakuraba and Toru Yano. These guys feuded for months, and this was not a feud that needed to go beyond one month. However, it was all a setup for Sakuraba to face Minoru Suzuki at WrestleKingdom 9. Not much to talk about here as it was mostly just Sakuraba/Suzuki and Yano/Iizuka brawling and using weapons both inside and outside of the ring. Iizuka hit Yano with a chair but he came back with a low blow while Iizuka was getting the iron fingers and rolled him up in a half nelson cradle for the win. Not very good at all.

    Sakuraba says he wanted to battle more in the ring. Suzuki just gave a look then smirked, not even addressing the camera. He was so awesome in doing that and was better than the entire match.

    Another tag match followed, as Tama Tonga and AJ Styles of Bullet Club teamed up to take on Kota Ibushi & Tetsuya Naito. It seemed like they were grooming Ibushi and Naito as a team, but that was quickly dropped for whatever reason. This was also Kota Ibushi’s return after being absent from the G1 due to a major concussion. He looked great here, and spent a lot of the match working with AJ Styles. Turned out to be a great match due to everyone involved. Tama Tonga is one of those guys who is really good, and can probably thrive well if given the opportunity but really hasn’t thus far in this latest run and that’s kind of disappointing. He was isolated as Kota Ibushi hit the phoenix splash and pinned him.

    Ryusuke Taguchi talks about Kushida and how he verbally attacked him, calling him sleazy. That fired up Ryusuke, and that got him motivated. He started using the ankle lock again because of Kushida’s new hoverboard lock; he figured since he targets the arm, he should target the leg, it just makes sense. Kushida made him the person he is today, and he thanks him for that. He muses that he probably should have given him a end of the year gift.

    Their match aired. I really liked this match, it was one of the better junior heavyweight matches from last year. Taguchi’s gimmick I find completely annoying, and there’s just something about him that lacks the charisma needed to be a top star, but his work here in this match was good. Kushida’s run as champion here was kind of disappointing as he didn’t last long as champion, but his work here was great as well, and together they had a fantastic match. The leg work from Taguchi on Kushida was great and played well into the match, which was a good back and forth encounter between the two. Taguchi trapped him in the ankle lock but Kushida wouldn’t tap. So Taguchi laid him out with the dodon and put the ankle lock again, and that’s what caused him to tap.

    After the match, Kushida begrudgingly showed comradery by shaking hands with Taguchi. But the good times didn’t last as El Desperado, Taichi and Taka Michinoku ran in and put the beatdown on both of them. Alex Shelley tried to run in but he was taken down as well.

    El Desperado does a backstage interview. He and the rest of Suzuki-gun promise that he’ll become the next double crown champion. Taguchi in his interview says that he’s very upset over Suzuki-gun interrupting his victory celebration. But as for Kushida, he says that he brought out something people have never seen before, he brought out everything in him. He kept saying “Oh my and garfunkel”.

    In his reflective interview, Taguchi reiterates about the words that Kushida said about him before the match. He sees himself as a guy who likes to joke around, so thats what he sees as his character now, and he hopes people enjoy that. He says that since he is the 69th IWGP Junior Heavyweight champion, and it took him 6 years and 9 months to win the championship, the numbers might have something to do with his luck. He was able to me himself and establish his style as champion, and feels free to be himself.

    Overall, a pretty good edition of the show this week. Could have done without the opener, but then again it’s building up to a big match at WrestleKingdom, so that’s fine. I’ve noticed a lot more build up towards future events on these shows, so hopefully they will be more episodic now that NJPW has a long term deal with AXS TV.

  • WWE News: Amell injured in training

    Stephen Amell, who is scheduled for a tag team match at SummerSlam, was injured in doing a weight workout this morning.

    According to a video he posted, Amell was doing a snatch, which is a lift where you take the bar from the floor to overhead without pausing at the shoulders (which would be a clean and jerk or clean and press).  When doing the lift, he ended up smashing the bar into his jaw.

    He suffered a cracked jaw, his molars were indented into his tongue and his tongue was swollen.  No word on how this may or may not affect his match next week.

  • FRI UPDATE: G-1 finals, NXT, UFC title fight delayed, CM Punk Twitter wars

    By Dave Meltzer

    We’re looking for your thoughts on today’s New Japan show from Sumo Hall, as well as tomorrow and Sunday’s shows for the weekend polls, so you can leave a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match to Dave Meltzerdave@wrestlingobserver.com”>

    We’re also looking for reports on tonight’s GFW show in Winston-Salem, NC  (Sonjay Dutt vs. PJ Black, Brad Attitude & Vordell Walker & Peter Kassa vs Ali Akbar &  Cliff Compton & Jason Kincaid, Le’D Tapa vs. Tessa Blanchard, Bravado Brothers vs. Washington Bullets, Trevor Lee vs. Andrew Everett for the OMEGA title, Nick Aldis vs. Lance Hoyt) at Dave Meltzerdave@wrestlingobserver.com”>

    New Japan World Pro Wrestling Returns on AXS TV at 8 p.m. (one hour earlier than usual)

    Toru Yano & Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Minoru Suzuki & Takashi Iizuka

    Tetsuya Naito & Kota Ibushi vs. A.J. Styles & Tama Tonga

    Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Kushida for IWGP Jr. title

    There will be a CES MMA show at 9 p.m. on AXS TV tonight which is why New Japan will air one hour early.

    Live G-1 B block finals from Sumo Hall in Tokyo at 5:30 a.m. Eastern tomorrow on New Japan World

    Sho Tanaka & Yohei Komatsu vs. Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly

    Young Bucks vs. Jay White & David Finlay non-title

    Toru Yano & Kazushi Sakuraba & Yoshi-Hashi & Michael Bennett & Matt Taven vs. A.J. Styles & Doc Gallows & Bad Luck Fale & Tama Tonga & Cody Hall

    Hiroshi Tanahashi & Togi Makabe & Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Katsuyori Shibata & Kushida vs. Tetsuya Naito & Kota Ibushi & Manabu Nakanishi & Captain New Japan & Ricochet

    Tomohiro Ishii vs. Michael Elgin

    Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Kazuchika Okada

    Yujiro Takahashi vs. Tomoaki Honma

    Hirooki Goto vs. Yuji Nagata

    Satoshi Kojima vs. Karl Anderson

    WWE has shows on Saturday night in Sioux Falls, SD (Roman Reigns vs. Bray Wyatt), Detroit (Seth Rollins vs. Dean Ambrose for WWE title, Kevin Owens vs. Cesaro plus  Chris Jericho) and NXT in Coral Springs, FL.

    Evolve on Saturday night on iPPV from Woodside, NY at La Boom at 6 p.m. Eastern time at www.WWNLive.com

    Timothy Thatcher vs. Zack Sabre Jr. for the Evolve title

    Johnny Gargano vs. Ethan Page

    Rich Swann vs. Drew Gulak

    Chris Hero vs. Mike Bailey

    Trent Baretta vs. Rey Hours

    Biff Busick vs. Tracy Williams

    WWE on Sunday has shows in Fargo, ND (Roman Reigns vs. Bray Wyatt) and Bemidji, MN (Seth Rollins vs. Dean Ambrose for WWE title, Kevin Owens vs Cesaro).

    New Japan G-1 Climax finals from Sumo Hall at 2 a.m. Sunday Eastern time (11 p.m. Saturday night) on New Japan World

    Tiger Mask & Yohei Komatsu & Sho Tanaka vs. Ryusuke Taguchi & Bushi & Mascara Dorada

    A ton of matches involving the guys in the G-1 tournament that aren’t in the finals

    Young Bucks vs. Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly for IWGP jr. tag titles

    Kushida vs. Ricochet for IWGP jr. title

    G-1 Climax finals:  Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. ?

    Evolve on Sunday night on iPPV from Deer Park, NY at the Sportatorium at 8 p.m. also on www.WWNLive.com

    Timothy Thatcher vs. Biff Busick

    Chris Hero vs. Zack Sabre Jr.

    Trent Baretta vs. Caleb Konley

    Johnny Gargano vs. ?

    Ethan Page vs. Rich Swann

    Drew Gulak & Tracy Williams vs. Mike Bailey & Rey Hours

    The go-home Raw for SummerSlam will be Monday night from the Target Center in Minneapolis.  John Cena, Brock Lesnar, Undertaker and the entire crew will be at the show.

    Smackdown and Main Event will be taped Tuesday night in Green Bay.  

    A look at the WWE shows next week in Brooklyn is the lead story in the new issue of the Wrestling Observer.  We also have full coverage of the G-1 Climax tournament and how it all builds for the Tokyo Dome and the fall season, as well as coverage of all the G-1 matches this past week.  We also have a look at the Teamsters attempting to unionize UFC fighters, the UFC’s letter sent to fighters and morale issues.  We also have a look at the AAA TripleMania PPV show, UFC ratings increases, the brawl at the WSOF show, UFC suing Wanderlei Silva and Layla retiring.

    The issue is on the site right now at August 17, 2015 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: Summerslam build, Unions courting UFC fighters

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    The Wrestling Observer ranges weekly from 35,000 to 50,000 words covering pro wrestling and MMA internationally. Each issue has coverage and analysis of all the major news, plus every issue breaks major news stories before the Internet sties and has the most complete look at the pro wrestling and MMA business anywhere, plus history pieces available nowhere else.

    We look at the WWE events in Brooklyn with three straight full houses and look historically at the only other promotion that has been able to do it historically and the record, as well as updates on the NXT and SummerSlam shows and more details on the NXT card as well as the probable main event stipulation and ticket demand.

    We have a complete look at the G-1 Climax tournament, including updates on the last few days, the standings, the Sumo Hall preview and coverage of all the shows this past week with star ratings.

    We’ve got a look at the attempts to unionize UFC fighters, the real story behind the attempt, the letter sent by UFC to all of its fighters and why they probably could have written it better, and a look at UFC business.

    We also look at the wealth of Vince McMahon, Rosa Mendes being pregnant, WWE injury updates, lawsuits, weird match, Tough Enough, new names, insider trading, Raw advance, Diva search news plus notes on all the weekend WWE & NXT events. 

    We look at TripleMania, all the problems with the show, what happened with the Spanish language broadcast, mistakes made in booking, how the card had to change from its original plans, the letter AAA sent out after, the retirements and Hall of Fame ceremony, plus match-by-match coverage with star ratings.

    We also have coverage of this past week’s UFC show, with business notes, the Johnson-Dariush scoring, and match by match coverage with bonuses.

    We also look at the brawl at the WSOF show with The Diaz Brothers and Khabib Nurmagomedov, as well as the problems in the Jake Shields vs.  Rousimar Palhares fight.

    We’ve also got notes on the retirement of Layla from WWE and highlights of her career.

    We also look at the lawsuit WWE has filed against Wanderlei Silva for alleging the company fixes fights.

    We look at the CMLL Anniversary show, an injury to the best older wrestler in the business, a New Japan star comes to Mexico and a rundown on the main events the past two weeks at Arena Mexico.

    We also look at another Rey Mysterio match, as well as the next major Dragon  Gate show lineup and highlights from the past week.

    We also look at New Japan stars heading to NOAH.

    We also look at the beginning of talks for an international group to return to PPV, as well as a look at the Fire Festival, one of Genichiro Tenryu’s last matches and a set up for an angle with one of the biggest stars of the 80s vs. one of the biggest stars of the 90s.

    We’ve got notes on the funeral of Roddy Piper, more on the Hulk Hogan tapes story, Hogan’s first public appearance, two Roddy Piper moves that haven’t come out, one of the biggest stars of the last ten years suffering a major health issue, a former star gets his number retired, a U.K. star returns after cancer, a retirement that probably isn’t a retirement, a Japanese promotion running in October in California, a wrestler having his first match in 20 years, the second oldest living wrestler and his background, big shows in Puerto Rico and news no two different wrestling Halls of Fame.

    We also have an update on the status of Lucha Underground, what changes have to be made, the audience watching the show, what to look out for, notes on the contracts the performers have, update on Vampiro and coverage of both weeks of Ultima Lucha.

    We also look at the ROH show in Brooklyn, TNA Hall of fame ceremony, and upcoming TNA house shows.

    We also look at McGregor vs. Aldo, a big show vs. normal show, Las Vegas vs. Cowboys Stadium, Rousey vs. Cyborg update, Lawler vs. McGregor, UFC financials, how much it costs them every year just in interest on their bond, what kind of profits they are making, lots of ratings into, Rousey business notes, the Aldo drug testing fiasco, Overeem vs. Dos Santos, Punk vs. Pendred, fighter already talking about coming out of retirement, and lots of new UFC fights.

    We also have notes on Josh Thomson and Bellator, Bellator’s next major show, Josh Koscheck blasts UFC and more Bellator fights.

    We have an update on Chris Leben after his arrest, new WSOF shows, a crime fighter returns to MMA and notes on weight cutting.

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    Click here for the most requested Wrestling Observer back issues

    FRIDAY’S NEWS UPDATE

    • At last night’s NXT tapings, they taped shows for after Takeover with Sasha Banks coming out with the NXT women’s belt and Kevin Owens coming out with the NXT title.  This could be an attempt to fool people, and I guess we’ll find out Saturday.  Historically, I can only think of one instance WWF ever did that to fool people and every other time it was exactly what it looked to be.  But they haven’t done anything like this in more than a decade, because of the nature of syndication being dead and Raw being live.
    • So this is the situation with G-1.  Hiroshi Tanahashi won the A block earlier today beating A.J. Styles.  I have yet to watch the match but people are raving about it including one person at ringside who told me that many girls in the audience were in tears at the finish.  The B block comes down to this:

    1) If Kazuchika Okada beats Shinsuke Nakamura, he wins the block with an 8-1 record, and will face Tanahashi in the finals.  I don’t expect that to happen.

    2) If Nakamura wins, and Yuji Nagata beats Hirooki Goto, and Satoshi Kojima beats Karl Anderson, then Nakamura vs. Tanahashi is the final match.

    3) If Nakamura, Goto and Kojima win, then Nakamura vs. Tanahashi is the final match.

    4) If Nakamura, Nagata and Anderson win, then Nakamura, Okada and Anderson will need a three-way playoff, probably on Sunday

    5) If Nakamura, Goto and Anderson win, then, based on records against the field, Nakamura vs. Anderson would have to meet in a singles match, probably on Sunday, with the winner facing Tanahashi.

    Of the above scenarios, I don’t expect No. 1 or No. 4 to happen, but they could.  Situations No. 2, 3 or 5 seem more likely.  If it’s my call, I’m going No. 5.

    • ROH booker Hunter Johnston was at the show today and will be at the shows the next two days as well, and the relationship between ROH and New Japan, which had the bump with Jushin Liger appearing for WWE this coming week, appears to be stronger than ever now.  They are working on plans for the future.
    • The Joanna Jedrzejczyk title defense against Claudia Gadelha is being moved back due to a torn ligament in Gadelha’s right middle finger and she won’t be able to train on it for three months.  The earliest Gadelha would be ready to fight is January.
    • There has been a big Twitter war between Will Brooks and Patricio Pitbull Freire.  It started when Freire was goading Brooks by noting that he was in the main event, against Daniel Straus, while Brooks was in the semi-main, against Marcin Held, when they both fight on 11/6 in St. Louis.  This led to taunts back-and-forth.
    • Cathal Pendred, after coming out on the short end of a Twitter war with C.M. Punk,. has challenged Punk for Punk’s debut fight. 
    • Raw on 8/24 at the Barclays Center is sold out.  The recently released allotment of tickets is gone.
    • Evolve is pushing a free Timothy Thatcher match video
    • A story on a fight Brock Lesnar got in while he was with the Minnesota Vikings in 2004
    • 2K today announced the in-game soundtrack details for WWE® 2K16, the forthcoming release in the flagship WWE video game franchise. The soundtrack will feature 11 unique tracks from established and emerging artists that transcend multiple genres, including alternative, hip-hop, classic rock, heavy metal, country and electronic dance. The full WWE 2K16 soundtrack was revealed exclusively during Release on Beats 1 on Apple Music and is available now for streaming at http://apple.co/1DSFmcf. WWE 2K16 is currently scheduled for release on October 27, 2015 in North America and October 30, 2015 internationally for Xbox One and Xbox 360, as well as the PlayStation®4 and PlayStation®3 computer entertainment systems.

             The WWE 2K16 soundtrack is scheduled to include the following artists and songs: 

    • Billy Idol – “Rebel Yell”
      Diplo (feat. Faustix & Imanos and Kai)  – “Revolution”
      Fashawn (feat. Nas & Aloe Blacc) – “Something To Believe In”
      Kid Ink – “Hello World”
      Marilyn Manson – “Deep Six”
      MGK (feat. Victoria Monet) – “A Little More”
      Run-DMC – “It’s Tricky”
      Skid Row – “Youth Gone Wild”
      Twenty One Pilots – “Heavydirtysoul”
      Yelawolf – “Till It’s Gone” [Dan Heath Remix]
      Zac Brown Band (feat. Chris Cornell) – “Heavy Is The Head”
      Zedd (feat. Logic and X-Ambassadors) – “Transmission”
    • The full lineup for the CHIKARA King of Trios tournament 9/4 to 9/6 in Easton, PA at the Palmer Center:
      Arcane Horde:  Kodama & Obariyon & Oleg the Usurper
      Battleborn:  Kevin Condron & Lucas Calhoun & Missile Assault Man
      Battle Hive:  Amasis & Fire Ant & Worker Ant
      Bruderschaft des Kreuzes:  Jakob Hammermeier & Nokken & Soldier Ant
      Bullet Club:  A.J. Styles & Young Bucks
      Crown & Court:  El Hijo del Ice Cream & Ice Cream Jr. & Princess Kimber Lee
      Dasher’s Dugout:  Dasher Hatfield & Icarus & Mark Angelosetti
      Devastation Corporation:  Blaster McMassive & Flex Rumblecrunch & Max Smashmaster
      Gentleman’s Club:  Chuck Taylor & Drew Gulak & Swamp Monster
      Nightmare Warriors:  Frightmare & Hallowicked & Silver Ant
      The Snake:  Eddie Kingston & Ophidian & Shynron
      Team AAA:  Aero Star & Drago & Fenix
      Team Attack:  Mark Andrews & Morgan Webster & Pete Dunne
      BWO:  Stevie Richards & Blue Meanie & Nova
      Fight Club:  MK McKinnan & Trent Seven & Tyler Bate
      United Nations:  Juan Francisco de Coronado & Mr. Azerbaijan & Boar of Moldova
    • This one is almost spooky.  Today would be the birthdays for Gino Hernandez (who would have been 58), Eddie Gilbert and Buddy Landel (who all would have been 53). 
    • IHWE on 10/31 in Crowley, TX at the Rec Center.
    • From yesterday’s update, Dori Yeates, the Canadian Pan American games gold medal winning wrestler who will be on tonight’s show in Brockton, ONT, will not be doing a pro wrestling match, but doing an amateur exhibition match on a pro wrestling show.  The promotion did this before to try and help raise money for their training. (thanks to Colin Brackenridge)
    • CZW on 9/12 in Voorhees, NJ at Flyers Skate Zone with an iPPV at 6:30 p.m.   There is also a women’s show in the same building at 4 p.m.  Nick Gage & Biff Busick vs. Drew & Rory Gulak headlines the show plus AR Fox vs. Mike Bailey in a Chris Cash Memorial ladder match.
    • NWA Vendetta Pro Wrestling on 9/18 in Santa Maria, CA at he Radisson Hotel.
    • In the first step of a planned working agreement with Jeff Jarrett’s GFW and OMEGA Pro, Trevor Lee will be defending the OMEGA title on tonight’s GFW show in Winston-Salem, NC at the ballpark.
    • Alpha-1 Wrestling on 9/20 in Hamilton, ONT at 222 Queenston, Rd with Rickey Page vs. Cedric Alexander plus a title tournament for the Alpha Male title.
    • Lucha Toronto on 9/20 at Chapter Two featuring Vampiro and Pantera, as well as Lince Dorado.
    • C4 tomorrow night in Ottawa at the Vanier Columbus Club.  All ticket sales go to the Canadian Cancer Society in memory of Phrank Morin, who wrestler who passed away from cancer at the age of 23, four years ago.  The main event has Ultimo Dragon & Super Smash Brothers vs. Pinkie Sanchez & Mike Draztik & Angel Ortiz, Buxx Belmar vs. Roderick Strong, Too Cold Scorpio vs. Michael  Von Payton and more.
    • All-Star Wrestling from last night in Haysi, VA:  Reno Kid & Wolf b Beast & Johnny Mustang, Nate Diamond b Joe Briggs, Misty James & Samantha Star (the daughter of Nickla Roberts and Sam Houston) b Kacee Carlisle & Rebecca Lynn, Jimmy Valiant & Ricky Morton & Iron Cross b Beau James & Stan Lee & Scott Sterling, Bulldog Mac b Alex Cage
    • Today’s new match on NWAClassics.com is Brad Armstrong vs. Ernie Ladd.
    • ROH has announced shows for 9/11 in Dayton and 9/12 in Chicago Ridge, IL.
    • The Super Fight League makes its Canadian debut on Saturday night in Calgary with Roland Delorme vs. Jesse Arnett.  The show will air after its conclusion on YouTube.

    ON THIS DAY IN PRO WRESTLING HISTORY INTERNATIONAL (thanks to Graeme Cameron)

    1968 – Cyclone Negro & Baron Scicluna beat Mario Milano & Dominic DeNucci in Brisbane to win the IWA tag titles

    1989 – Sangre Chicana beat Villano III to win the WWF light heavyweight title

    1998 – La Parka (L.A. Park) beat Pirata Morgan to win the AAA heavyweight title

    2001 – Tokyo Magnum & Dragon Kid & Ryo Saito beat Cima & Suwa & Big Fujii and Masaaki Mochizuki & Yasushi Kanda & Darkness Dragon in a three-way in Tokyo to win the UWA trios titles

    2001 – Olimpico & Sicodelico Jr. beat Black Warrior & Sangre Azteca in Mexico City to win the CMLL Gran Alternative tournament

    2010 – Masato Yoshino beat Tiger’s Mask in Kobe to win the Open the Brave Gate title

    2011 – Shinsuke Nakamura beat Tetsuya Naito to win the G-1 Climax tournament

  • Cena to co-host the Today Show on NBC

    John Cena will be co-hosting The Today Show on NBC both Monday after SummerSlam and again on Thursday at 9 a.m. for one hour.  It’s part of an overall NBC Universal strategy to strengthen the image of WWE.

  • On this day in pro wrestling history (August 14): CM Punk beats John Cena to unify WWE title and then loses it, Hulk Hogan “retires” Kevin Nash

    By Brian Hoops, WrestlingObserver.com

    1941 – In Kansas City at Memorial Hall; World Heavyweight Champion Lee Wykoff beat Bobby Bruns in 2 out of 3 falls, In a Texas rules match, Ray Eckert beat Carl Von Herbert

    1947 – In Kansas City, Kansas; Cardiff Giant beat Warren Bockwinkel 2 falls to 1; Sockeye Jack McDonald  beat Tug Carlson, Wally Dusek beat Carlos Rodriquez and Sailor Fred Blassie drew Finice Hall

    1964 – In Denver, Colorado; Mad Dog Vachon beat Jack Pesek and The Crusher beat Wilbur Snyder.

    1967 – In Davenport, Iowa; in a Loser Leaves Town match; The Crusher beat Johnny Powers, Mighty Igor Vodik (sub Earl Maynard) beat Larry Hennig and Rene Goulet & Igor Vodik & Al Kashey (sub Earl Maynard) beat Steve Druk & Harley Race & Larry Hennig

    1970 – In Chicago, Illinois at Comiskey Park (former home of the Chicago White Sox); AWA Tag Team Champions Mad Dog Vachon & Butcher Vachon beat Dick the Bruiser & the Crusher in 2 of three falls in a steel cage match; AWA Champion Verne Gagne beat Baron Von Raschke in 2 of 3 falls (Raschke was billed as the undefeated challenger); Dr X beat Paul Diamond, Ernie Ladd no contest Blackjack Lanza, Wilbur Snyder beat Mitsu Arakawa, Pepper Gomez beat Double X (XX unmasked), Dr Big Bill Miller ddq Bobo Brazil, Larry Hennig beat Red Bastien and Jean Antone & Lucille Dupree beat Linda Klein & Betty Niccoli. Attendance was 21,000.

    1973 – Buddy Colt won a one night tournament to become the Macon Heavyweight Title in Macon, Georgia.

    1975 – In Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada; Billy Robinson beat AWA Champion Verne Gagne on a 2nd fall dq, Nick Bockwinkel & Ray Stevens & Baron Von Raschke beat Gene Kiniski & Jos Leduc (sub Dusty Rhodes) & Ivan Putski in 2 out of 3 falls, Pampero Firpo beat Buddy Wolff, Jimmy Valiant & Johnny Valiant beat Bull Bullinski & Khosrow Vaziri (Iron Sheik) and Greg Gagne beat Bobby Jones. Attendance was 6,138

    1981 – In Houston, Texas; AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel beat Wahoo McDaniel in 2 out of 3 falls; Southwest Tag Team Champions Gino Hernandez & Tully Blanchard vs Mil Mascaras & Manny Fernandez, Dick Slater vs Tom Prichard and Scott Casey vs Buck Robley

    1982 -In Houston, Texas; AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel beat Dick Slater, In a Piledriver match, Bob Sweetan beat Jerry Lawler, Mongolian Stomper beat Terry Funk and Junkyard Dog & Ernie Ladd beat Tully Blanchard & Gino Hernandez

    1984 – In Québec City; Abdullah the Butcher ddq Jos Leduc, AWA Champion Rick Martel beat Nick Bockwinkel, Dino Bravo beat King Tonga dq, Rick Valentine & Sailor White beat Raymond & Jacques Rougeau to win International Tag Team Title, Richard Charland & Frenchie Martin & Mad Dog Lefebvre beat Gino Brito Jr. & Armand Rougeau & Domenic DeNucci, Bob De La Serra beat Tony Ricco,  Henri Cardinal beat Tito Senza and Denis Goulet drew Rocky De La Serra. Attendance was 11,200; Dr. Tom Prichard and Brett Sawyer defeated Mike Miller and Mr Ebony (Tom Jones) to win the Pacific Northwest Tag Team Title.

    1999 – Balls Mahoney & Spike Dudley defeated Buh Buh Ray & D-Von Dudley in Toledo, Ohio to win the ECW World Tag Team Championship

    1999 – In Sturgis, South Dakota; Harlem Heat defeated Kanyon & Bam Bam Bigelow to win the WCW World Tag Team Title at the Road Wild PPV. Also, WCW World Champion Hulk Hogan defeated Kevin Nash in a retirement match and WCW United States Champion Chris Benoit defeated Diamond Dallas Page

    2000 – Rey Mysterio & Juventud Guerrera won the WCW World Tag Team Championship from Vampiro & The Great Muta.

    2011 – At the SummerSlam PPV; Randy Orton defeated Christian in a no holds match to win the World Title; CM Punk defeated John Cena to unify the WWE Title. Immediately after the match, Alberto Del Rio cashed in his Money in the Bank briefcase and defeated CM Punk to win the WWE Title.

  • NJPW G1 Climax Tournament 8-14 live results: Styles vs. Tanahashi to determine A Block winner

    by Bryan Rose, WrestlingObserver.com

    Welcome to today’s coverage of the G1 Climax tournament. Only three shows left, all taking place at Sumo Hall in Tokyo, Japan. Tonight’s show will determine the A block winner between AJ Styles and Hiroshi Tanahashi. Tomorrow we’ll find out the winner of the B Block, and on Sunday morning we’ll see the finals. Very interesting next few days.

    Satoshi Kojima & Tomoaki Honma & Mascara Dorada vs. Karl Anderson & Yujiro Takahashi & Tama Tonga

    Pretty good six man, though nothing exceedingly memorable about it. The usual tropes are here including Dorada doing a great dive out to the floor on Tama Tonga. They’re isolated but Tonga cuts him off and pins him with the waistlock DDT. Kojima and Anderson had words after the match while Yujiro jumped and laid out Honma after the bell rang, since these four are scheduled to have their last matches together tomorrow.

    Michael Elgin & Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly vs. Young Bucks & Cody Hall

    Good match. This felt like a breath of fresh air with reDragon and Young Bucks involved. The highlight again was Elgin, who was super over and did all of the stuff that’s gotten him over on the tour. At one point he even did a crazy tope con hilo to the outside wiping out the Bullet Club. Everyone looked good here, including Hall who continues to improve. He and Elgin were the ones trading offense towards the end. Elgin impressively deadlifted him with a powerbomb then pinned him with his sitout powerbomb.

    Yuji Nagata & Manabu Nakanishi & Kushida vs. Hirooki Goto & Ricochet & Captain New Japan

    Another good tag team match. Ricochet mostly worked with Kushida and they had some really great back and forth. Ricochet is a guy who excels in everything he does in terms of presentation, in ring ability and precision, it’s amazing. Nakanishi wasn’t in there long. It was left between Captain New Japan and Nagata. Goto broke up a pin at one point, but Nakanishi ran in and gave him the torture rack while Kushida took out Ricochet on the outside with a tope con hilo. Nagata then submitted CNJ with the white eyes armbar.

    Shinsuke Nakamura & Tomohiro Ishii & Kazushi Sakuraba & Yoshi-Hashi vs. Kazuchika Okada & Gedo & Michael Bennett & Matt Taven

    Interesting dynamic here as it’s CHAOS against CHAOS. Turned out to be another good tag team match. Much of the story was between Okada and Nakamura, who headline tomorrow’s show. They went at it briefly and had some good exchanges. Maria distracted Sakuraba which let Yoshi-Hashi superkick him as Gedo tried to put him in the Gedo clutch, but Sakuraba transitioned into the kimura and submitted him. Okada and Nakamura had a staredown after the match.

    Doc Gallows vs. Katsuyori Shibata

    I liked this match. It was solid for the most part with Gallows taking out Shibata at one point with a chokeslam on the apron. He hit the Gallows Poll but Shibata kicked out and applied the sleeper. Gallows cut him off and hit a bicycle kick, a superkick then pinned him with the Gallows Poll. Weird they went with this decision. 

    Toru Yano vs. Bad Luck Fale

    Eh, this wasn’t very good, though the ending was funny. Yano jumped him before the bell him, squirted him with the water bottle and attacked him with his DVD. Fale made his comeback and spent much of the match working him over. They were on the outside when Fale teased giving him the Bad Luck Fall into the crowd. Yano jumped back down, low blowed him and Tama Tonga and made it to the ring right before 20 so Fale was counted out. 

     Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Tetsuya Naito

    This was interesting. The storyline here is that Naito was completely unimpressed with Tenzan leading to and during the match. So Tenzan is on offense for a lot of the match and Naito seems rather unimpressed despite being on defense, smirking and spitting at Tenzan whenever he had a chance. Naito made a comeback but Tenzan cut him off with a huge headbutt and locked in the anaconda vise, with Naito eventually tapping out. Great match in terms of storytelling, and the action was good as well.

    Kota Ibushi vs. Togi Makabe 

    I thought this was a good match, but nothing that really stood out. Both guys looked good and did their usual stuff, and given the two’s talents they had a good match out of that. It didn’t feel like anything special in the end. Ibushi pinned Makabe after Makabe went for the spider German suplex but Ibushi landed on his feet, kicked him in the back of the head and hit the phoenix splash for the win. Looks like this is the next NEVER title program.

    Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. AJ Styles for the A Block Championship 

    Excellent match. This started out slow, and was just good at the start, but amped up toward the end and became pretty great. A lot of the match was good back and forth between the two, with Tanahashi doing his high fly flow to the floor and AJ doing his springboard reverse DDT. There was a ref bump along the way that allowed AJ to low blow Tanahashi, but Tanahashi came back and low blowed him. AJ put the calf killer on him and people freaked out as Tanahashi sold it for a good while until finally making it to the ropes. Tanahashi made a comeback and tried for the Styles Clash but AJ blocked it. Tanahashi came back and nailed him with it but AJ kicked out. AJ got his knees up when Tanahashi hit a high fly flow and hit one of his own and a Bloody Sunday DDT but when he went for the Styles Clash dragon screwed his leg twice then hit the high fly flow twice for the win.

    Block A:

    Hiroshi Tanahashi- 14

    AJ Styles- 12

    Tetsuya Naito- 10

    Bad Luck Fale- 10

    Katsuyori Shibata- 8

    Togi Makabe- 8

    Kota Ibushi- 8

    Toru Yano- 8

    Hiroyoshi Tenzan- 6

    Doc Gallows- 6

    Block B:

    Kazuchika Okada- 14

    Karl Anderson- 12

    Hirooki Goto- 12

    Shinsuke Nakamura- 12

    Tomohiro Ishii- 8

    Michael Elgin- 8

    Yujiro Takahashi- 4

    Satoshi Kojima- 4

    Yuji Nagata- 4

    Tomoaki Honma- 2

  • WWE NXT TV taping spoilers: build for Kevin Owens vs. Finn Balor, Samoa Joe, Bayley vs. Sasha contract signing

    Submitted by Will Henderson

    I was at tonight’s NXT tapings at Full Sail. I’m convinced the episodes taped after the Takeover go-home show aren’t going to air, btw

    Airing 8/19 (Takeover Go-Home Show):

    – Contract signing for Sasha vs Bayley at Takeover Brooklyn. Crowd gets all over Sasha. Bayley says she’s seen enough contract signings and she’s ready to fight now. Sasha leaves, but Bayley attacks her on the ramp. Refs have to carry Bayley away.

    – Tyler Breeze beats a jobber. Tyler comes out with Jushin Liger’s mask, and puts it on the guy after the match. He says it’s nice to meet Liger and he’s not impressed, then lays the guy out with a Beauty Shot.

    – Enzo, Cass, and The Hype Bros beat the 4 enhancement talents Baron Corbin beat over the last 4 weeks.

    – Blake & Murphy beat Dawkins & Fulton. The Vaudevillians come out to reveal their plans for Takeover, but Alexa Bliss slaps them several times and they do not reveal who will help them in Brooklyn. Weird segment live.

    – Samoa Joe beats Steve Cutler with the rear naked choke. Corbin comes out and they brawl, Corbin hits End of Days out of nowhere.

    – Kevin Owens comes out with a ladder. When the crowd boos the mention of Brooklyn, Owens blows up and calls the crowd disrespectful, hypocritical, and calls them the “John Cena of wrestling fans” because they boo the fact that NXT is growing. He says he needs the NXT title so he can run it everyone’s faces, and that he will lay out Bálor before he climbs the ladder. The lights go off, and Bálor is perched on the top turnbuckle when his red lights come on. Owens climbs down the ladder and they brawl. Owens bails before Bálor can hit him with the ladder. Bálor poses on the ladder with the NXT Title.

    Airing 8/26 or 9/2 (depending on when the taped Brooklyn show airs):

    – Sasha Banks (still wearing the NXT Women’s Championship) beats the debuting Gionna Daddio. Gionna was the blonde in the Bull Fit gym sketch this week.

    – The Ascension returns to a monster pop and Welcome Back chant, but lose to Rhyno and Baron Corbin. There was some issue outside the ring that resulted in the ref calling for the bell. The fans booed, and Regal came out and restarted the match. Rhyno hit a gore to win.

    – Alexa Bliss beats Blue Pants with the Sparkle Splash.

    – Apollo Crews debuts and defeats Alexander Wolf with the standing moonsault. Crews is very impressive.

    – Eva Marie beats Billie Kay. At one point, Kay pinned Eva and Eva forgot to kick out at two, but the ref stopped counting anyways. The crowd went ballistic and got all over him. Big heat for Eva winning due to this.

    – Neville makes a surprise return to team with Solomon Crowe. Crowd pops huge.

    – Jason Jordan and Chad Gable beat Neville and Crowe. Great match. 

    Airing 9/2 or 9/9:

    – Carmella beats Peyton Royce

    – Tommasso Ciampa and Johnny Gargano beat Tyler Breeze and Bull Dempsey. Bull knocks Tyler off the apron on accident which leads to Ciampa getting the clean pin. Breeze attacks Bull after the match.

    – Kevin Owens comes out with the NXT Championship. The crowd loses its mind. Owens was never announced at any time during this match.

    – Neville beats Owens via DQ after Owens hits Neville with the belt. Great match. Owens attempts to attack Neville after the bell, but Neville betters him until Tyler Breeze runs out. They double team Neville until Bálor makes the save, and Neville hits the Red Arrow on Breeze. Owens leaves with the belt as Bálor and Neville celebrate with the crowd.