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  • NJPW on AXS results: Kenny Omega vs. Alex Shelley

    This week, it’s part 2 of our look at Wrestling Dontaku 2015 (which took place on May 3, 2015) is again the theme of tonight’s show. We have a look at the IWGP title match, as well as some multi-man tags.

    Interesting to note the title match isn’t the main event of this show, as Karl Anderson welcomes us to the program.

    IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion Kenny Omega vs. Alex Shelley

    This was fine, but didn’t feel it was anything too special. Omega camped it up big time during this match, using weapons and the like. It was also edited for time. There was some cool stuff towards the end, but it felt like just another title defense. Omega retained the title, pinning Shelley after the One Winged Angel.

    Omega cut a hammy promo after the match, saying he won’t be in the Super Juniors tournament but will be ready to face whoever wins the Best of the Super Garbage tournament.

    Maria vs. Amber Gallows

    Karl Anderson started to speak. He didn’t care that he lost the tag titles to the Kingdom several episodes ago, he only cared about Maria. Usually he wants the championship, but the only thing he could think about in Ryogoku was Maria. He started saying all these nice things about Maria as beautiful music played. He wasn’t happy that Amber Gallows was coming to beat up Maria and was mad at Doc for instigating it. He hoped he could protect Maria in the match. 

    So the match aired. It was pretty much angle oriented around Maria and Anderson, and little else. It was a fine mid card type of program, but it’s really didn’t rejuvinate a divison that sorely needed jumpstart after being stagnant for so many years. Anderson and Gallows argued a lot about Maria during the match. Maria did a few spots with Amber Gallows and got a near fall after a crossbody. Anderson and Maria ended up in the ring together. They danced for a bit before Maria low blowed him, then Maria got the big win with a inside cradle on Amber. 

    Anderson in the post match seemed to have snapped out of his Maria infatuation. He said the Bullet Club is the strongest group in the last twenty years. He says Maria won’t get in the way. Everything they do is because they planned it.

    Anderson, who in reflection has snapped back into the infatuation. puts over the Kingdom as good wrestlers, but they didn’t care about them. He only cared about Maria. The only thing he thought about, the only thing he thinks about during the day and night is for Maria to come to Bullet Club. He can win the G1, Intercontinental or World titles, but the tag team scene is his focus right now.

    Makabe, Tanahashi and Shibata vs. Ishii, Yano and Sakuraba

    Shibata and Sakuraba grappled, Makabe and Ishii beat each other up with stiff attacks and Yano pretty much avoided Tanahashi’s offense by doing his usual routine. This was a nice, quick six man bout with plenty of action and set the tone for future bouts. Tanahashi got the win for his team, gaining a measure of revenge by grabbing Yano’s hair and getting a flash pin over him while holding the hair.

    Tanahashi was happy he finally got one over Yano now. All he has to do is wait, as he bets he’ll walk right into the mouse trap. 

    Not a great week for match quality, but a nice show that highlighted some of the midcard antics that went on last summer.

  • New Japan on AXS results: Jim Ross debuts, Nakamura defends IC title against Goto

    Tonight’s show features a match from May 3, 2015 in the Fukuoka Kokusai Center, our first look at the NJPW Dominon event. 

    This is Jim Ross’ first show and he obviously has a different style than Mauro Ranallo in that he focuses on the match and does that very well. It also changes Josh Barnett’s role as he goes into more into the history and storylines since he is more well versed in the product, calling these shows from the beginning. It adds a new dynamic to the show and makes it feel fresh, while at the same time they both compliment each other very well in what they do and they excel at it.

    Yoshi-Hashi and Kazuchika Okada vs. IWGP Champion AJ Styles & Yujiro Takahashi

    The match itself was fine. It’s goal is to set up a future match between AJ and Okada for the IWGP title at Dominon on July 5. They have terrific chemistry with one another, and Yoshi-Hashi is still pretty underrated by New Japan standards. Yujiro’s going to be Yujiro no matter what. He’s okay, but a step below a lot of what New Japan has to offer. Okada got the win with the rainmaker over Yujiro.

    Styles calls himself the man in a post match interview and says if you want to beat him, try. He’s better than the rest of the world. You want some, come get some. Okada promises he’ll take his title and become a fantastic champion. Gedo says he has two months to live.

    Goto interview time. He says it’s not really about the belt, but rather the provocation from Nakamura that has him clamoring for a chance to face Nakamura (throughout their feud Nakamura imitated looking through binoculars looking for Goto as he pretended not to see hi). They mentioned that Nakamura had beaten Goto for the title back in 2012. Goto says that he completely redesigned the title and has made it as his own.

    Hirooki Goto vs. Intercontinental Champion Shinsuke Nakamura

    This is one of those feuds from last year that really dragged on to the point of overkill. I believe they faced off at least four times in 2015, and I’m not sure which one we’re on. Actually this is probably their first or second match, as this is the one where Goto regains the Intercontinental title. Again, this is not to say they had a bad match. They didn’t. They struck hard, had a great back and forth contest, and the last few minutes were pretty exciting.

    Goto was due for a big win for a while and they paid it off here, which is good as Goto is booked as someone who is always near the top, but doesn’t score the big win. He did here, and the crowd was into him regaining the title. Again, both Ross and Barnett were great here in calling the match and you can tell they gel well pretty much instantly.

    Both Nakamura and Goto made comments after the match. Goto drank beers, Nakamura obviously didn’t like the fact that he lost. Goto, in his reflective interview, says that he was always behind Nakamura, but is now glad he has not only caught up to him, but now with the win, surpassed him.

  • WOR 1/5: Raw report, New Japan stars to WWE update, more!

    Wrestling Observer Radio with Bryan Alvarez and Dave Meltzer returns tonight with our second show of the day to talk tons of news including more on the New Japan stars likely heading to WWE, Raw from Monday with Vince McMahon working the main event as referee in Roman Reigns vs. Sheamus, TNA debuting on POP TV Tuesday, your questions and more! A fun show as always so check it out~!

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  • WOR: WWE raids New Japan, Wrestle Kingdom 10 recap

    Wrestling Observer Radio with Bryan Alvarez and Dave Meltzer is back today with special guest and UFC light heavyweight superstar “Filthy” Tom Lawlor talking all the details of WWE raiding top stars from New Japan, what it means, why it could be even more damaging to New Japan after the Tokyo Dome, complete WrestleKingdom results and more! A fun show as always so check it out~!

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  • Five things you should know for Wrestle Kingdom 10 week

    This Monday marks the second biggest wrestling show of the year, WrestleKingdom 10. It promises to be a huge show with plenty of awesome wrestling action. It will also attract a lot of people who haven’t watched that much Japanese wrestling, or those who only watch the biggest shows. For those people who are new to watching WrestleKingdom, here are five things that you need to know, or at the very least will help you out in maximizing your fun and decreasing the confusion you might have going into something completely new and different.

    1. The show will be pretty darn long if you’re watching live.

    With this year’s WrestleKingdom show no longer airing at PPV, New Japan will be less stingy with time this year. Not only will the show more than likely be over four hours (most of New Japan’s big shows are near the five hour mark) there will also be a 90 minute pre-show before the main card. This will feature the New Japan Rumble, which is basically a Royal Rumble featuring all the New Japan guys who are not on the card plus a few legends (last year included the likes of Hiro Saito and The Great Kabuki).

    While watching a show that might go over seven hours sounds daunting, most New Japan shows are so well paced the time will fly by pretty fast. Just be prepared to clear your schedule if you’re planning to watch the whole show, including the rumble, live. If not, most PPVs are usually on New Japan World later that day anyway, so you can still watch the show in a timely manner.

    For the record, if you are looking to sign up for New Japan World for the first time, you can do so here. There is “select language” feature at the top of the page, and once selecting that you’ll see the sign up button at the top of the page, where English directions to sign up are provided.

    2. There will be English commentary.

    The big difference between this year’s show and last year’s show, as previously mentioned, is that WrestleKingdom 10 won’t be on PPV. Last year’s show is a joint venture between New Japan and Global Force Wrestling. This year there is no GFW involvement, so the only way to see the show live will be via New Japan World. The good news is that New Japan has brought in ROH announcer Kevin Kelly and widely known color commentator Matt Striker to call the action in English, with inactive NJPW wrestler Yoshi Tatsu being brought back to translate whatever promos and storylines happen on the show. It might not be the best commentary team of all time, but I found their work to be solid at King of Pro Wrestling and I expect there to be improvements for the second biggest wrestling event of the year.

    Keep in mind for the future that all big New Japan shows will probably have English commentary. The trend started at King of Pro Wrestling, and it will continue at WrestleKingdom and most likely Invasion Attack and G1 Finals later this year.

    3. There will be shows before and after WrestleKingdom.

    If you thought 7 hours of New Japan on a Monday morning was just not enough to saite your needs, good news! There will be shows on 1/2 as well as on 1/5 featuring matches between all of your favorite New Japan guys. The ⅓ card will feature the debut of two new rookies making their professional wrestling debut as Kanemitsu Taruaki and Kawato Hirai will compete in singles matches against Sho Tanaka and Yohei Komatsu, respectively. It will be interesting to see if this is the swan song for both Tanaka and Komatsu as the rumor is they are soon to be setting out on their excursions. Beyond the rookies making their debut, the ⅓ show will also feature a six man with Jay White, Tiger Mask and Jushin Liger taking on David Finlay, Mascara Dorada and Ryusuke Taguchi.

    New Year’s Dash, the show taking place after the Tokyo Dome event on ⅕, currently has no card. Like other years, most likely the card will be announced the day of the show, probably with many tag team matches since everyone will have had their working boots on the day before.

    Both shows are scheduled to be broadcast on New Japan World, with the 1/3 show airing at 7 pm PT on 1/2 (I know, time is weird), with the 1/5 show airing at 1:30 am PT.

    4. With the exception of one match, every match on the WrestleKingdom card will be for a championship.

    You don’t absolutely NEED to know this if this is your first time tuning in, but it’s an interesting fact nonetheless. This year’s show is interesting in that every title in New Japan will be defended. This isn’t a big shock, as most shows in previous years have had many title matches. But this factoid is amazing in that every match on the show, with the exception of the New Japan Rumble and a grudge match between Tetsuya Naito and Hirooki Goto, will be for a championship.

    We have the major titles on the line, with Tanahashi/Okada and Nakamura/Styles for the Heavyweight and Intercontinental titles respectively. The NEVER title will be defended with Tomohiro Ishii defending against Katsuyori Shibata. It’s weird that the NEVER concept died so quickly, as originally it was supposed to be a title for younger contenders from both weight classes to compete for, which isn’t the case at all now. So it’s even weirder that a new set of six man tag belts are being made, complete with the NEVER name, with The Briscoes and Yano facing off against Bad Luck Fale, Tama Tonga and Yujiro Takahashi to determine the first champions.

    Even with all of that, there are still four other titles being defended. You have both tag team titles being defended as Bullet Club (Karl Anderson and Doc Gallows) defends against Great Bash Heel (Togi Makabe and Tomoaki Honma). The Ring of Honor title will be defended for the first time in New Japan Pro Wrestling as champion Jay Lethal defends against Michael Elgin. And finally, both Junior titles are on the line as Kenny Omega defends against Kushida and reDragon defends in a fourway against the Young Bucks, Roppongi Vice and Matt Sydal/Ricochet.

    In other words…if you love title matches, this is the show for you. New Japan title matches are always special, so expect everyone to have their working boots on. You can also take bets on how many titles change hands and how many don’t with your friends!

    5. This isn’t Okada and Tanahashi’s first match, and if history proves right it won’t be their last.

    One of the best feuds of this decade has been between Hiroshi Tanahashi and Kazuchika Okada. Still considered the true ace of the promotion, Tanahashi has had problems with Okada dating back to Okada’s re-emergence from his TNA excursion in 2012. Ever since then, they’ve faced off seven times, six since Okada’s return, with Okada in the lead with 4 wins over Tanahashi’s 3.
    The biggest factor in this match however isn’t the overall number of wins, but the wins in the Tokyo Dome. Okada has been unable to defeat Tanahashi in Tokyo Dome matches twice now, and considering he left their match last year in tears, he is sure to want to gain a measure of revenge by beating Tanahashi where it counts the most, at WrestleKingdom. While this all feels like a culmination of a feud that has now lasted four years, it might not be their last as they’ll more than likely face each other again down the road. It’s just that more than likely, it won’t have the same ramifications as this match does.

  • NJPW Road to Tokyo Dome results: Jushin Liger vs. Tiger Mask for NWA Jr. title

    Happy Star Wars day! There will be no spoilers in this review because…this has absolutely nothing to do with Star Wars. Instead we’re heading towards the Tokyo Dome, as the name suggests, which means we’ll be seeing a lot of tag matches related to the event. We’ll also see the NWA Jr. Heavyweight title on the line as Tiger Mask IV defends against Jushin Thunder Liger, and in the main event Shinsuke Nakamura battles the king of the hip attack, Ryusuke Taguchi. All here live at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo.

    They first aired a video highlighting the big moments of 2015 in New Japan, everything from WrestleKingdom to their joint shows with Ring of Honor in the US to what went down a few weeks ago at the World Tag League tournament.

    TenKoji & Jay White vs Nagata, Nakanishi & David Finlay

    The usual good tag opener. Kojima and Finlay had some nice exchanges. Finally went to hit the ropes but Kojima clobbered him with a lariat and pinned him.

    Tomoaki Honma and Togi Makabe vs. Yohei Komatsu and Sho Tanaka

    Nice match. The crowd got really into it towards the end as Komatsu and Tanaka are great at selling and heightening the drama of a match. The World Tag League winners dominated a lot of the match. There was a submission spot that people got into where Tanaka wouldn’t submit to a Boston Crab by Makabe. They had some good back and forth until Makabe pelted him with a lariat to the throat, then hit the king kong knee drop from the top rope for the win.

    Toru Yano and Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Cody Hall and Yujiro Takahashi

    Just a match. Not a really good one, honestly. They just did some plodding work throughout and Yujiro’s antics only led to the finish. He and Yujiro worked part of the math, a lot was Sakuraba facing off against Cody Hall. Hall used power spots while Sakuraba grinded him down. He went for an armbar as Yujiro was about to break it up, but Yano low blowed him, distracted the ref and hit Hall to allow Sakuraba to get the submission win.

    NWA Jr. Heavyweight Championship: Tiger Mask © vs. Jushin Thunder Liger

    Liger wore a completely different outfit here. If you’ve seen him in the past when he’s wrestling heavyweight matches (like in matches against Great Muta and Hashimoto) it’s something similar to that, with a different mask and no bodysuit, just tights. Liger looks in tremendous shape for someone that’s fifty years old. Tiger Mask tried for the tiger suplex at one point but Liger hooked Tiger Mask’s leg and they both fell. Crowd was dead for this for whatever reason despite both working hard and having a pretty good match. Liger submitted after Tiger Mask took him down with an armbar, then transitioned into a chickenwing and Liger verbally submitted.

    Tetsuya Natio, Evil and Bushi vs. Hirooki Goto, Mascara Dorada and Captain New Japan

    Solid match. They were teasing something between Naito and Milano Collection AT as Naito made him open the ring ropes for him. Naito then teased like he was going to attack him, but did nothing. Dorada accidently kicked Goto as Naito tripped him into the ropes and Bushi smashed Dorada’s face into the apron, sending him out of the ring. The usual finish here as Captain New Japan fought bravely against Evil and Naito but he eventually fell to Evil’s STO.

    Bushi ripped off Dorada’s mask after the mask and said he’d be the next CMLL welterweight champion. He grabbed Dorada’s belt and posed with it before making his exit with the belt.

    Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Ryusuke Taguchi

    Taguchi was over tonight. Nakamura went for the boma ye but Taguchi fell to the floor. Taguchi came back with a hip attack and a springboard crossbody to the floor. Taguchi had him in the ankle lock at one point too. Taguchi went for a sliding hip attack but Nakamura rolled out of the way and took him down. Taguchi kicked out a boma ye from the top rope. Nakamura rolled out of a hip attack and struck down Taguchi with another boma ye knee strike for the win. Really nice back and forth match and way better than one would expect.

    Elimination Match: Kazuchika Okada, Gedo, Yoshi-Hashi and Tomohiro Ishii vs. Katsuyori Shibata, Juice Robinson, Kushida and Hiroshi Tanahashi

    Chaos worked as the heels and dominated Kushida in the match, nearly getting him eliminated from the top rope (those count in elimination matches in Japan). Shibata and Ishii worked together and the crowd was very into the elimination teases. They both made it to the apron where Shibata was about to take out Tomohiro Ishii to the floor when Yoshi-Hashi came in and dropkicked Shibata, sending both he and Ishii to the floor, eliminating them. Yoshi-Hashi and Robinson then went at it, which didn’t last long as Robinson missed a moonsault, which allowed Yoshi-Hashi to eventually pin him with the senton.

    Tanahashi came in and soon submitted Gedo with the Texas Cloverleaf, which left him and Okada together. They teased some back and forth, but it didn’t last long as Okada managed to get him over the top rope, eliminating him. That left Kushida, who worked over Okada’s arm. Okada gained control, hit a high fly flow to mock Tanahashi, and pinned him with the rainmaker to win the match. Good stuff throughout and the crowd was into it.

    Overall, this was a fine card. Watch the NWA Jr. title match if you can, and the top two matches were great. One of the better Korakuen Hall house shows in a while.

  • AJ Styles says he’ll work Ring of Honor Final Battle and Tokyo Dome

    By John Pozarowski

    These are highlights from an AJ Styles interview on the Two Man Power Trip radio show.

    TMPToW: Do you plan on wrestling at both Ring Of Honor’s upcoming Final Battle & New Japan Pro Wrestling’s Wrestle Kingdom 10:

    AJ: As far as right now I definitely plan on doing both events. I’ve just been rehabbing a little bit on the back, I don’t know if it’s a slipped disc or a herniated disc it was very minimal which is good. The Doctor says it looks like it mostly seems like it is muscle so basically that’s just rehabbing that and I am feeling pretty good. I just got into DDPY. He (Diamond Dallas Page) doesn’t like it being called yoga. It is a little bit different and man, this thing has done wonders for me and everyday you do DDPY and you get your heart rate up to 150 just stretching and it just awesome. 

    TMPToW: Does potentially favoring a back issue hamper your preparation for such a big match vs. Jay Lethal at Final Battle:

    AJ: Well I don’t plan on favoring it. If it’s something that I have to favor than I am not 100% and if it’s not 100% it’s just going to get worse. I believe by next week I’ll be ready and I don’t see anything messing with me and I’m not in a lot of pain. For starters I was and I didn’t want to make it worse and that’s why I came home from the (NJPW Tag League) tag tournament. After rehabbing it I feel like I’ll definitely be ready to go next week and be 100%. 

    TMPToW: Has there been a pursued interest by WWE to get you into NXT and join both Samoa Joe and James Storm:

    AJ: I haven’t had a call from someone who wants to hire me so nothing really and I’m okay with that and that’s not a big deal to me. I think it’s more of the fans wanting something like this to happen than what I am wanting to happen. I want to be able to retire in a couple of years so I am going to go wherever that takes me. But I have no problem doing the Independents, I love it. I have a great time on the Indies. I’ve had a lot of great opportunities to wrestle a lot of great wrestlers.  Also doing Ring of Honor and Japan that’s a good combination. 

    TMPToW: Before you retire do you even want a full time spot in NXT since that seems to be the gateway to superstardom in the WWE: 

    AJ: Like I said before, I want to support my family and I am going to go wherever that takes me. Would I like to have a “WrestleMania moment”? Sure. But I am very content with having a “Wrestle Kingdom moment” in front of 60,000 fans. I think that is pretty awesome walking down that long ramp of the Tokyo Dome in probably one of the bigger matches on the show. There is probably a couple other people out there that want to do the same thing.

  • AJ Styles injury update, ECW talent on WWE Smackdown

    Former IWGP Champion A.J. Styles missed another New Japan World Tag League tournament match today in Fukuoka, Japan. His team with Yujiro Takahashi forfeited their second match, this time to Michael Bennett & Matt Taven.

    Styles has been out of action since last working on Nov. 24 due to a bulging disc in his lower back.

    According to those in Japan, his injury appears to be very serious with the description that he seems to be in great pain with any movement.  Styles went into the tour injured, and missed ROH bookings to rest up for the tour. The 38-year-old has not returned home, but he has major matches over the next several weeks. After the tournament concludes on 12/9, he has an ROH title match with Jay Lethal at Final Battle in Philadelphia, as well as his IC title match with Shinsuke Nakamura that is second from the top at the NJPW Wrestle Kingdom Tokyo Dome show on 1/4.

    According to what we’ve been told, Styles is resting and rehabbing as best he can at the present time, and New Japan is being patient and not pressuring him to come back early.

    ******

    WWE has announced one of the main matches for the Smackdown tapings tonight will be Bubba Ray Dudley vs. Bray Wyatt in a singles match with both Devon and Tommy Dreamer in Bubba’s corner.

    Smackdown will be taped tonight in Hershey, PA.  All of the major names that were on Raw last night, including Roman Reigns, Sheamus, Dean Ambrose and The New Day are being advertised as appearing tonight.

    Following Raw, the Wyatt family came back to the ring, and Bray said that he had a sour taste in his mouth, and wasn’t ready to leave town just yet. He called out the Dudleys and Tommy Dreamer. They entered, followed by Kane. Everyone brawled in the ring for a couple of minutes before Bray left the ring. Braun Strowman was kicked out of the ring. Harper ended up eating a DDT from Dreamer, and a 3D from the Dudleys, and Rowan took a chokeslam from Kane to send the handful of people left in the crowd happy. No actual match took place. (Thanks to Joe Kazmer)

  • New Japan on AXS results: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. AJ Styles

    Friday’s show is part two of our look at the New Begining events, taking place February 11, 2015 in Osaka.

    Hiroshi Tanahashi is here to talk about his IWGP title match against AJ Styles. He says that he’d give AJ as many title shots as possible until he’s satisfied. Talks about how they first faced off in TNA back in 2005 and while he was a top fighter then, he doesn’t have the sexiness he has now. I see. Says that all of this was probably meant to be.

    The match aired. The large part of the match was decent. Everything looked good and was executed well but nothing to particularly write home about. Like every big Bullet Club match, most of the Bullet Club roster was out there. Here’s a “if only this was real” moment: why can’t the ref just throw them out before the match begins? There’s been a precedent of them interfering over and over and over. There has to be some storyline reason why the Bullet Club (which at this point is a good chunk of the New Japan gaijin roster) is out there in full force.

    Anyway, this was a perfectly fine technical match for the most part. Tanahashi got busted open after doing a high fly flow, hitting his head against Matt Jackson’s. I missed how this happened live, but thankfully Josh Barnett pointed it out and they showed replays. He got busted open hard way, ouch. Things picked up after that. Tanahashi went for AJ’s leg and AJ tried to free himself by jumping, but in mid air Tanahashi countered with a dragon screw in a really cool move. After a Ganso bomb, AJ hit the Bloody Sunday DDT and pinned Tanahashi after the Styles Clash to become IWGP champion once again. A fine world title match, but these two have had better. I don’t know what it was about this match. Nothing was bad and it was mostly good, but nowhere near the same levels of their previous matches in terms of intensity. Something was just missing – maybe the crowd, or a slower build than other world title matches, but something here was just lacking.

    No comment from Tanahashi after the match as he was taken quickly to the back.

    Karl Anderson spent a good chunk of the last ten minutes or so introducing the Bullet Club one by one. In a backstage press conference, AJ and Kenny Omega say that now that they have all the titles, the only logical thing to do is to take over the world.

    Tanahashi talks about how after the bump that busted him open, the blood seeped into his contact lenses and for the rest of the match he had bloody vision. That doesn’t sound fun in the least bit. He said this road will lead him to the New Japan Cup, and that there will be other chances to claim the belt once again.

    A fine show this week. Not a blockbuster by any means, but the show did a good job in advancing the story of the IWGP title this year.

  • WOR 11/10: Raw report, tournament matches, Del Rio and AAA, mailbag and more!

    Wrestling Observer Radio with Bryan Alvarez and Dave Meltzer is back tonight to talk all the news in pro-wrestling including tons of thoughts on Raw from Monday night, the tournament matches, live reports and why it appeared the crowd was so dead, New Japan’s announcements for the Tokyo Dome and the G-1 Tag League Tournament, Dorian Roldan talks AAA and Alberto, Cibernetico may or may not have quit, tons of mailbag questions and more! A fun show as always so check it out~!

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