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  • Lion’s Gate Project 2 results: NOAH vs. New Japan eight man tag

    Kaito Kiyomiya vs. Hirai Kawato

    This is a battle between New Japan (Kuwato) and NOAH (Kiyomiya) rookies. NOAH young lions wear green instead of black like in New Japan, but both are required to have boston crab as finishers, as was the case here. A lot of the match was Kuwato being worked on. Kiyomiya got the win with a Boston Crab. Kuwato wasn’t pleased after the match and the two brawled for a bit, slapping and kicking each other.

    Shiro Tomoyose vs. Teruaki Kanemitsu

    Apparently my theory about all NOAH rookies wearing green was wrong. Tomoyose is a NOAH rookie as well, but is wearing black. Apparently all NOAH rookies choose a color to wear, and Tomoyose’s color is black. Kanemitsu is taller than Tomoyose, but Tomoyose is more stout and looks a bit more physically imposing. He controlled a lot of the match, but Kanemitsu made a comeback and had him in a Boston crab for a long time. He eventually escaped, but Kanemitsu had his arm and was going for a submission when the bell rang, a time limit draw. Good, basic match.

    Kanemitsu went for a handshake after the match but Tomoyose would have none of it. Tomoyose eventually was convinced to shake hands, but then Kanemitsu tricked him by slapping the taste out of his mouth and bailing. These New Japan kids are pretty rude this morning.

    Hitoshi Kumano vs. Ayato Yoshida

    Kumano is another NOAH rookie; he wears red. Yoshida represents Michinoku Pro. The latter had a lot of good looking strikes. This was solid, if not unspectacular.  Kuwano got the win with a chokeslam/spinebuster combination.

    Yoshinari Ogawa vs. David Finlay

    Finlay showed a lot of great fire early. In terms of presence and look he really outshines White, who is a bit better in the ring. Ogawa controlled a lot of the match and kept it on the ground, working on Finlay’s left arm. Finlay made a good comeback and kicked out of a back suplex. Finlay looked like he was going to capture Ogawa’s arm in an armbar, but in transition Ogawa held him down and pinned him. Cool finish to a pretty solid match.

    Captain NOAH & Genba Hirayanagi vs. Muhammed Yone & Ryusuke Taguchi

    This was a total comedy match, at least the first half of it. Genba’s gimmick apparently is that he likes to use the testicular claw on everyone, as he did during the early parts of the match. Taguchi wore an afro like Yone’s, I guess to match. NOAH and Taguchi had a chop battle and Taguchi teased doing the Flair flop, since that is Jado’s thing (he’s Captain NOAH, spoilers) but NOAH fell anyway. This was VERY LONG. Not terrible or anything but felt way longer than it needed to be. This was at least a twenty minute segment or longer when it needed to be half that.

    Taguchi finally got the win for his team after two sliding hip attacks on Genba. Captain NOAH cut a promo after the match. No idea what he said.

    Naomichi Marufuji vs. Jay White

    This was pretty good. White does the little things Finlay doesn’t that really add to the match, though Finlay is a bit more dynamic in what he does. Marufuji gained control early but White made a comeback and hit some very nice spots. This was one of the first times where he did more than just the basic stuff he does in his prelim matches and didn’t look totally out of place, though there were a few moments that looked a bit off. Shiozaki eventually cut him off and won with the sliced bread. This was given some decent time and was a very good match while it lasted.

    Go Shiozaki vs. Juice Robinson

    Juice has definately improved since working regularly in Japan. I wouldn’t say he’s as good as Finlay or White, but he’s perfectly fine and doesn’t look lost out there – he gets it. Much like the story of other matches on this card, Shiozaki worked on Robinson after dodging some punches and was in control until Robinson made a comeback. He kept kicking out of nearfalls, but eventually he could not kick out of a sick lariat dished out by Shiozaki, and that was the end of Robinson. Pretty solid match.

    Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima, Yuji Nagata & Manabu Nakanishi vs. Katsuhiko Nakajima, Maybach Taniguchi, Masa Kitamiya & Quiet Storm

    New Japan old guard were the faces here. Storm and Nakanishi traded big guy spots, which is funny since Storm is about a head shorter than Nakanishi. I’ve complained on here before that no one should buy Nakanishi and Nagata’s finish because they’ve never submitted anyone with the armbar/torture rack they do. Well this time, it actually did work. While Nagata didn’t have an armbar in, he did pin Quiet Storm with a backdrop suplex while Nakanishi had Taniguchi in the torture rack. Perfectly okay eight man tag, but nothing memorable.

    Nagata got a mic and introduced his two guys that are training in the New Japan dojo. One is Ota, who is a high level wrestler, and Kitamura, who is also a wrestler and jacked to the gills. He teased they might wrestle on the next Lion’s Gate show.

    For the most part, everything was good. Marufuji/White was probably the best match on the show.

  • ROH Global Wars NYC live results: Lethal & Strong vs. Bullet Club vs. Okada & Ishii

    Submitted by Pat Laprade from a sold-out Terminal 5 in NYC

    – Dark match: Cheeseburger & Davey Vega b J. Diesel & Juan Francisco de Coronado when Cheeseburger hit the Shotei on Coronado

    Kevin Kelly and BJ Whitmer on commentary. 

    – reDRagon (Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly) defeated All Night Express (Rhett Titus & Kenny King) using the Chasing the Dragon in a good opener. 

    – Dalton Castle (w/ The Boys) beat Michael Elgin, Moose (w/Stokely Hathaway) & Lio Rush when he pinned Rush after an inverted Whirlybird. 

    Very good match and very cool spots, including Castle doing a German suplex to Elgin followed by one on Moose, which got a huge “Holy s**t” chant. All four guys were over with the crowd, Castle being the most over guy. Moose is improving every time I see him and Rush, at only 21, is one heck of a prospect.

    – Kushida defeated Silas Young with the Kushida Lock

    Kushida is the IWGP Junior Heavyweight champion but it was a non-title match. Weakest match so far. Perhaps Young wasn’t the best match up for Kushida. Not bad though, but not on par with the first two. 

    – Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin) beat Trent Baretta & Gedo (w/Rocky Romero)

    The Guns pinned Gedo after hitting the Dream Sequence on Gedo and then the stereo boots in the corner on Baretta. Solid match, not as good as the opener but still good. 

    – Jushin Liger & Mark & Jay Briscoe beat Tama Tonga & Tonga Loa & Adam Page after Liger hit the Liger Bomb on Tonga and Mark finished him with a big elbow from the top. 

    Good match. Crowd chanting “too sweet” at the Tonga, Loa and Page. Always special to see Liger live and the fans showed respect as he got a big reaction when his music hit and he got a huge chant before leaving. 

    – During intermission, Taeler Hendrix attacked Mandy Leon at ringside. She got in the ring with a chair and hit Leon with a DDT on it. 

    – BJ Whitmer got in the ring and cut a promo on Steve Corino. He said that he wasn’t a good father and a good husband and that the video footage he had wasn’t the only one. Corino got in the ring with a chair. Whitmer called him a bitch. Corino said he would beat the s**t out of him on 6/24 and called him a bitch to which the crowd chanted “you’re a bitch!”  

    – Veda Scott took Whitmer’s spot at commentary. 

    – Donovan Dijak (w/ Prince Nana) beat Cedric Alexander with his backbreaker rack into a knee lift.

    Finish felt really flat. No one actually reacted and the fans were not happy with how the finish came out. After the match, Dijak raised Alexander’s arm and the crowd chanted “Thank you Cedric” and “Please don’t go” as it was Alexander’s ROH’s farewell before heading to WWE. According to PW Insider’s Mike Johnson, Prince Nana has signed a contract with ROH. 

    – War Machine (Ray Rowe & Hanson) defeated the ROH World Tag Team champions The Addiction (Christopher Daniels & Frankie Kazarian) by DQ when Daniels broke a pin using one of the belts. 

    Match was ok, different from the first two tags. They did a ref bump. Kazarian tried to use the belt but nailed Daniels by accident instead. 

    – Hiroshi Tanahashi beat Matt Sydal with the high fly flow. 

    Very good match. Only 10-12 minutes, but I guess they are protecting Tanahashi who’s still injured. Crowd was really into him. Sydal was great too though. I don’t know if underrated is the right word, but he’s definitely one of the best on the indies right now and not getting the push he should have. 

    – IWGP Heavyweight champion Tetsuya Naito beat ACH in a non-title match with this Destino. 

    I’m glad Naito could actually wrestle because this was the best match of the show. A lot of dual chants “Let’s go Naito, ACH!” and lots of cool moves from ACH including a crazy kick while Naito was on the top rope. After the match, Naito attacked referee Todd Sinclair and got a huge pop for that. 

    – ROH Champion Jay Lethal (w/Taeler Hendrix) & Roderick Strong beat Adam Cole & Matt Jackson (w/Nick) and Kazuchika Okada & Tomohiro Ishii when Strong hit his jumping high knee on Ishii. 

    Great match. I liked the Naito/ACH match better but someone could make a case this was the best match tonight. Okada and the Bucks got the biggest reaction out of the entrances. Even after 4 hours of wrestling, the crowd was super hot. They were really into everything Jackson, Cole and Okada, especially, were doing. 

    Biggest pops:

    • Adam Cole and The Bucks
    • Kazuchika Okada
    • Dalton Castle

    Most heat:

    • BJ Whitmer
    • All Night Express 
    • The Addiction

    Best matches:

    • Naito vs ACH
    • The 3-way tag
    • Castle vs Moose vs Elgin vs Rush

  • Despite ailments, Naito wrestling at tonight’s ROH/NJPW show in NYC

    Despite recovering from a high fever and hospitalization Friday and a bum elbow, IWGP heavyweight champion Tetsuya Naito rallied Saturday and will be in action against ACH as part of the ROH/NJPW Global Wars event at New York City’s Terminal Five.

    It was unclear yesterday and today if he would be able to wrestle on tonight’s show due to his many ailments.

    As one of the most popular of the New Japan wrestlers on the current tour, he had noted long autograph lines for him this year when last year on this same ROH/NJPW tour that wasn’t the case in the U.S. and Canada.

    Naito beat Kazuchika Okada at the Invasion Attack PPV in Sumo Hall in Tokyo in April, and will make his next defense against Okada in the main event of Dominion on June 19th in Osaka Jo Hall.

    Tonight’s show was already revamped due to storyline changes as well as a rib injury to The Young Bucks’ Nick Jackson. There are a number of other injuries to talent performing tonight including Young Buck Matt Jackson (swollen and bruised hand) and Hiroshi Tanahashi, who was banged up in matches earlier in the week.

    Here’s your lineup:

    • Bullet Club (Adam Cole & Matt Jackson) vs “Rainmaker” Kazuchika Okada & Tomohiro Ishii vs ROH World Champion Jay Lethal & Roderick Strong
    • IWGP Heavyweight Champion Tetsuya Naito vs ACH — non-title
    • Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Reborn Matt Sydal
    • ROH Tag Team Champs The Addiction vs War Machine
    • Cedric Alexander vs Donovan Dijak w/ Prince Nana
    • Jushin “Thunder” Liger & the Briscoes vs Guerrillas of Destiny & “Hangman” Adam Page
    • CHOAS (Beretta & Gedo) w/ Rocky Romero vs Motor City Machine Guns
    • IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion KUSHIDA vs “Pro Wrestling’s Last Real Man” Silas Young – non-title
    • Michael Elgin vs Moose w/ Stokely Hathaway vs Dalton Castle w/ the Boys vs Lio Rush
    • reDRagon vs All Night Express

  • ROH Global Wars 2016 live results: Jay Lethal vs. Colt Cabana; loads of NJPW stars

    On Sunday night in Chicago Ridge, IL, the stars of Ring of Honor will battle the stars of New Japan Pro Wrestling at Global Wars, part of a unique series of early-spring events between the promotions that have been running for the past few years here in the U.S. and Canada.

    Tonight’s PPV lineup is a strong one, headlined by a title match with the longtime champion Jay Lethal defending against a returning and popular challenger in Colt Cabana. You can email feedback to the show (positive/negative/neutral) to dave@wrestlingobserver.com

    **********

    RODERICK STRONG VS. ADAM PAGE VS.  ACH VS. DALTON CASTLE – WINNER GETS A TV TITLE SHOT 

    Crowd was weak early, but picked up when ACH did a flip dive. The match kept moving with a lot of good moves. The finish saw Strong use a superplex, gutbuster and sick kick on Page, but then Castle used the bang a rang, dropping Strong onto Page and Castle pinned Page.   

    After the match, Strong got mad saying that he’s the best wrestler in the company and had the TV title shot.

    JUSHIN LIGER & CHEESEBURGER VS. CHRISTOPHER DANIELS & FRANKIE KAZARIAN

    They did the big upset finish as Daniels was being cocky and doing finishers on Cheeseburger when Cheeseburger pinned Daniels with a front rolling cradle.  Right before the finish, Daniel & Kazairan laid out Liger with Celebrity Rehab and Liger landed on his head.  He was selling the neck but it was clearly a sell spot but he was out for the rest of the match.

    Daniels and Kazarian laid out Cheesebuger as Daniels gave him a low blow. They used the Best Meltzer Ever after the match, which is a combination tombstone piledriver and Daniels coming off the top rope onto him.

    ROH TAG TEAM CHAMPIONS WAR MACHINE VS. MARK & JAY BRISCOE

    War Machine retained when Hanson gave Jay a spin kick and then they used the Fallout on Mark — a move where Hanson came off the top rope while Rowe held Mark up. Hanson pinned Mark. This was a wild match. The crowd miking on this show is weak or the crowd is real quiet. The match wasn’t smooth at all, but there were a lot of big moves and the crowd did give them a “This is awesome” chant. Jay put Hanson through a table with a double foot stomp.  There were several dives and they did a lot of big stuff.  Hanson also kicked out of both Froggy Bow (elbow off the top) by Mark and the Jay driller by Jay. Fans chanted “Thank you” when it was over. 

    IWGP CHAMPION TETSUYA NAITO VS. KYLE O’REILLY (NON-TITLE)

    This was the best actual wrestling so far on the show, very good and Naito came across like a superstar but the crowd miking issue took this match down. O’Reilly did all of his stuff with the various submissions and Naito did his usual spots and mannerisms. The crowd at points lightly booed O’Reilly, but mostly were into the match. O’Reilly got a near fall with a bridging back suplex but Naito used a spinebuster and Destino for the pin.  After the match, Naito used a low blow on O’Reilly and then threw the belt in the air.  Before the match, Naito also dropped the belt down and showed no respect for it.

    HIROSHI TANAHASHI & MICHAEL ELGIN VS. KAZUCHIKA OKADA & MOOSE

    This was a significant result because Tanahashi & Elgin are a regualr New Japan tag team and they lost this match. Moose speared Elgin and Okada then hit Elgin with the Rainmaker to win. The fans were really into Tanahashi vs. Okada when they were in together.  A lot of good stuff here including Okada and Moose both doing the dropkick with Tanahashi and Elgin sitting on the middle rope. Moose did a dive off the top rope to the floor on both Tanahashi and Elgin. Elgin did a delayed vertical suplex on Moose.  The crowd knew most of the spots, even chanting “Ace” when Tanahashi did the Moose arm deal.  People were on their feet a lot and did another “This is awesome” chant but it still felt quiet a lot. Good match.

    TV CHAMPION TOMOHIRO ISHII VS. BOBBY FISH

    They put over that Fish is 39 years old and this may be his last big chance. This was weird because Ishii worked the same kind of match he’d work if it was a Japanese big show and Fish was right with him but the crowd was so quiet. Fish won the title clean in the middle by choking Ishii all the way out. Ishii never tapped but went out. The crowd was shocked tHat was the ending. You can tell the place is porly miked beause everyone is standing, you can see people chanting but can barely hear it.  This was the best match so far. Really hard hitting from start to finish, hard chops & hard kicks by Fish, Ishii did his headbutt spots and a delayed superplex spot.

    YOUNG BUCKS & TAMA TONGA & TANGA LOA VS. KUSHIDA & MATT SYDAL & CHRIS SABIN & ALEX SHELLEY

    This was a fast paced match with all kinds of big moves. The match was built around the Bucks setting a record for the world’s largest superkick party for a superkick record.  Mr. Wrestling III had a superkick counter, but it totaled zero superkicks. This had the most reaction of anything on the show.  Kushida and Sydal are two of the best wrestlers in the world, and Shelley did a lot of unique moves. The Bucks mostly were selling stuff while Tonga & Loa played monsters no selling stuff. After Kushida did a flip dive over the post onto Tonga & Loa, the Bucks used the Meltzer Driver on Shelley for the pin.

    They had a confrontation at the desk with Mr. Wrestling III and B.J. Whitmer, who came out wearing a Masked Superstar mask since Superstar was a big rival of Wrestling II.  Whitmer handed him a flash drive and told him to go to his hotel room and watch what’s on it after the show — clearly the next stage in the Corino vs. Whitmer feud.

    They noted that they didn’t introduce the new Bullet Club member. That is still to come.

    ROH CHAMPION JAY LETHAL VS. COLT CABANA

    They were out there having a good match. Cabana was really over with the crowd, being it was in Chicago. Taeler Hendrix interfered and Nigel McGuinness and ref Todd Sinclair ejected her, McGuiness dragging her to the back. Cabana had Lethal in the Billy Goat’s Curse when Hendrix came back out and dragged Sinclair out of the ring. The Bucks came out, seemingly to superkick Hendrix for interfering, but she moved and they nailed Sinclair. But then they nailed Hendrix anyway.

    The Bucks had two Bullet Club shirts and gave them to Lethal and Cabana. Then the lights went out. Adam Cole was in the ring with a Bullet Club shirt when they came on and they all superkicked Lethal and Cabana and a million security guards. Everyone was superkicking everyone, including Kevin Kelly, Mr. Wrestling III, a camera man and even Mr. Massie (the Bucks’ father). He jumped in the ring and they stopped Cole from superkicking him, but then they superkicked him. 

    Tonga & Loa spray painted BC on a table and Loa powerbombed a security guard through the table. This was all very reminiscent of an NWO-era Nitro show. The crowd kind of booed them as it was designed as a heel turn. They put zip ties on Lethal, and Cole kept superkicking him. Cole grabbed the belt, clearly teasing the idea that Cole was going after the title next. 

    At another point, after they took out the announcers, Matt got on the headset and pretended to be Jim Ross doing “This man has a family” and “stomping a mudhole” and called Nick “King.”  So, the show ended with a ring and floor with more than a dozen people laid out and the Bucks, Cole, Tonga, and Loa left standing.

  • NJPW announces top 3 matches for 6/19 PPV

    New Japan announced on Friday the top three matches for the next major PPV event, a 6/19 show at Osaka Jo Hall.  This is one of the company’s big three events of the year.

    The big matches are all as expected, with Kazuchika Okada as the challenger for IWGP champion Tetsuya Naito in a rematch from Invasion Attack where Naito won the title.  Hiroshi Tanahashi will challenge for the IC title in a ladder match against Kenny Omega.  The third main match has Katsuyori Shibata getting a rematch for the Never title against new champion Yuji Nagata.

    New Japan World will have a NOAH vs. New Japan themed show on 5/19. 

    The next Korakuen Hall show live on New Japan World will be 5/21 at 5:30 a.m. Eastern time, the first night of the 2016 Best of the Super Juniors tournament:

    Satoshi Kojima & Volador Jr. & Bobby Fish vs. Tomohiro Ishii & Will Ospreay & Trent Baretta

    Yuji Nagata & Manabu Nakanishi & Jushin Liger & Tiger Mask vs. Katsuyori Shibata & Juice Robinson & Jay White & David Finlay

    Hiroshi Tanahashi & Yoshitatsu & Captain New Japan & Ricochet vs. Kenny Omega & Bad Luck Fale & Yujiro Takahashi & Nick Jackson

    Kazuchika Okada & Hirooki Goto & Yoshi-Hashi vs. Tetsuya Naito & Seiya Sandra & Evil

    Bushi vs. Gedo in tournament

    Rocky Romero vs. Matt Jackson in tournament

    Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Matt Sydal in tournament

    Kushida vs. Kyle O’Reilly in tournament

  • FREE: Adam & Mike: Wrestling Dontaku preview and more!

    Worth it at half the price, the original alternate is back with the GRATIS edition to help get you in the mood for Tuesday morning’s New Japan Dontaku show. After we talk for 13 minutes about other random things like the state of women’s hockey, we get into NJPW-ROH in Chicago, Zeus matches, Junior Fujita, lying about attendance, the ballad of Ryusuke Taguchi, spotlights on SANADA, snowflake predictions for Tuesday morning’s Naito-Ishii main, and much more.

    Right click save

  • NJPW Wrestling Dontaku results: Super Juniors lineups; IWGP champ Naito vs. Ishii

    Captain New Japan & Juice Robinson vs. Bad Luck Fale & Yujiro Takahashi

    This did not last long at all. Fale pinned Captain New Japan quickly with the grenade in under 3 minutes. I don’t know why Yoshitatsu let this guy in his Bullet Club Hunter club, he’s worthless in every way.

    Tiger Mask & Ryusuke Taguchi & Jay White & David Finlay vs. Kazushi Sakuraba & Yoshi-Hashi & Will Ospreay & Gedo

    Fun little match. Usual good eight man match you’d see on the first half of any New Japan show. Ospreay’s offense is so dynamic. He had a great dynamic with Finlay as they did some fun spots together. He did the Sasuke special at one point during the match, taking everyone out in the process. He ended up getting the win for his team after a springboard diamond cutter.

    Rocky Romero & Trent Baretta vs. IWGP Junior Tag Champs Matt Sydal & Ricochet 

    Really good match. I think they’ve had better, but this built up nicely and had some good near falls toward the end. RPG Vice had the heat early. Ricochet did this great move where he caught Baretta in mid air while he was executing a tornado DDT, countered into a northern lights suplex, floated over then gave him a brainbuster. Sydal gave Baretta a reverse rana, then aided Ricochet in laying out Romero with a double Benadryller. They followed with the stereo shooting star presses and pinned RPG Vice to regain the junior titles.

    Hiroshi Tanahashi & Michael Elgin & Yoshitatsu vs. NEVER Six-Man Tag Champ Kenny Omega & Young Bucks for Never

    Good match, though like the previous match, their last bout was a bit better. Unlike their previous match, where they had crazy spots just about everywhere, they mostly kept this in the ring for most of the match. Elgin made a great comeback for his team. Tanahashi and Omega were in there when Omega went to use the hairspray but it hit Tiger Hattori instead. Elite acted like they were helping him, but then Omega low blowed him because he’s mean.

    That’s when the weapons were brought out. Elgin powerbombed Matt Jackson into a ladder, but Omega came back and with the help of the Bucks, powerbombed Elgin through a table on the floor. They gave Yoshitatsu the triple kick, then Omega pinned Yoshitatsu with the One Winged Angel to win the titles.

    Tanahashi cut a promo after the match, asking Kenny Omega for a rematch, saying he is the next Intercontinental champion. Kenny said no, but then took out the ladder and said if he wanted a ladder match, then he would say yes. They both climbed to the top of the ladder and shook hands, so it’s on.

    Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma vs. Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa for IWGP tag team titles

    Okay match, mostly picked up toward the end. Guerrillas of Destiny just lack something here. Makabe and Honma are great singles guys, and have had great matches but this program just doesn’t seem like it’s going anywhere. Tama Tonga and Makabe had some great back and forth that got the crowd into the bout. Tonga and Tanga took out Makabe on the outside as they cornered Honma. He tried to fight his way out of losing, but didn’t work as the brothers laid out Honma with their finish to retain the titles.

    This year’s Best of the Super Junior lineups:

    • A Block: Kushida, Ryusuke Taguchi, Kyle O’Reilly, Matt Sydal, Rocky Romero, Gedo, Bushi, Matt Jackson
    • B Block: Jushin Thunder Liger, Tiger Mask, Nick Jackson, Will Ospreay, Trent Beretta, Bobby Fish, Ricochet, Volador Jr.

    No real surprises other than Volador Jr. He and Will Ospreay make the B block far more interesting. I’d really like to see how their singles match goes down.

    Katsuyori Shibata vs. Yuji Nagata for Never title

    Good match. Started off slow with some mat wrestling, then picked up from there. They had a better G1 match, but this was good stuff while it lasted. Shibata went for the penalty kick but Nagata grabbed him and gave him a big boot and backdrop driver. Shibata mounted a comeback but Nagata put him down on the ground, gave him a penalty kick and pinned him with the backdrop driver to win the title.  Shinpei Nogami, the biggest fan of Yuji Nagata you’ll ever see, freaked out after the match and kept screaming “JUSTICE!”

    IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Kushida vs. Jushin Liger

    Really good match. Different than most junior heavyweight matches. Kushida is one of th best all around workers in wrestling today just by how he’s able to adjust to any style and have a great match no matter what.

    This was a more traditional match, working on body parts and applying submissions. Liger worked on Kushida’s leg early in the bout and kept working on it throughout. Liger can’t fly like he did back in the day but as far as technical wrestling goes he’s really good. Liger hit the shotei once, then went for it again but Kushida blocked it and countered with the hoverboard lock. Liger took a while, but eventually submitted.

    Kushida grabbed a mic and said that he’d like to see Liger wrestle for many years to come. Liger said if the champion thinks so, he might have to challenge again down the line.

    Hirooki Goto vs. Evil

    Another good match. Kinda short, but it was explosive as they went at right away. A lot of brawling, and a lot of back and forth stiff shots. Goto kicked out of a fireman’s carry into a spinebuster, but then Evil gave him the STO and pinned him clean in the middle, just like that. Pretty surprising.

    Kazuchika Okada vs. Sanada

    Really good match. Another match that had some good back and forth early. Sanada’s really good, definitely upper midcard/main event kind of character. Okada did the rainmaker pose but Sanada came back and put him in the Skull End submission. He missed the moonsault. Okada went to go for the rainmaker but Sanada kept dodging and trying for the Skull End. Sanada got him back down to the floor but Okada transitioned back to the tombstone, laid out Sanada with that then pinned him with the rainmaker. That’d probably put him in line for a rematch against Naito soon.

    IWGP Champion Tetsuya Naito vs. Tomohiro Ishii

    Awesome match, especially in the last ten minutes or so. Sure enough, Okada was out there with Ishii to second him, along with Gedo. They had a straightforward match for a while, pretty solid back and forth offering until Evil interfered, hitting Ishii with a steel chair. Ishii was working on Naito’s leg and had an ankle lock in as Chaos warded off Los Ingobernables.

    Eventually they got free, but Ishii held his own until Okada made the save. Ishii hit the sliding D and went for a brainbuster but Naito countered with a DDT. Ishii countered the Destino and laid him out with an inverted brainbuster (that’s a new one!) for a nearfall. Finally, Ishii whipped Naito across the ropes but he came back with a forearm, then pinned him with Destino to retain the title.

    Okada took shirt off and stared down Naito after the match. He didn’t respond at first, but eventually they had a staredown as Okada left. After all the ceremonies, Naito cut a promo asking Kidani to see the pop he’s getting in front of his crowd, and that he knows Okada wants a title shot but he has to “tranquillo”.

    – This was a really good show. Everything was good for the most part, with the IWGP and Jr. title matches being really exceptional.

  • NJPW Road to Wrestling Dontaku 2016 results: Kenny Omega, Okada, more

    Jay White submitted David Finlay with a Boston Crab

    They traded some cool spots and boston crab submissions. Standard, solid fare from these two.

    Yoshi-Hashi, Rocky Romero and Trent Baretta defeated Ryusuke Taguchi, Tiger Mask and Captain New Japan

    Good action, especially when RPG Vice were in the ring. Romero’s totally underrated in terms of knowing what to do in order to get a match over. Yoshi-Hashi got the win for his team with a submission over, why yes, Captian New Japan. How did you know?

    Katsuyori Shibata, Juice Robinson and Kushida defeated Jushin Liger, Yuji Nagata and Manabu Nakanishi

    Much like how Shibata’s been kicking Nagata in the face all these weeks leading to their big match, Nagata returned the favor during this bout. Shibata responded by laying in some ugly sounding kicks. Pretty good match. Shibata scored the win for his team, pinning Nakanishi with the penalty kick.

    Shibata kicked Nagata in the face again after the match and put him to sleep. Interestingly, Liger and Kushida brawled into the stands. I thought they were friends? I guess they aren’t anymore. 

    Sanada and Bushi defeated Kazuchika Okada and Gedo

    Fun match that the crowd was hyped for. Sanada looked great in his offense as he was the main focus here, working over Okada. He and Gedo went at it for a bit, but eventually Gedo fell to Sanada’s new waistlock dragon sleeper.

    Today, Okada got the red mist instead of the usual green after the match for his troubles.

    Tomohiro Ishii and Hirooki Goto defeated Tetsuya Naito and Evil

    Crowd was really hot for this match and were all over it. Some high profile moves from Ishii, including a big time superplex to the floor. Crowd ate up the last few minutes. Goto hit the neckbreaker on the knee and Ishii hit the sliding D for a nearfall. Ishii then blasted Evil with a lariat for another nearfall, then got the win after a brainbuster. This was one of the better matches of the weekend, mostly thanks to the awesome crowd though the work was great here as well.

    Kenny Omega, Bad Luck Fale, Yujiro Takahashi and Guerillas of Destiny defeated Great Bash Heel, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Yoshitatsu and Michael Elgin in an elimination match

    Another good match to cap off the show, about the same par as last nights show. They worked the first ten minutes with no eliminations, then went full force with them. Tanga Roa is the first one eliminated when Makabe punches him as he was jumping off the apron. Makabe gets dumped not too long after that. Honma and Tonga end up on the apron. Fale went for a lariat but hit Tonga, eliminating him. Honma tried to fight back, but was taken out with a grenade by Fale. Tanahashi battled him next and did the skin the cat spot. He went for it a second time but Omega distracted him, allowing Fale to dump him. Elgin immediately eliminated Fale.

    The four remaining guys battle it out until Yujiro’s eliminated by a Elgin bomb. Elgin has the upper hand on Omega, but the rest of Bullet Club freely interfere and he’s eliminated after Omega uses his hair spray on Elgin, dumping him to the floor. Last two guys are Yoshitatsu and Omega. They have great chemistry with one another. Yoshitatsu manages to use the hairspray to his advantage, but Omega takes him out with a knee strike and pins him with the One Winged Angel.

  • NJPW cancels PPV due to Kumamoto earthquakes

    Due to the series of earthquakes in Kumamoto, New Japan Pro Wrestling has announced the cancellation of its 4/29 Wrestling Hinokuni PPV.

    The show, scheduled at Grand Messe Kumamoto, was one of the two big shows on the current tour and featured three title matches.  Whether this will result in changes to the 5/3 show in Fukuoka to get at least those matches on the card has not yet been released.

    The city was hit by a series of earthquakes over the last few days: a 6.2 on Thursday night, a 6.0 earthquake three hours later just after midnight, a 7.0 earthquake on Saturday at 1:25 a.m, and another aftershock last night. The earthquakes have left at least 41 dead and 968 injured, destroyed 90 homes and have led to the evacuation of more than 91,700 people in the city.

    However, the other shows that weekend on the island of Kyushu are still on the schedule.

    New Japan is expected to run a major show in the city when things have calmed down, and several Japanese promotions are likely to do benefit shows.

    The show’s original lineup was:

    • Jay White vs. David Finlay
    • Juice Robinson & Manabu Nakanishi vs. Yoshi-Hashi & Kazushi Sakuraba
    • Kushida & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Tiger Mask & Jushin Liger
    • Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma & Yoshitatsu vs. Yujiro Takahashi & Tanga Loa & Tama Tonga
    • Rocky Romero & Trent Baretta vs. Matt Sydal & Ricochet for the IWGP jr. tag titles
    • Tomohiro Ishii & Kazuchika Okada & Hirooki Goto & Will Ospreay vs. Tetsuya Naito & Seiya Sanada & Evil & Bushi
    • Katsuyori Shibata vs. Yuji Nagata for the Never Open weight title
    • Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Bad Luck Fale
    • Kenny Omega vs. Michael Elgin for the IC title

  • New Japan on AXS results: Hirooki Goto vs. Shinsuke Nakamura

    Part 3 of our look back Wrestling Dontaku 2015, which took place on July 5, 2015, features two big title matches.

    IWGP Jr. Champion Kushida vs. Kenny Omega

    I forgot just how great this match was. Omega’s work on Kushida’s leg was great. Kushida made such a great comeback. Both of these guys are just simply phenomenal and showed that here. It’s worth going back and watching these title matches again as NJPW title matches are ALWAYS a big deal and this match came off as something important. Crowd heat was awesome towards the end too. Omega went for the One Winged Angel but Kushida went for the hoverboard lock and eventually got it, securing the submission.

    Omega says that Kushida has now made the title garbage. Omega says he’ll clean him up. Kushida says lots of things have changed in the last year. He used to think the title was too far away for him, but now he wants to make sure it never leaves his grasp.

    Hirooki Goto is interviewed this week. He mentions that before, he only went to Osaka Jo Hall for concerts. He doesn’t want to comment on the match but he would have loved to be in the main event.

    Intercontinental Champion Hirooki Goto vs. Shinsuke Nakamura

    Jim Ross made a good comparison at the start of this bout, comparing Nakamura and Goto to Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart. It doesn’t fit perfectly, but there are some aspects here that work. This was a really great match. Everything just seamlessly clicked and these two were on a roll. Nakamura did everything well and got some cool nearfalls, including one where he straight up hit the boma ye and Goto kicked out. Finishes are so protected here that when people actually kick out of them, it’s a surprise. Goto powered back, hit his neckbreaker and walloped Nakamura with the shouten kai to retain the Intercontinental title. Another one of those matches where if you rewatch again, you kind of forget just how awesome it actually was.

    Nakamura in the post match interview said you should be interviewing the champion. He says there is magic to that belt. Goto cuts a rather short promo to the fans after winning, simply saying “cheers”. Backstage, he feels things have calmed down. He destroyed his path, and that’s something to take pride in. There’s only one thing left, and that’s the G1. He’ll take it with his own hands.

    Reflective interview: Goto says in the end, he broke Nakamura’s pattern, but there was still G1. He wants to fight in that tournament like they are all title matches.

    Great show this week. If you’ve been missing out and want to check out just one show, check this one out. It’s really strong in two great title matches.