#ADAM CHALLENGE HIM FOR THE IWGP BELT RIGHT NOW IMMEDIATELY

[banannabethchase]

Cereal Flirt

~

Mox huffs as he stands on his toes, trying to reach the top shelf. He could get there, he knows it, if it weren’t for this goddamned full arm cast.

“Fuckin’ Cocoa Puffs,” he grumbles. He stares at his bounty, mere inches from his fingertips, and wonders if throwing a box to knock over a box of Cocoa Puffs would cause too much damage.

“Uh, hey, dude.”

Mox turns around. “What?”

“Are you good?” His smile is a little too cute while his eyes are a little too smug. But they’re a green-blue that Mox has always been a sucker for, and his hair is curly and blonde, and Mox is too gay and too stupid for this.

“I – no.” Mox intended to say yeah, he’s fine, go away and annoy somebody else in the fancy juice aisle or whatever. But this guy is handsome and he’s thinking with his dick. “I can’t reach the Cocoa Puffs.”

“That’s all?” There’s a tiny twang in the accent, something that has Mox envisioning a cowboy hat. He glances down as the guy goes up on – yup. Cowboy boots. And an ass in shockingly tight jeans. He clears his throat. The guy hands him the box of cereal, gallant with a flourish. “There you go, man.”

Mox feels weirdly aflutter as he takes the cereal. “Thanks,” he says, and he hopes he isn’t blushing or anything.

The guy nods to his arm. “What’d you do to yourself?”

Mox grins. “Me and my bike underestimated a pothole.”

“You seem pretty proud of it.” That smile is great.

Mox shrugs and adjusts the basket hanging on the arm with his cast. “A little. Gets conversations started.” He can’t help himself from looking the guy up and down.

“You got a point there.” The guy smiles, then sticks out his left hand. “Adam Page.”

“Left hand shake?”

“You don’t have a right hand available.”

Mox looks down. “Oh. Right. Duh.” He reaches out his left hand and shakes. “Moxley. Jon.”

“Moxley Jon?”

“Jon Moxley,” he corrects, “Mox.”

“Mox.” Adam’s still shaking his hand, and Mox doesn’t think he’s ever liked his own name more. “You got a phone number, Mox?”

[eldesperadont]

@ AEW GIRLIES (gn) who are interested in NJPW lore

with All In coming up, I need fans that only know Kota as Kennys insane boyfriend and Jay as the silly Bullet Club bastard to know about their history with each other (and Kenny/Hangman) which spans 5 years at this point, even more if you count in Jays time as a trainee in njpw (2015/16), so he like.. watched and learned from them all – anyways lets go with the rambling recap

Starting with Jays first title win and how it came to that: early 2018, Kenny was in the midst of a power struggle in Bullet Club, his relationship with Cody was getting more strenuous by the day and the non Elite BC members were getting tired of their BS.

Kenny, trying to legitimise his position as a leader, thought recruiting new promising talent to his side would help, so he offered a young Switchblade Jay White “the opportunity of a lifetime”.

Jay accepted, only to attack him right after, and with that nothing could stop the threads holding Kennys BC together from rapidly unravelling.

Kenny would lose his US Heavyweight Championship to White soon after, and in the aftermath of the match even more. Hangman, finally taking a step out of his friend's shadow, got all up in Jays space, snatched the belt and obviously implied a challenge, but Kenny wouldnt have any of that. He pushed Adam aside and gave Jay his price back. (to the surprise of the crowd who expected Kenny to be more bitter apparently lol)

Enter Cody. Opportunistic and sinister as he was at the time he immediately stoked the flames, snapping at Kenny why he wouldnt let Hangman have that moment.

They seem to talk it out but whoops, Cody attacks Kenny after all, Adam helping him.

They are about to lay him out as Ibushi runs to Kennys aid, finally giving us the reunion people have been waiting for years.

In the following months a lot happens, Adam gets his match with Jay (and is read to filth by him - it’s essential to watch that promo, here) but doesnt succeed, the Golden Lovers and Young Bucks have an emotional feud, Cody continues being a menace with Hangman at his side, Kenny finally wins the IWGP Heavyweight belt, the Golden Elite was formed, Cody is a sad lil bitch now, they were all kinda friends again, oh and Bullet Club split fr*.

[*On one side you had Kenny and his friends, on the other BC originals Bad Luck Fale, Tama Tonga plus his younger brothers and technically their dad? Things were kinda messy but thats technically the BC that stayed in Japan and made Jay White their leader. The last real appearance of the Elite as BC was at the inaugural All In, their indie PPV.]

Alright end of 2018/beginning of 2019 - Kenny loses his IWGP belt at Wrestle Kingdom (njpws wrestlemania) and quietly leaves NJPW with the Bucks, Cody and Hangman, starting AEW (things behind the scenes didnt work out as expected and nooj didn’t wanna cooperate with them at first)

So yeah. Ibushi. He was all alone again, but in the summer of 2019 finally manages what he was so close to in the previous year: winning the G1 tournament.

He faced Jay White in the finals, who at that point firmly held Kennys position as Bullet Club leader and is the top gaijin of the company.

Both him and Ibushi were together with Kazuchika Okada and Tetsuya Naito the top of NJPW. And all four would be involved in the main events of the following Wrestle Kingdom. Jay and Okada as titleholders, Naito and Ibushi as challengers.

Well neither Jay or Kota came out victorious on the first WK night, but the following day, in a match for third place, Jay defeated Ibushi, making the latter the biggest loser of the event,,

Covid caused quite a mess in the following months - their next singles meeting wouldn't be till late 2020, during that years G1, where Jay gets another win over the Golden Star

but is unable to reach the finals, in contrast to Ibushi, who wins the whole tournament for a second time.

Jay doesn't wait and immediately brings up Kotas loss to him, demanding a match for the WK contract he's just won.

Alright bada bing bada boom Ibushi-

LOSES??

Yeah to the shock of everyone Jay actually managed to put himself in the main event for the following WK, thinking he'll face double champ Naito to dethrone him .. but Naito still wanted to face the G1 winner so Kota got his title shot regardless lol

so yeah we got Ibushi vs Naito on night one, and whoever wins that on day two against Jay

In complete contrast to the previous WK Ibushi would not only be victorious on the first night, but also finally beat Jay for good, becoming the undisputed double champ, and God. (their words not mine)

Which absolutely broke White, giving us a glimpse at whats really going on in the "Switchblade". He's so obsessed with success, finally wanting HIS moment, his era, and despite everything he's sacrificed it doesn't seem to happen..

(pls watch the whole promo, its an insane performance)

He'd show up for one last "contractually obligated" match, battered and bruised, taking the pin in a multiman tag match between Bullet Club and Chaos, before leaving everyone in the dark for month about whats next for him.

He'd stick with NJPW for two more years, returning even more unhinged than he already was.

Kota would go on with his reign as double champ, till NJPW unified the titles to create the IWGP World Championship (a highly unpopular move with the fans), which he's the inaugural champion for.

Jay would try his best in the New Japan Cup in hopes of getting another shot at Ibushi, but fall short in the quarterfinals - new focus new goal, he goes for the NEVER Openweight title, and becomes the first ever NJPW "Quadruple Crown" champ, having already held the IWGP US, Heavyweight and Intercontinental Championship at that point.

Ibushi, now with the IWGP World Championship, has his first proper defense with the new singles belt .. and loses to 2021 NJ Cup winner Will Ospreay, cutting his reign shorter than anyone expected.

His bad luck doesnt end there tho, despite making it to the G1 finals for the fourth time in a row, he breaks his arm in said match and is unable to continue. He'll not appear in a NJPW ring again. Mistreatment by staff which caused serious trouble in his private life has him decide against re-signing with the company.

Jay in the meantime would shake things up overseas, defending his NEVER title, debut in IMPACT, be on weird terms with the Elite, lose the NEVER title, debut in AEW, oh and not return to Japan. For a full year, missing out on key events, which had even his BC mates start asking questions.

After some rearranging within the club (kicking out old and recruiting new members) he’d finally return to Japan in the summer of 2022, swiftly dethroning IWGP World champ Okada, Jays last title reign in NJPW (youve might seen his first defence, at Forbidden door against Hangman, Cole and Okada).

He’d hold the title till early 2023 and in good old switchblade fashion be this 👌 close to realising his errors, only to blame everyone else and lose his mind over it, getting involved in a “loser leaves Japan” match against Hikuleo (who had turned his back on Jay) and afterwards, cause that somehow wasnt enough, a “loser leaves NJPW” match against Eddie Kingston. And thats how we got Jay White in AEW, mf is in exile and acts like nothing ever happened lmao

Ibushi, whos last match had been in October 2021, would finally return to the ring in March 2023, at Josh Barnetts 9th Bloodsport event, and make his AEW debut at Blood and Guts, reuniting with Kenny, the Bucks and Hangman as the Golden Elite :)

So yeah both Kota and Jay had quite different paths (that crossed a lot) towards AEW, and as someone who's been watching them for so long now I'm absolutely giddy to see them face one another again - if youd have told me a year ago that I'd get to see Kota and Jay in the same ring again, cause of KENNY of all things, I'd have imploded on the spot (positive)

📷 picture credit: NJPW World, one pic from Jays Instagram, one impact thumbnail and one aew thumbnail

‼️ feel free to ask about anything / correct me on info or spelling mistakes, english is not my mother tongue and im disabled so sometimes i mess things up

[wrestlingisfake]

Dominion preview

Kazuchika Okada vs. Jay White - Okada is seeking his 5th successful defense of the IWGP world championship. On May 1, White and Bullet Club attacked Okada and issued the challenge for this match. The winner here will likely respond to Adam Page, who challenged Okada for the title at Forbidden Door, an AEW-NJPW co-promotion in Chicago on June 26.

These two have a vicious history. After White rebuffed Kenny Omega's offer to join Bullet Club in January 2018, he was recruited into CHAOS by Okada. From day one Jay made it clear he was only out for himself. He finally proved it eight months later, when he turned on Okada alongside Okada's hype man Gedo. After Bullet Club turned on Omega and the Elite, White took over as the new leader and Okada's personal nemesis. White has had Okada's number ever since.

In singles matches, White is 3-1 against Okada, and even in tag matches White has a considerable advantage. Okada has only handed his ex-protege a single significant setback, but it's a big one. In April 2019 Okada defeated Jay in the main event at Madison Square Garden for the IWGP heavyweight title (the forerunner to today's world title). Naturally, White glosses over that loss when he crows about "singlehandedly" selling out that show.

The pandemic has helped keep these two apart, with White being largely absent from Japan during March-September 2020 and May 2021-May 2022. In the past year Okada has scored big wins over EVIL, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Kota Ibushi, Shingo Takagi, Will Ospreay, Zack Sabre Jr., and Tetsuya Naito. So Jay is the biggest challenge he has left. It's easy to imagine a title change happening so White can swoop in and shake up the main event scene with fresh matchups.

The one thing going for Okada is that he's Okada. He was the final boss of New Japan long before Roman Reigns made it cool in WWE. He's not unbeatable, but nearly every time you think it's time for him to lose, he just wins anyway. I gave up betting against him a long time ago. So I'm picking him to retain. And if I'm right, Hangman Page had better pack a lunch for Chicago.

SANADA vs. Will Ospreay - This was originally booked to be a three-way with Juice Robinson defending the IWGP United States title, despite reports that Juice suffered appendicitis on June 3. On June 9 Robinson did a promo refusing to do the match and claiming he's scheduled an appendectomy, so New Japan stripped him of the title. This is weird, whether the appendicitis thing is real or not--NJPW essentially advertised a three-way they must have known wasn't going to happen.

This championship has been snakebit for months now. Sanada and Ospreay last met in the New Japan Cup on March 17, in a match that had to be stopped when Sanada suffered an orbital bone fracture. The injury forced Sanada to vacate the US title on April 9. Ospreay was set to face Hiroshi Tanahashi for the belt on May 1, but Will was sidelined with COVID-19, so Tana beat Tomohiro Ishii to become the new champion. On May 18 Juice beat Tana, Ospreay, and Jon Moxley in a four-way to capture the title. Shortly thereafter, Ospreay was sidelined again with a kidney infection. So by the time Sanada returned on June 3 to issue a challenge to get his belt back, it wasn't immediately clear that he'd have anyone to challenge.

Ospreay returned to the ring earlier this week to make his AEW debut, so it looks like he's none the worse from that kidney problem. Assuming both guys are healthy, this should be a good-to-great match. Either guy would make sense as champion, so it's tough to pick a winner. I suppose I'm leaning slightly toward Sanada reclaiming his belt.

Tama Tonga vs. Karl Anderson - Tonga won the NEVER openweight title on May 1, and was immediately attacked by Anderson, so now Anderson gets a title shot. Both men were founding members of Bullet Club when the group was created in 2013. However, in February 2022 Jay White betrayed Tama and Tanga Loa to welcome Anderson and Doc Gallows back into the fold.

This feels like a crucial match for Tonga. He's been higher on the card before, but being third for the top as a defending singles champion is a big step up. A loss will probably knock him back where he was, further down the midcard. I'm pulling for Tama, but Bullet Club is dominating most of the championships in New Japan right now, so it would make a lot of sense for Anderson to pick up this one.

Shingo Takagi vs. Taichi - Shingo won the KOPW 2022 trophy from Taichi on April 25, so this is the rematch. KOPW matches always have wacky stipulations, so in this one pinfall counts are cumulative--the count in each pin attempt is added together, and whoever has the highest total after ten minutes is the winner. It sounds kind of stupid to me, but the April 25 match was similar (first man to 30 wins) and was surprisingly well received.

For most of its existence the KOPW title has been an excuse for Toru Yano to do wacky matches in the undercard. When Taichi captured the trophy things started to feel more serious, but a big part of that is the fact Taichi immediately offered a title shot to Shingo. With all due respect to Taichi, keeping the trophy on Takagi will make it mean more. Then again, for all I know New Japan doesn't want it to mean more, and would rather keep it at Taichi's level for a while. So this one's pretty tough to call. I'll be rooting for Shingo, though.

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Hirooki Goto - The winner of this match will face Jon Moxley on June 26 in Chicago, to determine an interim AEW men's world champion. The official titleholder, CM Punk, was originally scheduled to face Tanahashi on June 26. But Punk is sidelined with a foot injury. Whoever wins the interim title should eventually get a unification match with Punk down the line. So Tana may still get his chance to beat Punk to become the undisputed AEW world champion, but now there are a few more hoops to jump through.

In one-on-one matches, Tanahashi is 11-2-1 against Goto. But that's a series stretching back to their Young Lion days in 2004. In the past four years, they're 1-1. So although Tana has had a far more prestigious career, you can argue that he's slowed down enough that Goto has caught up to him. All the same, Goto doesn't have the star power to headline Forbidden Door, so there's very little chance he's going to win this one. I think these two can make us believe Goto could win for a few minutes, but he definitely won't win.

Bad Luck Fale & Chase Owens vs. Great-O-Khan & Jeff Cobb - Fale and Owens won the IWGP heavyweight tag team title from Khan and Cobb in a three-way on May 1, so this is the rematch. Cobb and Khan already have a feud with FTR and Roppongi Vice brewing for Forbidden Door, so I would expect them to win this match. Unless they're going to add Fale and Chase to that feud and book a four-way, in which case anything might happen. I think this show is bound to have at least one AEW run-in, and this match is probably the easiest place to do it.

EVIL & SHO & Yujiro Takahashi vs. Zack Sabre Jr. & Yoshinobu Kanemaru & El Desperado - Evil's team is defending the NEVER trios title, after Sabre and Kanemaru each scored wins over Sho during the last tour. It's vaguely interesting that they're pitting Evil's House of Torture (a subgroup within Bullet Club) against Suzuki-gun, since both factions are defined by their sadism. I'd rather see them beat up each other than the other factions, I suppose. But we'll see if this really lasts. I want Sabre's team to win, so I expect Evil's team to go over to frustrate me.

Doc Gallows vs. Toru Yano - Gallows is normally Karl Anderson's partner, so he doesn't have much to do right now while Anderson is chasing Tama Tonga for a singles title. (Tama's partner Tanga Loa is out with an injury, it seems.) So I guess he's looking to beat up Yano, but Yano isn't a pushover just because he's a comedy guy. I expect Gallows to win, but Yano should keep him on his toes for at least a few minutes.

Taiji Ishimori & Ace Austin & El Phantasmo vs. Hiromu Takahashi & Tetsuya Naito & BUSHI - Ishimori is the IWGP junior heavyweight champion, and Hiromu just won the Best of the Super Jr. tournament. Normally that would mean Ishimori vs. Hiromu for the title on this show, but for some reason the match was booked on June 21 instead. So for Dominion we just get a glorified preview match. All right, I guess.

The other big storyline here is that Austin has joined Bullet Club, turning on Alex Zayne in the process. But that issue will be addressed over in Impact Wrestling, so I don't expect much will come of it in this match.

Takahahsi should probably get the win here.

Ryusuke Taguchi & Master Wato & Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. TJP & Franceso Akira & Aaron Henare - This is a preview of Wato/Taguchi vs. TJP/Akira on June 20, for the IWGP junior heavyweight tag team title. Not much else to this. I think we're getting a title change, so I'm expecting Wato to get pinned here.