#Killer Inoki

[rf2610]

Toukon Inoki Michi: Puzzle de Daa! (Commercial - PlayStation 2)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonio_Inoki

[vintageprofessionalwrestling]

[lordmo]

random fighting game stuff I’ve picked up over the years PART 2: WILLIE WILLIAMS

That’s right, it’s been FAR too long since I posted Part 1 (which, if we’re being honest, could barely be considered contiguous at this point) but I felt it was appropriate to post an homage to a man that MOST of you fighting game nerds out there probably appreciate in one form or another, even if you’ve never heard his name.

Namely, this part of my punch-obsessed brain dwells on the topic of THIS man, Karateka “Bear Killer” Willie Williams (on the right):

(image taken from North Carolina’s Roanoke Daily Herald)

The reason that Willie Williams gets an article to himself is that his influence is felt throughout fighting game history to a frankly ridiculous extent. To understand why and how, let’s talk about who Willie Williams is.

Willie Williams (b. 1951) is an American kyokushin karateka who was mostly active in the mid to late ‘70s. He was a formidable and highly-devoted fighter who tried his damndest to follow in the path of legendary Kyokushin Karate founder, Mas Oyama. To this effect, Williams made the pilgrimage to Japan to continue his training, compete with the best and, ultimately, train with Oyama himself. In competition, Williams was dominant enough to earn a spot in the 1975 World Kyokushin Karate Tournament, where he supposedly gave a good performance, but failed to place in the final 8*.

(*note: I believe this might be from the 1984 tournament)

What would make Williams famous, though, was a popular documentary about the tournament itself. World’s Strongest Karate Part 2 (better known in English as Fighting Black Kings) was a film produced and directed by Ikki Kajiwara (author and creator of legendary manga series Ashita no Joe and Tiger Mask) focusing on the lives of several combatants as they trained for the karate world open.

Even though the film was heavily slanted in favor of the Japanese contestants, Willie Williams’ segments became legendary in their own right. In the sparring and fighting clips, Williams towered over his opponents and moved with impressive speed and ferocity for his size. In the training clips, he trained outdoors, preferring the solitude of the wilderness. In his interview segments, Williams discussed his intention to follow in the footsteps of the grandmaster, the legendary “Ox Killer” Mas Oyama, and to this extent he fought a fucking bear.

...  Yeah, sorry for not leading with that.

... This, of course, also being why Willie Williams carries the nickname “Bear Killer”.

After that, Willie Williams continued to train karate and fight in tournaments, eventually getting expelled from the Kyokushin committee for violating Oyama’s rules and accepting a worked (read: predetermined) “Wrestling vs. Karate” match with legendary Japanese pro wrestler, Antonio Inoki.

(image taken without permission from the Kansai Kyokushin Association website)

After retiring for several years, he returned to the Japanese mainstream in 1992 with Akira Maeda’s wildly-popular MMA/Shoot-Style Wrestling (predetermined/cooperative MMA) league, Fighting Network RINGS, which is where this .gif comes from:

... Looking familiar yet?

So, those of you who’ve stuck with me have probably noticed a few things so far! To show you what I mean, here are Jeffry McWild from Virtua Fighter, Zazie Muhaba from Fighter’s History/Karnov’s Revenge, and Marco Rodriguez (Khushnood Butt if you’re naughty) from Garou: Mark of the Wolves:

Besides the obvious visual similarities (in the first two, at least), all three have a very strong connection with nature and have stages set in the wilderness. Rodriguez is also portrayed as a karate pilgrim and devoted student of the Kyokugen (not to be confused with KyokuSHIN, of course. Of course...) school of Karate. Hell, Rodriguez’s stage even came with a bear in the background.

Hey, even Tekken got in on the fun, with Paul Phoenix and his rivalry with Kuma, the bear:

(from the Tekken 2 manual, thanks to @evilcleveroctopus for pointing it out and scanning it in)

Speaking of bears, even lesser-known games like Battle K-Road managed to represent:

(I stole this one from VGMuseum because I was too lazy to fire up MAME and get my own screenshot)

So, to recap, Willie Williams was a tall African-American Karateka, dedicated to finding the true path of karate and living his art to the fullest, and who also loved wilderness and fought a fucking bear. If you love fighting games, chances are… You love Willie Williams, even if you didn’t know it. So, let’s hear it for the Bear Killer! He’s probably as important to Japanese fighting games as Hulk Hogan, just in a less obvious (to western audiences) way.

[pwsuperstars]

SUPER BOWL OF WRESTLING 7 072279

TOKYO, JAPAN - JAPAN BOWL - ATTENDANCE 32,500

STEVE TRAVIS PINNED STAN STASIAK IN 9 MINUTES WITH A SUNSET FLIP

SUPERSTAR GRAHAM PINNED MIKE GRAHAM IN 14 MINUTES

YUKON PIERRE DOWNED MARK LEWIN IN 19 MINUTES WITH A THUMB TO THE THROAT

YUKON ERIC DOWNED KILLER KARL KOX WITH A THURNBUCKLE SMASH IN 12 MINUTES

HIGH CHIEF PETER MAIVIA DOWNED MANDO GUERRERO BY SUBMISSION WITH A POLYNESIAN CRAB IN 16 MINUTES

THE SHEIK PINNED HECTOR GUERRERO IN 12 MINUTES

GORILLA MONSOON DEFEATED MASKED SUPERSTAR BY DISQUALIFICATION IN 3 MINUTES AFTER J.J. DILLON KICKED THE REFEREE

GENE ANDERSON PINNED PAT PATTERSON IN 25 MINUTES

CHAVO GUERRERO AND CRAZY LUKE GRAHAM BATTLED TO A 30-MINUTE DRAW

BOBBY DUNCUM PINNED BOB GEIGEL IN 5 MINUTES AFTER GEIGEL WAS SPRAYED IN THE FACE BY A MYSTERIOUS SUBSTANCE BY J.J. DILLON

STERLING DOWNED JIMMY VALIANT WITH AN ELBOW SMASH IN 24 MINUTES

ANTONIO INOKI DEFEATED JERRY VALIANT BY SUBMISSION WITH AN ABDOMINAL STRETCH IN 13 MINUTES

GIANT BABA DOWNED JOHNNY VALIANT IN 18 MINUTES WITH A LARIAT

COWBOY BILL WATTS BEAT SPIROS ARION WITH AN OKLAHOMA STAMPEDE IN 19 MINUTES

JUMBO TSURUTA PINNED DOMINIC DENUCCI WITH A BACK SUPLEX IN 13 MINUTES

ERNIE LADD DOWNED CHIEF JAY STRONGBOW WITH A THUMB TO THE THROAT IN 15 MINUTES

BOB BACKLUND PINNED THE VIKING IN 8 MINUTES WITH A MONKEY FLIP

JOE STECHER PINNED BARON MIKEL SCICLUNA WITH A HEADLOCK TAKEDOWN IN 8 MINUTES

GENE ANDERSON DREW WITH SUPERSTAR GRAHAM IN 30 MINUTES

STERLING GOLDEN DOWNDED STEVE TRAVIS IN 21 MINUTES WITH A BODY SLAM

GIANT BABA PINNED YUKON PIERRE WITH A LARIAT IN 14 MINUTES

COWBOY BILL WATTS DEFEATED GORILLA MONSOON BY SUBMISSION WITH A BOSTON CRAB IN 15 MINUTES

JUMBO TSURUTA PINNED HIGH CHIEF PETER MAIVIA WITH A DOUBLE UNDERHOOK IN 20 MINUTES

ERNIE LADD DEFEATED THE SHEIK BY DISQUALIFICATION IN 5 MINUTES AFTER GENERAL SKANDOR AKBAR KNOCKED THE REFEREE UNCONSCIOUS

BOB BACKLUND DEFEATED BOBBY DUNCUM BY DISQUALIFICATION IN 3 MINUTES AFTER J.J. DILLON KICKED THE REFEREE

JOE STECHER PINNED YUKON ERIC WITH A DOUBLE WRISTLOCK IN 16 MINUTES

JUMBO TSURUTA DOWNED GIANT BABA WITH A DROPKICK IN 7 MINUTES

ERNIE LADD BEAT ANTONIO INOKI BY COUNTOUT IN 2 MINUTES AFTER THROWING HIM OUT OF THE RING

BOB BACKLUND PINNED STERLING GOLDEN IN 1 MINUTE AFTER ARNOLD SKAALAND POINTED OUT A WEAKNESS AND A DISTRACTED GOLDEN WAS ROLLED UP

JOE STECHER PINNED COWBOY BILL WATTS WITH A DOUBLE WRISTLOCK IN 12 MINUTES

BOB BACKLUND DOWNED ERNIE LADD WITH A SUPLEX IN 14 MINUTES

JOE STECHER PINNED JUMBO TSURUTA IN 14 MINUTES WITH A BODY SCISSORS

JOE STECHER PINNED BOB BACKLUND WITH A FRONT CHANCERY IN 25 MINUTES TO WIN THE 36-MAN TOURNAMENT FOR $180,000 AND RETAIN THE UNDISPUTED WORLD TITLE

[uwfprowrestling]

SALT LAKE CITY UT 050182

SALT LAKE CITY UT - THE SALT PALACE

CHALLENGE FOR THE CHAMPIONSHIP 8 QUALIFYING MATCHES

STRANGLER LEWIS PINNED THE GIANT BABA WITH A ROLLING HAMMERLOCK IN 17 MINUTES

BUDDY ROGERS DOWNED CHAVO GUERRERO WITH A JUMPING KNEE SMASH IN 9 MINUTES

ANTONIO INOKI BEAT JIMMY VALIANT BY SUBMISSION WITH AN ABDOMINAL STRETCH IN 16 MINUTES

SUPERSTAR GRAHAM PINNED GORILLA MONSOON WITH A BACK BODYDROP IN 22 MINUTES

LOU THESZ DOWNED DOMINIC DENUCCI WITH AN AIRPLANE SPIN IN 7 MINUTES

JUMBO TSURUTA DOWNED MANDO GUERRERO WITH A JAPANESE KNEE SMASH IN 2 MINUTES

FARMER BURNS BESTED KILLER KARL KOX WITH AN ARMDRAG & BODYSLAM IN 7 MINUTES

[vurnett]

Antler Inoki is a minor character from the Street Fighter series. He is a famous Japanese wrestler that had fought other famous wrestlers before he retired, such as SASA Nishiki (Vivian Nishiki’s father), Meteorito Jr., and Mike Haggar. Having an unusual motion sense, he was an active giant killer. He was familiar with several foreign organizations, calling various wrestlers from different countries to challenge him. He has a fan club that delivers Antler goods every month.

#Antler Inoki

[lostinyourears]

THE G1 HYPE TRAIN #2 : Antonio Inoki’s G1 Finals(Only those on NJPW World)

I’ll preface this by saying that I’m only covering the ones on NJPW World, which sadly isn’t all of them. 

Antonio Inoki is of course the face of early NJPW and the one who founded the company back in 1972. Much like Undertaker’s unbeatable streak of 21 wins at Wrestlemania, Inoki’s 10 G1/World League/ect wins will likely never be matched with the 2nd place being 5 wins for Masahiro Chono. 

Short of someone taking over NJPW booking and really wanting to elevate themselves, no one will ever get 10 again or even 5 which seems like plenty. To be fair, wrestling was smaller in the 1970′s and 1980′s when Inoki won all of these and didn’t win 10 in a row, these 10 wins are over a 14 year period.

Antonio Inoki vs Seiji Sakaguchi 1974′s Inaugural World League (The video includes all 3 of the tiebreaker bracket matches, this particular match starts at about 15 minutes in)

(Card with Guide)

Tournament Format

Format for the first ever World League was interesting, 2 groups of 8, 1 Japanese and the other Gaijin(foreigners). The first round would see 8 Gaijin vs 8 Japanese guys in singles matches that awarded points, with the 4 on each side who had the most points advancing to another bracket. 

The winner of that bracket was to be crowned winner, but they had a 3 way tie : Antonio Inoki, Seiji Sakaguchi and Killer Karl Krupp. Who had a tie breaker bracket. 

I chose to have Antonio Inoki vs Seiji Sakaguchi be the representative of this tie breaker bracket as it was the longest match and certainly the best of the 3. 

How is it?

Good, though it might be like watching a movie in Russian for some. It’s a good peek into the catch wrestling roots of NJPW. Inoki and many of his peers from this era learned of catch wrestling from Frank Gotch. Inoki would call his style “Strong Style”, which of course is still used to label Japanese wrestling.

Seiji Sakaguchi is one of Inoki’s peers both having wrestled in the NJPW/AJPW precursor JWA which of course was founded by The founding father of Japanese Pro Wrestling Rikidozan. Seiji Sakaguchi was never as high on the totem pole as Inoki(not many were), still he had a decent career in NJPW and would win this tournament himself twice in his career. 

This match is probably the lowest rated for me as the finish is screwy and kinda makes the previous 20 minutes feel like a waste and the villain Killer Karl Krupp didn’t age particularly well and both his matches in this tiebreaker bracket aren’t exactly thrilling.

My Highlight of the match :

Antonio Inoki vs Andre the Giant 1978′s  MSG League Finals

(Card with guide)

Tournament Format

9 man round robin tournament with the 2 top point scorers going onto a final round vs one another. Andre destroyed in scoring having 37 points to Inoki’s 29.

How was it?

It’s up there amongst my favorite from this series of G1′s. If I told you a guy from Europe who is going to target the super over Japanese baby faces limbs with expert precision, you’d probably assume ZSJ vs Okada.

Nope, Andre vs Inoki nearly 40 years ago. It may seem like hyperbole, but I think I can say with certainty that this is the best Andre the Giant match I’ve ever seen. I loved every second of it and cannot believe the big guys work rate here. One of the most surprising things I’ve seen since I started this blog. Which granted has only been 2 months, but I think it’ll stay at the top of the list for a long while.  

The ending again is a little wonky, but at least it’s not a screwy finish followed by a 5 minute squash. 

My highlight of the match

Antonio Inoki vs Hulk Hogan 1984′s International Wrestling Grand Prix Finals

(Card with Guide)

Tournament Format 

Not exactly sure, wikipedia lists the the end of the IWGP League as the 14th of June, but Hulk Hogan wasn’t in that. So think this was a 12 man round robin, instead of having a final, the final was for the IWGP title which Hulk Hogan was holding at the time. Like now how the winner faces the IWGP champ at WK.

How was it?

Good, one of the first things I think many smarky wrestling fans learn as a fun fact is that Hulk Hogan had a decent work rate in NJPW. Which is true, Hulkster here still has his leg drop here, but will mix in suplexes and armbars too. 

This is a really run match and is basically the wrestling equivalent of Batman vs Punisher or Superman vs The Hulk, two icons matching up in the ring. The false finish after false finish makes the ending fall a little flat. One of the nice things from this entry onward on the list : the finishes stop being so screwy. Though the less than stellar finishes of these first three matches might lessen them slightly, I think all three are great Inoki bouts. 

My highlight of the match

Antonio Inoki vs Dick Murdoch 1986′s International Wrestling Grand Prix Final

(Card with guide)

Tournament Format

2 Blocks of 7 a piece, the two top point winners of each block going on to a semi-final round then the winners of each of those doing a final. Inoki went over Andre in the semi-finals while Dick Murdoch went over Akira Maeda.

How’s the match?

Oh it’s a blast, Inoki is at his most babyface here. With Dick taunting him loudly throughout the match and Inoki being cheered loudly from the very start people are chanting, ‘INOKI! INOKI! INOKI!’ which also happened in the Andre match causing frustration for both these Gaiji finalists. 

This match is the longest out of this group and even the longest accounting for the ones that aren’t on NJPW World. It gives it an epic feel clocking in at just over 30 minutes. These two throw everything at one another. This is also a great show of how Inoki and NJPW’s style evolved over the years. While Dick works Inoki’s arm and there is plenty of submission holds, the mixing in of grappling helps vary the offense and keep this bout from feeling too long. 

My highlight of the match

Antonio Inoki vs Masa Saito 1987′s  International Wrestling Grand Prix Final

(card with guide)

Tournament Format

2, 7 men block the point winners of each going on to take each other on in the finals, the winner being crowned IWGP Champion.

How’s the match?

Hard hitting and rather brutal, the two men at the time had a heated rivalry going on. Which most famously had them have a brutal war vs one another called ‘Ganryujima Island Death‘ which was a 2 hour+ match with each another on an island, April 10th 1987 before this match took place in the Summer. 

So by this time both men hated each other and Masa Saito shows it throughout the match. Perhaps the best spot imo had to be when Saito just cleanly clotheslines Inoki right off the apron. A great pairing of the two and a great final for Inoki. 

My highlight of the match

Finals I couldn’t find : Killer Karl Krupp vs Antonio Inoki finals of the 1975 World League,  Stan Hansen vs Antonio Inoki which were the 1979/1980/1981 MSG Finals, Antonio Inoki vs Hulk Hogan 1983 MSG Finals(Which Inoki didn’t win), and Antonio Inoki vs Riki Choshu, they tied in points for the league 6 a piece. I think they probably fought to determine who won, but I cannot find it on NJPW World, though Inoki did get the right to fight Fujinami for the title which is on NJPW World.

My personal ranking for the ones listed here :

1. Dick Murdoch ‘86

2. Andre The Giant ‘78

3. Masa Saito ‘87

4. Hulk Hogan ‘84

5. Seiji Sakaguchi ‘74

Highlights from all the matches :

The Inoki Challenge! Every Inoki G1 Final match highlights

[geekade]

WILW: Games - Pro Wrestling

Ignoring the fact that I should have thought of this for January, I have decided to do something a bit different for this year of WILW. Each month the first post of the month will highlight a different wrestling game. There have been quite a few over the years and I have played most of them. And in the almost two and a half years of doing this column I've only ever featured one video game. (WWE No Mercy here) Well, consider that oversight corrected. For the first installment of WILW Games I wanted to jump back in time to one of my favorite wrestling games of all time, the simply named Pro Wrestling for the NES.

Releasing in March of 1987 for the NES (check out the Stone Age Gamer Podcast the last week of march to hear Kris and i gush about this game right here, on geekade.com) Pro Wrestling was one of the Black Box NES sports titles. This line featured such creatively, obtusely named games as Golf, Baseball, Tennis, and Slalom. All joking aside this line was dedicated to straight up representations of these sports done with trademark Nintendo charm. And while many of these titles were great, none of them featured more Nintendoness than Pro Wrestling. The game was simple. Select one of six different wrestlers, win the VWA title, and defend your belt all in an effort to wrestle the mysterious, nigh unfair Great Puma. Being an NES game, the moveset was extremely limited compared to today's wrestling games. Matches consisted of relentlessly spamming your most effective move, bodyslam/suplex/backbreaker, until your opponent was worn down enough to receive a finishing maneuver. Hit your finisher, cover for the 1,2,3, rinse and repeat. It should have been boring. The novelty should have worn off rather quickly. Except that it wasn't boring and the novelty never really has quite worn off. This is a game I go back to often and one I dream about having a new version of. As a gamer who has been burned by Nintendo systems of recent memory, a new Pro Wrestling would bring me back.

Limited gameplay aside, what really hooked me on this game was the character design. In the 80's Pro Wrestling was much more character driven than it is today insofar as gimmicks were concerned. There were far more Amazons than King Slenders jockeying for mat time. The most basic wrestler here, Antonio Inoki, I mean Fighter Hayabusa, would have been right at home in New Japan. The rest though were WWE through and through. Giant Panther was equal parts Von Erich and Hulk Hogan. King Slender was Nature Boy Ric Flair. Star Man was Mil Mascaras, Kin Corn Karn was Killer Khan, and the Amazon was obviously... well Blanka's father I suppose. Each wrestler had a unique finisher with Star Man's somersault kick obviously being the coolest. Nintendo managed to capture the spirit of professional wrestling in a very authentic way. What I wouldn't give to have an updated version of this game with new characters and online play. Make it happen Nintendo.

Playing the game with a modern gamers sensibility, it still holds up. While the final match against Great Puma is as unbalanced as could be, (really, what boss fights back then weren't) the rest of the game was very well balanced. Did it devolve into a button masher when playing two player? Absolutely it did. Did it suffer because of that? No, no it did not. A wrestling game that was a blast to play single or two player, had amazing characters, cool moves, and fantastic music? I'm in. Pro Wrestling had a ton of cool features like the ability to climb the ropes or do moves in and outside of the ring, a real time ref on screen, a full crowd, camera men, and ringside commentators that while commonplace today were a visual marvel in 1987. One of my favorite titles for the NES and one of the best wrestling games of all time, if you haven't played Pro Wrestling then do yourself a favor and find a copy, a friend, and a few hours to kill. I promise you won't regret it. Make sure to follow me on twitter, @geekadedan, and let me know your favorite memories with Pro Wrestling or what you would like to see in a new game. And make sure to check back next week right here on geekade.com for more reasons to love pro wrestling. Until then...

[gdwessel]

NJPW 49th Anniversary Show - 3/4/2021: New Japan Cup Begins, Final IWGP Heavyweight + Intercontinental Defenses; Wrestle Grand Slam Dates Include Tokyo Dome Show 5/29/2021; FinJuice Challenge For Impact World Tag Belts at Sacrifice 3/13/2021; Scurll Not Appearing in NJPW Following Reports

Strong Style Story Podcast Episode 73 on PWOM Podcast Network

Today is the day New Japan Pro Wrestling observes its 49th Anniversary, and you can see it now on NJPWWorld. The traditional day is usually March 6th at Tokyo Ota Ward Gymnasium, the date and location of the very first NJPW card in 1972, and indeed, Saturday's New Japan Cup show will happen there. The final IWGP Heavyweight & Intercontinental defenses took place here today, as well as the opening two matches in the New Japan Cup 2021. NJPW 49th Anniversary Show - March 4, 2021, Tokyo Nippon Budokan (NJPWWorld)

Hirooki Goto [CHAOS], Tomoaki Honma, Gabriel Kidd & Master Wato d. Taichi, Minoru Suzuki, Zack Sabre Jr. & DOUKI [SZKG] (Goto > DOUKI, GTR, 10:39)

EVIL, KENTA, Chase Owens, Jay White & Taiji Ishimori [Bullet Club] d. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Juice Robinson, David Finlay Jr., Toa Henare & Ryusuke Taguchi (EVIL > Taguchi, EVIL STO, 7:39) 

Kazuchika Okada, Tomohiro Ishii & SHO [CHAOS] d. Shingo Takagi, SANADA & BUSHI [Los Ingobernables] (SHO > BUSHI, Shock Arrow, 9:13)

New Japan Cup 2021 1st Round: Jeff Cobb [United Empire] d. Satoshi Kojima (Tour Of The Islands, 11:50)

New Japan Cup 2021 1st Round: Great O-Khan [United Empire] d. Tetsuya Naito [Los Ingobernables] (Referee Stoppage, 20:20)

IWGP Heavyweight & IWGP Intercontinental Championships: Kota Ibushi ©© d. El Desperado [SZKG] (Kamigoye, 20:36) - Ibushi succeeds his 3rd & final Heavyweight defense - Ibushi succeeds his 4th & final Intercontinental defense

Kota Ibushi defends the titles in their last hurrah, and will now be the inaugural IWGP World Heavyweight Champion, which, we have yet to see that title belt. Post-main, he begged Hiroshi Tanahashi at ringside, to watch as Ibushi upholds his promise of broadening and expanding the world of wrestling, and not just in NJPW either. The United Empire had a good day at the office, with Cobb and O-Khan beating Kojima and Naito respectively. Cobb moves on to face EVIL, whilst O-Khan will get the winner of Toru Yano v. Bad Luck Fale tomorrow. Those matches will take place on 3/11/2021. I'm sure a segment of the internet was upset at Naito's loss but I chose to live in peace today rather than find out. Otherwise, we had prelude tag matches for New Japan Cup matches, with FinJuice and KENTA returning to action in Japan. More on FinJuice below.

During the intermission, NJPW announced two major shows for May, under the banner of Wrestle Grand Slam. The first one will be on 5/15/2021 at Yokohama Stadium, another outdoor baseball stadium show, following the success of Summer Struggle in Jingu last August at Tokyo Jingu Stdiuam. This will be NJPW's debut at this venue. 

The other date is on 5/29/2021 at the Tokyo Dome. This will be the first time NJPW has run a Tokyo Dome show outside of the traditional January 4 rally, since Toukon Souzou New Chapter on 10/8/2005. I don't mind telling you that the headlining match of that show, which saw Brock Lesnar beat then IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuyuki Fujita and Masahiro Chono in a three-way match to win the title, was one of the worst matches in NJPW history, and would eventually lead to Lesnar legitimately stealing the belt and giving it back to Antonio Inoki when Inoki formed Inoki Genome Federation. That aside, there was a time when NJPW, and indeed other companies, would regularly run the Tokyo Dome, although AJPW and NOAH did so less frequently than NJPW. Now only NJPW does it, once per year, however that seems to be changing now. More updates on these new shows as they happen.

FinJuice featured once again on Impact Wrestling this past Tuesday, teaming with the Good Brothers ("Machine Gun" Karl Anderson & Doc Gallows) to defeat the combined tandem of XXXL (Acey Romero & Larry D) and Reno Scum (Adam Thornstowe & Luster the Legend), with the Impact World Tag Team champions getting a win after a Magic Killer. The Good Brothers and FinJuice argued post-match, and in the end, Doc Gallows challenged FinJuice for a title match at Impact's Sacrifice event on 3/13/2021, in a battle of former IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team champions. I'm going to guess that match has already been taped, since both Juice and Finlay are in Japan for the New Japan Cup. That wasn't the only mention of NJPW, as AEW owner Tony Khan namedropped the company during one of his "paid advertisement" segments that he's been doing ever since this NJPW-AEW-Impact co-promotion has started.

Last week we reported that Marty Scurll was backstage at the lastest round of NJPW Strong tapings, and had even filmed an angle with Rocky Romero. Yesterday, the Twitter account of rival podcast Super J-Cast reported that "according to sources," those plans have been dropped and Scurll will not be featured on NJPW programming anytime soon. I am pretty sure the outcry against using a sex pest is what caused this. So good for us. NJPW don't usually take notice of things like fan outcry, but it would seem in this case they did. Fightful.com's Sean Ross Sapp posted further that several of the backstage talents were not happy Scurll was there, and would not have worked the tapings had they known. Whatever the case, it looks like NJPW Strong will be Scurll-free for the immediate future. And good riddance, too.

Tomorrow starts the New Japan Cup tour proper, with two more first-round matches. This will be live on NJPWWorld.

New Japan Cup 2021 - 3/5/2021, Tokyo Korakuen Hall (NJPWWorld)

Tomoaki Honma, Gabriel Kidd & Yuya Uemura v. Minoru Suzuki, Zack Sabre Jr. & DOUKI [SZKG]

Hiroshi Tanahashi, YOSHI-HASHI [CHAOS], David Finlay Jr. & Tiger Mask IV v. EVIL, Yujiro Takahashi, Chase Owens & Taiji Ishimori [Bullet Club]

Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima & Master Wato v. Will Ospreay, Jeff Cobb & Great O-Khan [United Empire]

New Japan Cup 2021 1st Round: Toru Yano [CHAOS] v. Bad Luck Fale [Bullet Club]

New Japan Cup 2021 1st Round: Hirooki Goto [CHAOS] v. Taichi [SZKG]

Strong Style Story Podcast Episode 73 on PWOM Podcast Network

[gdwessel]

New Japan Cup 2019 Night 2 - 3/9/2019; El Phantasmo Teased for Bullet Club; King Kong Bundy Free Matches on NJPWWorld

The first round of New Japan Cup matches continued this morning, and you can see it now on NJPWWorld.

- 3/9/2019, Aichi Prefectural Gymnasium (NJPWWorld)

Chase Owens & Taiji Ishimori [Bullet Club] d. YOSHI-HASHI [CHAOS] & Tomoaki Honma (Owens > Honma, Package Driver, 7:13)

Satoshi Kojima, Toru Yano [CHAOS] & Tomohiro Ishii [CHAOS] d. Minoru Suzuki, Davey Boy Smith Jr. & Taichi [SZKG] (Yano > Smith, FPNU, 10:58)

EVIL & Shingo Takagi [Los Ingobernables] d. Zack Sabre Jr. & TAKA Michinoku [SZKG] (Takagi > TAKA, Pumping Bomber, 6:24)

Kota Ibushi, Hirooki Goto [CHAOS] & Juice Robinson [Lifeblood] d. Tetsuya Naito, SANADA & BUSHI [Los Ingobernables] (Robinson > BUSHI, Pulp Friction, 11:08)

Hiroshi Tanahashi, Togi Makabe, HIroyoshi Tenzan & Yuji Nagata d. Shota Umino, Colt Cabana [ROH], Ryusuke Taguchi & Manabu Nakanishi (Makabe > Nakanishi, King Kong Knee Drop, 11:10)

New Japan Cup 1st Round: Lance Archer [SZKG] d. Toa Henare (Blackout, 11:11)

New Japan Cup 1st Round: Mikey Nicholls [CHAOS] d. Hikuleo [Bullet Club] (Mikey Bomb, 8:55)

New Japan Cup 1st Round: Will Ospreay [CHAOS] d. Bad Luck Fale [Bullet Club] (Hurricanrana, 11:30)

New Japan Cup 1st Round: Kazuchika Okada [CHAOS] d. Michael Elgin (Rainmaker, 24:06)

The next batch of 2nd round matches are now set for 3/14/2019: Okada v. Nicholls, and Ospreay v. Archer. So yeah, they are definitely pushing this Giant Killer shtick for Ospreay now. Okada said post-main next time he is in Aichi he will be both New Japan Cup winner and IWGP Heavyweight Champion. 

You might have seen the teaser video during yesterday’s show showing off a forthcoming new Bullet Club member. (And if you didn’t here you go.) That member is Canadian wrestler El Phantasmo, most recently known for his work in RevPro, where he is the 2018 winner of the British J-Cup. No word on when exactly he will be making his debut in NJPW.

El Phantasmo is a decent enough worker, but I’m a little concerned on two fronts. First, right when they get the Bullet Club to a manageable number of members for a stable (5 or 6 is perfect, 7 is pushing it), they want to add more. (Not even counting the adjacent members like Robbie Eagles, Rey Bucanero and Gino “Juicy” Gambino.) I understand BC maybe “needs” more juniors but we’re getting back to the bloat here. Second, once again we have a focus on gaijin talent, irrespective of the Elite finally fucking off from NJPW. Sure, Shota and Ren have been showing out lately, but at least one of them is surely about to go on excursion, and there’s not a native talent coming in, or up, that will fill their spot(s) on the card either. Not saying NJPW should raid other promotions either (they shoudn’t) but for all the talk of Ayato Yoshida signing on from K-DOJO, that has yet to happen, and he’s not even on this tour so far.  I don’t know. The signs are a little worrisome about the continued direction for NJPW, even if the product has been way better since WK13...

On a related note, NJPWWorld has put up several free videos in tribute to the late King Kong Bundy, including several tag matches featuring Bundy against Antonio Inoki (there is another one that features Bundy in a 6-man against Andre the Giant from 8/3/1985, but that is not a free match). Check them out if you want to see some NJPW from years gone by.

Tomorrow’s show is probably the best show of the 1st round on paper, so I would highly suggest watching this one for sure. The full card has not been released but the Cup matches alone make this enticing.

- 3/10/2019, Hyogo Baycom Gymnasium (NJPWWorld)

New Japan Cup 1st Round: Hiroyoshi Tenzan v. Ryusuke Taguchi

New Japan Cup 1st Round: Hiroshi Tanahashi v. Shota Umino

New Japan Cup 1st Round: EVIL [Los Ingobernables] v. Zack Sabre Jr. [SZKG]

New Japan Cup 1st Round: Kota Ibushi v. Tetsuya Naito [Los Ingobernables]

Strong Style Story Episode Fifty Now on Pro Wrestling Only

[uwfprowrestling]

LOS ANGELES 021479

LOS ANGELES CA - LOS ANGELES SPORTS ARENA - CHALLENGE FOR THE CHAMPIONSHIP 5 QUALIFYING MATCHES

THE VIKING BEAT YUKON ERIC BY SUBMISSION WITH A NERVE PINCH IN 19 MINUTES

CHAVO GUERRERO PINNED ROGER KIRBY IN 26 MINUTES FOLLOWING A FOREARM UPPERCUT

OMAR ATLAS DEFEATED KILLER KARL KOX BY SUBMISSION WITH A SLEEPERHOLD IN 18 MINUTES

BOB GEIGEL DEFEATED MIKE GRAHAM BY COUNTOUT AFTER 21 MINUTES AFTER TOSSING HIM OVER THE TOP ROPE

STERLING GOLDEN PINNED PAT PATTERSON IN 8 MINUTES AFTER A THUNDER SLAM

BOBBY DUNCUM DEFEATED NIKITA BREZNIKOV BY COUNTOUT IN 9 MINUTES

HIGH CHIEF PETER MAIVIA DEFEATED LORD ALFRED HAYES BY SUBMISSION WITH A BACKBREAKER IN 14 MINUTES

JUMBO TSURUTA DEFEATED THE BAT BY SUBMISSION WITH A SPINNING TOEHOLD IN 13 MINUTES

BOB BACKLUND PINNED THE MASKED SUPERSTAR IN 20 MINUTES

SUPERSTAR GRAHAM BEAT MARK LEWIN BY SUBMISSION WITH A BEARHUG IN 3 MINUTES

GIANT BABA DOWNED STAN STASIAK IN 26 MINUTES WITH A DOUBLE AXE CHOP

COWBOY BILL WATTS PINNED ANTONIO INOKI WITH AN ELBOW SMASH IN 19 MINUTES

ERNIE LADD DOWNED THE SHEIK IN 6 MINUTES WITH A BIG BOOT TO THE FACE