#manabu goto

[mensfactory]

Live painting a Lamborghini Aventador SVJ 

Elisa Chana Cecchetti Art

[enbywrestlingfan]

Tatsutoshi Goto vs. Manabu Nakanishi - NJPW G1 Climax 2005 (08/06/2005)

[pain-suffering-even]

headcanons: Tanaka Kenzo

content warning for sexual assault/rape (of a minor) and cage fights/fight club

Quick headcanons -

Name: Tanaka Kenzo

Age: 22

Gender: Male

DOB/Place: December 19th, 2038 in Kobe*, Japan

Rank/Type: S Rank Tank

Guild/Occupation: - Draw Sword Guild

Past Occupation(s): Cashier

Skills:

Weapons: Lefty and Righty (his fists)

Family: Hamasaki Rin (mom) (unknown)

Tanaka Masao (dad) (unknown)

Tanaka Nozomi (younger sister) (unknown)

Tanaka Shigeru (younger brother) (unknown)

^ biological ^

Kutsuki Manabu (adoptive dad) (deceased)

^ fun fact: kutsuki means decayed/rotting tree and manabu means learn ^

Aikawa Makoto (adopted brother) (alive)

^ white skinny nerdy brunette with the glasses ^

Ebina Susumu (adopted brother) (alive)

^ large pacific islander gamer with adhd ^

Chiba Nanami (adopted brother) (alive)

^ tall black artist missing 3 fingers on his right hand ^

Fueki Takuya (adopted brother) (alive)

^ quiet hoodie kid paralyzed from the waist down ^

sorry he has so much family - i promise it makes more sense when you read the short story about his past, but i admit it looks like a mess seeing all the names together :') i hope the characterizations help a little

Core headcanons -

Hidden talent: Good with fixing watches (and other small appliances) 

Favorite food: Fried octopus 

What motivates them: The desire to prove himself wrong, that he was strong back then in his fighting days and he is strong now too, and that becoming an S ranker didn’t just make him strong, he earned his spot 

Treasured possession: His dad’s red scarf 

Deepest secret: His scars are from when he dealt with underground fights, thus he makes up a story each time 

Best/Worst thing to happen to them: Moving out with his brothers and his friends/

Random memories: Getting a crush on his manager at the corner store he worked at after he moved out, during fight season him and his friends would crowd into one bed despite there being so many of them, playing Minecraft for the first time and being so terrified of the creepers that his brothers have to help him play, everyone crowding into the bathroom to take care of the kids that came back from fighting, him and his friends getting drunk for the first time and absolutely trashing their apartment, going on a road trip to the beach with Atsushi and having the best time of his life digging a hole in the sand,

Best friend/Worst enemy: Atsushi Kumamoto/His adoptive father

Good/Bad traits: Strong, reliable, caring, observant /Insecure, avoids conflict, 

Things they’ve done/like to do: Start the day with a coffee and gossip with Atsushi, chose a lucky pocket watch for each day, wrestle Akari whenever she gets too bossy during a raid, suddenly pick up his friends to scare the shit out of them, mixing energy drinks and coffee in the morning because he likes the “tingling feeling behind his eyes for the rest of the day,” 

Personality type: “Entertainer” ESFP-A (86% extraverted, 14% introverted; 13% intuitive, 87% observant; 32% thinking, 68% feeling; 28% judging, 72% prospecting; 56% assertive, 44% turbulent)

Nervous habit: Rubbing the back of his neck/his face, resorting to a boxer stance 

Things they’re afraid of: Bugs especially flying ones, underground areas, thunder and lightning, 

Things they want to accomplish: Figure out how to restore antiques, find his biological dads old antique shop and see if its still open, try and find his biological siblings just to check up on them, 

Additional headcanons -

Unlike the others, he doesn't mind that he never gets to see Goto Ryuji around the guild because he's very intimidated by the man

He looks tough as shit but the moment you get hurt he's like "Are you ok? You want me to carry you? Here's some water, lemme go get dad," aka Sugimoto Reiji

Him and Akari banter so fucking much it gives everyone a headache. He banters with no one else, usually because he only gets snarky once provoked

Not really an outdoorsy person, hates the heat and the bugs and the dirt. Somehow the team found themselves camping after being convinced by Akari, and Kenzo is unsurprisingly the one who whined the most

He really likes restoring antiques, especially old clocks. Has a small collection of pocket watches he’s restored but unwilling to sell

Spends a lot of time with Atsushi because he feels like Atsushi will never judge him for anything, which leads to him being rather soft around him, something he would sooner die than do around Akari or Tatsumi

Their Timeline -

Age 10: gets adopted

3 years pass

Age 13: first fight

Age 14: the sexual assault first happens

4 years pass

Age 18: Runs away from foster home (Tokyo's Red Gate Incident happens) 

Age 19: realizes he's an S rank + joins the Draw Sword Guild 

3 years pass

Age 22: now 

[pwrestlingxpress]

Match Card and Order set for June 10 Events

Last Thursday, Pro Wrestling NOAH announced their match card for their June 10, 2023 event entitled "Sunny Voyage 2023" taking place in Yokohama. In case you missed it, here's the match card down below:

Opening Match: Eita vs. Seiki Yoshioka

Match #2: Atsushi Kotoge and Junta Miyawaki vs. Yoshinari Ogawa and Kai Fujimura

Match #3: Chris Ridgeway vs. Tadasuke

Match #4: Manabu Soya and Hajime Ohara vs. Go Shiozaki and Katsuhiko Nakajima

Match #5: Sean Legacy vs. Kaito Kiyomiya

Match #6: Masa Kitamiya, Yoshiki Inamura, Dante Leon, and Alejandro vs. HAYATA, Daiki Inaba, Super Crazy, and Stallion Rogers

Semi-Main Event: Takashi Sugiura and AMAKUSA vs. Jake Lee and YO-HEY

Main Event Match: Hiroki (aka Hi69) vs. Kenoh

Earlier Today, NJPW announced their match card for the same date with their event entitled "New Japan Road: Road to the Strong" which will take place in Chiba. Down below is their full match card in which only the last four matches are pictured below:

Opening Match: Kosei Fujita vs. Yuto Nakashima

Match #2: Boltin Oleg and Oskar Leube vs. Togi Makabe and Tomoaki Honma

Match #3: EVIL, SHO, Dick Togo, and Yujiro Takahashi vs. YOH, Ryusuke Taguchi, Toru Yano, and YOSHI-HASHI

Match #4: Dan Moloney, Clark Connors, and Gedo vs. Francesco Akira, TJP, and Aaron Henare

Match #5: Gabriel Kidd and Alex Coughlin vs. Ryohei Oiwa and Hirooki Goto

Semi-main Event: Shota Umino, Ren Narita, El Desperado, and Tiger Mask vs. Kazuchika Okada, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Tomohiro Ishii, and Master Wato

Main Event: Elimination Match: Tetsuya Naito, Shingo Takagi, Yota Tsuji, Hiromu Takahashi and BUSHI vs. SANADA, Taichi, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, DOUKI, and Taka Michinoku

Also in Chiba, NJPW will be announcing the 4 blocks as well as partial match cards for the G1 Climax 33 Tournament which begins on July 15th. This block announcement will most likely determine Kaito Kiyomiya's possible participation in the N1 Victory which starts on August 6th. Their participants will be announced again on June 22nd in Korakuen Hall.

"Sunny Voyage 2023" in Yokohama airs on Wrestle Universe this Saturday (June 10, 2023) at 4 PM Local Time/3 AM Eastern/2 AM Central/1 AM Pacific.

"New Japan Road: Road to Strong" in Chiba airs on NJPW World in Japanese Commentary that same Saturday (June 10, 2023) at 6:30 PM Local Time/5:30 AM Eastern/4:30 AM Central/2:30 AM Pacific.

Go to timeanddate.com, type in the city you currently live in to find the start time of these two events in your area.

[jasvvy]

[leaveharmony]

[keepingthespiritalive]

NJPW Results for March 6, 2018

NJPW Results for March 6, 2018

NJPW “Anniversary Event” 3/6/18 [Tue] 19:00 @ the Ota City General Gymnasium in Tokyo 3,864 spectators ~ Katsuya Kitamura is out with an injury. The previously scheduled finale of the Best of 7 Trial Series against Nakanishi was canceled. (1) Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Jushin “Thunder” Liger, Tiger Mask, KUSHIDA & Ryusuke Taguchi vs Yuji Nagata, Tomoyuki Oka, Shota Umino, Tetsuhiro Yagi & Ren Narita…

[gdwessel]

NJPW New Year’s Golden Series, WrestleCon STRONG Taping Announced; NOAH, Dragon Gate, STARDOM, TAKA Taichi Mania 3 Results

New Japan Pro Wrestling

NJPW have now announced the full lineups for the New Year’s Golden Series, running from 1/20/2022 until 2/20/2022. I won’t be posting those lineups here today, but there will be an Upcoming Shows post in the very near future I assure thee.

The biggest announcement is Kazuchika Okada’s next defense of the IWGP World Heavyweight title against Tetsuya Naito, the main event of the closing event in Sapporo on 2/20/2022. Also that day will be two other title matches, as the House Of Torture defense the NEVER Openweight 6-Man titles against Hirooki Goto, YOSHI-HASHI and YOH in a rematch of the clusterfuck from WK16. Minoru Suzuki also defends his Provisional KOPW2022 trophy against Toru Yano that night.

On the night before, 2/19/2022, Hiroshi Tanahashi will defend his IWGP US Heavyweight Championship against SANADA. Both tag team championships will be on the line as well, when Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI defend their newly-won titles against EVIL & Yujiro Takahashi, whilst Flying Tiger matches up against Bullet Club’s Cutest Tag Team for the junior straps.

EVIL, somehow, is part of three title matches on this tour, as on 2/13/2022 in Osaka, he will defend the NEVER Openweight title against Tomohiro Ishii in a lumberjack match, that is the rematch to what was hands down the worst Wrestle Kingdom match in memory.

On 2/11/2022 in Sendai, the IWGP Juniorheavyweight belt will be on the line, as El Desperado defends against Master Wato. This will be Hirai Kawato’s first-ever challenge for this title. Despy and Kawato have a long history of Despy beating Kawato, and I don’t really see that changing much here.

As I mentioned above, I will post the full lineups very soon.

NJPW also announced that an NJPW Strong show will be happening at WrestleCon in Dallas, TX, on 4/1/2022, during Wrestlemania weekend. No details including ticket sales have been revealed as yet. AAA and current NJPW partners Impact Wrestling have announced WrestleCon events as well, and (former?) NJPW partner Ring of Honor is set to return during that weekend too, with on-sale dates for Supercard Of Honor already announced. We’ll see how that goes.

Pro Wrestling NOAH

The third and final N Innovation U-CUP show was yesterday, with a title match main event.

- 1/10/2021, Yokohama Radiant Hall (Wrestle Universe)

Ikuto Hidaka [Perros del Mal de Japon] & Daiki Inaba d. Yoshiki Inamura & Kai Fujimura (Hidaka > Fujimura, Shawn Capture, 11:43)

Seiki Yoshioka & Yuya Susumu [STINGER] TLD Hajime Ohara & Atsushi Kotoge (20:00)

NOSAWA Rongai, YO-HEY & Kotaro Suzuki [Perros del Mal de Japon] d. ALEJA, Nao & Nio [Kongo] (YO-HEY > ALEJA, Dropkick, 7:26)

Kaito Kiyomiya d. Super Crazy [Perros del Mal de Japon] (Tiger Suplex, 16:42)

U-CUP Unit Shuffle Tag Match: Tadasuke [Kongo] & Junta Miyawaki d. Eita [Perros del Mal de Japon] & Yoshinari Ogawa [STINGER] (Tadasuke > Eita, lariat, 6:42)

GHC Juniorheavyweight Championship: Daisuke Harada d. HAYATA [STINGER] © (DOKAAAN!!, 27:02) - HAYATA fails his 9th defense - Harada is the 47th champion

HAYATA’s third reign ends after 197 days. This is Harada’s fifth reign as champion; only Yoshinobu Kanemaru has more at seven, but not since 2016. Eita and Perros del Mal de Japon all attacked Ogawa post-match, and challenged for a GHC junior tag title match. Kiyomiya returns to winning ways after losing to Kazuchika Okada on Saturday. The first match was changed, with BIG TANK Yoshiki Inamura filling Yasutaka Yano’s spot for reasons I am not aware of.

NOAH’s next show is on Sunday, with Katsuhiko Nakajima’s next defense of the GHC Heavyweight title as the main event. Keiji Muto & Naomichi Marufujii also defend their GHC tag team titles against Kongo’s Kenoh & Manabu Soya. NOAH and DDT have also announced the date and locale of CyberFight Festival 2022, on 6/12/2022 at Saitama Super Arena.

Bumper Crop in Sendai - 1/16/2022, Sendai Sunplaza Hall (Wrestle Universe)

Kinya Okada v. Yasutaka Yano

NOSAWA Rongai, YO-HEY, Kotaro Suzuki & Super Crazy [Perros del Mal de Japon] v. Tadasuke, ALEJA, Nao & Nio [Kongo]

King Tany & Muhammad Yone [Funky Express] v. Masakatsu Funaki & Masato Tanaka [M’s Alliance]

HAYATA, Yoshinari Ogawa, Seiki Yoshioka & Yuya Susumu [STINGER] v. Daisuke Harada, Atsushi Kotoge, Hajime Ohara & Junta Miyawaki

Go Shiozaki, Kaito Kiyomiya, Daiki Inaba & Yoshiki Inamura v. Takashi Sugiura, Kazushi Sakuraba, Kendo Kashin & Kazuyuki Fujita [Sugiura-gun]

GHC Tag Team Championship: Keiji Muto & Naomichi Marufuji [M’s Alliance] © v. Kenoh & Manabu Soya [Kongo]

GHC Heavyweight Championship: Katsuhiko Nakajima [Kongo] © v. Masa Kitamiya

STARDOM

STARDOM ran a small show yesterday that was not streamed.

New Year Stars 2022 Night 3 - 1/8/2022, Tokyo Ryogoku KFC Hall

Saki Kashima & Fukigen Death [Oedo Tai] d. Unagi Sayaka & Mai Sakurai [Cosmic Angels] (Kashima > Sakurai, Kishikaisei, 8:09)

Hazuki [STARS] d. Rina [Oedo Tai] (8:19)

Utami Hayashishita, Saya Kamitani & Lady C [Queen’s Quest] d. Ruaka, Starlight Kid & Momo Watanabe [Oedo Tai] (Hayashishita > Ruaka, German Suplex Hold, 11:47)

Syuri, Maika & Himeka [Donna del Mundo] d. Mayu Iwatani, Hanan & Koguma [STARS] (Maika > Hanan, 13:49)

Giulia, MIRAI & Thekla [Donna del Mundo] d. Tam Nakano, Mina Shirakawa & Waka Tsukiyama [Cosmic Angels] (Thekla > Tsukiyama, Toxic Snake Death Drop, 18:26)

STARDOM next run in Gifu on Saturday.

Dragon Gate

Dragon Gate’s tour continued today. The show was not streamed live, however the main event was posted to YouTube so you can watch that if you want.

Open The New Year Gate 2022 - 1/11/2022, Mie Kuwana Yamamori Gymnasium

Kzy, Susumu Yokosuka, Big Boss Shimizu & Jacky “Funky” Kamei [Natural Vibes] d. Takumi Hayakawa, Takuma Fujiwara, Ryu Fuda & Shoya Sato (Shimizu > Hayakawa, Big Boss Press, 13:43)

Ultimo Dragon, Naruki Doi & Takashi Yoshida d. Dragon Kid, Ben-K & Keisuke Okuda [HIGH-END] (Yoshida > Okuda, Pineapple Bomber, 12:24)

Masaaki Mochizuki & Jason Lee [MASQUERADE] d. Riki & Ishin Iihashi (Lee > Riki, Maximum Driver, 11:07)

BxB Hulk & SB KENTo [R.E.D.] d. YAMATO & Kagetora [HIGH-END] (KENTo > Kagetora, SB Shooter, 13:58)

Shun Skywalker, Kota Minoura & La Estrella [MASQUERADE] d. KAI, Kaito Ishida & HYO (Skywalker > HYO, SSW, 14:06)

Once again, MASQUERADE beats R.E.D. despite the beef within MASQUERADE because of a botched cheating spot, this time Ishida intentionally hitting HYO with their signature plastic box before Shun hit SSW. If you watch the main event at the link above, you see Minoura and Estrella come out just in their ring gear, whilst Shun wants to do the full MASQUERADE entrance, even carrying another outfit with him to get somebody, anybody to put it on. Either this group will be unstoppable or they are disbanding soon. Jason Lee has already been teaming with others recently, and Naruki Doi wants Kota Minoura for the unit he’s planning to form soon.

One thing I have been neglecting to mention – this is K-ness’s retirement tour, as he is quitting at age 47 due to a neck injury. Not sure when his actual retirement show is, but this tour is subtitled Final Burst Out! K-ness Forever.

Two nights at Tokyo Korakuen Hall follow tomorrow and Thursday, and those will be shown live. No cards announced.

Other News

TAKA & Taichi Produce returned for the first time in some years, with TAKA Taichi Mania 3 at Tokyo Korakuen Hall yesterday. It was run as a JUST TAP OUT show, but you can actually see it on NJPWWorld now. Which tells me TAKA Michinoku really is back in good graces with NJPW. As for Suzuki-gun goings on, Taichi defeated DOUKI in the main event, whilst El Desperado beat TAKA. Minoru Suzuki & Zack Sabre Jr. also teamed at the show, defeating the indie tag team of KANON & Ren Ayabe. Check it out.

Michinoku Pro ran a two-match Dojo event yesterday in Takizawa.

MARVELOUS ran yesterday at Korakuen Hall as well, with Takumi Iroha beating Sendai Girls’ Chihiro Hashimoto to win the vacant AAAW Championship. 

Gatoh Move’s ChocoPro wrestling show in a day care playroom had its latest event yesterday too, I think you can still catch those on YouTube?

[smarkinfested]

Extra - Nakanishi Land

(You can find full sized gifs at @NJPWgifs on twitter.)

Features: Hirooki Goto, Manabu Nakanishi, Yohei Komatsu, David Finlay, Satoshi Kojima.

Source: Nakanishi Land Source: Goto Waterfall Video

[njpwdaily]

IWGP DOUBLE GOLD DASH IWGP HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP (1f | 60m) Kota Ibushi (G1 Climax 29 winner) vs. Kazuchika Okada (CHAOS) (champion, 5th defense)

IWGP DOUBLE GOLD DASH IWGP INTERCONTINENTAL CHAMPIONSHIP (1f | 60m) Tetsuya Naito (Los Ingobernables de Japon) vs. Jay White (Bullet Club) (champion, 2nd defense)

IWGP JUNIOR HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP (1f | 60m) Hiromu Takahashi (L.I.J) vs. Will Ospreay (CHAOS) (champion, 4th defense)

TEXAS DEATHMATCH IWGP U.S. HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP Jon Moxley vs. Lance Archer (Suzukigun) (champion, 2nd defense) No pinfalls or DQs; winner is decided via 10-count KO or submission

IWGP TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP (1f | 60m) David Finlay & Juice Robinson (World Tag League winners) vs. G.O.D (Bullet Club) (champions, 8th defense)

SPECIAL 8-MAN TAG TEAM MATCH (1f | 30m) CHAOS (YOSHI-HASHI, Toru Yano, Tomohiro Ishii & Hirooki Goto) vs. Bullet Club (Chase Owens, Yujiro Takahashi, Bad Luck Fale & KENTA)

SPECIAL 8-MAN TAG TEAM MATCH (1f | 30m) L.I.J (BUSHI, EVIL, Shingo Takagi & SANADA) vs. SZG (El Desperado, Taichi, Minoru Suzuki & Zack Sabre Jr.)

LIGER RETIREMENT FINAL—MATCH I Tiger Mask, The Great Sasuke, Tatsumi Fujinami & Jushin Thunder Liger (with El Samurai) vs. Ryusuke Taguchi, Tatsuhito Takaiwa, Shinjiro Otani & Naoki Sano (with Kuniaki Kobayashi) Special Guest Referee: Norio Honaga

PRE-SHOW

TAG TEAM MATCH (1f | 15m) TenKoji [Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima] vs. Manabu Nakanishi & Yuji Nagata

8-MAN TAG TEAM MATCH (1f | 15m) Yuya Uemura, Yota Tsuji & GBH [Tomoaki Honma & Togi Makabe] vs. Alex Coughlin, Clark Connors, Karl Fredericks & Toa Henare

STARDOM SHOWCASE TAG TEAM MATCH (1f | 15m) Arisa Hoshiki & Mayu Iwatani vs. Giulia & Hana Kimura

[puroresu-musings]

NJPW WRESTLE KINGDOM 14 Night 1 Review (Jan 4th 2020, Tokyo Dome)

Togi Makabe, Tomoaki Honma, Yota Tsuji & Yuya Uemura vs. Toa Henare, Karl Fredericks, Clark Connors & Alex Coghlin  ***

Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima vs. Yuji Nagata & Manabu Nakanishi  **3/4

JUSHIN THUNDER LIGER RETIREMENT MATCH Ⅰ: Jushin Thunder Liger, Tatsumi Fujinami, The Great Sasuke & Tiger Mask vs. Naoki Sano, Shinjiro Otani, Tatsuhito Takaiwa & Ryusuke Taguchi  ***1/2

SANADA, EVIL, Shingo Takagi & BUSHI vs. Zack Sabre Jr.,Minoru Suzuki, Taichi & El Desperado  ***1/4

Hirooki Goto, Tomohiro Ishii, Toru Yano & YOSHI-HASHI vs. KENTA, Bad Luck Fale, Yujiro Takahashi & Chase Owens  ***

IWGP HEAVYWEIGHT TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH: Guerrillas Of Destiny (c) vs. Juice Robinson & David Finlay  ***1/4+

IWGP US HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH/ TEXAS DEATH MATCH: Lance Archer (c) vs. Jon Moxley  ****

IWGP Jr. HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH: Will Ospreay (c) vs. Hiromu Takahashi  *****

IWGP INTERCONTINENTAL CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH: Jay White (c) vs. Tetsuya Naito  ****1/4

IWGP HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH: Kazuchika Okada (c) vs. Kota Ibushi  *****

Photos.

Good Lord, was this a great pro wrestling show! It ran the emotional gamut and gave us trememendous matches aplenty, this was as close to perfect as a wrestling event gets in my opinion. After two very decent, but very brief, pre-show tags featuring a nice mix of Young Lions and NJPW Dads, the main show kicked off with the first of Jushin Thunder Liger’s retirement bouts. I loved this, and whilst I wouldn’t say it was a “great” match, per say, everyone brought their working boots to make Liger’s farewell feel special, and they certainly succeeded. It was also great just to see some of these guys in the ring. The 40,000 plus in attendance were super into this, with Liger’s exchanges with Otani (who are two of my favourite workers ever) being the highlight. Everyone looked good here. Well, as good as some of them are going to look in 2020. Naoki Sano hit a big tope suicida, which was initially frightening, but was great to see, 66 year old Tatsumi Fujinami hit everyone with his patented Dragon Screw Leg Whip, and The Great Sasuke nearly killed himself twice on a Senton Atomico, before the ever-selfless Liger stared at the lights for a Taguchi Dodon at 8:52 of a super fun outing. Liger shook hands with everyone in the post match. It’s going to be sad watching Liger go, I can tell you. 

ZSJ submitted BUSHI with the Jim Breaks Special at 8:39 of a really good LIJ vs. Suzuki-gun 8 man. Zack and SANADA’s exchanges were the standout, hyping their British Title Match tomorrow, which should be excellent. Hirooki Goto pinned Yujiro with the GTR in another decent 8 minute multi-man. This was fun, but forgettable stuff with Ishii hitting a big vertical suplex on Fale getting the biggest pop. The WTL winners Juice Robinson and David Finlay defeated GOD to win the IWGP Tag Titles in yet another good outing. Finlay got the pin on Tama Tonga after an Acid Drop to win the belts. This was a feel good win, and anything that appears to shake up that ultra-stale tag division is a positive in my eyes. Next up, Lance Archer and Jon Moxley squared off in an excellent Texas Death Match for the US Title. This was a hard-hitting brawl which used the stipulation effectively, and featured a lot of plunder, some great brawling, and fortuitous hard-way juice. After surviving a Blackout onto four chairs, and a plastic bag induced EBD Claw, Mox hit a massive Death Rider DDT off the apron, through two tables, to regain the championship he never actually lost, at the 14:26 mark, when Archer couldn’t answer the 10 count. Great stuff here. In the post match, Moxley promised to beat Juice Robinson tomorrow. 

In what was a truly exceptional Junior Heavyweight Championship battle, Hiromu Takahashi overcame certain defeat, and won his precious “belt-san” back, in a sublime match with Will Ospreay. This had it all; sky-high emotional stakes, a great story and fantastic action. It also featured one of the most creative sequences I’ve ever seen in a match, when Ospreay went for the Sasuke Special, but Hiromu caught him and tried a German suplex on the floor, but Will flipped out onto his feet. He then charged at Takahashi, who countered into an overhead belly to belly throw, but Ospreay jumped through the ropes, doing a roll back into the ring, then finally hitting the Sasuke Special in a mind-blowing spot. The story here was Ospreay continually working over Hiromu’s neck (hitting several worrying double stomps to the back of his head), who did a tremendous sell-job throughout. Ospreay got a believable near fall with the Oscutter, which lead into the hot closing stretch. After scoring a near fall with a Canadian/Mexican Destroyer, Hiromu tried Time Bomb, but Will escaped, hits the hook kick and tries Stormbreaker, but Takahashi counters, and runs straight into a Spanish Fly for another near fall. Hidden Blade connects, which Hiromu sold beautifully, then Ospreay tried Stormbreaker again, but Hiromu reverses into a Code Red for a great near fall. Hiromu battles back, hitting Time Bomb, but Ospreay kicks at two to a massive pop. A lariat follows, then Hiromu hits his new finish; a leg capture Emerald Flowsion, which is tentatively being called Time Bomb II, to end a fab match at 24:33, and the win the belt. This was a fantastic comeback story, as the Junior Ace returns from a potential career ending injury and reclaims his throne. This had high expectations going in, but far exceeded them, and here’s hoping this signifies Ospreay’s jump to Heavyweight full-time as he’s realistically done all he can do in the Juniour division.

This left the Intercontinental Title outing between White and Naito with an awful lot to follow. They had an excellent pro wrestling bout that was completely unlike the match that preceeded it, but told just as good a story. Unfortunatley, as good as the match was, at 33:54, it was much too long, which hurt it somewhat. Jay destroyed Naito’s knackered knees, which will be the story of these two shows, but Naito made a valiant comeback, hitting a tope rope Frankensteiner, and Gloria for a near fall. He goes for Destino, but Switchblade slumps to the mat to prevent it, then shoves Naito into Red Shoes for the prerequisite ref bump. This was Gedo’s cue to run in, but Naito sent him packing with a low blow, but Jay hits a low blow of his own, goes for Blade Runner, but Naito hits a Dragon Suplex. Gedo in again, this time with a chair, but is again sent packing. White throws the abandoned chair into Naito’s face however, which he takes full force, then takes the Sleeper Suplex. Naito hits a Destino out of nowhere for the double down, then hits a reverse rana and another Destino for a great near fall. Naito tried another Destino, but Jay counters into a Blade Runner attempt, but Naito reverses that into Valentia, then hits another Destino to win the belt, and head into the winner-takes-all match tomorrow. I will say that one thing New Japan do really well is protect finishers. Whenever White went for Blade Runner, the crowd, who were 100% behind Naito, gasped in horror every time, as if Jay hits the move, the match is over.

Which brought us to the main event, which was the best match of the night, very probably the best match of the entire year (I’m aware we’re only 4 days in), and one of the best matches I’ve ever seen. Both guys came out in new gear, with Okada looking like a God in his entrance, so you knew this was going to be special. It started slow but built into an absoulutely epic match. Okada hits the dropkick off the top to the floor, then his big dive over the barricade, then in the ring locks on Red Ink, a move he hasn’t used in forever, showing he’s going to the old tricks drawer to try and beat Ibushi, who of course beat him in the G1. Ibushi escapes a Rainmaker attempt and tries a Moonsault dropkick, (which saw him land right ontop of his head), but Okada catches him in a Tombstone, only for Ibushi to reverse that into a Bastard Driver. Okada tries John Woo, but Kota counters into a big double stomp, then hits the Golden Triangle to the floor, and scores a near fall with the Last Ride. Okada starts unloading with European Uppercuts, but Ibushi no-sells them, getting the “psycho look” in his eyes. Kota starts teeing off with hard palm-strikes, kicks and punches, Okada fores back with John Woo, but Ibushi pops right up and floors the champion with more strikes. He goes for the deadlift German off the ropes, but Okada counters into a nasty Tombstone onto the apron, but Ibushi makes it in at 19. Okada hits Heavy Rain (another old classic), then the German rolled through into a spinning Rainmaker attempt, but Ibushi escapes with a Lariat. Kota finally hits the deadlift German off the apron into the ring, which Okada lands right on his head for, for a near fall, then tries the lawndart, but Okada turns it into a spinning Tombstone. A Rainmaker is turned into a huge Ibushi Lariat, who then hits a Boma Ye, but Okada kicks at one! Another to the back follows, as does a big head kick, then Ibushi nails Kamigoye, but again the champion gets the shoulder up at 2.999 as the Dome goes crazy. Ibushi drops the knee pad and tries another, but Okada counters into an amazing dropkick. Okada escapes a top rope Tiger Driver and attempts a missile dropkick, but Ibushi catches him in a sitout powerbomb for a great near fall, then goes up top for the Phoenix Splash, but Okada moves. Okada hits a spinning Rainmaker, then another Rainmaker, but Ibushi kicks out as the crowd goes crazy. Ibushi counters another Rainmaker attempt with another big head kick, then hits a V-Trigger. He goes for Kamigoye again, but Okada counters into a Fire Thunder Driver, then hits Rainmaker to end an absolutely outstanding match at the 39:16 mark. This was just exceptional stuff that perfectly played off spots in all of their previous meetings.

Naito came out in the post match and he promised to win tomorrow, saying its his perfect chance to beat him at the Dome. I’m amazed Okada is even able to go tomorrow after this match. Okada says “no chance”, and thanks Ibushi. He also says he wants even more people in the Dome tomorrow to see the double Title Match. I can’t believe there’s another of these shows to go. What a time to be alive.

NDT

[wrestlingisfake]

Wrestle Kingdom 14 preview (part 1)

For 29 years, New Japan Pro Wrestling has run an annual Tokyo Dome show on January 4, right after Japan’s multi-day New Year celebrations.  This is the 14th such show called “Wrestle Kingdom,” and the first to expand to a two-day event.  Aside from WWE’s stadium shows, this is the biggest pro wrestling event of the year, so if you’re looking to get into NJPW, this is a good place to start.

Kazuchika Okada vs. Kota Ibushi - Ibushi won the 2019 G1 Climax tournament for the right to challenge Okada for the IWGP heavyweight championship, the top title in New Japan.  This is being billed as part of a “Double Gold Dash” along with Jay White vs. Tetsuya Naito, so the champions coming out of those two matches will meet on the January 5 show with both titles at stake.  The two guys who leave this show empty handed will wrestle in a consolation match on the undercard of the January 5 show.

Okada, a five-time champion, has held the title for 1,789 of the last 2,883 days.  In the past seven years, all the other titleholders put together have not held the belt as long as he has.  He’s The Man, handpicked to lead the company into the 2010s and beyond, and at just 32 years of age he’s not going anywhere anytime soon.  The storyline for Okada is pretty basic--he’s almost always on top, acting kinda cocky about it, and dismissing the competition until they give him a reason to take them seriously.  He’s the one guy in this Double Gold Dash who doesn’t care about being a double champion, and he resents the suggestion that his one championship is somehow inadequate.

Ibushi is something of an oddball journeyman, whose phenomenal talent has at times been at odds with his unorthodox approach to business.  He might have been champion many times over by now, but he preferred to be a free agent rather than commit to any one company, making it politically difficult to push him.  Then, just as it seemed he might jump to All Elite Wrestling with his soulmate Kenny Omega, he locked in with a long-term NJPW contract.  (If you’ve been watching AEW and wondering why Omega seems depressed and out-of-sorts, it’s because he had to leave this guy behind.)  At 37 he’s finally getting the tippy-toppy guy push he always deserved...and yet the story is that he’d kinda sorta rather have the intercontinental title, for sentimental reasons.

Expectations for this match are running high, because each man has delivered some of the best matches in the world.  Okada’s whole thing is to get in his opponent’s head by teasing him and taking him lightly until things get harder and he has to turn it up.  Ibushi’s whole thing is fighting like an anime guy--he’s all honorable at first with quick flashy moves, and then when he’s beaten down he hulks up and goes sickhouse on your ass.  Basically Ibushi is the wrong damn guy for Okada’s “you’re a good little hand, kid, but you can’t beat me” shtick, because Ibushi will kick his head off.  But Okada is the wrong damn guy for Ibushi’s “now I’m in ultimate turbo super collosal mode” shit, because Okada can weather the storm and keep going.  Whoever wins this one is going to have to damn near kill the other guy.

It’s tough to pick a winner knowing anything could happen 24 hours later.  But it feels like this is Ibushi’s time, and it’s taken a long time to get there, so he should win the big one.  But history has taught me to never doubt Okada’s ability to crush his challengers’ hopes and dreams and convince me that it’s best for business.  If anyone can roll over Ibushi’s push, it’s Okada.  But if anybody can defy conventions, it’s Ibushi.  This one’s too close to call.

Jay White vs. Tetsuya Naito - White pinned Naito in the G1 Climax, and then won the IWGP intercontinental title from Naito in September, so this is the rematch.  This is also the other half of the “Double Gold Dash” along with Okada vs. Ibushi, so the champion after this match goes on to the double title match on January 5, and the other guy ends up in the consolation match.

The whole idea of everybody wanting to be double champion kicked off a year ago with Naito.  He’d always resented the intercontinental belt, dragging it on the ground and such, but after winning it at Wrestle Kingdom 13 he seemed to come to terms with it always coming back to him, and set his sights on being the first man to hold it and the heavyweight belt at the same time.  Of course, then he lost his belt to Ibushi, and had to get it back, and before you knew it Ibushi was deciding he liked the idea of being a double champion as well.  As talk of a double title match at the Tokyo Dome started heating up, White realized his best shot of regaining the heavyweight title was to take the intercontinental belt from Naito to ensure he’d be in the conversation.  But Naito, undeterred, insisted on getting a rematch with Naito, which secured his spot in this little tournament.

It’s still incredible to me that White used to be the scrawny looking young boy in the opening matches 3½ years ago.  He’s not quite at the level of the other tippy-toppy guys, but for my money he’s one of the best in the company.  Part of the reason I haven’t missed Kenny Omega in NJPW all that much is because White has taken the top gaijin role, run with it, and made it his own.  He’s so hated that, if he wins the main event on 1/5, there is a very real chance that tens of thousands of people will just rush to the exits instead of watching the end of the show.  He’s great.

The big knock on Naito is that he’s pretty banged up and can’t go like he used to.  In WWE they’d probably take him off the road, or reduce his schedule to a handful of matches each year until he could recover.  In New Japan, he seems to be on every tour, phoning it in until it’s time to pull out all the stops in a big money match.  Now he’s looking at two big money matches in a row.  If you ask me now is not the time to book Naito over two top stars and position him to defend two top belts like he’s Superman.  Then again, if you ask me, I’m not certain anyone at NJPW sees it that way.

I’m not expecting this match to be all that great.  Naito has elevated “stall to fuck with your opponent” to a whole new artform.  White, meanwhile, has perfected a strategy where he goes limp and lies on his back so opponents can’t execute their big moves (because pro wrestlers don’t know how to just stomp a guy or grab a hold, apparently).  When these two fight, it’s very much Larry Zbyszko’s “human game of chess,” and to be honest I never liked Zbyszko very much.

The outcome here really depends on what New Japan sees as the best opponent for the winner of Okada-Ibushi to headline the 1/5 show.  Of the possible combinations, Okada-Naito is the freshest match (last seen in January 2018), followed by Okada-White (April 2019), Ibushi-Naito (June 2019) and Ibushi-White (August 2019).  That sort of leads me to think Naito is the preferred winner here, in addition to the fact he’s the bigger star and the bigger draw.  The question, though, is whether his body can hold up to the demands of that star power.

Will Ospreay vs. Hiromu Takahashi - Ospreay is defending the IWGP junior heavyweight championship.  Takahashi is returning from a neck injury that has sidelined him since July 7, 2018.

I was in the Cow Palace when Takahashi seemed to glide across the mat as if his face was an ice skate.  I still remember the noise the crowd made when we saw the replay.  I was relieved when Hiromu got back up and won the match to retain the junior title, because I assumed that meant everything would be all right.  By the time I learned he’d been immediately rushed to the hospital after the match, I was sightseeing in San Francisco the next day.  I followed his status updates closely, until they stopped coming.  Then I commiserated with New Japan Tumblr about the frustration of expecting him to return at every single big show.  So yeah, I’ve been waiting for this for a long time.

Here’s the thing.  Both of these men do big crazy moves that elevate the art of lightweight pro wrestling.  They aim to please the crowd with high-risk spots, and accept the enormous risks of overdoing those spots.  I appreciate Will and Hiromu for their styles.  But I consider them two of my favorites because of their characters, the stuff that they could coast instead of killing themselves for style.  Ospreay didn’t elevate his game by flipping around with Ricochet, but by delivering a passionate promo about battling depression and vowing to “slay the dragon” by overcoming the (then) undefeated Shingo Takagi.  Hiromu didn’t elevate his game by feuding with Dragon Lee, but by purchasing a stuffed cat and making us treat it like a real cat. 

So as far as I’m concerned, the big angle for this match is that Ospreay has introduced his own stuffed animal mascot (Percy the Pig) to counteract Hiromu’s cats.  If they met in the center of the ring at the Tokyo Dome and made their dolls fight each other, I would declare it the match of the year.  I don’t need these guys to destroy themselves for me.  I accept that they will try to do that anyway.  But I’m into this match on a whole other level, and I hope they don’t lose sight of that.

I personally think Hiromu needs to regain the junior title (even if only for a few weeks) to close the book on his return from injury.  The only good reason not to do that here is if they think he still needs to shake off some ring rust.  But by all accounts, he’s been cleared to wrestle for months, so if the time for the title win isn’t now, I’ll be incredibly shocked.

Lance Archer vs. Jon Moxley - This is for Archer’s IWGP United States championship.  The match is being billed as a “Texas death match,” although the rules for such a contest seem to change literally every time someone books one.  In this case, the match can only end when one participant submits or fails to answer the referee’s count of ten.  Regardless of the outcome, whoever is US champion will defend against Juice Robinson on the January 5 show.

Moxley won the title from Robinson in June, but Juice pinned him in a non-title match in August.  That set up a rubber match in October 14, but Typhoon Hagiibis prevened Mox from making the show, so he was stripped of the title.  Archer defeated Juice in a match for the vacant title, and now Moxley is back to reclaim what he never lost in the ring.  For his part, Archer is fixated on validating his title run by defeating the ex-champion he’s never faced.

Archer was always terrifying in his run with Davey Boy Smith, Jr., as the Killer Elite Squad, but after Smith left he really started to show me something as a singles guy.  He was an unexpected highlight in the G1 Climax as a big bully that frightens small children, and I’m actually ashamed that I didn’t consider the potential of a feud with Moxley until he back-doored his way into the US title picture.  I like seeing Moxley with an IWGP championship, but I have to admit Archer is a stronger choice for a US champion, considering that he’s not contractually prohibited from defending the title in North America.

My gut says the Robinson match on January 5 doesn’t make a lot of sense unless the goal is to rapidly reset things back to October 14 and deliver the Moxley vs. Robinson title match.  I don’t see why they’d do it that way unless they’re determined to move the title back to Juice and have Moxley give him the rub.  While there are certainly other possibilities (Archer retains in both matches, Moxley wins both matches, Archer beats Mox but loses to Juice), none of them make quite as much sense to me.  Since I happen to like all three guys, I guess I can’t be disappointed in any event.  But as far as this match goes, I think Moxley will regain the US belt.

Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa vs. Juice Robinson & David Finlay - Robinson and Finlay won the World Tag League tournament for the right to challenge the Guerillas of Destiny for the IWGP heavyweight tag team championship.  If Juice wins this match, and goes on to win his US title match tomorrow, he will effectively have two IWGP championships at the same time before any of the Double Gold Dash guys, so that’s kinda funny.

Finlay was sidelined with a shoulder injury very early in 2019, and in the meantime Robinson ended up feuding with Moxley over the US title.  Finlay returned just in time to get involved in the subsequent Juice vs. Lance Archer mini-feud, but Archer made short work of him too.  So their run in World Tag League seemed to be a reset for both guys, giving them a new direction to prosper in while Archer moved on with the US belt.  At least, that’s what I figured before Juice was booked in that US title match on 1/5.  Now I don’t know if they’re planning to push him as a singles act or a tag team guy.  Can they do both?  I guess we’ll see.

The story here for the Guerillas of Destiny is that they dominate the tag division but never actually win at Wrestle Kingdom.  (Tama’s last Tokyo Dome win was years ago, as a curtain jerker, long before Tanga showed up.)  It’s not much of a story, though, so it’s hard for me to imagine they’re going to finally get that big win here.  Juice has been beating himself up a lot for his losses in the past few months, so I’m pulling for him to have something to celebrate tonight.

KENTA & Bad Luck Fale & Chase Owens & Yujiro Takahashi vs. Hirooki Goto & Tomohiro Ishii & YOSHI-HASHI & Toru Yano - Now that Wrestle Kingdom has expanded to two days, there’s more room for filler tag team matches to pad the show.  This one is a preview of the Kenta vs. Goto match on January 5.  Kenta was teaming with Ishii and Yoshi when he betrayed them to join Bullet Club, and the two of them have really failed to get any shred of revenge, so this may be their last big chance.  But in the end I expect the Bullet Club team to win to put heat on Kenta going into tomorrow’s title match.

Zack Sabre, Jr. & Taichi & Minoru Suzuki & El Desperado vs. SANADA & EVIL & Shingo Takagi & BUSHI - This match previews the Sabre vs. Sanada match on January 5.  Sanada suffered some sort of injury a couple of weeks ago where he had to be pulled from the card, so there was concern he might not be cleared for this weekend.  But as of this writing, this match is still scheduled.  As a fallback, New Japan booked Bushi to score a big upset on Sabre in December, so that gives Sabre two guys to target here. 

I’m curious about the 2020 directions for several guys in this match, most notably Suzuki, Evil, and Shingo.  In theory this match could preview possible storylines for them, but that tends to be something they save for New Year Dash, so I won’t hold my breath.  The Sabre/Taichi team seems to be getting some momentum, so that may also be a thing to watch heading into the new year, especially if Sabre drops his British title to focus on a tag team run.  As far as this match goes, though, I think it could go either way.

Jushin Thunder Liger & Tiger Mask & Tatsumi Fujinami & The Great Sasuke vs. Naoki Sano & Tatsuhito Takaiwa & Shinjiro Otani & Ryusuke Taguchi - Liger’s team will be cornered by El Samurai and Sano’s team will be cornered by Kuniaki Kobayashi.  Norio Honaga will be the special referee.  This is the first of two retirement matches for Liger, who will end his in-ring career on January 5 and then have a ceremony on January 6.

Liger (55) has hand-selected the participants in this match.  Tiger Mask (49) has been his long-time tag team partner.  Fujinami (65) was his idol, who inspired him to become a pro wrestler.  Sasuke (50) and Liger collaborated to create the Super J Cup and J Crown tournaments.  Kobayashi (63) was Liger’s first opponent in the Jushin Liger gimmick in 1989.  Sano (54) was Liger’s first big rival back in 1990.  Liger feuded with Takaiwa (47), Otani (47), Samurai (53), and Honaga (64) over the years.  Taguchi (40) seems to mainly be there to help carry the match and represent the current New Japan junior division.

In theory, a guy that’s retiring should lose on his way out.  Then again, in theory a guy that’s retiring doesn’t have two retirement matches in the Tokyo Dome.  Liger obviously has to go down hard on 1/5, but he could score the win here to give us one last big celebration with his cool theme music and stuff.  It is frankly not that important to give the rub to Taguchi or his team.  So, unexpectedly, we’ll have to wait and see how this one plays out.

Satoshi Kojima & Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Yuji Nagata & Manabu Nakanishi - This is one of three opening matches that will be in the pre-show.  All four guys are on the active roster but they’re all past their prime and mainly work with the young boys in the undercard.  If you’ve watched New Japan for any time at all you’ve probably seen these four a dozen times.  It’s not going to blow the roof off the dome, but it’ll be a nice nostalgia pop to see them working in the Tokyo Dome one more time.  It kinda doesn’t matter who wins.

Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma & Yuya Uemura & Yota Tsuji vs. Toa Henare & Karl Fredericks & Clark Connors & Alex Coughlin - Another pre-show match, which should be the first one actually broadcast for streaming services and Japanese television.  Makabe and Honma are longtime partners who are all that’s left of the defunct faction GBH.  Uemura and Tsuji are young boys training in New Japan’s dojo system.  Henare graduated from that system a while back, but he’s still little more than a curtain jerker waiting for his first real push.  Fredericks, Connors, and Coughlin are trainees at New Japan’s new Los Angeles dojo, as part of their big “New Japan of America” initiative.  On paper, there’s no way Makabe and Honma lose to a bunch of rookies, let alone gaijin rookies.  But they’ve been pushing the LA Dojo students as being a hair better than the local young boys, so I think an upset is at least possible.

Arisa Hoshiki & Mayu Iwatani vs. Giulia & Hana Kimura - This is a special exhibition match featuring women from the World Wonder Ring Stardom promotion.  Although NJPW and Stardom are owned by the same parent company, their broadcasting rights are with different outlets, so this probably won’t be aired on the live stream, and I’m not certain when or where it will be made available to view.  That’s a shame since I know almost nothing about Stardom, and this could have been a good opportunity to dip my toe in that.  I’ve heard fans of both promotions aren’t wild about them intermingling like this, but booking men and women on the same show is pretty standard in the West so I’m sure I wouldn’t understand the problem.

[hazyheel]

NJPW Destruction in Kagoshima 2019 Review

This was still very much a New Japan B show, but it was better that Beppu. The workrate was faster overall, and the wrestlers seemed to care a bit more. And the two main events were done by guys who wrestle at speeds that should get them pulled over. Two very exciting main events that determine the future of the company, plus a sneaky important development on the undercard that I certainly didn’t expect. Here is my full review of Destruction in Kagoshima.

Clark Connors vs. Yuya Uemura in the 2019 Young Lions Cup: Connors started things off by taking Uemura to the mat and tying his opponent in knots. Uemura was able to reverse out of the holds, but Connors quickly heated things up with a chop instead of a clean break. Uemura then took advantage of his strength and took Connors down with some amateur wrestling as well. The two then exchanged chops back and forth that only got heavier as they got more and more mad. Connors eventually as able to lock in a Boston Crab, but Uemura got to the ropes, which prompted Connors to start taking pot shots at Uemrua. Uemura then fought back with a huge palm strike right to the face. The two then exchanged shot after shot with each other, neither man going down, until Uemura hit a deep arm drag, a double underhook belly to belly suplex, and then locked in a Boston Crab for a tense sequence. No matter how many times Connors tried to get to the ropes, Uemura would pull him back into the middle and even sat down in it. Connors had no choice but to tap out. Uemura: 2, Connors: 6.

After the match, the two were very tense. Connor’s offered a handshake, but Uemura refused. 

Grade: B. I’m always skeptical of these one on one Young Lion matches, given the limited movesets of all of them, but the crowd really comes alive for them and they share a raw intensity that is always cool to see. Connors is probably one of my favorites in the Young Lion cup, he really impressed me on both dates. Uemura impressed me a lot as well, and this was the first time that I can remember seeing him for any long length of time. He was really good, and this was a fun match. Happy to see Uemura get the win.

Michael Richards vs. Ren Narita in the 2019 Young Lions Cup: The two started out on the mat, with Narita being aggressive as usual while Richards just seemed quite angry that Narita was on the attack. Narita maintained control in the early portions of this match, and Richards couldn’t do anything about it. Richards eventually got out of it with a back suplex, but he looked exhausted as he did. He started to toss Narita around the ring with suplexes and power moves, eventually locking in a half crab for a short submission sequence. Narita tried to match his power, but Richards was just too big for some of Narita’s power moves. However, Narita won quickly after catching Richards with the Belly to Belly with a bridge. Narita: 8, Richards: 2.

Grade: C. Richards did not impress me all that much here, although I am a fan of Narita. This match just lacked the back and forth and the drama of the opener, plus the crowd kinda used all their energy on that first one. Just not a little too slow for me, and Richards didn’t seem like the right opponent. Narita was the right winner though. 

Alex Coughlin, Karl Fredericks, Manabu Nakanishi & Toa Henare vs. Ryusuke Taguchi, Shota Umino, Yota Tsuji & Yuji Nagata: Coughlin and Tsuji started things out, and Tsuji immedaitely charged across the ring. The two just rung each other’s bells with strikes immediately, but Umino and Fredericks quickly tagged in. The picked things up with some high speed striking and grappling. Henare then came in, and nailed a huge vertical suplex, but Taguchi borke up the pin. Coughlin then tagged in, and took a pot shot at Tsuji on the apron, who then wasted no time in breaking up a pin. Nakanishi’s team then beat down Umino until he got the hot tag to Taguchi. Taguchi beat down the entire team with hip attacks, until he tagged in Nagata to take down Nakanishi. The two exchanged blows in the middle, ending with Nagata hitting the exploder. He then locked in an armbar, but Nakanishi’s team all ran in to break it up. The two tagged out, and Tsuji came out to battled Henare and showed his strength. Tsuji then locked him in a Boston crab, and Coughlin started to chop him to break it up, but Tsuji didn’t move. Coughlin hit the ropes, but Tsuji nailed him with a spear as he came off of them. Tsuji and Henare then squared off with huge strikes and chops, ending with a huge headbutt and a spinebuster for a near fall. Henare then hit Toa Bottom for the win.

Grade: B-. I was into this match. The young lions were absolutely pissed at each other, and blended well with the veterans that they shared the ring with. Taguchi seemed slightly more into this match than he did last night, although he wasn’t too involved. Henare picked up a win when he needed one, which was good to see, and I was very pleased with it. 

SHO, Tomohiro Ishii, YOH & Yoshi-Hashi vs. Bad Luck Fale, Chase Owens, Tama Tonga & Tonga Loa: BULLET CLUB vs. CHAOS, with the faces storming the fort right as they started up. Roppongi 3k took down Owens quickly, only for Fale to take down everyone with clotheslines. Bullet Club then took control and beat down Sho. Eventually Loa was able to goad Ishii into the ring, but quickly dropped him with a dropkick. Ishii tagged in Hashi, who went on a tear, and then the newfound teammates started to lay into the Guerrillas after their unfinished business from last night, However, Fale was able to take them both down and Yoh tagged in and Roppongi 3k took on the competition. The Guerrillas thaen took down Sho and went to give Yoh the Magic Killer, but Sho speared Loa and then Yoh wrapped Tama in a small package for the shock win!

After the match, Tama beat down Yoh and gave him a Magic Killer. 

Grade: B-. Another fun and exciting match with a genuine shocking outcome. The match was a lot of action, and everyone got their hits in. There may be a Roppongi 3k vs. Guerrillas of Destiny match in the future, if only for a quick foray into the heavyweight division. Ishii and Hashi looked good as a team as well, although I’m unsure of how much they will continue to team after losing their tag team titles match. This was quite enjoyable, and had an interesting winner. I wonder if this may mean a new match for King of Pro Wrestling.

DOUKI, Minoru Suzuki, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Zack Sabre Jr vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Jushin Thunder Liger, Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma. This is a bit more promotion for the eventual Suzuki vs. Liger match, as well as some fallout from the British Heavyweight Championship match last night. Naturally Suzuki-Gun attacked before the bell, and Suzuki picked up right where he left off. Honma started out and hit the Kokeshi quickly, before he tagged out to Tana and Sabre tagged in. The two traded strikes and submissions, with Sabre getting control after Suzuki planted a boot in Tana’s face. Suzuki then dragged Ligeri into the crowd and buried him underneath chairs and the barricade. Suzuki and Liger nearly came to blows with chairs, but Liger backed off. Back in the ring, Kanemaru started to work over Tanahashi. Suzuki tagged in to assault the arm, but Liger ran right in and took Suzuki down, only for Suzuki to follow Liger to the outside and continue the brawl. Suzuki beat Tana a bit more, before tagging in Douki and distracting the ref and allowing Douki to beat Tana with his pipe. The faces beat down Tanahashi a bit until Makabe got the hot tag and took the fight to Suzuki. Liger finally got to tag in, and he beat the crap out of Suzuki, who took the punishment with little care. He tagged in Douki, but Douki immdiately ate offense from all of the faces and had to kick out of a pinfall attempt. Liger then went for a brainbuster, but Suzuki ran in and went for the mask, but Liger shook him off. Suzuki then grabbed a chair, nailing the ref with it and beating down Liger for the DQ. 

After the match, Suzuki continued to beat Liger down, but even as the Young Lions ran in and tried to stop him, Suzuki stole Liger’s mask. He looked like he was going to walk away, but he called for the mic. He didn’t say much, but just said that he would beat Suzuki in a straight up match one of these days. 

Grade: C+. The match was pretty good, with a lot of fun action from the extras in the match, and an important development for Suzuki and Liger. That feud is still really fun and heats up every time they stand across from each other. Suzuki is still sadistic as ever and is looking great. The DQ makes me think that they may have a No DQ match at Wrestle Kingdom, but it is too early to tell. I;m gonna have to stay tuned to see, because I think its interesting. 

BUSHI, Shingo Takagi & SANADA vs. Rocky Romero, Hirooki Goto, and Kazuchika Okada. Before the match, Okada tried to check the ref for weapons, which was awesome. Takagi and Goto started the match and destroyed each other with chops and lariats, with Goto ending up getting the advantage before tagging in Rocky. Rocky held control for a while until Takagi caught him out of a rana and held him for a low dropkick from Sanada. LIJ then worked over Rocky, with Sanada locking in the paradise lock, which Kevin Kelly flipped out about due to Rocky getting locked in the lock during last year’s G1. At one point, Takagi looked to be giving Rocky a sliding lariat, but instead he ran across the ring to attack Goto and beat him down on the outside a bit. Rocky then barely made the tag to Okada, who took everyone out before dueling with Sanada. the two fought back and forth for a bit and teased their finishers, ending with both men on the mat. Soon afterwards, Goto and Takagi once again annihilated each other with incredibly hard lariats, with Goto taking down Takagi. Okada nailed Sanada with a tombstone, but Bushi stopped him before the Rainmaker. Okada then hit Bushi with a dropkick, an elbow drop and then the Rainmaker for the win. 

Grade: B+. Pretty good stuff that only got more exciting as it went. Takagi and Goto look like they are ready to kill each other, Rocky looks so happy to be wrestling regularly again, and the feud between Okada and Sanada is getting more interesting. Okada struggled to hit Sanada with the tombstone, so hitting him here was a big deal. I though that the action was fast and hard hitting enough to satisfy any tag team wrestling fan. Good stuff. 

Jay White & Yujiro Takahashi vs. EVIL & Tetsuya Naito: Gedo accompanied his BULLET CLUB guys to the ring. Of course, White and Naito were extremely disingenuous and annoyingly polite to one another. Naito even let White hold the IC title before the match. As Naito and Evil were posing, Bullet Club attacked, but LIJ saw it coming and kicked them in the guts and started the match up. Naito and Evil both beat him down with strikes over the course of the match, until Gedo held Naito’s foot before a slingshot dropkick and allowed White to hang up Naito by his hair on the top rope. They then brawled into the crowd and Naito literally had to sprint back into the ring from the seats to make it. Naito was beat down a bit more in the ring with some vicious striking and power moves from White. Evil got the hot tag, destroying both members of the Bullet Club team and looking great while doing it. Takahashi came in soon after White took control back. Bullet club hit a nice Bladebuster into a low dropkick, but Naito slid in to break it up at the last second. Things started to break down after that as the two illegal men started to brawl, and Naito took both his opponents down so Evil can recover. Evil then hit Everything is Evil to Takahashi and won the match. 

After the match, White beat down Evil, and Naito nearly hit the Destino, but White just sat down. He tried to give Naito the LIJ salute, with Naito forcing White to stand, but White ended up nailing a low blow instead. 

Grade: B. Not as good as their match last night, but still very entertaining and fun. Naito and White are only getting more hostile for each other, and I’m really excited for the eventual confrontation. Evil looked great too, keeping him strong for whatever he ends up doing next. Takahashi was only really here to be pinned, but he looked good too. If these preview tags are this good, then imagine the singles bout. I’m off the walls excited for it. 

The Birds of Prey vs. El Phantasmo & Taiji Ishimori for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championships:  Will Ospreay immediately asked for Phantasmo, who came in and attacked Robbie Eagles on the apron. The faces quickly fought back into things with a pair of splashes to the outside. They then worked over Ishimori’s arm with a series of quick tags, until Ishimori hit some of his signature offense on Eagles and started to beat him down. The crowd hated everything that Phantasmo did. He was over like rover as a heel. At one point, Eagles slipped out of a neckbreaker to nail a shot to the knee and a lariat to the back of the head Ospreay then got a hot tag and spiked Phantasmo on the top of his head with a DDT. Phantasmo and Ospreay continued to fight, with a series of counters ending in a simple slap to Ospreay. We saw some awesome tag team moves, like an assisted lung blower from Ishimori, followed by a Best Moonsault ever to Ospreay’s back. Ospreay and Eagles then hit an awesome Monkey flip into a kick, a low dropkick and a standing shooting star press from Ospreay, getting a near fall as Eagles nailed a suicide dive to Phantasmo. Another awesome spot saw Ishimori on Phantasmo’s shoulders, but Ospreay rolled away and allowed Eagles to give Ishimori a rough looking rana off of his shoulders. As Bullet Club rolled out, the Birds of Prey soared over the top ropes in criss crossing tope con hilos in an incredible move. They went for Red Wing, but Ishimori and Phantasmo fought out. Phantasmo tried for a double sunset flip powerbomb, but they flipped out of it and nailed Phantasmo with some combination offense. Ospreay then caught Ishimori out of a rana, and the Birds hit a powerbomb/ neckbreaker combo, but Phantasmo broke it up. Ishimori and Eagles dueled in the ring, with Ishimori hitting a desperate poison rana. The two then fought a bit, but Ospreay slid through a picked the leg, allowing Eagles to double stomp it, while Ospreay continued to keep Phantasmo busy. Eagles then nailed the springboard dropkick to the knee, and locked in the Ron Miller Special for a submission sequence. Ishimori tried to fight out, but Ospreay nailed a 450 and allowed Eagles to reapply. Ospreay wrapped Phantasmo up in an ocotopus to stop him from breaking things up, but eventually Phantasmo drove Ospreay into Eagles with a Death Valley Driver. Phantasmo then came in and toyed with Eagles and told him that he wasn’t good enough for Bullet Club or Chaos, which fired Eagles up as he beat Phantasmo down in the corner. Phantasmo countered out of it, nailing a springboard splash, a lionsault, a suicide dive to Ospreay, and then a Springboard moonsault over the barricade to Ospreay, but Eagles got the knees up when Phantasmo went for another springboard splash. Eagles nailed a series of kicks and a sliced bread into a DDT for a near fall. Eagles hit the 450 onto the leg, but Phantasmo pushed him off into the ropes, where Ishimori hit him with one of the belts, allowing Phantasmo to roll up Eagles, but Eagles still kicked out. Ishimori then hit a high knee to start a spinning Neckbreaker from Phantasmo, but Ospreay broke up the pin. They then gave Ospreay an assisted Bloody Cross, followed by a Bloody Cross and CR2 to Eagels to give the champs the win.

Grade: A-. This match started a little slow, but they picked things up in an incredible way. All of these guys hit awesome moves, and sold their asses off. It looked like it could go either way at any point, and I was convinced on a couple of those near falls. They flew around at incredible speeds and hit awesome tag team combinations. I loved this match, they really killed it out there. This made me all the more excited for the Ospreay vs. Phantasmo match later this week. Eagles and Ishimori are badass and awesome too, and I hope to see more of them later on. Great stuff here, match of the night.

Kota Ibushi vs. KENTA for the Tokyo Dome Match Rights Certificate: before the match started, Kenta gave Ibushi a superkick right in the face, and then nailed him in the head with the briefcase before smashing it. Red Shoes was running around trying to make sure Ibushi was good enough to compete, while Kenta stood in his corner in just absolute fury. He wanted to start the match, and waiting didn’t seem to be an option. The match eventually started, and Kenta nailed a psycho knee for a near fall right away. Kenta then flung Ibushi around ringside as the fans booed like crazy, and was ready to let him get counted out. Ibushi made it back in, but Kenta just threw him back out and kicked him over the barricade. Kenta followed up with a DDT on the floor, which really worried Red Shoes. Ibushi made it back again, but Kenta caught him with a draping DDT and a near fall. Kenta continued the disrespect by kicking Ibushi in the face as he was draped in the corner, which fired up Ibushi a bit to get some offense, but was put back down quickly. Ibushi finally started to get some offense, hitting a powerslam into a moonsault for a near fall. Ibushi then hit Kenta with a plancha, but kinda got hung up on the top rope, and ended up nailing Kenta in the head with his knee, but it looked like he was okay. The two then traded strikes back and forth, eventually transitioning into kicks and palm strikes, only to take each other out with stereo high kicks. Ibushi then tried for a moonsault out of the corner, but Kenta swept his leg and started to assault the knee and ankle. He even dropped Ibushi knee first on the English announce table and took out their feed for just a second. Kenta continued to assault the leg and knee in the middle of the ring. Kenta taunted Ibushi just a bit, allowing him to get some slaps in before he nailed a dragonscrew leg whip and locked in a heel hook. Any time that Ibushi started to fire up, Kenta would attack the knee right back. Ibushi went for a high kick in the corner, and followed up with a delayed dropkick, but Kenta picked the leg and started to apply the heel hook once more for a short sequence. Ibushi started to just power through the leg injury by nailing his strikes whenever he could, eventually forcing the ref to the ground. Ibushi was about to hit a bomaye, but Kenta dog piled the ref. The Guerrillas of Destiny then ran down, but Ibushi took them down with a double flip kick. He then hit Kenta with the bomaye, but GOD pulled Red Shoes out. GOD nailed Ibushi with a magic killer, and were going to give him the super powerbomb, but Ishii and Yoshi Hashi ran out to make the save. Ishii gave Loa a vertical drop brainbuster off the top to take him out, while Hashi hit Tama with Karma, and then the four all abandoned the ring. The two competitors started to fight once more by drilling each other with strike after strike. Kenta then hit the Kamagoye, but Ibushi kicked out! Kenta went for the Go to Sleep, but Ibushi caught his knee, nailed a high knee, and hit a Kamagoye of his own, but now Kenta kicked out! So Ibushi just pulled him up and hit another for the win. 

After the match, Evil came out and confronted Ibushi. He named himself the next challenger. 

Grade: A-. Another great match out of these guys, but I think it just barely qualifies as a great. It was really slow and didn’t really showcase either guy until the last few minutes. They showed more cheating and limb work than a hard hitting shooter match like it should have been. But after Ibushi started to come back and actually hit some of his slaps and kicks, it picked up. There was certainly a lot of tension, and the crowd was firmly behind Ibushi. I could’ve done without the interference and the serious injury angle, but I doubt this is their last match. They will probably have a hard hitting spectacle at some point, and I am waiting for it. This was still great and the right guy won. Just be careful not to ruin Bullet Club by doing these shenanigans all the time. 

Overall Grade: B

Pros: Connors vs. Uemura; 6-man tag; lij vs. bullet club; birds of prey vs. bullet club; main event

Cons: richards vs. narita

[pwrestlingxpress]

Match Cards Announced for The 3 Destruction Shows

At 2 AM Eastern/3 PM local time (in Japan) New Japan Pro Wrestling officially announced the match cards for the 3 Destruction shows taking place in Hiroshima (on September 15th), in Beppu (on September 17th), and in Kobe (on September 23rd). 

Let’s start off with the official match card for Destruction in Hiroshima which will be highlighted by:

Kenny Omega [Bullet Club Elite] making his second title defense for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship as he will defend against Tomohiro Ishii [Chaos].  With this announcement, it will mark the first time in five years that the IWGP Heavyweight Championship will be defended at a Destruction event.  Also, the NEVER Open-weight 6 Man Tag Team Championship will be on the line as Bullet Clug OG (Taiji Ishimori, Tama Tonga, and Tanga Loa) will make their first title defense against the team of IWGP United States Champion Juice Robinson, David Finlay, and Ryusuke Taguchi.  Another standout match will be Toa Henare going 1-on-1 against Bad Luck Fale.  Down below is the full card for Destruction in Hiroshima:  

Six Man Tag Match with a 20-minute Time Limit:  KUSHIDA, Tiger Mask, and Jyushin Thunder Liger vs. Sho Tanaka, Yoh Komatsu, and Rocky Romero [Roppongi 3K/Chaos]

Singles Match with a 20-minute Time Limit:  Toa Henare vs. Bad Luck Fale [Bullet Club OG]

Tag Match with a 20-minute Time Limit:  Ayato Yoshida [K-Dojo] and Michael Elgin vs. Davey Boy Smith Jr. and Lance Archer [Suzuki-gun/KES]

Six Man Tag Match with a 30-minute Time Limit:  Will Ospreay, Chuckie T., and Beretta [Chaos] vs. Chase Owens, Yujiro Takahashi, and Kota Ibushi [Bullet Club Elite]

Six Man Tag Match with a 60-minute Time Limit for the NEVER 6-Man Tag Team Championship:  (Challenger Team) Ryusuke Taguchi, David Finlay, and Juice Robinson vs. (Champion Team) Taiji Ishimori, Tanga Loa, and Tama Tonga [Bullet Club OG]

Six Man Tag Match with a 30-minute Time Limit:  Gedo, Toru Yano, and Hirooki Goto [Chaos] vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Takashi Iizuka, and Taichi [Suzuki-gun]

Eight Man Tag Match with a 30-minute Time Limit:  BUSHI, Seiya Sanada, “King of Darkness” EVIL, and Tetsuya Naito [Los Ingobernables de Japon] vs. El Desperado, Taka Michinoku, Zack Sabre Jr., and Minoru Suzuki [Suzuki-gun]

Six Man Tag Match with a 30-minute Time Limit:  Tomoaki Honma, Togi Makabe [GBH], and Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Jay White, YOSHI-HASHI, and Kazuchika Okada [Chaos]

Singles Match with a 60-minute Time Limit for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship:  (Challenger) Tomohiro Ishii [Chaos] vs. (Champion) Kenny Omega [Bullet Club Elite] 

Note that after Hiroshima, none of the Bullet Club members (both OG and The Elite) will be a part of the rest of the Destruction tour as of this typing.  However, things are subject to change. Plus, though most of the Chaos faction is slated to compete throughout the whole tour, Jay White, Tomohiro Ishii, and Rocky Romero are not.  Tomohiro Ishii is slated to compete through Hiroshima while Rocky is slated through Ehime on September 21st.  Jay White  will begin his Destruction tour in Yamaguchi on September 16th.  Lastly, since he’ll be defending the title in Hiroshima and not in Ryogoku as many predicted, it’ll be interesting to see who’ll emerge as Kenny’s 3rd challenger should he be victorious in Hiroshima. 

Next up will be Destruction in Beppu two days later (September 17th) which will be highlighted by: 

Hirooki Goto [Chaos] making his second title defense for the NEVER Open-weight Championship against Taichi [Suzuki-gun].  However, that match (for unknown reasons) is not in the main event spot.  Down below is the full match card for Destruction in Beppu including the official main event match: 

Six Man Tag Match with a 20-minute Time Limit:  Yota Tsuji and Tenkozy (Satoshi Kojima and Hiroshi Tenzan) vs. Yuya Uemura, Manabu Nakanishi, and Yuji Nagata

Tag Match with a 20-minute Time Limit:  Ren Narita and David Finlay vs. Shota Umino and Toa Henare

Singles Match with a 20-minute Time Limit:  Ayato Yoshida [K-Dojo] vs. Takashi Iizuka [Suzuki-gun]

Eight Man Tag Match with a 30-minute Time Limit:  Ryusuke Taguchi, KUSHIDA, Tiger Mask, and Jyushin Thunder Liger vs. Will Ospreay and Roppongi 3K (Sho Tanaka, Yoh Komatsu, and Rocky Romero) [Chaos]

Tag Match with a 30-minute Time Limit:  Chuckie T. and Beretta [Best Friends/Chaos] vs. Davey Boy Smith Jr. and Lance Archer [Suzuki-gun/KES]

Six Man Tag Match with a 30-minute Time Limit:  BUSHI, Seiya Sanada, and “King of Darkness” EVIL [Los Ingobernables de Japon] vs. El Desperado, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, and Zack Sabre Jr. [Suzuki-gun]

Eight Man Tag Match with a 30-minute Time Limit:  Juice Robinson, GBH (Tomoaki Honma and Togi Makabe), and Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Jay White, YOSHI-HASHI, Toru Yano, and Kazuchika Okada [Chaos]

Singles Match with a 60-minute Time Limit for the NEVER Open-weight Championship:  (Challenger) Taichi [Suzuki-gun] vs. (Champion) Hirooki Goto [Chaos]

Special Singles Match with a 60-minute Time Limit:  Minoru Suzuki [Suzuki-gun] vs. Tetsuya Naito [Los Ingobernables de Japon]

If you read that folks, then your eyes are not deceiving you.  Instead of the NEVER Open-weight Championship main eventing Destruction in Beppu, it’ll be Tetsyua Naito [Los Ingobernables de Japon] going 1-on-1 against Minoru Suzuki [Suzuki-gun] in a special singles match marking only the second time this year that a major New Japan event will be main evented by a singles match instead of a title match.  The other time that occurred was at Night One of Wrestling Dontaku 2018 when Kenny Omega [Bullet Club Elite] went 1-on-1 against Adam Page [Bullet Club Elite]. 

Lastly, we head to Kobe on September 23rd for Destruction in Kobe which will be highlighted by: 

Hiroshi Tanahashi defending his IWGP Heavyweight title shot slated for Wrestle Kingdom 13 in Tokyo Dome against Kazuchika Okada [Chaos].  Also, it’ll be in Kobe where New Japan will start a tournament to crown a new IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion as Hiromu Takahashi [Los Ingobernables de Japon] was forced to relinquish the title due to a neck injury he sustained in San Francisco.  He is scheduled to miss nine to twelve months of in-ring competition due to the injury even though no surgery will be required.  Down below is a video of New Japan making the announcement as well as the entire match card for Destruction in Kobe:

Singles Match with a 10-minute Time Limit:  Yota Tsuji vs. Yuya Uemura

Tag Match with a 20-minute Time Limit:  Ren Narita and Shota Umino vs. Sho Tanaka and Yoh Komatsu [Roppongi 3K/Chaos]

Tag Match with a 20-minute Time Limit:  Tiger Mask and Jyushin Thunder Liger vs. El Desperado and Yoshinobu Kanemaru [Suzuki-gun]

Eight Man Tag Match with a 30-minute Time Limit:  Ayato Yoshida, Ryusuke Taguchi, and GBH (Tomoaki Honma and Togi Makabe) vs. Manabu Nakanishi, Yuji Nagata, and Tenkozy (Satoshi Kojima and Hiroyoshi Tenzan)

Tag Match with a 30-minute Time Limit:  Chuckie T. and Beretta [Best Friends/Chaos] vs. Davey Boy Smith Jr. and Lance Archer [Suzuki-gun/KES]

Six Man Tag Match with a 30-minute Time Limit:  Toa Henare, David Finlay, and Juice Robinson vs. Will Ospreay, YOSHI-HASHI, and Jay White  [Chaos]

Six Man Tag Match with a 30-minute Time Limit:  Seiya Sanda, “King of Darkness” EVIL, and Tetsuya Naito [Los Ingobernables de Japon] vs. Taka Michinoku, Zack Sabre Jr., and Minoru Suzuki [Suzuki-gun]

Semi-Final Match to determine who’ll go to the finals on October 8th to crown the 82nd IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion:  KUSHIDA vs. BUSHI [Los Ingobernables de Japon]

Singles Match with a 60-minute Time Limit for the Rights to Challenge for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship at the Tokyo Dome on January 4, 2019:  (Challenger) Kazuchika Okada [Chaos] vs. (Contract Holder/G1 Climax 28 Winner) Hiroshi Tanahashi 

All these events will occur on September 15th in Hiroshima and will end on September 23rd in Kobe.  Catch all the action on NJPW World at the following timelines down below.  Go to timeanddate.com for the start time in your area:

Destruction in Hiroshima:  September 15th at 5 AM Eastern/6 PM local time

Destruction in Beppu:  September 17th at 5 AM Eastern/6 PM local time

Destruction in Kobe:  September 23rd at 3 AM Eastern/4 PM local time 

[newsintheshell]

HigeHiro, svelato lo staff della serie animata

L’anime debutterà in Giappone nel corso del prossimo anno.

Aperto il sito ufficiale di “Hige wo Soru. Soshite Joshikousei wo Hirou.” (I Shaved. Then I Brought a High School Girl Home.), la serie animata tratta dall’omonima light novel di Shimesaba, svelandone il cast principale assieme ai bozzetti dei personaggi, oltre a confermarne l’arrivo sulle tv giapponesi per il 2021.

Yoshida: Kazuyuki Okitsu (Saku Hagita in Orange)

Sayu Ogiwara: Kana Ichinose (Tuesday in Carole & Tuesday)

Airi Goto: Hisako Kanemoto (Karen Tendo in Gamers!)

Yuzuha Mishima: Kaori Ishihara (Hitomi Tsukishiro in Iroduku: The World in Colors)

Hashimoto: Yuusuke Kobayashi (Subaru Ntasuki in Re:ZERO Starting Life in Another World)

Asami Yuki: Natsumi Kawaida (Natsumi Hodaka in Houkago Teibou Nisshi)

L’adattamento sta venendo diretto da Manabu Kamikita presso lo studio Project No.9 (Shokomeza - Le ragazze anelano alla landa selvaggia, Didn’t I Say to Make My Abilities Average in the Next Life?!). La sceneggiatura è curata da Deko Akao (After the Rain, OshiBudo), mentre il character design è ad opera di Takayuki Noguchi (Shokomeza - Le ragazze anelano alla landa selvaggia, Angel’s 3Piece!). Al momento non è stato ancora fissato un periodo di debutto per l’anime.  

Sono ormai cinque anno che l'impiegato Yoshida ha una cotta per la collega Airi Gotou. Dopo tutto questo tempo, riesce finalmente ad avere un appuntamento con lei e a dichiararsi, ma viene puntualmente respinto. Mentre si trascina verso casa ubriaco e deluso, si imbatte in una studentessa seduta sul ciglio della strada. La ragazza, che ha bisogno di un posto dove passare la notte, tenta di sedurlo. Yoshida respinge le sue avance, ma la invita comunque nel suo appartamento. La mattina dopo, la ragazza, presentandosi come Sayu Ogiwara, confessa di essere scappata da Hokkaido sei mesi fa ed essere arrivata fino a Tokyo scambiando continuamente favori sessuali per avere in cambio un tetto sopra la sua testa. Yoshida decide di farla rimanere, a patto però che si occupi semplicemente di lavare i piatti e fare il bucato. Così inizia una toccante relazione fra un uomo dal cuore spezzato e una liceale in fuga da casa.

La commedia romantica ha fatto i suo debutto online nel 2017 e viene pubblicata in formato fisico da Kadokawa, completa delle illustrazioni ad opera di booota (Seven Senses of the Re'Union, Himote House), dallo scorso anno.

Un versione in formato manga della storia, disegnata da Imaru Adachi, viene serializzata sulla rivista Monthly Shunen Ace dal giugno 2018 e attualmente conta tre volumetti rilasciati in patria.

* NON VUOI PERDERTI NEANCHE UN POST? ENTRA NEL CANALE TELEGRAM! *

Autore: SilenziO))) (@s1lenzi0)

[FONTE]

[keepingthespiritalive]

NJPW Results for February 14, 2018 NJPW "New Japan Road" 2/14/18 18:30 @ the Okinawa Prefectural Budokan 2,641 spectators (1) Shota Umino vs Ren Narita…