#so hiromu is due for an impact appearance at some point to begin with

[the-kipsabian]

i was gonna ask who would be the best one to tag together with alex to deal with bullshit club shenanigans

i’d normally say bailey but i feel like our new fighting champion has his hands full and honestly as much as i’d love to see him tag with alex i want him to have all the spotlight as the x-division champ right now

so i think

we should call for hiromu

[gdwessel]

STARDOM Dark Match Added To WK14 But Won’t Be Aired Live; Anthem Cancels NJPW on AXS, Fight Network; Jericho Open To Tanahashi Match for AEW Title As Elite Slag Off NJPW

Strong Style Story Podcast Episode 60: Side A - Wrestle Kingdom 14 and Side B- 4th Anniversary Show on the Pro Wrestling Only Podcast Network

So, hey, after a couple of days rest over a Christmas period, and with no NJPW show going on, surely NOTHING could be happen--

Oh.

OH.

Several news items from the NJPW realm have caused Wrestling Twitter to go into meltdown over the last few days of the holiday period. The first was the announcement of a STARDOM dark match at the Tokyo Dome during Wrestle Kingdom 14, announced during STARDOM’s 2019 finale at Tokyo Korakuen Hall on 12/24/2019, which was also the retirement show for wrestler Hazuki (allegedly for political reasons, but anway...). The match itself sees World of Stardom champion Mayu Iwatani & Wonder of Stardom champion Arisa Hoshiki take on the team of Hana Kimura & Giulia.

What sent Twitter into meltdown was twofold - the very idea the match was happening, and the fact it will not be shown live on NJPWWorld like the other pre-show matches. The second part is easy to explain - as noted by this blog, and many, many others when Bushiroad purchased STARDOM, the promotion has different pre-existing TV contracts than NJPW, who primarily deal with TV Asahi, a minority stake owner in NJPWWorld, therefore they do not want to, and legally cannot, put another network’s property on their network or services. So while it stinks, it’s the world of TV contracts prohibiting the STARDOM women from appearing on NJPWWorld. If nothing else, STARDOM gets a Tokyo Dome match, and presumably a real shot in the arm for exposure to an audience who may not necessarily know STARDOM. I’m pretty sure Bushiroad wants STARDOM to succeed under their watch, and apparently, the show on Christmas Eve was their highest ever attendance in Korakuen Hall, so that’s a good sign.

The first is just Twitter-dick-swinging, as certain members of Wrestling Twitter wanted to turn the event into I Told You So Olympics, who was “Right,” etc. Which, who gives a shit? Congratulations, you predicted a company who owns one wrestling promotion decided to give their latest acquisition a spot on one of their biggest events. You mental giants, you.

Yesterday brought on several meltdown-worthy items.  The first was a tweet from @NJPWglobal, in which they more or less came out and said “There are currently no plans for TV broadcast of NJPW events in 2020 (WK14 included) in the US. “ Later in the day, it was also revealed Fight Network in Canada will also be dropping the English NJPW show.

Both AXS TV and Fight Network are now owned by Anthem Sports & Entertainment, the owners of Impact Wrestling. Clearly, Anthem has more investment in Impact being a bigger show on their networks. NJPW worked with Impact in the past, when they were still known as TNA, and just as clearly, don’t wish to work with them again, no matter who is in charge. There have been no new episodes of NJPW on AXS for the whole month of December, despite there being plenty of content from the World Tag League and Road to Tokyo Dome tours, and the show has been in a repeat cycle since then.

This is a real shame. Honestly, it was the debut of NJPW on AXS on 1/13/2015 which brought me back completely into the New Japan, and wrestling folds, after being away for many years. This show got my partner into wrestling. It was a show that broke out boxing/MMA announcer Mauro Ranallo as a pro wrestling commentator, so much so that WWE snagged him up when they could. For better or for worse, it also was one of the shows that resurrected the wrestling announcing career of current AEW announcer/executive Jim Ross, as well as put Josh Barnett back in the public eye. Through NJPW on AXS, we got live NJPW events from the USA, on cable TV, something that was inconceivable even at the beginning of NJPW on AXS’s run. We even managed to get same-day/week coverage of several Wrestle Kingdoms, something else that was inconceivable before it actually happened. Not to mention many of the moments that happened live on AXS, good (Kazuchika Okada defending the IWGP Heavyweight title on US soil v. Cody Rhodes), bad (the shoot incident between Josh Barnett & Jay White), and ugly (Hiromu Takahashi’s horrific neck injury).

At the same time, it’s been clear since JR and Barnett ended their tenures, and the episodes were merely edits of the English NJPWWorld feeds, that the show was not really a priority. In the beginning, the show were overdubs of World Pro Wrestling episodes from TV Asahi, but we got great introductions by the wrestlers, always ending with some variation of “World Pro Wrestling RETURNS!”, in addition to interviews with the featured wrestlers on that episode, many of which were very enlightening, in-character and otherwise. When they transitioned to edited NJPWWorld feeds, a lot of the character of the show was lost, and at that point, why not just subscribe to NJPWWorld.

Even so, it’s the end of an era, and I don’t think it can be overstated how much of an effect NJPW on AXS had on New Japan’s ability to establish a foothold in the USA. Personally, I’ll miss writing about it, and am grateful to AXS for the nearly five years (the contract allegedly runs til 2021) on the air on Amerian cable television. Pour one out.

Lastly, the scheduled match at Night 2 of WK14 between Hiroshi Tanahashi v. current AEW World Champion Chris Jericho has taken a very interesting turn. Earlier this week, Tanahashi gave an interview in Tokyo Sports, where he said “He’s a champion right? All I’m saying is if I beat him and he comes back asking for a rematch then I think it’s reasonable to tell him to put the belt up. If that happened it would break down a door.”

This has now prompted a response from Le Champion on Instagram, and, well, he agrees:

What you don't know is I speak and read perfect Japanese and I read what you said about the Tokyo Dome. You said if you can beat me that you would enter the forbidding portal and request a title shot for the AEW Championship. I thought it's a great idea. So, 'Le Champion' asked the Chairman of the Board, the owner of AEW, Tony Khan, if it was okay to grant your request, and he said 'yes.' So, if you can beat me in the Tokyo Dome, I will give you a championship match for the AEW Title.

So if nothing else, Chris Jericho and Tony Khan are open to the idea of NJPW talents coming to AEW.

This might not sit well with the Executive Vice Presidents of All Elite Wrestling, aka The Elite, aka Kenny Omega, Cody Rhodes, and Matt & Nick Jackson. Released a couple of days ago, the latest episode of the Bucks’ Wrestlers On The Road Ordering Room Service YouTube show has both Omega and the Jacksons griping about feeling betrayed about their exits from both NJPW and ROH. Watch it and decide for yourselves. Or don’t. Personally, it seems to me the Elite are bitter that they weren’t nearly as over as they thought they were, while also not understanding why companies they were under contract to might not feel very warm & fuzzy about wrestlers who were trying to form another company on their clock. Kenny Omega in particular has tried to say in other interviews that NJPW are trying to prevent him from visas to enter Japan. (NJPW president Harold Meij has denied this accusation previously.) Indeed, on the Halloween edition of AEW Dynamite, Kenny’s entrance video for a match was an Undertale re-do saying NJPW tried to ruin him. 

We all watched NJPW in the latter half of 2018, and trust me, nothing could be further from the truth than the notion that NJPW were trying to bury the Elite, when in fact, the promotion was very centered on the Elite during that period, and made the company nearly unwatchable in the main event scene. 

Considering how far backwards NJPW bent over for The Elite, and particularly for Omega, from making him the only gaijin to ever win G1 Climax; creating an entire title belt for him in the IWGP US Heavyweight Championship; holding gimmick matches that traditionally NJPW would never do (i.e. the 2016 ladder match for the IWGP Intercontinental title that was first supposed to be v. Hiroshi Tanahashi but changed to Michael Elgin due to Tanahashi being injured); allowing Cody Rhodes two IWGP Heavyweight title shots in the span of three months, including turning a match everybody wanted (Omega v. Kota Ibushi at King Of Pro Wrestling 2018) into a match absolutely nobody asked for (Omega v. Ibushi v. Cody); how much tag team title programs focused on the Young Bucks when they were not very over at all outside of Tokyo...

Honestly, I could go on. And if that’s how they feel, so be it. But only one side in this is taking shots at the other, and it’s not NJPW. Considering AEW has been under the microscope the last few weeks, for everything to falling ratings, to both of the Young Bucks leaving Twitter in the face of dire criticism of the main event angle on the 12/18/2019 year-ending episode of AEW Dynamite, to how AEW is pushing (or NOT pushing) certain talents, one would think that the Executive Vice Presidents might want to get their own house in order before slagging off NJPW, ROH, WWE, or anyone else. They are already getting mocked on Twitter for failing to deliver a promised match on their New Year’s Day opening show in Jacksonville, FL, this coming week. And with one side talking about “betrayal” from NJPW while another part of the company, including the actual owner and money man of the promotion, is opening the door with a stipulation, something tells me AEW may not be as cohesive as a functioning unit as they may think.

Strong Style Story Podcast Episode 60: Side A - Wrestle Kingdom 14 and Side B- 4th Anniversary Show on the Pro Wrestling Only Podcast Network