#yujiro kushida

[hardcore-heaven]

[would-they-be-good-at-asmr]

Propaganda:

I'm mostly familiar with chalk ASMR, so that's what I'm going off of here.

KUSHIDA's abilities in the wrestling ring, I think, show that he is more than strong enough to break gymchalk apart. Plus, he would be very comfortable getting his hands dirty (I mean, come on, this man has handled poisonous squid ink!)

[fagcrisis]

my friend ellis @jonny-dykeville wants to get into njpw, and i thought id write her a little summary of whats been going on lately! im posting it here in case its useful for anyone who wants to get into nooj but finds it a little too confusing (understandable) or has stopped watching in the last couple years and now wants to get back into it

this will include a list of matches at the end from 2023 that i think were good and/or are important to storylines! this is accurate to the day im writing it which is 2023/05/15

LINKS TO BE UPDATED

The landscape of New Japan Pro Wrestling has changed enormously in the past couple of months. For example if you told someone a year ago that Kazuchika Okada would hold a non singles belt, theyd laugh in your face.

So how did we get here?

google doc version

Your current champions

Sanada beat Kazuchika Okada for the IWGP heavyweight championship at Sakura Genesis, and has since defended it against Hiromu Takahashi, the current junior heavyweight champion. 

Hiromu won the belt at Wrestle Kingdom in a four-way match against Master Wato, El Desperado, and former champion Taiji Ishimori.

The IWGP women’s title was created last year and won by Kairi at Historic X-over. She lost the belt to Mercedes Moné, who was champion until Mayu Iwatani dethroned her recently.

Aussie Open hold the tag titles after defeating Bishamon, and they’ve gone on to win the Strong openweight tag team championships from the Motor City Machine Guns.

David Finlay is the NEVER openweight champion, bringing the belt back in to Bullet Club after Tama Tonga defeated Karl Anderson for it at Wrestle Kingdom.

Intergalactic Jetsetters (Kushida And Kevin Knight) finally ended the reign of Catch 2/2 (Tjp And Francesco Akira) as junior heavyweight tag team champions during the road to Wrestling Dontaku tour, thank god.

Kazuchika Okada, Hiroshi Tanahashi and Tomohiro Ishii are the NEVER openweight six man champions winning the titles from Strong Style (El Desperado, Minoru Suzuki And Ren Narita). If you think that sentence is insane, don’t worry I’ll explain whats happening.

Zack Sabre Jr became the inaugural NJPW World TV champion, winning the tournament at Wrestle Kingdom by defeating Ren Narita, and he’s had some incredible defenses since (you might’ve seen him on ROH).

the KOPW trophy graduated to a belt after El Phantasmo broke it, and Taichi is the current provisional champion having defeated Shingo Takagi for it. 

Kenta lost the strong openweight championship to Hikuleo in the first defense of the belt in Japan, after winning it from Fred Rosser (with Juice interference).

at the time of writing this the Strong women’s title does exist but the tournament to decide its first owner has yet to be held (Resurgence may 21st).

Karl Anderson will pay for his crimes

Those who have been following me since november last year know that Suzuki-gun, a heel faction in NJPW led by Minoru Suzuki, has come to an end. I was inconsolable. There are multiple reasons for this happening, but the main one is Karl Anderson.

While Anderson is a member of Bullet Club, and in fall of last year was still the NEVER openweight champion, he is contracted to WWE and was on a handshake deal with NJPW, essentially promising he’ll appear at shows they book him for. There was a scheduling conflict with one of WWE’s saudi shows, and Anderson essentially ghosted the company not appearing for his title defense against Hikuelo, which meant I had to watch Yujiro Takahashi wrestle. anyway this all meant that New Japan lost faith in their freelancers, and because the majority of Suzuki-gun were on handshake deals, this meant the faction had to go. Their last match was on december 23rd (njpwworld) (bilibili link) and it was very emotional and beautiful, and I was incredibly sad.

Shota came back!

Shota Umino, who you may know as the protege of Jon Moxley, returned from excursion in the fall of last year. Young lions (NJPW trainees) are sent abroad to foreign promotions by the company to train and gather experience in different environments to Japan. Shota was in Britain for a time and he returned, challenging Will Ospreay for the US title he still held at the time. He lost but with this high profile title shot he joined the ranks of the young stars NJPWhas much faith vested in. 

This also includes Ren Narita, who you may not know because he was never adopted by a mean american man. he was trained by Katsuyori Shibata, earning the nickname Son of Strong Style and wearing similar gear to Shibata as well. The company seems to be trying to set him up to be Shibata’s successor, and he wrestles a similarly, clean technical style.

A recent addition to their ranks is Yota Tsuji, whose return I will explain later.

The IWGP women’s title

Women’s wrestling promotion Stardom and NJPW are both owned by Bushiroad. Because of this last year there was a crossover between the two promotions, which saw the first mixed tag matches in an NJPW ring. Great show, you should watch it. (njpwworld link) (bilibili link)

For this event, the IWGP women’s championship was created and won by Kairi. Now I have some thoughts about how Stardom is already full of accomplished talented women, and putting a women’s match on the card once in a blue moon isn’t a win for women in wrestling and you should maybe try watching Stardom instead (guide on how to do that). But I digress. Regardless of whether or not this is pandering, every match for the belt was undoubtedly incredible and I will be linking them all in the rec section.

A brief Wrestle Kingdom aside

You fucking know what happened at Wrestle Kingdom I shouldn’t have to explain this to you. Kenny Omega returned and defeated Will Ospreay for the US title, and Okada won his beloved IWGP belt back from Jay White, starting him down the path of leaving NJPW.

What you might not know is what happened at Wrestle Kingdom Night 2, which confusingly was held some weeks later. Wrestle Kingdom traditionally is a show between NOAH and NJPW, so Night 2 saw the two promotions pitch their most popular wrestlers against each other. Okada was set to fight Kaito Kiyomiya in a tag team match, but he thought this challenge beneath him and attempted to murder Kiyomiya ruling the match a no contest.

Later in february, at Keiji Muto’s retirement show, Okada did have to face off Kiyomiya in a singles bout, despite his protests that he is not some cheap whore (his words not mine). That entire show is incredibly good but not extremely relevant to NJPW storylines, as crossover events usually are not. (njpwworld) (unoffical link)

After Wrestle Kingdom, New Japan holds New Year’s Dash and the New Beginning shows where they set up new storylines that will likely last the whole year. Jay White challenges Hikuleo to a loser leaves Japan match, because he blames him and his brothers (Guerillas of Destiny) for Bullet Club weakening and his loss at Wrestle Kingdom. He promptly loses this match. Bummer. 

El Desperado refuses to accept that Suzuki-gun is over and joins Minoru Suzuki in defending Ren Narita from House of Torture’s dastardly attack, leading to the formation of their trios team; Strong Style. They then go on to defeat House of Torture for the NEVER openweight six man tag team titles. Now this is crazy but we dont have time to dwell on it because the other remnants of Suzuki-gun are also making moves that are considerably more insane.

Its time for: faction madness

There are a lot of factions in New Japan Pro Wrestling. like a lot. Every storyline is heavily driven by who is in what faction and where their allegiences lie. This might be confusing to you if you only watch AEW, a promotion where factions matter less than what Tony adds to commentary.

TMDK

Naturally ex-Suzuki-gun member and best technical wrestler in the known universe Zack Sabre Jr couldn’t simply remain in Hontai, the main body of New Japan where factionless members of the roster belong. Luckily he was a free agent for all of five seconds before his old australian buddies snatched him and his fresh tv championship up. TMDK, known as an australian faction despite a solid half not being from Australia, has suffered some losses in the past year. Jonah, their strongest member, a man who defeated even Kazuchika Okada, left Japan for WWE. Shane Haste and Mikey Nicholls, founding members of the faction and a tag team under the same name, have failed to succeed in winning Tag League in fall of last year. Safe to say, they needed a win. Zack has teamed with them during his time in NOAH, so it was only logical that he would return to his old friends. They even recruited a young lion, Kosei Fujita, who became the first young lion in a faction if you don’t count Hikuleo which was a slightly different situation. TMDK also includes Bad Dude Tito (or Big Teets) over in the States.

The addition of Zack really reinvigorated the faction. Shane and Mikey challenged and failed to defeat Aussie Open for the tag titles, and Robbie Eagles left Chaos for more australian pastures, joining the faction when he challenged Hiromu Takahashi for his championship. Robbie also lost but TMDK didn’t let these setbacks stop them from cutting the weirdest promos after every match and staunchly insisting Fujita (who they’ve nicknamed Big Fooj) will be the first young lion to win a championship.

United Empire

Will Ospreay is no longer the IWGP US heavyweight champion. After losing to Kenny Omega he threw a hissy fit and declared that he would give professional wrestling one more year. He also entered the New Japan Cup, a tournament for the right to challenge for the IWGP championship. Unfortunately in a match against his friend and stablemate Mark Davis (of Aussie Open and ass size fame) he injured his shoulder which put him out of action until about last week. He won the 1pw world title though, so he’s fine.

Other than that, the faction has been doing fairly well for themselves. After a titanic struggle against Bishamon, Aussie Open won the tag titles and have gone on to defend them against TMDK and somehow, Best Friends on AEW television. They also won the Strong tag titles, and Kyle Fletcher managed to botch a moonsault in both matches. You’ve definitely seen them even if you don’t watch NJPW, their schedule is insane and they have a banger of a match practically on a weekly average. 

Also tag champions in the faction were Catch 2/2, who held the junior titles until fairly recently. They’ve had great defenses against YOH and his new tag partner, Lio Rush (more on that in a second) and Douki and Yoshinobu Kanemaru. What you need to know about Catch 2/2 is that TJP is a PragerU weirdo and Akira is good albeit italian.

UE also includes Jeff Cobb, who you might’ve seen challenging for Kenny Omega’s US title on Dynamite. He is incredible I don’t have anything else to say. He also kind of thinks flat earthers have a point. He’s really good though.

Also in the faction are Aaron Henare, men’s rights weirdo who challenged and lost to Shingo Takagi for the KOPW belt and Great O Khan who is somehow the Revpro champion. He is notable for having a nice bow in his hair and screeching. The most recent recruit to the faction is Dan Moloney, who unfortunately is fairly unknown to me. He joined the faction as a junior heavyweight and subsequently entered the Best of Super Juniors Tournament, which I will explain later.

Chaos

I’ve previously described Chaos as Hontai 2.0, because that’s really what it is. Lead by Kazuchika Okada, Chaos was the original heel faction in NJPW, founded by Shinsuke Nakamura. Nowadays it is a loose collection of allegiances that confusingly includes the entire Best Friends faction in AEW. Yes, that includes Trent’s mum Sue. Since becoming faces, Chaos members regularly team with Hontai because it all doesn’t really matter. 

Kazuchika Okada defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi at Battle in the Valley, and then asked him to tag together. They named themselves the Dream Team, and I only briefly pondered how well it ended the last time Tana teamed with a younger star. Anyways I’m sure this will go fine. They challenged Okada’s fellow Chaos members Bishamon for their tag titles they still held at that time, and sadly lost that match. They defeated the team of Shota Umino and Ren Narita, and then once again failed to obtain gold in a 3-way match against the Motor City Machine Guns and Aussie Open (who won). After Okada lost his belt, they recruited Tomohiro Ishii, who doesn’t like Tanahashi and doesn’t want to team with him because he isn’t in Chaos. Despite this, they managed to defeat Strong Style for the NEVER openweight six man championships.

Bishamon I’ve covered sufficiently enough I think, they are the team of Hirooki Goto who recently celebrated his 20th anniversary in professional wrestling and YOSHI-HASHI who used to be incredibly horrible and is less bad recently. They are fun and I like them.

YOH and SHO were a junior tag team in Chaos until SHO turned heel, joining Bullet Club. This left YOH in a sort of strange limbo, where he contemplated quitting wrestling and pursuing his more artistic ambitions (he is a musician and an artist). Rocky Romero, also a member of Chaos, got him and Lio Rush together to team for Junior Tag League, and they ended up winning the tournament! Although they failed to defeat catch 2/2 at Wrestle Kingdom, and Lio got injured, teaming with him seemed to bring YOH’s confidence back. He’s been wrestling slightly differently and with more self-assurence. The pair both separately challenged and lost to Hiromu Takahashi, two incredible matches that I will link below. Not even these losses brought YOH’s confidence down though, and he’s entered BOSJ alongside Lio although they are in different blocks.

Also members of Chaos are Rocky Romero, Best Friends (including Kris Statlander, Orange Cassidy, Sue, and I think quite possibly Danhausen), Toru Yano who is kind of a funny little man, and Tomohiro Ishii.

Los Ingobernables de Japon

Led by Tetsuya Naito, the tweener group is more of a loose collection of talented individuals than your regular faction. LIJ has a policy of letting their members forge their own paths and create their own success, instead of letting them fall back on the power of the group. 

Maybe the only exception to this rule is Hiromu Takahashi, who owes a lot of his success to the faction as well as his mentor Tetsuya Naito. Hiromu is very talented and has a very unique style both in his wrestling and his fashion sense. Unbiased corner ahead I like him a lot. He holds junior wrestlers in very high regard and recently organized the All Star Junior festival to showcase junior heavyweights from all around japan (njpwworld ppv) (vk link). He has a plush cat named Daryl. Hiromu is kind of the ace of the junior division right now, he is on his fifth title reign and is trying to defend the belt 12 times to beat the current defense record of 11 held by Minoru Tanaka. Currently he is 4 defenses into this streak, having defeated YOH, Lio Rush, Robbie Eagles and Yoshinobu Kanemaru. Despite being champion he entered BOSJ, a tournament he’s won four times, three times in a row. If he wins, he’ll get to hand pick his opponent at Dominion.

I have no clue what to say about Tetsuya Naito. To quote my friend Jay, “it’s naito. he is an indescribable force of non-functional knees and the driest hair you've ever seen. he takes ten years to remove his entrance gear. he is naito”. You fucking know who Tetsuya Naito is.

This year, the main thing he’s done is defeating his mentor Keiji Muto at his retirement show in Febuary (njpwworld link) (vk link). He has a very hands off approach towards leading his group, sort of letting everyone figure their things out, which is why he didn’t really seem worried about his match against his stablemate Sanada in the New Japan Cup. You can imagine his surprise when Sanada not only defeated him but then declared that he would be leaving the faction, but more on that later. He also recently had a singles match against DOUKI, which was incredible.

Also members of LIJ are Shingo Takagi, winner of KOPW 2022 and former KOPW 2023 provisional champion, and also living legend. He made his name in Dragon Gate, a different japanese promotion you should also watch (I’m not at all being held at gunpoint by people whose names start with J), Bushi and Titan, who are both junior heavyweight luchadors I don’t know as much about as I should. They’re really good and they are both in BOSJ this year.

Bullet Club

Do I even need to explain. Don’t worry I will. 

Jay White lost his loser leaves Japan match to Hikuleo, but there was hope. He promised Gedo he would go to America and wrestle on Strong and right his wrongs. So obviously he immediately lost a loser leaves New Japan match to Eddie Kingston, barring him from ever wrestling in a New Japan ring ever again. After weeks of radio silence, he showed up on Dynamite, forming Bullet Culb Gold (2 bullet 2 club) with Juice Robinson and you all know what happened after that.

It’s spring which means it’s Bullet Club infighting season. After Jay’s loss, his long time rival David Finlay waltzed into the ring all goth and angry, cutting a promo about how the japanese fans never appreciated him and he is an outsider wherever he goes. If this didn’t make it clear to you that he was the new leader, don’t worry it wasn’t clear to me or El Phantasmo either. 

ELP was friends with Jay White, and made the rest of the Club agree that they will let Jay ride off into the sunset. A peaceful transfer of power is however impossible in Bullet Club, which is kind of a Stanford prison experiment for closeted gay men. It started bothering Phantasmo, that everyone in his faction so readily accepted Finlay as the new leader, like they weren’t fully behind Jay only a week ago. And anyone who questions the leader has to go.

Then came a months long game of gay betrayal chicken. Every postmatch, Phantasmo would assure Finlay that they were doing it for the club, refuse to too sweet the new leader, and the two slapping eachother in place of a tag. Meanwhile the faces in Hontai were increasingly more accepting towards ELP, Shota Umino even gave him one of his bracelets. The tension came to a boil at Sakura Genesis, where in a tag team match against Guerillas of Destiny and Master Wato, Phantasmo refused to commit the clubs usual heel antics and was brutally kicked out in response. Despite his close friendship with Taiji Ishimori and Kenta, both men readily betrayed him for David Finlay.

Phantasmo returned as a face to beat Finlay up after he defeated Tama Tonga for the NEVER belt, and the two have a title match set at Dominion.

As I mentioned Kenta and Taiji Ishimori are both members of Bullet Club, and Finlay recently recruited Clark Connors to be the clubs newest junior. He entered BOSJ alongside Taiji. Gedo, the head booker of NJPW is also a member of BC but he mainly stands ominously in the background and in kayfabe doesn’t have a massive role in storylines.

HOUSE OF TORTURE

I have to explain what’s going on here. Bullet Club has sort of a subesction? Called House of Torture. They’re only really part of BC in name only, and merch sales. Their thing is gratuitous cheating, if one HoT member has a match, the rest of them aren’t far behind making every match a handicap. Their members are EVIL, the leader of the group and former LIJ member, Yujiro Takahashi the incredible slow motion man whose joints creak audibly with every move, Dick Togo and SHO, who joined after betraying YOH and turning heel. SHO is actually pretty good but the presence of HoT at every match really ruins. Everything. I try not thinking about them.

JUST 5 GUYS

NOW baby. The reason I’m even writing this. The worst faction name in the history of pro wrestling. This faction is made of four ex-Suzuki-gun members and Sanada. Originally called Just Four Guys when Taka Michinoku, Taichi, Yoshinobu Kanemaru and DOUKI announced they would be forming a faction at New Year’s Dash. Taka made some baseless claims about how they will defeat everyone and change the landscape of New Japan. He also came up with their new catchphrase “You already die”. Commentary and everyone else immediately dismissed them as a joke that will last maybe a couple of months. Oh how wrong we were.

Initially, the group did not have much success. Douki and Uncle Nobu lost to Catch 2/2 in their title match against them, Taka kept getting pinned and they failed to deliver on their promises to destroy everyone who stood in their way.

Taichi, as their only heavyweight, entered the New Japan Cup. His first match was against Sanada, a man he’s had some history with when he was still tagging with Zack Sabre Jr as Dangerous Tekkers. Sanada was a man not really renowned for anything, he hasn’t seen any singles success since joining LIJ by helping Tetsuya Naito cheat, except for a US title run cut short with no defenses due to an injury. He had blonde hair and the best or the worst move in pro wrestling history, depending on if you ask my friend Ryan or me. He never hits a moonsault. I don’t think Naito even knew who he was.

Safe to say, absolutely no one expected Sanada to defeat Taichi, much less his superior Naito. What we expected the least is for him to announce he is leaving LIJ for Just 4 Guys, which was now to be renamed JUST 5 GUYS. With dark hair, a clean shaven face and soon, new gear as well, Sanada really found his footing among this motley crew, the way he never managed in his seven years during LIJ. He went on to blaze through the competition in the Cup, winning it and subsequently defeating Kazuchika Okada for the IWGP world heavyweight championship. Absolutely no one has expected this to happen, ever. Yet somehow, it is also one of the coolest things to happen, ever.

His former faction members in LIJ mostly seemed to just sort of accept he left, except for Hiromu. He said while he understood Sanada’s reasons for leaving, he felt betrayed. Hiromu challenged Sanada to a match for the heavyweight championship. No junior heavyweight has been able to defeat the heavyweight champion in the history of the company, although this match is not the first of its kind. 

When Sanada defeated Hiromu, the returning Yota Tsuji walked out into the ring and beat him up, held up the LIJ fist and carried Hiromu out of the ring. We don’t really know if this means he’ll be joining the faction, but it’s very likely, and the two have a match set at Dominion.

Obviously other stuff has happened but this is already 4000 words long and I still have things to explain to you. 

Whats happening right now

As I’m writing this, the 30th Best of the Super Juniors is just beginning. BOSJ is a round robin style tournament, just like the G1 where wrestlers are divided into two blocks and everyone fights everyone in their block. Usually, the winners of the two blocks face off against each other to win the tournament, but this year, the winner of each block faces off against the person who came second in the other block, and the winners of those matches are the finalists. The winner has the right to challenge for the IWGP junior heavyweight championship at Dominion.

This year’s participants are as follows.

I think this is absolutely the perfect time to get int New Japan. The junior division is full of incredibly talented wrestlers who focus more on fast paced high flying style matches and every one of them is easy to watch and very entertaining. The entire tour will be broadcast with full english coverage.

How do I watch all of this

New Japan conveniently has a streaming service called NJPW world, membership is 999 yen per month. Dont forget to toggle it to english in the upper left corner! Most shows have english commentary and in my opinion it is pretty good commentary. Even if you don’t want to pay for the site, it has a schedule page (upper right corner) which even displays multiple timezones, and links to the card for every upcoming show.

The site also has some free content, for example the backstage comments after every show. Backstage comments are essentially short interviews with the wrestlers directly after every match, which makes for very fun adrenaline fuelled nonsense. Search backstage comment on the site, or check the njpwworld youtube channel. The videos always have subtitles, but it takes the transcribers time, subs are usually out a day after shows air.

PIRACY 

In case you’d like to sail the high seas, you have a couple of options.

Watching show’s live I would recommend watchprowrestling.org for. They upload the shows and you can watch them live as well with a bit of delay.

If you’re looking for older stuff, you should try searching on bilibili (dont be intimidated by the language barrier, its quite easy to use) or this specific user on vk.com.

MATCHES TO WATCH

Title changes and defenses:

Kazuchika Okada vs Jay White (njpwworld) (unofficial link)

Kenny Omega vs Will Ospreay (njpwworld) (unofficial link)

Hiromu Takahashi vs Master Wato vs El Desperado vs Taiji Ishimori (njpwworld) (unofficial link)

Zack Sabre Jr vs Ren Narita FREE MATCH

Zack Sabre Jr vs Tomohiro Ishii FREE MATCH

Zack Sabre Jr vs Shota Umino FREE MATCH

Zack Sabre Jr vs Tom Lawlor FREE MATCH

Zack Sabre Jr vs Jeff Cobb FREE MATCH

Catch 2/2 vs YOH and Lio Rush (njpwworld) (unofficial link)

Catch 2/2 vs Intergalactic Jetsetters (njpwworld) (unofficial link 2:35:08)

Hiromu Takahashi vs Lio Rush (njpwworld) 

Hiromu Takahashi vs YOH (njpwworld) (unofficial link2:48:13)

Hiromu Takahashi vs Robbie Eagles (njpwworld)

Hiromu Takahashi vs Yoshinobu Kanemaru (njpwworld) (unofficial link)

Kazuchika Okada vs Shingo Takagi (njpwworld)

Kazuchika Okada vs Sanada (njpwworld)

Sanada vs Hiromu Takahashi (njpwworld) (unofficial link)

Aussie Open vs Bishamon (njpwworld)

Aussie Open vs TMDK (njpwworld)

Aussie Open vs Motor City Machine Guns vs the Dream Team (Okada & Tanahashi) (njpwworld ppv)

Kairi vs Mayu Iwatani  (njpwworld)

Kairi vs Tam Nakano (njpwworld)

Kairi vs Mercedes Moné (unofficial link)

Mercedes Moné vs Kairi vs Hazuki (njpwworld)

Mercedes Moné vs Mayu Iwatani (njpwworld)

Tama Tonga vs El Phantasmo (njpwworld)

Tama Tonga vs David Finlay (unofficial link)

Taichi vs Shingo Takagi (njpwworld) (unofficial link 1:44:00)

Strong Style vs Kazuchika Okada, Hiroshi Tanahashi & Tomohiro Ishii (njpwworld) (unofficial link)

Hikuelo vs Kenta (njpwworld) (unofficial link)

Story matches

Tetsuya Naito vs Sanada (njpwworld)

Jay White vs Hikuleo (njpwworld)

Jay White vs Eddie Kingston (njpwworld) (unofficial link 1:04:00)

Bullet Club (David Finlay, Kenta, Taiji Ishimori & El Phantasmo) vs Guerillas of Destiny (Tama Tonga, Hikuleo & Jado) & Master Wato (njpwworld link)

just fun

Mark Davis vs Will Ospreay (njpwworld) (unofficial link)

Mark Davis vs EVIL (njpwworld)

Tetsuya Naito vs DOUKI (njpwworld) (unofficial link 2:11:32)

El Desperado vs Tomohiro Ishii (njpwworld ppv)

Shota Umino vs Tetsuya Naito (njpwworld)

Hiromu Takahashi vs Speedball Mike Bailey FREE SHOW

Taichi vs Will Ospreay (njpwworld)

[roundrobinmathematics]

Super Junior Tag League 2022 - Final Standings

Spoilers up to Saturday 10th December 2022:

KUSHIDA & Kevin Knight(4) defeated Tiger Mask IV & Robbie Eagles(4)

SHO & Dick Togo(4) defeated Ryusuke Taguchi & Clark Connors(6)

Yoshinobu Kanemaru & DOUKI(8) defeated Alex Zayne & El Lindaman(12)

YOH & Lio Rush(14) defeated BUSHI & Titán(12)

Ace Austin & Chris Bey(14) defeated T.J.P. & Francesco Akira(12)

With 14 points each, YOH & Lio Rush and Ace Austin & Chris Bey have finished the league in first and second place respectively, and now advance to the final on Day 17.

Next:

Day 16, featuring the the ninth and final round of World Tag League matches:

Mark Davis & Kyle Fletcher(14) vs. Bad Luck Fale & Chase Owens(4)

Alex Coughlin & Gabriel Kidd(2) vs. Minoru Suzuki & Lance Archer(6)

Hiroshi Tanahashi & Toru Yano(8) vs. Great-O-Khan & Aaron Henare(8)

Tetsuya Naito & SANADA(12) vs. EVIL & Yujiro Takahashi(4)

Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI(12) vs. Mikey Nicholls & Shane Haste(12)

Airs live on Sunday 11th December 2022.

[pwrestlingxpress]

Final "Best of the Super Junior 30" A Block Standings + Official Match Card for "Best of Super Junior 30" B Block Finals

May 23, 2023: Four people (Mike Bailey, Lio Rush, Titan, and Hiromu Takahashi) all entered Osaka with a chance to be the top 2 in A Block. After 2 intense matches, here are the final standings for A Block of "Best of Super Junior 30"

Finishing on Top is Mike Bailey with 14 points (7-2 record). Tied for second are Lio Rush, Hiromu Takahashi, and Titan with 12 points each (all 3 sported a 6-3 record). However, due to the 1-on-1 records between these 3, Titan will join Mike Bailey as the two representatives for A Block in the Final 4 of "Best of Super Junior 30". Also due to that 1-on-1 record, Lio Rush finishes third and Hiromu Takahashi finishes fourth. In Fifth is TJP with 10 points (4-4 record, 1 forfeit win), Sixth is Taiji Ishimori also with 10 points (4-4 record, withdrew final match due to injury), in Seventh is SHO with 8 points (4-5 record), in Eighth is DOUKI with 6 points (3-6 record), and in the bottom are KUSHIDA with 4 points (2-7 record) and Ryusuke Taguchi with 2 points (1-8 record).

Who will join Mike Bailey and Titan in the Final 4 of "Best of the Super Junior 30" this Friday in Yoyogi? Today (May 24, 2023) we find out as B Block finishes up competition. Here is the official match card for today's show including how those still alive can advance to the final 4 on Friday.

Opening Match: Mike Bailey (A Block #1 Seed/CAN) and Oskar Leube (GER) vs. Lio Rush (A Block #3 Seed/USA) and Yuto Nakashima (JPN)

Match #2: SHO (A Block #7 Seed/JPN), EVIL, and Yujiro Takahashi vs. DOUKI (A Block #8 Seed), Taka Michinoku, and Taichi

Match #3: Hiromu Takahashi (A Block #4 Seed/JPN) and Titan (A Block #2 Seed/MEX) vs. KUSHIDA (A Block #9 Seed/JPN) and Ryusuke Taguchi (A Block #10 Seed/JPN)

Match #4: BOSJ 30 B Block Match: Francesco Akira (4-4) vs. BUSHI (2-7)

Match #5: BOSJ 30 B Block Match: Clark Connors (4-4) vs. Dan Moloney (4-4)

Match #7: BOSJ 30 B Block Match: Kevin Knight (3-5) vs. Master Wato (6-2)

Semi-Main Event Match: BOSJ 30 B Block Match: Yoshinobu Kanemaru (2-6) vs. YOH (6-2)

Main Event Match: BOSJ 30 B Block Match: Robbie Eagles (5-3) vs. El Desperado (6-2)

YOH (6-2) advances to the final 4 with a win

El Desperado (6-2) advances to the final 4 with a win and/or a YOH loss

Master Wato (6-2) advances to the final 4 with a win, a Desperado loss, and/or a YOH loss

Robbie Eagles (5-3) advances to the final 4 with a win, a YOH loss, and/or a Master Wato loss

B Block Finals of "Best of Super Junior 30" starts at 6:00 PM Local Time/5:00 AM Eastern/4:00 AM Central/2:00 AM Pacific. Go to timeanddate.com and type in the city you currently live in to find out the start time in your area.

[falcon-arrows]

kushida out here doing god’s work.. love to see it

[crookedmoonsaultpunk]

A match between 2 submission specialists is always a great slow burn. Its chess guys.

[gdwessel]

Omega, KUSHIDA Leaving NJPW; Iizuka Retiring; Ibushi Out Next Tour; Full Fantasticamania, New Beginning Cards Announced

Strong Style Story Podcast Episode 48 on Pro Wrestling Only

New Japan Pro Wrestling just got done with a press conference, in which Fantasticamania tour cards were announced (Just in time for us to release a podcast about it without them, see above or below) as well as feature matches for The New Beginning tour.

However, that seems to pale right now to the announcements at the press conference, as well as one released by Tokyo Sports. Let’s get to those:

Tokyo Sports has published a feature story saying Kenny Omega is leaving NJPW. Now mind you, some of the language in Kenny’s statement to the press seems really worked, and is similar to when he took a few months away from New Japan following WK11. The article points out that his only real options are WWE or All Elite Wrestling. AEW holds a press conference in Jacksonville, FL, on Tuesday 1/8/2019. There are also rumors that AEW may be trying to work out a co-promotion deal with NJPW and ROH. Omega may come back to NJPW from time to time. Nobody really knows anything with AEW right now beyond a couple of signings and some T-shirts. And this could all be a massive work. We’ll know sooner or later, probably sooner.

Meanwhile, at the press conference, NJPW Chairman Naoki Sugabayashi announced three things of his own. The biggest news item from all this is that as of 1/31/2019, Yujiro Kushida, aka KUSHIDA, will no longer be part of NJPW. He’s been with the company 8 years, and established himself as one of the top junior heavyweights in the entire world in that run. The date of his departure means his finale in NJPW will either be one of the two Korakuen Hall Road to New Beginning shows, with an outside chance of the New Beginning USA in Los Angeles on 1/30/2019 being one as well. (More on those below) There has been talk of a WWE offer, and he said he was heading overseas, so unless AEW also has a sweet offer for him, expect to see Kushida in NXT or on 205 Live soon. I’ll probably write a longer tribute once we know what his final show will be.

The presser also mentioned the impending retirement of Takayuki Iizuka, aka Suzuki-gun’s Takashi Iizuka, on 2/21/2019, a New Japan Road show at Tokyo Korakuen Hall. Iizuka is 52, and debuted on 11/2/1986 against Akira Nogami, and has been signed to NJPW his entire career. Again, a longer tribute will be coming soon.

Sugabayashi took time to mention that Kota Ibushi will be out the next tour (presumably meaning New Beginning) to recover from the concussion suffered by Will Ospreay’s elbow during WK13. We wish his recovery. 

In the meantime, the full cards have been announced for Fantasticamania (well, mostly), as well as the New Beginning in Sapporo & Osaka shows.

The Fantasticamania shows seem to be a bit of a mish-mash, and indeed the three Korakuen Hall shows are not fully announced yet. They are running a CMLL Family Tag Team tournament this year, similar to last year’s Brothers Tag Tournament, and at one point, the winners of last year’s (Ultimo Guerrero & Gran Guerrero) will face the winners of this year’s. There is also a Mexican National Trios title match, with the Nueva Generacion Dinamitas (Sanson, Cuatrero, Forastero) defending against Atlantis, Titan & Angel de Oro. There is also a special My Dad Is A Heel Wrestler match, with NJPW guys under masks, although I’ve not seen the movie so I don’t know who is whom.

One interesting part of this is some of the talents. There are clear listings for wrestlers named Raijin, Fujin and Namahage. Raijin & Fujin, of course, were the identities of Sho Tanaka & Yohei Komatsu when they went on excursion, prior to returning as SHO & YOH in Roppongi 3K. Namahage is interesting case, because Kyosuke Mikami, who is currently El Desperado in Suzuki-gun, was Namajague on his excursion, and lost his mask. It’s neat they are bringing these personas back however there seems to be a lot of units involved this year, moreso than most, and it’s filling the cards.

As for the New Beginning shows,  we pretty much knew what title matches were coming here. Hiroshi Tanahashi will defend the IWGP Heavyweight title against Jay White. LIJ all have title matches against Suzuki-gun. One thing that is pretty clear is that since Tanahashi, Okada, LIJ, Suzuki-gun and Bullet Club are all spoken for on the Sapporo shows on 2/2 and 2/3/2019, there will be not many big names actually appearing at the USA shows. Which is kind of a shame, but there we are. 

Below are the lineups as I have them.

NJPW Presenta CMLL Fantasticamania 2019 - 1/11/2019, Osaka EDION Arena Subarena (NJPWWorld)

Audaz, Tiger Mask IV & Ryusuke Taguchi v. Templario, Taiji Ishimori [Bullet Club] & Gedo [Bullet Club]

Titan, Flyer & Jushin Thunder Liger v. Forastero, Taichi [SZKG] & Yoshinobu Kanemaru [SZKG]

Atlantis Jr. Debut Match: Atlantis & Atlantis Jr. v. Sanson & Shigeo Okumura

Mistico, Dragon Lee & Angel de Oro v. Ultimo Guerrero, Gran Guerrero & Cuatrero

Relevos Increiblas: Mistico, Soberano Jr. & KUSHIDA v. Caristico, Barbaro Cavernario & Namahage

Satoshi Kojima, Toa Henare, Raijin & Fujin v. Terrible, Tetsuya Naito, BUSHI & Shingo Takagi [Los Ingobernables]

- 1/12/2019, Ehime Texport Imabari

Audaz, Ryusuke Taguchi & KUSHIDA v. Templario, Taiji Ishimori [Bullet Club] & Gedo [Bullet Club] 

Titan & Flyer v. Forastero & Taichi [SZKG]

Atlantis, Atlantis Jr. & Tiger Mask IV v. Sanson, Shigeo Okumura & Yoshinobu Kanemaru [SZKG]

Mistico, Soberano Jr. & Angel de Oro v. Ultimo Guerrero, Barbaro Cavernario & Cuatrero

Relevos Increiblas: Volador Jr., Dragon Lee & Jushin Thunder Liger v. Caristico, Gran Guerrero & Namahage

Satoshi Kojima, Toa Henare, Raijin & Fujin v. Terrible, Tetsuya Naito, BUSHI & Shingo Takagi [Los Ingobernables]

- 1/13/2019, Kyoto KBS Hall

Audaz, Ryusuke Taguchi & Jushin Thunder Liger v. Templario, Taiji Ishimori [Bullet Club] & Gedo [Bullet Club] 

Angel de Oro & KUSHIDA v. Cuatrero & Taichi [SZKG]

Atlantis, Flyer & Atlantis Jr.  v. Sanson, Shigeo Okumura & Yoshinobu Kanemaru [SZKG]

Mistico, Titan & Soberano Jr. v. Ultimo Guerrero, Barbaro Cavernario & Forastero

Relevos Increiblas: Volador Jr., Dragon Lee & Tiger Mask IV v. Caristico, Gran Guerrero & Namahage

Satoshi Kojima, Toa Henare, Raijin & Fujin v. Terrible, Tetsuya Naito, BUSHI & Shingo Takagi [Los Ingobernables]

- 1/14/2019, Gifu Industry Center

Audaz, Tiger Mask IV & Ryusuke Taguchi v. Templario, Taiji Ishimori [Bullet Club] & Gedo [Bullet Club] 

Angel de Oro & Flyer v. Cuatrero & Taichi [SZKG]

Atlantis, Atlantis Jr. & KUSHIDA v. Sanson, Shigeo Okumura & Yoshinobu Kanemaru [SZKG]

Dragon Lee, Titan & Soberano Jr. v. Gran Guerrero, Barbaro Cavernario & Forastero

Relevos Increiblas: Volador Jr., Mistico & Jushin Thunder Liger v. Caristico, Ultimo Guerrero & Namahage

Satoshi Kojima, Toa Henare, Raijin & Fujin v. Terrible, Tetsuya Naito, BUSHI & Shingo Takagi [Los Ingobernables]

- 1/16/2019, Chiba Makuhari Messe International Exhibition Hall (NJPWWorld)

Titan, Ryusuke Taguchi & KUSHIDA v. Forastero, Taiji Ishimori [Bullet Club] & Gedo [Bullet Club] 

Raijin & Fujin v. BUSHI & Shingo Takagi [Los Ingobernables]

Angel de Oro, Soberano Jr. & Audaz v. Barbaro Cavernario, Shigeo Okumura & Namahage

Satoshi Kojima & Toa Henare v. Terrible & Tetsuya Naito [Los Ingobernables]

Caristico, Jushin Thunder Liger & Tiger Mask IV v. Ultimo Guerrero, Gran Guerrero & Templario

CMLL Family Tag Tournament 1st Round: Atlantis & Atlantis Jr. v. Sanson & Cuatrero

CMLL Family Tag Tournament 1st Round: Mistico & Dragon Lee v. Volador Jr. & Flyer

- 1/18/2019, Tokyo Korakuen Hall (NJPWWorld)

CMLL Family Tag Tournament Final: TBA

Soberano Jr. v. Barbaro Cavernario

Black Cat Memorial Match: Satoshi Kojima, Toa Henare, Raijin & Fujin v. Terrible, Tetsuya Naito, BUSHI & Shingo Takagi [Los Ingobernables]

More TBA

- 1/20/2019, Tokyo Korakuen Hall (NJPWWorld)

Satoshi Kojima v. Terrible [Los Ingobernables]

Raijin, Fujin & Toa Henare v. Tetsuya Naito, BUSHI & Shingo Takagi [Los Ingobernables]

CMLL Brothers Tag Tournament 2018 Winners v. CMLL Family Tag Tournament 2019 Winners: Ultimo Guerrero & Gran Guerrero v. TBA

More TBA

- 1/21/2019, Tokyo Korakuen Hall (NJPWWorld)

Flyer & Audaz v. Barbaro Cavernario & Templario

Atlantis Jr. v. Shigeo Okumura

Satoshi Kojima, Toa Henare, Raijin & Fujin v. Terrible, Tetsuya Naito, BUSHI & Shingo Takagi [Los Ingobernables]

Mexican National Trios Championship: Sanson, Cuatrero & Forastero (c) v. Atlantis, Titan & Angel de Oro

Mistico, Dragon Lee & Soberano Jr. v. Ultimo Guerrero, Gran Guerrero & Namahage

My Dad Is A Heel Wrestler Special Tag Match: Dragon George & Sweet Gorilla Maruyama v. Gokiburi Mask & Ginbae Mask

Volador Jr. v. Caristico

The New Beginning in Sapporo - 2/2/2019, Hokkaido Prefectural Sports Center Hokkai Kitayell (NJPWWorld)

Ren Narita v. Yuya Uemura

Manabu Nakanishi & Toa Henare v. Ayato Yoshida [K-DOJO] & Shota Umino

Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Tiger Mask IV v. Takashi Iizuka & TAKA Michinoku [SZKG]

Togi Makabe, Toru Yano [CHAOS], Tomoaki Honma, YOSHI-HASHI [CHAOS] & Ryusuke Taguchi v. Tama Tonga, Tanga Loa, Yujiro Takahashi, Chase Owens & Taiji Ishimori [Bullet Club]

Tetsuya Naito, BUSHI & Shingo Takagi [Los Ingobernables] v. Taichi, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & El Desperado [SZKG]

SANADA [Los Ingobernables] v. Minoru Suzuki [SZKG]

EVIL [Los Ingobernables] v. Zack Sabre Jr. [SZKG]

Hiroshi Tanahashi & Kazuchika Okada [CHAOS] v. Jay White & Bad Luck Fale [Bullet Club]

- 2/3/2019, Hokkaido Prefectural Sports Center Hokkai Kitayell (NJPWWorld)

Toa Henare v. Yota Tsuji

Manabu Nakanishi & Tiger Mask IV v. Ayato Yoshida [K-DOJO] & Shota Umino

Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Ren Narita v. Takashi Iizuka & TAKA Michinoku [SZKG]

Togi Makabe, Toru Yano [CHAOS], Tomoaki Honma & Ryusuke Taguchi v. Tama Tonga, Tanga Loa, Yujiro Takahashi & Taiji Ishimori [Bullet Club]

Hiroshi Tanahashi, Kazuchika Okada [CHAOS] & YOSHI-HASHI [CHAOS] v. Jay White, Bad Luck Fale & Chase Owens [Bullet Club]

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship: BUSHI & Shingo Takagi [Los Ingobernables] (c) v. Yoshinobu Kanemaru & El Desperado

IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championship: EVIL & SANADA [Los Ingobernables] (c) v. Minoru Suzuki & Zack Sabre Jr. [SZKG]

IWGP Intercontinental Championship: Tetsuya Naito [Los Ingobernables] (c) v. Taichi [SZKG]

The New Beginning in Osaka - 2/11/2019, Osaka EDION Arena (NJPWWorld)

Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima & Jushin Thunder Liger v. Minoru Suzuki, Takashi Iizuka & TAKA Michinoku [SZKG]

EVIL & SANADA [Los Ingobernables] v. Ayato Yoshida [K-DOJO] & Shota Umino

Tetsuya Naito, BUSHI & Shingo Takagi [Los Ingobernables] v. Taichi, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & El Desperado [SZKG]

Tomoaki Honma & YOSHI-HASHI [CHAOS] v. Yujiro Takahashi & Chase Owens [Bullet Club]

Togi Makabe & Toru Yano [CHAOS] v. Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa [Bullet Club]

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship: Taiji Ishimori [Bullet Club] (c) v. Ryusuke Taguchi

Kazuchika Okada [CHAOS] v. Bad Luck Fale [Bullet Club]

IWGP Heavyweight Championship: Hiroshi Tanahashi (c) v. Jay White [Bullet Club]

Strong Style Story Podcast Episode 48 on Pro Wrestling Only

[d-courage]

[hardcore-heaven]

Kushida with the awesome Jinsei Shinzaki tribute! 🤍

[dreamsandflowers]

[balorsource]

finnbalor: With my good friend & BOSJ 2017 winner @kushida_ts at my old home....the NJPW dojo. So many memories.

[roundrobinmathematics]

World Tag League 2022 - Scenarios After Day 14

Spoilers up to Friday 9th December 2022:

Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI(12) defeated Alex Coughlin & Gabriel Kidd(2)

Great-O-Khan & Aaron Henare(8) defeated Bad Luck Fale & Chase Owens(4) by forfeit

EVIL & Yujiro Takahashi(4) defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi & Toru Yano(8)

Mikey Nicholls & Shane Haste(12) defeated Mark Davis & Kyle Fletcher(14)

Tetsuya Naito & SANADA(12) defeated Minoru Suzuki & Lance Archer(6)

Eliminations:

-Tanahashi & Yano can reach a maximum score of 10 points. With four teams having already scored higher than 10, it is now impossible for them to reach second place; they are therefore eliminated.

Final World League Win Conditions:

This leaves four teams that can still advance, one of which have already wrestled their final league match.

1. Nicholls & Haste will advance to the final if they defeat Goto/Yoshi.

2. Davis & Fletcher will advance if Naito/Sanada fail to win their last match.

3. Goto & Yoshi will advance if they defeat Nicholls/Haste and Naito/Sanada fail to win their last match.

4. Naito & Sanada will advance if they defeat Evil/Takahashi and Goto/Yoshi fail to win their last match.

If both Goto/Yoshi and Naito/Sanada win, the result would be an exact tie for first place with Davis/Fletcher, probably necessitating a three-way final.

Next:

Day 15, featuring the ninth and final round of Junior Tag League matches:

KUSHIDA & Kevin Knight(2) vs. Tiger Mask IV & Robbie Eagles(4)

Ryusuke Taguchi & Clark Connors(6) vs. SHO & Dick Togo(2)

Alex Zayne & El Lindaman(12) vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru & DOUKI(6)

YOH & Lio Rush(12) vs. BUSHI & Titán(12)

T.J.P. & Francesco Akira(12) vs. Ace Austin & Chris Bey(12)

Airs live on Saturday 10th December 2022.

[pwrestlingxpress]

Match Card Set for Dominion 2023

After finishing an intense "Best of the Super Jr 30", we now have the official match card for "Dominion 2023" taking place Sunday June 4th in Osaka-Jo Hall. Nine matches will be contested in which eight of the matches all have title implications.

Opening up the main card will be Will Ospreay and Lance Archer in singles competition where the winner will be granted a title shot against reigning IWGP United States Champion Kenny Omega at a event to be determined at a later date.

Second match on the card is the only match that has no title implications but could should Taichi get pinned. It's Tetsuya Naito, Shingo Takagi, BUSHI, and Titan of Los Ingobernables de Japon facing Just 5 Guys' Taichi, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, DOUKI, and Taka Michinoku.

Third up is a rematch from Hiroshima as IWGP Junior Tag Champions Kevin Knight and KUSHIDA make their first title defense against the previous champions TJP and Francesco Akira.

Fourth will be a rematch from "Wrestling Dontaku 2023" as Zac Sabre Jr. makes his eighth title defense of the NJPW World TV Championship against Jeff Cobb. If 15 minutes expires here like it did in Fukuoka, feel like the clock will have to be extended to determine a winner in this championship match.

Fifth on the card is a 3-way to determine the 99th IWGP Tag Team Champions and the 4th NJPW Strong Tag Team Champions. It's Bishamon (Hirooki Goto and YOSHI-HASHI) facing House of Torture (EVIL and Yujiro Takahashi) and the United Empire (Great O-Khan and Aaron Henare). My feeling on this was there was going to be a 3-way no matter what. No one wanted to see a Bishamon/HOT match because of what could happen. Also, crowd would be too one-sided. By doing this, crowd can cheer for Bishamon. Crowd can cheer for the United Empire. As long as House of Torture does not win, this will be fair game.

After the fifth match, we will have our list of G1 Climax 33 participants. Down below (in English ABC order) are the 20 (believe that'll be the number this year) participants I believe will be in this year's tournament. Note that most of them will be from NJPW though I'm hoping we get more than one from AEW and at least one from Pro Wrestling NOAH who will have their own summer tournament (N1 Victory 2023) starting in August.

Lance Archer

Jeff Cobb

David Finlay

EVIL

Hirooki Goto

Tom Lawlor

Tetsuya Naito

Ren Narita

Kazuchika Okada

Will Ospreay

El Phantasmo

Zac Sabre Jr.

SANADA

Taichi

Shingo Takagi

Hiromu Takahashi

Hiroshi Tanahashi

Yota Tsuji

Shota Umino

YOSHI-HASHI

Be surprised I didn't include Great O-Khan or Aaron Henare but this list is if they go with 20 participants which I feel like they will so, it'll be tough to see who will be selected.

After the G1 participants are announced, we're back to action as the NEVER Openweight Championship will be on the line as David Finlay defends against El Phantasmo who has a listed of who to take revenge on for what happened in Ryogoku back at "Sakura Genesis 2023"

The seventh match contested will be for the NEVER Tag Team Championship as Blackpool Combat Club members Jon Moxley, ROH World Champion Claudio Castagnoli, and Shota Umino challenge Tomohiro Ishii, Kazuchika Okada, and Hiroshi Tanahashi. The theme going into this 6-man title match is the fact that Okada is not ready for the next generation to take over. He managed to easily handle Pro Wrestling NOAH's Kaito Kiyomiya at the Toyko Dome back on February 21st. In March and in "Wrestling Dontaku 2023" he was able to handle Ren Narita easily. But when it comes to Shota Umino, every time Okada assumes he can easily handle Umino, the Shooter is apparently one step ahead, and with the edge that he carried from Long Beach, something tells me Okada is going to be in for a rude awakening on June 4, 2023 in Osaka-Jo Hall. Blackpool Combat Club are relentless in getting their way. We saw that at AEW's "Double or Nothing" and here in Osaka-Jo Hall, we'll be seeing the same thing again.

In the semi-main event it's "Best of the Super Jr 30" winner Master Wato challenging the 4-time winner (2018, 2020-22) Hiromu Takahashi for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship. Wato has promised to become the champion in his hometown of Osaka. The question is can he do it against somehow he's yet to beat in Hiromu? We hope to find out on Sunday.

The main event for "Dominion 2023" is one that is very intriguing. From the New Japan Cup 2023 finals to Wrestling Dontaku 2023, a mysterious video was playing that ended with what was mostly likely the sound of a wolf. At the time many thought this video would be Katsuhiko Nakajima due to the darkness of red and the wolf at the end. But as we found out at "Wrestling Dontaku 2023" that was not the case. After SANADA successfully defended his title over Hiromu Takahashi, we found out that the person behind the video was Yota Tsuji whose entrance attire largely resembles Nakajima's Kongo entrance attire. Quickly, Tsuji made an impact as he knocked out every member of Just 5 Guys and ended the night by spearing SANADA almost out of the ring. Since his appearance many have questioned, is he LIJ or not. The fist bump largely suggests he is but all 5 members of LIJ are not saying anything despite a picture of Titan celebrating with Tsuji before "Best of Super Jr 30" began back on May 12, 2023. Many of us expected an answer at the semi-finals and finals of "Best of Super Jr 30" but ended up with nothing. So...now June 4th in Osaka-Jo Hall; SANADA puts his title on the line against somehow who we don't know who he is really with. The hope is that we'll find out either after the second match at this event in Dominion or at the main event itself.

I will be making predictions for "Dominion 2023" alongside some predictions for NOAH's "Sunny Voyage 2023 in Shinjuku Face" later on today (May 29, 2023) so expect those predictions by then .

"Dominion 2023" comes June 4th in Osaka at 4 PM local time/3 AM Eastern/2 AM Central/Midnight Pacific. Go to timeanddate.com and type in the city you currently live in to find the start time to the event in your area. The event will be on NJPW World with Japanese and English Commentary. Hope you all are able to tune in live.

[leelakoiwolff]

Kushida, Valentine's Day 💘

[gdwessel]

Road to the New Beginning Night 3 - 1/29/2018: KUSHIDA’s NJPW Farewell; Updated Giant Baba Memorial Show Card

The tour continued today, with a match that sees the end of the NJPW career of Yujiro Kushida, best known as KUSHIDA around these parts. You can see it now on NJPWWorld.

Kushida's origins were actually based in MMA, as his first training was in the Takada Dojo run by the legendary Nobuhiko Takada, training under Takumi Adachi. He began training during junior high school, debuting in the MMA promotion ZST in 2003, where he would win their Genesis Lightweight Tournament in 2004, ending his MMA career with 6 wins, 2 draws, 0 losses, while also attending Senshu University and working part-time for Tokyo Sports. It is generally assumed that Kushida's pro wrestling debut was in Takada's HUSTLE promotion in 2006, however he first debuted in Mexico in 2005 after learning lucha libre under El Oriental.

During his time in HUSTLE, Kushida would also work matches in All Japan Pro Wrestling and Osaka Pro. He left HUSTLE in 2009 after what amounted to a "loser leaves town" match, which lead to Kushida going abroad, wrestling all over North America, in Canada, Mexico and the USA, notably Chikara and OVW. In 2010, he would join Yoshihiro Tajiri's SMASH promotion, which is what got him into NJPW, with an appearance in 2010's edition of Best of the Super Juniors.

Kushida's NJPW career proper began on 4/1/2011, and the rest, as they say, is history. During his NJPW career, KUSHIDA became one of the best and most popular junior heavyweight wrestlers in the entire world, first as one-half of the Time Splitters tag team, with the now-retired Alex Shelley, winning the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team titles twice, as well as 2012's Super Jr. Tag Tournament. As a singles wrestler, KUSHIDA is a 6-time IWGP Junior Heavyweight champion and 2-time winner of Best of the Super Juniors, along the way having massively popular feuds with Kenny Omega, Will Ospreay and Hiromu Takahashi. Outside of NJPW, KUSHIDA was also the winner of the (ill-fated) 2016 Super J-Cup, the 2017 WhatCulture Pro Wrestling World Cup, and was even an ROH World Television Champion for a little while. He even managed to win the 2016 Cuadrangular de Parejas tag tournament in CMLL, along with partner Marco Corleone, and was #20 in Pro Wrestling Illustrated's yearly PWI 500 list in 2017.

I don't think it's hyperbole to say that KUSHIDA's departure is a loss for NJPW, and in very many ways, a lost opportunity. I think he should have had a shot at competing in the heavyweights, as had been rumored for the last few years, and it's bittersweet that in his final match for the company, he finally gets a singles match with Hiroshi Tanahashi. He's been one of the best, most consistent workers in NJPW in his time with the company, and he will be missed around here. Best of luck to him, whereever he may end up.

Results:

- 1/29/2019, Tokyo Korakuen Hall (NJPWWorld)

Ren Narita d. Yuya Uemura (Belly-to-Belly Suplex Hold, 6:24)

Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Manabu Nakanishi d. Ayato Yoshida [K-DOJO] & Shota Umino (Tenzan > Yoshida, Anaconda Vice, 7:30)

Yujiro Takahashi & Taiji Ishimori [Bullet Club] d. Toa Henare & Ryusuke Taguchi (Yujiro > Henare, Pimp Juice, 8:50)

Togi Makabe, Toru Yano [CHAOS] & Tomoaki Honma d. Tama Tonga, Tanga Loa & Chase Owens [Bullet Club] (Makabe > Owens, King Kong Knee Drop, 10:23)

Jay White & Bad Luck Fale [Bullet Club]  d. Kazuchika Okada & YOSHI-HASHI [CHAOS] (Fale > YOSHI-HASHI, Grenade, 11:52)

Tetsuya Naito, EVIL, SANADA, BUSHI & Shingo Takagi [Los Ingobernables] d. Minoru Suzuki, Zack Sabre Jr., Taichi, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & El Desperado [SZKG] (EVIL > Kanemaru, EVIL STO, 16:41)

KUSHIDA Farewell Match: Hiroshi Tanahashi d. KUSHIDA (Texas Cloverleaf, 24:34)

It really shouldn’t come as a surprise that KUSHIDA lost his farewell match, but even so... KUSHIDA gave a speech at the end, thanking everyone for the last 8 years, but said he was leaving now. Jay White did attack Tanahashi post-main, much as Fale hit Okada (and Uemura!) with Grenade, and Naito did to Taichi with Destino. Ren Narita v. Yuya Uemura is getting rave reviews in some corners, and I am inclined to agree.

More matches have been announced for the Giant Baba Memorial show at Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan on 2/19/2019. Thus far, no further matches with (current) NJPW talents have been announced, however it is confirmed that both Hiroshi Tanahashi and Tomoaki Honma (the latter of whom has also worked in AJPW and BJW) will be there, as well as current Triple Crown champion Kento Miyahara. Of all people, Atsushi Onita will ALSO be on this show, in an 8-man street fight. Just have a look at the card below. It’s going to be a mixed bag but should be a fun one.

Giant Baba Memorial Battle Royale: Mitsuo Momota, Kim Duk, MEN’s Teioh, TARU, Ryuji Hijikata, Yuto Aijima, Joe Deaton, Masao Orihara, More TBA (Referee: Mighty Inoue)

Eight Man Street Fight Bunkhouse Tornado Tag Team Deathmatch: Atsushi Onita [FREE], Kendo Kashin [FREE], Hideki Suzuki [BJW] & Hideki Hosaka v. Shuji Ishikawa [AJPW], Great Kojika [BJW], Mitsuya Nagai & Hikaru Sato

Masanobi Fuchi [AJPW], Yuma Aoyagi [AJPW] & Yoshiaki Fujiwara [FREE] v. Taichi, TAKA Michinoku & Yoshinobu Kanemaru [SZKG]

Jake Lee & Koji Iwamoto [AJPW] v. SANADA & BUSHI [Los Ingobernables] v. Ayato Yoshida [K-DOJO] & Shota Umino [NJPW]

Jun Akiyama [AJPW], Takao Omori [AJPW] & Taiyo Kea [FREE] v. Satoshi Kojima [NJPW], Yuji Nagata [NJPW] & Osamu Nishimura [FREE]

Naomichi Marufuji [NOAH] v. Masaaki Mochizuki [Dragon Gate]

NOSAWA Rongai [FREE] & Kaz Hayashi [W-1] v. Mil Mascaras & Dos Caras

Abdullah the Butcher Retirement Ceremony

Also appearing: Hiroshi Tanahashi [NJPW], Tomoaki Honma [NJPW], Kento Miyahara [AJPW], Daisuke Sekimoto [BJW], Kazushi Miyamoto, Stan Hansen, Tomohiko Hashimoto

Tomorrow is a busy day for NJPW. We have another tour show, which it turns out WILL be live on NJPWWorld. This features a NEVER Openweight 6-Man Comedy Tag Team title match, as well as Shingo Takagi’s 2nd ever NJPW singles match. Then there is also the first day of the controversial New Beginning USA tour, which that will be later in the evening, so i probably won’t blog about that until Thursday since I’m on Eastern time. Enjoy the show if you’re going to that.

- 1/30/2019, Miyagi Sendai Sunplaza Hall (NJPWworld)

Toa Henare & Yota Tsuji v. Ayato Yoshida [K-DOJO] & Shota Umino

Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Ren Narita v. Manabu Nakanishi & Tiger Mask IV

Shingo Takagi [Los Ingobernables] v. Yoshinobu Kanemaru [SZKG]

BUSHI [Los Ingobernables] v. El Desperado [SZKG]

Hiroshi Tanahashi, Kazuchika Okada [CHAOS], Tomoaki Honma & YOSHI-HASHI [CHAOS] v. Jay White, Bad Luck Fale, Yujiro Takahashi & Chase Owens

Tetsuya Naito, EVIL & SANADA [Los Ingobernables] v. Minoru Suzuki, Zack Sabre Jr. & Taichi [SZKG]

NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship: Tama Tonga, Tanga Loa & Taiji Ishimori [Bullet Club] © v. Togi Makabe, Toru Yano [CHAOS] & Ryusuke Taguchi

The New Beginning USA - 1/30/2019, Globe Theater, Los Angeles, CA

Alex Coughlin v. Clark Connors

Jonathan Gresham v. Tyler Bateman

Colt Cabana v. Shane Taylor

Marty Scurll & Brody King [Villain Enterprises] v. Lance Archer & Davey Boy Smith Jr. [SZKG]

Jeff Cobb [FREE] v. Karl Fredericks

David Finlay Jr. [Lifeblood] v. Chuck Taylor [CHAOS]

One Night Only Roppongi Vice: Juice Robinson & Tracy Willams [Lifeblood] v. Trent Beretta & Rocky Romero [CHAOS]