Tag: New Japan Pro Wrestling

New Japan wrapped up the New Japan Road Tour today with Blue Justice 12, the annual Yuji Nagata produced event in his hometown of Sakura City in Chiba. Despite coming off an All-Japan Triple Crown defense yesterday and having little time to prepare, Nagata is the oldest 55 years old and would do his best today for his hometown fans, in his own words on Twitter.

Today’s event was held at Sakura Civic Gym in Chiba and can be watched on demand on New Japan World. On a side note, for those wondering about English commentary, Kevin Kelly mentioned on Twitter that even though he is now on commentary for All Elite Wrestling with their new Collision show on Saturdays, he will continue to do NJPW events, both live and on demand. That includes his next live duties which will be the G1 CLIMAX Tournament in August.

The announced paid attendance was 1716.

There were some last-minute changes to the original lineup due to DOUKI being pulled from the card (fever). He also missed yesterday’s event. Precautionary although DOUKI has tested negative for coronavirus. But at this point he’s got at least 2 weeks off barring other plans so should be no worries. Match 7 was changed from a 10-man match to 8-man as BUSHI was also pulled again as a result.

Before the matches began, Yuji Nagata appeared to greet the fans and held a mini-wrestling class for children in the ring, and also announced his intent to continue holding this event annually in his hometown.

Match 1: Ryohei Oiwa vs. Kosei Fujita went to a 10 minute time limit draw.

Match 2: Boltin Oleg & Ryusuke Taguchi beat Oskar Leube & Tiger Mask. Taguchi pinned TM 4.

Match 3: Yoh, Toru Yano, Togi Makabe & YOSHI-HASHI beat Dick Togo, Sho, Yujiro Takahashi & EVIL. Yoh pinned Togo after Direct Drive.

Match 4: Francesco Akira, TJP & Great-O-Khan beat Gedo, Clark Connors & Drilla Moloney. TJP beat Gedo with Pinoy Stretch.

Match 5: Gabriel Kidd & Alex Coughlin beat Yuto Nakashima & Hirooki Goto. Kidd pinned Nakashima after a hijack piledriver.

Match 6: El Desperado, Ren Narita & Shota Umino beat Tomoaki Honma, Tomohiro Ishii & Kazuchika Okada. Umino pinned Honma after Death Rider.

Match 7: Hiromu Takahashi, Yota Tsuji, Shingo Takagi & Tetsuya Naito beat TAKA Michinoku, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Taichi & SANADA. Tsuji pinned TAKA after a spear.

Main Event: Master Wato, Satoshi Kojima, Hiroshi Tanahashi & Yuji Nagata beat Yuma Anzai, Atsuki Aoyagi, Yuma Aoyagi & Kento Miyahara (All-Japan). Nagata beat Yuma Aoyagi with Nagata Lock 54. Afterwards, Nagata accepted a challenge from Yuma Aoyagi for the All-Japan Triple Crown then finished by announcing his intent to continue holding this event annually in his hometown to send the crowd home happy. We’ll see what All-Japan says about the Triple Crown match but the next defense had already been announced for 7/2, so now we’ll just wait for confirmation it’ll be against Aoyagi.

The next event is Forbidden Door 2, the second joint PPV between New Japan and All Elite Wrestling, on 6/25 at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It will be available only on Bleacher Report in the US, FITE elsewhere and as a PPV on New Japan World in Japan only. Not counting that due to limited participation, the next event is LEC Presents NJPW STRONG Independence Day on 7/4 & 7/5 at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo. At this time it appears there will be no live broadcasts.

So in reality, special events aside, next up is the G1 CLIMAX 33, the promotion’s biggest annual tournament, which is for Heavyweights and will grant the winner the coveted main event spot at Tokyo Dome on 1/4 with an IWGP World Heavyweight Championship opportunity. Every event will be broadcast live and on demand on New Japan World in Japanese and English. It begins on 7/15 at Hokkaido Prefectural Sports Center Hokkai Kitayell in Hokkaido (if you’re in the western US time zones, you’ll get 2 events that day because this is a 1 AM PT start and event 2 starts at 10 PM PT). An early heads-up, I am probably going to miss most of the final week’s events, possibly including the Finals, due to a planned trip/vacation so results posts may be delayed up to 2 weeks.

New Japan continued the New Japan Road Tour today with a return to Tokyo after a week on the road.

Today’s event was held at Esforta Arena Hachioji in Tokyo and can be watched on demand on New Japan World.

The announced paid attendance was 1565.

There were some last-minute changes to the card due to DOUKI being pulled from the event. Fever. Tested negative for coronavirus but held out as a precaution.He was to have teamed with SANADA to face Hiromu Takahashi & Yota Tsuji in the main event. Yoshinobu Kanemaru, who was in a 6-man tag in match 7, was removed from that match as a replacement and match 7 was changed to a tag match with BUSHI being removed from the match.

Match 1: Master Wato beat Kosei Fujita.

Match 2: Boltin Oleg & Tomoaki Honma beat Yuto Nakashima & Ryusuke Taguchi. Honma beat Nakashima with a Boston Crab.

Match 3: Dick Togo, Sho, Yujiro Takahashi & EVIL beat Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Toru Yano, Togi Makabe & Hirooki Goto. EVIL pinned Tenzan after EVIL.

Match 4: Francesco Akira, TJP & Great-O-Khan beat Gedo, Clark Connors & Drilla Moloney. Akira pinned Gedo after Speedfire.

Match 5: Gabriel Kidd & Alex Coughlin beat Oskar Leube & YOSHI-HASHI. Kidd pinned Leube after a hijack piledriver.

Match 6: Yoh, Tomohiro Ishii, Hiroshi Tanahashi & Kazuchika Okada beat Tiger Mask, El Desperado, Ren Narita & Shota Umino. Yoh pinned TM 4 after a superkick.

Match 7: Shingo Takagi & Tetsuya Naito beat Taichi & TAKA Michinoku. Takagi pinned TAKA after Pumping Bomber.

Main Event: Hiromu Takahashi & Yota Tsuji beat SANADA & Yoshinobu Kanemaru. Takahashi pinned Kanemaru after Time Bomb.

The tour-ender is Blue Justice 12, the annual Yuji Nagata Produced hometown event, tomorrow at Sakura Civic Gym in Chiba. All-Japan participation will be featured in the main event. Live streaming on New Japan World will begin at midnight PT/3 AM ET.

UPDATE: DOUKI is now off tomorrow’s event as well (fever). The card will be changed accordingly.

New Japan continued the New Japan Road Tour today with the 4th non-televised house show this week.

Today’s event was held at Kira Messe Numazu in Shizuoka. There is/was no love or on demand broadcast.

The announced paid attendance was 707.

Match 1: Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Kosei Fujita went to a 10 minute time limit draw.

Match 2: Tomoaki Honma & Togi Makabe beat Boltin Oleg & Oskar Leube. Honma pinned Leube.

Match 3: Master Wato, Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Toru Yano & YOSHI-HASHI beat Dick Togo, Sho, Yujiro Takahashi & EVIL. Wato beat Togo with Vendeval.

Match 4: Francesco Akira, TJP & Great-O-Khan beat Gedo, Clark Connors & Drilla Moloney. Khan beat Gedo with a pancake hold.

Match 5: Gabriel Kidd & Alex Coughlin beat Ryohei Oiwa & Hirooki Goto. Kidd pinned Oiwa after a hijack piledriver.

Match 6: Yoh, Tomohiro Ishii, Hiroshi Tanahashi & Kazuchika Okada beat Tiger Mask, El Desperado, Ren Narita & Shota Umino. Yoh pinned TM 4 after a Torras kick.

Main Event: BUSHI, Hiromu Takahashi, Yota Tsuji, Shingo Takagi & Tetsuya Naito beat TAKA Michinoku, DOUKI, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Taichi & SANADA. Tsuji pinned TAKA after a spear.

The next event is tomorrow at Esforta Arena Hachioji in Tokyo. Live streaming on New Japan World will begin at 2 AM PT/5 AM ET.

New Japan continued the New Japan Road Tour today with the 3rd of this week’s 4 non-televised house shows.

Today’s event was held at Kuki City Gym in Saitama. There is/was no live or on demand broadcast.

The announced paid attendance was 629.

Match 1: Ryohei Oiwa vs. Kosei Fujita went to a 10 minute time limit draw.

Match 2: Tomoaki Honma & Togi Makabe beat Boltin Oleg & Oskar Leube. Makabe pinned Leube after a King Kong kneedrop.

Match 3: Master Wato, Yoh, Toru Yano & Hirooki Goto beat Dick Togo, Sho, Yujiro Takahashi & EVIL. Wato beat Togo with Vendeval.

Match 4: Francisco Akira, TJP & Great-O-Khan beat Gedo, Clark Connors & Drilla Moloney. Khan beat Gedo with Subaru Sheep Killer.

Match 5: Gabriel Kidd & Alex Coughlin beat Yuto Nakashima & YOSHI-HASHI. Coughlin pinned Nakashima after a hijack piledriver.

Match 6: Tiger Mask, El Desperado, Ren Narita & Shota Umino beat Ryusuke Yaguchi, Tomohiro Ishii, Hiroshi Tanahashi & Kazuchika Okada. Umino pinned Taguchi after Death Slider.

Main Event: BUSHI, Hiromu Takahashi, Yota Tsuji, Shingo Takagi & Tetsuya Naito beat TAKA Michinoku, DOUKI, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Taichi & SANADA. Tsuji pinned TAKA after a spear.

The next event is Friday at Kira Messe Numazu in Shizuoka. There will be no live or on demand broadcast.

New Japan continued the New Japan Road Tour today with the second of this week’s no -televised house shows.

Today’s event was held at Shirakawa City Central Gym in Fukushima. There is/was no live or on demand broadcast.

The announced paid attendance was 523.

Match 1: Ryohei Oiwa vs. Oskar Leube went to a 10 minute time limit draw.

Match 2: Tomoaki Honma & Togi Makabe beat Boltin Oleg & Yuto Nakashima. Makabe pinned Nakashima after a King Kong kneedrop.

Match 3: Dick Togo, Sho, Yujiro Takahashi & EVIL beat Yoh, Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Toru Yano & YOSHI-HASHI. EVIL pinned Tenzan after EVIL.

Match 4: Francesco Akira, TJP & Aaron Henare beat Gedo, Clark Connors & Drilla Moloney. Henare beat Gedo with Ultima.

Match 5: Gabriel Kidd & Alex Coughlin beat Ryusuke Taguchi & Hirooki Goto. Kidd pinned Taguchi after a leg trap piledriver.

Match 6: Master Wato, Tomohiro Ishii, Hiroshi Tanahashi & Kazuchika Okada beat Tiger Mask, El Desperado, Ren Narita & Shota Umino. Wato beat TM 4 with Vendeval.

Main Event: Main Event: TAKA Michinoku, DOUKI, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Taichi & SANADA beat BUSHI, Hiromu Takahashi, Yota Tsuji, Shingo Takagi & Tetsuya Naito. SANADA beat BUSHI with Skull End.

The next event is tomorrow at Kuki City Central Gym in Saitama. There will be no live or on demand broadcast.

New Japan continued the New Japan Road Tour today with the start of a week of 4 non-televised events.

Today’s event was held at Kamisu Disaster Prevention Arena in Ibaraki. There was/is no live or on demand broadcast.

The announced paid attendance was 783.

Match 1: Ryusuke Taguchi beat Yuto Nakashima by submission.

Match 2: Tomoaki Honma & Togi Makabe beat Boltin Oleg & Ryohei Oiwa. Makabe pinned Oiwa after a King Kong kneedrop.

Match 3: Tiger Mask, Master Wato, Toru Yano & Hirooki Goto beat Dick Togo, Sho, Yujiro Takahashi & EVIL. Wato beat Togo with Vendeval.

Match 4: Francesco Akira, TJP & Aaron Henare beat Gedo, Clark Connors & Drilla Moloney. Henare beat Gedo with Ultima.

Match 5: Gabriel Kidd & Alex Coughlin beat Oskar Leube & YOSHI-HASHI. Coughlin pinned Leube after a jackhammer.

Match 6: Yoh, Tomohiro Ishii, Hiroshi Tanahashi & Kazuchika Okada beat El Desperado, Ren Narita, Shota Umino & Hiroyoshi Tenzan. Tanahashi pinned Tenzan after High Fly Flow.

Main Event: BUSHI, Hiromu Takahashi, Yota Tsuji, Shingo Takagi & Tetsuya Naito beat TAKA Michinoku, DOUKI, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Taichi & SANADA. Tsuji pinned TAKA after a spear.

The next event is Tuesday at Shirakawa City Central Gym in Fukushima. There will be no live or on demand broadcast.

New Japan kicked off the New Japan Road Tour today, their traditional June tour that will build to a special STRONG doubleheader in Tokyo in July this year. Today also featured the announcement of the blocks for this year’s G1 CLIMAX Tournament.

Today’s event was held at Makuhari Messe International Exhibition Hall 1 in Chiba and can be watched on demand on New Japan World. This was a Samurai! TV broadcast.

The announced paid attendance was 684.

Match 1: Kosei Fujita beat Yuto Nakashima.

Match 2: Tomoaki Honma & Togi Makabe beat Boltin Oleg & Oskar Leube. Honma pinned Leube after Kokeshi.

Match 3: Yoh, Ryusuke Taguchi, Toru Yano & YOSHI-HASHI beat Dick Togo, Sho, Yujito Takahashi & EVIL. Yoh pinned Togo after Direct Drive.

Match 4: Francesco Akira, TJP & Aaron Henare beat Gedo, CLark Connors & Drilla Moloney (Dan Moloney). Henare beat Gedo with Ultima.

Match 5: Gabriel Kidd & Alex Coughlin beat Ryohei Oiwa & Hirooki Goto. Kidd pinned Oiwa after a piledriver. Afterwards, Kidd & Coughlin made a double tag title challenge to Goto & YOSHI-HASHI.

The G1 CLIMAX 33 blocks and preliminary matches were announced. With 32 participants it will again be 4 blocks with a traditional round-robin format. See below for the full list of blocks.

Match 6: Master Wato, Tomohiro Ishii, Hiroshi Tanahashi & Kazuxhika Okada beat Tiger Mask, El Desperado, Ren Narita & Shota Umino. Ishii pinned TM 4 after a vertical drop brainbuster.

Main Event: In an Elimination Match, BUSHI, Hiromu Takahashi, Yota Tsuji, Shingo Takagi & Tetsuya Naito beat TAKA Michinoku, DOUKI, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Taichi & SANADA. Tsuji was the last man left, last eliminating DOUKI.

Here are the G1 CLIMAX 33 Blocks:
Block A: SANADA, Chase Owens, Hikuleo, Ren Narita, Shota Umino, Yota Tsuji, Gabriel Kidd, Kaito Kiyomiya (Pro Wrestling NOAH)
Block B: Kazuchika Okada, YOSHI-HASHI, Taichi, KENTA, Great-O-Khan, Will Ospreay, Tanga Loa, El Phantasmo
Block C: David Finlay, Tomohiro Ishii, EVIL, Tama Tonga, Shingo Takagi, Aaron Henare, Eddie Kingston (All Elite Wrestling), Mikey Nicholls
Block D: Hiroshi Tanahashi, Tetsuya Naito, Hirooki Goto, Zack Sabre Jr., Toru Yano, Jeff Cobb, Shane Haste, Alex Coughlin
All block matches will have a 20 minute time limit. This year the top 2 from each block will advance to the Quarterfinals, where it then shifts to single-elimination format. That makes things more interesting. My initial thoughts are as follows:
Block A: Only SANADA & Owens have prior G1 experience. SANADA has the highest bar as the IWGP World Heavyweight Champion so while he might go far, that all but means he’s not winning it all. Kiyomiya is the wild card as the outsider. Figure SANADA goes through easily, the second spot is a toss-up.
Block B: Okada is the 2-time defending champion and overwhelming favorite to 3-peat. Should be Okada & Ospreay. Okada not 3-peating will be a massive upset.
Block C: There is upset potential here but the clear favorites are EVIL & Takagi. Tonga & Henare are sleepers and Ishii guarantees some near-time-limit hoss fights. Kingston gets to live a personal dream and represent AEW but won’t advance.
Block D: The traditional Death Block. This is the one to watch and is wide open with, on paper, at least 5 having a reasonable chance. I would expect Naito to go through while Cobb has been a beast in the G1 the last couple years and hopefully can do it again. Never count Tanahashi out and same for Goto, also a former G1 winner. Sabre won the New Japan Cup this year which works for and against him. Forget Yano, Coughlin & Haste, they’re not advancing. By process of elimination I see Cobb joining Naito in moving on.

Each day of the tournament will see 2 blocks in action with alternating days, so it will be Blocks A & B at one event, then Blocks C & D at the next event, and so on for the first 12 days. Once we reach Day 13, the next 4 events will have one block with their final matches each day. Day 17 is the Quarterfinals, Day 18 & 19 at Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo will be the Semifinals and Finals, respectively. The winner of the Finals on 8/13 is going to the main event of Tokyo Dome on 1/4/24 to face the IWGP World Heavyweight Champion.

The next event is tomorrow at Kamisu Disaster Prevention Center in Ibaraki. There will be no live or on demand broadcast (including tomorrow, no TV or on demand for the next 4 events). The next televised event is next Saturday.