It was noted on the latest edition of Wrestling Observer Radio that the working idea is to have the Chris Jericho vs. Tetsuya Naito at the upcoming NJPW USA: Strong Style Evolved show on March 25th in Long Beach, California at the Walter Pyramid. Jericho had attacked Naito at New Year’s Dash this past Friday. Tickets for USA: Strong Style Evolved will go on sale on January 29th at 1pm ET / 10am PT and range from $50 to $200.
NJPW Owner, Takaaki Kidani, spoke to Tokyo Sports about some future goals he has with NJPW. @STRIGGA of Purolove.com provided the translations. Kidani hopes to continue filling out the Tokyo Dome, eventually filling the seats in the outfield, but to do that he’ll need more young Japanese stars, and a heavyweight star in his twenties. Between a rising fan base and sales in 2018, Kidani continued that NJPW will have more money to pay wrestlers and are looking to continue to bring in wrestlers who had a relationship with WWE until “the other side” says “let’s get along.” Clearly, bringing in Chris Jericho had a positive impact on the company’s bottom line and overseas exposure as NJPW has already lined him up to face Tetsuya Naito.
In Toyko Sports Takaaki Kidani said that in two years time he wants to fill the seats in the outfield of the Tokyo Dome and mobilize even more fans. Therefore he says New Japan needs young japanese stars, specifically a heavyweight star in his 20s.
Kidani furthermore said that he remembers how the New Japan fan club had 1,890 members in 2012 and now membership figures are at 12,000. Kidani: "The base is rising. Various synergies are occurring. New Japan's sales are also rising."
With rising numbers Kidani said NJPW will be able to pay more money to wrestlers and he wants to get more wrestlers with a relationship WWE involved in New Japan. He says he's going to do that until "the other side" says: "Let's get along."
Former WWE and Impact Wrestling star Christy Hemme has given birth to quadruplets.
The 37-year-old revealed the big news in a tweet on Saturday, saying that her surgery went well and all four babies — three boys and one girl — are safe.
NJPW is already rolling out their schedule for a majority of their major shows in the first half of 2018. Among the dates, the biggest news is for the three finals shows of the G1 Climax, NJPW will return to Budokan Hall for the first time in over 15 years. Budokan Hall can hold around 15k fans. Below is a list of the noted shows:
* The New Beginning in Sapporo (January 27 and 28)
* The New Beginning in Osaka (February 10)
* NJPW 46th Anniversary (March 6)
* New Japan Cub Final 2018 (March 21)
* USA: Strong Style Evolved (March 25)
* Sakura Genesis 2018 (April 1)
* Wrestling Hi No Kuni 2018 (April 29)
* Wrestling Dontaku 2018 (May 3 and 4)
* Best of the Super Juniors – Opening Show (May 18)
Nagata, Tenzan, Nakanishi & Kojima def. Oka, Yagi, Umino & Narita @ 7:10 via Kojima lariat on Umino
The young lions tried to start their 2018 on the right foot with a win. The attacked all the veterans from behind and dumped all but Tenzan to the outside. Unfortunately, once all the veterans gained their composuer, the young lions paid the price. Fine match but wasn’t anything different than we saw from this pairing last year.
Iizuka, Taichi, Kanemaru, Deperado & Taka def. Liger, Tiger, Makabe, Henare & Kawato @ 8:49 via Desperado Pinche Loco on Kawato
Lots of the same ‘ol typical Suzuki-Gun brawling on the outside. Makabe tried to maintain order but was unable. Tiger, Liger and Kawato hit a series of their finishers onto Desperado but the pin was broken up, leading to Suzuki-Gun isolating Kawato and picking up the win. Post-match, Kawato is hit with Iizuka’s Iron Fingers from Hell. New year, same match.
Jay White def. Katsuya Kitamura @ 7:31 via Blade Runner
Alright, something new to sink our teeth into. They started off great by having White cut off Kitamura’s offense by attacking the leg to a great amount of jeers. Ultimately they ended up going about two minutes longer than they should have. Kitamura had one more comeback than he should have and they resulted in a flat finish. White gave the young lion a little too much offense.
Kenny Omega & The Young Bucks def. Cheeseburger & Roppongi 3K @ 11:19 via Meltzer Driver on Cheeseburger
The goofy comedy match you’d expect out of Kenny and the Bucks at Korakuen. Matt and Yoh played up their back injuries from yesterday and Kenny was all bandaged up. Silly little match, nothing significant but the type of thing fans of the Bucks get a kick out of seeing. I’ve become increasingly impressed with Sho. The way he carries himself like a big deal is awesome.
Cody, Scurll, Yujiro, Owens & Leo def Ibushi, KUSHIDA, Juice, Taguchi & Finlay @ 13:18 via Cody American Nightmare on Finlay
The match was good but this was all about the post-match. As for the match, this was clearly the best of the show to this point. There was a lot of goofiness mixed with strong, fun wrestling. Now for the post-match. After Cody got the win, he and Bullet Club went after Ibushi. Just as Cody was about to use a chair, Omega rushed in for the save. He sent his stable to the back and took the mic. His message was that he was tired of the in-fighting occurring within Bullet Club and the solution to their problems is Jay White. He invited Jay to come out and join the Bullet Club. Without much hesitation, Jay put the shirt on and gave Omega a hug. He then transitioned the hug into the Blade Runner and took the shirt off. Omega was unable to recruit the Switchblade, who is now the next challenger for the US Championship. These are the types of moments that make people tune into New Year Dash. Real good, memorable moment.
NEVER 6-Man Tag Team Championship Match
Fale, Tama & Tanga def. Ishii, Yano & Beretta (c) @ 14:39 via Tama Gun Stun on Beretta
A rematch of yesterday’s gauntlet finals, the titles swap yet again. Typical of this championship, this is just a filler title to make shows feel more significant than they truly are. The match itself was good, on par of yesterday’s match, not special but a good match when compared to anything else on this show. Beretta and Tama have now traded pins on back-to-back nights. This may signal a New Japan Cup match between the two in March.
Suzuki, Sabre, Archer & Smith def. Tanahashi, Elgin, Hanson & Rowe @ 11:36 via Killer Bomb on Hanson
Suzuki debuted his newly clean-shaved head, a real bizarre sight to see. It looks like his next target is Tanahashi and let me tell you, I’m ALL IN on that one. For the second straight night War Machine are defeated, meaning those NXT rumors are likely true and this was their last tour with New Japan. Another good match, this show has hit a groove after the White/Kitamura match. Nothing has been blow away but plenty of matches good enough to make the show pass with relative ease. Post-match Suzuki-Gun beat down Tanahashi as Suzuki holds the IC belt high. Sign me up!
Naito, EVIL, SANADA, Hiromu & BUSHI def. Okada, Goto, YOSHI-HASHI, Ospreay & Gedo @ 13:50 via Naito Destino on YOSHI-HASHI
Hell of a post-match in this one to close out the show. Once Naito picked up the win, Hiromu delivered Time Bomb to Ospreay, EVIL gave EVIL to Goto and SANADA locked Skull End on Okada. Those very well end up being the feuds to come in the near future. BUT THAT’S NOT ALL! After his speech, Chris Jericho attacks Naito from behind. The two have a big pull apart brawl to end the show. People were wondering where Naito goes after the loss to Okada and now we have the answer. Both of Wrestle Kingdom’s unsuccessful main event challengers are destined to have a meeting. Very cool ending to this year’s New Year Dash.
Each year the purpose of the New Year Dash is to reset from the year previous and set up the current year’s feuds. This year we got the set up of Naito/Jericho, Tanahashi/Suzuki, Omega/White, Ospreay/Hiromu as well as possible Goto/EVIL and Okada/SANADA matches.
Check out the full results for Wrestle Kingdom 12 below:
Wrestle Kingdom 12
January 4, 2018
Tokyo Dome
Tokyo, Japan
Pre-Show
New Japan Rumble
Masahito Kakihara pins Cheeseburger to win the Rumble
Main Card
IWGP Junior Tag Team Championship The Young Bucks defeat Roppongi 3K (SHO and YOH) to become 7-time IWGP Junior tag team champs
The Bucks hit a Meltzer Driver before Nick forced YOH to tap with a sharpshooter.
NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship Chaos (Beretta, Tomohiro Ishii and Toru Yano) defeat Bullet Club (Toma Tonga, Bad Luck Fale and Tanga Loa) (c), War Machine and Michael Elgin, Suzuki-gun (Zack Sabre Jr., Taichi and Takashi Iizuka) and Taguchi Japan (Juice Robinson, Ryusuke Taguchi and Togi Makabe)
Suzuki-gun moves on after Sabre Jr. gets the technical submission on Rowe with a triangle choke to eliminate the team of War Machine and Elgin. Yano is responsible for eliminating Suzuki-gun immediately. Yano eliminates Taguchi Japan. Beretta hits the Dudebuster on Toma Tonga and we have new 6-man tag team champs.
Special Singles Match Kota Ibushi defeats Cody
Kota got the pinfall after hitting a Kamigoye and a Phoenix Splash.
IWGP Tag Team Championship SANADA and EVIL defeat Killer Elite Squad (Davey Boy Smith Jr. and Lance Archer) (c)
SANADA and EVIL hit the Magic Killer and SANADA hit a Muta moonsault to get the pinfall on Davey Boy Smith. Three title changes so far in three title matches.
NEVER Openweight Championship (Hair vs. Hair Match) Hirooki Goto defeats Minoru Suzuki (c)
Goto hits Goto Revolution to get the victory and we have a new champ. Goto sets up a chair for Suzuki to cut his hair but Suzuki wants his own chair and he wants to shave his head himself. He does just that and slams his shaven hair on the chair before exiting the ring.
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship (Four-Way Match) Will Ospreay defeats Marty Scurll (c), KUSHIDA and Hiromu Takahashi
Ospreay hits the OsCutter on Scurll to get the pin and become a 2-time IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion.
IWGP Intercontinental Championship Hiroshi Tanahashi (c) defeats Jay White
Tanahashi becomes the first champion to retain on the show after hitting High Fly Flow.
IWGP United States Championship Kenny Omega (c) defeats Chris Jericho
Omega hits the One Winged Angel on a steel chair to get the pinfall. This match delivered on so many levels. Jericho put on the performance of a lifetime at 47-years-old and Kenny, well, he just continues to be the Best Bout Machine as advertised.
Okada retains after hitting a Rainmaker that appeared to KO Naito. He countered a Destino in a jumping Tombstone piledriver before the final Rainmaker to seal the deal. Okada’s historic reign as IWGP Heavyweight Champion continues.
Candice LeRae is expected to sign with the WWE NXT brand soon, according to The Wrestling Observer Newsletter. LeRae is currently going through the standard signing process but there’s no word yet on when she might be signed.
LeRae participated in The Mae Young Classic last year and made it to the quarterfinals, losing to runner-up Shayna Baszler. She picked up tournament wins over Renee Michelle and Nicole Savoy. LeRae also worked two battle royals on NXT TV last year – May 3rd and October 26th.
LeRae is married to NXT Superstar Johnny Gargano, which was acknowledged by WWE during The Mae Young Classic.
WWE Cruiserweight Champion Enzo Amore missed Monday’s RAW title match with #1 contender Cedric Alexander due to a bad case of the flu. Enzo was also pulled from the Mixed Match Challenge, which begins on January 16th.
Enzo reportedly got sick while in Toronto over the weekend with WWE for the annual holiday live event tour. He had been wrestling Kalisto all week but did not wrestle in Toronto. The Wrestling Observer Newsletter reports that Enzo got sick while in Toronto but he did not want to go to the hospital there. He then flew to Miami for RAW on New Year’s Eve and ended up going to the hospital on New Year’s Day. He checked himself out of the hospital on Monday and went to the arena for RAW but officials didn’t want him there because they were worried that he might be contagious.
There was concern backstage after Braun Strowman had left the tour earlier in the week due to the flu but was back for RAW. The Observer notes that Braun was said to be violently ill. As Raj noted before, there were other wrestlers that were sick backstage on Monday and several were given an IV. It was not confirmed that they had the flu or another illness but many skipped going out on New Year’s Eve the night before because they were sick.
No word yet on when Enzo will be back in the ring but it could be this weekend as he has been medically cleared. No word yet on why he was pulled from the Mixed Match Challenge, which doesn’t begin for another 2 weeks. The match with Cedric is still expected to take place when Enzo returns.
