Category: NJPW

Tetsuya Naito Out Of NJPW G1 Climax Due To Injury

NJPW announced Tetsuya Naito is out of the G1 Climax 31 tournament due to a knee injury.

The injury was sustained in his opening match on September 18 against Zack Sabre Jr. where Naito’s left meniscus and MCL were damaged. There is no timetable for his return to the ring.

As for the tournament, there won’t be a replacement for him, but rather, Naito’s matches will be counted as losses via forfeit and his opponents get an automatic two points.

His remaining opponents will instead have “special singles matches” that won’t count towards the ongoing tournament.

The G1 Climax continues on Thursday with the following A block matches:

* Shingo Takagi vs. Zack Sabre Jr.
* Kota Ibushi vs. Tomohiro Ishii
* KENTA vs. Yujiro Takahashi
* Toru Yano vs. Great-O-Khan

Source: Wrestling Inc.

Kenny Omega Tops 2021’s PWI 500, Top 10 Revealed

Kenny Omega has topped the PWI 500 for the second time in his career, beating Roman Reigns to number one.

Kenny Omega has topped the PWI 500 for only the second time in his career, knocking Jon Moxley off the top spot and all the way down to number six.

Pro Wrestling Illustrated has been ranking the 500 best male wrestlers in the business since 1991. Who deserves to be number one each year is heavily debated, with the likes of Hulk Hogan, Stone Cole, CM Punk, and AJ Styles all having clinched the top spot in the past. This year’s top ten has been revealed, and PWI has declared Kenny Omega 2021’s best male wrestler.

This is actually the second time Omega has topped the PWI 500. The Cleaner was named the publication’s best wrestler in 2018 as well. It was hard to argue with the decision to place him first then, and maybe even more difficult to make a case against him in 2021. During PWI’s assessment period, Omega won World Titles in three different promotions, holding them simultaneously.

The rest of the top ten has been revealed too, with Universal Champion Roman Reigns claiming the number two spot. That’s the highest Reigns has placed since he took the number one spot in 2016, bouncing back from dropping out of the top ten completely in 2020 when he missed a chunk of the year due to the pandemic.

Bobby Lashley, Drew McIntyre, and Finn Balor also make the top ten, as does Will Ospreay. However, the New Japan star appears to be a little miffed with only making it as high as seventh. It’s actually the highest Ospreay has ever placed, only cracking the top ten one time before this in 2019. The British star tweeted that he could beat Omega any night of the week in response to the top ten being posted on Twitter.

SouOmega responded that New Japan has been “ice cold” since he left, to which Ospreay replied by pointing to a sold-out MSG show and the best-selling Tokyo Dome show in the promotion’s history. Ospreay closes by challenging Omega to a match. The forbidden door between AEW and New Japan is wide open right now, so it could happen. Just last night on Dynamite Moxley defeated Minoru Suzuki.

Source: TheSportster

NJPW Announces Wrestle Kingdom 16 To Be Three Nights

During today’s NJPW Wrestle Grand Slam, it was announced Wrestle Kingdom 16 will be a three-night event on January 4, January 5, and January 8, 2022.

The first two show are set to take place in the Tokyo Dome and the third night happens in Yokohama Arena. This is in celebration of NJPW’s 50th anniversary with the company being founded in 1972 by Antonio Inoki.

Typically, New Year Dash is right after Wrestle Kingdom, but no word yet on if that event is still going to happen in 2022.

Up until 2020, Wrestle Kingdom has been a one-night event where it then jumped to two nights.

You can check out the video announcement below:

Source: Wrestling Inc.

Awesome Kong Announces Her Retirement From Pro Wrestling At NWA EmPowerrr

During Saturday night’s NWA EmPowerrr pay-per-view, Awesome Kong announced that she is retiring from pro wrestling.

She made a surprise appearance at the event during a Gail Kim promo. Awesome Kong saved Gail Kim before an attack by Taryn Terrell, Jennacide, and Paola Blaze.

After that according to F4Wonline, she grabbed a microphone and told Gail Kim that she was her greatest foe and there was no other way to end her career than being in the ring with Kim. She then announced that she was done.

Awesome Kong is a former NWA Women’s Champion and a two-time Impact Knockouts Champion. She’s wrestled in several promotions such as Impact Wrestling, AEW, WWE, ROH, Shimmer, and All Japan Women’s Pro Wrestling.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

NJPW Resurgence Results 8/14/21

– Dark Match: Barrett Brown, Bateman, & Misterioso def. Jordan Clearwater, The DKC, & Kevin Knight

– Karl Fredericks def. Alex Coughlin

– Ren Narita, Clark Connors & TJP def. Fred Rosser, Wheeler YUTA & Rocky Romero

– Lio Rush, Adrian Quest, Chris Dickinson, Fred Yehi, & Yuya Uemura def. Tom Lawlor, JR Kratos, Jorel Nelson, Royce Isaacs, & Danny Limelight

– Katsuyori Shibata welcomes Uemura to the LA Dojo.

– Juice Robinson def. Hikuleo

– Tomohiro Ishii def. Moose

– Will Ospreay returned and announced he is cleared.

– The Good Brothers (Doc Gallows & Karl Anderson) def. Jon Moxley & Yuji Nagata

– Guerrillas of Destiny (Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa) confront Good Brothers.

– NEVER Openweight Championship: Jay White (c) def. David Finlay

– Tomohiro Ishii confronted Jay White after the match.

– IWGP United States Championship: Hiroshi Tanahashi def. Lance Archer (c) to win the title.

– Archer cuts a promo saying he respects Tanahashi and wants him to “bring his ass” to AEW.

NJPW Resurgence 8/14/21

NJPW Resurgence 8/14/2021 – Los Angeles, California at The Torch at LA Coliseum

8 pm ET on FITE and NJPW World

NJPW announced due to unforeseen circumstances, Brody King is off tonight’s show and is replaced by Adrian Quest in the ten-man tag match.

Card

* Lance Archer (c) vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi (IWGP United States Championship)
* Jay White (c) vs. David Finlay (NEVER Openweight Championship)
* Tomohiro Ishii vs. Moose
* Lio Rush, Adrian Quest, Chris Dickinson, Fred Yehi, and Yuya Uemura vs. Tom Lawlor, JR Kratos, Danny Limelight, Jorel Nelson, and Royce Isaacs
* Juice Robinson vs. Hikuleo
* Jon Moxley and a mystery partner vs. Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson
* Fred Rosser, Rocky Romero, and Wheeler Yuta vs. TJP, Clark Connors, and Ren Narita
* Karl Fredericks vs. Alex Coughlin
* Kevin Knight, The DKC, and Jordan Clearwater vs. Bateman, Misterioso, and Barrett Brown (Dark Match)

NJPW also announced Strong Openweight Champion Tom Lawlor will defend his title against Lio Rush at the upcoming Strong tapings on Monday at Thunder Studio in Long Beach, California. The match will air at a later date.

Lawlor’s last title defense came on a July 23 episode of Strong, where he defeated Satoshi Kojima.

Hiroshi Tanahashi and Tomohiro Ishii have also been advertised for Monday’s tapings, which will also feature a live crowd for the first time in the show’s history.

NJPW Announces Completed Vaccination Program For Talent

NJPW announced that all participating staff members and wrestlers have now received both COVID-19 vaccine doses.

As noted in the below press release, the workplace vaccination program was for wrestlers and staff that live in Japan.

Thank you for your continued support of New Japan Pro-Wrestling, and your continued co-operation with COVID protocols at live events.

In recent weeks, NJPW has proceeded with a workplace vaccination program for wrestlers and staff residing in Japan. All participating staff members and wrestlers in the program have now received both vaccine doses.

Everyone involved in New Japan Pro-Wrestling will continue to come together to do everything we can to ensure peace of mind to fans attending NJPW events, and to create the safest possible environment to enjoy New Japan action.

We ask for your continued co-operation in COVID countermeasures at events going forward.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

New Japan’s Jay White Officially Invites IMPACT Wrestling’s Chris Bey To Join Bullet Club

Former IMPACT X-Division Champion Chris Bey was officially inducted into Bullet Club by New Japan Pro Wrestling star Jay White.

Bullet Club leader Jay White officially inducted IMPACT Wrestling star Chris Bey into the group on this week’s edition of IMPACT! on AXS TV.

It all went down following Bey’s victory over Juice Robinson. After the bell, White came out to celebrate with Bey. White handed the American wrestler a Bullet Club t-shirt and threw up the Too Sweet gesture, which Bey was more than happy to reciprocate.

https://twitter.com/IMPACTWRESTLING/status/1423436910161186818

White is a former IWGP Heavyweight Champion who is currently under contract with New Japan Pro Wrestling. He walked through the proverbial forbidden door and made his IMPACT debut when he confronted Kenny Omega at the company’s Slammiversary pay-per-view on July 17.

On the July 22 post-Slammiversary edition of IMPACT’s weekly show, Jay White explained his presence in the promotion. The NEVER Openweight Champion said he was there for David Finlay, the man he will defend hit tile against at New Japan Pro-Wrestling Resurgence on August 14. Don Callis, The Good Brothers, and Kenny Omega confronted White and a war of words ensued. Gallows and Anderson demanded a “thank you” for building Bullet Club, but White refused. The two men attacked White, but Chris Bey made the save.

On last week’s edition of IMPACT’s weekly TV show, Bey and White teamed up to take on The Good Brothers. They came up short, but their alliance was far from finished, as the events of this week showed.

Chris Bey is a former X-Division Champion who debuted for IMPACT in November of 2018.

“I want to keep growing. I don’t think I’m the best in the world, but right now, I’m the best version of myself. I have the ability to be better tomorrow, and then better than that the day after. Over time, I want people to think of Chris Bey when they think of wrestling,” the 25-year-old told Sport Illustatrated’s Justin Barraso back in December of 2020.

Bey joins Bad Luck Fale, Chase Owens, Gedo, Hikuleo, KENTA, Taiji Ishimori, Dick Togo, El Phantasmo, EVIL, Yujir, and Guerrillas of Destiny (Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa)in Bullet Club.

Source: TheSportster

Hiroshi Tanahashi Issues Challenge For IWGP US Title On Dynamite

NJPW star Hiroshi Tanahashi appeared via video on tonight’s AEW Dynamite: Fight for the Fallen.

Tanahashi said he’s won many championships in his career, but the IWGP US Championship has thus eluded him.

Tanahashi said the winner of the match between the current champion, Lance Archer, and NJPW star Hikuleo will face him next. A date has yet to be announced, however the match will take place in Japan. Archer won the title last week in a Texas Deathmatch against Jon Moxley.

Archer won last night’s match and commentary noted he’ll travel to NJPW so Tanahashi can challenge for the title. No word on when that will happen.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

NJPW Wrestle Grand Slam Results 7/25/2021

KOPW 2021 CHAMPIONSHIP (RANBO MATCH – PRE-SHOW)
Chase Owens wins and becomes the provisional KOPW 2021 Champion

IWGP JR. HEAVYWEIGHT TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP
Taiji Ishimori and El Phantasmo (c) defeated Rocky Romero and Ryusuke Taguchi

IWGP JR. HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP
Robbie Eagles defeated El Desperado (c) to win the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship

Kazuchika Okada defeated Jeff Cobb

IWGP TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP
Taichi and Zack Sabre Jr. defeated Tetsuya Naito and SANADA (c) to win the IWGP Tag Team Championship

IWGP WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP
Shingo Takagi (c) defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi