Category: New Japan Pro Wrestling

FTR Sets Its Sights On The IWGP Tag Titles As AEW Contracts Wind Down

AEW stars Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler are teasing a potential New Japan run and declaring their desire to challenge for the IWGP tag titles.

FTR members Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler have a few very clear-cut goals … but not all of them involve AEW. And if their own words are anything to go by, they’re more than ready to part ways with Tony Khan’s promotion in order to take care of business.

Harwood and Wheeler addressed their future and their current AEW contract status during a recent chat with Brandon F. Walker on Barstool Rasslin‘. The FTR said they want to regain the AEW tag titles next year and they intend to defeat The Briscoes, the stalwart Ring Of Honor tag team they confronted during last week’s Final Battle pay-per-view.

“I think we are going to be the first-ever two-time AEW Tag Team Champions,” said Wheeler. “In 2022, we are going to get the titles back. We are going to have the title run that we should’ve had the first time,” he added. “Rematch with the Young Bucks. Beat the s**t out of The Briscoes. Hold titles everywhere.”

Harwood later revealed that the lads don’t have much time left on their AEW contracts.

“I don’t know what’s going to happen from there. But we have a short amount of time to accomplish what we want to accomplish,” Harwood said, before declaring FTR’s intention to challenge for the coveted IWGP Tag Team Championship at some point.

So far, FTR has been unsuccessful in its attempt to recapture the AEW World Tag Team Championship, but they didn’t manage to win the AAA tag titles from the Lucha Bros on Dynamite a few weeks ago.

Harwood and Cash Wheeler formed a tag team while they were both members of WWE’s developmental roster. For the majority, they were known as The Revival, due to their penchant for an old-school style of tag team wrestling. The duo parted ways with WWE in 2020 and subsequently jumped ship to AEW. They made their AEW debuts on the May 27, 2020 edition of AEW Dynamite.

Source: TheSportster

New Japan’s Tomohiro Ishii Debuts On AEW Dynamite, Leads CHAOS To Victory

Veteran Japanese wrestler Tomohiro Ishii made his AEW debut during this week’s edition of AEW Dynamite, on which he teamed up with Orange Cassidy.

Veteran Japanese wrestler Tomohiro Ishii walked away from his AEW debut with a victory under his belt when he and Orange Cassidy defeated The Butcher and The Blade on the latest episode of AEW Dynamite on TNT.

It all went down in Norfolk, Virginia on the first episode of AEW Dynamite to air since Saturday’s Full Gear pay-per-view. Ishii and OC were accompanied to the ring by their CHAOS stablemates Rocky Romero, Chuck Taylor, Wheeler YUTA, and Kris Statlander, while The Butcher and The Blade had The Bunny, Matt Hardy, and a few other Hardy Family Office members in their corner … needless to say, chaos ensued.

Hardy and The Bunny did their best to sabotage Ishii’s AEW debut, but ultimately the experience and brute strength of New Japan’s NEVER Openweight Champion was too much for the HFO to overcome. The finish came when Orange Cassidy took out the HFO with a dive outside, allowing Ishii to land a massive lariat on The Blade followed by a brainbuster. Ishii then covered Blade for the 1-2-3, delivering a huge win to CHAOS and adding a W next to his name in the AEW record books.

In case you missed it, Ishii’s New Japan colleague Rocky Romero made his in-ring AEW debut against Bryan Danielson on last week’s Dynamite. Before the show kicked off, Romero approached The Best Friends (Orange Cassidy, Kris Statlander, Chuck Taylor, and Wheeler YUTA) with a tantalizing proposition. Romero informed the group that Kazuchika Okada had invited them to join his stable CHAOS. Taylor, who was a member of CHAOS from 20017-2019 accepted Romero and Okada’s offer on behalf of his teammates. The best friends then accompanied Romero to the ring for his match with Danielson on Dynamite as official CHAOS members.

Not much has come of the partnership between AEW and NJPW, but with several members of CHAOS infiltrating the AEW roster, it seems inevitable that CHAOS leader Okada will soon join them.

Source: TheSportster

NJPW Star Tetsuya Naito Announces Return To The Ring

Tetsuya Naito went down with a knee injury in September that cost him being involved in this year’s NJPW G1 Climax tournament. The injury was sustained on September 18 against Zack Sabre Jr. and Naito had to forfeit the remaining matches — ending with a 0-9 record.

At today’s Wrestle Kingdom 16 Press Conference, Naito announced he would not need surgery and is returning to the ring for the World Tag League on November 14. His tag partner is fellow LIJ member, SANADA.

“I’ve torn ligaments in my knee twice before, and I know that with severe ligament damage, you tend to need surgery that can put you on the shelf for a year,” Naito said to the media. “That’s what I was preparing myself mentally for as I went to the hospital, but thankfully there was no ligament damage, and no need for surgery.

“It was a painful injury, and I needed time to heal, but on November 14, in Korakuen Hall on the first night of World Tag League, I will be back. My partner? Of course, SANADA. I messaged SANADA yesterday, and all I got in response was a thumbs up emoji. That’s pretty on brand, right?”

The rest of the World Tag League field has yet to be announced. Typically, the winners receive a shot at the IWGP Tag Team Championship in January. The current title holders are Taichi and Zack Sabre Jr.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

NJPW Power Struggle Results 11/6/2021

DOUKI and Yoshinobu Kanemaru defeated Kosei Fujita and Ryohei Oiwa

Jado, Gedo, and Tanga Loa defeated Tiger Mask, Tomoaki Honma, and Togi Makabe

BUSHI, Hiromu Takahashi, and SANADA defeated Master Wato, Ryusuke Taguchi, and Yuji Nagata

NEVER OPENWEIGHT 6-MAN TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP
SHO, Yujiro Takahashi, and EVIL defeated YOSHI-HASHI, Tomohiro Ishii, and Hirooki Goto (c) to win the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship

PROVISIONAL KOPW 2021 (AMATEUR WRESTLING MATCH)
Toru Yano (c) defeated Great-O-Khan

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

IWGP US CHAMPIONSHIP
KENTA defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi (c) to win the IWGP US Championship

RIGHTS TO TOKYO DOME CONTRACT
Kazuchika Okada (holder) defeated Tama Tonga

IWGP WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP
Shingo Takagi (c) defeated Zack Sabre Jr.

NJPW Power Struggle 11/6/2021

DATE: November 6, 2021 4:00 am
LOCATION: Osaka Prefectural Gym, Osaka, Japan
AVAILABLE ON:NJPW World

CARD

IWGP WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP
Shingo Takagi (c) vs. Zack Sabre Jr.

RIGHTS TO TOKYO DOME CONTRACT
Kazuchika Okada (holder) vs. Tama Tonga

IWGP US CHAMPIONSHIP
Hiroshi Tanahashi (c) vs. KENTA

IWGP JR. HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP
Robbie Eagles (c) vs. El Desperado

PROVISIONAL KOPW 2021 (AMATEUR WRESTLING MATCH)
Toru Yano (c) vs. Great-O-Khan

NEVER OPENWEIGHT 6-MAN TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP
YOSHI-HASHI, Tomohiro Ishii, and Hirooki Goto (c) vs. SHO, Yujiro Takahashi, and EVIL

Master Wato, Ryusuke Taguchi, Yuji Nagata vs. BUSHI, Hiromu Takahashi, and SANADA

Tiger Mask, Tomoaki Honma, Togi Makabe vs. Jado, Gedo, and Tanga Loa

Kosei Fujita and Ryohei Oiwa vs. DOUKI and Yoshinobu Kanemaru

“Filthy” Tom Lawlor Leaving MLW

Top MLW star “Filthy” Tom Lawlor is leaving the company.

Lawlor’s two year contract is expiring soon, and he is finishing up with the company, according to Fightful Select. MLW sources confirmed the departure and spoke very highly of the veteran talent.

Lawlor is done with MLW as of now as the recent Casket Match was a way to effectively write him out of the storylines. That match saw Lawlor lose to MLW Caribbean Heavyweight Champion King Muertes at the Fightland taping in Philadelphia earlier this month. There was still some time left on Lawlor’s contract, but it will expire before MLW’s next set of TV tapings in November.

The leader of Team Filthy first started working with MLW in 2017 and is a one-time MLW World Heavyweight Champion. He won the Battle Riot match in 2018, and won the Opera Cup Tournament in 2020.

Lawlor is currently working for NJPW after making his debut for the promotion in July 2020. He became the first-ever NJPW Strong Openweight Champion back in April after winning the New Japan Cup USA tournament, defeating Brody King in the finals.

Lawlor has expressed interest in returning to MMA, and said while he left his gloves in the ring after his last bout, he is not officially retired. Lawlor remains under contract to the PFL (Pro Fighters League). The former UFC star last fought on June 17 of this year, defeating Jordan Young by unanimous decision at the PFL 5 event in Atlantic City. He currently has a MMA record of 11-8-1.

There is no word on if the 38 year old Lawlor has interest from AEW or WWE, or what his contract status is with NJPW.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

Minoru Suzuki Coming Soon To Impact Wrestling

New Japan Pro-Wrestling icon Minoru Suzuki is coming soon to Impact Wrestling.

Impact announced his soon-to-be arrival through a career highlight video package. This will be the first time Suzuki has worked for the company.

Known for his vicious poise in the ring, the “King of Pro Wrestling” has made his rounds in America recently by competing New Japan Strong, PWX, West Coast Pro, GCW, and AEW.

Tonight, Suzuki will return to AEW to face Bryan Danielson on Rampage‘s Buy-In event at 9 pm ET on YouTube.

Suzuki is the fifth member of the New Japan roster to have worked with Impact this calendar year. He follows Juice Robinson, David Finlay, Jay White, Satoshi Kojima and El Phantasmo.

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.