Category: New Japan Pro Wrestling

Chris Jericho Vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi At WK14 Gets AEW-Related Stipulation

NJPW legend Hiroshi Tanahashi will get the opportunity to earn an AEW World title shot next weekend when he goes one-on-one with ‘Le Champion’ at Wrestle Kingdom 14.

Chris Jericho shared a video on Saturday morning reacting to recent comments made by Tanahashi in regards to their upcoming match.

“You said if you could beat me, that you will enter the forbidden portal and request a title shot for the AEW championship,” Chris says in the video. “I thought it’s a great idea, so ‘Le Champion’ asked the Chairman of the Board, the owner of AEW, Tony Khan, if it was okay to grant your request. And he said yes! So, if you can beat me in the Tokyo Dome, I will give you a championship match for the AEW title,” Jericho added.

Wrestle Kingdom 14 is a two-day event this year starting on January 4. The show can be viewed on NJPW World or FITE TV. The show will not be broadcast on AXS TV this year, as the relationship between the two companies recently came to an end.

Jericho vs. Tanahashi will take place on night two of Wrestle Kingdom on January 5.

Watch Jericho’s announcement below.

Source: Pro Wrestling Sheet

New Japan Not Planning US Television Broadcast Of Events In 2020

NJPW’s relationship with AXS TV appears to have come to an end, as New Japan announced a surprising update in regards to their television plans in 2020.

The company’s NJPW Global account tweeted the following late Thursday night:

“In response to US fan queries, There are currently no plans for TV broadcast of NJPW events in 2020 (WK14 included) in the US.

Thank you for joining us on TV so far. We invite you to join [NJPW World] for all the action in 2020, LIVE and in English!”

NJPW first started airing on AXS TV in 2014. The shows featured older matches dubbed with English commentary. The network also aired specials for the promotion’s big events, but that seemed to decrease as of late. As you may recall, Impact Wrestling’s parent company Anthem purchased a majority interest in AXS TV earlier this year.

No official comment has been released from AXS TV at this time.

Source: Pro Wrestling Sheet

New Japan Confirms Schedule For First New Beginning USA Tour In 2020

NJPW of America is kicking off 2020 with a bang by traveling to five U.S. cities in nine days.

New Japan released details on their upcoming “New Beginning USA” tour via Twitter Monday night.

The cities/dates are as follows:

  • January 24 in Tampa, FL
  • January 26 in Nashville, TN
  • January 27 in Raleigh, NC
  • January 30 in Miami, FL
  • February 1 in Atlanta, GA

NJPW ran thirteen shows in the States in 2019. When they announced their new American subsidiary, the promotion shared plans to double that record for next year.

See the announcement below.

Source: Pro Wrestling Sheet

NJPW Releases Full Showdown In Los Angeles Event (Videos)

NJPW Showdown in Los Angeles took place on November 11 and NJPW has released the entire event on their English YouTube channel. The show is split up into individual matches, which you can check out below.

Here is the full card:

* Tetsuya Naito, Shingo Takagi, and BUSHI vs. Jay White, Chase Owens, and Gedo
* Hirooki Goto, SHO, and YOH vs. KENTA, Taiji Ishimori, and El Phantasmo
* Kota Ibushi vs. Ren Narita
* Tomohiro Ishii and Rocky Romero vs. EVIL and SANADA
* Juice Robinson, David Finlay, and Clark Connors vs. Minoru Suzuki, Lance Archer, and El Desperado
* Toru Yano and Colt Cabana vs. Karl Fredericks and Alex Coughlin
* Amazing Red and TJP vs. Aaron Solow and Alex Zayne

NJPW Reveals Match Cards For Showdown In California

The latest tour in the United States for New Japan Pro Wrestling has arrived. New Japan Showdown will be taking place in California on November 9 and 11. The event on the 9th will be taking place inside the San Jose Civic in San Jose while the event on the 11th will be in the Globe Theatre in Los Angeles.

NJPW announced all of the details for the two nights in a press conference earlier this morning. The main event on the San Jose Showdown show will feature Will Ospreay and Kazuchika Okada against Amazing Red and Kota Ibushi. The British Cruiserweight Championship will be on the line that day, as El Phantasmo will defend his title against SHO. Lance Archer will be defending his newly-won IWGP United States Title as well when he faces Dave Finlay.

The main event on the LA Showdown show will be Tetsuya Naito, BUSHI and Shingo Takagi against Jay White, Chase Owens and Gedo.

Here are the full cards for the tour:

11/9 – New Japan Showdown: San Jose – San Jose Civic

* Will Ospreay and Kazuchika Okada v. Amazing Red and Kota Ibushi
* Tetsuya Naito and Shingo Takagi v. Jay White and Chase Owens
* Lance Archer (c) v. David Finlay – IWGP United States Championship
* El Phantasmo (c) v. SHO – British Cruiserweight Championship
* Rocky Romero, YOH and Hirooki Goto v. KENTA, Taiji Ishimori and Jado
* TJP, Juice Robinson and Tomohiro Ishii v. BUSHI, EVIL and SANADA
*Clark Connors and Karl Fredericks v. Minoru Suzuki and El Desperado
*Jushin Thunder Liger and Aaron Solow v. Colt Cabana and Toru Yano
*Ren Narita v. Alex Coughlin

11/11 – New Japan Showdown – Los Angeles – Globe Theatre

*Tetsuya Naito, BUSHI and Shingo Takagi v. Jay White, Chase Owens and Gedo
*Hirooki Goto, SHO and YOH v. KENTA, El Phantasmo and Taiji Ishimori
*Kota Ibushi v. Ren Narita
*Tomohiro Ishii and Rocky Romero v. EVIL and SANADA
*Juice Robinson, David Finlay and Clark Connors v. Minoru Suzuki, Lance Archer and El Desperado
*Colt Cabana and Toru Yano v. Karl Fredericks and Alex Coughlin
*TJP and Amazing Red v. Aaron Solow and Alex Zayne

Source: Wrestling Inc.

NJPW’s ‘New Year Dash!!’ 2020 To Have A Mystery Card

Following the craziness that will be two Wrestle Kingdom 14 cards, New Japan Pro Wrestling will be back in action on January 6 for New Year Dash!!

Already announced for the card will be Jushin Thunder Liger’s retirement ceremony. Prior to that, he will be wrestling on both nights of Wrestle Kingdom. During night one, Liger will be teaming up with Tiger Mask, Tatsumi Fujinami and The Great Sasuke to take on Ryusuke Taguchi, Tatsuhito Takaiwa, Shinjiro Otani and Naoki Sano. In Liger’s corner will be El Samurai while Kuniaki Kobayashi (who Liger debuted the current character against) will be in the opposite corner. Norio Honaga will be the special guest referee. Each person involved in the bout has had a history with Liger in some way or another.

While Liger is all set, what will be happening during the rest of the card is a mystery. NJPW has decided to throw a curveball by not announcing anything until the first bell. The company announced that the card will be announced exactly at 6:30 p.m.

New Year Dash!! will be taking place inside the Ota City General Gymnasium in Tokyo.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

Chris Jericho And Hiromu Takahashi Return To NJPW, Wrestle Kingdom 14 Matches Set

Wrestle Kingdom 14 will feature Chris Jericho and Hiromu Takahashi in matches which were both setup during Saturday night’s NJPW Power Struggle event.

Jericho was the first to make an appearance at Power Struggle when a video played after Kota Ibushi and Hiroshi Tanahashi defeated Kazuchika Okada and YOSHI-HASHI.

In the video, a roomful of Tanahashi look-a-likes play air guitar before they’re suddenly all on the ground. Jericho then appears in his Painmaker getup and challenges the “Ace of New Japan” to a match on night two of Wrestle Kingdom 14.

This year’s Wrestle Kingdom will be a two-day event on January 4 and 5.

Jericho – who is the current AEW World Champion – last appeared for NJPW back in June at Dominion when he lost to Kazuchika Okada.

Later in the evening at Power Struggle, Will Ospreay defeated BUSHI in a IWGP Jr. Heavyweight title defense. He then got on the microphone and asked who would challenge him next. As he started to leave the ring, a video began to play that was similar to Hiromu Takahashi’s first “Time Bomb” vignettes. The video ends with Hiromu’s cat dolls lighting a bomb that started a timer on-screen.

Takahashi emerged when the countdown was over and tore off a neck brace before making his way to the ring. He then ran around the ring taking bumps, cut a promo in Japanese and eventually challenged Ospreay to a match on night one of Wrestle Kingdom 14.

Hiromu has been out of action for 16 months after breaking his neck taking a dragon driver from Dragon Lee during the G1 Special in San Francisco back in July.

Watch their returns below.

https://twitter.com/GIFSkull/status/1190918636656979968

Source: Pro Wrestling Sheet

NJPW Parent Company Bushiroad Purchases Stardom

New Japan Pro Wrestling’s parent company, Bushiroad, has purchased the all-woman’s Japanese promotion, Stardom.

Bushiroad’s Takaaki Kitani and Stardom’s Rossy Ogawa reportedly met back in April, but a deal between the two sides wasn’t completed until August.

Stardom’s Twitter account commented, “Stardom has been acquired by Bushiroad. More details to come shortly! A press conference will be held today at 2 pm JST (1 am EST in the US) on the official Bushiroad YouTube channel, addressing the Stardom acquisition. The Stardom roster will be on stage.”

Stardom was founded in 2010 and has featured names like Io Shirai, Toni Storm, Bea Priestley, Hana Kimura, Kagetsu, and Mayu Iwatani.

Bushiroad’s Takaaki Kitani and Stardom’s Rossy Ogawa reportedly met back in April, but a deal between the two sides wasn’t completed until August. There was a joint press conference with Stardom talent involved following the news.

Starting December 1, 2019, the company name will be changed from Kix Road Co., Ltd. to Bushiroad Fight Co., Ltd. Hiroshi Ogawa will remain the CEO of Stardom, and while the name “Stardom” will be the same, World Wonder Ring Stardom will not exist. As a result of the different branding and TV promotions (NJPW is part-owned by TV-Asahi and the Stardom TV deal is with NTV), Dave Meltzer reported at F4WOnline that both New Japan and Stardom will be run and kept completely separate from one another. Meltzer added that if there was a need by New Japan for women’s matches during foreign shows, something may be able to work out.

Meltzer also noted on Wrestling Observer Radio that WWE had made an offer to purchase Stardom as well. WWE had recently tried to purchase NOAH as well, so they are serious about getting into the Japanese market.

Following the rebrand, advertising and global marketing strategies will be implemented starting in January 2020. This will be developed by BS Nippon Television, with programming on BS NTV every Thursday and a 30-minute program on TOKYO MX.

In regards to talent, Stardom women will be receiving full-time contracts. There are also plans to bring in wrestlers from all over the world.

“We will create contracts with each wrestler,” Bushiroad stated. “We want to create an environment where the wrestlers can concentrate on pro wrestling, and we are expecting to bring in excellent wrestlers from all over the world. We would like to listen to the thoughts of each wrestler and take those thoughts into account when creating this new work environment.”

The opportunities for big shows were announced during the press conference as well. Stardom will run Korakuen Hall 14 times in 2020, with consecutive shows on August 8th and 9th. The first major show for the brand will be on April 29, 2020 inside Tokyo’s Ota Ward Gym. In 2021, there will be a 10th Anniversary show. While a future in the United States is unclear, Stardom will take part in “CharaExpo USA 2019” on December 7th and 8th inside the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, CA. The featured bout for the promotion will be Mayu Iwatani and Tam Nakano v. Sumie Sakai and Nicole Savoy.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

Jon Moxley Stripped Of IWGP US Championship, New Champion Crowned At NJPW King Of Pro Wrestling, David Finlay Returns From Injury

Lance Archer won the IWGP US Championship against Juice Robinson at today’s NJPW King of Pro Wrestling. Due to Typhoon Hagibis, Jon Moxley wasn’t able to make it in for the event and was stripped of the title. Archer was his replacement.

This is Archer’s first time winning the title. Moxley won it back in June.

After the match, Archer continued to attack Robinson and David Finlay ran in to make the save. Finlay had been out since March due to shoulder surgery.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

NJPW Announces New Year Dash And Road To Tokyo Dome Details

NJPW confirmed this year’s Road to Tokyo Dome will take place at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo on December 19, 20, and 21.

Earlier this year, it was announced that Wrestle Kingdom 14 will be two nights instead of one. Both events on January 4th and 5th will take place inside the Tokyo Dome. New Japan Pro Wrestling is looking to pull out all the stops when it comes to utilizing their talent. They will also look to keep their momentum going following those shows.

NJPW also announced New Year Dash!! will take place on Monday, January 6 at Ota City Gymnasium in Tokyo. This event will happen right after Wrestle Kingdom 14, which is going to be a two-day event on January 4 and 5.