Category: New Japan Pro Wrestling

Backstage News On The Status Of Hiromu Takahashi

As reported last summer, Hiromu Takahashi suffered a severe neck injury after receiving a Phoenixplex from Dragon Lee during their match at the G1 Special in San Francisco. Despite successfully defending his title in the bout, Takahashi was sidelined and ultimately had to vacate his IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship.

According to the latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Takahashi is expected to make a surprise appearance on an upcoming NJPW show to announce his comeback. Word is that Takahashi will be making his full-time return to the ring some time this year, and NJPW is planning on making a big deal about it.

Takahashi first made his debut with NJPW on August 28, 2010, and he performed as a “Young Lion” for the three years that followed. At the time of his injury, Takahashi was in his second reign as IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion. He also held the esteemed title of “Best of the Super Juniors” in 2018.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

NJPW Announces Royal Quest Event In London With Major Talent Involved

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Last month at Wrestle Kingdom 13, New Japan Pro Wrestling announced shows outside of Japan, including England. The company made it official with NJPW Royal Quest, taking place inside the Copper Box Arena in London on August 31st.

According to the company, three of their top major stars have already been confirmed for the event, though specific names have not been announced. The names, along with how to get your tickets for the event, will be revealed next week. You can add your name to the ticket sale mailing list in order to get access to the event first.

After next week, more information should be revealed regarding Royal Quest, including meet and greet information, other wrestlers involved, etc.

https://twitter.com/njpwglobal/status/1095964627329003520

Source: WrestlingINC

ROH Announces Festival of Honor

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Ring of Honor announced yesterday there will be a Festival of Honor for the sold-out ROH / NJPW G1 Supercard at Madison Square Garden on April 6.

Festival of Honor will take place on April 5 at the Hulu Theater at MSG, and tickets will go on sale next week. The event will feature meet and greets, live Q&As, a G1 Supercard Press Conference, and much more. Below is Ring of Honor’s full announcement:

On April 6th, 2019, Ring of Honor Wrestling and New Japan Pro Wrestling present a monumental event at a sold-out Madison Square Garden and are now proud to announce that the G1 Supercard Festival of Honor will take place on Friday, April 5th, 2019 at the Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

Pro-wrestling fans from around the globe will now be able to engage with their favorite stars from both companies and participate in the celebration of this historic weekend. That’s right — the biggest weekend in ROH and NJPW history just got even bigger!

This once-in-a-lifetime event provides fans with the ultimate ROH/NJPW experience:

Exclusive meet-and-greet sessions and autographed G1 Supercard 8x10s with the top stars of ROH and NJPW.

LIVE Q&A sessions where fans can ask anything to their favorite ROH and NJPW stars!

“An Afternoon with Dalton Castle…and The Boys!”

“Arm Wrestle Kingdom” – an arm wrestling contest hosted by Matt Taven!

The Official G1 Supercard Press Conference

And MORE exciting, live stage entertainment, and interactive activities!

Lastly, this is the ultimate opportunity to buy exclusive G1 Supercard merchandise before the show! Beat the crowds and wear your official gear when you are #GoingToTheGarden on April 6th!

Don’t have a ticket to the sold-out G1 Supercard on Saturday, April 6? No worries, because a ticket to the show is not required to attend G1 Supercard Festival of Honor!

Admission for the G1 Supercard Festival of Honor is just $39 when you purchase before March 20th which includes access to all festival entertainment, the official G1 Supercard press conference, and a special gift bag with a FREE G1 Supercard hat and lanyard ($30 value). After March 20th, tickets will be $44 and on April 5th, they will be $49. Tickets will be sold separately for the special meet and greet/autograph sessions throughout the day.

The festival begins at 10 a.m. and concludes at 6 p.m., Re-entry WILL be allowed. Tickets for G1 Supercard Festival of Honor go on sale for HonorClub members on Wednesday, February 13th, 2019 and for the General Public on Friday, February 15th, 2019. Don’t miss your opportunity to join pro wrestling fans from around the world in being a part of this historic weekend, while creating memories that will last a lifetime!

ROH’s next event is Bound by Honor in Lakeland, Florida on February 9, which will be a TV taping featuring ROH World TV Champion Jeff Cobb defending against Silas Young. The next night ROH will be in Miami, Florida for a live event that will include ROH Women of Honor World Champion Kelly Klein taking on Stardom’s Mayu Iwatani.

Source: WrestlingINC

NJPW The New Beginning USA From Los Angeles Results 1/30/19

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NJPW The New Beginning USA tour began last night at the Globe Theatre in Los Angeles.

Results:

* Alex Coughlin vs. Clark Connors goes to a time-limit draw
* Jonathan Gresham defeated Tyler Bateman
* Colt Cabana defeated Shane Taylor
* KES (Davey Boy Smith Jr. & Lance Archer) defeated Brody King & Marty Scurll
* Jeff Cobb defeated Karl Fredericks
* David Finlay defeated Chuck Taylor (No DQ Match)
* Juice Robinson & Tracy Williams defeated RPG Vice (Rocky Romero & Trent Baretta)

Trent Baretta and Chuckie T Reportedly Leaving NJPW Soon

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Trent Baretta and Chuckie T are finishing up with New Japan after they complete their scheduled shows on the New Beginning USA Tour, according to Dave Meltzer on the latest Wrestling Observer Radio.

Meltzer notes that Baretta was offered a contract with a big push and booking dates guaranteed throughout the year. Baretta had reportedly spoken to New Japan management prior to his decision to leave and told them he would agree to a new deal, however, he’s now backing off from the deal and is on his way out.

There’s no word yet on what the future plans are for Baretta and Chuckie T but Meltzer speculates that AEW is a likely alternative because of their good relationships with The Elite.

Baretta began his professional wrestling career in 2004 and it didn’t take long for him to get signed by WWE. He traveled through WWE’s developmental territories before appearing on TV as a lower-card singles competitor. After being released in 2013, Baretta began wrestling in such promotions as Pro Wrestling Guerilla, TNA/Impact Wrestling, and Ring of Honor. Beretta is a former four-time IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champion with his current promoter, NJPW.

Chuck Taylor, or “Chuckie T”, began pro wrestling training at the age of fifteen in Hardin, Kentucky, despite laws in the state that required someone to be eighteen to compete. Taylor would travel to Tennessee or Illinois just to work shows a his age and receive exposure. He is arguably most notable for his time wrestling with New Japan, Ring of Honor, and Pro Wrestling Guerrilla. Taylor is a former two-time PWG World Champion.

Source: WrestlingINC

Kenny Omega’s First AEW Appearance Revealed?

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Earlier this month, Omega announced his exit from NJPW with his contract expiring in early February. Although his next promotion is not officially known, he’s reportedly heading towards All Elite Wrestling. In the most recent Being the Elite, Omega’s phone has a new countdown that will end at AEW’s Double or Nothing Ticket Party on February 7 for their next event on May 25 in Las Vegas at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.

Source: WrestlingINC

Previews For WOW Women Of Wrestling & NJPW On AXS TV 1/25/19

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NJPW – 8/7c

New Year Dash part 1

* Los Ingobernables de Japon and Suzuki-gun square off in a special ten-man tag team match

* Chaos takes on Nagata, Cobb and KUSHIDA.

 

WOW Women of Wrestling – 9/8c

* With her father physically assaulted by Tessa Blanchard, Santana Garrett vows that the Championship is now second to her personal issues with The Born Legend. Can Santana overcome this distraction as The Beast, Jungle Grrrl, and Tessa set their sights on the Championship Belt that she holds?

Backstage News Chris Jericho And Kenny Omega Almost Signing With Impact Wrestling

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Chris Jericho and Kenny Omega almost ended up signing with Impact Wrestling, according to The Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

Impact Co-Executive Vice President Don Callis, who is good friends with Jericho, was reportedly very close to signing Jericho and Omega to contracts before All Elite Wrestling brought their offers to the table.

Jericho recently revealed that his AEW contract is the best deal of his pro wrestling career. Omega is expected to sign with AEW once his New Japan Pro Wrestling contract expires on January 31, however his signing has not been confirmed.

The Observer notes that before AEW was the plan, the idea was for Omega to keep working for NJPW and then do 30 dates per year for Impact. Jericho would have worked for Impact while working another year for NJPW since he would have had so much input on his creative plans. Jericho recently confirmed that he will continue to work with NJPW in the future.

Jericho recently spoke about signing with AEW on his “Talk Is Jericho”podcast and discussed his talks with Impact. Jericho praised Callis and Scott D’Amore for what they’ve done with the company, adding that he really enjoys the product these days.

“I’ve gotta tell you guys, man, I’ve been really impressed with Impact over the last year,” Jericho said. “I thought Don Callis and Scott D’Amore have really turned things around in that company, and I really, really enjoy it. And I thought long and hard about doing some shows there. I even had a meeting with Scott and Don in Toronto, and Ed Nordholm. The offer they made was a great offer. That’s something that’s funny when I hear all these companies are vying for the talent, for the free agents – WWE, AEW, Ring of Honor, New Japan, and someone mentioned MLW. Dude, what about Impact? They’ve got money. They were going to spend some money on Chris Jericho. We had some great matches planned. Jericho vs. Sami Callihan maybe, or with Johnny Impact, Brian Cage, Rich Swann. I’d love to work with Rich Swann. I did honestly talk to Impact and really, really thought about going there. And then Tony Khan came in with this offer, that’s the biggest offer I’ve ever been offered in my career.”

Source: WrestlingINC

NJPW The New Beginning USA Event Cards Released

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NJPW has released the full cards for their upcoming “The New Beginning in USA’ events.

Here are the full cards for all three shows:

1/30/19 – Los Angeles – Globe Theatre

* Roppongi Vice v. Tracy Williams and Juice Robinson
* David Finlay v. Chuckie T
* Jeff Cobb v. Karl Fredericks
* Brody King and Marty Scurll v. Davey Both Smith Jr. and Lance Archer
* Colt Cabana v. Shane Taylor
* Jonathan Gresham v. Tyler Bateman
* Alex Coughlin v. Clark Connors

2/1/19 – North Carolina – Grady Cole Center

* Juice Robinson (c) v. Beretta – IWGP United States Title
* Tracy Williams and David Finlay v. Rocky Romero and Chuckie T
* Alex Coughlin v. Davey Boy Smith Jr.
* Jonathan Gresham and Jeff Cobb v. Brody King and Marty Scurll
* Tracer X v. Great-O-Kharn
* John Skyler and Colt Cabana v. Shane Taylor and Lance Archer
* Karl Fredericks v. Clark Connors

2/2/19 – Tennessee – War Memorial Auditorium

* Tracy Williams, David Finlay and Juice Robinson v. Rocky Romero, Chuckie T and Beretta
* Jeff Cobb v. Brody King
* Clark Connors v. Marty Scurll
* Harlem Bravado v. Great-O-Kharn
* Jonathan Gresham and Colt Cabana v. Shane Taylor and Lance Archer
* Karl Fredericks v. Alex Coughlin

Kenny Omega Says He Will Be Wrestling On A Large International Platform, Comments On AEW

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Kenny Omega appeared at the Tokyo Sports Awards earlier this week and wished good luck to All Elite Wrestling.

“I cannot tell the future. I would like to say good luck to AEW. It is going to be amazing. I am interested because it is a group of friends of mine. Since they are my friends, I have no choice but to support,” Omega said, according to a Google newspaper translation from Japanese to English.

Omega also said he won’t be on the Tokyo Sports stage next year, for New Japan, but that he “would still be putting on Match of the Year performances on a large international platform,” according to a translation by Chris Charlton.

It’s believed that Omega will sign with AEW over WWE once his NJPW contract officially expires at the end of this month. The Wrestling Observer Newsletter has reported that Omega already turned down an offer from WWE.

Source: WrestlingINC