NJPW New Year Dash Results 1/5/18

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.

NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 12 Results

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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.

IWGP Heavyweight Championship
Kazuchika Okada (c) defeats Tetsuya Naito

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.

Wife Of WWE NXT Superstar Being Signed Soon?

Image result for candice lerae and johnny gargano

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.

Source: WrestlingINC

Impact Wrestling Preview 1/4/18

Impact Wrestling returns tonight (Jan. 4) on Pop TV with the final episode from the most recent set of tapings.

Here’s what’s advertised for tonight:

* Career vs Career – No Hold Barred Match: James Storm vs. Dan Lambert

* Impact Global Championship: Eli Drake (c) vs. Alberto El Patron

* Impact Tag Team Championship: oVe (c) vs. LAX – if LAX loses, they must disband

* Impact Grand Championship: EC3 (c) vs. Fallah Bahh vs. Matt Sydal

* X-Division Championship: Trevor Lee (c) vs. Ishimori

* Chandler Park in ring debut

Backstage Update On Enzo Amore’s WWE Status After Getting Sick, How Bad Braun Strowman Was Last Week

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.

Source: WrestlingINC

Daniel Bryan On Possibly Wrestling For WWE At WrestleMania 34, Getting Cleared To Return To The Ring

Image result for Daniel Bryan SmackDown Live

Daniel Bryan recently spoke with Sports Illustrated and commented on his WWE future and possibly returning to the ring at WrestleMania 34.

“I assume that if I don’t wrestle by WrestleMania, I probably won’t be wrestling with WWE at all,” said Bryan. “That’s my assumption.”

Bryan acknowledged that getting cleared to return to the WWE ring is complicated.

“It’s not a black and white answer,” said Bryan. “There are a lot of issues with me getting cleared by WWE. They have a very strict protocol, which is a good thing, but the timeline of all that happening was not the best for me. It’s an interesting situation that will develop.”

Source: WrestlingINC

Jim Ross & Jerry “The King” Lawler Confirmed To Be At WWE RAW 25th Anniversary

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WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross confirmed on Twitter yesterday that he and fellow Hall of Famer Jerry Lawler are booked to be at the RAW 25th Anniversary episode on January 22nd in New York City.

 JR did not confirm that he and Lawler will be reuniting for TV but that has been the speculation. Lawler just noted on Twitter this week that he was still hoping to reunite with JR at the special event.

The RAW 25th Anniversary will air live from New York City at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn and the Manhattan Center Grand Ballroom, the original home of RAW. Superstars confirmed as of this writing include The Undertaker, WWE Hall of Famer Kevin Nash, Hall of Famer Shawn Michaels, John Cena, WWE Universal Champion Brock Lesnar, WWE Intercontinental Champion Roman Reigns, RAW Tag Team Champion Seth Rollins, Dean Ambrose, Asuka, Braun Strowman, RAW Women’s Champion Alexa Bliss, Samoa Joe, Sheamus, Cesaro, Kane and RAW General Manager Kurt Angle. SmackDown Superstars are also advertised – WWE Champion AJ Styles, Randy Orton and Jinder Mahal.

Source: WrestlingINC

NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 12 1/4/18

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In the U.S., the event starts with the pre-show late Wednesday night (11 p.m. PT) / early Thursday morning (2 a.m. ET) depending on your time zone. The pre-show match should start around 11:30 p.m. PT/2:30 a.m. ET with the main show kicking off shortly after.

IWGP Heavyweight Championship: Kazuchika Okada (c) vs. Tetsuya Naito

IWGP United States Championship: Kenny Omega (c) vs. Chris Jericho

IWGP Intercontinental Championship: Hiroshi Tanahashi (c) vs. Jay White

IWGP Jr Heavyweight Championship: Marty Scurll (c) vs. Hiromu Takahashi vs. KUSHIDA vs. Will Ospreay

NEVER Openweight  Championship – Death Match – Hair vs Hair/ Nobody at Ringside: Minoru Suzuki (c) vs. Hirooki Goto

IWGP Tag Team Championship: Killler Elite Squad (Lance Archer & Davey Boy Smith Jr.) vs. EVIL & SANADA

Cody vs. Kota Ibushi

NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship – Gauntlet Match: Tama Tonga, Tanga Loa & Bad Luck Fale (c) vs. Ryusuke Taguchi, Juice Robinson & Togi Makabe vs. Beretta, Toru Yano & Tomohiro Ishii vs. War Machine (Hanson & Raymond Rowe) & Michael Elgin vs. Taichi, Takashi Iizuka & Zack Sabre Jr.

IWGP Jr Heavyweight Tag Team Championship: Roppongi 3K (c) vs. The Young Bucks

(Pre-Show) New Japan Rumble

 

AXS TV will air Wrestle Kingdom 12 starting this Saturday night with a WK 12 special that will showcase the event’s three headlining championship matches: IWGP U.S. Heavyweight Champion Kenny Omega vs. Chris Jericho, IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada vs. G1 CLIMAX 27 Tournament Champion Tetsuya Naito, and IWGP Intercontinental Champion Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Jay White.

AXS TV will continue its coverage of Wrestle Kingdom 12 following the special over five episodes Friday nights starting Jan. 12 at 8pE/5pP.

 

I won’t post the Wrestle Kingdom 12 results until Monday.

Maria Kanellis Blogs About Recent Nude Photo Leak

maria kanellis nude photo leak comment blog facebook

WWE star Maria Kanellis has commented on her recent nude photo leak, calling it an “intrusion of privacy” and saying the people who stole them need to get help.

Kanellis posted a blog on Facebook today titled “Playboy, Leaked Photos, and Being Sexy” in which she states: “I have been asked on numerous occasions about Playboy, my leaked photos, and about being sexy. My answers may surprise you and hopefully give you some insight into what it means to me to be able to be sexy and still be a great mother.”

She continued, “I guess first you should know, every photo that I have seen leaked was something for my husband of over three years, who I have been with for 6 and a half. They were sent to or taken by Mike. So, you aren’t seeing anything salacious or forbidden. You are seeing our personal photos.”

“If my children asks about those photos, I will say mommy and daddy have a healthy relationship. We love each other. Daddy thinks Mommy is sexy. AND, there is nothing wrong with that. The problem is the intrusion of privacy.” Maria adds, “The sad, sad humans that can not make a happy, healthy life of their own. I would tell my child to feel sorry for the people that do not have enough love of their own and have to steal it from others. Mommy and daddy, pity the people that have enough time on their hands to fish through our photos but no time to make a life of their own. To those people, I say get some help, try online dating, and stop breaking the law.

Maria Kanellis’ full post can be read below.

Source: Pro Wrestling Sheet

WWE’s Mixed Match Challenge Will Feature Beth Phoenix On Commentary

beth phoenix wwe mixed match challenge facebook commentary team

Mixed Match Challenge — WWE‘s upcoming show on Facebook — will feature a fresh face on the commentary team, Hall of Famer Beth Phoenix.

Renee Young and Byron Saxton appropriately announced the show’s commentary team on Facebook Live and revealed that Beth will be joined by Corey Graves and Michael Cole.

It’s unclear if the former Women’s Champion inked a full-time deal with the company or if this is just a guest-stint during the show’s 12-week run.

MMC premieres January 16 at 10 ET.

 

Source: Pro Wrestling Sheet