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pwrestlingxpress · 1 year

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Match Card Set for Dominion 2023

After finishing an intense "Best of the Super Jr 30", we now have the official match card for "Dominion 2023" taking place Sunday June 4th in Osaka-Jo Hall. Nine matches will be contested in which eight of the matches all have title implications.

Opening up the main card will be Will Ospreay and Lance Archer in singles competition where the winner will be granted a title shot against reigning IWGP United States Champion Kenny Omega at a event to be determined at a later date.

Second match on the card is the only match that has no title implications but could should Taichi get pinned. It's Tetsuya Naito, Shingo Takagi, BUSHI, and Titan of Los Ingobernables de Japon facing Just 5 Guys' Taichi, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, DOUKI, and Taka Michinoku.

Third up is a rematch from Hiroshima as IWGP Junior Tag Champions Kevin Knight and KUSHIDA make their first title defense against the previous champions TJP and Francesco Akira.

Fourth will be a rematch from "Wrestling Dontaku 2023" as Zac Sabre Jr. makes his eighth title defense of the NJPW World TV Championship against Jeff Cobb. If 15 minutes expires here like it did in Fukuoka, feel like the clock will have to be extended to determine a winner in this championship match.

Fifth on the card is a 3-way to determine the 99th IWGP Tag Team Champions and the 4th NJPW Strong Tag Team Champions. It's Bishamon (Hirooki Goto and YOSHI-HASHI) facing House of Torture (EVIL and Yujiro Takahashi) and the United Empire (Great O-Khan and Aaron Henare). My feeling on this was there was going to be a 3-way no matter what. No one wanted to see a Bishamon/HOT match because of what could happen. Also, crowd would be too one-sided. By doing this, crowd can cheer for Bishamon. Crowd can cheer for the United Empire. As long as House of Torture does not win, this will be fair game.

After the fifth match, we will have our list of G1 Climax 33 participants. Down below (in English ABC order) are the 20 (believe that'll be the number this year) participants I believe will be in this year's tournament. Note that most of them will be from NJPW though I'm hoping we get more than one from AEW and at least one from Pro Wrestling NOAH who will have their own summer tournament (N1 Victory 2023) starting in August.

Lance Archer

Jeff Cobb

David Finlay

EVIL

Hirooki Goto

Tom Lawlor

Tetsuya Naito

Ren Narita

Kazuchika Okada

Will Ospreay

El Phantasmo

Zac Sabre Jr.

SANADA

Taichi

Shingo Takagi

Hiromu Takahashi

Hiroshi Tanahashi

Yota Tsuji

Shota Umino

YOSHI-HASHI

Be surprised I didn't include Great O-Khan or Aaron Henare but this list is if they go with 20 participants which I feel like they will so, it'll be tough to see who will be selected.

After the G1 participants are announced, we're back to action as the NEVER Openweight Championship will be on the line as David Finlay defends against El Phantasmo who has a listed of who to take revenge on for what happened in Ryogoku back at "Sakura Genesis 2023"

The seventh match contested will be for the NEVER Tag Team Championship as Blackpool Combat Club members Jon Moxley, ROH World Champion Claudio Castagnoli, and Shota Umino challenge Tomohiro Ishii, Kazuchika Okada, and Hiroshi Tanahashi. The theme going into this 6-man title match is the fact that Okada is not ready for the next generation to take over. He managed to easily handle Pro Wrestling NOAH's Kaito Kiyomiya at the Toyko Dome back on February 21st. In March and in "Wrestling Dontaku 2023" he was able to handle Ren Narita easily. But when it comes to Shota Umino, every time Okada assumes he can easily handle Umino, the Shooter is apparently one step ahead, and with the edge that he carried from Long Beach, something tells me Okada is going to be in for a rude awakening on June 4, 2023 in Osaka-Jo Hall. Blackpool Combat Club are relentless in getting their way. We saw that at AEW's "Double or Nothing" and here in Osaka-Jo Hall, we'll be seeing the same thing again.

In the semi-main event it's "Best of the Super Jr 30" winner Master Wato challenging the 4-time winner (2018, 2020-22) Hiromu Takahashi for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship. Wato has promised to become the champion in his hometown of Osaka. The question is can he do it against somehow he's yet to beat in Hiromu? We hope to find out on Sunday.

The main event for "Dominion 2023" is one that is very intriguing. From the New Japan Cup 2023 finals to Wrestling Dontaku 2023, a mysterious video was playing that ended with what was mostly likely the sound of a wolf. At the time many thought this video would be Katsuhiko Nakajima due to the darkness of red and the wolf at the end. But as we found out at "Wrestling Dontaku 2023" that was not the case. After SANADA successfully defended his title over Hiromu Takahashi, we found out that the person behind the video was Yota Tsuji whose entrance attire largely resembles Nakajima's Kongo entrance attire. Quickly, Tsuji made an impact as he knocked out every member of Just 5 Guys and ended the night by spearing SANADA almost out of the ring. Since his appearance many have questioned, is he LIJ or not. The fist bump largely suggests he is but all 5 members of LIJ are not saying anything despite a picture of Titan celebrating with Tsuji before "Best of Super Jr 30" began back on May 12, 2023. Many of us expected an answer at the semi-finals and finals of "Best of Super Jr 30" but ended up with nothing. So...now June 4th in Osaka-Jo Hall; SANADA puts his title on the line against somehow who we don't know who he is really with. The hope is that we'll find out either after the second match at this event in Dominion or at the main event itself.

I will be making predictions for "Dominion 2023" alongside some predictions for NOAH's "Sunny Voyage 2023 in Shinjuku Face" later on today (May 29, 2023) so expect those predictions by then .

"Dominion 2023" comes June 4th in Osaka at 4 PM local time/3 AM Eastern/2 AM Central/Midnight Pacific. Go to timeanddate.com and type in the city you currently live in to find the start time to the event in your area. The event will be on NJPW World with Japanese and English Commentary. Hope you all are able to tune in live.

#NJPW #Dominion #Match Card #IWGP United States Championship #los ingobernables de japon #just 5 guys #iwgp junior tag championship #NJPW World TV Championship #IWGP Tag Team Championship #Strong Openweight Tag Team Championship #G1 Climax 33 #never openweight championship #Never 6-man Tag Team Championship #blackpool combat club #IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship #IWGP World Heavyweight Championship #SANADA #Yota Tsuji

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allelitewrestlings · 22 days

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Eddie Kingston and Jon Moxley at the NJPW Resurgence Press Conference, LA Dojo, May 10, 2024 (via Eddie's ig stories)

#eddie kingston #jon moxley #moxeddie #wrestlingedit #aewedit #njpwedit #aew x njpw #njpw #njresurgence #event: resurgence 2024 #tag team: moxley & kingston #social media #*#ours: edits #maker: s #strong openweight championship #iwgp heavyweight championship

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enbywrestlingfan · 1 year

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Strong Style (c) vs. Kazuchika Okada, Hiroshi Tanahashi & Tomohiro Ishii - NEVER Openweight Six Man Tag Team Championships, NJPW Wrestling Dontaku 2023

⭐⭐⭐⭐ - It's very odd to see Okada holding a belt that isn't the IWGP Heavyweight/World Heavyweight Championship - but he's now a trios champion with Tanahashi & Ishii. What a time to be a NJPW fan. I need a singles match with Narita & Okada - they stole the show here.

#NJPW #New Japan Pro Wrestling #Professional Wrestling #NJPW Gifs #My Gifs #Wrestling Dontaku #Strong Style #Minoru Suzuki #El Desperado #Ren Narita #Kazuchika Okada #Hiroshi Tanahashi #Tomohiro Ishii #NEVER Openweight Six Man Tag Team Championships #matchguide #puroresu #puroesu gifs

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puroresu-musings · 5 months

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NJPW WRESTLE KINGDOM 18 in Tokyo Dome Review (Jan 4th, 2024)

New Japan Rambo **

IWGP Jr. Tag Team Championship - Clark Connors & Drilla Moloney vs. TJP & Francesco Akira ***1/4

NJPW World TV Championship - Zack Sabre Jr. (c) vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi ****

Yota Tsuji vs. Yuya Uemura ***1/2

Shota Umino & Kaito Kiyomiya vs. EVIL & Ren Narita ***1/4

NEVER Openweight Championship - Shingo Takagi (c) vs. Tama Tonga ****1/2

IWGP Tag Team & STRONG Openweight Tag Championship Double Title Match - Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI vs. El Phantasmo & Hikuleo ***3/4+

IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship - Hiromu Takahashi (c) vs. El Desperado ****1/4

Inaugural IWGP Global Championship Match - Will Ospreay vs. Jon Moxley vs. David Finlay ****1/2

Kazuchika Okada vs. Bryan Danielson *****

IWGP World Heavyweight Championship - SANADA (c) vs. Tetsuya Naito ****1/4

Photos.

This show ruled. Full disclosure, I've fallen behind with NJPW in the last couple of years, and only really get to fully see the major shows, so going in this looked like a solid little card on paper, so my expectations weren't exactly sky high. However, the New Japan crew knocked it out of the park with an excellent, Show of the Year contender. Things started as they always do: The annual "cram everyone humanly possible onto the card" Rambo. We all know what to expect here, and this was better than a lot of previous offerings, but the surprise appearance of Fujita "Jr" Hayato in this years really raised it up for me, as I'm always super pleased to see him back in the ring after all he's been through. Takashi Iizuka turning up was also a nice surprise (absence makes the heart grow fonder, and all that), and it was a kick to be transported back to 2013 with him mercilessly going after poor Shimpei Nogami on commentary. The ending though was very deja vu, as I could have sworn some incredibly similar variant of this was the outcome last year. The final four of Great-O-Khan, Taiji Ishimori, YOH and Toru Yano advanced to face off for the KOPW Title tomorrow.

The main show started in style with the prerequisite Jr Tag Title Match, which featured TJP debuting his new demon gimmick, The Aswang, because he was locked in a casket when last we saw him, you see. My English feed froze at the opening bell on the Aswang mask for ages, and by the time I'd gotten back onto the Japanese feed, I'd missed like three minutes of this, there were brawls all over ringside, The Aswang was wearing a dog collar, and Moloney was bleeding. The final 5 or so minutes I did see were pretty damn good though, so that's what my rating is based on. TJP got this win for him and Akira after he blew the dreaded Dokukiri into Drilla's face, then Catch 22 hit the double knees to regain the titles at 9:38. Next up, President Tanahashi put an end to the 365 day TV Title reign of ZSJ in an excellent 8:53 sprint. These guys always have excellent matches together, and this was no exception. They worked a fast-paced thriller, which boiled down to them hitting a sequence of cradle reversals, before Tana counter a Zack Victory Roll into one of his own, and won the belt to a big pop. President Ace thanked everyone for coming in the post match, and wished us all a Happy New Year. Godly.

Career rivals Tsuji and Uemura had their first non-Young Lion outing on a major show next. This was a very good little match, I've always been high on both guys since they were rookies, and I firmly believe they have incredibly bright futures in New Japan, and are destined to be focal points in the years to come. Even though I do wish they'd do more with Yota. The guy came in super hot, with a ton of hype, and now he's kinda just floundering in the mid-card. And more mid-carders is most certainly not something this company needs! They always have really good matches, so add this one to that list, which ended at just under 11 minutes, when Uemura got the much needed win with his beautiful Deadbolt suplex. Fellow future superstar Shota Umino drove into Tokyo Dome on a motorbike to start his and partner, NOAH "Ace" Kiyomiya's tag match against HoT goons EVIL and Ren Narita next. This was going along really nicely, the three young guys all looked great, and the crowd were very much into, until the standard shenanigans started, which lead to a fairly abrupt finish, which saw Narita deck Umino with a steel plated push-up bar, then score the pin with his Double Cross finish at the 7 minute mark.

The fifth bout saw company MVP Shingo defend the NEVER Title against Tama Tonga in a hard-hitting war, which was by far the best match on the show up to this point. The near 30K in attendance were going crazy for this as they hit all their big spots, massive Lariats and Gun Stun counters. After Takagi scored a great near fall with Made in Japan, Tama went to the Bullet Club well, hitting a Gun Stun, Bloody Sunday AND a Styles Clash, before putting Shingo away with the DSD at 13:46 to claim his 4th NEVER Championship. Excellent stuff here, though seemingly Tama announced afterwards that he's finishing up with the company at the end of the month, so him winning is an... interesting decision. The double Tag Title match followed, which was a rematch of the Tag League Final between Bishamon and GoD. This was another great match, a fun sprint which saw the STRONG Champions win both sets of belts after ELP hit Goto with CRIII, and Hikuleo came off the top with a massive, but very unattractive, Big Splash to win the belts in 9:47. Just before this match, Nic Nemeth (the former Dolph Ziggler) and his brother Ryan turned up to sit at ringside. I think we all know there's some kind of angle coming here.

Speaking of career rivals, Hiromu and Despy faced off for the Jr. Heavy Title in the next bout. We've seen many versions of this match in recent history, and they're pretty much always excellent, so this fit that mould no doubt. Things started hot as Despy hit Hiromu with a Tope con Giro as he made his entrance, and they worked 100 mph from there. The challenger worked over the champions leg to set up the Numero Dos, but it wasn't to be. The finish saw Desperado escape the Hiromu Roll, then hit a Jay Driller, kept a hold and nailed Takahashi with a second Pinche Loco to win the strap at the 14:21 mark to end another great outing. We crowned an inaugural IWGP Global champion next, as Ospreay, Moxley and Finlay had a wild Triple Threat Match. This started with Mox and Ospreay agreeing to work together for the first 5 minutes in order to take out Finlay, then turn their attention on each other, before BC War Dogs Alex Coughlin and Gabe Kidd ran in. The babyfaces rallied a comeback though, which saw Ospreay put the invaders through tables with a Swanton Bomb to the outside, and Moxley took a post bump and gigged himself. Which I'm sure will shock many. The finishing stretch was insanely hot as Mox kicked at one from a Hidden Blade, but was put down with Stormbreaker, only for Finlay to hit Ospreay with his new Overkill finish, which is essentially a Brainbuster into a Go 2 Sleep, to become the inaugural Global champion in 22:17. In the post match, Finlay got into a shoving match and pull-apart with Nic Nemeth at ringside, which culminated in Nemeth chasing him to the back. So that looks to be Finlay's first title programme. Finlay going over was 100% the right call, with Ospreay leaving as a full-timer, they need to start making some top guys, and he's a good place to start.

Semi final time, and a true dream match next as Okada faced Danielson in a match I'd spent a good decade fantasy booking. After their slightly disappointing first encounter at Forbidden Door in June, due in no small part by Dragon legit breaking his arm during it, they came out with a lot to prove. And they certainly didn't disappoint this time as they had a superb wrestling encounter based around aggression and emotion. As anyone who's been watching Danielson since the ROH days can attest, when Bryan has a grudge with someone (Morishima, Nigel), he goes all out with the intensity, and it usually produces classics. The pacing, the limb-work, the storytelling, the drama... everything about this was essentially perfect. After Okada broke Danielson's arm in their previous match, Dragon obsessively set out to do the same here. And it lead to his downfall. The American Dragon was coming into this one with a fractured orbital bone, so Okada worked over that for a while too. Okada kicked out of a Busaiku Knee, Danielson locked on the same arm submission he tapped Okada out with at Forbidden Door, but The Rainmaker made the ropes. Dragon then stomped his f'n head in and locked in the LeBell Lock, only for Okada to hit a Rainmaker, but he was in too much pain from his devastated right arm, and couldn't make the cover. Danielson hit a big head kick and another Busaiku Knee, but rather than go for the cover, he elected to do the "Yes!" gimmick in the corner, and try another knee, but Okada hit an Emerald Flowsion, a Landslide, then another Rainmaker to fall on top of Dragon, and score the surprise win at the 23:24 (which it felt half of, by the way). This was a masterpiece, and I was legitimately shocked when the three count came. I could have watched this for an hour, it left me very much wanting a rubber match, and this is easily the best match of 2024 so far. They bowed to each other and shook hands in the post match.

The Keiji Muto fan club imploded in the main event as former LIJ stablemates Naito and SANADA (who was even dressed like Muto circa 1995), battled for the World Title. This was an excellent match, one that I didn't have a massive amount of interested in going into this show, but they had a really great clash. It's worth mentioning that something happened to SANADA here, I don't know if it was the biceps injury he's been dealing with since G1, or if he seperated his shoulder or something, but he was in noticeable discomfort through this, and it let to some wonky botches near the finish. They tried multiple times to do a Destino counter, but they couldn't pull it off. SANADA hit Dead Fall for the double down, then an Asai DDT, but Naito escaped a second Dead Fall attempt, and went for Valentia, but SANADA countered into an O'Connor Roll for a super close near fall. A Shining Wizard followed, but Naito turned another Dead Fall attempt into one of his own, finally hit Valentia, then finished the champion off with Destino to win his first World title at 25:42. It's worth pointing out that they clashed heads on the way down on the Destino, and Naito got busted open pretty bad over his eye. With Naito having finally won again in the main event of Tokyo Dome, he was about to Finish His Story, when EVIL and Dick Togo, of all people, ran-in in an attempt to ruin things like KENTA did in 2020. However, they hadn't bargained on SANADA, who nailed his former tag partner with a Shining Wizard, and Naito sent Dick packing with a low dropkick. SANADA then let Naito finish the story a decade in the making, and do his "De-Ja-Pon!!!" roll call to end the show and send everyone home happy. Whilst I applaud NJPW for giving SANADA a go, or just giving ANYONE NEW a shot at the top of the card (it's been very Groundhog Day for a long time up there, and this is something I've been encouraging since NAito at WK8!), I don't think it payed off liked they'd hoped. SANADA is a very good worker, and amazing athlete, but he's just missing something that would make him that major star. Which is obviously something Naito has in abundance, so I'm very pleased he got his big win here, as it was pretty much last chance saloon.

This was a tremendous card, not quite as good as last year's, I don't think, but still great, great stuff and well worth checking out. Especially the Okada/Danielson match!

NDT

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fagcrisis · 1 year

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my friend ellis @jonny-dykeville wants to get into njpw, and i thought id write her a little summary of whats been going on lately! im posting it here in case its useful for anyone who wants to get into nooj but finds it a little too confusing (understandable) or has stopped watching in the last couple years and now wants to get back into it

this will include a list of matches at the end from 2023 that i think were good and/or are important to storylines! this is accurate to the day im writing it which is 2023/05/15

LINKS TO BE UPDATED

The landscape of New Japan Pro Wrestling has changed enormously in the past couple of months. For example if you told someone a year ago that Kazuchika Okada would hold a non singles belt, theyd laugh in your face.

So how did we get here?

google doc version

Your current champions

Sanada beat Kazuchika Okada for the IWGP heavyweight championship at Sakura Genesis, and has since defended it against Hiromu Takahashi, the current junior heavyweight champion.

Hiromu won the belt at Wrestle Kingdom in a four-way match against Master Wato, El Desperado, and former champion Taiji Ishimori.

The IWGP women’s title was created last year and won by Kairi at Historic X-over. She lost the belt to Mercedes Moné, who was champion until Mayu Iwatani dethroned her recently.

Aussie Open hold the tag titles after defeating Bishamon, and they’ve gone on to win the Strong openweight tag team championships from the Motor City Machine Guns.

David Finlay is the NEVER openweight champion, bringing the belt back in to Bullet Club after Tama Tonga defeated Karl Anderson for it at Wrestle Kingdom.

Intergalactic Jetsetters (Kushida And Kevin Knight) finally ended the reign of Catch 2/2 (Tjp And Francesco Akira) as junior heavyweight tag team champions during the road to Wrestling Dontaku tour, thank god.

Kazuchika Okada, Hiroshi Tanahashi and Tomohiro Ishii are the NEVER openweight six man champions winning the titles from Strong Style (El Desperado, Minoru Suzuki And Ren Narita). If you think that sentence is insane, don’t worry I’ll explain whats happening.

Zack Sabre Jr became the inaugural NJPW World TV champion, winning the tournament at Wrestle Kingdom by defeating Ren Narita, and he’s had some incredible defenses since (you might’ve seen him on ROH).

the KOPW trophy graduated to a belt after El Phantasmo broke it, and Taichi is the current provisional champion having defeated Shingo Takagi for it.

Kenta lost the strong openweight championship to Hikuleo in the first defense of the belt in Japan, after winning it from Fred Rosser (with Juice interference).

at the time of writing this the Strong women’s title does exist but the tournament to decide its first owner has yet to be held (Resurgence may 21st).

Karl Anderson will pay for his crimes

Those who have been following me since november last year know that Suzuki-gun, a heel faction in NJPW led by Minoru Suzuki, has come to an end. I was inconsolable. There are multiple reasons for this happening, but the main one is Karl Anderson.

While Anderson is a member of Bullet Club, and in fall of last year was still the NEVER openweight champion, he is contracted to WWE and was on a handshake deal with NJPW, essentially promising he’ll appear at shows they book him for. There was a scheduling conflict with one of WWE’s saudi shows, and Anderson essentially ghosted the company not appearing for his title defense against Hikuelo, which meant I had to watch Yujiro Takahashi wrestle. anyway this all meant that New Japan lost faith in their freelancers, and because the majority of Suzuki-gun were on handshake deals, this meant the faction had to go. Their last match was on december 23rd (njpwworld) (bilibili link) and it was very emotional and beautiful, and I was incredibly sad.

Shota came back!

Shota Umino, who you may know as the protege of Jon Moxley, returned from excursion in the fall of last year. Young lions (NJPW trainees) are sent abroad to foreign promotions by the company to train and gather experience in different environments to Japan. Shota was in Britain for a time and he returned, challenging Will Ospreay for the US title he still held at the time. He lost but with this high profile title shot he joined the ranks of the young stars NJPWhas much faith vested in.

This also includes Ren Narita, who you may not know because he was never adopted by a mean american man. he was trained by Katsuyori Shibata, earning the nickname Son of Strong Style and wearing similar gear to Shibata as well. The company seems to be trying to set him up to be Shibata’s successor, and he wrestles a similarly, clean technical style.

A recent addition to their ranks is Yota Tsuji, whose return I will explain later.

The IWGP women’s title

Women’s wrestling promotion Stardom and NJPW are both owned by Bushiroad. Because of this last year there was a crossover between the two promotions, which saw the first mixed tag matches in an NJPW ring. Great show, you should watch it. (njpwworld link) (bilibili link)

For this event, the IWGP women’s championship was created and won by Kairi. Now I have some thoughts about how Stardom is already full of accomplished talented women, and putting a women’s match on the card once in a blue moon isn’t a win for women in wrestling and you should maybe try watching Stardom instead (guide on how to do that). But I digress. Regardless of whether or not this is pandering, every match for the belt was undoubtedly incredible and I will be linking them all in the rec section.

A brief Wrestle Kingdom aside

You fucking know what happened at Wrestle Kingdom I shouldn’t have to explain this to you. Kenny Omega returned and defeated Will Ospreay for the US title, and Okada won his beloved IWGP belt back from Jay White, starting him down the path of leaving NJPW.

What you might not know is what happened at Wrestle Kingdom Night 2, which confusingly was held some weeks later. Wrestle Kingdom traditionally is a show between NOAH and NJPW, so Night 2 saw the two promotions pitch their most popular wrestlers against each other. Okada was set to fight Kaito Kiyomiya in a tag team match, but he thought this challenge beneath him and attempted to murder Kiyomiya ruling the match a no contest.

Later in february, at Keiji Muto’s retirement show, Okada did have to face off Kiyomiya in a singles bout, despite his protests that he is not some cheap whore (his words not mine). That entire show is incredibly good but not extremely relevant to NJPW storylines, as crossover events usually are not. (njpwworld) (unoffical link)

After Wrestle Kingdom, New Japan holds New Year’s Dash and the New Beginning shows where they set up new storylines that will likely last the whole year. Jay White challenges Hikuleo to a loser leaves Japan match, because he blames him and his brothers (Guerillas of Destiny) for Bullet Club weakening and his loss at Wrestle Kingdom. He promptly loses this match. Bummer.

El Desperado refuses to accept that Suzuki-gun is over and joins Minoru Suzuki in defending Ren Narita from House of Torture’s dastardly attack, leading to the formation of their trios team; Strong Style. They then go on to defeat House of Torture for the NEVER openweight six man tag team titles. Now this is crazy but we dont have time to dwell on it because the other remnants of Suzuki-gun are also making moves that are considerably more insane.

Its time for: faction madness

There are a lot of factions in New Japan Pro Wrestling. like a lot. Every storyline is heavily driven by who is in what faction and where their allegiences lie. This might be confusing to you if you only watch AEW, a promotion where factions matter less than what Tony adds to commentary.

TMDK

Naturally ex-Suzuki-gun member and best technical wrestler in the known universe Zack Sabre Jr couldn’t simply remain in Hontai, the main body of New Japan where factionless members of the roster belong. Luckily he was a free agent for all of five seconds before his old australian buddies snatched him and his fresh tv championship up. TMDK, known as an australian faction despite a solid half not being from Australia, has suffered some losses in the past year. Jonah, their strongest member, a man who defeated even Kazuchika Okada, left Japan for WWE. Shane Haste and Mikey Nicholls, founding members of the faction and a tag team under the same name, have failed to succeed in winning Tag League in fall of last year. Safe to say, they needed a win. Zack has teamed with them during his time in NOAH, so it was only logical that he would return to his old friends. They even recruited a young lion, Kosei Fujita, who became the first young lion in a faction if you don’t count Hikuleo which was a slightly different situation. TMDK also includes Bad Dude Tito (or Big Teets) over in the States.

The addition of Zack really reinvigorated the faction. Shane and Mikey challenged and failed to defeat Aussie Open for the tag titles, and Robbie Eagles left Chaos for more australian pastures, joining the faction when he challenged Hiromu Takahashi for his championship. Robbie also lost but TMDK didn’t let these setbacks stop them from cutting the weirdest promos after every match and staunchly insisting Fujita (who they’ve nicknamed Big Fooj) will be the first young lion to win a championship.

United Empire

Will Ospreay is no longer the IWGP US heavyweight champion. After losing to Kenny Omega he threw a hissy fit and declared that he would give professional wrestling one more year. He also entered the New Japan Cup, a tournament for the right to challenge for the IWGP championship. Unfortunately in a match against his friend and stablemate Mark Davis (of Aussie Open and ass size fame) he injured his shoulder which put him out of action until about last week. He won the 1pw world title though, so he’s fine.

Other than that, the faction has been doing fairly well for themselves. After a titanic struggle against Bishamon, Aussie Open won the tag titles and have gone on to defend them against TMDK and somehow, Best Friends on AEW television. They also won the Strong tag titles, and Kyle Fletcher managed to botch a moonsault in both matches. You’ve definitely seen them even if you don’t watch NJPW, their schedule is insane and they have a banger of a match practically on a weekly average.

Also tag champions in the faction were Catch 2/2, who held the junior titles until fairly recently. They’ve had great defenses against YOH and his new tag partner, Lio Rush (more on that in a second) and Douki and Yoshinobu Kanemaru. What you need to know about Catch 2/2 is that TJP is a PragerU weirdo and Akira is good albeit italian.

UE also includes Jeff Cobb, who you might’ve seen challenging for Kenny Omega’s US title on Dynamite. He is incredible I don’t have anything else to say. He also kind of thinks flat earthers have a point. He’s really good though.

Also in the faction are Aaron Henare, men’s rights weirdo who challenged and lost to Shingo Takagi for the KOPW belt and Great O Khan who is somehow the Revpro champion. He is notable for having a nice bow in his hair and screeching. The most recent recruit to the faction is Dan Moloney, who unfortunately is fairly unknown to me. He joined the faction as a junior heavyweight and subsequently entered the Best of Super Juniors Tournament, which I will explain later.

Chaos

I’ve previously described Chaos as Hontai 2.0, because that’s really what it is. Lead by Kazuchika Okada, Chaos was the original heel faction in NJPW, founded by Shinsuke Nakamura. Nowadays it is a loose collection of allegiances that confusingly includes the entire Best Friends faction in AEW. Yes, that includes Trent’s mum Sue. Since becoming faces, Chaos members regularly team with Hontai because it all doesn’t really matter.

Kazuchika Okada defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi at Battle in the Valley, and then asked him to tag together. They named themselves the Dream Team, and I only briefly pondered how well it ended the last time Tana teamed with a younger star. Anyways I’m sure this will go fine. They challenged Okada’s fellow Chaos members Bishamon for their tag titles they still held at that time, and sadly lost that match. They defeated the team of Shota Umino and Ren Narita, and then once again failed to obtain gold in a 3-way match against the Motor City Machine Guns and Aussie Open (who won). After Okada lost his belt, they recruited Tomohiro Ishii, who doesn’t like Tanahashi and doesn’t want to team with him because he isn’t in Chaos. Despite this, they managed to defeat Strong Style for the NEVER openweight six man championships.

Bishamon I’ve covered sufficiently enough I think, they are the team of Hirooki Goto who recently celebrated his 20th anniversary in professional wrestling and YOSHI-HASHI who used to be incredibly horrible and is less bad recently. They are fun and I like them.

YOH and SHO were a junior tag team in Chaos until SHO turned heel, joining Bullet Club. This left YOH in a sort of strange limbo, where he contemplated quitting wrestling and pursuing his more artistic ambitions (he is a musician and an artist). Rocky Romero, also a member of Chaos, got him and Lio Rush together to team for Junior Tag League, and they ended up winning the tournament! Although they failed to defeat catch 2/2 at Wrestle Kingdom, and Lio got injured, teaming with him seemed to bring YOH’s confidence back. He’s been wrestling slightly differently and with more self-assurence. The pair both separately challenged and lost to Hiromu Takahashi, two incredible matches that I will link below. Not even these losses brought YOH’s confidence down though, and he’s entered BOSJ alongside Lio although they are in different blocks.

Also members of Chaos are Rocky Romero, Best Friends (including Kris Statlander, Orange Cassidy, Sue, and I think quite possibly Danhausen), Toru Yano who is kind of a funny little man, and Tomohiro Ishii.

Los Ingobernables de Japon

Led by Tetsuya Naito, the tweener group is more of a loose collection of talented individuals than your regular faction. LIJ has a policy of letting their members forge their own paths and create their own success, instead of letting them fall back on the power of the group.

Maybe the only exception to this rule is Hiromu Takahashi, who owes a lot of his success to the faction as well as his mentor Tetsuya Naito. Hiromu is very talented and has a very unique style both in his wrestling and his fashion sense. Unbiased corner ahead I like him a lot. He holds junior wrestlers in very high regard and recently organized the All Star Junior festival to showcase junior heavyweights from all around japan (njpwworld ppv) (vk link). He has a plush cat named Daryl. Hiromu is kind of the ace of the junior division right now, he is on his fifth title reign and is trying to defend the belt 12 times to beat the current defense record of 11 held by Minoru Tanaka. Currently he is 4 defenses into this streak, having defeated YOH, Lio Rush, Robbie Eagles and Yoshinobu Kanemaru. Despite being champion he entered BOSJ, a tournament he’s won four times, three times in a row. If he wins, he’ll get to hand pick his opponent at Dominion.

I have no clue what to say about Tetsuya Naito. To quote my friend Jay, “it’s naito. he is an indescribable force of non-functional knees and the driest hair you've ever seen. he takes ten years to remove his entrance gear. he is naito”. You fucking know who Tetsuya Naito is.

This year, the main thing he’s done is defeating his mentor Keiji Muto at his retirement show in Febuary (njpwworld link) (vk link). He has a very hands off approach towards leading his group, sort of letting everyone figure their things out, which is why he didn’t really seem worried about his match against his stablemate Sanada in the New Japan Cup. You can imagine his surprise when Sanada not only defeated him but then declared that he would be leaving the faction, but more on that later. He also recently had a singles match against DOUKI, which was incredible.

Also members of LIJ are Shingo Takagi, winner of KOPW 2022 and former KOPW 2023 provisional champion, and also living legend. He made his name in Dragon Gate, a different japanese promotion you should also watch (I’m not at all being held at gunpoint by people whose names start with J), Bushi and Titan, who are both junior heavyweight luchadors I don’t know as much about as I should. They’re really good and they are both in BOSJ this year.

Bullet Club

Do I even need to explain. Don’t worry I will.

Jay White lost his loser leaves Japan match to Hikuleo, but there was hope. He promised Gedo he would go to America and wrestle on Strong and right his wrongs. So obviously he immediately lost a loser leaves New Japan match to Eddie Kingston, barring him from ever wrestling in a New Japan ring ever again. After weeks of radio silence, he showed up on Dynamite, forming Bullet Culb Gold (2 bullet 2 club) with Juice Robinson and you all know what happened after that.

It’s spring which means it’s Bullet Club infighting season. After Jay’s loss, his long time rival David Finlay waltzed into the ring all goth and angry, cutting a promo about how the japanese fans never appreciated him and he is an outsider wherever he goes. If this didn’t make it clear to you that he was the new leader, don’t worry it wasn’t clear to me or El Phantasmo either.

ELP was friends with Jay White, and made the rest of the Club agree that they will let Jay ride off into the sunset. A peaceful transfer of power is however impossible in Bullet Club, which is kind of a Stanford prison experiment for closeted gay men. It started bothering Phantasmo, that everyone in his faction so readily accepted Finlay as the new leader, like they weren’t fully behind Jay only a week ago. And anyone who questions the leader has to go.

Then came a months long game of gay betrayal chicken. Every postmatch, Phantasmo would assure Finlay that they were doing it for the club, refuse to too sweet the new leader, and the two slapping eachother in place of a tag. Meanwhile the faces in Hontai were increasingly more accepting towards ELP, Shota Umino even gave him one of his bracelets. The tension came to a boil at Sakura Genesis, where in a tag team match against Guerillas of Destiny and Master Wato, Phantasmo refused to commit the clubs usual heel antics and was brutally kicked out in response. Despite his close friendship with Taiji Ishimori and Kenta, both men readily betrayed him for David Finlay.

Phantasmo returned as a face to beat Finlay up after he defeated Tama Tonga for the NEVER belt, and the two have a title match set at Dominion.

As I mentioned Kenta and Taiji Ishimori are both members of Bullet Club, and Finlay recently recruited Clark Connors to be the clubs newest junior. He entered BOSJ alongside Taiji. Gedo, the head booker of NJPW is also a member of BC but he mainly stands ominously in the background and in kayfabe doesn’t have a massive role in storylines.

HOUSE OF TORTURE

I have to explain what’s going on here. Bullet Club has sort of a subesction? Called House of Torture. They’re only really part of BC in name only, and merch sales. Their thing is gratuitous cheating, if one HoT member has a match, the rest of them aren’t far behind making every match a handicap. Their members are EVIL, the leader of the group and former LIJ member, Yujiro Takahashi the incredible slow motion man whose joints creak audibly with every move, Dick Togo and SHO, who joined after betraying YOH and turning heel. SHO is actually pretty good but the presence of HoT at every match really ruins. Everything. I try not thinking about them.

JUST 5 GUYS

NOW baby. The reason I’m even writing this. The worst faction name in the history of pro wrestling. This faction is made of four ex-Suzuki-gun members and Sanada. Originally called Just Four Guys when Taka Michinoku, Taichi, Yoshinobu Kanemaru and DOUKI announced they would be forming a faction at New Year’s Dash. Taka made some baseless claims about how they will defeat everyone and change the landscape of New Japan. He also came up with their new catchphrase “You already die”. Commentary and everyone else immediately dismissed them as a joke that will last maybe a couple of months. Oh how wrong we were.

Initially, the group did not have much success. Douki and Uncle Nobu lost to Catch 2/2 in their title match against them, Taka kept getting pinned and they failed to deliver on their promises to destroy everyone who stood in their way.

Taichi, as their only heavyweight, entered the New Japan Cup. His first match was against Sanada, a man he’s had some history with when he was still tagging with Zack Sabre Jr as Dangerous Tekkers. Sanada was a man not really renowned for anything, he hasn’t seen any singles success since joining LIJ by helping Tetsuya Naito cheat, except for a US title run cut short with no defenses due to an injury. He had blonde hair and the best or the worst move in pro wrestling history, depending on if you ask my friend Ryan or me. He never hits a moonsault. I don’t think Naito even knew who he was.

Safe to say, absolutely no one expected Sanada to defeat Taichi, much less his superior Naito. What we expected the least is for him to announce he is leaving LIJ for Just 4 Guys, which was now to be renamed JUST 5 GUYS. With dark hair, a clean shaven face and soon, new gear as well, Sanada really found his footing among this motley crew, the way he never managed in his seven years during LIJ. He went on to blaze through the competition in the Cup, winning it and subsequently defeating Kazuchika Okada for the IWGP world heavyweight championship. Absolutely no one has expected this to happen, ever. Yet somehow, it is also one of the coolest things to happen, ever.

His former faction members in LIJ mostly seemed to just sort of accept he left, except for Hiromu. He said while he understood Sanada’s reasons for leaving, he felt betrayed. Hiromu challenged Sanada to a match for the heavyweight championship. No junior heavyweight has been able to defeat the heavyweight champion in the history of the company, although this match is not the first of its kind.

When Sanada defeated Hiromu, the returning Yota Tsuji walked out into the ring and beat him up, held up the LIJ fist and carried Hiromu out of the ring. We don’t really know if this means he’ll be joining the faction, but it’s very likely, and the two have a match set at Dominion.

Obviously other stuff has happened but this is already 4000 words long and I still have things to explain to you.

Whats happening right now

As I’m writing this, the 30th Best of the Super Juniors is just beginning. BOSJ is a round robin style tournament, just like the G1 where wrestlers are divided into two blocks and everyone fights everyone in their block. Usually, the winners of the two blocks face off against each other to win the tournament, but this year, the winner of each block faces off against the person who came second in the other block, and the winners of those matches are the finalists. The winner has the right to challenge for the IWGP junior heavyweight championship at Dominion.

This year’s participants are as follows.

I think this is absolutely the perfect time to get int New Japan. The junior division is full of incredibly talented wrestlers who focus more on fast paced high flying style matches and every one of them is easy to watch and very entertaining. The entire tour will be broadcast with full english coverage.

How do I watch all of this

New Japan conveniently has a streaming service called NJPW world, membership is 999 yen per month. Dont forget to toggle it to english in the upper left corner! Most shows have english commentary and in my opinion it is pretty good commentary. Even if you don’t want to pay for the site, it has a schedule page (upper right corner) which even displays multiple timezones, and links to the card for every upcoming show.

The site also has some free content, for example the backstage comments after every show. Backstage comments are essentially short interviews with the wrestlers directly after every match, which makes for very fun adrenaline fuelled nonsense. Search backstage comment on the site, or check the njpwworld youtube channel. The videos always have subtitles, but it takes the transcribers time, subs are usually out a day after shows air.

PIRACY

In case you’d like to sail the high seas, you have a couple of options.

Watching show’s live I would recommend watchprowrestling.org for. They upload the shows and you can watch them live as well with a bit of delay.

If you’re looking for older stuff, you should try searching on bilibili (dont be intimidated by the language barrier, its quite easy to use) or this specific user on vk.com.

MATCHES TO WATCH

Title changes and defenses:

Kazuchika Okada vs Jay White (njpwworld) (unofficial link)

Kenny Omega vs Will Ospreay (njpwworld) (unofficial link)

Hiromu Takahashi vs Master Wato vs El Desperado vs Taiji Ishimori (njpwworld) (unofficial link)

Zack Sabre Jr vs Ren Narita FREE MATCH

Zack Sabre Jr vs Tomohiro Ishii FREE MATCH

Zack Sabre Jr vs Shota Umino FREE MATCH

Zack Sabre Jr vs Tom Lawlor FREE MATCH

Zack Sabre Jr vs Jeff Cobb FREE MATCH

Catch 2/2 vs YOH and Lio Rush (njpwworld) (unofficial link)

Catch 2/2 vs Intergalactic Jetsetters (njpwworld) (unofficial link 2:35:08)

Hiromu Takahashi vs Lio Rush (njpwworld)

Hiromu Takahashi vs YOH (njpwworld) (unofficial link2:48:13)

Hiromu Takahashi vs Robbie Eagles (njpwworld)

Hiromu Takahashi vs Yoshinobu Kanemaru (njpwworld) (unofficial link)

Kazuchika Okada vs Shingo Takagi (njpwworld)

Kazuchika Okada vs Sanada (njpwworld)

Sanada vs Hiromu Takahashi (njpwworld) (unofficial link)

Aussie Open vs Bishamon (njpwworld)

Aussie Open vs TMDK (njpwworld)

Aussie Open vs Motor City Machine Guns vs the Dream Team (Okada & Tanahashi) (njpwworld ppv)

Kairi vs Mayu Iwatani (njpwworld)

Kairi vs Tam Nakano (njpwworld)

Kairi vs Mercedes Moné (unofficial link)

Mercedes Moné vs Kairi vs Hazuki (njpwworld)

Mercedes Moné vs Mayu Iwatani (njpwworld)

Tama Tonga vs El Phantasmo (njpwworld)

Tama Tonga vs David Finlay (unofficial link)

Taichi vs Shingo Takagi (njpwworld) (unofficial link 1:44:00)

Strong Style vs Kazuchika Okada, Hiroshi Tanahashi & Tomohiro Ishii (njpwworld) (unofficial link)

Hikuelo vs Kenta (njpwworld) (unofficial link)

Story matches

Tetsuya Naito vs Sanada (njpwworld)

Jay White vs Hikuleo (njpwworld)

Jay White vs Eddie Kingston (njpwworld) (unofficial link 1:04:00)

Bullet Club (David Finlay, Kenta, Taiji Ishimori & El Phantasmo) vs Guerillas of Destiny (Tama Tonga, Hikuleo & Jado) & Master Wato (njpwworld link)

just fun

Mark Davis vs Will Ospreay (njpwworld) (unofficial link)

Mark Davis vs EVIL (njpwworld)

Tetsuya Naito vs DOUKI (njpwworld) (unofficial link 2:11:32)

El Desperado vs Tomohiro Ishii (njpwworld ppv)

Shota Umino vs Tetsuya Naito (njpwworld)

Hiromu Takahashi vs Speedball Mike Bailey FREE SHOW

Taichi vs Will Ospreay (njpwworld)

#njpw #wrassle #yall this is nearly 5000 words please read it and watch njpw i worked so hard. for you to watch njpw. its so extensive #i explain literally everything

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debbiechanclub · 7 months

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bestie…. i fear i need finlay match recommendations 😗

Bestie. I have loaded you up with 20 matches. I told you if you give me an inch where Finlay is concerned, I will take a mile.

Now, first things first. All but three of my recs are on NJPW World (and two are free to watch without an account). If you don't have an account, I'm more than willing to share my login with you in the name of spreading the gospel of Debbie Chan.

That being said, if you think you might want to sign up for an account, now is a GREAT time to do it because they're actually launching a brand new website this Thursday (11/9), complete with apps for Android and iOS, which they didn't previously have. It's only $9 USD/month, so I think it's well worth it. However, you won't be able to sign up until Friday, after the new site is live. Additionally, as part of the overhaul, they're upgrading a massive portion of the archive footage, and, unfortunately, nothing from prior to 2021 will be available to watch until they put it back up. (All my recs except for one on YouTube are from 2021 on.)

Again though, I will absolutely share my login with you (and you'd be able to log in right away and watch as mine is an existing account). Just let me know!

Okay, now that that's out of the way, onto the recs! And my apologies because this... is long.

FYI: I've listed these in chronological order, and they're best viewed in that order as it really helps to tell the story of how Finlay became who he is today :)

FinJuice vs. G.o.D (YouTube) - YouTube comes in clutch for a pre-2021 match! This is good viewing because 1) FinJuice was a well established and fairly successful tag team, and don't even get me started on all the messiness of Juice running around with Jay in Bullet Club Gold while Finlay is literally leading real Bullet Club now; and 2) Since overtaking Bullet Club in March, Finlay has almost exclusively feuded with G.o.D. (he finally put an end to it this past weekend at Power Struggle). And it's crazy seeing Finlay's evolution from then to now.

2021 New Japan Cup Quarter Final vs. Jay White (3/18 show) - This was a HUGE win for our boy because, going into this match, Finlay was on an 0-12 losing streak against Jay. And he and Jay will be forever intertwined because they came up in the NJPW dojo together and were roommates and best friends and everyone constantly compared Finlay to Jay (they still do now), and that created a MASSIVE chip on his shoulder that lead to him clocking Jay over the head and subsequently taking control of Bullet Club. So yeah. V. important match in the lore of Finlay.

2021 New Japan Cup Semi-Final vs. Will Ospreay (3/20 show) - I hope you're ready for a lot of Ospreay, because he and Finlay have history. Back in 2021, Ospreay defeated Finlay in the semi-final of the NJ Cup and then went on to win the tournament and the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship. This plays into why Finlay is gunning for Ospreay now.

Resurgence 2021 vs. Jay White - This match was for the NEVER Openweight Title. Jay retained... but Finlay eventually went on to win that title after taking over Bullet Club, which also used to be Jay's.

G1 Climax 32 vs. Juice Robinson (7/26), Will Ospreay (8/2), and El Phantasmo (8/10) - Finlay returned to Japan for the first time in over a year for the G1 Climax 32, and he had a really strong showing. This was when I first started to get the brainrot for him. I really recommend watching all his matches from that tournament... but these three are the most important to Finlay's character because of his history with Juice and Will and what would come later with ELP and Bullet Club.

Burning Spirit 2022 vs. Will Ospreay (9/25 show) - This match was for the IWGP United States Championship, the very one and same that Ospreay currently holds and that Finlay destroyed with a giant mallet at Power Struggle this weekend. Ospreay retained back then. But I have a feeling (and sincerely fucking hope) that there's a new title in Finlay's future.

NJPW World TV Championship Tournament vs. ZSJ (YouTube) - After coming up short in the G1 Climax 32 and against Ospreay (again), Finlay still had a chance to win the newly created NJPW World TV Title; and then ZSJ eliminated him in the second round. I really think this loss was the straw that broke the camel's back and really set the stage for Finlay's frustration and his comeback as the leader of Bullet Club.

2023 New Japan Cup vs. Tomohiro Ishii (3/6 Anniversary Event, free to watch without an account!), Tama Tonga (3/19), and Sanada (3/21) - And we've reached Bullet Club Finlay! Finlay's match against Ishii was the first match of the tournament, and no one―absolutely no one―expected him to come out in Bullet Club gear with Gedo, of all people, in his corner. And not only that, but he handily disposed of Ishii. He made it all the way to the final where he lost against Sanada, but he sent a loud and clear message during the entire tournament that this was a new David Finlay (and I was a goner).

Capital Collision 2023 vs. AR Fox (YouTube) - I think you've seen this one? But including it because it's a good match and also the night Finlay recruited Clark Connors, the first member of what would become Bullet Club War Dogs (and I was there!).

Wrestling Dontaku 2023 vs. Tama Tonga (5/3 show) - Remember how I said that Finlay eventually won the NEVER Openweight Title after taking over Bullet Club? This was when he did it.

Dominion 6.4 in Osaka-Jo Hall vs. El Phantasmo - This. This is the match and night that ruined me forever. After kicking ELP out of Bullet Club (basically because he was and is close with Jay and didn't respect Finlay), Finlay defended the NEVER Openweight Title against him and proved that he could back up all the shit he was talking. But besides that, this was the night the War Dogs were formed. I highly recommend also checking out the end of the IWGP Junior Tag Title match just so you can see Drilla Moloney turn on United Empire and join Bullet Club. It quite honestly altered me forever.

G1 Climax 33 vs. Tama Tonga (7/26), Eddie Kingston (8/8), and Will Ospreay (8/10) - Did I mention that Finlay has spent most of this year feuding with Tama/G.o.D? They tried to kill each other in this year's G1, and it was fantastic. He and Eddie also tried to kill each other. But Ospreay beat him in the quarter-finals. Just more fuel for why he's going after Ospreay now.

12-Man Elimination Match: Bullet Club vs. G.o.D. and Intergalactic Jetsetters (10/1 show, free to watch without an account) - Because I would be remiss not to rec a match with all the War Dogs (and Chase is there, too). This is a fun one, if not a bit of a clusterfuck. (And shout-out to Kevin Knight, who I also adore.)

Destruction in Ryogoku 2023 vs. Tama Tonga (10/9 show) - This is the last of Finlay's singles matches against Tama, and unfortunately he lost the NEVER Openweight Title back to him (which I don't think anyone expected). But it's a good match and Finlay looked strong despite his loss. And now that I know he likely (hopefully?) has a new belt coming to him after the start of the year, I'm honestly okay that he lost. (Because Tama doesn't even have the title anymore, believe it or not).

So there are my Finlay match recs. I'm well aware this is overkill lmao, but I really am excited that you want to know more about him, and I want to do him justice. Because he really is my favorite guy, and he deserves to be recognized as his own wrestler and person not just in relation to Jay or Juice or anyone else.

But I won't blame you if you don't watch all of these, because I know I went insane 😂

#david finlay #bullet club #match recs #i... really do have the brainrot huh #this is my magnum opus #this and hit me like bang #asks

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heartsoulrocknroll · 28 days

Text

NJPW Windy City Riot 4/13/24

Minoru Suzuki vs. Ren Narita -- This starts with them throwing each other around into the barricades outside, then trading sleepers inside, which Suzuki gets the better of and refuses to break after Narita grabs the rope for 5. Narita lands his guillotine knee, then sets up a chair in the corner. Suzuki grabs the chair, the ref takes it away, and while the ref is distracted, Narita nails Suzuku with a board and lands his facebuster finisher for the pinfall.

Lol, this was fine for what it was. Not much to it. Rating: 2.5

Stephanie Vaquer (c) vs. AZM for the NJPW Strong Women's Championship -- Vaquer with a nasty dragon screw. AZM with a nice round kick to the head on the apron, then a double stomp off the second rope to the outside, then a missile dropkick off the top inside! AZM covers for two, then transitions into an arm bar. AZM misses a double stomp off the top, Vaquer lands a dropkick, AZM lands a round kick to the head, Vaquer lands a back suplex! Elbows by AZM and headbutts by Vaquer! Vaquer grabs a smooth arm bar, then transitions into a choke with the arm trapped! Beautiful! AZM gets a foot on the rope. Snap suplex by Vaquer for two! AZM lands a superplex, then a double stomp off the top for two! Vaquer with Sole Food, AZM with La Mistica into an arm-trap pinning combo for two! Nice, that looked great!! Vaquer with headbutts and vicious running double knees in the corner! AZM escapes the package by Vaquer and runs the ropes, Vaquer nails her with a kick, AZM goes for La Mistica again, but Vaquer reverses and lands a double underhook package neckbreaker for the pinfall!!!

That rocked!!! Just fantastic, fast-paced action throughout with great counters and an awesome finishing stretch. Both of them were great here. I was very impressed. Rating: 4

El Phantasmo and Hikuleo (c) vs. TMDK vs. Tom Lawlor and Fred Rosser vs. West Coast Wrecking Crew for the NJPW Strong Openweight Tag Team Championship -- Lawlor and Rosser with a chicken wing and rear naked choke on TMDK, but Hikuleo breaks it up with a double clothesline, then lands a double chokeslam on Lawlor and Rosser. Hikuleo with a body slam on Nelson, then tags ELP, who sets up for Sudden Death, but gets pulled out of the ring. Stunner by Nelson on Hikuleo to send him outside, then a series of double teams by WCWC on ELP. Running double knees in the corner by Nelson, uppercut by Isaacs, Isaacs throws ELP into a pop-up powerbomb by Nelson, Nelson catapults ELP into a DVD by Isaacs onto Nelson's knees! Double cover by WCWC, but Lawlor breaks it up. Nice sequence there. Double discus elbows on Nelson by Lawlor and Rosser. They go for it again on Isaacs, but miss and hit each other. Lawlor with a knee strike to Isaacs. Nelson lands a dropkick on Lawlor. ELP comes from behind with Sudden Death on Nelson, then Hikuleo lands a chokeslam. ELP lands a topé to the outside, then comes back and lands an assisted somersault senton over ropes and over Hikuleo onto Nelson. But Haste makes the blind tag on ELP in the process. ELP goes for a cover on Nelson, but Haste comes in, throws him off, and gets a jackknife on Nelson for the pinfall.

This was a very solid match that I enjoyed a lot more than I expected to. They did a good job with the four-way tag dynamic, which often doesn't work. Fast-paced action, good double team maneuvers. Good stuff from all involved. Wish TMDK had been more involved in the match before getting the win out of nowhere. Rating: 3.25

WCWC attack Lawlor and Rosser after the match. They cut Lawlor's hair and feed it to Rosser. Wtf.

Shota Umino vs. Jack Perry -- Perry enters with guards with armored vests and shields. Lmao. The crowd is so unbelievably loud!!! The crowd sings cry me a river chants. Nice. Perry slaps Umino in the face, then rolls outside like a little bitch! Nice. Umino follows and rolls him back in. Perry with a facelock, then a snap suplex for two! Running uppercut in the corner and a gorgeous fisherman suplex by Umino for two! Umino with a drop toe hold into the ropes, then a nice slingshot DDT over the ropes, planting Perry's face on the apron!!! Umino lands a dropkick off the top, then a nice release suplex. Umino goes for something, but Perry escapes, grabs the ref, lands a backward low blow to Umino, then drags Umino to the edge of the ring lands a draping DDT off the apron onto the floor!!! Perry lands a double underhook powerbomb for two!! Perry spits in Umino's face! They trade elbows! Umino with an uppercut! Perry with an elbow to the top of the head! Umino with a beautiful dropkick and a reverse DDT for two! Umino lands a a knee strike and a corkscrew neckbreaker? for two!! Perry escapes a Death Rider attempt and lands a jumping poison rana, then a Killswitch for two!! Running knee strike by Perry! Umino kicks out at two! Perry lands the Punk running knee lift in the corner, then goes for the GTS and flips off the crowd, but Umino reverses into a DDT!!! Nice. Umino lands a beautiful, aggressive running corkscrew uppercut followed by Death Rider for the pinfall!

I really liked this match. The heat from the crowd puts it over the top, but it's great on its own, with Umino looking really great, and Perry holding his own very well. Good stuff. Rating: 3.75

Perry shakes Umino's hand and raises Umino's hand in victory after the match, which I thought was a really nice moment.

Hiromu Takahashi vs. Mustafa Ali -- Hiromu enters with Daryl Jr, who has come back from his excursion with twelve pack abs. Hiromu waves in the faces of Ali's security detail at ringside, trying to get a reaction. Lmao. Commentary mentions that Ali is 25-0 in 2024. Ali's hometown crowd is fully behind Hiromu here with Takahashi chants to start the match.

They start the match running the ropes and trading nearfalls. Hiromu an fakes injury tags in Daryl, who he sits in the middle of the ring. Hiromu starts a Daryl chant. Hiromu finally comes back in, throws Daryl in Ali's face as a distraction, and lands a dropkick! Hiromu lands another sliding dropkick. Hiromu with chops to Ali in the ring, Ali rolls outside, but Hiromu follows with more chops! Ali runs around the ring. Hiromu follows and tries to slides under the ropes in the corner of the ring, but Ali catches him with a draping DDT off the apro, absolutely spiking Hiromu's face into the floor! Damn! Ali rolls Hiromu back inside, Ali wrenches back on Hiromu's neck and drives knees into Hiromu's back on the mat. Hiromu gets his foot on the rope to break. Ali lands a nice rolling neckbreaker into a nice cover for two. Ali the runs ropes and lands another nice neckbreaker for two! Ali props up Daryl in the corner and talks trash. He yells at Hiromu, "Suffed animals can't talk, you idiot." Lmao. Hiromu with a head scissors takedown, running lariat in the corner, then a running dropkick! Ali rolls out, but Hiromu follows with a running dropkick off the apron, sending Ali into the guard rail, then rolls Ali in for two! Ali escapes a corner DVD attempt, but Hiromu lands a falcon arrow for two! Ali lands two running corner dropkicks and goes for a third, but Hiromu cuits him off with a wild lariat! Ali lands a nice tornado DDT without the ropes for two!

Ali goes to the top, but Hiromu stops him with an elbow. Hiromu shoves Ali off the top, and Ali back flips off the top into the cameraman on the floor, but lands on his feet! Ali comes back immediately and shoves Hiromu off the apron into the guard rail outside, then lands an aggressive tope to Hiromu, sending both of them hard into the guard rail!! They take out Chris Charlton in the process. Lmao. Back inside, Ali misses a 450 off the top as Hiromu moves out of the way. Ali's head is busted open. He runs at Hiromu, who moves and shoves Ali hard into the corner! Hiromu puts Ali on the top. Ali lands a headbutt to take Hiromu down! Ali with a nasty sunset flip powerbomb!! Ali goes back to the top and lands a 450 for the pinfall!

Hiromu is funny with the Daryl nonsense, but this match relied on it a little too heavily. There were glimpses of Hiromu's usual, crazy, caution-to-the-wind self, but he never fully went there. But even when Hiromu isn't giving it 100%, he's still good. Ali looked very good as well. It was a fast-paced match, and there were some crazy spots. I expected more from these two, and I wanted this match to hit another level that it never really did, but I still liked it. Rating: 3.5

Ali offers Hiromu a handshake after the match, but Hiromu wants Ali to shake Daryl's hand. Ali is hesitant, but he finally gets Daryl, hands him to Hiromu, and shakes Daryl's hand. Lol.

Eddie Kingston, Homicide, Jeff Cobb, and TJP vs. Gabe Kidd, Kenta, David Finlay, and Clark Connors (No DQ Tornado Tag Match) -- This starts off with a lot of aimless wandering around the arena, with the camera going back and forth between the competitors. It finally picks up a little in the ring. TJP skateboards on Kenta's back lmao. Finlay lands a nice uranage backbreaker on TJP. Kidd with the Terry Funk airplane spinning ladder shots to everyone in the ring. Cobb comes into stop it with a German suplex with the ladder still around Kidd's neck. Connors spears Cobb, then wraps barbed wire around his head and headbutts TJP. TJP turns it around and uses his boot to drive the barbed wire into Connors' face, then lands running knee/kick in the corner. Homicide takes a fork to Connors' head. Kenta in with backfist to Homicide, then boots and running corner dropkicks to TJP. Kenta goes for G2S on Cobb, but can't get him up. Cobb lands lariat on Kenta. TJP misses off the top, and Kenta lands G2S on TJP. But Cobb takes Kenta out with running cross body. Finlay throws Cobb into barbed wire chair in corner. Kingston comes in with low blow and kendo stick shots to Finlay. Finally, Kingston and Kidd face off. They exchange hard chops. Kidd bites Kingston's head. Kingston lands exploder into table in corner. Kingston has barbed wire in hand, but gets taken down by Kidd's other team member. They choke Kingston with a steel chain. Homicide comes in to try to make the save, but eats a spike piledriver from Kidd. Kidd covers Homicide for three, while the others hold Kingston back.

I wasn't into this at all at the beginning, as it started with just a lot of wandering around the arena with no focus and nothing really happening. It picked up a little toward the end when they finally got in the ring, but it was certainly nothing special and kind of a waste of time. And way, way too long. I do have to say though, so happy to see TJP. Rating: 2

Kingston challenges Kidd to a no ropes, last man standing match at the next big show and says fuck a lot, because he is so ~~edgy~~.

Matt Riddle (c) vs. Zack Sabre Jr. for the NJPW World Television Championship -- The build for this is hilarious, as Zack has said that he has accomplished all he can with the TV title and is ready to chase the world heavyweight title. He doesn't even want this match, and has forced Riddle, the champion, to jump through hoops and beat the other members of TMDK just to get this chance to defend his own title against Zack. Beautiful stuff.

Nice mat start. Zack with an armbar, then he transitions into a knee bar. Riddle reverses the pressure and escapes. Zack ducks two kicks by Riddle. Riddle lands two gut-wrench suplexes without letting go. Riddle goes for a back senton, but Zack catches him in an armbar. Riddle gets to the ropes, but Zack just wrenches back even harder on the arm for five!!!! 😍 Zack slaps Riddle. Riddle responds with a big slap that takes Zack down. Riddle lands round kicks to the chest. Zack catches Riddle's foot and snaps back his toes!! Zack wrenches back on the foot, and stomps the foot into the mat. 😍 Beautiful snap vertical suplex by Zack. Zack grabs the foot again, wrenches back on the ankle, then ties up the legs and transitions into a bow and arrow.

Riddle with an overhand chop, then catches Zack in a hanging armbar in ropes for five. Riddle goes for a knee off the top, but Zack catches the ankle again and goes for an STF, but Riddle gets to the ropes. Riddle lands a German suplex into a bridge for two, then lands a back senton. Riddle misses a moonsault off the top, and Zack just dives into a triangle choke on Riddle, and lays in vicious elbows to the top of the head. 😍 Riddle deadlifts Zack up and powerbombs him to escape, then lands a nice knee strike to the jaw for two! Riddle with round kicks in the corner, then a running elbow shot. Riddle goes for another elbow, but Zack catches him with a tornado DDT, then smoothly rolls into a guillotine on the mat. 😍 Riddle powers up to his feet and goes for a suplex, but Zack reverses into a rear choke. Riddle escapes with a snapmare, then transitions into an armbar, but Zack escapes and grabs an armbar of his own.

Riddle tries to escape with elbows to the jaw, but Zack transitions into a triangle choke. Riddle deadlifts Zack and goes for a powerbomb, but Zack escapes and lands a Zack Driver for two! Zack goes for a PK, but Riddle catches it and grabs a single-leg crab. Zack lands a pele kick to the arm. Riddle lands a German suplex. Riddle lands the corkscrew senton off the top for two! Riddle with round kicks and overhand chops, but Zack catches his leg and lands an overhand chop of his own! Riddle lands a nice jumping knee! Riddle then lands the ripcord knee! Riddle goes for a Tombstone, but Zack counters into a victory roll, then into a Euro clutch pinning combo for two!!!!! Beautiful 😍. Zack lands a round kick to the chest, Riddle responds with a running, jumping knee! Riddle runs for another knee strike perhaps, but Zack stops him and catches him in a pinning combo for three!!!!!

Damn, what a match!!!!! Not to be that guy, but I am in love with Zack Sabre Jr. I cannot express how absolutely incredible he is every time he steps in a ring. Riddle was very good here as well. Great back and forth on the mat. Great use of strikes by Riddle, with Zack almost always using it to his advantage to bait Riddle into a hold. Awesome, violent joint manipulation by Zack. Just an incredible, well-constructed match. I loved every second. Rating: 4.25

Zack says his year didn't start off well. He had his sights set on the world heavyweight title. But he took his baby back. And he needs some industrial cleaner, because he doesn't trust the last champion. This is usually where he would open up the floor to challengers, but he can't be arsed, he's very tired, so he's going straight to the pub. But he will be defending the title in the US very soon, so cheerio, everyone, bye bye.

But here comes Jeff Cobb! He faces off with Zack in the ring. Zack yells, "Not today, I'm tired, we'll do it another time," and offers Cobb a handshake. Cobb accepts it. Zack tries to pull Cobb in for a Zack Driver, but Cobb reverses and picks up Zack. But Zack manages to escape to the outside. Zack asks, "Hawaiian Jeffrey, please, may I have my championship back? And I promise I will give you a championship match another time, just not today, because I'm tired." He compliments Cobb's hair and asks what conditioner he uses. Cobb hands the title back. Zack says thank you and leaves. Lmao. ZSJ, light of my life. Hilarious, great stuff here.

Tomohiro Ishii vs. Nic Nemeth -- They trade chops. Nic stands toe to toe with Ishii. Ishii plows him with a shoulder tackle. Ishii with two hard chops that take Nic off his feet! Ishii lands a brainbuster for two. Nic with a dropkick and a series of elbow drops for two. Weird. Nic tries some elbows, but only one elbow from Ishii puts Nic down. Ishii lands a superplex. Ishii goes for a piledriver, but Nic escapes and locks in a sleeper. Ishii reverses with a sleeper of his own. Nic reverses with an Olympic Slam. Nic lands a DDT for two. Nic goes for a Fameasser, but Ishii catches him in midair with a powerbomb! Nic with a headbutt, then lands the Fameasser for two! Ishii takes Nic down with a lariat for two. Nic ducks a sliding lariat, but Ishii lands an enziguri, then lands the sliding lariat for two! Nic lands a headbutt, Ishii blocks a Danger Zone attempt, then Nic lands a superkick for 2.5! Nic lands a German suplex, but Ishii gets right back up. Ishii ducks another Danger Zone attempt, then Ishii lands a Danger Zone of his own!!! Nice! Ishii absolutely blasts Nic with a lariat!!!!! But Nic kicks out at one! Nic lands a superkick, but Ishii kicks out at one! They collide with lariats at the same time, then trade headbutts, then Ishii just NAILS Nic with a jumping cross body into a cover for two!! Nic escapes a brainbuster attempt, then lands a right hand, a superkick, and a Danger Zone for three!

Wow. I don't know what to say. I mean, I've historically been the world's biggest Ziggler hater, and a huge Ishii mark. So for me, this was a great match, but I attribute it mostly to how well Ishii can carry a match and make anyone look good. Nic held his own here, and it was a nice contrast of styles that managed to work a lot better than I thought it would. But I still think he stands out like a sore thumb in New Japan, and I hate him going over Ishii. Rating: 3.75

Tetsuya Naito (c) vs. Jon Moxley for the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship -- Naito takes his sweet time taking off, re-fastening, and taking back off his pants. Naito spits in Moxley's face, throws him outside, runs the ropes, and does the tranquilo pose in the ring. 😍😍 Moxley follows him outside with elbows, then throws him over the barricade, and smashes his head into the announce table. Naito throws Moxley into the barricade in the crowd, grabs a chair, and sits down to relax. Moxley takes him down with a boot to the face. Mox rolls Naito back in, steps on his throat, and lands a spike piledriver for two! Mox with alternating chest chops and round kicks to Naito's historically problematic knees. Naito with a sunset flip, but Mox rolls through into a Figure Four. Mox then transitions into a Texas Clovereaf, then into an STF. Naito gets to the ropes. Mox with multiple kicks to the chest, but Naito just sits back up! Naito catches the foot and rakes the eyes. 😍 Mox lands a brainbuster, then just chokes Naito on the mat. Mox comes off the top, but Naito catches him with a shot to the abdomen, then an enziguri. Naito with a rapid-fire sequence -- Manhattan drop, chop to the chest, and dropkick to the back! Naito goes for a combinación, and his leg gives out, but he follows up quickly with a beautiful neckbreaker for two, then quickly grabs a kravat! Mox gets to his feet, then dumps Naito over the ropes to the apron. They trade elbows to the face! Mox lands a DDT on the apron! Mox rolls in and does the Naito tranquilo pose to boos from the crowd. Nice.

Naito rolls in, and Mox immediately dumps him back outside and goes for topé suicida. But Naito is lying in wait, and nails Moxley as he dives out with a steel chair to the head!!! Geez! Naito lands a nasty neckbreaker on the apron!! Damn! Mox makes it back in at 19.5. Mox is bleeding from the head, what's new. Naito lands a nice tornado DDT off the ropes and sets up for Destino, but Mox stops it with a big lariat! They trade right hands and elbows in the middle of the ring! Naito laughs and spits in Mox's face. 😍😍 Mox spits back. Mox locks in a sleeper. Naito backs Mox hard into the corner to escape, but Mox follows up with a curb stomp to the head for two!!! Mox goes back to the sleeper with body scissors on the mat, then transitions to the bulldog choke. Naito gets to his feet, but Mox holds onto the sleeper. Naito drops down and escapes with a victory roll for two!! Naito with repeated, nasty elbows to the head and goes for Destino, but Mox escapes! Mox lands a cutter, then Paradigm Shift and covers, but Naito kicks out at 2.5!!! Naito chants from the crowd!!! Mox goes for Paradigm Shift again, but Naito escapes and lands Destino!! Cover! Mox kicks out at 2.5!!!! Naito goes for Destino again, Mox blocks it and lands two strong elbows, then lands a second Paradigm Shift and covers. Naito kicks out again at 2.5!!!! Mox pulls Naito back up, then puts him down hard with a huge lariat and covers, but Naito kicks out at one!!!! Ahhhhh!!!!!! Mox lands a high angle Death Rider!! Cover! 1, 2, 3!!!

Wtffffffffff!!#^#^#($*!@%@$#<$>!!!!!!!!!! I could literally throw up at the sight of Moxley pinning Naito and holding that title. Disgusting. Wtf is the plan?? He doesn't work for this company?? Why does this stupid shit always happen at Naito's expense???? It's hard for me to even talk about the match. It was a fantastic match. But what else does anyone expect from the man himself, big match Tetsuya Naito? Naito makes every main event feel big and important, and this was no different. Moxley works Naito's knees and Naito works the neck to set up Destino. Some great spots throughout, and a great build to the dramatic, back and forth finish. Naito gave Moxley a moment he should be kissing Naito's boots for. Rating: 4.25

You deserve it chants after the match. Fuck that. Moxley says this was a treat for everyone who may not get the chance to fly across the ocean to see a New Japan show. Moxley says he is just getting started, and his first order of business is to pick who is coming at him first. He calls the shots now. He says he has beaten a lot of Japanese legends in the last five years, but he isn't going to back down from the young lions. He calls out Shota Umino. But he then gets attacked from behind by Ren Narita, who grabs the mic and says he will be the next challenger. Umino comes out to save Moxley. Moxley says Narita just graduated from behind a young boy to being a dead man.

I guess Moxley putting over Umino with their history and all could save this garbage. But why couldn't Umino just be the one to go over Naito later on this year or something? Why do we need to involve Moxley? Do they think this increases American viewership? I don't understand. Someone help me understand.

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official-nadc-management · 10 months

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NADC NEWS

Toru Yano: Hello! Since i became NADC Champion i cant even sleep at night, the challengers for this title are so strong and scary! But i have to represent this title. I will be fearsome and beat everyone that challenge me next!

*Stone Pitbull starts to play*

Excalibur: Its Tomohiro Ishii!!!

*Ishii enters in the ring*

Toru Yano: Hi! you are Tomohiro Ishii my ex tag partner, you remember we won the IWGP Tag Team Championship and the Never Openweight 6-MancTag Team Championship together! Finally i have a friend and not everyone that aims me for this title!

*Toru Yano hugs Ishii*

Taz: I dont think Ishii is liking this hug...

*Ishii hugs Yano back*

Excalibur: Oh no no no! I think our champion has new help under the name Tomohi....

*Ishii keeps holding Yano in a hug as he is trying to escape*

Taz: Wait...

*Ishii picks Yano up and hits the Ishii Driller*

Taz: Ahahahah, well I think we have the new challenger right here!!!

@freshlychaos

#discord championship #fire pro wrestling world #nadc #toru yano #tomohiro ishii

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danwhobrowses · 2 years

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WWE Crown Jewel 2022 - Quickfire Review

So it was a busy day for me on Saturday, so I opted to watch the Saudi Blood Bowl 22 the day later.

Not exactly excited for the event, given the main event but we shall see if the wrestling was at least good.

Spoilers for the show

I scrubbed through the Pre-Show BTW, no matches, just promos for the matches and packages for Charlotte and Owens, nothing too big to tout about.

Brock Lesnar def Bobby Lashley (Pinfall) You can forgive Lashers attacking Lesnar immediately after how Brock cost him the US title, attacking the knee and multiple spears to start with, Lesnar kicked out of course, but Lashley kicked out of the F-5 too. Crowd turned on Lashley after that, but after a long session of the Hurt Lock, Brock won by having Lashley fall on his back for the 'surprise pin'. It's kinda a shame because of the strong start, but it was a poor finish made to keep Lashley looking strong - who attacked Brock after - I suppose this counts as a double turn, unless we're just gonna say Riyadh is 'bizarro world'.

Women's Tag Team Championship Damage CTRL [Dakota Kai & Iyo Sky] def. Asuka & Alexa Bliss (c) (Pinfall by Kai on Bliss) - NEW CHAMPIONS! I know the women are supposed to be full covered but Damage CTRL's attire choice looked like low-qual flightsuits XD Seems that the show is doing promos between entrances too, this time we got an interview with a Bray Wyatt showing on the screen that Alexa noticed, as she talked about being 'prepared for this'. Alas, they were not; the wrestling was great which is unsurprising given all four women's caliber but again the finish sucked, Nikki Cross - whose return a few weeks ago made a point of being on neither side - interfered and hit Alexa with a Twisting Neckbreaker from the top turnbuckle as the ref was stopping Iyo and Asuka's brawling. It was another cheat finish but also an objectively dumb decision to hot potato the already weakened titles.

Steel Cage Drew McIntyre def. Karrion Kross (via Cage escape) Scarlett benefits from the fact that she already is used to wearing full body latex suits, also what is stopping Drew from bringing a sword into the cage? The match was a bit slow, like I know it's a cage match but still there wasn't anything that stood out for a long while, once again Drew looked like a goof being distracted by Scarlett before a Claymore, allowing Kross to hit the Kross Hammer, he tried to climb over but Drew used it as a superplex, Drew almost crawled out the door but was maced by Scarlett (would've thought he'd be more wary of her), he rallied to stop Kross from escaping again. Scarlett locks the door so Drew tries to climb, so she unlocks the door to try and drag Kross out first, but Drew drops to land out with plenty of time. It was okay, cage escape never feels like a payoff victory when you have these kind of guys in, but there will be a rubber match.

The Judgement Day def The O.C. (Pinfall by Balor on Styles via Coup de Grace) Cole's not the only one who wants to get a closer look at Rhea Ripley, but Cole did well to further the point that Beth vs Rhea will likely happen in the future. This match was always gonna be sour for me because of the NEVER Openweight title stuff, I know NJPW's business can be iffy but I doubt Karl wasn't informed of a title defense before crawling back to the place he previously slated. I don't like that we keep harping on about Rey when it comes to Dom, I get it of course but still, Dom won't escape Rey's shadow if they keep mentioning his father. Dom and Anderson were the feeders for the match, Balor and AJ saved for the final act where the tag klaxon went off. With Dom distracting, Rhea interfered to stop the Phenomenal Forearm so Balor could hit his Dropkick/Coup de Grace combo for the win, not much difference really, Karl could've easily just laid down for Hikuleo in this case.

Braun Strowman def. Omos (Pinfall via Running Powerslam) Edward James was curiously without MVP when he entered, but was still holding the advantage over Braun to start, they seemed to be trying to sell the story that height = weight and because Braun is smaller he couldn't lift 416lbs, even though Braun has lifted Big Show and Mark Henry before (not at the same time), that played to the finish as he lifted Omos for one Powerslam for the 3 count, he had a few hits in but often they were countered, so it didn't do Omos much good in the end. Like Brock/Lashley it was one of those matches where they tried to make the loser stay strong but instead made them look dumb.

Undisputed WWE Tag Championship The Usos (c) def. The Brawling Brutes [Ridge Holland & Butch] (Pinfall by Jimmy on Butch via Avalanche 1-D) It was good to note early that Jey had an injured wrist. The Usos almost went for a walk out but ol Sundance jumped them. Dutch got some power play by lifting both Usos at once. The Usos did fight back and hit the Double Splash but it was broken up, the wrist came into play as Sundance did the finger break spot, but Jey kicked out of the White Noise and Jimmy broke the count on the combo move. A blind tag led to Jimmy countering the top turnbuckle attack to hit an Avalanche 1-D. It was a good match, could've gone up a level though if they had more time, since the injured wrist was legit I can see why it didn't come into play too much.

Raw Women's Championship - Last Woman Standing Bianca Belair (c) def. Bayley Well the writing was on the wall after the Women's Tag match. Bayley stuck with the Damage CTRL flightsuit and was the first to bring out weapons - almost hitting the crowd with it. A Chair and Ladder each couldn't grant Bayley the equalizer she was seeking, a feigned ankle injury and using the ramp doors was unique though, as was trapping Bianca inside the steps and hammering her with the Kendo like a Whack-a-mole. After a spinebuster on the steps, Bianca regained the advantage up the ramp until hit with a Bayley-to-Belly, so Bayley locked her in a box, which she burst out of with a prompt from Bayley, so next the match took a note out of AEW's playbook with the Golf Kart, Bayley tried a dive but Bianca fought back and drove off with her on top, however, Bayley completely missed the table when thrown off, so they did a powerbomb for the 9 count. Bianca missed the 450 on a pile of chairs so Bayley set up a Roseplant on the chair but Bianca hit a KOD, she sandwiched Bayley between the ladder and wedged it under the bottom turnbuckle to trap her for 10. The match was perhaps the unsurprising best so far, but I am let down that WWE had Bayley lose 3 times, it really deflates Damage CTRL's status.

Bray did a promo after in the site where Goldberg destroyed his mystique as he gave us a promo about how he became the Fiend to excel beyond his family achievements but he wants to be Bray Wyatt. Uncle Howdy showed up on the tron noting that he will 'give in' again and wear the mask once more. Nothing offensive but also nothing new.

Undisputed World Championship Roman Reigns [w/Paul Heyman] (c) def. Logan Paul (Pinfall via Spear) Eurgh. Logan came down in a podium, once more not having a different attire while Cole tried to gas up his farsical and clearly fixed Mayweather fight (you think Mayweather would back off when he was on Jelly Legs? Match was only for the $$s). The entrances for both men lasted like 15 minutes. It was already disappointing that Roman didn't just Superman Punch him, going for collar-and-elbow tie ups and waistlocks, which apparently is a 'clinic'. I feel like it was a slight as well that Paul used a Buckshot for 2, after Reigns called out KSI and Mr Beast Paul also hit a Gutwrench Suplex, a Blockbuster (which apparently is treated like the most difficult move in the world), a 'Superman Punch' and a Standing Moonsault. The 'Lucky Punch' payoff was followed up with another 'Superman Punch' for a 2-count, so he got Shane McMahon syndrome vlogging a splash onto the Announcer's table. Out come the Bloodline who brawl with Logan's guys so Jake Paul can come out and chump out the Undisputed Tag Champs. Paul hit another Lio Rush-esque Frog Splash for 2 before Solo came out to confront Paul, but when the Usos cornered him so Logan dived at them, ran into a Superman Punch and a Spear to finish.

I know Paul is putting in work, but again he should not be in this spot, the fact that he's being treated as a threat to Reigns and getting more offense than many other and greater wrestlers than him is a mockery. Sure he can do a Standing Moonsault, that's about the most impressive thing he did, but he's done 3 matches in over 7 months and not developed, he has a babyface delusion and the match ended up being overbooked just to get his brother involved too.

Overall Crown Jewel is frankly, skippable. Just pretend last week's Raw didn't happen and you're in the same spot, the women pulled off the better performances overall, but the overbooking and/or interference really did harm the show. Many a match was unncessary, especially since only the Last Women's Standing Match held a candle to Rey vs Gunther on Smackdown's taping or OC vs Shibata on Rampage, at the very least it passed the time but it ain't 'must see tv'.

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melissahausen · 3 months

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Aew revolution 2024 predictions

As always this is who I think will win not necessarily who I want to win.

The Bang Bang Scissor Gang (Max Caster, Anthony Bowens, Billy Gunn, Austin Gunn, Colten Gunn, and Jay White) vs. Jeff Jarrett, Satnam Singh, Jay Lethal, Willie Mack, and Private Party (Isiah Kassidy and Marq Quen) 12-man tag team match:

Bang bang scissor gang.

Julia Hart and Skye Blue vs. Kris Statlander and Willow Nightingale (with Stokely Hathaway) Tag team match: Julia and Skye.

Chris Jericho vs. Wardlow vs. Powerhouse Hobbs vs. Lance Archer vs. Hook vs. Brian Cage vs. Magnus vs. Dante Martin, All-Star Scramble match

The winner receives a future AEW World Championship match.

Wardlow needs to win this but also wouldn't surprise me if they gave it to boring Hook.

FTR (Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler) vs. Blackpool Combat Club (Jon Moxley and Claudio Castagnoli) Tag team match: I'm honestly torn on this one they're all the best I think it'll probably be BCC but I won't be surprised if its FTR either basically imma love this match that's all lol.

Christian Cage (with Killswitch, Mother Wayne, and "The Prodigy" Nick Wayne) vs. Daniel Garcia Singles match for the AEW TNT Championship:

I've a feeling Adam Copeland is gonna get involved somehow but wether it be to help Daniel or not I dunno still have a feeling Mr your father is dead is gonna win though.

Orange Cassidy vs. Roderick Strong (with Matt Taven and Mike Bennett) Singles match for the AEW International Championship:

I want orange to keep it forever but I've a feeling tonight's the night he's gonna lose unfortunately.

Will Ospreay vs. Konosuke Takeshita Singles match:

I hate betting against my boy but Will's first match signed in the company he ain't losing that.

Eddie Kingston vs. Bryan Danielson Singles match for the Continental Crown Championship

(AEW Continental Championship, ROH World Championship, and the NJPW Strong Openweight Championship)

If Danielson loses, he has to shake Kingston's hand.

There's only one Eddie Kingston! And he's retaining bitches.

Timeless Toni Storm (with Mariah May and Luther) vs. Deonna Purrazzo Singles match for the AEW Women's World Championship:

Unfortunately I think they're gonna give it to the new plaything but I hope Toni retains so bad! ( I don't like deonna sorry)

Samoa Joe vs. Hangman Adam Page vs. Swerve Strickland (with Prince Nana) Three-way match for the AEW World Championship

Be watching this and crying I love them all , I love hangys spiraling, I think swerve is gonna win it in London tbh so imma go father Joe I've a feeling swerve and hangy are just gonna beat the spit out of each other and Joe can just chill for a bit then swoop in lol.

Sting and Darby Allin vs. The Young Bucks (Matthew Jackson and Nicholas Jackson) Tornado tag team match for the AEW World Tag Team Championship

This will be Sting's retirement match.

Listen if it wasn't extremely documented this was stings last match I'd have said Darby and sting but they aren't gonna win then Sting's gone that's just stupid. So our EVPs are definitely gonna win and piss everyone off 😂😂.

#aew revolution #aewrevolution2024 #predictionqueen

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mpwma · 8 months

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Today is/was NJPW Destruction in Ryogoku! For the Strong Openweight Tag Team Championship, Bullet Club War Dogs (Alex Coughlin and Gabe Kidd) (c) vs. Guerillas of Destiny (Hikuleo and El Phantasmo) (with Jado)! We will cover the show so don’t miss out!

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wweallresultspage · 8 months

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AEW WrestleDream PPV Results - October 1, 2023

Pre-show: Athena, Billie Starkz, Keith Lee, & Satoshi Kojima def. Diamanté, Lee Moriarty, Mercedes Martinez, & Shane Taylor in 5:43

Pre-show: Claudio Castagnoli def. Josh Barnett in 8:23

Pre-show: Luchasaurus def. Nick Wayne in 4:55

Pre-show: Anthony Bowens, Billy Gunn, & Max Caster def. Bad Dude Tito, Mikey Nicholls, & Shane Haste in 9:22 to retain the AEW World Trios Championships

1. MJF def. Dutch & Vincent in a 2-on-1 Handicap Match in 9:35 to retain the ROH World Tag Team Championships

2. Eddie Kingston def. Katsuyori Shibata in 10:58 to retain the ROH World Championship and to retain the NJPW STRONG Openweight Championship

3. Kris Statlander def. Julia Hart in 8:56 to retain the AEW TBS Championship

4. Matt Jackson & Nick Jackson def. Austin Gunn & Colten Gunn, Hook & Orange Cassidy, and Penta El Zero Miedo & Rey Fenix in an AEW World Tag Team Championship #1 Contender's 4-Way Match in 12:13

5. Swerve Strickland def. Adam Page in 20:12

6. Ricky Starks def. Wheeler Yuta in 9:53

7. Bryan Danielson def. Zack Sabre Jr. in 23:12

8. Konosuke Takeshita, Sammy Guevara, & Will Ospreay def. Chris Jericho, Kenny Omega, & Kota Ibushi in 22:10

9. Cash Wheeler & Dax Harwood def. Kyle Fletcher & Mark Davis in 20:26 to retain the AEW World Tag Team Championships

10. Christian Cage def. Darby Allin in a 2 out of 3 Falls Match in 25:12 to retain the AEW TNT Championship

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wewerecore · 10 months

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The Great Pro-Wrestling Adventure Hour - 014 08/17/23 Defy TV 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM EST Filmed at the Good Time Theatre at Dorney Park in Allentown, Pennsylvania

SEGMENT ONE (NINE MINUTES):

- The program opened with Sudu Upadhyay discussing the newly announced Iron Menace roller coaster coming to Dorney Park in 2024, the very first "dive coaster" on the East Coast. But Sudu says you don't need to wait until 2024 because there will be plenty of dives at Dorney Park tonight in our main event Trios Kingdom qualifying match between Titus Alexander, Kevin Blackwood, and Alan Angels and CMLL's Atrapasuenos.

- An updated version of The Great Pro-Wrestling Adventure Hour opening aired set to "Black Swan Lake" by Janko Nilovic.

Flamita vs. Brando Lee (with Raychell Rose) Flamita defeated Brando Lee with the 450 Splash. (3:11)

- We joined Daphne Oz at the CORE news desk for the Coal Region Roundup. Daphne previewed the card for this Monday at the Pittston Tomato Festival as it currently stands which included short promos from Titus Alexander and Eddie Kingston about their STRONG Openweight championship match. Daphne announced that next week on the Great Pro-Wrestling Adventure Hour we will see the final Trios Kingdom qualifying match as Big Dan Champion, Joshua Bishop, and Invictus Khash of the TrustBusters Reserve will square off with Max The Impaler, Heidi Howitzer, and Badger Briggs. Next week will also be the final match in the Trench Trial Series as Trench will look for his first win of the trial later today, Monday in Pittston, or back here again next week.

SEGMENT TWO (EIGHT MINUTES):

Hyan vs. Max The Impaler Max The Impaler defeated Hyan via countout. (5:05)

- Max The Impaler clotheslined Hyan over the ropes when Big Dan Champion, Joshua Bishop, and Invictus Khash came to ringside and escorted Hyan to the back. Max was set to give chase, but Heidi Howitzer and Badger Briggs encouraged Max to get back into the ring and take the count out victory. Max The Impaler was clearly unsatisfied with the result and was looking for a fight, Larry Zbyszko was quick to volunteer Kylie Paige who was seated far away from the action watching the show from an alcove. Max The Impaler stormed after Kylie, catching her and slamming Kylie into a wall before tossing her headfirst into a used garbage can.

- We join The Family Tree in their private dressing room. Smart Guy Tod Gordon tells his Tribal Elder Afa Jr. the good news, in two weeks he has secured Journey Fatu and Sean Maluta a tag match to help them prepare for Trios Kingdom. Maluta asks Gordon if he also got a match for their Tribal Elder. Afa Jr. snapped at Maluta, demanding to know why he thinks his Tribal Elder needs a tune up match. Maluta tries to explain himself all while showing his appreciation for his Tribal Elder. Afa Jr. snapped at Smart Guy Tod Gordon, demanding to know why he didn't get him a match before Trios Kingdom, does he think his Tribal Elder is so weak that he'll be injured? Tod Gordon stammers uncontrollably while wiping sweat from his brow. Afa Jr. declares that next week he will put both Sean Maluta and Tod Gordon on trial for their actions. Fatu, Maluta, and Gordon all agree this is a wise decision and appreciate their Tribal Elder.

SEGMENT THREE (EIGHT MINUTES):

Trench Trial Series - Match 5 Trench vs. Sam Holloway Trench defeated Sam Holloway via submission with an inverted full nelson. (3:38)

- The TrustBusters Reserve were at the curtain to congratulate Trench on his first win in the Trial Series.

- After a recap of Larry Zbyszko's appearance last week on Jarek 1:20's Magic Shop, Zbyszko calls out a representative from Kerry Morton's faction to accept or decline his challenge for the Pittston Tomato Festival. Starboy Charlie makes his way to the commentary booth and asks Zbyszko to hurry this along and reveal the team he wants them to face. Zbyszko said he had a special video prepared to reveal his handpicked challengers. A music video set to "You Dropped A Bomb On Me" by The Gap Band began to air. We are shown clips of Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills, the Los Angeles fashion district, New York City's garment district, the streets of Milan, various runway shows, and finally the words COUTURE COPS appear on the screen followed by an image of Breeze and Dirty Dango. We cut back to the studio to see Starboy Charlie openly laughing at Zbyszko. He said he knew Larry was out of touch, but he really thinks those two New York booking office rejects are a threat? Starboy gladly accepts the challenge and it will be Kerry Morton and Starboy Charlie taking on the Couture Cops, Breeze and Dirty Dango this Monday night in Pittston.

SEGMENT FOUR (NINE MINUTES):

Brogan Finlay and Ricky Morton vs. folkstyle (Tim Bosby and Hunter Holdcraft) Brogan Finlay and Ricky Morton defeated folkstyle with a top rope elbowdrop from Finlay on Holdcraft following outside interference from Marcus Mathers and Kenzie Paige (6:20)

- Finlay, Morton, Mathers, and Kenzie Paige worked over Tim Bosby and Holdcraft after the match. Shaw Mason was home recovering from a wound on his head that was re-opened last week and could not make the save. From out of nowhere Leyla Hirsch ran out to the ring and caught Finlay and Morton with a double clothesline before dumping Kenzie Paige on her head with a suplex. Starboy Charlie ran out and motioned for Mathers to leave the ring, but as he tried to leave Hirsch grabbed him from behind and dumped Marcus with a german suplex of his own. Mathers rolled out of the ring as Starboy forced the others away from ringside and to the back.

SEGMENT FIVE (NINE MINUTES):

Trios Kingdom 2023 Qualifying Match Titus Alexander, Kevin Blackwood, and Alan Angels vs. Atrapasuenos (Dulce Gardenia, Espiritu Negro, and Rey Cometa) Titus Alexander, Kevin Blackwood, and Alan Angels defeated Atrapasuenos with the Chaos Theory from Alexander on Espiritu Negro. (8:04)

SEGMENT SIX (TWO MINUTES):

- Sudu Upadhyay announced two new matches that had just been signed for the big show this Monday night at the Pittston Tomato Festival. It is official, Kerry Morton and Starboy Charlie will do battle with The Couture Cops, Breeze and Dirty Dango. And, just signed seconds ago, we will see Marcus Mathers, Brogan Finlay, Ricky Morton, and Kenzie Paige taking on the folkstyle team of Shaw Mason, Tim Bosby, and Hunter Holdcraft with their partner "Legit" Leyla Hirsch. Sudu quickly previewed next week's episode including the final Trios Kingdom qualifying match, the final match in the Trench Trial Series, a lucha libre eight man tag as Los Magnificos team with Fuego Del Sol against Atrapasuenos and Mach10. Also in action will be Something/Nothing and Queen Aminata.

Next Week On The Great Pro-Wrestling Adventure Hour

Trios Kingdom 2023 Qualifying Match: TrustBusters Reserve (Big Dan Champion/Joshua Bishop/Invictus Khash) vs. Max The Impaler/Heidi Howitzer/Badger Briggs Los Magnificos (Adrenalina/Explosivo/Fantastico) and Fuego Del Sol vs. Atrapasuenos (Dulce Gardenia/Espiritu Negro/Rey Cometa) and Mach10 The Trench Trial Series concludes. Also in action: Something/Nothing (Jake Something and Vincent Nothing) with UltraMantis Black Queen Aminata

Upcoming Shows:

CORE Pro #119 Burning The Tomato Worms 08/21/23 Pittston Tomato Festival - Pittston, Pennsylvania 01. Fuego Del Sol vs. Fugaz 02. Trench Trial Series - Match 6: Trench vs. ??? 03. Marcus Mathers/Brogan Finlay/Ricky Morton/Kenzie Paige vs. folkstyle (Shaw Mason/Tim Bosby/Hunter Holdcraft) and Leyla Hirsch 04. Junction Three (Dragon Kid and Rich Swann) vs. Alan Angels and Kevin Blackwood 05. Something/Nothing (Jake Something and Vincent Nothing) with UltraMantis Black vs. Toru Sugiura and Tomoya Hirata 06. Couture Cops (Breeze and Dirty Dango) vs. Kerry Morton and Starboy Charlie 07. NJPW STRONG Openweight Championship Match: Eddie Kingston (Champion) vs. Titus Alexander

CORE Pro #120 Trios Kingdom 2023 - Night One 09/01/23 Penn's Peak - Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania Featuring: The Calling (AKIRA/Rickey Shane Page/Delirious) with Raven The 37KAMIINA (MAO/Yuki Ueno/Toi Kojima) Jake Something/Vincent Nothing/Giant Baba Yaga with UltraMantis Black Team JTO (Ren Ayabe/Fire Katsumi/Akira Juumonji) Black Generation International (Kaito Ishida/Flamita/Yutani) The Production (Derek Dillinger/Magnum CK/Ziggy Haim) Just 5 Guys (TAKA Michinoku/Taichi/Yoshinobu Kanemaru) Big Mouth LOUD (Katsuyori Shibata/Kazunari Murakami/Manabu Hara) The Family Tree (Afa Jr./Sean Maluta/Journey Fatu) Donna del Mondo (Giulia/Maika/Thekla) Los Cancerberos del Infierno (Cancerbero/Luciferno/Virus) folkstyle (Shaw Mason/Tim Bosby/Hunter Holdcraft) Kerry Morton/Starboy Charlie/Marcus Mathers Los Magnificos (Adrenalina/Explosivo/Fantastico) Titus Alexander/Kevin Blackwood/Alan Angels

CORE Pro #121 Trios Kingdom 2023 - Night Two 09/02/23 Charles Chrin Community Center - Easton, Pennsylvania Non-Tournament Special Attraction Trios Kingdom vs. King Of Trios: Six Winners From Previous Tournaments Face Off in Trios Action Trios Kingdom (Ethan Page/Andrew Everett/"Hot Sauce" Tracy Williams) vs. King Of Trios (Hallowicked/Lince Dorado/Trent Seven)

CORE Pro #122 Trios Kingdom 2023 - Night Three 09/03/23 Martz Hall - Pottsville, Pennsylvania

CORE returns to the Good Time Theatre at Dorney Park in Allentown, Pennsylvania! 09/04/23 Television taping for The Great Pro-Wrestling Adventure Hour as seen on Defy TV.

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