Kurt Angle recently announced that he would be finishing up his in-ring career at WrestleMania. The bout is being described as a “farewell” match and Angle’s opponent has not yet been named. It was announced by WWE that Angle would be confirming his opponent this Monday on WWE RAW. A statement was released saying the following:
“On Raw, live in his hometown of Pittsburgh, WWE Hall of Famer Kurt Angle announced and that he would embark on a farewell tour leading to his final match at this year’s WrestleMania. This Monday in Chicago, The Olympic Hero will reveal his opponent for that climactic contest.”
There have been many names bandied around for the upcoming bout. John Cena, Bobby Lashley, Drew McIntyre, Baron Corbin and AJ Styles were specifically mentioned by Angle himself. The current frontrunner appears to be John Cena, however a top NXT Superstar has put his name out there.
The ‘Original Bro’ Matt Riddle took to Twitter and stated that he wants to face Kurt at Mania. Riddle stated that “this is what the fans want and deep down it’s what you need.” If Riddle were to face Kurt at WrestleMania it would easily be the biggest bout of his career. Riddle has mentioned on may occasions that he intends on ‘retiring’ Brock Lesnar, he could easily start with the Olympic Gold Medallist.
Would you like to see Riddle vs Angle? Let us know in the comments
Insane Championship Wrestling has announced a new 3 part series that will be shown on BBC Scotland. ‘Rogue to Wrestler’ will feature eight ‘wannabe’ wrestlers competing to see if they have what it takes to enter the squared circle.
In a recent press release the BBC have stated that “Insane Championship Wrestling founder Mark Dallas and professional fighters Adrian McCallum (aka Lionheart) and Lee Greig (who wrestles under the name of Jack Jester) take no prisoners as they start the elimination process. There’s a lot at stake – the winner will have the chance to become the next big star of the Scottish wrestling scene. Each one of the contenders has experienced life on the wrong side of the tracks, but there’s no room for sob stories when they hit the gym.”
ICW recently held their Square Go! event in Scotland. The Royal Rumble style event saw a surprise appearance from WWE Hall of Famer Jeff Jarrett. Rudo Lightning eventually won the 30 man rumble bout. Rudo entered the Royal Rumble styled match at number two. Along with Liam Thomson, who entered in the first spot, lasted over an hour. Some high profile competitors in the bout included NXT UK Superstar Wolfgang and a returning former ICW World Champion, ‘Just Justice’ Jackie Polo. Rudo eliminated Joe Hendry last to win the bout.
The series begins on Tuesday March 26th.
It’s time… Episode 1 of #RogueToWrestler hits your TV screens on Tuesday the 26th of March at 10pm on the all new @BBCScotland channel!! I’m very proud to have been a part of this and cannot wait for you to see the journey we all take! Please RT and spread the word!! pic.twitter.com/qaJ0rKru0d
The New Japan Cup has now begun. 32 men were announced for the 2019 iteration of the tournament creating the biggest line up ever seen in the annual NJPW event. This year’s tournament also has the caveat that the winner will be facing IWGP Heavyweight Champion Jay White at the G1 Supercard in April. The WrestleMania weekend show will be one the biggest in company history when they join ROH and CMLL at Madison Square Garden.
Here’s the NJPW Cup bouts for the event in Korakuen Hall (03/16):
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Ryusuke Taguchi (NJPW Cup Second Round Match)
Kota Ibushi vs Zack Sabre Jr (NJPW Cup Second Round Match)
It is still believed that the favourites for the tournament are Kazuchika Okada, Hiroshi Tanahashi and Kota Ibushi. Okada defeated Elgin in the first round on March 9th. Tanahashi defeated Young Lion Shota Umino on March 10th and Ibushi took the win over Tetsuya Naito on March 10th.
With the huge high profile bout on offer it is likely that a top name will win this tournament. New Japan have used the Cup in previous years to help elevate a newer talent, such as Zack Sabre Jr last year. With a date against Jay White and the IWGP Heavyweight Championship set in stone this more unlikely this year.
DEFIANT Wrestling will be presenting their Magnificent Seven event this Saturday from Sunderland, England. The company will be hosting the show on their Access Defiant service which you can check out with a free 30 day trial. The annual Magnificent Seven elimination match will be accompanied by tons of action on PPV, as well as a taping of one of the company’s weekly episodes of Loaded (airs the following day on YouTube).
The full card for the event is now set and is as follows:
Rampage (C) vs Rory Coyle – Defiant World Championship Match: After defeating Primate in his last Defiant match at our last iPPV. Rory Coyle has now targeted Rampage. The longest reigning World Champion, in a match that has become increasingly personal. Rory Coyle has attacked Rampage both after a match and at his training school. He is trying to entice the Animal out of Rampage. Could it be the rise of the Sick Boy, or will the record breaking reign continue?
Kanji (C) vs Lana Austin vs Lizzy Styles – Defiant Women’s Championship Match
Visage vs Los Federales Super Santos Jr vs MJF vs Man Like Dereiss vs Benji vs HT Drake vs Conor Renshaw – Magnificent Seven Briefcase
Martin Kirby (C) vs El Phantasmo – Defiant Internet Championship Match
No Fun Dunne (C) vs Omari – Defiant No Fun Championship Match
Over The Top (OTT) Wrestling has released the final hype package for this Saturday’s ScrapperMania 5 event. The main event of the show will see WALTER defend his OTT World Championship against fellow NXT UK Superstar Jordan Devlin.
Over the past few months the independent company has been releasing some incredible video packages to hype their events. At the recent Homecoming event Devlin defeated David Starr to earn the Number 1 contendership and face WALTER at ScrapperMania. The video released for that show caught the attention of many in the industry. This latest package is just as breathtaking in scope.
WALTER is arguably the biggest star on the UK/European scene right now. Devlin has been rising through the ranks with his ‘Import Killer’ persona and is a firm favourite in his native country of Ireland.
The full card for ScrapperMania 5 is as follows:
OTT World Championship Match – WALTER (c) vs Jordan Devlin
Meiko Satomura vs ‘Session Moth’ Martina
Tag Team World Cup – Aussie Open (Kyle Fletcher and Mark Davis) vs Boys From The Flats vs Angelico and Rey Horus vs Besties In The World
Angel Cruzers and Hurricane Helms vs Team Prick, Dusty and Sammy D
More Than Hype vs The Rapture
Dan Barry vs David Starr
Jushin ‘Thunder’ Liger
Raven Creed vs Debbie Keitel
Kings of The North vs British Strong Style (Pete Dunne, Trent Seven and Tyler Bate)
The New Japan Cup has now begun. 32 men were announced for the 2019 iteration of the tournament creating the biggest line up ever seen in the annual NJPW event. This year’s tournament also has the caveat that the winner will be facing IWGP Heavyweight Champion Jay White at the G1 Supercard in April. The WrestleMania weekend show will be one the biggest in company history when they join ROH and CMLL at Madison Square Garden.
Here’s the NJPW Cup bouts for the event in Nara (03/14):
Kazuchika Okada vs Mikey Nicholls (NJPW Cup Second Round Match)
Will Ospreay vs Lance Archer (NJPW Cup Second Round Match).
It is still believed that the favourites for the tournament are Kazuchika Okada, Hiroshi Tanahashi and Kota Ibushi. Okada defeated Elgin in the first round on March 9th. Tanahashi defeated Young Lion Shota Umino on March 10th and Ibushi took the win over Tetsuya Naito on March 10th.
With the huge high profile bout on offer it is likely that a top name will win this tournament. New Japan have used the Cup in previous years to help elevate a newer talent, such as Zack Sabre Jr last year. With a date against Jay White and the IWGP Heavyweight Championship set in stone this more unlikely this year.
PROGRESS Wrestling has revealed the newest name for their Super Strong Style 16 tournament later this year. The annual tournament is held over 3 days and features some of the best independent (and sometimes WWE) talent across the globe. The World Famous Alexandra Palace in London, England will be hosting the 3 shows once again.
CCK stable leader Chris Brookes will be entering the tournament. Brookes is one of the biggest independent stars on the UK scene right now. The ‘Calamari Catch King’ recently took part in the wXw 16 Carat Gold tournament. Brookes was also due to appear at the PWG BOLA tournament last year but was removed due to injury.
NXT UK Superstar Travis Banks will also be taking part in this year’s tournament. The ‘Kiwi Buzzsaw’ actually appeared during the Wembley Arena event last year and confirmed his participation. Banks was the PROGRESS World Champion back in 2018. The South Pacific Power Trip member held the title for a year plus before finally losing to WALTER.
PROGRESS has also confirmed that Ilja Dragunov will also be part of the tournament. The former wXw Unified World Champion has been heavily linked with WWE over the past few months.
Last year’s event was won by Zack Sabre Jr, who unfortunately could not challenge for the PROGRESS Championship at Wembley as initially expected. ZSJ was booked in a New Japan event in the United States, this wasn’t announced until after PROGRESS had confirmed their Wembley main event. Will Ospreay was also removed from the Wembley Arena event, he was expected to face Jimmy Havoc.
NJPW has announced another big star who will be appearing at the upcoming Royal Quest event. NEVER Openweight Champion Will Ospreay will be heading to the Copper Box Arena in London.
Ospreay won the NEVER Openweight Championship at the Wrestle Kingdom show in January. The ‘Aerial Assassin’ defeated Kota Ibushi to claim the title and dethrone the Japanese star.
The company confirmed earlier this month that “Three” of their “top Japanese wrestlers have confirmed they will be on the card and they will be bringing New Japan Pro-Wrestling’s fighting spirit to the heart of the UK’s capital.” Those three stars were Kazuchika Okada, Tetsuya Naito and IWGP Heavyweight Champion Hiroshi Tanahashi.
NJPW aren’t strangers to the United Kingdom. They have held numerous events in conjuncture with other promotions. Most notably Revolution Pro Wrestling (RevPro) and Ring Of Honor (ROH). ‘Royal Quest’ will be their first major solo show in the UK.
You can find more information on their website, NJPW1972.com.
WWE has recently announced that Roman Reigns will be joining the WWE roster for their UK tour in May. The tour is a post-WrestleMania tradition and the company will be buoyed by the inclusion of the ‘Big Dog’ to the tour.
Reigns made his in-ring return at this past weekend’s FastLane event. Roman had of course been battling his second bout of leukemia and had not been performing as an active Superstar since October 2018.
WWE will be heading to the following cities in England and Wales in May:
11th May – Newcastle Utilita Arena
12th May – Liverpool M&S Bank Arena
13th May – London O2 Arena (WWE RAW Taping)
13th May – Bournemouth International Centre
14th May – London O2 Arena (WWE Smackdown Live Taping)
15th May – Birmingham Resorts World Arena
16th May – Sheffield FlyDSA Arena
17th May – Cardiff Motorpoint Arena
At the time of writing Reigns’ WrestleMania opponent has not been confirmed. It does appear however that Roman will be facing Drew McIntyre following this week’s WWE RAW show. Roman Reigns was set to compete in his first singles match in five months against Baron Corbin on RAW. As Reigns was making his entrance, Drew McIntyre attacked Roman from behind and threw him into the ring post.
Reigns got in a couple of punches but McIntyre shrugged them off and levelled Roman with the Claymore Kick. McIntyre taunted Reigns and then hit another Claymore that sent Reigns’ face into the ring post. McIntyre said that this was just the beginning before WWE officials broke it up.
PROGRESS Wrestling has announced that Kaiju Big Battel will be heading to the UK for a very special show on May 4th. The event will be taking place during the Super Strong Style 16 weekender.
The show was originally scheduled to be taking place at The Dome in London’s Tufnell Park. However the demand was so overwhelming that the venue has been changed to Alexandra Palace, this is the same venue as the Strong Style 16 weekender.
Kaiju Big Battel is a company based in Boston created by Rand Borden and David Borden. The company’s performances are parodies of both pro wrestling and the tokusatsukaiju kaiju eiga film commonly seen in Japan. These matches (or Battels) are presented in the style of pro wrestling contests, with the costume clad performers playing the roles of giant, city-crushing monsters similar to Godzilla. Some notable characters are Dusto Bunny, French Toast, Kung-Fu Chicken Noodle and Dr. Cube. Mashable mentioned an in a recent article that “The odd spelling of battel has a simple origin, too. It was misspelled on a t-shirt once, became an inside joke, and then stuck.”
If you have never seen the lunacy that is Kaiju Big Battel then check out the video below:
Revolution Pro (Rev Pro) Wrestling has announced a big tag match for their WrestleCon event in April. Sho and Yoh of Roppongi 3K will be taking on Aussie Open (Kyle Fletcher and Mark Davis).
The show will be taking place on Friday April 5th from the Hilton New York Midtown Ballroom. Already announced for the show are Will Ospreay, PAC, Tomohiro Ishii and CCK (Chris Brookes and Jon Gresham).
Ospreay and PAC will be teaming to take on Brookes and Gresham. The two men had an incredible time limit draw at the recent High Stakes 2019 event in York Hall, Bethnal Green. Brookes and Gresham interfered during the bout which has lead to this match. There were originally rumors that Ospreay would be facing PAC as a way to give Rev Pro one of the ‘best’ in ring bouts of WrestleMania weekend.
Ticket information for the show can be found here.
Insane Championship Wrestling (ICW) held their latest ‘Fight Club’ event on March 10th. ‘Drippin Like a Knackered Fridge’ took place at The Assembly in Aberdeen, Scotland.
The company had announced before the event that ICW World Champion Lionheart would be defending his Championship against NXT UK Superstar Mark Coffey. IMPACT Wrestling star Grado and The Kinky Party were also scheduled to appear.
Results
Here’s the full results for the show:
Kieran Kelly b. Scott McManus – Kelly took the win via pinfall
Aivil b. Viper – Aivil took the win via pinfall
ICW Tag Team Championship Match: The Kings of Catch (Aspen Faith & Lewis Girvan) b. The Kinky Party (Sha Samuels & Jack Jester) – The Kings took the win by pinfall to retain the ICW Tag Team Championships
Grado appeared to challenge Jeff Jarrett to a match. Jarrett appeared on screen and told Grado that he needed to prove himself and then sent out Jackie Polo to face him
‘Just Justice’ Jackie Polo w/Coach Trip b. Grado – Polo took the win by pinfall
Bad Company (Wolfgang, BT Gunn & The Purge (Krobar & Stevie James) b. Joe Hendry, Leyton Buzzard, Kez Evans & Ravie Davie – Bad Company took the win via pinfall
ICW Zero G Championship Match:Joe Coffey b. Andy Wild – Coffey took the win via pinfall to retain his ICW Zero G Championship
Aaron Echo b. Scotty Swift – Echo took the win via pinfall
Kenny Williams b. Jason Reed – Williams took the win via pinfall
ICW World Heavyweight Championship Match:Lionheart b. Mark Coffey – Lionheart took the win via pinfall to retain the ICW World Heavyweight Championship
ICW recently held their Square Go! event in Scotland. The Royal Rumble style event saw a surprise appearance from WWE Hall of Famer Jeff Jarrett. Rudo Lightning eventually won the 30 man rumble bout. Rudo entered the Royal Rumble styled match at number two. Along with Liam Thomson, who entered in the first spot, lasted over an hour. Some high profile competitors in the bout included NXT UK Superstar Wolfgang and a returning former ICW World Champion, ‘Just Justice’ Jackie Polo. Rudo eliminated Joe Hendry last to win the bout.
Over The Top Wrestling (OTT) will be holding their biggest event of the year next weekend from the National Stadium in Dublin, Ireland. The company recently announced that Jushin ‘Thunder’ Liger will be part of the upcoming ScrapperMania 5 event. The New Japan Pro Wrestling legend will be facing Scotty Davis at the event.
OTT has also announced that British Strong Style will be taking part in the upcoming ScrapperMania 5 event.
British Strong Style consists of WWE United Kingdom Champion Pete Dunne, Tyler Bate and Trent Seven. The trio are three of the top stars of the NXT UK division. With OTT being one of the ‘greenlit’ promotions for NXT UK Superstars BSS are likely to still perform for the company going forward.
The full card for the show has now been revealed. The bouts that will be taking place are as follows:
Meiko Satomura vs ‘Session Moth’ Martina
Tag Team World Cup – Aussie Open (Kyle Fletcher and Mark Davis) vs Boys From The Flats vs Angelico and Rey Horus vs Besties In The World
Angel Cruzers and Hurricane Helms vs Team Prick, Dusty and Sammy D
More Than Hype vs The Rapture
Dan Barry vs David Starr
Jushin ‘Thunder’ Liger
Raven Creed vs Debbie Keitel
Kings of The North vs British Strong Style (Pete Dunne, Trent Seven and Tyler Bate)
German based promotion wXw held their prestigious 16 Carat Gold tournament this past weekend. The company were based in Oberhausen on March 8th, 9th and 10th for the 2019 iteration of the event.
The third round and final matches of the tournament took place last night. The results for these bouts are as follows:
16 Carat Gold Tournament 2019 Semi Final Match – Lucky Kid b. Ilja Dragunov – Kid once again took the unlikely win against NXT UK Superstar Dragunov to advance to the final
16 Carat Gold Tournament 2019 Semi Final Match –WALTER b. Avalanche – WALTER took the win to advance to the final to face Lucky Kid
Daisuke Sekimoto, Shigehiro Irie & Yuki Ishikawa b. Alexander Wolfe, Timothy Thatcher & Veit Müller
wXw Women’s Championship Match –Toni Storm (c) b. Killer Kelly – NXT UK Women’s Champion Toni Storm took the win to retain her wXw Championship
Hot And Spicy (Axel Dieter Jr. & Da Mack) b. Jay FK (Francis Kaspin & Jay Skillet)
Schadenfreude (Chris Brookes, Kyle Fletcher & Mark Davis) b. The Lucha Brothers (Fenix & Pentagon Jr.) & Rey Horus
16 Carat Gold Tournament 2019 Final Match – Lucky Kid b. WALTER – Kid did the unthinkable and defeated WALTER in the final. Lucky Kid wins the wXw 16 Carat Gold Tournament 2019
The New Japan Cup has now begun. 32 men were announced for the 2019 iteration of the tournament creating the biggest line up ever seen in the annual NJPW event. This year’s tournament also has the caveat that the winner will be facing IWGP Heavyweight Champion Jay White at the G1 Supercard in April. The WrestleMania weekend show will be one the biggest in company history when they join ROH and CMLL at Madison Square Garden.
The biggest bout for the March 11th event will see Suzuki-gun leader Minoru Suzuki take on Satoshi Kojima. Both men are legends in the company and will be representing the Japanese Strong Style of NJPW with pride and respect. Hirooki Goto and SANADA are also set to collide. This bout could easily be a sleeper match in the tournament as both men are currently fairly under the radar but can bring out some incredible work when the time calls.
Here’s the full card for the New Japan Cup event in Kagawa (03/11):
Toru Yano vs Davey Boy Smith Jr (NJPW Cup First Round Match)
Satoshi Kojima vs Minoru Suzuki (NJPW Cup First Round Match)
Hirooki Goto vs SANADA (NJPW Cup First Round Match)
Togi Makabe vs Colt Cabana (NJPW Cup First Round Match)
German based promotion wXw will be holding their prestigious 16 Carat Gold tournament over the weekend. The company are heading to Oberhausen on March 8th, 9th and 10th for the 2019 iteration of the event.
The second round matches of the tournament took place last night. The results for these bouts are as follows:
Killer Kelly & Yuu def. Toni Storm & Wesna
16 Carat Gold Tournament 2019 Quarter Final Match – Ilja Dragunov b. Pentagon Jr. – Dragunov took the win to advance to the semi finals
16 Carat Gold Tournament 2019 Quarter Final Match – Avalanche b. Shigehiro Irie – Avalanche took the win to advance to the to the semi finals
Julian Pace b. Chris Brookes and Daisuke Sekimoto and Rey Horus
16 Carat Gold Tournament 2019 Quarter Final Match –WALTER b. Fenix – WALTER took the win to advance to the semi finals
16 Carat Gold Tournament 2019 Quarter Final Match – Lucky Kid b. Axel Dieter Jr. (Marcel Barthel) – Lucky Kid took another shock win over the NXY UK Superstar to advance to the to the semi finals
wXw World Tag Team ChampionshipMatch –Aussie Open (Kyle Fletcher & Mark Davis) b. RISE (Ivan Kiev & Pete Bouncer) (c) and Jay FK (Francis Kaspin & Jay Skillet) – Aussie Open took the win to become the new wXw World Tag Team Champions
wXw Shotgun Championship Match –Marius Al-Ani (c) b. Alexander Wolfe – Marius took the win to successfully retain his Championship
wXw Unified World Championship Match – Bobby Gunns b. Absolute Andy (c) – Bobby Gunns took the win to become the new wXw Unified World Champion
PROGRESS Wrestling recently held their Chapter 85 event from the O2 Academy in Bournemouth. The show took place on March 9th and the full results are as follows:
Super Strong Style 16 Qualifying Match –DJ Z b. Angelico – DJ Z took the win against former Lucha Underground star Angelico to advance to the Super Strong Style 16 tournament later this year
PROGRESS Atlas Champion Trent Seven b. Ligero – Seven was originally scheduled to take on Jody Fleisch however fellow NXT UK Superstar Ligero was drafted in at the last second due to a family emergency
Women’s Championship Qualifying Match – Millie McKenzie b. Session Moth Martina – Former NXT UK Superstar McKenzie took the win to advance to the Women’s Championship match on Super Strong Style 16 weekend
Super Strong Style 16 Qualifying Match–Jordan Devlin b. Austin Theory – Devlin took the win toadvance to the Super Strong Style 16 tournament later this year
Travis Banks b. El Phantasmo
The 198 (“Flash” Morgan Webster & Wild Boar) b. The Anti-Fun Police (Chief Deputy Dunne & Los Federales Santos Jr)
Do Not Resuscitate (Chuck Mambo, William Eaver & Spike Trivet) b. Jimmy Havoc, Mark Haskins & Eddie Dennis (w/ Vicky Haskins)
AEW Star Jimmy Havoc recently made his return to the company. The former PROGRESS Champion appeared following the Mark Haskins vs Do Not Resuscitate bout to help his former tag team partner Mark Haskins.
One of the bigger stories of the night saw Austin Theory debut for the company. The working relationship between WWE and Theory’s home base EVOLVE has long been publicised. WWE’s ties to PROGRESS are also now more in the limelight than ever before, with PROGRESS co-owner Jim Smallman apparently being groomed to run the NXT UK territory. Austin Theory heading over to the UK might well be an opportunity to get him working with NXT UK Superstars and get more seasoning before moving up to NXT in either North American or the United Kingdom.
New Japan has revealed that there will be a new member of the Bullet Club debuting soon. A promo package teased the new arrival to NJPW at a recent New Japan Cup show (video below). The package showed a lone figure standing in a dimly light ring, that figure was UK based star, El Phantasmo.
The Canadian born performer originally got his start in NWA: Extreme Canadian Championship Wrestling, where he debuted in October 2005. El Phantasmo worked his way through the Canadian independent scene before relocating to the UK. Phantasmo then started with Revolution Pro (Rev Pro) in 2017.
Rev Pro and New Japan have a close working relationship. El Phantasmo actually won the British J Cup event co-hosted by Rev Pro/NJPW in 2018 at the Manchester Wrestling Media Con. Phantasmo defeated Rich Swann, Rocky Romero and KUSHIDA in the final of the tournament to take the cup.
It is likely that the close affiliation between Rev Pro/NJPW is the reasoning behind Phantasmo’s signing. The Canadian star is one of the standout performers in the UK and will soon taking on PAC for the Fight Forever promotion.
WWE has announced that newly signed NXT UK Superstar Kay Lee Ray will be debuting next week. Kay Lee Ray was the first ever WoS/World of Sport Women’s Champion and appeared to be staying with the company for the long haul. KLR shockingly appeared at NXT UK’s Takeover: Blackpool event earlier this year and this caused many to question the future of the ITV reboot. Fellow WoS performer Viper was also being linked with WWE although AEW were reportedly also interested. You can read more on this story below:
Kay Lee Ray is also the current Insane Championship Wrestling Women’s Champion. Ray recently defended her title against NXT Women’s Champion Toni Storm. The bout took place at the Square Go! event in somewhat of a European dream bout. Ray took the win in the match when Kasey Owens interfered and attacked both women.
KLR has also previously appeared for Pro Wrestling: EVE, TNA’s British Bootcamp and WWE’s Inaugural Mae Young Classic. Ray is one of the most well respected performers on the UK scene and this is a big boost to the NXT UK brand.
German based promotion wXw will be holding their prestigious 16 Carat Gold tournament over the weekend. The company are heading to Oberhausen on March 8th, 9th and 10th for the 2019 iteration of the event.
The opening round matches of the tournament took place last night. The results for these bouts are as follows:
Alternate Four Way Match (The Winner Will Be An Alternate If Any 16 Carat Gold Performer is Injured) – Veit Müller b. Julian Pace, Kyle Fletcher and Leon van Gasteren
16 Carat Gold Bouts
Axel Dieter Jr. b. Marius Al-Ani – NXT UK Superstar Dieter Jr took the win to advance
Fenix b. Rey Horus – Fenix took the win in the battle of Lucha Underground stars
Shigehiro Irie b. Chris Brookes – Irie took the win over popular UK scene star Brookes
Lucky Kid b. Timothy Thatcher – Kid took the shock win over the Ringkampf stable member Thatcher
Falls Count Anywhere Match – Avalanche b. Jurn Simmons – Avalanche took the win in this special Falls Count Anywhere first round match
Pentagon Jr. b. Mark Davis – Pentagon took the win over Aussie Open star Mark Davis to advance
Ilja Dragunov b. Daisuke Sekimoto – Newly signed NXT UK Superstar Dragunov took the win over Big Japan’s Sekimoto
WALTER b. David Starr – NXT UK Superstar WALTER continued his winning streak over Starr
Former Stardom performer Kris Wolf unfortunately announced her retirement earlier this year. This was due to recurring symptoms from concussions she’s sustained during her career. Wolf announced that she would be embarking on one further tour of the United States and then appearing at a retirement show in the UK.
Wolf appeared in a video recently confirming her retirement, saying “I wanted to let you guys know that this is going to be my last tour. I’ve had kind of some s—ty symptoms [from] my concussion stuff come up. … I think now would be a good time to peace out before I completely lose my mind. Just had a couple of blackouts, memory issues.”
Check out the video below:
https://youtu.be/01GSreeMLU8
The aforementioned retirement show in the UK has now been revealed. Pro Wrestling: EVE will be holding the event on April 26th from the Resistance Gallery in London, England. The show is titled “WE’RE ALL GONNA DIE – The Frantic Scramble In Search For Meaning Through A Mess Of Meaty Interactions. AKA The Kris Wolf Retirement Show.”
EVE sent out the following regarding the show: “This is a very special EVE event where we will be saying goodbye to one of our most beloved performers, Kris Wolf.Join us as we wish Kris a happy retirement with our usual blend of death-defying, jaw dropping, action packed, theatrical wrestling stunts fuelled with cabaret and comedy, this time with a large helping of Kris’ particular blend of bonkers.”
‘Bone Soldier’ Taiji Ishimori successfully defended his IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship earlier this week against Jushin ‘Thunder’ Liger. Ishimori will now prepare for his third defence of the title in the World’s Most Famous Arena Madison Square Garden. It was also announced on the Anniversary show that Liger will be retiring at the end of the year. You can read more about that story below:
It was originally confirmed earlier this that Ishimori will be defending his Championship against Dragon Lee. The CMLL star Dragon Lee has been one of the most exciting performers in the NJPW Juniors division over the past few years. Lee had a fantastic run of feature bouts against Hiromu Takahashi whilst the ‘Time Bomb’ was on excursion in Mexico. Unfortunately during their last bout for NJPW Takahashi suffered a horrific neck injury. Takahashi is still recuperating from that injury and his return date is not yet confirmed.
NJPW has now announced a third participant in the match. Ring of Honor star Bandido will be making the match at Madison Square Garden a Triple Threat. Ishimori announced at the recent NJPW Anniversary show that he wanted a ROH star to challenge him at the MSG show. When Dragon Lee was announced as facing Ishimori it was mentioned that he is in fact a CMLL contracted star. NJPW1972 issued the following to quell any confusion: “since Dragon Lee is signed to CMLL, not ROH, Bandido decided to answer Ishimori’s open challenge. The rudo who has been catching the eye of many on the Indie scene especially with his electrifying match at All In against the Young Bucks and Kota Ibushi.”
Kota Ibushi recently sat down with New Japan’s English Language site NJPW1972.com to discuss a number of topics. The ‘Golden Star’ recently confirmed that he would be staying with New Japan instead of heading to the new All Elite Wrestling promotion. Ibushi’s longtime Golden Lovers tag partner Kenny Omega decided to leave Japan. This was of course covered as part of the interview. NJPW stated that this interview would reveal Kota’s “real feelings” about Omega.
When asked about Omega leaving Ibushi replied “Kenny has his own path to follow and I support him with it completely. I’d like to see Kenny change the world with wrestling, but I don’t want to lose to him. I’m going to fight my battles with everything I’ve got. Looking back now, I think Kenny really overshadowed me in New Japan, right?”
The interviewer then asked Ibushi if he felt that the team was a “50/50 relationship” as Omega has mentioned in the past. Kota had an interesting response, stating that “No. When I look at what he’s achieved, Kenny’s won the G1 and was IWGP Heavyweight Champion, two things I’ve never done. Because I felt that I was not on the same level as him, I was always conscious about linking arms and teaming-up with him.”
Kota Ibushi is scheduled to be taking part in the upcoming New Japan Cup tournament. The winner of the tournament will go on to face Jay White for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship at the G1 Supercard event.
German based promotion wXw will be holding their prestigious 16 Carat Gold tournament over the weekend. The company are heading to Oberhausen on March 8th, 9th and 10th for the 2019 iteration of the event.
The opening round matches of the tournament will be taking place tonight. These are as follows:
David Starr vs WALTER
Rey Horus vs Fenix
Axel Dieter Jr vs Marius Al-Ani
Mark Davis vs Pentagon Jr
Lucky Kid vs Timothy Thatcher
Ilja Dragunov vs Daisuke Sekimoto
Shigehiro Ire vs Chris Brookes
Avalanche vs Jurn Simmons
The big matches lined up include David Starr taking on NXT UK Superstar WALTER. Starr has never beaten WALTER in a one on one contest, a story that stretches multiple companies worldwide and one of the most intriguing on the independent scene. Mark Davis vs Pentagon Jr could also be a sleeper match with the Aussie Open star getting a shot at one of the best performers on the planet in Pentagon Jr.
The show on Friday March 8th will also be featuring two World Championship bouts. The wXw Unified World Championship will be defended by Absolute Andy when he takes on Bobby Gunns. The wXw Women’s Championship will also be on the line when Champion Toni Storm defends against Killer Kelly.
UK based promotion Fight Forever has announced PAC’s match for the upcoming ‘Fight Syndrome’ event. The Dragon Gate and former WWE Superstar will be taking on UK standout El Phantasmo. Phantasmo has also been prominent for the likes of Rev Pro over the past year having won the British J Cup at Wrestling Media Con in 2018. This should be a high flying affair between two of the UK scene’s best.
Fight Forever had recently announced a PPV deal with FITE TV. The company revealed on Twitter back in February that two PPV events would be streamed live on the platform. The two shows being Dance of The Dragon and Fight Syndrome. These two shows will be recorded on March 29th and shown on FITE on April 8th and 15th respectively. Dance of The Dragon will be a free event on the platform. Fight Syndrome will be an official PPV stream.
Fight Forever made the following comments on the new PPV deal: “With a double-taping already announced for March 29th at PRYZM Birmingham. Fans in attendance can expect to see a world-class roster of talent including PAC, Fight Forever Men’s Champion Joe Hendry, David Starr, Candy Floss, El Phantasmo and many more.”