We’re just weeks away from New Japan’s biggest event. Wrestle Kingdom 13 will be taking place January 4th from the iconic Tokyo Dome. One of the more under the radar but possible show stealing bouts will see Zack Sabre Jr take on Tomohiro Ishii.

The match will be contested for Ishii’s Rev Pro British Heavyweight Championship. Ishii recently defended his title against David Starr at the Rev Pro Uprising event. Zack Sabre Jr and his fellow Suzuki-gun stablemates appeared after the match. Minoru Suzuki and ZSJ attacked Ishii and Zack announced that he wanted his rematch. ZSJ only wanted a bout for the British Championship at New Japan’s biggest event.

NJPW recently released a new edition of their YouTube programme The Wire. The episode features the Rev Pro Title bout and chronicles the journey that both have taken to get to this bout. Ironically both Ishii and ZSJ are two of the most underrated talents in New Japan, their bout could easily be seen as a dark horse for showstealer on January 4th.

Check out the full show via the tweet below:

?The Wire?

British Heavyweight Championship at WK13 Ishii vs ZSJ

For the first time ever, the RevPro British Heavyweight Championship will be defended at the Tokyo Dome as the Stone Pitbull takes on The British Submission Master!https://t.co/4tlF0OT6yX#njpw #njwk13

— NJPW Global (@njpwglobal) December 19, 2018

New UK promotion Head Drop has released their first match content on YouTube. The promotion is run by revered UK photographer Rob Brazier. The company held their first show at the Resistance Gallery in Bethnal Green, London this past Sunday.

The card was headlined by a bout between Ringkampf’s Timothy Thatcher against Jerry Bakewell. NXT UK Superstar Jinny, Cara Noir, James Mason and ‘Pastor’ William Eaver also featured on the card.

Head Drop has released a bout between Pro Wrestling EVE Champion Nina Samuels taking on Kanji. This match was the opening contest of the show and showed women’s wrestling in the UK in a great light. If you’ve never seen a Pro Wrestling EVE match or the style of the Resistance Gallery this is a great place to start.

You can check out the match via the tweet below.

https://twitter.com/RobBrazierPhoto/status/1075127165015023616

New Japan Pro Wrestling were recently featured in Japan’s largest English language newspaper publication. The Japan Times ran an article looking at the ongoing of New Japan in recent years. Several stars of the promotion were interviewed including Hiroshi Tanahashi.

Tanahashi discussed several on point topics, most notably the recent ‘defections’ to the West and WWE. The article mentions that New Japan are the ‘number 2’ promotion in the world. The article also states that NJPW “often struggles to retain its top stars. With defections to World Wrestling Entertainment an appealing option for up-and-coming wrestlers.” Tanahashi mentioned when asked about the recent moves that “If a wrestler or two leaves, there’s tons of others that are looking to fill the spots available. It’s been this way from the beginning, so there’s little point worrying about it.”

Cody Rhodes, The Young Bucks, Hangman Page soon likely leaving the independent scene. There are huge opportunities for up and coming talent. New Japan has seen the recent rise of the likes of Juice Robinson, Jay White and the newer young lions like Shota Umino and Toa Henare. We have posted several reports this year on the success of New Japan’s move into more western territories. There are also recent reports that New Japan are looking to bring back some formerly featured stars such as Shinsuke Nakamura, Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows.

Insane Championship Wrestling (ICW) will be hosting their final event of the year this Sunday at The Garage in Glasgow, Scotland. Brush Another Goose is already shaping up and there are some top bouts confirmed. ICW Fight Club will be running monthly throughout 2019 with shows planned at The Garage, their next big PPV event will be the annual Square Go! on February 24th.

Here’s the full card for the event this Sunday:

• Kenny Williams vs Wolfgang
• Viper vs Little Miss Roxxy
• Joe Coffey vs Liam Thomson
• Joe Hendry vs BT Gunn
• ICW Tag Team Championship Match – P.O.D vs Kinky Party
• Aaron Echo vs Kez Evans
• Mark Coffey will be in Action
• ICW World Heavyweight Champion Lionheart will be in action

ICW recently held their biggest event of the year in Fear & Loathing XI. The card featured some top international names including 205 Live’s Noam Dar, NXT UK’s Pete Dunne, Tyler Bate, Trent Seven and James Storm. You can check out the full results for that show here.

PROGRESS has announced that the new EVOLVE Champion will be heading to the UK next year. Austin Theory will be taking part in the March 9th/10th weekender in Birmingham, England. Chapter 85: Progro.Naut will be taking place on Saturday 9th and Chapter 86: Corrupted Harmony on Sunday 10th.

Theory became the new EVOLVE Champion at last weekend’s EVOLVE 117 event. Austin defeated both Fabian Aichner and Roderick Strong to win the belt. Theory pinned Aichner after hitting the Ataxia. after the match Theory took the microphone and declared that “EVOLVE is Theory.” The new champion also fired Priscilla Kelly as his manager. Darby Allin appeared and brawled with Theory until he escaped to the back.

The working relationship between WWE and 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. 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.

ICYMI: Former WWN Champion @austintheory1 is coming to the UK for the very first time this March!
9th March @o2academybmouth: https://t.co/tuaPxHqxM8
10th March @o2academybham: https://t.co/cesazruGDn #ThisIsPROGRESS #Chapter85 #Chapter86 pic.twitter.com/KXbPwkby5Y

— PROGRESS Wrestling (@ThisIs_Progress) December 14, 2018

UK independent promotion Fight Club: Pro will be heading to Japan in January for their Project Tokyo event. The company announced earlier this year that they would be debuting in Korakuen Hall. The show takes place on January 7th with a huge card of international stars.

205 Live Superstar Akira Tozawa has now been announced for the event. Fight Club: Pro is owned by NXT UK Superstar Trent Seven. Seven was originally confirmed for this card but was recently pulled. Tyler Bate and Pete Dunne were also pulled from the event.

There had been speculation that FCP was part of the ‘greenlit’ promotions for NXT UK talent. The cancellation of British Strong Style’s involvement seemed to change this but with Tozawa on board as a potential ‘make good’ for the Japanese fans who really knows at this point. NXT UK will be holding a taping within 7 days of this event, that is why British Strong Style were reportedly pulled.

WWE Mae Young Classic competitor and Japanese legend Meiko Satomura will also be on the card. Satomura is the current FCP Champion and will likely defend her title on the show. Jun Kasai, CIMA, Daisuke Sekimoto, Chris Brookes, Jimmy Havoc and NXT UK’s Millie McKenzie are also seen on the show’s official poster.

??PROJECT TOKYO??

We wanted our debut show in Japan to be something special. A showcase of what we are, but also, to put on an event that stands out from the rest!!!

Japan, we are coming!!!

Get ready for PROJECT TOKYO!!!

Tickets are available NOW via: https://t.co/fVeZkBs1xX pic.twitter.com/zChsHYBbah

— Fight Club: PRO (@Fightclubpro) December 16, 2018

Mark Haskins has been touted as the latest signee for Ring of Honor. The company are currently bringing in some top independent talent as a way to offset the departure of The Elite (Young Bucks, Cody Rhodes and Hangman Page).

Haskins is one of the top stars in the UK not currently signed to NXT UK or World of Sport. The former PROGRESS Champion has been performing on cards across the United Kingdom for a number of years and is regarded as one of the stalwarts of the scene.

PW Insider reported that Haskins had signed around the recent Final Battle event. The backstage talk had apparently revolved around the UK star and his impending debut. The actual date for Haskins’ debut has not yet been confirmed and ROH have not made his signing public at the time of writing.

Haskins made his ROH debut earlier this year during the Honor United tour. Mark actually won the ROH International Cup in August, defeating Hangman Page in the final. The win earned Haskins a shot against Jay Lethal for the Ring of Honor Championship. This match took place at the London date for Honor Re-United where he was unsuccessful.

We interviewed Mark earlier this year, you can check that full interview out here.

DEFIANT Wrestling has announced the identity of their new General Manager. Prince Ameen was revealed as the company’s new GM during their second episode of the rebooted Loaded programme on YouTube.

Loaded is a free-to-air programme on YouTube that features many of the top talent from the UK independent scene.The show has seen many iterations over the past few years. DEFIANT sent out the following press release for the return back in September:

“Loaded previously ran for 33 episodes between July 2016 and October 2017, amassing over 25 MILLION views on YouTube. Loaded, at that time, ran under the WCPW (What Culture Pro Wrestling) banner, with WCPW since rebranded as Defiant Wrestling in late 2017 following a diversification from the What Culture brand.”

The company also recently announced that PAC will be making his debut for the company in 2019. The former WWE Cruiserweight Champion is confirmed for the first two dates of 2019’s ‘Loaded’ tapings.

Our new General Manager will be revealed TONIGHT on #Loaded! Tune in at 8pm UK for free on YouTube: https://t.co/l8O2MuoUi9#WeAreDefiant pic.twitter.com/gkJNX1fT9H

— DEFIANT Wrestling (@DEFIANTwres) December 16, 2018

We reported earlier this month that Finn Balor had been pulled from WWE’s South America tour. The Irish Superstar worked one show of the tour and returned home shortly after. Balor was then subsequently removed from the Mixed Match Challenge series and replaced by Apollo Crews. Balor took to Twitter following his removal from the South American tour, saying that “I am sorry I could not preform in #WWEBuenosAires
Lo siento no pude competir en #WWEBuenosAires.”

Finn Balor was reportedly sent home due to illness and his status for tonight’s TLC event was in question. Balor is set to face Drew McIntyre at the TLC event at the SAP Center in San Jose, California. WWE did write off Balor from RAW recently in a backstage segment, having McIntyre assault Balor to play into an injury angle.

Although it is not official there does appear to be some good news regarding the former NXT Champion. Balor appeared in a triple threat match at last night’s RAW Live Event, the show took place in Bakersfield, California. Balor faced Dolph Ziggler and Drew McIntyre in the triple threat match, so it does appear as though he has been cleared for tonight’s WWE Network event.

New Japan are now on the road to January 4th’s Tokyo Dome show. Wrestle Kingdom is the biggest event in NJPW’s calendar and the traditional ‘Road To’ shows will be taking place this weekend.

Here’s the results for Night 2 (12/15) from Korakuen Hall:

• Ren Narita and Teruaki Kanemitsu vs Shota Umino and Ayato Yoshida – This match ended in a time limit draw
• SHO, YOH and Rocky Romero b. Toa Henare, Tiger Mask and Jushin ‘Thunder’ Liger – SHO took the pinfall win following the 3K
• Tomohiro Ishii and Hirooki Goto b. Takashi Iizuka and Minoru Suzuki – Ishii took the win after hitting the Vertical Brain Buster on Iizuka
• SANADA and EVIL b. Chase Owens and Yujrio Takahashi – SANADA and EVIL took the win after hitting the Magic Killer on Owens
• Tetsuya Naito, BUSHI and Shingo Takagi b. El Desperado, Yoshinobu Kanemaru and Taichi – Naito took the win after hitting Destino on Kanemaru
• Taiji Ishimori, Tanga Loa, Tama Tonga, Bad Luck Fale and Jay White b. KUSHIDA, Tomoaki Honma, Toru Yano, Togi Makabe and Kazuchika Okada – Loa took the win after hitting Apesh*t on Honma
• Kenny Omega and Kota Ibushi b. Will Ospreay and Hiroshi Tanahashi – Omega and Ibushi took the win after hitting the Golden Trigger on Ospreay

EVOLVE has announced that Johnny Gargano will be returning to the company for “one weekend only.” The company held their 117 event yesterday and announced that they would be returning to New York in 2019. You can check out the full results for the event here.

There will be a show held in Brooklyn on 01/18 followed by a show in Queens on 01/19. The NXT Superstar appeared for both Dragon Gate USA and EVOLVE between 2009 and 2016 before signing with WWE. Gargano was a one-time EVOLVE tag team champion alongside RAW Superstar Drew McIntyre (known as Galloway at the time).

EVOLVE formed a working relationship with WWE in around 2015. The company has seen many of their top stars move on to NXT and 205 Live, including Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa. The company also held qualifying matches for the 2016 Cruiserweight Classic event on the WWE Network.

EVOLVE 117 took place last night from New York’s La Boom venue. The show featured many NXT Superstars and it appears as though the company will continue to do so going forward.

Here are the full results from the show (

• Harlem Bravado b. Joe Bailey – Bravado took the win after hitting the Angel’s Wings
• BSHP KNG b.  Joe Gacy – KNG took the win with a Swanton Bomb
• Josh Briggs b.Leon Ruff (w/ AR Fox, Ayla Fox, and The Skulk) – Briggs took the win after hitting two consecutive Chokeslam/Lumbar Check moves
• AR Fox (w/ Ayla Fox and The Skulk) b. Curt Stallion – Fox took the win with the Foxcatcher
• Kassius Ohno b. Darby Allin – Ohno took the win after hitting a Discus Forearm to the back of Allin’s neck
• EVOLVE Tag Team Champions The Street Profits (Angelo Dawkins & Montez Ford) vs. WWN Champion JD Drake & Anthony Henry – This bout ended in a no contest after Eddie Kingston interfered and attacked both teams
• EVOLVE Championship Match – Austin Theory b. Fabian Aichner and NXT Tag Team Champion Roderick Strong – Theory pinned Aichner after hitting the Ataxia. Theory took to the mic after the match and declared that “EVOLVE is Theory.” The new champion also fired Priscilla Kelly as his manager. Darby Allin appeared and brawled with Theory until he escaped to the back

New Japan are now on the road to January 4th’s Tokyo Dome show. Wrestle Kingdom is the biggest event in NJPW’s calendar and the traditional ‘Road To’ shows will be taking place this weekend.

Here’s the results for Night 1 (12/14) from Korakuen Hall:

• Tiger Mask, KUSHIDA, Jushin ‘Thunder’ Liger and Tomoaki Honma b. Yuya Uemura, Ren Narita, Ayato Yoshida and Toa Henare – Tiger Mask took the win after hitting the Tiger Driver on Uemura
• Shingo Takagi b. Shota Umino – Takagi took the win after hitting the Last of the dragon
• Rocky Romero and Hirooki Goto b. Takahashi Iizuka and Minoru Suzuki – Romero rolled up Iizuka with a Schoolboy for the win
• Tomohiro Ishii, SHO and YOH b. El Desperado, Yoshinobu Kanemaru and Taichi – Ishii took the win after hitting the Vertical Brain Buster on Kanemaru
• Tanga Loa, Tama Tonga, Taiji Ishimori and Bad Luck Fale b. BUSHI, SANADA, EVIL and Tetsuya Naito – Loa took the win following the Super Powerbomb on BUSHI
• Kazuchika Okada b. Gedo – Okada took the win over his former manager after hitting the Rainmaker
• Will Ospreay, Toru Yano, Togi Makabe and Hiroshi Tanahashi b. Chase Owens, Yujiro Takahashi, Kota Ibushi and Kenny Omega – Ospreay took the win after hitting the Storm Breaker on Owens

We’ve been reporting recently on the new NXT UK talent contractual situations. NXT UK contracted Superstars will now be ‘exclusive’ to the NXT offshoot. Previously NXT UK Superstars were prohibited from performing on shows within 7 days of an official NXT UK date but now they can only perform for certain ‘greenlit’ companies and not on any on demand platforms.

The Wrestling Observer claimed this week that IMPACT talents are possibly part of the ‘greenlit’ performers that NXT UK Superstars can face in-ring. Jordynne Grace faced Toni Storm on two occasions this past week for PROGRESS and Pro Wrestling: EVE. Dave Meltzer claimed that “Evidently the ban doesn’t include Impact in Europe either, since Jordynne Grace, who has an Impact contract, worked twice this past week against Toni Storm, for both Eve and Progress. You could note Progress being aligned with WWE, but Eve isn’t to the best of our knowledge.”

We can confirm that this isn’t the case at all. The rule prohibiting NXT UK Superstars being able to face performers outside of the ‘WWE Bubble’ does not come into effect until January, that is why Storm appeared for both PROGRESS and EVE against Jordynne Grace. The only ‘rule’ that WWE has enforced from the announcement of the new contracts is the ‘intergender’ rule. NXT UK Superstars cannot perform against a star of the opposite gender on any independent shows.

We recently spoke to the owner of the new UK independent promotion Wrestle Gate Gary Ward. The promotion will be making their debut in January but have already hit the headlines with a major affiliation to Will Ospreay’s Frontline promotion. Check out the interview below:

SEScoops: Wrestle Gate is the newest promotion to emerge from the UK scene. If you could describe the ethos of the company in a sentence what would it be? 

Gary: Opening The Gate To British & Japanese Strong Style, while giving the next generation of British based wrestlers an opportunities to nurture.

Relationship with Ospreay

SEScoops: Your working relationship alongside Will Ospreay’s Frontline promotion with both companies having intertwining Championships is such a unique concept. How did the relationship come about? 

Gary: We both share the same views and philosophy on how wrestling should seen in front of a live and on-looking audience. The partnership wasn’t something I don’t think either of us set out for, but we met at a show and spoke for a few minutes. During that it became clear that we share a lot of the same interests with wrestling and how we enjoy watching it (Will performing it too). We felt that we could bring something completely unique to the wrestling scene here. The Inter-promotion Triangle Tag Team Championships is just that. While also supporting each other product with upcoming talents like Will’s Young Lions or current British standouts like Robbie X, Sean Kustom etc. We will also have cross promotional matches like on January 10^th as Wrestle Gate Pro presents an exhibition match. This will be between Robbie X and Sean Kustom at Frontlines Chaos Restored in London.

NXT UK Restrictions

SEScoops: With the recent NXT UK restrictions coming in to force did this affect the strategy before your debut show?

Gary: I was “lucky” in the fact that it really didn’t. I did purposely book the shows to have a very limited amount of NXTUK wrestlers on it. This wasn’t because I don’t think they aren’t great, but because what would set Wrestle Gate Pro apart from other established promotions? People naturally go to the brand they know. Like if you went to Tesco you would buy Coca Cola over a new brand, so my idea anyway was to be different, but bring to the UK, Japanese imports that have never before here. while we had to pull Xia Brookside from the show, she wasn’t originally booked, Jordan Devlin however was someone we we’re very keen on. Him being able to perform on January 26^th following his signing is great news for us, but this will be 1 and done for him so we’re grateful to Jordan and WWE for this.

Jordan Devlin vs Chris Ridgeway

SEScoops: You’ve got some big names appearing at your debut event in January and the main event looks spectacular. Was Jordan Devlin vs Chris Ridgeway THE bout you had in mind from the get go?

Gary: Chris and Jordan were always the top names for Wrestle Gate Pro, my idea from the get go was to find two men that not only embodied what my ideas are and everything that I believe Wrestle Gate is and will become, but to be two names that indy wrestling fans love and admire, these two are just that.

Nottingham: The Home Base?

SEScoops: Do you plan on running shows across the country or will Nottingham be a base for now?

Gary: We will be exclusively in Nottingham Rushcliffe Arena in 2019, while other options have presented itself to us already, our home will always be The Rushcliffe Arena,  we want fans to be able to easily follow all the action and storylines from one venue, sometimes moving around unless you have an outstanding on demand service can make things hard to follow. We have the ability to scale Wrestle Gate Pro in the same venue too, as the Rushcliffe’s has two halls, one a 350 seater and the other a 800 seater, the there is massive scalability here for us.

DEFIANT Wrestling has announced that their Tag Team Champions Aussie Open will be facing CCK this Sunday on Loaded. The team of Chris Brookes and Jon Gresham have had some stellar outings this year including a MOTY candidate against LAX for PROGRESS back in September.

Loaded is a free-to-air programme on YouTube that features many of the top talent from the UK independent scene.The show has seen many iterations over the past few years. DEFIANT sent out the following press release for the return back in September:

“Loaded previously ran for 33 episodes between July 2016 and October 2017, amassing over 25 MILLION views on YouTube. Loaded, at that time, ran under the WCPW (What Culture Pro Wrestling) banner, with WCPW since rebranded as Defiant Wrestling in late 2017 following a diversification from the What Culture brand.”

The company also recently announced that PAC will be making his debut for the company in 2019. The former WWE Cruiserweight Champion is confirmed for the first two dates of 2019’s ‘Loaded’ tapings.

Aussie Open defend their Tag Team titles this Sunday on Loaded! They take on @OBEYBrookes and @TheJonGresham, and it's FREE on YouTube.

Subscribe now and get notified when the episode goes live: https://t.co/ZjxKbF1XH4 pic.twitter.com/muW6cdSKhO

— DEFIANT Wrestling (@DEFIANTwres) December 13, 2018

Matt Hardy appeared to announce his in-ring retirement earlier this year. The ‘Woken’ character had seen an incredible resurgence in his career due to the outlandish persona he had crafted back in TNA and brought over to WWE.

The RAW Superstar recently spoke to WrestlingINC and mentioned that he is looking to return to the ring. Hardy stated that “There is not a set timeline [for me returning]. Whenever I was “going home” there were some issues, some nagging injuries I was dealing with. I had to go home and do some rehabilitation.” Hardy elaborated further, saying that “As far as a timetable of when I’m going to return, I don’t have an exact timetable but I would say sooner than later.”

Matt also discussed his most recent storyline alongside Bray Wyatt. Hardy stated that he “loved working with Bray and I loved teaming with Bray as well.” Matt also stated that “In a perfect world, if Bray and I would have been in full control of what we were doing, it would have been done a little differently. One thing that I totally respect about Bray is how he’s very committed to what he does. Hardy also discussed Bray’s ‘over the top’ character, saying that “if you have an over-the-top persona in wrestling, you really have to commit to be believable and he was very good at doing that. He’s a very talented guy. Between working with him and teaming with him we also became great friends. I’m excited to see what he ends up doing next.”

Jason Jordan has been out of action now for nearly a year. There was speculation that the former American Alpha Superstar may not ever return to the ring since he left the ring for the final time back in February. Dave Meltzer remarked on the situation back in early November, stating that “He’s been out for 10 months? Is that about right? It’s been a long time. Obviously, it’s not a good sign that he’s been out for this long.”

Jordan was in Birmingham, Alabama around this time last week to get further analysis. Doctors took a look at the RAW Superstar’s neck, according to PWInsider. There are currently no signs on whether the outcome was positive for the former NXT Tag Team Champion. Jordan was reportedly been working as a backstage producer since he was cleared to travel on the road with WWE’s live crew.

Jordan appeared to have a positive outlook back in November when he sent out the following tweet: “I’m ready to attack this week and make huge improvements! I’ve been trying to keep my eye on the prize and look at the big picture. I’m still on the road to recovery and I’m very optimistic about getting back to where I belong!“

Mae Young Classic 2018 winner Toni Storm recently spoke to the UK’s Metro Sport on a variety of topics. The Australian Superstar is one of the top prospects in the UK and is heavily featured on the NXT UK brand.

When asked who the best wrestler in the world is right now Storm replied by saying “That is such a tough one right now! You’ve got the likes of Daniel Bryan and Finn Balor, but I’ll tell you who’s coming up right now who’s going to take that soon, Pete Dunne! I think he’s on his way to becoming the best in the world. He knows exactly what he’s doing, he’s an absolute professional and has been doing it since he was a kid. He’s just fantastic.”

Storm was also asked who the most underrated wrestler in the UK scene was. Toni stated that “I know it’s probably the obvious choice but my fiancee Chris Ridgeway is incredible, and he’s doing really well on the UK indie scene. He needs to be seen all over the world. I watch his stuff a lot, I had a match with him a few months ago and he is literally world class. It would be good if we could see his face a lot more.”

Storm was also asked if she felt Ronda Rousey and Becky Lynch should headline WrestleMania next year. The Aussie Superstar responded by saying “Absolutely, 100%! Imagine that, it should absolutely headline Wrestlemania. They’re two of the toughest women in the world. That’s exactly what I want to see at Wrestlemania.”

You can check out the full interview here 

New Japan has announced that they will be returning to the United States in 2019. The company will be hitting Los Angeles, CA and Charlotte, NC on January 30, 2019 and February 1, 2019.

NJPW has already put on four events in the States previously. This started with the “G1 Special in USA” which was followed up with three shows in March, July and September of 2018. New Japan has touted the success of their ‘US expansion’ thus far, mentioning amongst other things their LA Dojo. NJPW1972 put a press release for this new tour mentioning the dojo, stating “In March 2018, we established the LA Dojo with Katsuyori Shibata as the head coach. Three young lions have debuted in the US so far.”

The company has described the New Beginning USA tour as the “third pillar of New Japan Pro-Wrestling’s US expansion plan, along with big match production and new talent development.” There are no matches currently confirmed for the tour.

The times and venues for the two events are as follows:

• January 30 (Wed) 8:30PM in Los Angeles, CA at the Globe Theatre
• February 1 (Fri) 7:30PM in Charlotte, NC at the Grady Cole Center

Tickets will go on sale on Saturday, December 22^nd at 10:00AM (PST). More information will be available on NJPW1972.com.

New Japan Pro Wrestling are heading into their biggest season of the year. January’s Tokyo Dome show is the top event in their calendar and Wrestle Kingdom 13 is set to be absolutely massive.

There are just a few more events before the January 4th spectacular. These are the traditional Korakuen Hall ‘Road To’ Tokyo Dome that take place this weekend 14th/15th. New Japan has now released the official cards for these events and they are as follows:

FRI. DECEMBER. 14. 2018

• KUSHIDA, Tiger Mask, Jushin ‘Thunder’ Liger and Tomoaki Honma vs Yuya Uemura, Ren Narita, Ayato Yoshida and Toa Henare
• Shota Umino vs Shingo Takagi
• Rocky Romero and Hirooki Goto vs Takashi Iizuka and Minoru Suzuki
• SHO, YOH and Tomohiro Ishii vs El Desperado, Yoshinobu Kanemaru and Taichi
• BUSHI, SANADA, EVIL and Tetsuya Naito vs Taiji Ishimori, Tanga Loa, Tama Tonga and Bad Luck Fale
• Kazuchika Okada vs Gedo
• Toru Yano, Togi Makabe, Will Ospreay and Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Chase Owens, Yujiro Takahashi, Kota Ibushi and Kenny Omega

SAT. DECEMBER. 15. 2018

• Ren Narita and Teruaki Kanemitsu vs Shota Umino and Ayato Yoshida
• Toa Henare, Tiger Mask and Jushin ‘Thunder’ Liger vs SHO, YOH and Rocky Romero
• Hirooki Goto and Tomohiro Ishii vs Takashi Iizuka and Minoru Suzuki
• SANADA and EVIL vs Chase Owens and Yujiro Takahashi
• Shingo Takagi, BUSHI and Tetsuya Naito vs El Desperado, Yoshinobu Kanemaru and Taichi
• KUSHIDA, Tomoaki Honma, Toru Yano, Togi Makabe and Kazuchika Okada vs Taiji Ishimori, Gedo, Tanga Loa, Tama Tonga and Bad Luck Fale

DEFIANT Wrestling has announced their first PPV of the year. The UK based company will be heading to the Manchester Academy on Saturday February 9th for ‘Unstoppable.’

Tickets will be available to purchase as of Wednesday 12th. Access DEFIANT members already have access to the pre-sale over at DEFIANT’s official website. No matches have yet been confirmed for the show.

DEFIANT also recently announced the return of ‘Loaded.’ The show is a free-to-air programme that features many of the top talent from the UK independent scene. The show has seen many iterations over the past few years. DEFIANT sent out the following press release for the return back in September:

“Loaded previously ran for 33 episodes between July 2016 and October 2017, amassing over 25 MILLION views on YouTube. Loaded, at that time, ran under the WCPW (What Culture Pro Wrestling) banner, with WCPW since rebranded as Defiant Wrestling in late 2017 following a diversification from the What Culture brand.”

The company also recently announced that PAC will be making his debut for the company in 2019. The former WWE Cruiserweight Champion is confirmed for the first two dates of 2019’s ‘Loaded’ tapings. It is not confirmed if PAC will be part of Unstoppable but it would be a huge opportunity to get the former WWE Champion on PPV.

MANCHESTER! We're back on Saturday, February 9th, 2019 for UNSTOPPABLE!

Our first PPV of the year will take place at Manchester Academy on Oxford Road!

Tickets on sale to subscribers (https://t.co/EPXuqomJly) tomorrow at 12pm, details in subscriber forum. General sale Wednesday pic.twitter.com/TLKzy7SAFX

— DEFIANT Wrestling (@DEFIANTwres) December 9, 2018

Cody Rhodes is currently in the UK as part of a tour with new promotion Fight Forever. The NJPW/ROH star recently spoke to the UK’s Mirror on a variety of topics including the NXT UK show and the UK scene in general.

When asked about the new talent restrictions imposed by WWE Cody responded with “Well, I think it just means more opportunity. There is obviously a deep roster of talent and maybe some talent we’re not seeing because we’re seeing so many NXT UK guys, that we all know are wonderful.”

Cody followed this up by saying “I saw a tweet that Pete Dunne put out that I really liked too though. There is such a tendency to jump on WWE and talk bad about them in terms of these contracts and what they are doing. But with the people they have in place, Johnny Saint, William Regal, and Triple H, and how he is, there is no secret plan to destroy the indy scene in the UK. They just see a wonderful product and they want to protect their guys.”

Rhodes also described the UK scene as a bit of a  “Wild West situation, where somebody like me from Ring of Honor and New Japan could go over to the UK and mix it up with somebody who was one of the NXT UK talents.” Cody referred to a Will Ospreay tweet on the situation, saying that “I saw another tweet I really liked that Will Ospreay put out, just have the signed guys wrestle the second half of a show and the unsigned guys wrestle the first half! There is plenty of talent and maybe it just means more opportunities for those who haven’t signed anywhere yet.“

New Japan held the last night of their World Tag League tour earlier today. As well as crowning SANADA and EVIL as the WTL Champions there were some huge bouts confirmed for January 4th. Tanahashi vs Omega was already confirmed as the main event following Tanahashi’s G1 Climax win and subsequent defence of the briefcase.

The Young Bucks have now been confirmed for the show. Will Ospreay will be taking on Kota Ibushi and EVIL & SANADA will challenge for the IWGP Tag Team Championships.

Here’s the confirmed card for the Tokyo Dome spectacular as it stands. There are of course a few more ‘Road To’ shows to establish some more matches before January:

IWGP Heavyweight Championship
Kenny Omega (c) vs Hiroshi Tanahashi

IWGP Intercontinental Championship
Chris Jericho (c) vs Tetsuya Naito

IWGP United States Championship
Cody (c) vs Juice Robinson

Kazuchika Okada vs. Jay White

Rev Pro British Heavyweight Championship
Tomohiro Ishii (c) vs Zack Sabre Jr

NEVER Openweight Championship
Kota Ibushi (c) vs Will Ospreay

IWGP Tag Team Championship
Guerrillas of Destiny (c) vs The Young Bucks vs. EVIL and SANADA

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship
KUSHIDA (c) vs. Taiji Ishimori

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship
Yoshinobu Kanemaru and El Desperado (c) vs. Sho and Yoh vs. Bushi and Shingo Takagi)

New Japan now has an official match for the NEVER Openweight Championship at Wrestle Kingdom. Kota Ibushi defeated Hirooki Goto to become the NEVER Champion at today’s World Tag League finals. Will Ospreay also defeated Taichi to become the Number 1 contender to the NEVER Championship. So the dream match is on…Kota Ibushi vs Will Ospreay for the NEVER Title inside the Tokyo Dome on January 4th.

This bout has been a long time coming. Ospreay was initially expected to win the belt against Taichi but had to forfeit the Championship match due to his ongoing rib injury. Hirooki Goto took his place in that bout and won the belt, he then goaded Ibushi into a match for the title that he then lost earlier today. Ospreay has been in a race against time to be ready for the Tokyo Dome match, having to rehab a difficult and frustrating injury. It does appear as though Ospreay is ready for January, even if he may not be 100%.

This NEVER Openweight Title is Ibushi’s first championship reign since 2014. It is likely that Ospreay will go on to win the belt and establish a new era for the division, going beyond the ‘traditional’ Strong Style roots and bringing in some Junior division flavour. If Wrestle Kingdom wasn’t exciting enough already this might just tip the scale.