New Japan Pro Wrestling’s annual G1 Climax is widely regarded as the greatest tournament in pro wrestling today. Two blocks of competitors are competing in a round robin format to determine the number 1 contender to Kenny Omega’s IWGP Heavyweight Championship at January 4th’s Wrestle Kingdom. The tournament has now begun and here are the results from Night 10:

Zack Sabre Jr b. Tama Tonga – ZSJ took the win via DQ after Fale interfered, Tonga was already tapping out to an Armbar out of a Gun Stun

Juice Robinson b. Toru Yano – Juice took his first win of the tournament after hitting the Pulp Friction 

Kota Ibushi b. Tomohiro Ishii – Ibushi took the pinfall win after hitting the Kamigoye. This was possibly the best match of the tournament thus far

Tetsuya Naito b. Hirooki Goto – Naito took the pinfall win after hitting two Destinos

Kenny Omega b. Sanada – Omega took the pinfall win after hitting the One Winged Angel

Here’s the updated standings:

You can find the results for Night 1 here, Night 2 here, Night 3 here, Night 4 here, Night 5 here, Night 6 here, Night 7 here, Night 8 here and Night 9 here. Don’t forget that SEScoops staff writers Ian Carey and Jake Jeremy are posting their predictions for the tournament and you can check out how they fared with Night 10’s predictions right here.

WoS/World of Sport’s first show of their re-debut took place tonight on Britain’s biggest mainstream channel ITV. The programme is set for a 10 show stint running into October and is available to every television set in the United Kingdom.

The stars of the show took to Twitter after the event to react to pro wrestling returning to British television, including Davey Boy Smith Jr, Will Ospreay, Grado, Stu Bennett, SoCal Val and Kip Sabian.

You can check out all of our WoS coverage via the UK section at the top of the site, including the news of a Major Title Change on Night 1, Stu Bennett hyping the reboot, our Exclusive interview with Viper/Piper Niven and our Editorial explaining why WoS heading to mainstream British television is a really big deal.

I’ve had many highs throughout my career, & hearing all of your kind words about the first @WOSWrestling show makes this another huge high in my life. I’m very proud of everyone at #wos & @ITV @ITVSport for making this happen #BritishWrestling #daveyboysmithjr #thebritishbulldog

— Harry Smith, “Davey Boy Smith JR” (@DBSmithjr) July 28, 2018

With so much packed into that 1hr show (we don’t do ‘filler’ at @WOSWrestling..) it was impossible to give our incredible female athletes the platform they DESERVE in episode 1. All I’ll say is DON’T MISS EPISODE 2 ???

— Stu Bennett (@StuBennett) July 28, 2018

This ???? https://t.co/UNFhA7XfyL

— Kip Sabian ???? (@TheKipSabian) July 28, 2018

Hope you all enjoyed the 1st @WOSWrestling!

Gutted to have lost the title (after holding it for 574 days, on my 1st defence ???)…. BUT delighted British Wrestling is back on the telly and it looks like the response has been SUPERB ?

Cheers and catch ye next week! @ITV pic.twitter.com/8z3r7NXsgH

— GRADO (@gradowrestling) July 28, 2018

Cheers to all of you who tuned in (& sent such WONDERFUL tweets & feedback) in support of the first @WOSWrestling episode on @ITV! More action to come next week! Same time, same channel! ????#itv #wosw pic.twitter.com/PF8tyDSWNx

— $oCalVal (@SoCalValerie) July 28, 2018

https://twitter.com/WillOspreay/status/1023251872268906496

World of Sport’s (WOS) premiere episode took place on Saturday night on Britain’s biggest mainstream channel, ITV. The program is set for a 10 show stint running into October and is available to every television set in the United Kingdom.

One of the major news items coming from the show was the announcement that WoS Champion Grado would be defending his title in the main event. WoS Commissioner Stu Bennett/Wade Barrett announced that a 5-man elimination match would determine a number 1 contender and after some confusion former PROGRESS ATLAS Champion Rampage Brown and Justin Sysum were added to the main event.

The Triple Threat bout headlined the show and Rampage Brown eventually took the win to become the NEW WoS Champion, defeating Grado in his first defence since winning the belt on New Years Eve 2006. Rampage is a well respected veteran in the UK scene having performed for the likes of DEFIANT, ICW, NGW, IPW:UK, IMPACT, PCW and the aforementioned PROGRESS.

The next episode takes place Saturday night on ITV at 5pm, you can check out more information at the official WoS website.

WE HAVE A NEW WOS CHAMPION!! @RampageBrown #woswrestling #wosw pic.twitter.com/CRgvhYQ4bs

— WOS Wrestling (@WOSWrestling) July 28, 2018

Former WWE Intercontinental Champion Stu Bennett will be joining UK legend Alex Shane and former TNA star SoCal Val on ITV’s WoS for the next ten weeks as part of the broadcast commentary team.

Bennett has been making the media rounds for the new show over the past week and recently spoke to The Telegraph on the history, future and legacy of British wrestling, specifically World of Sport as well as his time in WWE.

Bennett started by referencing the ‘state’ of British wrestling in the last decade: “I am turning 38, and I grew up a complete wrestling nerd, but the UK wrestling scene when I was coming up was abysmal. There were maybe two or three good wrestlers in the country. By about 2003, if you got a hundred people at an event, you felt like it you’d sold out Wembley.”

When asked about about his subsequent move to WWE and the United States Bennett said that “I’d started out as a goody (face) here, but the second I got to America: English accent, bad guy (heel). I loved it. On the rare occasions I have been cheered, I have not found that rewarding. For me, to get a negative reaction, get people’s backs up, I love that. I main-evented a SummerSlam, which is the WWE’s second-biggest show. Being in the ring with John Cena, The Undertaker, guys I had watched as a kid: that was a seal of approval. They doubted that it could happen to an English kid.”

You can read the full interview here

• Juice Robinson vs Toru Yano
• Hirooki Goto vs Tetsuya Naito
• Tomohiro Ishii vs Kota Ibushi
• Kenny Omega vs SANADA
• Tama Tonga vs Zack Sabre Jr.

New Japan Pro Wrestling’s annual G1 Climax is widely regarded as the greatest tournament in pro wrestling today. Two blocks of competitors are competing in a round robin format to determine the number 1 contender to Kenny Omega’s IWGP Heavyweight Championship at January 4th’s Wrestle Kingdom. The tournament has now begun and here are the results from Night 9:

Minoru Suzuki b. Michael Elgin – Suzuki took the pinfall win with the Gotch Piledriver

EVIL b. Hangman Page – EVIL took the pinfall win after hitting his namesake move 

Bad Luck Fale b. “Switchblade” Jay White – Fale took the pinfall win after hitting the Bad Luck Fall after a referee bump and Tama Tonga hit the Gun Stun

Hiroshi Tanahashi b. Togi Makabe – Tanahashi took the pinfall win after hitting the High Fly Flow

Kazuchika Okada b. YOSHI-HASHI – Okada took the pinfall win with the Rainmaker

Here’s the updated standings:

You can find the results for Night 1 here, Night 2 here, Night 3 here, Night 4 here, Night 5 here, Night 6 here, Night 7 here and Night 8 here. Don’t forget that SEScoops staff writers Ian Carey and Jake Jeremy are posting their predictions for the tournament and you can check out how they fared with Night 9’s predictions right here.

World of Sport/WoS will be returning to mainstream British television this Saturday night at 5pm on ITV. The show will be running for 10 episodes until mid October in front of the largest potential viewing audience in decades.

SEScoops staff writer Jake Jeremy spoke to star of the WoS Women’s division Viper about her involvement in the new rebooted show, the WWE Evolution PPV and comparisons between WoS and NXT UK. Check it out below:

Jake Jeremy – I am joined by Viper of Pro Wrestling: EVE, PROGRESS, ICW…and now World of Sport…oh and of course Stardom!

Viper – Of course you can’t forget Stardom!

Jake: We’ve just seen the premiere of WoS and next week you’ll be included in a huge bout…you’re going to be on mainstream television for the next 10 weeks that’s pretty incredible

Viper: When we were all talking about the show it was hard to grasp the concept, what I hope is that we’re going to have an impact on people’s lives. I’ve been talking to friends that say I’m going to be on lunchboxes, t-shirts and things like that…we’re going to be like Wolf and Jet from the Gladiators! We’re going to be that to a generation of kids, we aren’t going to be quite as athletic cause they were all olympians (laughs), but for me that is the most important thing, it’s about the kids

Jake: If there’s one young person that watches WoS and says “I can do that” then this is all worth it right?

Viper – Exactly. Not even so much if people want to become pro wrestlers it’s about giving kids heroes and villains (baddies), that’s so influential in kid’s lives and I’m a very bad girl throughout this series (laughs)

Jake: So now you’ve appeared on ITV, you were on the BBC so…Channel 4 next?

Viper: Well the company that filmed my BBC documentary (Raise The Roof) they don’t just record for the BBC, they do anything with Phil and Kirstie (UK TV stars) and more with Channel 4 than the BBC so that could be a thing! Maybe I could just go in the Big Brother house? Sign me up (laughs)

Jake: We could just get Pro Wrestling: EVE on Channel 4?

Viper: That would also be good, let’s do that. That would be amazing

Jake: Well there has been an absolute boom in Women’s wrestling which has been a long time coming. WWE are obviously doing their Evolution All Women’s PPV…because apparently they invented Women’s wrestling

Viper: (laughs…a lot)

Jake Jeremy: You don’t have to say anything, it’s fine it’s me saying this.

Viper: Erm…I will concur (laughs)

Jake: I’ve tried to explain to people how big of a deal this really is, professional wrestling on mainstream television. It’s such a big thing and every year ITV gets seen in 34 million households. The NXT UK brand is being shown on a Network with sub 2 million people just as a reference point

Viper: When we were talking about it and all of the comparisons “is it going to be as big as WWE?” Ok so, X Factor. How many people watch X Factor on ITV?

Jake: Millions per week. Saturday night is big for families in the UK and you’ll have kids watching the shows with their parents/grandparents who remember Big Daddy and Giant Haystacks…then they’ll see Will Ospreay for the first time and be blown away. To me I’ve seen him perform a thousand times but to a young/older casual fan an Enziguri will amaze them

Viper: It’s going to blow their minds. After watching the first episode I’m really proud because when we all made this we knew there would be three main demographics that we needed to appeal to. We had to appeal to the kids, parents and hardcore fans. Especially the people who do remember World of Sport from before. It’s very hard to please all three.

Jake: Someone like Kip Sabian is going to be a big star throughout the series because everyone can resonate with his character

Viper: He’s fantastic. He and Iestyn Rees (from ICW) really stood out and could be massive stars. When you think about all of these random shows like The Only Way Is Essex and shows that started from nothing…look where these people are now. This is going to catapult so many people so you aren’t just going to be a wrestler anymore you’re going to be a personality. It’s a really exciting time for us and for wrestling as a whole. The feedback generally is “this can only get better”

Jake: It’s a ten episode run so that’s through the whole summer…into?

Viper: Mid October. I have so much faith in the show and can’t wait. It’s just the perfect amount of time as well

Jake: Yes it’s not a 6 hour show that goes on to six o’clock in the morning where I wonder what I’m doing with my life (laughs). So ITV 5pm Saturday nights!

Viper: (laughs) Get it watched, tell your granny to watch it! Grannies well love it, they were so violent!

Further information on the return of WoS can be found on the company’s official website

THIS TIME TOMORROW … @ITV @WeAreSTV #WOSW @gradowrestling pic.twitter.com/lXZIqzemvx

— WOS Wrestling (@WOSWrestling) July 27, 2018

PROGRESS held their 74th Chapter event ‘Mid Week Matters’ from the Camden Ballroom in London last night. This was the first ever UK Chapter event to be held on a weekday and it delivered in a big, big way.

The main event of the show saw PROGRESS World Champion Travis Banks defending his title against one of the hottest independent stars running the circuit: WALTER. Banks has been a dominant champion ever since his September 2017 win against Pete Dunne in the main event of PROGRESS’ first Alexandra Palace show.

WALTER dethroned Banks to a rapturous reception from the PROGRESS faithful in what likely means that he will be walking into the Wembley Arena show holding the most coveted title in UK independent wrestling.

The plans for the Wembley Arena main event recently changed when it was confirmed that Super Strong Style 16 winner Zack Sabre Jr could no longer be available for the event.

PROGRESS co-owner Glen Joseph took to Twitter to confirm that Zack would not be appearing due to his New Japan commitments and he also revealed the contingency plan for the massive event in Wembley Arena.

Joseph announced that “between Chapter 74 and Chapter 75 inclusive and the whole USA Coast to Coast Tour any wrestler that puts together 3 back-to-back consecutive singles wins in competition will qualify for the World Championship match and indeed the main event at Wembley Arena.”

Will WALTER be walking into England’s most prestigious Arena as the World Champion? There’s not long left to find out…

New Japan Pro Wrestling’s annual G1 Climax is widely regarded as the greatest tournament in pro wrestling today. Two blocks of competitors are competing in a round robin format to determine the number 1 contender to Kenny Omega’s IWGP Heavyweight Championship at January 4th’s Wrestle Kingdom.

• Full Schedule for the NJPW G1 Climax Tournament (19 Shows)

SEScoops staff writers Ian Carey and Jake Jeremy have made their predictions for Night 9 of the tournament, here they are:

(You can check out the Predictions for Night 8 here)

Ian Carey – We’ve reached Night 9, here are the scheduled matches:

• Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Togi Makabe
• Michael Elgin vs Minoru Suzuki
• Kazuchika Okada vs YOSHI-HASHI
• Jay White vs Bad Luck Fale
• EVIL vs Hangman Page

Jake Jeremy – too…much….wrestling

Ian Carey – Straight out I think that Tanahashi beats Makabe

Jake Jeremy – It’s looking like your Tanahashi/Okada final day showdown is coming to fruition so I completely agree

Ian Carey – I think Suzuki should defeat Elgin

Jake Jeremy – Is it really bad if I enjoy seeing that? Suzuki must beat Elgin

Ian Carey – Okada will run right through YOSHI-HASHI I’m sure

Jake Jeremy – I’m still sad that they didn’t run with the “you’re nothing without the title” story for Okada, I wanted to see him go through hard times….baby, but yes Okada will beat YOSHI-HASHI

Ian Carey – Jay White vs Bad Luck Fale should be interesting. The Firing Squad and Jay White have both brought very western-influenced heel tactics to NJPW this tournament. I’m not certain the live crowds are enjoying it but I feel as though it might be a tactic NJPW is using to lure in more international fans.

Jake Jeremy – Possibly, I mean Bullet Club was always meant to be an ‘infection’ of western influence on the NJPW style. I think that Fale might actually take this though

Ian Carey – White should win the match though, as Fale has made it quite apparent he does not care about win/loss records. I also think they will give Hangman Page the win over EVIL. I have a feeling that will be a great match too.

Jake Jeremy – Agreed, Page will get the win over EVIL to at least give him SOMETHING

What are your predictions for Night 8? Let us know in the comments

New Japan Pro Wrestling’s annual G1 Climax is widely regarded as the greatest tournament in pro wrestling today. Two blocks of competitors are competing in a round robin format to determine the number 1 contender to Kenny Omega’s IWGP Heavyweight Championship at January 4th’s Wrestle Kingdom. The tournament has now begun and here are the results from Night 8:

Hirooki Goto b. Toru Yano – Goto took the win early after hitting the Ushigoroshi and GTR for the pin

Tetsuya Naito b. Tama Tonga – Naito took the win after hitting a low blow followed by Destino

Zack Sabre Jr. b. Tomohiro Ishii – ZSJ took the submission win after locking in an armbar, this looked painful…

Kenny Omega b. Juice Robinson – Omega took the pinfall win after hitting a fair few V-Triggers

SANADA b. Kota Ibushi – SANADA took the pinfall win after hitting a moonsault, this was somewhat of an upset but a fantastic match

Here are the updated standings:

You can find the results for Night 1 here, Night 2 here, Night 3 here, Night 4 here, Night 5 here, Night 6 here, and Night 7 here. Don’t forget that SEScoops staff writers Ian Carey and Jake Jeremy are posting their predictions for the tournament and you can check out how they fared with Night 8’s predictions right here.

This Saturday night will see the return of professional wrestling to mainstream UK television.

This is yet another fantastic development in a 5 year span that has seen grappling in the United Kingdom erupt on the global scene. It cannot be understated how the likes of PROGRESS, Rev Pro, ICW, Attack! Pro, Fight Club: Pro, IPW:UK and Pro Wrestling: EVE have shaped the incredible talent pool that we have in the British Isles and a ‘bubble’ which many predicted would burst years ago has turned into a seismic shift.

Just a decade ago wrestling in the United Kingdom was essentially built on the use of ex-WWE/TNA talent, this is not a knock on those performers however it was evident that the cost of bringing over stars from the United States was not cost effective and extremely limiting when attempting to build domestic names and have enduring storylines that fans could cling to. Fast forward to 2018 and we have an abundance of UK bred stars that are breaking boundaries on home soil as well as Japan, Europe and the States.

The announcement of WoS’ return in a 10-part series did initially spark some controversy from fans of the UK scene, the original New Year’s Eve special and subsequent collaboration with Jeff Jarrett’s Global Force promotion killed off any initial buzz that the brand had generated and it appeared as though the story had ended…yet here we are with a 10 part series set to run as of this Saturday with a brand new roster of extremely talented UK stars.

The return of WoS to mainstream UK television really is a big, big deal. Viewing habits in the UK have tended to label Saturday night as a family orientated block with the likes of X Factor, Ninja Warrior UK and (in times past) Gladiators being featured programming, all on the ITV channel. With young wrestling fans expecting a presentation quality akin to WWE and an older demographic just wanting to relive the years of Big Daddy and Giant Haystacks it cannot be understated that WoS has a challenge to be ‘all things to all people.’

When you consider the potential outreach of WoS compared to say NXT UK it isn’t even in the same ballpark. World of Sport will be broadcast on ITV/STV which is available in every single television set in the United Kingdom, with the ITV family of channels reaching 38.4 million viewers a week…WWE Network isn’t close to that, but you wouldn’t expect them to be.

You do have to remember that the NXT UK brand will be geared towards an already established professional wrestling fanbase whereas the aformentioned family audience for WoS will be more casual, so again WoS will have the challenge of branching out and essentially creating it’s own audience to attract the sort of viewership that ITV will be expecting when their ratings figures appear later in the week.

In terms of pro wrestling being on one of the ‘big four’ British channels (BBC 1 & 2, ITV and Channel 4) you have to go back to the Attitude Era when Channel 4 would air WWE PPVs such as the Royal Rumble 2000, this created a huge buzz for the product in the UK and defined a generation of wrestling fans…in more recent times TNA/IMPACT has been extremely successful with a respectable following in the UK through their ties to The Wrestling Channel, Challenge and 5Spike.

With WoS being broadcast for 10 episodes with the potential of a touring brand and mainstream publicity many more younger fans would be exposed to the likes of Grado, Viper, Rampage and Will Ospreay, this will be huge for the ongoing British wrestling revolution and could help the grassroots of the scene.

This Saturday night will see the return of professional wrestling to mainstream UK television, this a really big deal.

Will you be watching WoS on Saturday night? Let us know your thoughts in the comments

Countdown is on, tune in next Saturday 28th at 5pm#WOSW #ITV #STV pic.twitter.com/P9MLKi0v7O

— WOS Wrestling (@WOSWrestling) July 22, 2018

World of Sport/WoS will be making a return to mainstream British television next Saturday July 28th. The iconic UK wrestling brand will be making an initial run of 10 shows on ITV/STV, a channel that is available on every single TV set in the UK.

WoS announced their full roster and on-air personalities over the past month and one of the more intriguing is the involvement of former WWE Intercontinental Champion Wade Barrett/Stu Bennett. Bennett will be acting as the ‘Commissioner’ for the show and also providing commentary alongside SoCal Val and Alex Shane.

Bennett recently took to Twitter to hype the upcoming debut show of this WoS reboot, he stated that “1 week from today, the greatest collection of British wrestlers amassed in over 30 years hits prime time on @ITV.. Who are you most excited to see? @WOSWrestling“

Here’s the full official roster for WoS:

• Rampage Brown
• Grado
• Iestyn Rees
• Sha Samuels
• Davey Boy Smith Jr
• Adam Maxted
• Nathan Cruz
• CJ Banks
• Brad Slayer
• Martin Kirby
• Lionheart
• HT Drake
• Doug Williams
• Crater
• Gabriel Kidd
• Kip Sabian
• Liam Slater
• Robbie X
• Will Ospreay
• Stevie Boy
• Joe Hendry
• Justin Sysum
• Ayesha
• Kasey Owens
• Kay Lee Ray
• Bea Priestley
• Viper

Will you be watching next Saturday? Let us know in the comments.

1 week from today, the greatest collection of British wrestlers amassed in over 30 years hits prime time on @ITV.. Who are you most excited to see? @WOSWrestling pic.twitter.com/02bWta1lkl

— Stu Bennett (@StuBennett) July 21, 2018

New Japan Pro Wrestling’s annual G1 Climax is widely regarded as the greatest tournament in pro wrestling today. Two blocks of competitors are competing in a round robin format to determine the number 1 contender to Kenny Omega’s IWGP Heavyweight Championship at January 4th’s Wrestle Kingdom. The tournament has now begun and here are the results from Night 7:

YOSHI-HASHI b. Michael Elgin – YOSHI-YASHI took the upset win after hitting a backstabber followed by Karma

EVIL b. Bad Luck Fale – EVIL took the DQ win after Tama Tonga hit him with the Gun Stun. The fans in attendance did not like yet another DQ decision in the G1

Minoru Suzuki b. Jay White – Suzuki handed White his first loss of the tournament after he caught a low blow attempt and hit the Gotch Piledriver for the pinfall

Hiroshi Tanahashi b. Hangman Page – The ‘Ace’ of NJPW hit a standing High Fly Flow to take down Hangman, he followed with another and took the pinfall victory

Kazuchika Okada b. Togi Makabe – Okada recovered after Makabe hit a lariat, he delivered his own and then finished off Makabe with the Rainmaker 

Here’s the updated standings:

You can find the results for Night 1 here, Night 2 here, Night 3 here, Night 4 here, Night 5 here and Night 6 here. Don’t forget that SEScoops staff writers Ian Carey and Jake Jeremy are posting their predictions for the tournament and you can check out how they fared with Night 7’s predictions right here.

New Japan Pro Wrestling’s annual G1 Climax is widely regarded as the greatest tournament in pro wrestling today. Two blocks of competitors are competing in a round robin format to determine the number 1 contender to Kenny Omega’s IWGP Heavyweight Championship at January 4th’s Wrestle Kingdom.

• Full Schedule for the NJPW G1 Climax Tournament (19 Shows)

SEScoops staff writers Ian Carey and Jake Jeremy have made their predictions for Night 7 of the tournament, here they are:

(You can check out the Predictions for Night 6 here)

Jake Jeremy – Ok so we’re talking Night 7 of the G1. Here are the scheduled matches:

• Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Hangman Page
• Togi Makabe vs Kazuchika Okada
• Michael Elgin vs YOSHI-HASHI
• Jay White vs Minoru Suzuki
• EVIL vs Bad Luck Fale

Ian Carey – Ok so Night 7: Kazuchika Okada will get his second win over Makabe.

Jake Jeremy – I can see that happening too, I really thought that Okada would not win any matches but he MIGHT still make the final at this rate

Ian Carey – Elgin beats Yoshi-Hashi. i don’t think Yoshi is going to win until the final couple of matches and then the story will be he needs to win a few to be invited back next year

Jake Jeremy – He definitely needs a win (YOSHI-HASHI) and I agree Elgin will win here

Ian Carey – Bad Luck Fale beats Evil I think – unless they are just going to have him get DQ’ed all the way through the tournament

Jake Jeremy – I’m actually going with EVIL by DQ, purely because this G1 has been infected with the things

Ian Carey – I’m going say Suzuki hands Jay White his first loss of the tournament

Jake Jeremy – Ahh ok I’m actually going to go against this, White is still my finalist and he will get the sweep here, granted I think he will beat Suzuki in a very screwy fashion

Ian Carey – While I would love to say Hangman Page beats Tanahashi, I doubt its in the cards, The Ace gets the win there

Jake Jeremy – I agree, Tanahashi gets the win here

Here are the full predictions:

Ian Carey

• Hiroshi Tanahashi b. Hangman Page
• Kazuchika Okada b. Togi Makabe
• Michael Elgin b. YOSHI-HASHI
• Minoru Suzuki b. Jay White
• Bad Luck Fale b. EVIL

Jake Jeremy 

• Hiroshi Tanahashi b. Hangman Page
• Kazuchika Okada b. Togi Makabe
• Michael Elgin b. YOSHI-HASHI
• Jay White b. Minoru Suzuki
• EVIL b. Bad Luck Fale (via DQ)

What are your predictions for Night 7? Let us know in the comments

New Japan Pro Wrestling’s annual G1 Climax is widely regarded as the greatest tournament in pro wrestling today. Two blocks of competitors are competing in a round robin format to determine the number 1 contender to Kenny Omega’s IWGP Heavyweight Championship at January 4th’s Wrestle Kingdom. The tournament has now begun and here are the results from Night 6:

Toru Yano b. Kota Ibushi – Yano took the win by pinfall using a Schoolboy. This followed a low blow and a chop block whilst Ibushi’s wrists were taped together

SANADA b. Zack Sabre, Jr. – SANADA took the pinfall win with a bridging prawn hold

Tetsuya Naito b. Juice Robinson – Naito took the win over the US Champion using the Destino

Kenny Omega b. Tama Tonga by – Omega took the win via DQ after Tonga hit a Gun Stun on referee Red Shoes

Tomohiro Ishii b. Hirooki Goto – Ishii took the pinfall win with the Vertical Drop Brainbuster

Here are the updated standings:

You can find the results for Night 1 here, Night 2 here, Night 3 here, Night 4 here and Night 5 here. Don’t forget that SEScoops staff writers Ian Carey and Jake Jeremy are posting their predictions for the tournament and you can check out how they fared with Night 6’s predictions right here.

PROGRESS has announced a slew of bouts for their upcoming chapter 74 event ‘Mid Week Matters’ which takes place Wednesday 25th July from the Electric Ballroom in Camden, London. This will be the first ever Chapter event held by the company NOT on a weekend, hence the name.

The headliner will see PROGRESS World Champion Travis Banks defend his title against former ATLAS Champion WALTER. Banks has had a run of countout losses recently and to counteract this cowardly act of retaining his belt PROGRESS officials have announced that this match will be no countout.

The following bouts will also be taking place this Wednesday:

• PROGRESS Women’s Championship Match – Jinny (c) vs Millie McKenzie
• ATLAS Championship Match – Doug Williams (c) vs TK Cooper
• THUNDERB*STARD Qualifying Match – Anti-Fun Police vs Grizzled Young Veterans (Zack Gibson vs James Drake)
• Toni Storm vs Lara Di Matteo

Here's how #Chapter74 looks with 2 matches still to be revealed. All four titles on the line, on the same show, for the first time since #Chapter58! And with #ThreeAndIn in effect from this show, every match matters. #ThisIsProgress #MidWeekMatters pic.twitter.com/lcG7vpkEJz

— PROGRESS Wrestling (@ThisIs_Progress) July 19, 2018

Over The Top Wrestling (OTT) has announced that IWGP United States Champion Juice Robinson will be heading to the promotion on August 18th/19th as part of WrestleRama 2 weekend. Robinson will be available for both WrestleRama 2 and the subsequent Contenders show which features more unknown stars from the UK/Irish scenes.

Juice was announced as the replacement for Matt Riddle. The former UFC fighter and PROGRESS ATLAS Champion can no longer make the booking due to a ‘scheduling conflict’ and the announcement of Robinson is a ‘make good’ for the fans in Ireland and the opportunity to see the IWGP United States Champion live in Ireland for the first time.

The following stars and matches have already been confirmed for the event on Saturday August 18th:

• OTT Champion – Jordan Devlin
• OTT Tag Champions – The Kings of The North
• Session Moth Martina
• The Angel Cruzers
• WATLER
• KUSHIDA
• Tomohiro Ishii
• Shane Strickland
• Timothy Thatcher
• David Starr

Confirmed Matches

• OTT Championship Match – Jordan Devlin vs WALTER
• Timothy Thatcher vs David Starr
• KUSHIDA vs Shane Strickland

Tickets for WrestleRama 2 are available to purchase now via Eventbrite.

Due to a scheduling conflict Matt Riddle can no longer appear at #WrestleRama2 weekend, However we have worked hard to secure a replacement!
IWGP United States Champion, Juice Robinson comes to OTT Aug 18th and 19th limited tickets https://t.co/bUYVejPd5Y
#?? #OnlyTheBest pic.twitter.com/lH6OKq0gVU

— OTT WRESTLING (@OTT_wrestling) July 19, 2018

This is possibly the most surreal news I have had to post on this website since reporting on the UK scene.

Popular 90’s Children’s Television personality Dave Benson Phillips will be heading to RIPTIDE Wrestling on August 3rd as part of the Brighton Championship Tournament weekend. Benson Phillips will NOT be challenging for any title but instead teaming with ‘Session’ Moth Martina to challenge the Anti-Fun Police (Los Federales and No Fun Dunne).

Dave Benson Phillips is probably most well known to fans in the UK as the presenter of the BBC game show Get Your Own Back. The show ran between 1991 – 2003 and was a big hit featuring people getting ‘gunged’ on a frequent basis. More recently Benson Phillips was the victim of a death hoax claiming that he had passed in a car accident in 2009.

Tickets for the Brighton Championship Tournament Weekend are available to purchase via RIPTIDE’s Official website.

https://twitter.com/RIPTIDEwres/status/1020021882798706688

Ring of Honor and New Japan Pro Wrestling will be holding the biggest non-WWE wrestling event in New York City this century when they arrive at Madison Square Garden on WrestleMania weekend (April 6th 2019).

There have been numerous reports over the past few weeks alluding to a potential intervention from WWE to prevent this historic show from even happening. Ring of Honor COO Joe Koff recently spoke to the Wrestling Observer about the change of heart from MSG officials when a lawsuit against the decision to “block” the event almost became a reality: “(MSG) did what they had to do as a business and I guess all of a sudden there was a phone call and we were able to work it out. That’s probably their story to tell because they made the call and said, ‘let’s get on the phone and see if we can work this out.’ They wanted us. They knew that we would be a good promotion. I think they were just looking for a satisfactory outcome for all parties.” You can read the full report here.

With the show taking place on WrestleMania weekend the question now moves onto who will actually be appearing? Ring of Honor have already confirmed that “all of the top ROH Stars” will be present (which was to be expected) but who will be representing NJPW?

The official names already confirmed are Kazuchika Okada, Hiroshi Tanahashi, and Tetsuya Naito. Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks are not being advertised as their NJPW deals could potentially have expired by this point (their deals are reported to be January to January).

If Omega and the Bucks resign for NJPW then you can guarantee that they will be announced for Madison Square Garden around January/February however with the event running against a huge NXT Takeover there will need to be big international drawing names confirmed and as soon as possible…The Wrestling Observer recently revealed that Ring of Honor have serious interest in bringing former WWE Champion CM Punk back into the fold, presumably for the MSG show but at this time it is considered a ‘long shot.’ Allegedly “feelers have been sent” but that is as much as we know at this time.

Could CM Punk return to Ring of Honor? Punk’s fame and notoriety is almost the stuff of legend at this point. Every single pro wrestling company in the world would jump at the opportunity to get him on their books. Punk himself stated that he was “done” with wrestling prior to his recent UFC loss to Mike Jackson so have his views changed? Only Punk could tell you that.

The lure of performing in the main event of a Madison Square Garden show AND potentially taking a shot at WWE might be too good an opportunity to miss…but does CM Punk even NEED to return to the squared circle at this point? Again, only Punk could tell you. If Punk does decide to return then a match against Kazuchika Okada for the ‘Best In The World’ moniker would undoubtably sell out MSG, so here’s hoping that might happen.

Do you think that CM Punk could return to wrestling for the Madison Square Garden show? Let us know in the comments.

New Japan Pro Wrestling’s annual G1 Climax is widely regarded as the greatest tournament in pro wrestling today. Two blocks of competitors are competing in a round robin format to determine the number 1 contender to Kenny Omega’s IWGP Heavyweight Championship at January 4th’s Wrestle Kingdom.

• Full Schedule for the NJPW G1 Climax Tournament (19 Shows)

SEScoops staff writers Ian Carey and Jake Jeremy have made their predictions for Night 6 of the tournament, here they are:

(You can check out the Predictions for Night 5 here)

Jake Jeremy – Ok so we’ve made it to Night 6, here is the schedule for the B Block matches:

• Juice Robinson vs Tetsuya Naito
• Hirooki Goto vs Tomohiro Ishii
• Toru Yano vs Kota Ibushi
• Kenny Omega vs Tama Tonga
• SANADA vs Zack Sabre Jr

Ian Carey – Ok straight off Tama Tonga beats Kenny Omega. This is an important match for this rivalry. Tonga beating Omega puts him in the mix, earns him a title shot. Creates a reason to put Tama Tonga vs Kenny Omega in the main event of NJPW’s return to Long Beach. That match happening if of course just speculation but it seems as though that is a direction they could go.

Jake Jeremy – I definitely agree, the Firing Squad need to build on their momentum and a win for Tama here (screwy or not) will help

Ian Carey – Zack Sabre Jr beats SANADA. The Paradise Lock will be involved somehow I’m sure. Kota Ibushi beats Yano…he has to

Jake Jeremy – I actually think that SANADA will get the win here, I’m also going for Kota as he still takes this Block in my mind

Ian Carey – I think having Ishii beating Goto is a possibility and then you could have Ishii challenge for the NEVER belt. Ishii is the most decorated champion in the title’s lineage.

Jake Jeremy – I don’t want to just keep agreeing here but again I agree

Ian Carey – Juice vs Naito is interesting. Juice has already dropped two matches and I don’t expect him to have a terrible tournament. A big win over Naito sure would boost him back up. I think that’s what happens, I’m giving Juice the upset victory over Naito.

Jake Jeremy – Ok so I actually see Juice losing here, it would be a good chance to build to a bout at Long Beach for the title and Naito could do wonders with the US title.

What are your predictions for Night 5? Let us know in the comments.

New Japan Pro Wrestling’s annual G1 Climax is widely regarded as the greatest tournament in pro wrestling today. Two blocks of competitors are competing in a round robin format to determine the number 1 contender to Kenny Omega’s IWGP Heavyweight Championship at January 4th’s Wrestle Kingdom. The tournament has now begun and here are the results from Night 5:

G1 Climax 2018 – A Block

“Switchblade” Jay White b. Michael Elgin – White took the pinfall win with a Blade Runner after hitting a low blow behind the referee

Minoru Suzuki b. YOSHI-HASHI – Suzuki took the pinfall win with the Gotch piledriver

EVIL b. Togi Makabe – EVIL took the pinfall win with his namesake move

Hiroshi Tanahashi b. Bad Luck Fale – Tanahashi won via disqualification after a Guerrillas of Destiny interference

Kazuchika Okada b. Hangman Page – Okada took his first win of the tournament by pinfall with the Rainmaker

Here are the current standings:

You can find the results for Night 1 here, Night 2 here, Night 3 here and Night 4 here. Don’t forget that SEScoops staff writers Ian Carey and Jake Jeremy are posting their predictions for the tournament and you can check out how they fared with Night 5’s predictions right here.

Pro Wrestling: EVE has announced an independent Women’s wrestling dream match for their upcoming event ‘Global Women Strike’ which takes place September 27th from the Resistance Gallery in Bethnal Green, London.

Former PROGRESS Women’s Champion and Superstar in the NXT UK Women’s Division Toni Storm will be facing Japanese wrestling legend Meiko Satomura. Toni Storm of course took part in the inaugural Mae Young Classic tournament for WWE and the belief is that Satomura will be part of the second annual iteration of the event.

In 2005, Satomura co-founded the all-woman promotion, Sendai Girls. She also worked with WCW in the mid-90s on their short-lived women’s division which was to feature the likes of Bull Nakano and Madusa.

She helped create Sendai Girls after a previous female promotion, Gaea Japan, went out of business. Satomura wrestled in the final match ever held by the promotion before founding a new company the next year. She is the current Fight Club Pro champion. Satomura is also the last person to win the Joshi Puroresu Grand Prize award before Io Shirai began her sweep of the award. Satomura was given the award in 2013 and Shirai has swept every year since. That will change in 2018, however, as Shirai has spent the year with NXT.

https://twitter.com/ProWrestlingEVE/status/1020015104593661953

New Japan Pro Wrestling’s annual G1 Climax is widely regarded as the greatest tournament in pro wrestling today. Two blocks of competitors are competing in a round robin format to determine the number 1 contender to Kenny Omega’s IWGP Heavyweight Championship at January 4th’s Wrestle Kingdom.

• Full Schedule for the NJPW G1 Climax Tournament (19 Shows)

SEScoops staff writers Ian Carey and Jake Jeremy have made their predictions for Night 5 of the tournament, which takes place this Thursday 19th July.

(You can check out the Predictions for Night 4 here)

Jake Jeremy – Ok so we’re talking Night 5 of the G1, here are the scheduled matches:

• Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Bad Luck Fale
• Togi Makabe vs EVIL
• Michael Elgin vs Jay White
• Kazuchika Okada vs Hangman Page
• YOSHI-HASHI vs Minoru Suzuki

As a reminder here’s the standings for A Block:

• Jay White – 4 Points (2-0-0)
• Michael Elgin – 4 Points (2-0-0)
• Togi Makabe – 4 Points (2-0-0)
• Hiroshi Tanahashi – 2 Points (1-1-0)
• Hangman Page – 2 Points (1-1-0)
• Evil – 2 Points (1-1-0)
• Bad Luck Fale – 2 Points (1-1-0)
• Kazuchika Okada – 0 Points (0-2-0)
• Minoru Suzuki – 0 Points (0-2-0)
• Yoshi-Hashi – 0 Points (0-2-0)

Ian Carey –

• To me Bad Luck Fale will beat Tanahashi because he has a history of doing so in these matches.
• EVIL beats Togi Makabe and I still don’t understand how Makabe beat Minoru Suzuki the other day…
• Elgin and White is interesting as they are both undefeated but Elgin has been selling an injured arm though, and that’s death for these tournaments so I think White improves to 3-0 there.
• Okada beats Hangman Page but in the course of doing so Kevin Kelly will sing Page’s praises
• …and Minoru Suzuki rips one of YOSHI-HASHI’s limbs off and wins by referee stoppage

Jake Jeremy – I think that Okada loses the match against Hangman Page. I still believe that Okada will have to work from the ground up now, he doesn’t need the G1

Ian Carey – You know I’m starting to think we could get ZSJ vs Okada in the finals. It would be their rubber match so I still think Okada’s winning

Jake Jeremy – Here’s my predictions:

• Bad Luck Fale beats Hiroshi Tanahashi
• EVIL beats Togi Makabe
• Jay White beats Michael Elgin
• Hangman Page beats Kazuchika Okada
• Minoru Suzuki beats YOSHI-HASHI
• In my mind if White wins the block then he can outright say to Okada “you’re too weak to be the leader of CHAOS”. That’s Okada’s feud for Destruction for me and what would a win do for Hangman as well here? A standout bout against one of the world’s best PLUS a win would make him an instant star

Ian Carey – White could also win his block, they clearly want to elevate him…Page beating Okada would be huge for him but at some point Okada has to turn this thing around

What are your predictions for Night 5? Let us know in the comments.

New Japan Pro Wrestling’s annual G1 Climax is widely regarded as the greatest tournament in pro wrestling today. Two blocks of competitors are competing in a round robin format to determine the number 1 contender to Kenny Omega’s IWGP Heavyweight Championship at January 4th’s Wrestle Kingdom. The tournament has now begun and here are the results from Night 4:

SANADA b. Tama Tonga – SANADA took the pinfall win with a bridging O’Connor roll

Zack Sabre, Jr. b. Toru Yano – ZSJ took the pinfall win with the European Clutch

Kota Ibushi b. Juice Robinson – Ibushi took the pinfall win with the Kamigoye

Tetsuya Naito b. Tomohiro Ishii – Naito took the pinfall win after hitting the Destino

Kenny Omega b. Hirooki Goto – Omega took the pinfall win with the One-Winged Angel

Block A

• Jay White – 4 Points (2-0-0)
• Michael Elgin – 4 Points (2-0-0)
• Togi Makabe – 4 Points (2-0-0)
• Hiroshi Tanahashi – 2 Points (1-1-0)
• Hangman Page – 2 Points (1-1-0)
• Evil – 2 Points (1-1-0)
• Bad Luck Fale – 2 Points (1-1-0)
• Kazuchika Okada – 0 Points (0-2-0)
• Minoru Suzuki – 0 Points (0-2-0)
• Yoshi-Hashi – 0 Points (0-2-0)

Block B

• Kenny Omega – 4 Points (2-0-0)
• Kota Ibushi – 4 Points (2-0-0)
• Tama Tonga – 2 Points (1-1-0)
• Tomohiro Ishii – 2 Points (1-1-0)
• Hirooki Goto – 2 Points (1-1-0)
• Tetsuya Naito – 2 Points (1-1-0)
• Zack Sabre Jr. – 2 Points (1-1-0)
• Sanada – 2 Points (1-1-0)
• Juice Robinson – 0 Points (0-2-0)
• Toru Yano – 0 Points (0-2-0)

You can find the results for Night 1 here, Night 2 here and Night 3 here. Don’t forget that SEScoops staff writers Ian Carey and Jake Jeremy are posting their predictions for the tournament and you can check out how they fared with Night 4’s predictions right here.