Jon Moxley defeated Juice Robinson for the IWGP United States championship today at the finals of the Best of the Super Juniors 26 tournament. Moxley was wrestling in his first match for the promotion after being revealed as the mystery person behind the “Time’s Up” videos targetting Juice Robinson.
“Death Rider” Jon Moxley delivered two double-arm DDTs to get the victory.
Moxley enters the 6th reign in the championship’s lineage and is the 5th person to win the title. Robinson is the only former champion to have won the title twice.
“New Japan and Jon Moxley came to terms on an agreement some time ago, completely independently of All Elite,” NJPW GM Michael Craven said in a statement to SI.com’s Justin Barrasso. “Our understanding is that he is free to wrestle in Japan. We wish AEW well, but have no working relationship as of now.”
Jon Moxley is just hours away from making his NJPW (New Japan Pro Wrestling) debut.
While waiting for his first match in the promotion, he decided to train at the NJPW dojo. He shared this photo on his Twitter account, which you can see here:
NJPW holds their Best of the Super Jr. Finals event on June 5 at Sumo Hall in Tokyo, Japan that will air on their streaming service. In the main event, Will Ospreay vs. Shingo Takagi in the tournament finals will go down.
Moxley is slated to challenge Juice Robinson for the IWGP US Championship. Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Jay White is also being advertised as one of the several big matches taking place at this show.
While NJPW and AEW do not have a working relationship, Moxley signed a separate deal with NJPW to allow him to work this show.
Best of the Super Jr. Finals Card
Will Ospreay vs. Shingo Takagi – BOSJ finals
IWGP United States Champion Juice Robinson vs. Jon Moxley
Kazuchika Okada & Rocky Romero vs. Marty Scurll & Brody King
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Jay White
Kota Ibushi, Togi Makabe, Tomoaki Honma and Toa Henare vs. Tetsuya Naito, EVIL, SANADA and BUSHI
Tomohiro Ishii, Toru Yano, YOSHI-HASHI, Jushin Thunder Liger and Tiger Mask vs. Taichi, Minoru Suzuki, Zack Sabre Jr., Yoshinobu Kanemaru and DOUKI
Ryusuke Taguchi, YOH and SHO vs. Taiji Ishimori, El Phantasmo and Robbie Eagles
Dragon Lee, Titan and Shota Umino vs. Jonathan Gresham, Bandido and Ren Narita
New Japan Pro Wrestling has announced on Friday that Tomohiro Ishii and Jeff Cobb will be appearing at the opening day of G1 Climax 29.
“The Stone Pitbull” Tomohiro Ishii is known for his strong style of wrestling, and was known as one of the most underrated wrestlers in the business, until he rosed to prominence in 2013. He has been a 4-time NEVER Openweight Champion.
Jeff Cobb has made his name on the independent circuit, with capturing the PWG World Championship, and winning the 2018 Battle of Los Angeles, and numerous other titles in various independent promotions. Cobb has also captured the NEVER Openweight Championship like Ishii in NJPW.
The two will join the likes of already announced wrestlers such as: Kazuchika Okada, Kota Ibushi, Tetsuya Naito, Jay White, Jyushin Thunder Liger, EVIL, and SANADA.
The company says they will announce the G1 Climax 29 entrants at a later date.
G1 Climax 29 will take place at the American Airlines Center on 6 July, 2019 in Dallax, Texas.
All Elite Wrestling (AEW) star Jon Moxley will debut for New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) against IWGP United States Champion Juice Robinson on June 5th. The match will be one of the feature bouts at the Battle of the Super Juniors 26 Finals event.
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Jay White and the finals of the BOSJ 26 tournament are also scheduled for the event.
Moxley was recently revealed as the mystery person behind the “Time’s Up” videos targeting Robinson. He now has an official wrestler bio on the New Japan Pro Wrestling website, which you can view here.
Early Monday morning, Mox announced his upcoming trek to New Japan with the following video:
New Japan sent out a press release regarding Moxley’s debut yesterday:
“Jon Moxley will be appearing in Ryogoku Sumo Hall June 5 with apparent designs on IWGP US Heavyweight champion, Juice Robinson. Moxley previously saw worldwide fame as a WWE ‘Grand Slam’ Champion and member of top flight faction The Shield under the name Dean Ambrose,” the release reads.
Tony Khan clarified Moxley’s AEW contract status during the post Double or Nothing media scrum:
“He is a multi-year contract, he will be on a full-time deal,” Khan said. “When we go weekly, he’s going to be full-time. Same as some of the guys, especially when the schedule is light, I’m open to him working some international and indie dates. He is full-time with us, domestically, essentially he’s our guy.’”
AEW’s Chris Jericho and Jon Moxley are both set to take part in NJPW events in early June. NJPW GM, Michael Craven recently stated there is no talent-sharing agreement between his promotion and AEW, however.
“New Japan and Jon Moxley came to terms on an agreement some time ago, completely independently of All Elite,” Craven said in a statement to SI.com’s Justin Barrasso. “Our understanding is that he is free to wrestle in Japan. We wish AEW well, but have no working relationship as of now.”
Chris Jericho will face Kazuchika Okada at NJPW Dominion on June 9th. Jon Moxley is set to debut for the promotion on June 5th at the finals of the Best of the Super Juniors 26 tournament.
Tony Khan on Jon Moxley’s Contract
AEW’s Tony Khan stated over the weekend that while Moxley is full-time to his promotion, the former Dean Ambrose is also able to work for some independents as well as international promotions.
“He is a multi-year contract, he will be on a full-time deal,” Khan said. “When we go weekly, he’s going to be full-time. Same as some of the guys, especially when the schedule is light, I’m open to him working some international and indie dates. He is full-time with us, domestically, essentially he’s our guy.’”
Jon Moxley is headed to New Japan Pro Wrestling. The former Dean Ambrose was revealed earlier this morning as the mystery person behind the videos targeting Juice Robinson.
NJPW has since announced that Moxley will make his debut for the promotion on June 5th, the final night of the Best of the Super Juniors tournament.
Moxley sent the following out on Twitter early Monday morning:
Shortly after Moxley posted the video, NJPW sent out a press release.
“Jon Moxley will be appearing in Ryogoku Sumo Hall June 5 with apparent designs on IWGP US Heavyweight champion, Juice Robinson. Moxley previously saw worldwide fame as a WWE ‘Grand Slam’ Champion and member of top flight faction The Shield under the name Dean Ambrose,” the release reads.
Moxley is also scheduled to wrestle Pentagon in a match for NorthEast Wrestling in Poughkeepsie, New York on August 16th. The event will take place just 15 days before AEW’s return to PPV on August 31st with All Out in Chicago.
Dustin Rhodes, Renee Young, Jerry Lawler and more are also scheduled for the event.
AJ Styles was the first member of Bullet Club to win the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. Styles joined the group in 2014 just as Prince Devitt was leaving. In an interview with French-language media outlet C’est ca le Catch while in Paris, Styles spoke on the current state of Bullet Club.
“(They’ve) still got some great guys there,” Styles said regarding the stable. “It’s doing just as well as it ever has. A lot of people have left but they still are the Bullet Club no matter what. There’s a lot of guys who didn’t leave.”
Styles took some time to heavily praise “Switchblade” Jay White during the interview.
“Jay White will definitely lead them in the right direction,” Styles continued. “I knew he was going to be a star the moment I met him when he was a young boy. He had it, you knew he wanted it worse than anybody else. I knew all along he was going to be successful.”
Styles would continue to say White is someone he’d like to face in WWE.
You can listen to the full interview in the player below:
New Japan’s biggest tournament of the year will be taking place this Summer. The 29th G1 Climax will be starting in Dallas, Texas on July 29th with a tournament day set in the United States for the very first time.
Two of NJPW’s biggest stars Jay White and Kota Ibushi have talked about the upcoming tournament. White stated that the New Japan G1 needs him more than he needs the G1.
Kota Ibushi had some interesting comments regarding his match in the United States. “I want to show my usual wrestling. The same New Japan as we have in Japan” stated Ibushi. “What everyone calls ‘Strong Style’ is now evolving within me. Fans want to see the ‘Strong Style’ and I want to show today’s version of it within NJPW.”
New Japan’s next big show will be Dominion in Osaka, Japan. Three matches have been announced for the first card and they are as follows:
IWGP Heavyweight Championship Match – Kazuchika Okada (c) vs Chris Jericho
IWGP Intercontinental Championship Match – Kota Ibushi (c) vs Tetsuya Naito
NEVER Openweight Championship Match – Taichi (c) vs Tomohiro Ishii
You can check out the full comments from White and Ibushi via the videos below:
Flip Gordon and Suzuki-Gun’s El Desperado have been pulled from the upcoming Best of the Super Juniors tournament. Desperado is out with injury and Flip Gordon has encountered Visa problems and will be unable to perform on the tour.
“Flip Gordon was not issued a proper visa in time to enter Japan, and has reluctantly been forced to withdraw from the tournament,” an NJPW press release reads.
As for El Desperado, he suffered a broken jaw in his last match:
“On May 7 at the TakaTaichi Mania 2 event in Korakuen Hall, Desperado suffered a broken jaw during his match with Jun Kasai. Under doctor’s orders, Desperado will be unable to compete.”
The Best of the Super Juniors 26 tournament runs from May 13th to June 5th, 2019.
From May 13th to June 5th, New Japan Pro Wrestling will place a spotlight on their junior heavyweight single’s division. 20 wrestlers will be split across 2 blocks in a round-robin tournament with the block winners facing each other in the finals on June 5th in Korakuen Hall.
New Japan Pro Wrestling released the blocks and schedule for the tournament this morning:
NJPW Best of the Super Juniors 26 Blocks
A BLOCK
TAKA Michinoku
Titan
Yoshinobu Kanemaru
Marty Scurll
Jonathan Gresham
SHO
Shingo Takagi
Dragon Lee
Taiji Ishimori
Tiger Mask
B Block:
Robbie Eagles
Flip Gordon
El Desperado
Bandido
El Phantasmo
Will Ospreay
BUSHI
Ryusuke Taguchi
YOH
Rocky Romero
NJPW Best of the Super Juniors 26 Schedule
The first night of the tournament on May 13th features the following matches:
Best of the Super Juniors gets underway on May 13!
New Japan Pro Wrestling presented Wrestling Dontaku in Fukuoka on May 3rd and 4th. There was one title change at the event and multiple matches booked for next month’s Dominion event in Osaka.
Hirooki Goto, Juice Robinson, Mikey Nicholls & Tomoaki Honma defeated Bullet Club (Bad Luck Fale, Chase Owens, HIKULEO & Jay White)
Bullet Club (El Phantasmo & Taiji Ishimori) defeated Dragon Lee & Will Ospreay
Los Ingobernables de Japon (BUSHI, Shingo Takagi & Tetsuya Naito) defeated Kota Ibushi, SHO & YOH
Tomohiro Ishii defeated EVIL
IWGP Heavyweight Championship: Kazuchika Okada (c) defeated SANADA
Storylines From NJPW Wrestling Dontaku
Kota Ibushi and Tetsuya Naito’s rivalry has been building in tag matches. They will meet at Dominion for the IWPG Intercontinental Championship.
Ominous videos featuring a knife-wielding man in a bar have been shown following Juice Robinson matches. “Times Up” is the tag line on the videos.
Chris Jericho sent a video message to Kazuchika Okada which aired after Okada defeated SANADA.
Bullet Club celebrated their 6-year anniversary by welcoming El Phantasmo into their ranks, he will compete in the Best of the Super Juniors. Otherwise, the stable did not have a good weekend.
Hiroshi Tanahashi announced he would return from injury on June 5th. Jay White took offense to this and told Tanahashi to get to the back of the line. He and Gedo then attacked him.
Chris Jericho is returning to New Japan Pro Wrestling. He will challenge IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada for the title at Dominion on June 9th.
Jericho appeared via video message at today’s Wrestling Dontaku event to announce his return. You can view Jericho’s video message in the player below:
“I am Chris Jericho, I am the pain-maker,” Jericho said. “And on June 9th at Dominion in Osaka, I will challenge for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship and I’m going to win. I’m going to win!”
Chris Jericho Returning to New Japan Pro Wrestling
Multiple members of the AEW roster have it written into their contracts that they are able to wrestle for NJPW as well. Jericho spoke to the Wrestling Observer about if he felt the promotion would use them back in February:
“I don’t know if it’s a smart business move for [NJPW] not to use us, especially when we want to do it,” Jericho said. “It’s not cheap to work there but I think the business dividends are way more than what the money that they’re spending on it is. I can’t speak for them, I just know there hasn’t been much talk lately after a lot of talk. They know where to find me and my door is open, and I’m interested and want to do it, but as far as anything further with them, I can’t say there’s anything on the horizon right now.”
Chris Jericho and Kenny Omega at Independent Wrestling Event
Last night, both Jericho and Kenny Omega appeared unadvertised at an independent wrestling event. A user on Twitter posted video of their appearance which can be viewed below:
New Japan has announced the full English Language lineup for NJPWWorld.com in May. The month will obviously be dedicated mainly to the Best of The Super Juniors tournament, however Wrestling Dontaku 2019 on May 1st, 3rd and 4th will be airing live on the streaming service.
The following dates of the Best Of The Super Juniors tournament will be airing live and with English commentary:
13th May – Sendai Sunplaza Hall
14th May – Sendai Sunplaza Hall
15th May – Aomori Martial Arts Hall
16th May – Aomori Industrial Exhibition Concourse
18th May – Yamagata Big Wing
19th May – Yamagata Big Wing
22nd May – Korakuen Hall
23rd May – Korakuen Hall
24th May – Korakuen Hall
26th May – Makuhari Messe International Conference Hall 7
29th May – Nagoya Congress Center Event Hall
30th May – OSAKA MUNICIPAL CENTRAL GYMNASIUM Sub Arena
31st May – Item Ehime
The following Junior Division stars will be taking part in the tournament:
Ryusuke Taguchi (16th appearance)
Tiger Mask (18th appearance) (won in 2005 & 2005)
Rocky Romero (7th appearance)
Sho (2nd appearance)
Yoh (2nd appearance)
Will Ospreay (4th appearance) (2016 winner)
Taiji Ishimori (3rd appearance)
El Desperado (4th appearance)
Taka Michinoku (7th appearance)
Yoshinobu Kanemaru (3rd appearance)
Bushi (7th appearance)
Flip Gordon (2nd appearance)
Titan (2nd appearance)
Marty Scurll (3rd appearance)
Dragon Lee (3rd appearance)
Robbie Eagles (1st appearance)
Jonathan Gresham (1st appearance)
Bandido (1st appearance)
Shingo Takagi (1st appearance)
One competitor to be announced later.
May is going to be huge on @njpwworld ! 16 live events, all with English commentary as we kick off with #njdontaku and roll right into Best of the Super Juniors! Sign up now for just 999Yen per month!#njbosj#njpwpic.twitter.com/emf60Yezu3
NJPW will be presenting their HI NO KUNI event this Monday from the Grand Messe Kumamoto in Japan. Several matches have been confirmed for the show including a showdown in the main event between Jay White and Hirooki Goto. This will be the first time that the two men have ever met in singles competition according to New Japan. White attacked Goto with a Bladerunner to pin him in their six man tag match at Nagaoka on March 24th. Goto did not take the loss lightly, remarking afterward that ‘this isn’t the end. This is just the beginning with him’. .
The IWGP Tag Team Championships will also be at stake. Toru Yano and Togi Makabe will be challenging the Guerillas of Destruction: Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa. The Bullet Club team captured the ROH Tag Team Championships at the G1 Supercard event back on WrestleMania weekend in Madison Square Garden. Yano attempted to sneak his way to ringside and steal the IWGP belts before they were returned to the champions, thus the booking of this bout.
It’s CHAOS versus LIJ in ten man tag action in the sixth match of the evening. Kazuchika Okada, SHO, YOH, Tomohiro Ishii and Rocky Romero will face Tetsuya Naito, EVIL, SANADA, Shingo Takagi and BUSHI.
Check out the full card view the tweet below:
Coming up on Monday, #njhinokuni starts a stacked Golden Week of action! Hirooki Goto versus Jay White, and a war between GoD and Yano and Makabe are your featured matches! Check out our preview here: https://t.co/qEojlqz2zppic.twitter.com/3G5Ak3PMjs
Tama Tonga took to his Facebook page recently to cut a promo on Enzo Amore. The Guerillas of Destiny had just won both the ROH and IWGP heavyweight tag team champions at the G1 Supercard in Madison Square Garden when Enzo and Cass invaded the show.
“I’ll just address you straight up, you don’t need to call out the whole locker room,” Tonga said. “It was me. It was f***** me.”
“You want to know why we ain’t letting you in?” Tonga continued. “Because you’re cancer. We don’t want that to spread in our workplace.”
“You talk about bringing in money? No, we’re talking about you killing our business.”
Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa – Double Tag Team Champions
Tama and his brothers, Tanga Loa and HIKULEO, had a chance to add the NEVER 6-Man tag team titles to their list of accolades earlier this week. They were defeated by the team of Togi Makabe, Ryusuke Taguchi, and Toru Yano, however.
The Guerillas of Destiny has two upcoming tag title matches. They will defend the IWGP heavyweight tag titles against Yano and Makabe at Wrestling Hi no Kuni 2019 in Kumamoto on April 29th. Then in ROH, the GoD will defend those titles against Jonathan Gresham and Jay Lethal on May 8th in Buffalo.
New Japan Pro Wrestling’s annual tournament to determine the best junior heavyweight single’s wrestler in the world begins next month. The promotion announced all but 1 of the 20 wrestlers who will compete in the tournament this year.
NJPW Best of the Super Juniors
The tournament will run from May 13th to June 5th, 2019. Announced for the 26th edition of the Best of the Super Juniors are:
Ryusuke Taguchi (16th appearance)
Tiger Mask (18th appearance) (won in 2005 & 2005)
Rocky Romero (7th appearance)
Sho (2nd appearance)
Yoh (2nd appearance)
Will Ospreay (4th appearance) (2016 winner)
Taiji Ishimori (3rd appearance)
El Desperado (4th appearance)
Taka Michinoku (7th appearance)
Yoshinobu Kanemaru (3rd appearance)
Bushi (7th appearance)
Flip Gordon (2nd appearance)
Titan (2nd appearance)
Marty Scurll (3rd appearance)
Dragon Lee (3rd appearance)
Robbie Eagles (1st appearance)
Jonathan Gresham (1st appearance)
Bandido (1st appearance)
Shingo Takagi (1st appearance)
One competitor to be announced later.
The tournament schedule and blocks will be announced at a later date.
Best of The Super Juniors 26 entrants announced!
Bandido, Jonathan Gresham, Robbie Eagles and Shingo Takagi debut! Will Ospreay, Marty Scurll, Flip Gordon and Titán are also coming! Who is final entrant, X?
New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) is currently on their ‘Road To Dontaku’ tour, post-G1 Supercard. This hasn’t stopped them from hyping their upcoming G1 Climax 29 event, which takes place from July 6th. The big difference from this year’s tournament compared to previous iterations is in the companies continued international intent, with the G1 kicking off from the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas.
With their Royal Quest show taking place in London later this year, and the G1 Climax beginning in the United States, New Japan are clearly still aggressively pushing into Western markets.
The company has now revealed four wrestlers who will be in Dallas on the first day of the G1 tournament.
IWGP Heavyweight Champion, Kazuchika Okada, IWGP Intercontinental Champion, Kota Ibushi, Tetsuya Naito, and Jay White, will all be present for the show in Texas. The tweet added that they will be announcing the full list of tournament entrants at a later date.
All of the announced talents recently wrestled at the historic ROH/NJPW co-promoted G1 Supercard show.
The event took place last Saturday from Madison Square Garden in New York. It was during this event that both Okada and Ibushi would emerge victorious as newly crowned champions, defeating Jay White and Tetsuya Naito, respectively.
WWE wasn’t the only promotion to offer a “Winner Take All” stipulation to one of their matches this past weekend. Ring Of Honor (ROH) also implemented the condition into their tag team championship title matchup. This decision would see both the ROH and New Japan Pro Wrestling’s IWGP tag team championships up for grabs, with only one team walking away with all the gold. That team would be Tama Tonga and Tonga Loa, the Guerrillas of Destiny.
Their victory would be cut short, however, as both Enzo and Big Cass would “invade” the G1 Supercard show. The duo jumped the barricade and brawled with The Briscoe Brothers, the cameras refusing to show the action. Bully Ray would eventually come out from the back and insert himself into the fray. This invasion initially confused a lot of fans—but there was one individual who was simply unimpressed: Tama Tonga.
The newly crowned IWGP and ROH tag team champion commented on the situation on his Twitter account, saying:
“I love the fact that Enzo and Cass came and jumped the losers of our match. @ringofhonor booking at its finest.”
I love the fact that Enzo and Cass came and jumped the losers of our match. @ringofhonor booking at its finest.
The broadcast refused to show the brawl taking place. Additionally, neither Enzo nor Big Cass were mentioned by name.
Despite this angle, it’s worth noting that, at least according to Wrestling Observer Radio, the former WWE Superstars have yet to officially sign with ROH.
New Japan Pro Wrestling has announced the lineups for their upcoming Wrestling Dontaku tour. The promotion also announced recently that Hiroshi Tanahashi will miss the tour due to injury as will Hiroyoshi Tenzan.
Wrestling Dontaku Lineups
Sengoku Lord In Nagoya – April 20th
Ren Narita, Shota Umino vs Yuya Uemura, Yota Tsuji
Jushin Liger, Toa Henare, Tomoaki Honma, Yuji Nagata, & Satoshi Kojima vs Taka Michinoku, El Desperado, Kanemaru, and Minoru Suzuki, Taichi
Dragon Lee, Toru Yano, and Togi Makabe vs Taiji Ishimori, Tama Tonga, Tanga Loa
Mikey Nicholls vs Chase Owens
Taguchi and Hirooki Goto vs Hikuleo and Jay White
Roppongi 3K, Tomohiro Ishii, and Kazuchika Okada vs Shingo Takagi, BUSHI, Tetsuya Naito, EVIL, SANADA
IWGP United States Championship: Juice Robinson (c) vs Bad Luck Fale
IWGP Intercontinental Championship: Kota Ibushi (c) vs Zack Sabre Jr.
Upcoming championship matches on the Road to Wrestling Dontaku:
April 22nd:
NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championships: Ryusuke Taguchi, Toru Yano, and Togi Makabe (c) vs Hikuleo, Tanga Loa, Tama Tonga
April 26th:
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championships: Sho & Yoh (c) vs Shingo Takagi & BUSHI
Wrestling Hi no Kuni 2019 – Kumamoto – April 29th:
Ren Narita, Shota Umino, Tomoaki Honma vs Yuya Uemura, Yota Tsuji, Toa Henare
Taguchi, Tiger Maski, Jushin Liger, YOSHI-HASHI, Jeff Cobb vs Taka Michinoku, El Desperado, Kanemaru, and Minoru Suzuki, Taichi
Will Ospreay & Dragon Lee vs Hikuleo & Taiji Ishimori
Mikey Nicholls vs Bad Luck Fale
Juice Robinson vs Chase Owens
Roppongi 3K, Tomohiro Ishii, and Kazuchika Okada vs Shingo Takagi, BUSHI, Tetsuya Naito, EVIL, SANADA
IWGP Tag Team Championships: Guerillas of Destiny (c) vs Toru Yano & Togi Makabe
Hirooki Goto vs Jay White
Wrestling Dontaku – Fukuoka – May 3rd:
Ren Narita, Shota Umino, Tomoaki Honma vs Yuya Uemura, Yota Tsuji, Toa Henare
Taguchi, Tiger Maski, Jushin Liger, YOSHI-HASHI vs Taka Michinoku, El Desperado, Kanemaru, and Minoru Suzuki
Will Ospreay, Toru Yano, Togi Makabe vs HKIULEO, Tama Tonga, Tanga Loa
Roppongi 3K vs Shingo Takagi, BUSHI, and Tetsuya Naito
Mikey Nicholls, Juice Robinson, Hirooki Goto vs Jay White, Chase Owens, Bad Luck Fale
Tomohiro Ishii & Kazuchika Okada vs EVIL & Sanada
NEVER Openweight Championship: Jeff Cobb (c) vs Taichi
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship: Dragon Lee (c) vs Taiji Ishimori
Wrestling Dontaku – Fukuoka – May 4th:
Ren Narita, Shota Umino vs Yuya Uemura, Yota Tsuji
Taguchi, Tiger Mask, Toa Henare, Yoshi Hashi, Jeff Cobb vs Taka Michinoku, El Desperado, Kanemaru, Minoru Suzuki, Taichi
Kazuchika Okada is once again the IWGP Heavyweight champion. He defeated “Switchblade” Jay White tonight inside Madison Square Garden at ROH/NJPW G1 Supercard.
Okada earned the right to challenge White after winning the 2019 New Japan Cup. He is now a 5x champion. White’s title reign ends after just 55 days and no title defenses.
Okada holds several IWGP Heavyweight championship records:
Most combined days spent as champion: 1,516
Longest single reign with the title: 706 days
Most consecutive title defenses: 12
He trails Hiroshi Tanahashi in two categories. Tanahashi has held the title 8x and defended it 28x while Okada has won the title just 5x and defended it 25x.
Full Results From G1 Supercard
Kenny Kingwon an Honor Rumble match (eliminated Jushin Liger and the Great Muta to win)
Jeff Cobb defeated Will Ospreay (title vs title) – Cobb wins NEVER Openweight Championship, retains ROH TV title
Rush defeated Dalton Castle
Kelly Kelin defeated Mayu Iwatani (c) – new WOH World Champion
Flip Gordon, Juice Robinson & Mark Haskins defeated Bully Ray, Shane Taylor & Silas Young – Streetfight rules
Dragon Lee defeated Bandido vs Taiji Ishimori (c) – new IWGP Junior Heavyweight champion
Guerillas of Destiny (c) defeated EVIL & Sanada, the Briscoes, and PCO & Brody King – retain IWGP Heavyweight tag team championships, win ROH tag team championships
Zack Sabre Jr. (c) defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi – retains British Heavyweight Championship
Kota Ibushi defeated Tetsuya Naito (c) – new IWGP Intercontinental champion
Matt Taven defeated Jay Lethal (c) and Marty Scurll – ladder match – ROH World Championship
Kazuchika Okada defeated Jay White (c) – new IWGP Heavyweight Champion
Jeff Cobb defeated Will Ospreay tonight inside Madison Square Garden during the ROH/NJPW G1 Supercard. The title vs title match kicked off the main portion of the show. Cobb now holds both the NEVER Openweight and ROH TV championships.
??? Create Your Legacy!! Congrats to SPLX Athlete Jeff Cobb!!
He is the 15th person to hold the title and begins the 24th championship reign in its lineage. Ospreay had won the title at Wrestle Kingdom this year by defeating Kota Ibsuhi inside the Tokyo Dome. Ospreay’s first and only title defense came last month when he defeated Dalton Castle at ROH’s Honor Rising show in Korakuen Hall.
Cobb defeated Punishment Martinez for the ROH TV championship last September at a set of TV tapings. Since then Cobb has defended the title successfully 7 times.
G1 Supercard in Madison Square GardenG
IWGP Heavyweight Championship match: “Switchblade” Jay White vs Kazuchika Okada
ROH World Championship Triple Threat Ladder Match: Jay Lethal (c) vs Matt Taven vs Marty Scurll
IWGP Intercontinental Championship Match: Tetsuya Naito (c) vs Kota Ibushi
British Heavyweight Championship Match: Zack Sabre Jr. (c) vs Hiroshi Tanahashi
IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championship/ROH World Tag Team Championship 4-Way Match: Guerillas of Destiny (Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa) (c) vs PCO & Brody King (c) vs the Briscoes vs EVIL & SANADA
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship 3-Way: Taiji Ishimori (c) vs Dragon Lee vs Bandido
NYC Street Fight Open Challenge: Bully Ray vs Juice Robinson
WOH World Championship Match: Mayu Iwatani (c) vs Kelly Klein
Dalton Castle vs Rush
NEVER Openweight vs ROH TV Title Match: Will Ospreay (c) vs Jeff Cobb (c)
Honor Rumble: Jushin Liger, Kenny King, PJ Plack, The Bouncers (Beer City Bruiser and Brian Milonas), and Cheeseburger
Kagetsu, Jenny Rose and Hazuki v. Hana Kimura, Stella Grey and Sumie Sakai
The card for Saturday’s (April 6th) ROH and NJPW G1 Supercard pay-per-view event has been finalized.
Ring of Honor Wrestling (ROH) and New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) are co-promoting the G1 Supercard event in New York City’s Madison Square Garden during WrestleMania 35 weekend.
The G1 Supercard event will air live on pay-per-view via cable and satellite FITE TV for $39.99 as well as on HonorClub and NJPW World. IWGP Heavyweight Champion “Switchblade” Jay White vs Kazuchika Okada is expected to headline the show. Here’s the updated card:
G1 Supercard From Madison Square Garden Lineup
IWGP Heavyweight Championship match: “Switchblade” Jay White vs Kazuchika Okada
ROH World Championship Triple Threat Ladder Match: Jay Lethal (c) vs Matt Taven vs Marty Scurll
IWGP Intercontinental Championship Match: Tetsuya Naito (c) vs Kota Ibushi
British Heavyweight Championship Match: Zack Sabre Jr. (c) vs Hiroshi Tanahashi
IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championship/ROH World Tag Team Championship 4-Way Match: Guerillas of Destiny (Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa) (c) vs PCO & Brody King (c) vs the Briscoes vs EVIL & SANADA
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship 3-Way: Taiji Ishimori (c) vs Dragon Lee vs Bandido
NYC Street Fight Open Challenge: Bully Ray vs Juice Robinson
WOH World Championship Match: Mayu Iwatani (c) vs Kelly Klein
Dalton Castle vs Rush
NEVER Openweight vs ROH TV Title Match: Will Ospreay (c) vs Jeff Cobb (c)
Honor Rumble: Jushin Liger, Kenny King, PJ Plack, The Bouncers (Beer City Bruiser and Brian Milonas), and Cheeseburger
Kagetsu, Jenny Rose and Hazuki v. Hana Kimura, Stella Grey and Sumie Sakai
What are your thoughts on this card and the feuds that NJPW and ROH are presenting to their fans? Sound off in the comment section.
Another match has been added to this weekend’s (Sat. April 6, 2019) Ring Of Honor (ROH) and New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) G1 Supercard. The show goes down from Madison Square Garden in New York City. There are several high-profile matches slated for the card already.
Jay White will be defending his IWGP heavyweight title against Kazuchika Okada. Also, Jay Lethal will defend his ROH World Title in a Triple Threat Ladder match against Marty Scurll and Matt Taven. Now, it has been announced that a Six-Woman Tag Team match has been added onto the pre-show.
Kagetsu, Jenny Rose, and Hazuki will team up against Hana Kimura, Stella Grey, and Sumie Sakai. The G1 Supercard pre-show begins at 6:30 P.M. ET. Fans can watch on ROH’s Facebook Live, FITE, NJPW World, and pay-per-view (PPV). Check out the updated card here:
Main Card:
IWGP Heavyweight Championship: (C) Jay White vs. Kazuchika Okada
Ladder Match for the ROH World Championship: (C) Jay Lethal vs. Marty Scurll vs. Matt Taven
IWGP Intercontinental Championship: (C) Tetsuya Naito vs. Kota Ibushi
Winner Takes All Match:NEVER Openweight & ROH TV Title: (C) Will Ospreay vs. (C) Jeff Cobb
Winner Takes All Match: IWGP and ROH World Tag Team Titles: (C) Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa vs. (C) Brody King & PCO vs. EVIL & SANADA vs. The Briscoes
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship: (C) Taiji Ishimori vs. Dragon Lee vs. Bandido
RPW British Heavyweight Championship: (C) Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi
Women of Honor World Championship: (C) Mayu Iwatani vs. Kelly Klein
New York Street Fight: Bully Ray vs. Juice Robinson
Rush vs. Dalton Castle
Pre Show:
Kagetsu, Jenny Rose, and Hazuki vs. Hana Kimura, Stella Grey, and Sumie Sakai
Honor Rumble: Jushin Liger, Kenny King, PJ Black, Beer City Bruiser, Brian Milonas, Cheeseburger, Rhett Titus, LSG, Shaheem Ali, TBA
Michael Elgin’s NJPW contract was not renewed and he is officially now a free agent. NJPW announced today that Elgin and young lion Teruaki Kanemitsu finished up with the promotion.
“After careful consideration and dialogue, Elgin and NJPW have mutually decided to part ways after his contract expired on March 31, 2019,” an NJPW press release reads. “We wish Michael Elgin nothing but the best in his future endeavors.”
Elgin debuted for the promotion in the 2015 G1 Climax tournament. He leaves NJPW as a former NEVER Openweight and IWGP Intercontinental champion.
Michael Elgin In NJPW
I'll be heavily focusing on these ventures again. If you're a wrestler looking for an edge via your in ring work, or your body get started today! pic.twitter.com/ubtiL41lfL
— “Ronin” Michael Elgin (@AaronFrobel86) April 1, 2019
Elgin competed in 4 G1 tournaments. He finished with 8pts in 2015, 10pts in 2016, 8pts in 2017, and 6pts in 2018. In the New Japan Cup tournament, Elgin made it all the way to the semi-finals in 2016. Elgin then went out in the 1st round in 2017, 2nd round in 2018, and 1st round again in 2019, however.
He defeated Kenny Omega in a ladder match to win the IWGP Intercontinental championship match at Dominion in 2016. Elgin would then defend the title in ROH against Dominik Dijak before dropping it to Tetsuya Naito at Destruction in Kobe that September.
In 2018, Elgin had a brief reign as NEVER Openweight champion. He defeated Hirooki Goto and Taichi in a triple threat match at Dominion in Osaka and then dropped it to Goto in a single’s match at Kizuna Road.
New Japan Pro Wrestling has announced the dates for their upcoming camp at the LA Dojo. The company has also confirmed that “NJPW LA Dojo head coach Katsuyori Shibata is opening up the LA Dojo to aspiring wrestlers who want to learn wrestling basics and techniques from The Wrestler himself.”
The dates for the camp are as follows:
27th May (Monday)
28th May (Tuesday)
29th May (Wednesday)
30th May (Thursday)
Cost: $400
If you are interested in attending then you can find more information via the official NJPW LA Dojo site.
NJPW conducted their first training dojo camp in March 2018 in Los Angeles. Applicants can learn ‘Japanese wrestling techniques’ from pro-wrestlers in the camp.
NJPW President Taakaki Kidani told Tokyo Sports back in 2017 that opening a training center in Los Angeles was part of the promotion’s strategy to expand into the country further.
