After a show-stealing match against Kenny Omega at this week’s Wrestle Kingdom 12 event from the Tokyo, Dome, Chris Jericho made another appearance for New Japan at Friday’s New Year’s Dash Event.
Watch Wrestle Kingdom 12 & New Year’s Dash At NJPWWorld.com
Jericho ambushed Tetsuya Naito in the ring after the two had exchanged words while doing media to promote Wrestle Kingdom.
At this time, there’s no confirmation that Jericho will be wrestling another match for NJPW. The “Alpha” of professional wrestling will be touring with his metal band Fozzy over the next several months.
Fozzy has a show scheduled for April 8th, will prevent Jericho from appearing at WrestleMania 34. It’s worth noting that Jericho’s schedule appears to be open for March 25th when NJPW returns to Long Beach, CA.
This Saturday night (Jan. 6), AXS TV presents a 3-hour Wrestle Kingdom 12 special at 8pE/5pP featuring the top 3 matches from the this week’s event.
With English commentary provided by Jim Ross and Josh Barnett, this week’s special NJPW on AXS TV will feature three headline championship matches from the Tokyo Dome:
IWGP U.S. Heavyweight Champion Kenny Omega vs. Chris Jericho
Jericho caught some heat for this from various fans and media personalities alike. One such media personality was Ryan Satin, who sent out the following sarcastic Tweet on the matter:
“Y2J” made a Facebook video to comment on his sharing of the fan art and his dedication to Guerrero and Benoit, calling out Satin specifically during the video as well. Check it out here:
New Japan Pro Wrestling’s annual Tokyo Dome concluded early this morning. The 6-hour super-show featured 9 matches, 7 of which were for championships.
Wrestle Kingdom 12 Results
Masahito Kakihara won the New Japan Rumble
Kakihara won the Rumble by eliminating Cheeseburger last. The 45-year-old former Best of the Super Juniors winner has been battling cancer and encouraged people to donate to Takayama’s fund.
The Young Bucks defeated Roppongi 3K (c) to win the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championships
Beretta, Tomohiro Ishii, and Toru Yano won the 6-Man Tag Team Championship Gauntlet
Former champions, Bad Luck Fale, Tama Tonga, and Tanga Loa were the last team eliminated.
Kota Ibushi defeated Cody
Hirooki Goto defeated Minoru Suzuki to win the NEVER Openweight Championship
Suzuki was forced to shave the back of his hair off in the ring after the match.
Will Ospreay defeated Marty Scurll, Hiromu Takahashi, and KUSHIDA to win the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship
Hiroshi Tanahashi defeated Jay White to retain the IWGP Intercontinental Championship
Kenny Omega defeated Chris Jericho to retain the IWGP United States Championship
Kazuchika Okada defeated Tetsuya Naito to retain the IWGP Heavyweight Championship
New Japan Pro Wrestling’s biggest show of the year – Wrestle Kingdom – is finally upon us. The show will feature a double main event, with IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada defending against Tetsuya Naito and IWGP United States Champion Kenny Omega vs. “Alpha” Chris Jericho in a no disqualification championship match.
Fans in the United States can stream the show live on New Japan World, with the English commentary being provided by Kevin Kelly and Don Callis.
Here’s the final card for NJPW’s Wrestle Kingdom 12 from the Tokyo Dome:
IWGP HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP Kazuchika Okada (c) vs. Tetsuya Naito
IWGP UNITED STATES HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP (NO DQ) Kenny Omega (c) vs. Chris Jericho
IWGP INTERCONTINENTAL CHAMPIONSHIP Hiroshi Tanahashi (c) vs. Jay White
IWGP JR. HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP Marty Scurll (c) vs. Hiromu Takahashi vs. KUSHIDA vs. Will Ospreay
NEVER OPENWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP (HAIR VS. HAIR/NOBODY AT RINGSIDE DEATHMATCH) Minoru Suzuki (c) vs. Hirooki Goto
IWGP TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP Killler Elite Squad (Lance Archer and Davey Boy Smith Jr.) vs. EVIL and SANADA
Cody vs. Kota Ibushi
NEVER OPENWEIGHT 6-MAN TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP (GAUNTLET MATCH) Tama Tonga, Tanga Loa, and Bad Luck Fale (c) vs. Ryusuke Taguchi, Juice Robinson, and Togi Makabe vs. Beretta, Toru Yano, and Tomohiro Ishii vs. Hanson Raymond Rowe, and Michael Elgin vs. Taichi, Takashi Iizuka, and Zack Sabre Jr.
IWGP JR. HEAVYWEIGHT TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP Roppongi 3K (c) vs. The Young Bucks
– Early tomorrow morning Chris Jericho will be returning to New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) for his highly-anticipated match-up against Kenny Omega at Wrestle Kingdom 12. Jericho took to Instagram to post some fan art that showed himself, Chris Benoit, and Eddie Guerrero. “Y2J” said that he is dedicating his match tomorrow to his “fallen brothers”:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BdfXpUjlQnS/
– In the dark main event after SmackDown Live and 205 Live tapings; a Six-Man Tag Team match between the teams of AJ Styles, Bobby Roode, and Shinsuke Nakamura took on the team of Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn, and Jinder Mahal. “The Phenomenal One” and his team were able to emerge victorious to send the crowd home happy.
New Japan Pro Wrestling is teaming up with the creators of the Fire Pro Wrestling video game series for the release of Fire Pro Wrestling World this summer on Playstation 4 and PC (via Steam). The announcement was made at the NJPW fan fest event ahead of Thursday’s Wrestle Kingdom 12 pay-per-view.
Real wrestlers, real moves, real drama: NJPW enters the ring when Fire Pro Wrestling World hits PS4 this summer! pic.twitter.com/k2R7FUMxA0
Fire Pro Wrestling is the popular 2D wrestling franchise that dates back to the late 1980’s. Up until the NJPW partnership, the Fire Pro games never featured officially licensed wrestlers. Instead, the developers focused on addictive gameplay mechanics while the robust creation suite allowed players to recreate famous wrestlers.
Fire Pro Wrestling World for PS4 will feature licensed NJPW wrestlers, their actual move sets and for the first time, a Young Lion story mode.
More Details About Fire Pro
PLAY ONLINE
Organize exhibition matches, tournaments, leagues, championship bouts and battle royals with players from around the world.
MIX UP THE RULES
Modes include Deathmatch (steel cage, barbed wire or landmines), MMA rules and no-holds barred Gruesome Fighting.
UNLIMITED CUSTOMIZATION
Create your dream wrestler from over a thousand devastating moves and even more body parts to battle for custom championship belts. Personalize the ring, mat logos and even the referee!
REALISTIC SIMULATION
Give your creations personalities with a robust CPU logic system that defines their every action. Does your wrestler play to the crowd, or play dirty? You provide actors for the ringside drama.
– On the latest episode of his podcast, Talk Is Jericho, Chris Jericho noted that his “Alpha Club” T-Shirt is currently the top selling shirt at Hot Topic. This means that Jericho is outselling shirts from The Bullet Club, Kenny Omega, Cody Rhodes and all WWE shirts. Jericho is set to face-off against Kenny Omega at Wrestle Kingdom 12 this Thursday in Tokyo, Japan.
H/T Wrestling Inc. for the info.
– Former WWE World Champion Rey Mysterio is set to face reality TV star Adam Maxted at a 5 Star Wrestling show on March 1, 2018 in Belfast, Northern Ireland from the SSE Arena. Maxted appeared on the British reality dating show Love Island. He recently noted in an interview with The Belfast Telegraph that he didn’t have sex on the show because he one day wants to make it in WWE, and had a tryout with the company this past May in the United Kingdom:
“I said to myself that there was no way I was going to risk my future and my dream – no matter how good looking the girl was or how much there was a connection or how much I wanted to do it,” Maxted said. “My dream is to be in the WWE and it’s such a child-based market so I wasn’t ever going to ruin my chances of getting onto that because I’d had sex on TV.”
Maxted’s full interview with The Belfast Telegraph can be found at this link here.
– New Japan Pro Wrestling will be announcing the details of their new video game on Wednesday afternoon at 12:15pm, which is 10:15pm this evening (Tuesday) in the Eastern time zone. At this time, it’s unknown whether this will be a full-fledged console video game or a mobile game. Check back later tonight after SmackDown to find out what was announced.
– Chris Jericho has arrived in Japan ahead of his big match against Kenny Omega later this week at Wrestle Kingdom 12. Jericho says he spent New Year’s on a plane for the first time in his life because he wanted to arrive in Tokyo, Japan as soon as possible.
Jericho says he doesn’t care about the new year, he didn’t celebrate, he hasn’t been partying – he’s focused on one thing and one thing only: January 4th: Alpha vs. Omega, Chris Jericho vs. Kenny Omega at Wrestle Kingdom 12.
It’s that time of year when social media feeds are filled with “What a year 2017 was…” as well as the standard “New Year, New Me!” resolution posts. Superstars across the globe have also taken to this and created their own New Year posts, celebrating 2017 and hoping for the best in 2018. Here are some of the highlights (or not) that have been put together:
Making history as the FIRST ever & TWO TIME undisputed Ms MITB was by far my favorite moment of 2017. To those of you who hated on everything I did this year, stay tuned for what I’m about to do in 2018… I’m just getting started! ??? pic.twitter.com/yToFQhT6Jy
While Carmella and Sasha Banks’s posts seem reasonably normal for what you would expect, English performers put together something a little bit special (peculiar?) to celebrate 2017:
Chris Jericho recently did an interview with New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) to talk about his upcoming match with Kenny Omega at Wrestle Kingdom 12 next weekend. Here are the highlights:
The connection he feels to Kenny Omega and Japan:
“I’ve never wrestled Kenny Omega before. I understand how great Kenny Omega is – everybody’s talking about Kenny Omega and that’s one of the reasons why I wanted to have this match. Because the timing for this match is perfect. It probably couldn’t have happened last year – it couldn’t have happened last year, it probably won’t happen next year, this is the time for “Alpha vs. Omega.”
“This is the time for Kenny vs. Jericho. And he’s from the same home city as I am; from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada – and to me, there’s a special connection there. He basically grew up in Japan, so did I, this is my 52nd tour of Japan in January. I think – we’re not just typical foreigners, we’re not just typical guys – we’re almost honorary Japanese.
His style compared to Omega’s:
“Well, once again, Kenny Omega has a great style – very good New Japan style, but I have New Japan style, I have WAR style, I have Mexico style, I have European style, I have ECW style, I have Smokey Mountain Wrestling style, I have WCW style, and more importantly, I have WWE style. Six-time World Heavyweight Champion. Kenny has never been even close to that. It’s a completely different world. Kenny Omega is a planet, Chris Jericho is the whole universe. I’m the Alpha. Alpha vs. Omega, it’s not just a catchphrase, it’s the truth.
“And it’s typical for someone like Kenny to think “Jericho can’t handle my style,” because he’s been so big here in New Japan. But he’s big with Okada, and Naito, and that’s great. Those four guys, five guys, six guys. I’ve been great against 50 guys! Against 100. Hall Of Famers. Some of the greatest of all time. Kenny Omega can’t even lace my boots up when it comes to that kind of respect, that kind of experience, that kind of knowledge that I have.”
Wanting to end Omega’s NJPW career:
“You don’t see blood on a New Japan ring, you don’t see blood in a WWE ring – the business has changed, it’s not about that anymore. Which I think is what made it so much more shocking when I hit Kenny over the head with the United States Championship and cut him open, bleeding everywhere- I liked it. It made me happy. It gave me energy. Made me feel alive. And it also change the entire concept of what this match is gonna be for me. At first, I thought, “Well, sure, if Kenny can have a seven star match I can have an eight star match, nine star match, the first-ever ten star match: “Alpha vs. Omega.”” Make Okada vs. Omega look like an opening match between a couple of young lions.
“But then, after Fukuoka, and then after the press conference in Tokyo the next day – it’s so violent, and intense, and vicious. This is gonna be a match like you’re not gonna see in New Japan again. It’s gonna be like a match – it’s gonna be a different type of match than any type of match at the Tokyo Dome. End of the match at Wrestle Kingdom 12. And once again, I like that, because to me it’s gonna stand out. You’re going to see the last match of Kenny Omega’s New Japan career happen at Wrestle Kingdom 12, because of me.
“Can you imagine all the New Japan Pro Wrestling fans? The women, crying. The little kids, crying. The longtime 20-year fans, crying when their hero, Kenny Omega’s career is over. Can you imagine how that’s going to make me feel? I’m gonna feel like the fu*king king of the world. Because I am. The best in the world. The greatest of all time. The Alpha. that’s who Chris Jericho is. And all the New Japan people, all the New Japan fans, and any wrestler in the New Japan locker room is going to learn a lesson. And it’s going to be a sad day for Kenny Omega and all of his fans at Wrestle Kingdom 12. I guarantee it.”
– A hype video has been released for IWGP United States Heavyweight Champion Kenny Omega’s clash with former WWE Champion Chris Jericho at Wrestle Kingdom 12 in Tokyo, Japan next month:
– Giant Bomb has an article with Omega and WWE star Xavier Woods naming their top ten video games of the year. In the article Omega and Woods discuss gaming with one another as they’ve both run into each other at gaming conventions over the years, and have built up quite the friendly rivalry.
“Two men met on neutral ground (the rolling hills of The Netherlands) for their yearly meeting where they argue, eat, play video games, almost fight, and talk about their top 10 games of the year… This is their 2017 story.
Kenny: Another year and another top 10! Last year, my good friend Austin and I had so much fun working together, we thought we’d do it again in 2017. I anticipate our lists will be a little different from each other, so this should fuel some very fun and… friendly debate.
Austin: Yes, fun and friendly are the words that I would use for it. I’ll start off by saying that I am honored to be doing another top 10 list with one of the greatest, creative, and most charismatic performers that I have ever met in my life. The one, the only, KENNY OMEGA!
Kenny: And I am glad to introduce a man with the greatest YouTube gaming channel going today, one of the most versatile, intelligent, and talented humans on this Earth… AUSTIN CREED! And you know what…? I’ll say it. I thought you were all just trombones, pancakes, and shenanigans… but heck, you’ve been no slouch in the ring this year either!”
Chris Jericho was recently a guest on WWE Hall Of Famer Jim Ross’ podcast, The Ross Report, to discuss his upcoming “Alpha vs. Omega” match against IWGP United States Heavyweight Champion Kenny Omega at Wrestle Kingdom 12 next month. “Y2J” discussed surprising New Japan Pro Wrestling fans with how involved he has been in the build-up for the bout, and how talented Omega is inside the ring. You can check out the highlights here below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WiV4Mwfp24w&t=7s
Surprising NJPW fans with his involvement in the feud’s build-up:
“I think when this match was made, Alpha vs. Omega, Jericho vs. Omega, a month-and-a-half ago in Osaka [Japan] or wherever it was, it makes me laugh that people think, ‘Jericho announces a match, here we go, it’s going to be a big match, we’ll see you in Tokyo [Japan] in a few months on January 4 [2018],” said Jericho. “As if I wouldn’t do something to build an angle. I’m too much of a disciple of Vince McMahon/Bill Watts/Stu Hart. Any great promoter would do an angle to build the match, to sell the tickets.
“So once again, in Fukuoka, Japan and I attacked Kenny Omega from behind, nobody saw that coming. And I love that! To me, that’s what [pro] wrestling’s all about. When you can surprise the fans and the ‘smart marks’ that think they know everything, but they don’t know anything, it makes me laugh because even you, Jim, would understand as an old school guy, of course I’m going to build an angle! Of course I’m going to do that. That’s what wrestling is!
“Honestly, yeah, the match is important. We want to have a good match. I love good matches, but who cares? The most important thing is the story and the angle building towards that match and selling the biggest amount of tickets we can, okay?”
Omega’s talent inside the ring:
“He’s a great performer,” Jericho said. “He’s a great worker. And once again, it was pretty heavy stuff. And [Ross] know[s] this, in 2017, for some reason, if you get busted open, your mentor Gordon Solie, ‘his face is a crimson mask’ and that’s what it was. And we don’t see that a lot. For me, I think it has been 10 years since someone has been busted open in a match that I was involved with and it felt good.
“There [are] certain rules and regulations that we have to abide by in the United States, in the WWE at this point in time, so to come into New Japan and have no rule, but there [are] still rules, I mean, listen, I understand the concept of [pro] wrestling, so I know what to do, but to have Kenny Omega busted open and to feel that, maybe, power, vibe, or energy, there’s nothing like it.
“And in the right circumstances, when you can bust somebody open, when you can get some color, as we used to say, it means the world because people understand that more than anything. This is the real deal. After 10 years to have a guy I’ve never been in the ring with, to see the reaction of the people, the reaction of the worldwide audience, and to see those pictures that were taken of Kenny Omega with the aforementioned crimson mask, wow, that sells tickets!”
You can listen to Chris Jericho on The Ross Report by clicking this link here.
Several English-subtitled Wrestle Kingdom promo videos have been released by New Japan Pro Wrestling. The promotion unveiled their English language YouTube channel earlier this year.
Wrestle Kingdom Previews
The new Jr. Heavyweight Champions, Roppongi 3K, will defend their belts against the Young Bucks:
Cody will face Kenny Omega’s former tag-team partner, Kota Ibushi:
Marty Scurll defends the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship against KUSHIDA, Will Ospreay, and Hiromu Takahashi:
Hiroshi Tanahashi defends the IWGP Intercontinental Championship against Jay White:
Kazuchika Okada defends the IWGP Heavyweight Championship against the winner of the 2017 G1 Tournament, Tetsuya Naito.
Another video previewing the main event title match between Tetsuya Naito and Kazuchika Okada:
NJPW co-booker, Jado, recently took part in an interview with NJPW1972.com. Jado and Jericho teamed together on occasion early in Jericho’s career.
Jado Interview Highlights
— So, Chris Jericho has made a huge impact in New Japan. You and he go way back..
Jado: Right. We first met in Mexico so.. it must be about 26 years now.
— Would Jericho have been in Mexico with Ultimo Dragon at that time?
Jado: No, no. I was over in Mexico as a freelancer and had a match with Jericho. Then I went to W*ING but he stayed in Mexico. Then it was around 1994 and WAR that Dragon brought Jericho to Japan.
— After all that time, on November 5, Jericho appeared on the big screen in Osaka. How did seeing that video message make you feel?
Jado: It was a huge shock, and not just to Japanese wrestling, but the whole world. I mean, here’s this guy that unified the WCW and WWE heavyweight belts… do you know what the most important thing in wrestling is?
–What?
Jado: It’s timing. Just the combination of absolute best time and absolute best place to do something nobody would think possible. Jericho, with the influence he has on the wrestling world, and Omega. This year it couldn’t happen; Omega was with Okada. 2019 maybe they couldn’t do it. Jericho just has a great sense of timing, of knowing ‘2018 is the time to do this’.
— You mentioned timing. Do you think Jericho’s wild, unpredictable side is another special talent of his?
Jado: Right. Jericho’s always been a hungry guy. And he really feels right now that he needs to face Omega. He said it himself, it’s Alpha versus Omega. He’s put together such a huge match for the worldwide audience.
— You and Jericho seem to get along well on Twitter, too..
Jado: (laughs) Well, he’s absolutely an old friend.
— Do you and he ever talk on a personal level?
Jado: Well, I think if we want to we can.
“— Did he get in touch with you when he showed up in Osaka?
Jado: No, not really. If he came to me it would be ‘shall we go out for dinner’? That kind of thing. He’s the same way. But when he was touring Japan with WWE, we’d definitely meet up. Once a year or so.
— When he was in Japan for WWE, you’d always tweet out a photo with you and he going for dinner. Did you ever talk much about what was happening in New Japan over those dinners?
Jado: Not in much detail; he didn’t have a clear vision of coming to wrestle here at the time. But he was pretty clued in. He’d know Okada was champion, ask about Tanahashi and if he was hurt or not. These days you can find out about all sorts of things online pretty easily, so he’s definitely keeping up I think.
— His antenna is always working, so to speak.
Jado: That’s Jericho. I think his radar picked up that Kenny’s doing big things and that they’re from the same hometown of Winnipeg, so he decided something had to happen.
— The ‘big superstar’ Jericho being a challenger is an interesting situation.
Jado: Again, I thought that it’s really like him, to have the intuition to choose Kenny who’s on such a rise. And he did it on NJPW World so the whole world could see. He wanted to send that message, ‘I’m number one in Canada, and I’m number one in the world’.”
– According to the official website of New Japan Pro Wrestling, there will be an “NJPW video game announcement” taking place at the Wrestle Kingdom Fan Festa 2018 that takes place on January 3rd, the day before WK12.
We’ll find out on 1/3 if this will be a game that’s released for mobile phones or traditional consoles. For more information on the fan fest, visit njpw1972.com.
– To hype the the main event of the upcoming Wrestle Kingdom 12 pay-per-view from the Tokyo Dome, NJPW has uploaded the full match between Kazuchika Okada and Tetsuya Naito from Wrestle Kingdom 8 back in January 2014.
https://youtu.be/P01eq7V4dbs
– Matt Jackson of the Young Bucks posted this video of himself and brother Nick wrestling Santa Claus in their living room on Christmas. The caption, “Grown men watch this” is a reference to a UFC fighter calling out the Bucks for a flippy spot during their match at last weekend’s ROH Final Battle PPV.
New Japan Pro Wrestling is returning to the United States in just a matter of months. NJPW invades the Walter Pyramid arena in Long Beach, California on March 25th for a special one-night event, Strong Style Evolved.
The Walter Pyramid seats approximately 5,000 fans and hosted the 2-night 2017 G1 Special event that saw Kenny Omega be crowned the first-ever IWGP United States Champion.
Ticket information and match card will be announced soon at NJPW1972.com.
Here’s the official trailer for NJPW: Strong Style Evolved (3/25/2018):
New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) announced today that WWE Hall Of Famer Jim Ross and former UFC Heavyweight Champion Josh Barnett will be returning for the fourth season of NJPW On AXS TV in 2018.
The fourth season of NJPW On AXS TV kicks off with the Wrestle Kingdom 12 special featuring Chris Jericho vs. Kenny Omega on January 6th.
Featured below is the complete press release:
ACCLAIMED NEW JAPAN PRO WRESTLING COMMENTARY TEAM JIM ROSS AND JOSH BARNETT RETURN TO AXS TV IN 2018
AXS TV Announces Fourth Season of NJPW Weekly Series Scheduled for Friday Nights in 2018
Featured Events Include Wrestle Kingdom 12, New Beginning Sapporo, New Beginning Osaka and More
Los Angeles (Dec. 20, 2017) – Wrestling Hall of Fame broadcaster Jim Ross and champion fighter Josh Barnett will return as AXS TV’s New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) broadcast team in 2018, announced AXS TV FIGHTS CEO Andrew Simon. The acclaimed commentary duo kick off the New Year with AXS TV’s Wrestle Kingdom 12 special on Saturday, Jan. 6 at 8pE/5pP.
AXS TV’s award-winning weekly NJPW series returns to Friday nights on Jan. 12 at 8pE/5pP, with additional coverage from Wrestle Kingdom 12. Rounding out the network’s first quarter schedule will be matches from New Beginning Sapporo, New Beginning Osaka and more.
One of the most recognizable figures in pro wrestling, Ross has called thousands of televised events over the course of his 30-plus-year career and has lent his iconic voice to NJPW on AXS TV since 2016. Along with his beloved catchphrases, Ross is widely regarded for his influence on the wrestling industry, as evidenced by his induction into the WWE, NWA and National Wrestling Halls of Fame. Ross continues to share his love of wrestling in his popular podcast “The Ross Report” and his new memoir “Slobberknocker: My Life in Wrestling.”
A former UFC Heavyweight Champion and veteran wrestler, Barnett has provided expert analysis for NJPW on AXS TV since the series debuted in 2015. Barnett’s storied combat sports career is highlighted by multiple headlining and title fights in the UFC, Strikeforce, PRIDE and Pancrase. His wrestling background includes competing for heavyweight belts in NJPW, Inoki Genome Federation (IGF) and TNA. He has also trained extensively with some of NJPW’s biggest stars and currently coaches his own team of pro wrestlers and MMA fighters in Los Angeles.
“Together, Jim Ross and Josh Barnett form one of the strongest and most unique commentary teams in pro wrestling,” said Simon. “J.R.’s experience is second to none and his iconic voice provides a captivating soundtrack for NJPW, while Josh’s career in both pro wrestling and combat sports allows him to add compelling depth and combatant’s perspective to the action.”
“I’m excited to be returning to AXS TV,” said Ross, “and with my partner Josh Barnett we look forward to another exciting year with AXS TV and their NJPW programming. NJPW has some of the finest athletes in the world performing for them and it’s an honor to be able to add a narrative to their bouts.”
“I love being a part of the growing New Japan Pro Wrestling expansion into the U.S.,” said Barnett,” and with more shows to come, I am ready to roll up my sleeves, bust out a few hundred squats, and get to calling the best wrestling action in the world.”
AXS TV produces the English language version of “New Japan Pro Wrestling” in association with TV ASAHI CORPORATION, the distributor of NJPW.
“Bad Boy” Tama Tonga, appears to be teasing an original Bullet Club reunion for September 2019. He posted the following to his social media accounts this morning:
For the OGs of Bullet Club to reunite in September 2019 either Bad Luck Fale and Tama Tonga would have to leave NJPW or Balor & Anderson would have to leave WWE.
NJPW contracts typically run for a year from January to January, so Tonga is most likely not insinuating he is leaving NJPW.
Prince Devitt, Bad Luck Fale, Karl Anderson & Tama Tonga were the original 4 members of the all-gaijin stable in 2013.
The new stipulation comes on the heels of multiple incidents during the World Tag League final. Jericho attacked Omega at the event, drawing blood in the process, something NJPW is reluctant to use. Omega then attacked Jericho at the WK12 press conference the next day.
Stipulation matches in NJPW are rare but becoming more common with stables such as Suzuki-Gun and Bullet Club having utilized them in recent years.
Kenny Omega vs. Chris Jericho is expected to be the semi-main event for the show, with Kazuchika Okada defending his IWGP Heavyweight Championship against Tetsuya Naito in the main event.
Chris Jericho and Kenny Omega are set to have one of, if not the biggest match in New Japan Pro Wrestling’s history on January 4th at Wrestle Kingdom 12. During a recent interview with Yahoo Sports in Japan Jericho alluded to not only potentially having multiple matches with ‘The Cleaner’ Kenny Omega but also not ruling out other matches for New Japan going forward.
Japanese wrestling writer Chris Charlton recently transcribed the interview with Jericho and the following statement speaks volumes: “Ive said maybe me and Kenny will never happen again. But I never said I’d only do one match. I never said this would be my last match with New Japan. Wait and see”
Whilst this could just be another promotional tactic from Jericho it is worth considering that with New Japan’s upcoming ‘United States Expansion’ and their ongoing growth with AXS TV he could be around for far longer than just the Tokyo Dome on January 4th.
Jericho 'Ive said maybe me and Kenny will never happen again. But I never said I'd only do one match. I never said this would be my last match with New Japan. Wait and see'
While Chris Jericho attacking Kenny Omega at World Tag League Finals has become one of the hottest topics among wrestling fans in no time, it appears former WWE Star Taz is not impressed with a part of this segment.
During the latest episode of his podcast, Taz explained that he didn’t like the way the announcers Kevin Kelly and Don Callis, sold the whole angle. Below are some highlights from his podcast:
How Kevin is an underrated commentator:
“I love Kev. I think he’s a really good, underrated play-by-play man… When I first started as an announcer in the WWE, Kevin Kelly was in the WWE, and Kevin helped me out my first couple of days with the gig. He’s just a good guy, a real pro’s pro. I think he’s a great fit there with the New Japan stuff”
Disagreeing with the way the commentary team handled Jericho’s appearance:
“But, I don’t know if he was directed this way or not, he and [Don Callis] started screaming, ‘It’s Jericho. Oh my God, it’s Jericho!’ I can understand them getting hung up on the emotion, they’re there in the building. I get it. I just disagree with the way this was handled. If it was something that was done from someone in their holding area, whatever they call their Gorilla Position.'”
How they should have played dumb until they saw Chris on their monitors:
“I don’t agree with that move, because, and I’m saying that respectfully because I love Kevin, but…I just don’t agree with it because I can’t see who it is. Yelling ‘It’s Chris Jericho,’ well the announcers, the number one rule for the announcers, at least from what I was taught for many years by some pretty high-end guys, you gotta look at your monitor. And what the monitors sees, the fan at home sees, or vice versa… You have to play dumb, and do the job, until you can see him [in the monitor].”
New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) star and IWGP United States Heavyweight Champ Kenny Omega recently did an interview with Rolling Stone to discuss his upcoming match with Chris Jericho at Wrestle Kingdom 12 next month.
“The Cleaner” discussed NJPW executives being okay with the use of blood in his segment with Jericho, his feud with Jericho standing out in a somewhat family-friendly NJPW product, and how he thinks things will be this time next year with NJPW rolling out to the United States. Here are the highlights:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3Qp-Yy7WpQ
NJPW executives being okay with the use of blood in his segment with Jericho:
“I’ve been lucky where I’ve asked for a little bit of trust from the company. When you put yourself in a situation like that, you either hit consecutive home runs or you’re dead in the water, because there’s a lot of money on the line, there’s a reputation on the line. And a lot of times I really forced them to step out of their comfort zone. Between last year’s G1 and now with Jericho, I have done a lot of things the company isn’t necessarily comfortable with, but they’re seeing positive growth from it. Drawing blood is a faux paus. They don’t like it at all. Our parent company makes its money through anime and card games.”
His feud with Jericho standing out in a family-friendly NJPW:
“Yeah, and even if it wasn’t what they’ve been expecting, we want to give them something completely different from what’s gonna be on the rest of the card. And not just different because, ‘Hey, it’s a WWE legend coming in to invade New Japan.’ From how we went about it, how we’re going about it and how we will execute the match, we want it to stand out from anything in recent memory. It’s really important for us to do that.”
How he thinks things will be this time next year with NJPW rolling into the United States:
“It’s hard to picture what the situation is gonna look like. [Omega Vs. Jericho] is a real self-contained story that can maybe only happen once, but I’m excited to see where it leads because it’s showing more of my range and a little bit of self-discovery on my part. I’m able to explore now this side of pro wrestling that is generally regarded here as taboo, but it’s the wrestling I grew up watching.
“It goes back to the territorial stuff with Ric Flair, the way he’d promote his matches. You can’t do it anymore. There’s always an A, B and C point you have to hit, and things are overly scripted and micro-managed, and now we’re gauging by how everything feels. Everything that this match evolves into has been an organic evolution, and that’s why we haven’t lost people yet.”
You can check out Omega’s full interview with Rolling Stone by clicking here.
Triple H recently conducted an interview with CBS Sports and revealed his opinion of Chris Jericho facing Kenny Omega in NJPW.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3Qp-Yy7WpQ
Triple H on Kenny Omega vs. Chris Jericho
Triple H seems happy for Jericho, Omega, and everyone involved. Here is what he told CBS Sports recently:
“I think it’s great. Good for Chris,” Levesque said. “It’s phenomenal. Good for Kenny, good for New Japan. We were aware. That was a conversation that was had.”
“It’s great, it’s good for him,” Levesque added. “Chris is one of the greatest talents in the history of the business, so I think it’s great. Good product is good product. I’m happy for them, happy for Chris and happy for everybody.”
Chris Jericho on Clearing the Match with Vince McMahon
Triple H also confirmed Jericho’s comments earlier this week regarding having cleared the match with Vince McMahon.
Jericho had this to say on the “Busted Open” radio program:
“I know [McMahon] wasn’t upset because I called him six weeks before and told him as soon as the deal was done,” Jericho said. “I would never surprise him like that. I didn’t ask him for his permission, but I didn’t have to. I told him what was going on — and to be quite frank for you guys, he was super excited about it.”
“If you know Vince, he loves wrestling. It’s what he knows, and it’s what he knows best. I think, obviously, his mission is to seek and destroy and kill every other company, but I think he secretly likes it when other companies do good, because it just makes it better for his company.”
Billionaire businessman and TV personality Mark Cuban spoke with Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated this week about his AXS TV channel’s commitment to New Japan Pro Wrestling.
The “Shark Tank” judge says AXS is looking to invest a lot more money in NJPW programming. “We’re looking to expand it on Friday nights,” Cuban said “We want to do more live, as opposed to the delay, and we’re talking to them about special events.”
AXS TV recently announced the network will air the top three title matches from NJPW’s upcoming Wrestle Kingdom 12 PPV on January 6th, just two days after the event takes place from the Tokyo Dome:
IWGP heavyweight champion Kazuchika Okada vs. Tetsuya Naito
IWGP Intercontinental champ Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Jay White
IWGP US champion Kenny Omega vs. Chris Jericho
Cuban is a strong believer that NJPW is the best wrestling project in the world and did not think twice about purchasing the rights to air these matches on US television.
“We’re getting to know [the NJPW team] better,” said Cuban. “We went from a delay to a short delay to live, so we’re going to get smarter about it. The numbers keep on going up. Other TVs are declining, and ours are going up. That’s a good sign. There are some nights when it beats MMA, it’s doing that well.”
As NJPW continues to grow, does Mark Cuban think Vince McMahon sees them as serious competition?
“No, he thinks we’re just little sh—,” said Cuban. “We’re not a threat because of the language. That’s the biggest challenge, the language. But if you’re a purist for wrestling, and you like the action, it’s the best promotion by far. People here aren’t going to connect as directly, but if you really love wrestling, then it’s a no-brainer.”
To read the full exclusive interview with Mark Cuban, visit Sports Illustrated.