In the late 90s, the old NWO faction would release “paid advertisements” on Nitro. Bullet Club is now doing the same in NJPW.
The faction has been the focal point of NJPW’s marketing strategy for their July 1st and 2nd shows in L.A, and have now released the following video:
Bullet Club at NJPW G1 L.A Special
Somewhat surprisingly, Cody will receive an IWGP heavyweight title shot on night 1 of the 2-night event. At Dominion, Cody defeated Michael Elgin in what turned out to be a pretty important match.
The rest of the announced lineup so far:
NJPW July 1st 2017 Lineup
the Briscoes, Will Ospreay, & Roppongi Vice (CHAOS) vs. Bad Luck Fale, the Young Bucks, Yujiro Takahashi & Marty Scurll (Bullet Club)
Jushin Liger, Volador Jr., Dragon Lee & Titan vs. Sanada, Evil, Bushi & Hiromu Takahashi (Los Ingobernables)
IWGP U.S Championship Tournament (1st Round)
Jay Lethal vs. Hangman Page (Bullet Club)
IWGP U.S Championship Tournament (1st Round)
Juice Robinson vs. Zack Sabre Jr.
Hiroshi Tanahashi, Kushida, Jay White & David Finlay vs. Billy Gunn, Yoshi Tatsu, Sho Tanaka & Yohei Komatsu
In the latest edition of the Elite’s Youtube series “Being the Elite”, Omega and the Young Bucks play a “harmful rib” on Masa. They also welcome Flip Gordon to the Ring of Honor roster.
Cody and Frankie Kazarian also appear on this episode:
Being the Elite
The Bucks and Omega have now posted 57 episodes of the show, which often includes other members of Bullet Club.
Flip Gordon, who took part in Ring of Honor tapings back in June, only started his career back in 2015.
The Young Bucks recently won the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championships at Dominion, and are scheduled to defend those titles against former champions, Roppongi Vice, at the NJPW Los Angeles show on July 1st. The Bucks are also ROH tag team champions, and will most likely face War Machine soon.
Kenny Omega most recently wrestled to a time limit draw with Okada at Dominion. He is scheduled to participate in the IWGP U.S Championship tournament on July 1st and 2nd.
Ring of Honor has announced the first bout as part of their co-branded War of The Worlds tour alongside New Japan Pro Wrestling.
NJPW legend Hiroshi Tanahashi will be teaming with ROH Champion Christopher Daniels and his Addiction tag team partner Kaz to take on the team of The Young Bucks & Kenny Omega.
Ring of Honor released a press release for this behemoth main event which you can read below:
“Kenny Omega returns to Ring of Honor for World of the Worlds Toronto to team with the ROH World Tag Team Champions The Young Bucks in a dream six man tag team bout against ROH World Champion Christopher Daniels, Kazarian, and seven-time IWGP Heavyweight Champion Hiroshi Tanahashi!
“The Cleaner” has cemented himself as one of the biggest stars in wrestling, leading Bullet Club to unprecedented heights and championships around the globe under his leadership. Omega assumed control of Bullet Club after forcibly removing AJ Styles. His One-Winged Angel led him to become the first non-Japanese born star to ever win the G1 Climax last year. The victory led to one of the most talked-about matches in pro wrestling history against IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada at WrestleKingdom 11.
Omega and the ROH World Tag Team Champions The Young Bucks are experienced trios competitors, representing a faction within Bullet Club they call The Elite. The trio has twice held the NEVER Openweight Six Men Tag Team Championships.
Standing across the ring from them are three equally accomplished stars. ROH World Champion Christopher Daniels, ahead of at least one ROH World Championship defense during the War of the Worlds Tour against Matt Taven, teams with long-time Addiction tag team partner and best friend Frankie Kazarian and the man that has held the IWGP Heavyweight Championship the most times for the most days in history, Hiroshi Tanahashi!
The battles, including Ladder War VI, between the Young Bucks and the Addiction are well-documented while Omega’s meteoric rise was due in some part to defeating seven-time IWGP Heavyweight Champion Hiroshi Tanahashi for the IWGP Intercontinental Championship in 2016! But questions surround Bullet Club – rumors are abound that all is not right within their ranks. Can the first-time team of the World Champion, Kaz, and Tanahashi get on the same page and take advantage of this main event opportunity?
Like Kenny Omega, this six man tag team dream match CAN ONLY BE SEEN IN TORONTO! Tickets are already moving fast – don’t get locked out. See this HUGE main event and the stars of ROH and NJPW do battle at the Ted Reeve Arena on the War of the Worlds Tour!”
New Japan Pro Wrestling have announced that several title matches will take place on March 6th 2017. The event is to celebrate the 45th anniversary of the promotion and will air live on New Japan World (5am est.)
NJPW 45th Anniversary Show Lineup
Jushin Liger and Hirai Kawato vs. Tiger Mask and Tomoyuki Oka
Hirooki Goto, Yoshi-Hashi, Gedo and Jado (CHAOS) vs. El Desparado, Taka Michinoku, Davey Boy Smith Jr. and Minoru Suzuki (Suzuki-Gun)
Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima, Yuji Nagata, Manabu Nakanishi and David Finlay vs. Tama Tonga and Tonga Loa, Yujiro Takahashi, Bad Luck Fale and Kenny Omega (Bullet Club)
Tetsuya Naito, EVIL, Bushi and Sanada (Los Ingobernables) vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Michael Elgin, Kushida and Juice Robinson
RPW British Heavyweight Championship
Katsuyori Shibata (c) vs. Zack Sabre Jr. *
IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship
Hiromu Takahashi (c) vs. Ryusuke Taguchi
IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Championship
Roppongi Vice (c) vs. Taichi and Yoshinobu Kanemaru (Suzuki-Gun)
IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championship
Tomohiro Ishii and Toru Yano (c)(CHAOS) vs. Tomoaki Honma and Togi Makabe (GBH)**
Kazuchika Okada (CHAOS) vs. Tiger Mask W***
* Zack Sabre Jr. is making his NJPW debut ** This match was made after GBH beat CHAOS at Togi Makabe’s anniversary show this weekend. *** non-title match. Tiger Mask W is played by Kota Ibushi and is from the current Tiger Mask anime series.
The following are highlights of a new Bad Influence interview on The Kevin Gill Show:
Daniels on positive thought: “You just have to go through life knowing that as long as you put yourself out there 100 percent and do everything you can to be a positive force, to be a commodity to a promoter, work is always going to come your way. My man Mike Moran said “Talent always finds it’s way to the top”. “All you have to do is keep working hard, never burn a bridge, and these opportunities will come.”
Kaz on a TNA star who was released from the company: “If I recall, he was too dumb to even realize he was being fired.”
Christopher Daniels on Indy Promoters: “Independent wrestling shows live or die on the vision of the promoter. Some guys just let the locker room take over, and let the guys do what they want, and as a result you get everybody on the microphone, everybody doing matches longer then they should be, and everybody doing a Wrestlemania main event whether they are the opener or the main event.”
Kaz on Samoa Joe: “To this day, Samoa Joe is a guy a company can be built around.”
Daniels on Samoa Joe: “A unique athlete, it’s funny because he was a book that was judged by his cover, for a very long time and it took a while to get him into TNA and we were always fighting to get him in. Everybody was like “we gotta change his look and blah blah blah” , but finally when they gave him the chance, he showed them that you didn’t need to judge him by the cover because he brings a unique intensity and a unique character to TNA and I think it would be a different TNA without him. He has changed the business”
New Japan Pro Wrestling star Kazuchika Okada is headed to TNA Wrestling, according to a message on the Puroresu Spirit Facebook.com page.
Okada, who is known as the Young Lion, will wrestle in the United States for TNA to gain experience until he’s ready to come back to New Japan and be a top competitor.
The official announcement reads:
As for the 22 year old Kazuchika Okada, NJPW has high hopes for the Young Lion as they plan to send him to train and wrestle for TNA Wrestling. The President of NJPW Sugabayashi has stated that Okada is still young and that the plan is for Okada to stay as long as needed for him to come back to NJPW and become a real contender. So at this time it looks like he may be in TNA for the next 2-3 years.