Posts Tagged ‘Kenny Omega’

Kenny Omega Wants a “High Stakes Main Event” Match with AJ Styles

Kenny Omega was a guest on Live Audio Wrestling recently, and spoke on many things relating to his career.

Omega will be wrestling Kazuchika Okada next weekend at NJPW Dominion. It will be a rematch of their epic Tokyo Dome match from WrestleKingdom on January 4th.

Afterwards, Omega will play a big role at the G1 USA specials from Los Angeles on July 1st and 2nd.

Here are some of the highlights from his interview with the LAW:

On using big moves in his matches:

 “I think a lot of people, unfortunately in this day and age, rely too much on the flash of the move itself. So many moves now look prettier than they ever did when they were first performed. The Shooting Star [Presses] of today look so much prettier than the Shooting Stars of the 90’s, but the Shooting Stars from the 90’s arguably meant more because it was always a finish. Now, I can name 25 guys that are doing Shooting Star Presses and a lot of times it doesn’t mean anything. I think that’s sort of the plight of today’s pro wrestling: Our every day athlete has actually gotten better; however, because it’s so easy to rely on your physical ability, the intellect has been sort of ignored […] As a professional wrestler in the position I am in, I would rather have people remember my matches for an emotion or for a certain thought it evoked when they saw it. I don’t want people to look back at my matches and say, ‘When you did that move it was good and I liked it because it was cool,’ I want people to sort of remember a rush of images and the emotion that they felt when they saw it. That’s when I think you have a real masterpiece in your hands.”

On Shibata’s Injury, and “Strong Style” Wrestling:

“Everything we do in general, there’s gonna be a percentage of risk. Me, making my entrance to the ring, there’s actually a percentage of risk I’m going to trip and fall and hurt myself. Me, getting up on the apron, there’s a percentage of risk. It’s [asking ourselves], ‘How do we keep that percentage as low as possible at all times?’ […] Shibata had been battling injury and toughing out tours, probably for a long time. […] When you’re just generally tired and you’re already battling a myriad of injuries, that percentage is naturally going to creep up. […] It’s not something I would ever do. I do feel that Shibata probably felt comfortable in doing it and that he probably felt that, ‘It’s a big match, so I need to express myself in this manner.’ I get that. But, we sometimes as performers don’t even know our limits.”

On What is Strong Style Wrestling Exactly: 

 “There’s actually a very safe way to do ‘Strong Style’ and it doesn’t necessarily have to be how I see people mimicking it. I see a lot of folks on the indies that don’t quite know the secret to what ‘Strong Style’ really is, and they’re killing each other with elbows, they’re killing each other with head butts, they’re killing each other with kicks as hard as they can, and that actually isn’t the true art form of what ‘Strong Style’ is. What true ‘Strong Style’ really is, is the battle of the heart of man. It’s not about how strong and how forceful you’re throwing your blows. It’s showing the never-say-die attitude of the human spirit. As long as it looks like you’re fighting and giving your all, people will believe.”

On his rematch with Kazuchika Okada at NJPW Dominion:

“Much like I do with all of my matches, I’m not really one to ‘rinse, wash and repeat’ things. I think that rather than trying to force fans into drawing a direct comparison to [ask themselves] which match is better, I would rather give them two completely different stories that they can appreciate on their own. So whether they like the first one better or not, I want the stories to be so different from each other that you can watch them apart and have something that you like [about both of them]. That’s my goal.”

On his future goals in wrestling:

“Right now, I’m 100% content with where I am because I would love to be the driving force behind New Japan in the global market. However, generally, I’m just guided by how I feel, where my heart’s at and where I’m needed, if that makes sense. I’m not gonna lie, there are things that I haven’t been able to do that I would love to do at some point in time. One of those things is, I really feel I need to have a high stakes main event with AJ [Styles]. I really feel I have to. I’m not sure where it will be, I’m just saying that it’s always in the back of my mind.”

Full Lineup for NJPW G1 Specials in Long Beach Revealed

New Japan will be heading to Long Beach, California on July 1st/2nd for the sold out G1 Climax Specials.

The two day event will be the first of its kind for New Japan and will be feature a tournament to crown the first ever IWGP United States Champion. Jay Lethal of ROH and Hangman Page of the Bullet Club have already been announced for the tournament and the remaining participants are set to be named in the coming weeks.

NJPW has however announced the full roster of talent that will be making their way to the United States for the tapings. ROH, CMLL, Bullet Club and New Japan roster members will all be on hand to perform on arguably the most important event in New Japan history as it kicks off their attempt at building a US territory.

Here is the full line-up for July 1st/2nd:

  • Hiroshi Tanahashi
  • Michael Elgin
  • KUSHIDA
  • Jushin Thunder Liger
  • Juice Robinson
  • David Finlay
  • Sho Tanaka & Yohei Komatsu
  • Jay White
  • Billy Gunn
  • Yoshitatsu
  • Kazuchika Okada
  • Tomohiro Ishii
  • Will Ospreay
  • Rocky Romero & Trent Barreta
  • Tetsuya Naito
  • Hiromu Takahashi
  • SANADA
  • EVIL
  • BUSHI
  • Zack Sabre Jr.

Ring of Honor

  • Jay Lethal
  • The Briscoes
  • War Machine

CMLL

  • Dragon Lee
  • Volador Jr.
  • Titan

Bullet Club

  • Kenny Omega
  • The Young Bucks
  • Cody Rhodes
  • Marty Scurll
  • Bad Luck Fale
  • Hangman Page
  • Guerrillas of Destiny
  • Yujiro Takahashi

The Young Bucks & Kenny Omega Discuss Turning on Adam Cole

the Young Bucks & Kenny Omega turned on Adam Cole to close out ROH’s “War of the Worlds” PPV earlier this month.

New footage released by the trio seems to indicate the Young Bucks are having 2nd thoughts about firing Cole from Bullet Club.

Adam Cole vs. Bullet Club Rivalry

Adam Cole is no longer under contract to ROH, leading to speculation he is WWE bound. He is still taking independent bookings however, so if he is WWE bound he’s not headed there immediately.

Cole and Omega teased dissension during a tour with NJPW earlier this year, something they have yet to pay off. The big angle to close out the ROH PPV a couple weeks ago, also seemed to indicate Cole will be feuding with Bullet Club before heading to WWE.

ROH Report: Omega, Cody & Young Bucks vs. Will Ospreay, Okada & the Briscoes

ROH TV
airdate: May 22nd 2017 (Fite App)
Tokyo, Japan

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgEJH88oFA8

This week on Ring of Honor television, matches were from the company’s shows from Tokyo in late February. In addition to wrestlers from ROH, many NJPW stars were featured as well.

1. NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championships
Delirious, Jushin Liger & Tiger Mask vs. Sanada, Bushi, & Evil (Los Ingobernables)(c)

Surprisingly, the only ROH wrestler in this match was Delirious, and he’s actually the ROH booker. He likes to wrestle when they go to Japan though, so he was on the card here.

Sanada and Delirious ended up being the two legal wrestlers in the ring at the end of the match. Delirious looked like he was a little too unorthodox for Sanada, but Evil bashed Delirious in the head with a chair when the refs back was turned.

After that, Sanada put him in the “Skull and Bones” and made him tap for the win.

Winners: Los Ingobernables ( 1st title defence- later lost titles to “Taguchi Japan”)

2. NEVER Openweight Championship
Hirooki Goto (c) vs. Punishment Martinez

35 year-old Luis “Punishment” Martinez is a 13-year pro who is just now starting to get a break. Originally trained at the Monster Factory in New Jersey, Martinez wrestled the indies until heading to Ring of Honor’s school for additional training in 2015. He has since had a short-lived alliance with Kevin Sullivan that boosted his name value some.

He got a big opportunity here in a match against a well-known NJPW champion. While Goto has since dropped the title to Minoru Suzuki, he is a 3x NJPW Cup winner, 1x IWGP Intercontinental champion, and multi-time tag team champion as well.

Goto countered the “South of Heaven Chokeslam” into the GTR to retain the championship.

Winner: Hirooki Goto (1 of 3 successful title defences he had before losing the title to Suzuki on April 27th 2017) 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6IIURNdHlI

3. Kenny Omega, Cody & the Young Bucks (Bullet Club) vs. The Briscoes, Will Ospreay & Kazuchika Okada (CHAOS)

There were lots of really innovative spots between the Young Bucks and Will Ospreay early. When Ospreay was dazed on the apron the Bucks would both super-kick him off, only for him to fall into the arms of Cody and Omega, who placed him back on the apron to be super-kicked again. This happened a few times.

Ospreay ended up taking a lot of Bullet Club offence before making a hot tag into Okada, who cleaned house, followed by Mark Briscoe doing the same. As with most Young Buck matches, there was a lot to keep track of.

Mark Briscoe and Okada gave Omega consecutive elbows from the top, leading to Okada attempting a rainmaker clothesline on his challenger from WrestleKingdom 11. Omega countered the rainmaker with a jumping knee however, but then ran right into a standing spanish fly by Ospreay. Okada tagged in Ospreay and Omega tagged in Cody, and they would be the final two legal wrestlers in the match.

Ospreay hit a hesitation dropkick in the corner followed by a Falcon Arrow for a near-fall. After dodging a diving attack however, Cody countered Ospreay’s springboard cutter into the Cross Rhodes and got the pin.

Winners: Bullet Club (Cody pinned Ospreay)

NJPW Press Conference Including Kenny Omega, Cody, Young Bucks & More

New Japan Pro-Wrestling is going all-in on their American expansion plans.

The company held a press conference in Los Angeles today, with Kenny Omega, the Young Bucks, and Cody all in attendance.

Press Conference Highlights

  • AXS TV will air the July 1st show live as it happens. Night 2 will just be on njpwworld.com.
  • The July 1st & 2nd G1 shows in LA each sold out in under 2 hours.
  • The IWGP USA championship will be given to a tournament winner on July 1st & 2nd.
  • Hangman Page and Jay Lethal are the only two tournament entries confirmed so far.
  • They read through some of the roster that will be at the July 1st and 2nd show. No real surprises there, except they have Yoshi Tatsu and Billy Gunn back. They wrestled in the tag league tournament in December.
  • Bullet Club got special attention during the roster unveil portion.
  • They introduced Cody, the Young Bucks, and Kenny Omega to come up and take questions.
  • They are each asked about their matches at the Dominion event in June. The Bucks are challenging for the junior heavyweight tag titles, Cody wrestles Michael Elgin, and Kenny Omega challenges Okada for the IWGP heavyweight championship. Dominion is on June 11th, so Omega could be champion heading into the G1 shows in LA.
  • Kenny Omega was on fire. He reminded Okada that at the last show the fans were chanting for him, because they recognize that Omega is giving his heart and soul for this business.
  • Cody has taken bookings during the G1 tournament, leading many to believe he won’t be in the G1. This is just me speculating, but it makes sense for Cody to be in the US tournament on July 1st and 2nd. He could win.
  • Each member talks about how they were the reason the events sold out so quickly. Matt Jackson believes this fact will lead to his wife wanting to make love to him, then asks for the remark to be edited out.
  • The Bucks talked about how much NJPW has grown over the last 4 years, how big the live crowds are etc.
  • Bullet Club then posed for pictures and that was that.

NJPW previously released this commercial for their USA shows:

ROH War of the Worlds PPV Report: Kenny Omega appears, New Bullet Club Member, more…

ROH: War of the Worlds
Hammerstein Ballroom, NYC
May 12th 2017

  1. Silas Young vs. Kushida vs. Dalton Castle vs. Bobby Fish

Kushida came out in a Yankees jersey. Silas Young cut a promo on Kushida pandering to the crowd and attacked him to start the match.

Everyone got some offence in but Kushida in particular seemed to be made to look strong. He got armbars on both Bobby Fish and Dalton Castle, with each having to be broken up before the guy tapped. He will be participating in the Best of the Super Juniors next week.

The finish of the match started when Kushida was taken out by a clothesline by Silas. Then Fish took Silas out with a legsweep. This left Fish and Castle in the ring alone, Castle hit Bang-A-Rang and got the pin.

Bobby Fish successfully defended the ROH TV title against Dalton Castle earlier this year, so there could be another match between those two coming. They shook hands after the match.

Winner: Dalton Castle

  • A video package of the history between Kazarian and Hangman Page/Bullet Club is shown. Kazarian had convinced Bullet Club he had joined the faction and had betrayed Christopher Daniels, his longtime tag partner. It was a swerve however, and Kazarian helped Daniels beat Adam Cole to win the ROH Championship. Now Kazarian is feuding with Bullet Club.

  1. Frankie Kazarian vs. Hangman Page (Bullet Club)

Kazarian hit Page with a diving cannonball before he could enter the ring, and the match started with a brawl on the outside.

There were a couple of fun moves early; Page hit a standing shooting star press from the apron to the floor on Kazarian. Then Kazarian hit an unprettier (aka Christian’s finishing move).

Eventually they started spitting at each other. Literally they took turns spitting at each other similar to how strong-style wrestlers exchange forearms. They had a similar gross spitting spot on television recently.

Finish of the match came when Page hooked the ropes in the corner while Kazarian was going for a sunset flip. Page continued to hold onto the ropes as he had Kazarian’s shoulders pinned and got the 3-count. Kevin Kelly made sure to mention that there will be more to come between these two.

Winner: Hangman Page (Bullet Club)

  1. Evil & Sanada (Los Ingobernables) vs. War Machine vs. Chris Sabin & Jonathon Gresham w/ Alex Shelley (Search & Destroy)

There were a lot of fun spots here. Rowe gave an overhead belly-to-belly to both members of Search & Destroy at the same time. Evil then wrapped Hanson’s head in a chair, and then hit that chair with another chair. War Machine definitely looked strong. They just defended their tag titles last month in NJPW, and are scheduled to do so again next month against the Guerillas of Destiny.

The beginning of the end started when Sanada took everyone out on the outside with a plancha. Sabin then ended up alone in the ring with both members of War Machine, who gave him a pop-up powerslam for the win.

Winners: War Machine

  1. Jay White vs. Will Ospreay

This match is interesting from an NJPW perspective, as Jay White was a young lion and is now on loan/excursion to ROH. Meanwhile, Ospreay won the Best of the Juniors last year, so a win for Jay White would indicate they have big plans for him. Cabana mentioned on commentary that White is putting on weight to wrestle as a heavyweight however.

Jay White got in a lot of offence, including a Muta-clutch, brainbuster on the apron, and a flying dropkick. Ospreay got in a lot of his office as well, including a standing spanish fly, reversing a move into a cutter, and lots of kicks and his normal array of impressive offence.

An interesting part of the match was when White reversed a springboard move by Ospreay into a position where he had both of his arms trapped, allowing him to freely land elbows to Ospreay’s head. It looked as though the ref was going to step in, but White ended up getting free.

Ospreay hit the most ridiculous springboard shooting star press to the outside that you will ever see. He then rolled White into the ring, hit a springboard cutter and picked up the win. The crowd was very into this.

Winner: Will Ospreay (CHAOS)

 

  • After the match Punishment Martinez hit the ring and took out Osprey. White tried to help, but he got hit with the South of Heaven Chokeslam.

  1. ROH 6-Man Tag Team Championship
    Bully Ray & the Briscoes © vs. Hirooki Goto, Rocky Romero, & Beretta (CHAOS)

Roppongi Vice recently won the IWGP jr heavyweight tag titles, so they had a chance to become double champs in this match.

Bully Ray came out in the rafters and announced this will be a no DQ match. He has a lot of history in this building, and there were ECW chants periodically throughout the match.

There were a lot of diving moves to the outside and chairshots early here, with each team getting in time on offence. There was some throwing of chairs to the head, but not unprotected swinging chair shots..

Aside from the early chair useage, the match wasn’t that hardcore for the most part. It was high paced however. At one point Jay Briscoe hit a double doomsday device, followed by Mark hitting an elbow from the top to Goto. Bully Ray then called for the tables. Ray powerbombed Berretta through a table from the 2nd rope, then they hit 3-D on Romero for the win.

Winners: Bully Ray & the Briscoes 

 

  • We were shown a replay of earlier this month on television, when Marty Scurll was cutting a promo about being out of opponents. Sydal came down to the ringside and simply pointed at Scurll’s belt to let him know he was challenging him for a title shot.
  • Last week on ROH TV, Sydal had just won a singles match when Scurll ran to ringside and attacked him from behind, but Sydal was able to fend him off.

6. ROH TV Title
Marty Scurll © vs. Matt Sydal

Each guy got in the majority of their offensive arsenal, and Sydal even added a new move.

Sydal reversed Scurll’s chickenwing at least twice. The first time he reversed it, Scurll transitioned into that finger-breaking move he does. Sydal hit a hurricanrana and a flying knee shortly after that however.

Not long after Sydal countered the chickenwing for the second time, he landed what looked to be a Gory-bomb, i.e the Guerreros. After that, he went to the top for the shooting star press. Scurll got his knees up however, then was finally able to lock in the chickenwing and got the tap.

Winner: Marty Scurrll 

7. ROH Tag Team Championship
The Young Bucks © vs. Tetsuya Naito & Bushi (Los Ingobernables)

It seemed as though the Bucks were getting the majority of the offence in the first part of this match. They did a lot of their innovative tag team moves, but were eventually slowed down when Naito hit a tornado DDT on Nick, followed by a reverse hurricanarana on Matt.

Naito then went for Destino on Matt but it was reversed to a piledriver position, and the Bucks started to go for the Meltzer Driver. Bushi prevented Nick from springboarding into the ring however, and then with the ref out of position he sprayed poison mist into Matt’s eyes. Naito rolled him up for the pin, but Matt kicked out just in time.

When Matt got up he was blind and walking around the ring, but he could still hit super kicks! He hit Naito, Bushi, then his own brother Nick, and then the referee because he didn’t know who was who. He finally got a bottle of water to clear out his eyes. Then Naito hit him with Destino, but Nick broke up the pin with a swanton.

Matt Jackson took out Naito with a tornado DDT on the apron, which allowed Nick to go to the top and Matt to roll Bushi into the ring. Matt hit a standing moonsault, and Nick came off the top in unison. Nick covered Bushi for a near-fall only.

Finally, Nick took Naito out on the outside with a flying cannonball, allowing Matt to grab Bushi and put him in position for the Meltzer Driver. The Bucks hit their finish and got the win.

Winners: the Young Bucks

  • A Very Interesting announcement after this match! NJPW has created a new championship: The IWGP U.S Championship. There will be a tournament for the title shortly, with Jay Lethal already announced as participating.
  • NJPW will be running a G1 show in LA on July 1st. They also announced the IWGP Heavyweight and Intercontinental championships will also be defended on that show. This is all apart of NJPW’s US expansion plans.

8. Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Adam Cole (Bullet Club)

Commentary talked about how this match is between arguably the greatest champion in modern day NJPW against the same in ROH. Cole is a 3x ROH champion, and Tanahashi ruled NJPW for the last decade. After his loss to Okada at WrestleKingdom Tanahashi has fallen out of the IWGP heavyweight title picture, but will wrestle Naito for the Intercontinental championship next month.

Each guy got a lot of offence in. Cole hit the Last Shot, countered Tanahashi’s High Fly Flow,  and even his own version of the High Fly Flow at one point. Tanahashi finally landed his patented High Fly Flow frog splash and got the pin.

Winner: Hiroshi Tanahashi

  • After the match, Cole remained in the ring while some fans chanted “thank you Adam!” (has Cole signed with someone?) The Young Bucks then hit the ring and played it up like they were going to finally superkick Cole after weeks of building towards a split. Cole turned around and the Bucks acted like everything was fine and gave him the 2 sweet signal. Kelly referred to it as them doing their own version of a curtain call.
  • Then the lights went out and we cut to a video of Kenny Omega. He says he was disappointed in the Bucks for standing with Cole after he tried to fire them from Bullet Club. He tells Adam he has had a long and storied career, but just like all fairy tales there “has to be a hero and a villain”. The camera fades back to reveal the bird mask worn by Marty Scurll. Omega then tells Cole he is officially fired.

  • The lights go back on in the building and Marty Scurll is in the ring. He reveals an umbrella with the Bullet Club logo. Then the Young Bucks superkick Adam Cole. Scurll then reveals a Bullet Club shirt.

9. ROH World Championship
Christopher Daniels © vs. Jay Lethal vs. Cody (Bullet Club)

Commentary was playing up how Cody is a free agent, and looking to achieve as much as he can all over the world.

Lethal began favouring his shoulder after landing a suicide dive, but it didn’t seem to impact him too much. Later in the match Cody would bring out a table, though it wouldn’t be used immediately.

Cody ended up hitting Daniels with the Cross Rhodes, but when he went for the pin Lethal came off the top for an elbow. Cody got out of the way just in time, and Lethal ended up hitting Daniels. He stumbled onto the apron, and Cody ended up hitting him off the apron and through the table. This left Cody and Lethal alone in the ring.

There was a ref bump, followed by Cody hitting a low blow on Lethal. When Cody went for the Disaster Kick, Lethal countered into a cutter for a nearfall. Lethal then went for the Lethal Injection, but Cody countered into the Cross Rhodes, but Lethal kicked out just in time.

Cody then put Lethal in a figure-four, but Daniels got back into the match, hit the Best Moonsault Ever on Cody and pinned him while Lethal was still trapped in his figure-four. The crowd was into it. They were into most things on this show.

Winner: Christopher Daniels 

Top UK Talent Joins Bullet Club at War of the Worlds

‘The Villain’ Marty Scurll has officially joined Bullet Club. Scurll joined the Club during last night’s ROH/NJPW War of the Worlds show as Adam Cole was ejected from the group.

Marty Scurll now joins the likes of Kenny Omega, Cody, The Young Bucks, Hangman Page, Bad Luck Fale and Yujiro Takahashi in one of the longest running stables in pro wrestling today.

With Adam Cole seemingly heading to NXT, Marty Scurll appears to be an excellent replacement to add a ‘villainous’ flair to New Japan’s largest stable and sets up Scurll’s impending New Japan debut at the Best of the Super Juniors nicely.

https://twitter.com/MartyScurll/status/863240621586350080

NJPW Unveil IWGP United States Championship

New Japan Pro Wrestling made a major announcement during last night’s Ring of Honor/NJPW co-branded ‘War of the Worlds’ pay per view.

The following is from the NJPW1972.com website detailing the brand new IWGP United States Championship:

“New Japan Pro-Wrestling Chairman Naoki Sugabayshi, and referee Tiger Hattori, Kevin Kelly, Ring of Honor COO Joe Koff, George Carroll Jr and ROH Ambassador Cary Silkin stood in a sold out Hammerstein Ballroom in Manhattan, New York and shocked the world.

New Japan officials took note of the demand for the global branding and wanted to ensure that the already epic G1 in the USA specials on July 1 & 2 become truly landmark events in the history of professional wrestling.

It was announced that at the G1 in the US Specials in Long Beach California, the stars of New Japan Pro-Wrestling and Ring of Honor will complete in a round robin tournament.

For the first time in its 45 year history, New Japan Pro-Wrestling will add their first championship based in the US. At the G1 Specials in the USA, The winner of this tournament will become the New IWGP United States Champion!

It was also announced that former ROH World Champion Jay Lethal would be the first competitor announced for this epic tournament!

The Bullet Club’s Hangman Page attempted to crash that party and let Lethal and NJPW officials know that he wants to be the first champion!”

There has previously been speculation that New Japan were looking to give Kenny Omega the IWGP Heavyweight Championship and make him the focal point for their push into the American market. With this announcement of the new title there is an even greater chance that Kazuchika Okada retains his title at Dominion on June 11th.

Will you be headed to the G1 Specials at Long Beach in July? Who do you think should be crowned the inaugural IWGP United States Champion? Let us know in the comments

Kenny Omega vs. Kazuchika Okada Rematch Set

On January 4th, 2017 Kenny Omega and Kazuchika Okada were the main event of WrestleKingdom 11. The match, held in the Tokyo Dome, went over 45 minutes and some experts have referred to it as the greatest professional wrestling match they have ever seen.

At Wrestling Dontaku on Wednesday, Okada called out Omega after defeating Bad Luck Fale. Omega had come down to the ring area to check on his Bullet Club teammate, when Okada issued the challenge. Normally it is the challenger calling out the champion, but in this case it was Okada who wanted the rematch.

That match is now official for NJPW’s June PPV, Dominion. The match will be held on June 11th in Osaka, Japan. Also announced for the show is Tetsuya Naito defending the IWGP intercontinental title against Hiroshi Tanahashi.

Kenny Omega vs. Kazuchika Okada

At last year’s G1 tournament, Kenny Omega became the first non-Japanese wrestler (in storyline) to win the tournament. His win may also help the tournament’s popularity in the United States, including in Los Angeles where part of the tournament will be held this year.

The win earned Omega a shot at Kazuchika Okada’s title in the Tokyo Dome. Okada just barely did pull out the victory over Omega, and now he will have to do that again next month.

Kenny Omega & Young Bucks Merchandise Coming To ‘Hot Topic’

The Elite (Kenny Omega and the Young Bucks) have reached an agreement with clothing store, Hot Topic, for their merchandise to be sold in their retail locations.

The Young Bucks tweeted out their reaction to the deal:

https://twitter.com/MattJackson13/status/857477305555230720

Young Bucks and Kenny Omega Merchandise Sales

It is believed that Omega and the Bucks are the top merchandise sellers on ProWrestling Tees. They often brag about how many T-shirts they sell at live events as well.

The deal is considerable for the Elite, as currently fans only have the option of buying their clothes online or at a live event (aside from some scattered pro-wrestling specific stores that exist). If the deal leads to similar agreements for other wrestlers as well, it could be a potentially good source of income for non-WWE wrestlers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDePc9YLQU0

Kenny Omega Comments on Seth Rollins’ New Signature Move

Seth Rollins recently debuted a new finishing/signature manoeuvre that bears a striking resemblance to Kenny Omega’s High Knee. He used it last night on RAW, as seen here:

Omega posted some tongue in cheek comments on Twitter today commenting on the ‘blatant thievery’ that he believes is rampant in Pro Wrestling currently.

The irony of Kenny Omega complaining about thievery whilst being a member of Bullet Club is not lost on this writer….

Hiroshi Tanahashi & The Addiction vs The Elite set for ROH War of The Worlds

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!”

Jim Cornette Clarifies His Stance On Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn, Buries Kenny Omega & Joey Ryan

We’ve got some more newsworthy quotes from Jim Cornette’s recent appearance on The Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling podcast. Below, can you can read what Cornette said about where he stands on Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn, Kenny Omega and Joey Ryan.

The perception that he does not like Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn:

“Once again everyone said that Cornette must be hanging himself in his closet and slitting his wrist because they are so successful. Which is ridiculous. Kevin Steen (Owens) and El Generico (Sami Zayn) were both pains in the asses to deal with. It was the 80/20 principle where you spend 80% of your time dealing with 20% of your talent’s problems. Part of it is that they are French Canadian and I’m sorry but French Canadians in wrestling have always been pains in the ass except for Pat Patterson.

But part of it was we are paying them to play professional athletes on television so Steen, we’d like you to lose some weight, f*cking buy some new clothes and f*cking trim your beard up and look a little neater. El Generico a television company has just bought the promotion you work for so we’d like you to be able to do interviews instead of being a mute and we’d like you to take the God damn mask off ( I didn’t even broach that with him) because OH MY GOD it would have been like I sodomized his f*cking mother if I would have said take the mask off. But you’ve got a French Canadian muslin with red hair trying to play a Luchador and nobody understood it.”

“When people that are paying you ask you to do and get a long a little better and son of a gun we just found out that Ring of Honor wasn’t paying them enough money because when somebody comes along and pays them more money they do what we asked them to do and as a result they are tremendously successful. I never said that they were f*cking horrible wrestlers. We made Steen the World Champion for a f*cking year, we tried to sign Generico to another contract but that is when he had the WWE sniffing around him so he wouldn’t do it so we didn’t use him. Everybody said ‘oh God damn’ Cornette has run these guys off…well no. I just wanted them to be more accessible to a wider audience. Now when they have done everything I had asked them to do they are now superstars, imagine that? Wouldn’t you know who won the pony.”

“I never said that (once again) they were bad wrestlers and they couldn’t get over. I said they ain’t getting over unless they do certain things and tweak what they’ve already got. They’ve done that and they have been successful. They’ve never embarrassed the business by beating up grade school children or having matches with blow up dolls. Kenny Omega (I’ve said this about him) I don’t care if he discovers the cure for cancer in his spare time, brings Lou Thesz back from the grave and stretches him in a shoot..he is still a piece of sh*t that should never be in the business because he had matches with nine year old girls and blow up dolls. I don’t care how good he is. I don’t have any time for him, don’t want to look at him, don’t want to hear about him and if I had complete control over pro wrestling I would have Dan Severn go and beat the f*ck out of him and leave him laying in a f*cking ditch.

Why he still has such strong feelings about the wrestling business and how comedy spots hurt the industry:

“He (Omega) embarrassed his profession and he embarrassed everybody that has ever been in it. Steen and Generico never did that. They just had misguided ideas of the facets of their gimmicks and their personalities. They didn’t do phony spots with their d*ck like that f*cking idiot Joey Ryan. He just blatantly does phony bullsh*t because he is an underneath guy that doesn’t have the talent to compete with the major main event level wrestlers so he does this sh*t to get attention.

Everybody says that Cornette says all that stuff because he wants people to listen to his podcast and how can he take wrestling that seriously. Well I do! I’ve made several million dollars off of wrestling and not only because it has been my profession but it has been my favorite thing in life as a hobby since I was nine years old. So yeah I do take it that seriously and Joey Ryan is an embarrassment to it and so is Kenny Omega. At least Omega has a job on top and Joey Ryan is still working ‘outlaw’ shows in front of 400 people shaking his d*ck because that is all he can do.”

Finn Balor Tweets Support for OTT’s Scrappermania Event, Young Bucks Tout Successful UK Tour

Finn Balor took to Twitter during Over The Top (OTT) Wrestling’s Scrappermania Event to show support for the Irish based promotion that he called home for many years.

One of the main draws of the Scrappermania show was The Young Bucks who touted their huge successes over the weekend as part of their UK tour with Kenny Omega. This included the latest show of their ‘Being The Elite’ series featuring WWE UK Competitors Tyler Bate, Trent Seven and Pete Dunne

https://twitter.com/MattJackson13/status/854012292807114752

https://twitter.com/MattJackson13/status/853645037791571969

Alberto El Patron Officially Signs With Impact Wrestling, Kenny Omega Talks Bullet Club

– Alberto El Patron is now officially under contract with Impact Wrestling, according to a report at PWInsider.com. During a recent interview with FightfulWrestling, Alberto revealed that he’s been working for Impact Wrestling under a ‘handshake agreement’ with Jeff Jarrett.

“[Jarrett] was like, ‘Do you want to do a contract just for a week so you can see what we are going to be doing’? I said, ‘No, let’s do it the way gentleman do it. Let’s shake hands and I’ll go work for you. I will trust you. You know me and know I always deliver and what I bring to the table. I will do those four TV tapings and after those TV tapings we will sit down. If you don’t think my work is worth what I’m asking for then you say right there and I’ll give you a big discount’.”

It’s worth noting that Alberto El Patron told Fightful that he intends to retire from active competition when he’s done working for Impact Wrestling.

“At the moment, we are closing the final details of what is going to be my contract,” Alberto said last week. “Then, I will be joining TNA for good and retire in the company.”

– New Japan Pro Wrestling star Kenny Omega spoke with The Irish Mirror prior to competing at Over The Top Wrestling’s ScrapperMania III event in Dublin, Ireland at Dublin’s National Stadium this past Saturday night. When asked about the message the Bullet Club is looking to send, Omega said:

“We always had this message that we wanted to tell the people. To finally spread it to a larger fan-base… to spread our message of what pro wrestling should be, what we think it can be, to more people worldwide, that makes us happy. That makes us want to travel more and give these live performances in places that we’ve never been before.”

Kenny Omega & The Young Bucks Mock JBL (Video)

The Young Bucks & Kenny Omega are currently touring the UK with a number of high profile appearances over the Easter weekend for Rev Pro, OTT and Fight Club: Pro.

The Bucks have always had their ear to the ground when it comes to social media and they have just released a short video mocking JBL (see below).

JBL has been the talk of the internet recently with his alleged involvement over Mauro Ranallo’s exit from WWE, mainstream news outlets such as ESPN and Yahoo! have picked up on the story and it appears as though it will not be going away anytime soon.

Kenny Omega & The Young Bucks Heading to the UK this Weekend

Three of New Japan Pro Wrestling’s biggest performers are making their way to the UK this coming Easter Weekend.

Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks are booked to appear for Discovery Wrestling, Revolution Pro, Fight Club: Pro and Over The Top. The confirmed matches for the ‘Elite UK Tour’ are as follows:

Discovery Wrestling – The Elite vs BT Gunn, Joe Coffey & Lewis Girvan

Revolution Pro Wrestling – The Elite vs Leo Rush, Ryan Smile & Shane Strickland

Fight Club: Pro – The Elite vs British Strong Style (Trent Seven, Tyler Bate & Pete Dunne)

OTT – The Elite vs Uptown Funkers

https://twitter.com/NickJacksonYB/status/851461194531586048

Are you heading to one of the stops on the Elite Tour this weekend? Let us know in the comments section.

OTT (Ireland) – Scrappermania to be shown Live on FloSlam

Ireland based promotion Over The Top (OTT) Wrestling have announced that their biggest show of the year Scrappermania III will be shown live via the FloSlam streaming service.

FloSlam announced the following in a press release:

“The event takes place from National Stadium in Dublin and has been sold out since soon after it was announced. The main event is a massive clash between the Bullet Club team of The Young Bucks and Kenny Omega taking on Will Ospreay, Ricochet and Ryan Smile.

In addition to the massive main event featuring arguably the best wrestler in the world (Omega), best tag team in the world (Young Bucks) and two best high-flyers in the world (Ospreay & Ricochet), other major stars including NJPW’s Jay White and Grado have already been announced for the event.”

If you have never had the opportunity to check out an OTT event then check out the free match below between Matt Riddle & Marty Scrull for a taster of what is on offer from Ireland’s biggest independent promotion:

Kenny Omega Interview: NJPW to Los Angeles, Shoulder Injury, More

Kenny Omega was interviewed recently by NJPW1972.com, the promotion’s new english language website. The website has been part of a recent surge of attention NJPW has been giving to promote their product to english speaking countries, most notably in the United States.

The most notable move the company has made to break into the American market however, has been their decision to hold part of their annual G1 tournament in Los Angeles this summer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BE0jms-zvs4

Kenny Omega Interview

“Coming to America is cause for celebration! But what would make people party the longest, hardest and loudest would be watching me in the main event wearing the IWGP Heavyweight Championship.” – Kenny Omega

NJPW have referred to WWE’s recent string of signing Asian and European based talent as a “global takeover”. Others have compared it to when Vince McMahon bought up or raided all the territories in the 1980s, but on a global scale. NJPW heading to America could be seen as a reaction to WWE’s current strategy.

Other notable Kenny Omega quotes from the interview:

On shoulder injury:

“You know, I really wanted to keep that injury secret. I didn’t want to tell anyone about it before the [New Japan Cup] match… I didn’t even want to tell anyone after the match either! Because if I said anything after the match, they’d say I was making excuses.”

On recent losses to CHAOS members Kazuchika Okada and Tomohiro Ishii:

Does CHAOS know something about me? My weakness? How is it that Okada beat me after I gave it my all, and then Ishii as well? It blows my motherfXXXking mind! So what I need to do is go on a quest, a search for what I am lacking. What is Kenny Omega’s weakness!? That’s what I need to find next!

The full interview can be read here.

NJPW Announces Matches for 45th Anniversary Show

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. 

Will Ospreay Announced for Fight Club: Pro Easter Weekender

The Easter Weekend Fight Club: Pro events were already looking like some of the most must see shows in the UK this year, and now they have announced that Will Ospreay will be appearing on Friday 14th April at the Fixxion in Wolverhampton and Sunday 16th April at the Bush Hall in London.

Other stars announced for these shows are:

  • Pentagon Jr
  • Sami Callihan
  • Moustache Mountain
  • Travis Banks
  • Zack Sabre Jr
  • Rey Fenix
  • Pete Dunne
  • Chris Brookes
  • Shane Strickland
  • Marty Scurll
  • FSU – Mark Andrews and Eddie Dennis
  • Kenny Omega
  • The Young Bucks
  • Mark Haskins
  • Dan Moloney

WWE vs NJPW Match Announced for Fight Club: Pro in April

As reported on this site previously three of New Japan Pro Wrestling’s biggest stars – collectively known as The ELITE (Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks) will heading to the UK and Ireland in April.

Their opponents for the Fight Club: Pro event on Friday April 14th have now been announced and they are: British Strong Style.

The implications of this match are wide reaching as the BSS team consists of WWE UK Tournament competitors Tyler Bate, Pete Dunne and the reigning WWE UK Champion Tyler Bate, effectively making this a WWE vs NJPW bout. In recent months WWE UK contracted talents have been pulled from UK/Ireland independent bouts that have been set for broadcast and/or conflicted with WWE obligations, so it does remain to be seen if this history making bout will go ahead.

Bullet Club’s Opponents Announced For 4/15 OTT Show

We reported earlier in the week that Kenny Omega & The Young Bucks would be making their way to Ireland’s biggest Independent promotion this April. OTT have now announced their opponents for the Scrappermania event that takes place April 15th at the National Stadium in Dublin.

Omega and Bucks will taking on the team of Will Ospreay, Ryan Smile and Ricochet (being billed as the Uptown Funkers). The match announcement has been a huge hit among the OTT faithful and further shows the International reach that New Japan Pro Wrestling is garnering.

The Elite Announced for Top UK Indie Promotions in April

Three of New Japan Pro Wrestling’s biggest stars will be heading to the UK in April to appear for at least 3 promotions. They have currently been announced for: Revolution Pro Wrestling’s (Now Sold Out) Epic Encounter event at Bethnal Green’s York Hall on April 13th. Fight Club! Pro’s Dream Tag Team Invitational on Friday 14th April and finally at OTT’s ScrapperMania event on April 15th. Tickets (if available) can be found using the Twitter links below.

Kenny Omega vs Kazuchika Okada Streaming Free on NJPW World

It has been described by some as the greatest match in Professional Wrestling history and now New Japan have made Kenny Omega vs Kazuchika Omega available to view for free on NJPWWorld.com for a limited time.

If you have not seen the bout or any NJPW content then this would be an excellent place to start, go to the 11th minute mark of the video if you want to skip the intros and get right into the action.