Today, New Japan Pro-Wrestling presents The New Beginning in Osaka 2020. This event will be held at Osaka-jo Hall in Osaka, Japan. This event will be available to watch on their live streaming service, NJPW World. English and Japanese commentary are available.

Live stream links:

• NJPW World (English Commentary)
• NJPW World (Japanese Commentary)
• Fite TV

Start times:

• Pacific USA: February 8th, 11PM
• Eastern USA: February 9th, 2AM
• UK: February 9th, 7AM
• Japan: February 9th, 4PM
• East Australia: February 9th, 6PM

The New Beginning in Osaka 2020 Card

Manabu Nakanishi, Yuji Nagata, Satoshi Kojima & Hiroyoshi Tenzan def. Togi Makabe, Tomoaki Honma, Toa Henare & Ryusuke Taguchi
This match was dubbed “Manabu Nakanishi Final in Osaka-jo Hall” and indeed, this will be the last big arena show of Nakanishi’s 27-year career. To be honest, it looked to be about time for him. His lariats were slow and his chops were lethargic, but nevertheless, the crowd popped for everything he did. Nevertheless, the crowd was with him, especially when he climbed to the top rope for perhaps the last time ever. Nakanishi delivered a top rope brain chop to Tomoaki Honma, setting up Satoshi Kojima to deliver the lariat and get the pin. (7:08)

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship Match: Roppongi 3K (SHO & YOH) (c) def. Suzuki-gun (El Desperado & Yoshinobu Kanemaru)
Roppongi 3K attacked Suzuki-gun before the bell to remove the possibility that they would receive that treatment themselves. After getting into a gnarly slap fight with El Desperado, YOH tagged in SHO, but both members of Suzuki-gun cut SHO off and began assaulting his knee. Kanemaru held him in a long figure four leglock but SHO was able to make the rope break. Kanemaru hit the Deep Impact on SHO, who kicked out at two. As Rocky Romero rallied the capacity crowd, SHO rallied with heavy lariats. Roppongi 3K went for their 3K finish, but El Desperado was in to break it up. SHO hit the Shock Arrow on Kanemaru for a near fall. Finally, Roppongi 3K hit the dropkick and Shock Arrow combination known as Strong X for SHO to get the pinfall on Kanemaru and make their first championship defense. (16:22)

After the match, as Roppongi 3K celebrated in the ring, Ryusuke Taguchi entered the ring, with a basketball and a rugby helmet on. He told Rocky Romero that he was not only the manager of SHO and YOH, but a great wrestler in his own right. Taguchi stated that he and Rocky, as The Mega Coaches, should challenge Roppongi 3K for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championships. He threw his basketball to Rocky and made a hoop with his arms. Despite RPG 3K’s assistance otherwise, Rocky shot the ball into Taguchi’s hoop, signifying his agreement to challenge for the Championships.

Juice Robinson, David Finlay, Hiroshi Tanahashi & Kota Ibushi def. Bullet Club (Tama Tonga, Tanga Loa, Chase Owens & Yujiro Takahashi)
This matched Kota Ibushi’s return to the ring following a short absence due to a bout of influenza. One wouldn’t have known that he was running a 104 degree fever within the last two weeks, due to some superhuman healing factor. The factor that was of greatest note in this match was the appearance of Tanahashi and Juice. Tanahashi had a very fluffy pompadour and Juice Robinson’s hair was in an afro, continuing the ’70s-dancer-esque appearance he has been going for recently. Tanahashi pinned Tanga Loa with a bridging roll-up. (10:50)

Hiroshi Tanahashi and Kota Ibushi reiterated their desire to challenge for the IWGP Tag Team Championships.

CHAOS (Kazuchika Okada & Will Ospreay) def. Suzuki-gun (Zack Sabre Jr. & Taichi)
Following their respective losses at The New Beginning in Sapporo, Will Ospreay and Taichi wrestled with chips on their shoulders to avenge their losses. Taichi seemed unfazed by his defeat among the hometown crowd of Sapporo, and laid into Okada with his hard-hitting offense. The crowds went wild for his dangerous backdrop drivers and loud kicks, but the CHAOS team’s combined might was too much for Dangerous Tekkers. Ospreay landed the Oscutter followed by Okada’s Rainmaker for Okada to take the pin on Taichi. (11:50)

Will Ospreay held the belt around his waist before putting it down on the mat for Zack. Angrily, ZSJ yelled “Look at it, you moron! This is coming back to Japan with me!”

Jay White def. SANADA
In the buildup to this match, Jay White had attempted to get under SANADA’s skin in a way that few have been able to do before, with very little success. SANADA did not seem to be intimidated, and often overpowered Jay when the competition was fair. SANADA hit the backbreaker and went for the moonsault, but Gedo tried to knock him off his perch. SANADA responded by pulling on his Gedo’s beard and using the ropes for a groin attack. Jay tried to capitalize on the opportunity with the Blade Runner, but SANADA caught him and hit the giant swing into the Skull End. SANADA broke the hold and went for the top rope moonsault, but Jay White moved out of the way. White hit the sleeper suplex and Blade Runner for the pinfall victory. (21:52)

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship Match: Hiromu Takahashi (c) def. Ryu Lee
For the better part of a decade, Hiromu Takahashi and Ryu Lee have had a reputation of wrestling each other with an exceptional amount of reckless abandon. For the better part of the first five minutes of the match, Hiromu and Lee simply traded slaps to each other’s chests: over and over, until their pectorals were purple, and that was just the start. Ryu Lee teased the Phoenixplex that put Hiromu out of action with a broken neck for over a year, but Hiromu reversed it as the crowd breathed a collective sigh of relief. Lee went for the Phoenixplex once more later on, but Hiromu reversed it into a Canadian Destroyer. Hiromu hit the Time Bomb, but Lee kicked out, so Hiromu simply hit the Time Bomb again and marked the first successful defense of his title reign. (23:54)

IWGP US Heavyweight Championship Match: Jon Moxley (c) def. Minoru Suzuki
This match has been highly anticipated ever since Moxley and Suzuki locked eyes for the first time. It’s safe to say that they delivered on what was expected of them. This was simply a brawl from the outset, when Suzuki invited Moxley to have a chair-swinging fight. They did no acrobatics, they just hit each other, sometimes with foreign objects. Suzuki smashed Moxley’s hand with a chair and then put him in an armbar, only for Moxley to lift him up and powerbomb him through a table. Moxley was clearly chagrined by Suzuki’s remarks that Moxley lacked redeeming qualities as a wrestler. Suzuki went for the Gotch-style piledriver, but Moxley reversed it into a double-arm DDT. He didn’t get much lift on it, so Suzuki was able to kick out at two. Moxley and Suzuki traded strikes until Suzuki pushed Moxley just a bit too far, and Mox decided he had had enough. He bowled Suzuki over with a lariat and hit the Death Rider to retain the IWGP US Heavyweight Championship. (17:16)

After the match, Zack Sabre Jr. ambushed Jon Moxley and took him to the ground with a rear naked choke and bodyscissors. Moxley was temporarily subdued as the British submission specialist held up the IWGP US Heavyweight Championship.

IWGP Heavyweight & Intercontinental Double Championship Match: Tetsuya Naito (c) def. KENTA
KENTA entered with the majority of Bullet Club with him, and they pushed Red Shoes Unno down before the match even began. All the Bullet Club members save KENTA were removed from ringside. As the match began, KENTA was reluctant to begin, rolling out of the ring instead of engaging Naito. The crowd booed as KENTA took a Naito teddy bear from the crowd and stepped on it, and he relished in the boos. KENTA attempted to remove a turnbuckle pad, but Red Shoes caught him and stopped him in the process, only for KENTA to remove the opposite one as Red Shoes was retying the one he had partially removed. KENTA continued to methodically work over Naito with kicks and arm holds. Naito rallied with elbows, but KENTA was able to apply the Game Over facelock only for Naito to crawl and wriggle his way to the rope for the break. Naito was able to hit a top rope hurricanrana into the valentia. Naito went for the Destino, but KENTA pushed him into the ropes and then Jay White came in to interfere. BUSHI tried to stop Jay White to no avail, but then Hiromu Takahashi came in and successfully apprehended Jay. KENTA went for the Go 2 Sleep but Naito reversed it with a counter Destino. KENTA threw Naito into the exposed turnbuckle, causing him to bleed profusely from his face. KENTA went for the Go 2 Sleep again, but Naito blocked it with a reverse frankensteiner. Finally, the bloody Tetsuya Naito hit the valentia and Destino to retain the IWGP Heavyweight and IWGP Intercontinental Championships. (35:50)

The still-bleeding Naito then challenged his faction-mate Hiromu Takahashi to a singles match at the 48th Anniversary Show next month. Hiromu and Naito mutually agreed to it.

New Japan Pro-Wrestling has announced that KENTA will challenge Tetsuya Naito for both the IWGP Heavyweight and Intercontinental Championships at the New Beginning in Osaka event on February 9, 2020. This will be Naito’s first defense of both Championships since winning them on Day 2 of Wrestle Kingdom 14.

This challenge was prompted by KENTA attacking Tetsuya Naito after he won the main event of Wrestle Kingdom 14. This prevented Naito from having a proper post-match celebration of becoming the first simultaneous IWGP Heavyweight and Intercontinental Champion.

Naito vs KENTA

At a press conference following the events of Wrestle Kingdom 14, Tetsuya Naito expressed reluctance to defend his newly won Championships against KENTA. He claimed that the importance of being a double champion would be reduced if both titles were on the line on a regular basis. He stated that he would prefer to defend each one individually, even if he had to wrestle more frequently to do so.

Naito also questioned the legitimacy of KENTA’s challenge. He argued that Jay White, Kota Ibushi, and Kazuchika Okada were all more rightful challengers than KENTA, since the latter had lost the NEVER Openweight Championship to Hirooki Goto at Wrestle Kingdom 14 as well.

NJPW’s “The New Beginning in Osaka 2020” event will be streamed live on NJPW World.

Naito: But really, my thoughts on KENTA?
Good at Twitter.
Failed in America.
Was a big fish in a different company once.
That's about it. I'm not making fun of him, I just haven't been in the ring with him much. I'll find out. Properly, with the world watching. #njwk14 #njnbg

— NJPW Global (@njpwglobal) January 7, 2020

New Japan Pro-Wrestling is kicking off 2020 with their biggest event of the new year, Wrestle Kingdom 14. For the first time ever, Wrestle Kingdom will be a two-day event, with shows in the Tokyo Dome on January 4th and 5th. This event will be available to watch on their live streaming service, NJPW World, as well as Fite TV. Both platforms enable a choice between English or Japanese language commentary.

Day 1 of Wrestle Kingdom 14 took place on January 4th, and it made for a very eventful evening. Full results of the show can be read here and a shorter synopsis with key takeaways can be read here. Three matches from Day 1 pertained to the card of Day 2. An IWGP US Heavyweight Championship match has been scheduled for Day 2 in which Juice Robinson would challenge the winner between the title bout between Jon Moxley and Lance Archer, which ended up with Moxley the victory. Also, the “Double Gold Dash” will come to a head, as Kazuchika Okada and Tetsuya Naito left Wrestle Kingdom 14 as the IWGP Heavyweight and Intercontinental Champions respectively, and will face off in the main event of Day 2. Their respective opponents, Kota Ibushi and Jay White, will also compete in a singles match.

Pre-show start times are the following. The main show starts one hour after the listed time.

• Pacific USA: January 4th, 9PM
• Eastern USA: January 5th, 12AM (Midnight)
• UK: January 5th, 5AM
• Japan: January 5th, 2PM
• East Australia: January 5th, 4PM

Stream Links

• NJPW World (English Commentary)
• NJPW World (Japanese Commentary)
• Fite TV

Wrestle Kingdom 14 Day 2 Card

(Pre Show) NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship Gauntlet Match: Los Ingobernables de Japon Win
Teams:
– Champions: Togi Makabe, Toru Yano & Ryusuke Taguchi
– CHAOS: Tomohiro Ishii, YOSHI-HASHI & Robbie Eagles
– Los Ingobernables de Japon: Shingo Takagi, EVIL & BUSHI
– Suzuki-gun: Taichi, El Desperado & Yoshinobu Kanemaru
– Bullet Club: Bad Luck Fale, Chase Owens & Yujiro Takahashi

The match began with the Bullet Club and CHAOS teams. CHAOS eliminated Bullet Club when Tomohiro Ishii hit a vertical drop brainbuster on Chase Owens. The Suzuki-gun trio entered second, but also fell to the CHAOS team as Eagles hit a small package hold on Kanemaru. With two teams dispatched, CHAOS finally fell to Los Ingobernables de Japon, the third trio to enter, after EVIL hit Tomohiro Ishii with the Darkness Falls. With LIJ the last of the challenger teams standing, the champions Makabe, Yano, and Taguchi entered to determine the ultimate winner. There was a close call in which Taguchi hit Shingo Takagi with the Dodon, which he used to finish off Jushin Thunder Liger yesterday, but Takagi kicked out. BUSHI sprayed black mist in Taguchi’s face and Shingo hit him with Made in Japan and got the pinfall victory to win the match. Los Ingobernables de Japon won the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championships, putting another piece in place for every member of LIJ leaving Wrestle Kingdom 14 as champions.

Jushin Thunder Liger Retirement Match II: Hiromu Takahashi & Ryu Lee def. Jushin Thunder Liger & Naoki Sano (with Yoshiaki Fujiwara)
Ryu Lee entered using his new, non-CMLL namesake for the first time, donning the ROH Television Championship and a mask with Liger’s horns. He held the rope open for Hiromu Takahashi, who was wearing half-Liger styled tights, as he made his entrance. The crowd was ablaze as Jushin Thunder Liger walked down the ramp for his final match. Hiromu tagged to Lee, but they double-teamed Liger as the crowed booed. Liger rallied with tilt-a-whirl backbreakers and was able to tag in Naoki Sano, who briefly rallied with surprising agility. The match went back to Liger and Hiromu, and Liger showed great fire against his junior heavyweight successor. Crowds came unglued for his comebacks and were thrilled with his kickouts. They did not want the illustrious career of Jushin Thunder Liger to end. But it did end, when Hiromu Takahashi hit the Time Bomb on Liger to pin the junior heavyweight legend in his final match. Liger briefly spoke on the microphone to the Tokyo Dome audience, his music played, and an era of pro-wrestling ended. Jushin Thunder Liger’s retirement ceremony takes place tomorrow at New Year Dash. (12:16)

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship Match: Roppongi 3K (SHO & YOH) def. Bullet Club (Taiji Ishimori & El Phantasmo) (c)
Roppongi 3K rushed Bullet Club before the bell rang, presumably as payback for stealing their Super Junior Tag League trophies. Soon, the Bullet Club turned the tables with underhanded offense. In one of the most magnificent displays of ostentation, El Phantasmo hit a springboard backflip into a back rake. Theoretically, this match should have struggled to hook the crowd following Liger’s heartfelt retirement, but the crowds were solidly behind Roppongi 3K. Bullet Club attempted to do Roppongi 3K’s self-titled finish, but SHO countered it and the three-time Super Junior Tag League winners were able to take control. Phantasmo tried to get in a belt attack and a groin attack, but they were both foiled. Roppongi 3K hit a combination Shock Arrow and diving double foot stomp, to win the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championships. (14:08)

Revolution Pro Wrestling British Heavyweight Championship Match: Zack Sabre Jr. (c) def. SANADA
As is the theme of matches between Zack Sabre Jr. and SANADA, this was a match that was highly ground-based and full of counters, and counters of counters. Zack and SANADA traded control in holds and on the ground, with Zack becoming increasingly frustrated as he realized that SANADA did not succumb to his skill as easily as most others. He had promised to defeat SANADA by submission in the Tokyo Dome. SANADA took the match to stand-up and Zack couldn’t match him in that regard. Nevertheless, Zack deftly caught SANADA with a Japanese leg roll clutch to retain the British Heavyweight Championship. (12:32)

IWGP US Heavyweight Championship Match: Jon Moxley (c) def. Juice Robinson
Despite his rather comedic facial hair and entrance outfit, Juice rushed Moxley as he made his entrance with the IWGP US Heavyweight Championship that he had won less than 24 hours prior. Moxley was arguably at a disadvantage considering the danger of the Texas Deathmatch with Lance Archer that he went through yesterday, but he soon was dominating Juice with strikes. Juice had won a match against Moxley on one of the final days of the G1 Climax, but he looked worse for wear at first. He urged Juice to hit him harder, and then put him out of his misery. Jon Moxley hit the Death Rider to retain the IWGP US Heavyweight Championship. (12:48)

Then, Minoru Suzuki’s music started playing. He entered in his ring gear and gave Jon Moxley a Gotch-style piledriver. He held the IWGP US Heavyweight Championship above a fallen Moxley and left the ring.

NEVER Openweight Championship Match: Hirooki Goto def. KENTA (c)
After an initial burst from Goto, KENTA kept throwing him out of the ring, eliciting heavy boos from the Dome audience. He pompously rubbed his boots in Goto’s face and kicked him while he was down, until Goto lost his patience and floored him with a single forearm. Goto was tired of KENTA’s constant belittling, calling him cute and not taking him seriously. KENTA briefly countered with kicks but Goto continued his momentum with the Ushigoroshi. A corner dropkick and a penalty kick, followed by a shotgun dropkick held Goto down for a near fall. KENTA went for the Go 2 Sleep but Goto caught his leg and headbutted him to the ground. KENTA had a second wind of furious strikes, but Goto powered through them all and delivered the GTR to win the NEVER Openweight Championship. (16:12)

Singles Match: Jay White def. Kota Ibushi
This match involved the two losers of the IWGP Heavyweight and Intercontinental Championship matches from Wrestle Kingdom 14 Day 1. Ibushi looked understandably disappointed as he entered, while Jay White seemed unfazed by his loss. White started the match in the lead, working over Ibushi while proclaiming that his people didn’t care about him anymore. Ibushi was not interested in being slowly worn down, and responded in his usual ferocious manner. He struck Jay down as if he were insignificant, and a wobbly White struggled to land a hit on him. White hit a fast Complete Shot and German suplex to give himself a moment of reprieve. He landed a Kiwi Crusher for a near fall as Gedo barked orders at him. White went for the Blade Runner but Ibushi blocked it with a high kick, and Gedo came in with a chair after the referee had been hit. He hit Ibushi on the back with it, but Ibushi turned around, unfazed, and felled Gedo with a slap to the chest. Ibushi hit an elevated sitout powerbomb on White, but the referee was still down. He left the ring to pull the referee back in, and hit a Kamigoye, but Gedo pulled the referee out of the ring. Gedo came in once again, and Ibushi caught him, but White used the moment to hit Ibushi with a chair, then hit the Blade Runner for the victory. (24:58)

Singles Match: Chris Jericho def. Hiroshi Tanahashi
The video package for this match showed Tanahashi making a comedic parody of the video package that played when Chris Jericho challenged him in November, wearing Juggalo face paint and pretending to sing. Chris Jericho entered wearing the AEW World Championship, after claiming that Tanahashi would be granted an opportunity to challenge for it if he defeated him at Wrestle Kingdom, which was also shown in the video package. The most interesting part of the early stages of this match was Jericho attempting to flex his muscles at Tanahashi, which seemed to amuse him. Jericho used all sorts of unconventional tactics in this match, such as DDTing Tanahashi through an announce table and flogging him with his belt. Not the championship, the belt of his pants. Jericho went for a Lionsault but Tanahashi pushed him off the ropes, and then did a High Fly Flow onto him on the outside. Jericho tried to retaliate with the Codebreaker, but Tanahashi caught him and punished him with repeated dragon screws. Tanahashi went for a High Fly Flow in the ring, but Jericho blocked it with his knees, and then hit a Lionsault for a near fall. Tanahashi blocked the Judas Effect, but Jericho got him in the Walls of Jericho. He was in it for what seemed like forever, but broke the hold and hit a Sling Blade. Tanahashi went for the High Fly Flow yet again, but Jericho stood up in time and hit the Codebreaker in mid-air. Tanahashi blocked the Judas Effect again and hit a Codebreaker of his own for a near fall. Jericho rolled through another High Fly Flow attempt and reapplied the Walls as the crowd went into a frenzy. Jericho arched into the Liontamer and Tanahashi had nowhere to go. Chris Jericho defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi by submission. (22:24)

IWGP Heavyweight Championship & IWGP Intercontinental Double Championship Match: Tetsuya Naito def. Kazuchika Okada
Before the two men even touched, the crowd was absolutely ballistic for this match once the bell rang. This was the match to decide the first ever Heavyweight and Intercontinental double champion, and a one-on-one encounter that had not been seen in two years. As the match began, Okada took advantage early, controlling the pacing and working over Naito’s neck. Naito briefly took control with his own neck attacks, but Okada’s big boot put him flat on his back. Okada hit the reverse neckbreaker, diving elbow drop, and then called for the Rainmaker with unexpected urgency. This Okada was not the same Okada who was toying with Kota Ibushi yesterday. Naito dodged the Rainmaker easily, but Okada compensated with attacking Naito’s damaged knees, including dropping him knee-first on a commentator’s table. Naito barely made it back to the ring before the 20-count and Okada leveled him with a missile dropkick as he made it back. Naito desperately turned the tables with his rope-assisted tornado DDT, followed by the Gloria. Okada blocked the Destino attempt, only for Naito to avoid the Rainmaker. Naito hit a running Destino for a near fall as the crowd erupted. He attempted another, but Okada blocked it and hit his signature dropkick. Naito blocked the Rainmaker with a slap to the face, only for Okada to follow up with a discus lariat. Okada hit a Tombstone piledriver and the Rainmaker, but Naito kicked out. Okada rallied the crowd as he picked Naito up for another tombstone, but Naito struggled out. Okada smashed Naito’s knee against the mat and was roundly booed for it. Okada hit a Rainmaker and held onto Naito’s wrist, then hit another. Naito countered a third rainmaker and hit a Destino for a near fall. Naito body slammed Okada in the corner and hit the Stardust Press for yet another near fall as the ring announcer called that 35 minutes had passed. Naito hit the Valentia and Destino to become the first ever simultaneous IWGP Intercontinental and Heavyweight Champion. (35:37)

As Naito was about to complete the roll call of Los Ingobernables de Japon at Wrestle Kingdom, KENTA came out of nowhere and attacked him. He sat on Naito’s chest holding the IWGP Heavyweight and Intercontinental Championships, then left. BUSHI came out to help Naito up, and carried him to the dugout with the roll call left incomplete.

New Japan Pro-Wrestling has just announced details for 2019 edition of their annual heavyweight tag team tournament, the World Tag League.

The last major tour of the NJPW calendar, this tournament determines IWGP Tag Team Championship challengers for the following year’s Wrestle Kingdom.

This year’s World Tag League will have a single block with sixteen teams. Over the seventeen day tournament, each team will compete against each other, earning 2 points for a win and 1 point for a draw.

All matches will have a 30-minute time limit. Los Ingobernables de Japon’s EVIL and SANADA have won the World Tag League for the past two years.

World Tag League 2019 Teams

• Hiroshi Tanahashi & Toa Henare
• Juice Robinson & David Finlay
• Toru Yano & Colt Cabana
• CHAOS (Tomohiro Ishii & YOSHI-HASHI)
• Hirooki Goto & Karl Fredericks
• Yuji Nagata & Manabu Nakanishi
• Jeff Cobb & Mikey Nicholls
• Los Ingobernables de Japon (EVIL & SANADA)
• Los Ingobernables (Shingo Takagi & El Terrible)
• TenKoji (Satoshi Kojima & Hiroyoshi Tenzan)
• Great Bash Heel (Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma)
• Guerrillas of Destiny (Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa)
• Suzukigun (Zack Sabre Jr. & Taichi)
• Suzukigun (Minoru Suzuki & Lance Archer)
• Bullet Club (Chase Owens & Bad Luck Fale)
• Bullet Club (KENTA & Yujiro Takahashi)

World Tag League 2019 Schedule

November 16 Live on NJPW World

• Juice Robinson & David Finlay vs. Hirooki Goto & Karl Fredericks
• Toru Yano & Colt Cabana vs. Jeff Cobb & Mikey Nicholls
• Satoshi Kojima & Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Shingo Takagi & El Terrible
• Yuji Nagata & Manabu Nakanishi vs. KENTA & Yujiro Takahashi
• Minoru Suzuki & Lance Archer vs. Chase Owens & Bad Luck Fale
• Hiroshi Tanahashi & Toa Henare vs. Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma
• Tomohiro Ishii & YOSHI-HASHI vs. Zack Sabre Jr. & Taichi

---

November 17 Live on NJPW World

• Satoshi Kojima & Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Juice Robinson & David Finlay
• Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma vs. Yuji Nagata & Manabu Nakanishi
• Hiroshi Tanahashi & Toa Henare vs. Chase Owens & Bad Luck Fale
• Hirooki Goto & Karl Fredericks vs. KENTA & Yujiro Takahashi
• Toru Yano & Colt Cabana vs. Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa
• Tomohiro Ishii & YOSHI-HASHI vs. Jeff Cobb & Mikey Nicholls
• Minoru Suzuki & Lance Archer vs. Zack Sabre Jr. & Taichi
• EVIL & SANADA vs. Shingo Takagi & El Terrible

---

November 18 Live on NJPW World

• Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma vs. Hirooki Goto & Karl Fredericks
• Yuji Nagata & Manabu Nakanishi vs. Jeff Cobb & Mikey Nicholls
• Hiroshi Tanahashi & Toa Henare vs. Satoshi Kojima & Hiroyoshi Tenzan
• Toru Yano & Colt Cabana vs. Minoru Suzuki & Lance Archer
• KENTA & Yujiro Takahashi vs. Chase Owens & Bad Luck Fale
• Tomohiro Ishii & YOSHI-HASHI vs. Shingo Takagi & El Terrible
• Juice Robinson & David Finlay vs. Zack Sabre Jr. & Taichi

---

November 19 VOD Only

• Satoshi Kojima & Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Hirooki Goto & Karl Fredericks
• Hiroshi Tanahashi & Toa Henare vs. Yuji Nagata & Manabu Nakanishi
• Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma vs. Juice Robinson & David Finlay
• Shingo Takagi & El Terrible vs. Chase Owens & Bad Luck Fale
• Tomohiro Ishii & YOSHI-HASHI vs. Toru Yano & Colt Cabana
• Zack Sabre Jr. & Taichi vs. Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa
• Jeff Cobb & Mikey Nicholls vs. EVIL & SANADA

---

November 21 VOD Only

• Yuji Nagata & Manabu Nakanishi vs. Hirooki Goto & Karl Fredericks
• Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma vs. Satoshi Kojima & Hiroyoshi Tenzan
• Jeff Cobb & Mikey Nicholls vs. Minoru Suzuki & Lance Archer
• Hiroshi Tanahashi & Toa Henare vs. Juice Robinson & David Finlay
• Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa vs. KENTA & Yujiro Takahashi
• EVIL & SANADA vs. Chase Owens & Bad Luck Fale
• Shingo Takagi & El Terrible vs. Zack Sabre Jr. & Taichi

---

November 23 VOD Only

• Satoshi Kojima & Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Jeff Cobb & Mikey Nicholls
• Yuji Nagata & Manabu Nakanishi vs. EVIL & SANADA
• Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma vs. Toru Yano & Colt Cabana
• Zack Sabre Jr. & Taichi vs. KENTA & Yujiro Takahashi
• Juice Robinson & David Finlay vs. Shingo Takagi & El Terrible
• Hiroshi Tanahashi & Toa Henare vs. Tomohiro Ishii & YOSHI-HASHI
• Minoru Suzuki & Lance Archer vs. Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa

---

November 24 VOD Only

• Yuji Nagata & Manabu Nakanishi vs. Minoru Suzuki & Lance Archer
• Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma vs. Chase Owens & Bad Luck Fale
• Hiroshi Tanahashi & Toa Henare vs. Toru Yano & Colt Cabana
• Satoshi Kojima & Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Tomohiro Ishii & YOSHI-HASHI
• Shingo Takagi & El Terrible vs. KENTA & Yujiro Takahashi
• Jeff Cobb & Mikey Nicholls vs. Zack Sabre Jr. & Taichi
• EVIL & SANADA vs. Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa

---

November 25 VOD Only

• Satoshi Kojima & Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Toru Yano & Colt Cabana
• Yuji Nagata & Manabu Nakanishi vs. Juice Robinson & David Finlay
• Hiroshi Tanahashi & Toa Henare vs. Jeff Cobb & Mikey Nicholls
• Shingo Takagi & El Terrible vs. Minoru Suzuki & Lance Archer
• Hirooki Goto & Karl Fredericks vs. Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa
• Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma vs. Tomohiro Ishii & YOSHI-HASHI
• EVIL & SANADA vs. KENTA & Yujiro Takahashi

---

November 27 VOD Only

• Hirooki Goto & Karl Fredericks vs. Shingo Takagi & El Terrible
• Yuji Nagata & Manabu Nakanishi vs. Tomohiro Ishii & YOSHI-HASHI
• Satoshi Kojima & Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Minoru Suzuki & Lance Archer
• Juice Robinson & David Finlay vs. Jeff Cobb & Mikey Nicholls
• Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma vs. Zack Sabre Jr. & Taichi
• Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa vs. Chase Owens & Bad Luck Fale
• Toru Yano & Colt Cabana vs. EVIL & SANADA

---

November 28 Live on NJPW World

• Hirooki Goto & Karl Fredericks vs. Toru Yano & Colt Cabana
• Yuji Nagata & Manabu Nakanishi vs. Chase Owens & Bad Luck Fale
• Satoshi Kojima & Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. KENTA & Yujiro Takahashi
• Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma vs. Minoru Suzuki & Lance Archer
• Hiroshi Tanahashi & Toa Henare vs. Shingo Takagi & El Terrible
• Jeff Cobb & Mikey Nicholls vs. Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa
• EVIL & SANADA vs. Zack Sabre Jr. & Taichi

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November 29 Live on NJPW World

• Hirooki Goto & Karl Fredericks vs. Jeff Cobb & Mikey Nicholls
• Yuji Nagata & Manabu Nakanishi vs. Toru Yano & Colt Cabana
• Satoshi Kojima & Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Zack Sabre Jr. & Taichi
• Juice Robinson & David Finlay vs. Chase Owens & Bad Luck Fale
• Hiroshi Tanahashi & Toa Henare vs. KENTA & Yujiro Takahashi
• Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma vs. Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa
• Tomohiro Ishii & YOSHI-HASHI vs. EVIL & SANADA

---

December 1 December NJPW World Schedule TBA

• Hirooki Goto & Karl Fredericks vs. Minoru Suzuki & Lance Archer
• Chase Owens & Bad Luck Fale vs. Zack Sabre Jr. & Taichi
• Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma vs. Jeff Cobb & Mikey Nicholls
• Toru Yano & Colt Cabana vs. Shingo Takagi & El Terrible
• Hiroshi Tanahashi & Toa Henare vs. EVIL & SANADA
• Tomohiro Ishii & YOSHI-HASHI vs. KENTA & Yujiro Takahashi
• Juice Robinson & David Finlay vs. Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa

---

December 2 December NJPW World Schedule TBA

• Yuji Nagata & Manabu Nakanishi vs. Shingo Takagi & El Terrible
• Jeff Cobb & Mikey Nicholls vs. Chase owens & Bad Luck Fale
• Toru Yano & Colt Cabana vs. KENTA & Yujiro Takahashi
• Hirooki Goto & Karl Fredericks vs. Zack Sabre Jr. & Taichi
• Hiroshi Tanahashi & Toa Henare vs. Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa
• EVIL & SANADA vs. Minoru Suzuki & Lance Archer
• Juice Robinson & David Finlay vs. Tomohiro Ishii & YOSHI-HASHI

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December 3 December NJPW World Schedule TBA

• Yuji Nagata & Manabu Nakanishi vs. Zack Sabre Jr. & Taichi
• Juice Robinson & David Finlay vs. Toru Yano & Colt Cabana
• Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma vs. KENTA & Yujiro Takahashi
• Hiroshi Tanahashi & Toa Henare vs. Minoru Suzuki & Lance Archer
• Tomohiro Ishii & YOSHI-HASHI vs. Chase Owens & Bad Luck Fale
• Hirooki Goto & Karl Fredericks vs. EVIL & SANADA
• Satoshi Kojima & Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa

---

December 5 December NJPW World Schedule TBA

• Hirooki Goto & Karl Fredericks vs. Tomohiro Ishii & YOSHI-HASHI
• Satoshi Kojima & Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Chase Owens & Bad Luck Fale
• Jeff Cobb & Mikey Nicholls vs. KENTA & Yujiro Takahashi
• Hiroshi Tanahashi & Toa Henare vs. Zack Sabre Jr. & Taichi
• Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma vs. EVIL & SANADA
• Shingo Takagi & El Terrible vs. Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa
• Juice Robinson & David Finlay vs. Minoru Suzuki & Lance Archer

---

December 6 December NJPW World Schedule TBA

• Hirooki Goto & Karl Fredericks vs. Chase Owens & Bad Luck Fale
• Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma vs. Shingo Takagi & El Terrible
• Yuji Nagata & Manabu Nakanishi vs. Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa
• Satoshi Kojima & Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. EVIL & SANADA
• Juice Robinson & David Finlay vs. KENTA & Yujiro Takahashi
• Toru Yano & Colt Cabana vs. Zack Sabre Jr. & Taichi
• Tomohiro Ishii & YOSHI-HASHI vs. Minoru Suzuki & Lance Archer

---

December 8 December NJPW World Schedule TBA

• Hiroshi Tanahashi & Toa Henare vs. Hirooki Goto & Karl Fredericks
• Satoshi Kojima & Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Yuji Nagata & Manabu Nakanishi
• Juice Robinson & David Finlay vs. EVIL & SANADA
• Tomohiro Ishii & YOSHI-HASHI vs. Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa
• Toru Yano & Colt Cabana vs. Chase Owens & Bad Luck Fale
• Jeff Cobb & Mikey Nicholls vs. Shingo Takagi & El Terrible
• Minoru Suzuki & Lance Archer vs. KENTA & Yujiro Takahashi

The match order for the final day on December 8 will be decided based on team standings as of the final day. There is no specific Final match to determine the winners. A de facto final match will be determined based on the highest ranking teams going into the final day.

New Japan Pro-Wrestling’s Power Struggle 2019 event took place at the EDION Arena in Osaka, Japan on November 3.

This event can be watched live on NJPW World.

Power Struggle 2019 Results

Titán, Volador Jr., TJP & Clark Connors def. Jushin Thunder Liger, Tiger Mask IV, Ryusuke Taguchi & Yuya Uemura (5:43)
With the exception of Liger, this tag team match was composed of wrestlers who failed to advance to the Final in the Super Junior Tag League. Volador Jr. entered wearing a Spiderman mask and rash guard. As always, Jushin Thunder Liger was incredibly over, but work from everyone involved was brisk and fast-paced. TJP pinned Yuya Uemura after a Detonation Kick.

Bullet Club (Taiji Ishimori & El Phantasmo) def. CHAOS (Robbie Eagles & Rocky Romero) (8:42)
With his tag team partner involved in a defense of IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship, Robbie Eagles was left with Rocky Romero as a partner. Ishimori and Phantasmo used their superior experience to keep the CHAOS team apart. At one point, El Phantasmo walked the ropes with Rocky Romero in a fireman’s carry, then came crashing down on Robbie Eagles. El Phantasmo pinned Rocky Romero with the CR II.

Los Ingobernables de Japon (Shingo Takagi, SANADA & EVIL) def. Suzukigun (Lance Archer, Zack Sabre Jr. & Minoru Suzuki) (9:07)
The Suzukigun team entered to Lance Archer’s music, who walked to the ring bow-legged, carrying his newly won IWGP US Heavyweight Championship with one half of the strap in his pants. The highlight of this match was a long battle of strikes between Shingo and Minoru Suzuki. SANADA defeated Zack Sabre Jr. with a rolling cradle, as Suzuki and Shingo continued to battle outside the ring and the frustrated Zack Sabre Jr. put the referee in an armbar. Meanwhile, Lance Archer told the English commentators that he wanted to defend his IWGP US Heavyweight Championship against David Finlay.

Kota Ibushi & Hiroshi Tanahashi def. CHAOS (Kazuchika Okada & YOSHI-HASHI) (10:51)
All wrestlers received separate entrances except for YOSHI-HASHI. Tanahashi looked disinterested as Ibushi made his entrance, not wanting to be the second fiddle to the G1 Winner. He had really been focused on finding his own path to Wrestle Kingdom 14. Down the stretch, the fans really were hoping for YOSHI-HASHI, as was able to get near falls on Tanahashi. Nevertheless, Tanahashi reversed his Karma finisher. Tanahashi pinned YOSHI-HASHI with the High Fly Flow.

After the match ended, the lights went out, and a video of musicians with blonde hair getting beaten up played, then transitioned to Chris Jericho on the screen. He challenged Hiroshi Tanahashi to a match at Wrestle Kingdom 14 Day 2, on January 5, 2020. He said “It’s going to be a classic match. It’s also going to be your last match!”

Tetsuya Naito def. Taichi (12:56)
In contrast to his lackadaisical attitude, Naito immediately attacked Taichi at full speed. Their fight spilled into the crowd, where Taichi was able to get the upper hand. As Naito went for an avalanche hurricanrana, Taichi reversed it into a falling powerbomb, and taunted the downed Naito. Their other matches this year involved lots of out of the ring trickery, but now, Taichi was able to face Naito head on, eating his strikes and asking for more, and countering Naito’s first attempt at the Destino. Taichi hit the falling elevated powerbomb for a near fall as the crowd gasped. Naito hit a running Destino for a near fall, falling by the Valentia. Naito attempted the Destino once more, but Taichi caught him and tried to hit the Black Mephisto, and Naito wiggled out. Naito hit his own Black Mephisto, and then the Destino for the three count.

Super Junior Tag League 2019 Final Match: Roppongi 3K (SHO & YOH) def. Suzukigun (El Desperado & Yoshinobu Kanemaru) (14:13)
As Roppongi 3K entered, Suzukigun snuck up behind them and attacked them, taking an advantage before the bell rang. With that advantage, they dominated the early going, isolating YOH. SHO was able to rally when he tagged them in, but more good teamwork put him on the disadvantage as well. El Desperado went for the Pinche Loco on SHO, but it was reversed, then Roppongi 3K were able to take control when they finally worked together. El Desperado reversed the Shock Arrow and hit a headbutt, but YOH came in and Roppongi 3K were able to hit 3K to pin El Desperado and win the Super Junior Tag League. This is their third time winning the Super Junior Tag League.

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Taiji Ishimori and El Phantasmo came out and attacked Roppongi 3K as they celebrated. With the tournament winners laid out, Bullet Club took the Super Junior Tag League trophies and posed with them as if they had won the tournament.

NEVER Openweight Championship Match: KENTA (c) def. Tomohiro Ishii (20:12)
KENTA had been spending the whole tour taunting Tomohiro Ishii, calling him cute and generally belittling him. His patience exhausted, Ishii had no time for KENTA’s antics, immediately going after him and bringing him back in when he tried to bail from the ring. Ishii took KENTA’s strikes and asked for more, but eventually his resiliency found its limit, as KENTA grinded him down with kicks, only for Ishii to find another gear and take the advantage once more. As Ishii went for a sliding lariat, KENTA sneakily managed to put on the Game Over crossface. Due to Ishii’s lack of neck, he was able to make it to the ropes and break the submission. KENTA hit the Busaiku Knee Kick, but Ishii powered through, only to eat a second one. KENTA hit a Falcon Arrow, a PK, but Ishii reversed the Go 2 Sleep attempt. KENTA hit the Go 2 Sleep, then pulled down his knee pad and hit a second one to defeat Tomohiro Ishii and defend the NEVER Openweight Championship.

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship Match: Will Ospreay (c) def. BUSHI (16:20)
Ospreay started the match with guns blazing, sending BUSHI reeling with high-speed offense. BUSHI did a good job of using Ospreay’s momentum against him, countering the Sasuke Special by dropping Ospreay on his head with an apron DDT. BUSHI hit a lightning spiral and went for the MX, but Ospreay got out of the way. Ospreay accidentally hit the referee and BUSHI went to spray black mist in Ospreay’s face, but Ospreay stopped it by taking the black mist from his mouth and spitting it in BUSHI’s face. Ospreay hit a shooting star press only for BUSHI to get the knees up and spray mist in Ospreay’s face. BUSHI went for the MX once more, but Ospreay hit a head kick to stop him. BUSHI hit a codebreaker and the MX, but Ospreay kicked out at two. BUSHI went for another MX, but Ospreay gave him an Oscutter out of mid air, followed by a Hidden Blade. Finally, Ospreay hit the Super Oscutter and Stormbreaker to pin BUSHI and defend the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship.

After the match, Ospreay made a list of all the junior heavyweights that he defeated, remarking that he had beaten anyone and there was no one left. As he left the ring, the lights went out, and a video of a Time Bomb scheduled to go off in 1,448 hours played. (1,448 hours from the time of this writing is on January 4th, 2020). Hiromu Takahashi entered to an electric response, pulled off the neck bandage he was wearing, threw it into the crowd, and ran around taking bumps. He took the microphone and said, while in a neck bridge to show that his neck was fine, that Ospreay was now the strongest junior heavyweight, but that now “Hiromu is back” and challenged Ospreay for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship at Wrestle Kingdom 14.

IWGP Intercontinental Championship Match: Jay White (c) def Hirooki Goto (27:40)
Ever since Hirooki Goto challenged White for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship at Destruction in Kobe, White had done nothing but belittle him, and say that he didn’t deserve to challenge for the Championship. In the early going, he seemed to be correct, as he controlled the early match, despite Goto nearly getting his hands on Gedo, who had yet to involve himself in the match. At one point, White threw Goto into the guardrail near the Japanese announce table, which drew the ire of guest commentator Katsuyori Shibata, who raised from his seat but did not act. White hit the Kiwi Crusher for a near fall. Goto rallied, hitting the Ushigoroshi, then went for the GTR, but White managed to avoid it, as Gedo distracted the referee to boos. White hit the sleeper suplex, but Goto headbutted him to stop him in his tracks, then hit a reverse GTR. Goto followed up with a Shouten Kai for a near fall. Goto hit the GTW, followed by the GTR, but Goto pulled the referee out of the ring so that he couldn’t count the pin, but Shibata came in and apprehended Gedo. KENTA then came in and hit Goto with a Go 2 Sleep, then a kick on Shibata. KENTA continued attacking Shibata, as Jay White hit the Blade Runner on Goto to retain the IWGP Intercontinental Championship.

Jay White says he wants to be the first IWGP Heavyweight and Intercontinental Champion and to wrestle against the winner of Ibushi vs. Okada on the second day of Wrestle Kingdom 14. He taunts Ibushi and Okada to come to the ring, but Tetsuya Naito comes to the ring instead. Eventually, Kota Ibushi and Kazuchika Okada come to the ring as well. Naito and Ibushi are also in favor of a double championship match. However, Okada dissents, and says that there should be a fan vote to decide it. Jay White demands to be announced as “IWGP Intercontinental Champion and future double Champion.” He is announced as such, and confetti rains down as Naito glares at him from the entrance ramp.

Kota Ibushi has shared his long-term goals in New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) now that he has won the G1 Climax tournament. He shared his ambitions in the second part of an interview with njpw1972.com.

He spoke about wanting to broaden pro wrestling, and how, as the G1 winner, it makes his “goal of broadening wrestling easier” as people will take his aspirations more seriously.

“[…] when you’re the G1 winner, then people look at you differently and listen to you more closely. If I’m the IWGP Heavyweight Champion, I can spread my vision of wrestling even further. And if I were to win the Heavyweight, then the Intercontinental in two back to back days, in the Tokyo Dome. That’s… legendary.” 

Ibushi continued, explaining that “If I could accomplish that, then I could make wrestling bigger in an instant. Someone being able to achieve a feat like that, everybody would take notice, and from there, a good performance suddenly has all these people along for the ride. That’s my goal here.”

Looking to the future, Kota has two potential challengers for his Right to Challenge Contract: KENTA and EVIL. Both men defeated Ibushi during the G1 Climax 29 tournament, granting them the chance to take Ibushi’s Wrestle Kingdom opportunity away. 

NJPW’s first ever non-co-promoted event in the United Kingdom takes place today at the Copper Box Arena in London: it’s Royal Quest!

This event cannot be watched live on NJPW World. Rather, it is streaming live exclusively on Fite TV for $24.99 USD. English and Japanese commentary streams are available. Start times: 9:30AM Pacific, 12:30PM Eastern, 5:30PM UK, 2:30AM East Australia

Royal Quest Match Card

Roppongi 3K (SHO, YOH & Rocky Romero) defeated Ryusuke Taguchi, Shota Umino & Ren Narita
The crowd was hot for everyone in this opener, especially Shota Umino, who received repeated “Shooter!” chants. Unfortunately, preduction issues caused this match to lack commentary in either language as well as cut out intermittently. SHO pinned Ren Narita after a powerbomb lungblower.

Kota Ibushi & Juice Robinson defeated Bullet Club (Yujiro Takahashi & Hikuleo)
Hikuleo is currently undergoing something of a learning excursion in England and looks faster than he did when he was in Japan. Kota Ibushi pinned Hikuleo after a Boma Ye followed by the Kamigoye.

CHAOS (Will Ospreay & Robbie Eagles) defeated Bullet Club (Taiji Ishimori & El Phantasmo)
Will Ospreay pinned Taiji Ishimori after a double-team top rope Spanish fly with Robbie Eagles. Ospreay got on the microphone, dubbed himself and Eagles as “The Birds of Prey” and said they want to challenge for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championships.

Los Ingobernables de Japon (Tetsuya Naito & SANADA) defeated Bullet Club (Jay White & Chase Owens)
Jay White got the loudest boos of the night so far, while Naito got arguably the loudest cheers. SANADA submitted Chase Owens with the Skull End. After the match, Jay White continued attacking LIJ and was given a chair by Gedo. White hit SANADA with the chair, but Naito evaded it and hit White with a Destino, then tapping his own three-count on the mat.

IWGP Tag Team Championship Match: Guerrillas of Destiny (Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa) (c) defeated Aussie Open (Mark Davis & Kyle Fletcher)
There were dueling G.o.D. and Aussie Open chants which lasted for multiple minutes long, rather impressive for a match that no build besides Aussie Open winning a number one contenders tournament. Tama Tonga pinned Kyle Fletcher after a top rope powerbomb from Tanga Loa. Guerrillas of Destiny make their fifth consecutive defense of the IWGP Tag Team Championships. Their reign is currently 189 days long.

NEVER Openweight Championship Match: KENTA defeated Tomohiro Ishii (c)
KENTA was roundly booed by the audience due to his new association with Bullet Club. Starting off, KENTA was reluctant to face Ishii head-on, stalling on the outside for a prolonged period. When KENTA mimicked Katsuyori Shibata’s running front kick followed by the corner dropkick, he was booed once again. Ishii took everything KENTA had and asked for more. KENTA went for the diving double foot stomp followed by the Go 2 Sleep but Ishii powered out. Then, Ishii attempted the vertical brainbuster but KENTA stuffed it. The Guerrillas of Destiny interfered in the match but Ishii fought them both off, only for them to pull the referee out when Ishii went for a pin. G.o.D. hit Ishii with the Magic Killer, but couldn’t finish Ishii off. KENTA pinned Ishii with the Go 2 Sleep and became the 27th NEVER Openweight Champion. Tomohiro Ishii’s reign lasted 89 days with 0 successful defenses.

British Heavyweight Championship Match: Hiroshi Tanahashi defeated Zack Sabre Jr. (c)
Despite Zack having the home field advantage, the crowd response seemed fairly evenly split for him and Tanahashi. This was a ground-based fight with submissions and pin attempts as each of them worked to immobilize the other with joint attacks. In particular, Zack targeted Tanahashi’s arms, but he was still able to block multiple attempts at the Zack Driver. Tanahashi went for the High Fly Flow but Sabre got the knees up. Following a bridging dragon suplex and sling blade, Tanahashi went for the High Fly Flow once more. Hiroshi Tanahashi pinned Zack Sabre Jr. and became the 22nd RevPro British Heavyweight Champion. Zack Sabre Jr.’s reign lasted 235 days.

IWGP Heavyweight Championship Match: Kazuchika Okada (c) defeated Minoru Suzuki
Okada and Suzuki were both wildly over before the bell rang. The match began with wrestling on the mat, then transitioned into standing up fighting as Suzuki lost his patience. Suzuki took a steel chair from under the ring but the referee told him not to, and Suzuki threatened to hit him with the chair. Suzuki laughed at Okada’s strikes and began to dominate the match, working over Okada’s right arm. Okada put his hands behind his back and beckoned Suzuki to hit him, but forearms to the face sent Okada crashing down. Suzuki headbutted Okada multiple times and looked to follow up but Okada stopped him with a dropkick and then put him in a sleeper hold, which the crowd didn’t like. Okada hit the Rainmaker followed by another, but Suzuki stopped his rampage with many slaps to the face and body. Suzuki went for the Gotch-style piledriver, but Okada struggled out of it. Kazuchika Okada hit the Rainmaker once again and defeated Minoru Suzuki by pinfall. Okada makes his third defense of the IWGP Heavyweight Championship.

After the match, Okada cut a promo that was partially in English, thanking Suzuki and the fans. SANADA came out and made it clear that he would be next to challenge for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship, and said he would be the Champion by the time he returned to London.

During a WWE Live Event in Lima, Peru on Saturday night, WWE Champion Kofi Kingston and Daniel Bryan decided to incorporate the GTS into their matchup. The decision was based on the crowd’s chants of CM Punk after Bryan asked them who the best was.

However, another wrestler has taken issue with their usage of the move—one he claims to own. 

Former WWE Superstar and current New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) star KENTA tweeted his reaction to the usage of the GTS:

“Just letting you know © 2004 KENTA”

Just letting you know

©?2004 KENTA https://t.co/NarqjGQ6nR

— KENTA aka Lil’K (@KENTAG2S) August 25, 2019

Both Kingston and Bryan would nail each other with the move CM Punk popularized in WWE. Bryan would hit Kingston twice with the move but would be unable to get the three count. With the crowd wanting more, Kingston would also utilize Punk’s former finisher.

Bullet Club

KENTA has been actively using the GTS now that he has returned to NJPW. He ended numerous matches during the promotion’s recent G1 Climax 29 tournament with the finisher. He would finish the tournament with 8 points based off of 4 victories.

During the G1 Climax finals, KENTA shocked fans by aligning himself with Bullet Club. Alongside his new affiliates, he attacked his friend Katsuyori Shibata, posing cross-legged atop Shibata’s chest once they were finished with the attack. 

New Japan Pro-Wrestling has announced the card for their event in London, England on August 31, 2019, titled Royal Quest. This is the first time NJPW has run a non-co-promoted event in the United Kingdom. It will take place at the Copper Box Arena, which has seating for up to 7,500 spectators.

Although this event is only under NJPW branding, Revolution Pro-Wrestling is currently hosting a tag team tournament to determine challengers for the IWGP Tag Team Championships at Royal Quest. The winners are yet to be determined.

The card for Royal Quest is as follows, in descending order:

• Ryusuke Taguchi, Shota Umino & Ren Narita vs. CHAOS (SHO, YOH & Rocky Romero)
• Kota Ibushi & Juice Robinson vs. Bullet Club (Yujiro Takahashi & Hikuleo)
• Will Ospreay & Robbie Eagles vs. Bullet Club (Taiji Ishimori & El Phantasmo)
• Los Ingobernables de Japon (Tetsuya Naito & SANADA) vs. Bullet Club (Jay White & Chase Owens)
• IWGP Tag Team Championship Match – Guerrillas of Destiny (Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa) (c) vs. Rev Pro Tag Team Tournament Winners
• NEVER Openweight Championship Match – Tomohiro Ishii (c) vs. KENTA
• Revolution Pro British Heavyweight Championship Match – Zack Sabre Jr. (c) vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi
• IWGP Heavyweight Championship Match – Kazuchika Okada (c) vs. Minoru Suzuki

Most ticket categories for Royal Quest are already sold out. To purchase tickets, see the links here.

Welcome to our results of NJPW G1 Climax 29 Day 11. New Japan Pro-Wrestling’s 29th G1 Climax tournament continues today and will run until Day 19 on August 12.

Twenty wrestlers, divided into two blocks of ten, compete against every other member of their block. They gain 2 points for a victory and 1 point for a draw. The wrestler with the most points in each block will move on to a final match, with the winner getting an opportunity to challenge for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship at Wrestle Kingdom 14 in the Tokyo Dome in January 2020.

View the full tournament schedule here.

Watch this event on NJPW World with commentary in either English or Japanese.

Day 11 Undercard

Hirooki Goto, YOSHI-HASHI & Yota Tsuji defeated Tomohiro Ishii, Tomoaki Honma & Yuya Uemura
YOSHI-HASHI submitted Yuya Uemura with the Butterfly Lock at 9:24. CHAOS stablemates Hirooki Goto and Tomohiro Ishii face each other for B Block points in the main event of Day 12.

Toru Yano & Ren Narita defeated Jon Moxley & Shota Umino
Yano attempted to sell his DVD to Jon Moxley. Shota Umino took 5,000 yen from the ring announcer and gave it to Moxley, who then paid for it, and then tried to roll Yano up as he was counting the money. Toru Yano rolled Shota Umino up for the win at 4:08. Afterward, he took back the DVD and fled. The undefeated Jon Moxley faces Toru Yano on Day 12.

Bullet Club (Jay White, Yujiro Takahashi & Chase Owens) defeated Suzukigun (Taichi, Minoru Suzuki & Yoshinobu Kanemaru)
Chase Owens pinned Yoshinobu Kanemaru at 7:39 after countering the Deep Impact and hitting a package piledriver. Taichi tried to confront Jay White after the match, but Gedo made sure Taichi was unable to get his hands on White. It’s Taichi versus Jay White on Day 12.

Los Ingobernables de Japon (Tetsuya Naito, Shingo Takagi & BUSHI) defeated Juice Robinson, Jeff Cobb & Toa Henare
Shingo Takagi pinned Toa Henare after a Pumping Bomber at 9:27. Shingo Takagi and Tetsuya Naito face Jeff Cobb and Juice Robinson, respectively, on Day 12.

Day 11 G1 Matches

G1 Climax 29 A Block Match: Kota Ibushi defeated Bad Luck Fale
Fale used his backup, Chase Owens and Jado, to weaken Ibushi from the outset, having them attack him on the outside, and then grinded Ibushi down with his weight when he managed to make it back into the ring. Ibushi’s comebacks were foiled time and again by the Bullet Club until the referee had had enough, and Ibushi could finally rally. Kota Ibushi pinned Bad Luck Fale at 9:27 after a Kamigoye. Fale 2 points, Ibushi 8 points.

G1 Climax 29 A Block Match: Zack Sabre Jr. defeated Will Ospreay
Notably, this was the first ever all-British G1 Climax match. Zack attacked Ospreay’s taped up neck and shoulder early on. Eventually, Ospreay rallied, and came close on several occasions, but Zack was able to catch him with submissions at crucial moments to get the win. Zack Sabre Jr. defeated Will Ospreay by submission at 20:02 with Hurrah! Another Year, Surely This One Will Be Better Than the Last; The Inexorable March of Progress Will Lead Us All to Happiness! Ospreay 4 points, Sabre 4 points.

G1 Climax 29 A Block Match: Kazuchika Okada defeated Lance Archer
Archer dominated the match early on, attacking Okada before the bell and hitting him hard with unexpectedly athletic offense for his size. Okada fought back from underneath, but Lance was never subdued for long. It certainly was not a decisive victory, but Okada was able to catch him for the win. Kazuchika Okada pinned Lance Archer after a Rainmaker. Archer 4 points, Okada 12 points and currently undefeated.

G1 Climax 29 A Block Match: SANADA defeated KENTA
This was a high-speed fight between two outsiders. Despite being the larger man, SANADA often seemed outmatched when it came to striking and used more high-flying offense and creative counters to turn the match around. SANADA pinned KENTA after the Skull End into the top rope moonsault.

G1 Climax 29 A Block Match: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. EVIL
EVIL immediately went after Tanahashi’s knee to neutralize the High Fly Flow, which Tanahashi used to win his previous match against SANADA. It didn’t have a strong effect at first, but after a bad landing on a frog splash to the outside, he was noticeably slowed down. This was an all-out contest that had the crowd going wild. Hiroshi Tanahashi pinned EVIL after a High Fly Flow at 23:02. EVIL 6 points, Tanahashi 8 points.

G1 Climax 29 Standings

A Block	Points	B Block	Points
Kazuchika Okada	12	Jon Moxley	10
KENTA	8	Tomohiro Ishii	6
Kota Ibushi	8	Juice Robinson	6
Hiroshi Tanahashi	8	Jeff Cobb	4
EVIL	6	Hirooki Goto	4
Lance Archer	4	Tetsuya Naito	4
Will Ospreay	4	Shingo Takagi	4
Zack Sabre Jr.	4	Toru Yano	4
SANADA	4	Taichi	4
Bad Luck Fale	2	Jay White	4

Wrestlers whose names are in italics cannot make it to the Final.

Welcome to our results of NJPW G1 Climax 29 Day 5.

New Japan Pro-Wrestling’s 29th G1 Climax tournament continued today and will run until Day 19 on August 12. Twenty wrestlers compete in blocks of ten against every other wrestler in their block. They gain 2 points for a victory and 1 point for a draw. The wrestler with the most points in each block will move on to a final match, with the winner getting an opportunity to challenge for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship at Wrestle Kingdom 14 in the Tokyo Dome in January 2020.

One can watch this event on NJPW World with commentary in either English or Japanese.

Undercard Matches

Jon Moxley & Shota Umino defeated Tomohiro Ishii & Yuya Uemura
Shota Umino pinned Yuya Uemura with a bridging fisherman suplex at 5:46. Afterwards, Moxley and Ishii got into a brawl until being broken up by young lions and staff. As Ishii left, Moxley took a chair and sat down in the middle of the ring, taunting Ishii. Ishii found his own chair and did the same on the outside.  Jon Moxley versus Tomohiro Ishii is the main event of Day 6 of the tournament, tomorrow.

Jeff Cobb, Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI defeated Juice Robinson, Toa Henare & Yota Tsuji
YOSHI-HASHI submitted Yota Tsuji with the Butterfly Lock at 9:30. Juice Robinson and Jeff Cobb shook hands after the match. Their G1 match against each other is tomorrow.

Bullet Club (Jay White, Yujiro Takahashi & Chase Owens) defeated Toru Yano, Tomoaki Honma & Ren Narita
The main theme of the match was Toru Yano antagonizing Jay White with his wily chicanery. Chase Owens pinned Ren Narita after a package piledriver at 8:49. Jay White and Toru Yano are against each other in a G1 Climax match tomorrow.

Suzukigun (Taichi, Minoru Suzuki & Yoshinobu Kanemaru) defeated Los Ingobernables de Japon (Shingo Takagi, Tetsuya Naito & BUSHI)
Minoru Suzuki pinned BUSHI after a Gotch-style piledriver at 8:35. It’s Shingo Takagi versus Taichi in the G1 Climax tomorrow. Although they were not in the same match, Tetsuya Naito fights Hirooki Goto tomorrow as well.

G1 Climax Matches

G1 Climax 29 A Block Match: KENTA defeated Lance Archer
KENTA defeated Lance Archer by submission with the Game Over (omoplata crossface) at 11:58. This was the first time KENTA has used the Game Over since joining NJPW. A highlight of the match was Archer yelling “You’re not KENTA, you’re f**king Hideo!” which KENTA slapped him for. KENTA 6 points, Lance Archer 4 points.

G1 Climax 29 A Block Match: EVIL defeated SANADA
This match heavily centered around these stablemates being very competitive and familiar with each other, countering each other’s offense at every turn and using each other’s moves. After a hot finishing stretch, EVIL defeated SANADA by pinfall with the EVIL at 18:11. EVIL 4 points, SANADA 2 points.

G1 Climax 29 A Block Match: Kazuchika Okada defeated Bad Luck Fale
Bad Luck Fale came out dragging Kazuchika Okada from the backstage area, denying him the ability to make his entrance. Chase Owens and Jado interfered on Fale’s behalf, but Okada managed to take them out on his own. Kazuchika Okada defeated Bad Luck Fale by pinfall with a prawn hold at 10:15. This was the first time Okada has ever defeated Fale in the G1 Climax. Okada 6 points, Fale 2 points.

G1 Climax 29 A Block Match: Hiroshi Tanahashi defeated Zack Sabre Jr.
This was an unexpectedly frantic match, with both men immediately going for pinning combinations against each other, and Zack targeting the hurt arm of Tanahashi. After a technical match that kept the crowd on edge, Hiroshi Tanahashi defeated Zack Sabre Jr. by pinfall with a jackknife hold at 13:56. Tanahashi 2 points, Sabre 0 points.

G1 Climax 29 A Block Match: Kota Ibushi defeated Will Ospreay
Ospreay’s neck and shoulder were heavily taped up and Ibushi attacked those areas with strikes, holds, and suplexes. Early on, Ospreay tried to wear down Ibushi’s hurt ankle, then transitioned to delivering his trademark offense, but was overwhelmed by Ibushi’s physicality. Kota Ibushi won by pinfall after a Kamigoye at 27:16. Ibushi 2 points, Ospreay 2 points.

.@WillOspreay 'Liger Bomb'
Sign up Now & Stay tuned to https://t.co/Tj7UBJ4PjP#njpw #G1Climax #g129 #njpwworld pic.twitter.com/eJFRYiIB1A

— NJPW WORLD (@njpwworld) July 18, 2019

G1 Climax 29 Standings

A Block

• KENTA – 6
• Kazuchika Okada – 6
• Lance Archer – 4
• EVIL – 4
• Bad Luck Fale – 2
• Kota Ibushi – 2
• SANADA – 2
• Will Ospreay – 2
• Hiroshi Tanahashi – 2
• Zack Sabre Jr. – 0

B Block

• Tomohiro Ishii – 4
• Jon Moxley – 4
• Juice Robinson – 4
• Hirooki Goto – 2
• Shingo Takagi – 2
• Taichi – 2
• Toru Yano – 2
• Jeff Cobb – 0
• Tetsuya Naito – 0
• Jay White – 0

Welcome to our ongoing Live Results of NJPW G1 Climax 29 Day 3. This will be updated with results and new points standings throughout the event.

New Japan Pro-Wrestling’s 29th G1 Climax tournament continued today and will run until Day 19 on August 12. Twenty wrestlers compete in blocks of ten against every other wrestler in their block. They gain 2 points for a victory and 1 point for a draw. The most dominant wrestler in each block will move on to a final match, with winner getting an opportunity to challenge for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship at Wrestle Kingdom 14 in the Tokyo Dome in January 2020.

One can watch this event on NJPW World with commentary in either English or Japanese.

Juice Robinson, Toa Henare & Yota Tsuji defeated Hirooki Goto, Tomoaki Honma & Yuya Uemura
Toa Henare came out sporting a beard, but it’s not very full yet. Young lions Uemura and Tsuji came out showing aggression against each other before the match began, but did not fight for long. Goto and Juice, who have a match tomorrow in Sapporo, laid into each other with hard strikes and simultaneous lariats sent them both crumbling to the floor. Toa Henare was uncharacteristically fired up, ending Uemura’s comebacks with body shots and finishing him off swiftly. Toa Henare pinned Yuya Uemura after a Toa Bottom at 6:31.

Jeff Cobb & Ren Narita defeated Jon Moxley & Shota Umino
In their first tag team match together, Jon Moxley and Shota Umino came out through the crowd, with Umino wearing a Moxley t-shirt and carrying the IWGP US Heavyweight Championship on his behalf once again. Early on, Moxley and Umino beat down Ren Narita, with Moxley verbally instructing him for tag team moves. When Cobb tagged in, Moxley tried to catch him with the Death Rider, but Cobb stuffed his lift attempts. At one point, Umino managed to lift Cobb for a suplex, but this was only a minor victory. Jeff Cobb pinned Shota Umino after a Tour of the Islands at 4:53.

CHAOS (Tomohiro Ishii, Toru Yano & YOSHI-HASHI) defeated Bullet Club (Jay White, Yujiro Takahashi & Chase Owens)
Jay White pretended that he would begin the match across from his opponent tomorrow, Tomohiro Ishii, but allowed Yujiro Takahashi to start instead. All members of Bullet Club took turns bullying YOSHI-HASHI until he managed to get the hot tag to Ishii. When Jay White tried to roll out of the ring and away from Ishii, Yano forced him back into the ring, which pleased the crowd. After Toru Yano removed the turnbuckle pad, Chase Owens took it from him and tried to hit him with it, but nearly hit the referee instead, giving Yano the opportunity to sneak in the victory. Toru Yano pinned Chase Owens with a roll up after a low blow at 9:23.

Suzukigun (Taichi, Minoru Suzuki & Yoshinobu Kanemaru) defeated Los Ingobernables de Japon (Tetsuya Naito, Shingo Takagi & BUSHI)
Suzuki and Kanemaru attacked Takagi and BUSHI before the bell, as they are apt to do, leaving only Naito and Taichi in the ring. They are the main event of G1 day four tomorrow, and the majority of this match was Taichi working Naito over while their teammates slugged it out on the outside. Later, Shingo got the hot tag and ran wild before Suzuki cut him off. Shingo managed to tag BUSHI in, only for him to get finished off quickly. Minoru Suzuki pinned BUSHI with a Gotch-style piledriver at 8:33. After the match, Taichi pulled the Iron Finger from Hell out of his bag, teasing using it in his G1 match tomorrow.

G1 Climax 29 A Block Match: Lance Archer [4] defeated Bad Luck Fale [2]
Archer wasted little time, immediately tackling Fale to the outside. They fought in the crowd area, throwing each other into chairs. In the ring, Archer’s shoulder tackles failed to knock Fale off his feat, but Archer climbed to the top rope and hit a turning crossbody on him. Fale hit likely one of the heaviest superplexes to ever occur in an NJPW ring, with Archer bouncing on impact. Fale hit the Grenade for a near fall. Jado attempted to interfere on Fale’s behalf, but Archer fought him off. Lance hit a football tackle and an impressive chokeslam on Fale. Lance Archer pinned Bad Luck Fale at 10:12 with the EBD Claw. Archer 4 points, Fale 2 points.

G1 Climax 29 A Block Match: Will Ospreay [2] defeated SANADA [2]
Fast-paced wrestling began the match, with Ospreay soon trying to put SANADA in the Paradise Lock, but didn’t know how to do so and SANADA just kicked him away. SANADA then put Ospreay in the Paradise Lock, but Ospreay simply kipped up out of it, only to get it reapplied on him while getting tied up in the ropes, which he was unable to escape. Ospreay and SANADA seemingly had answers for each other at every turn, with neither one of them ever getting the upper hand for a long period. The fast-paced periods of match were impressive but difficult to describe in text. Will Ospreay pinned SANADA after a Stormbreaker at 17:06. Ospreay 2 points, SANADA 2 points.

G1 Climax 29 A Block Match: Kazuchika Okada [4] defeated Zack Sabre Jr. [0]
In between periods of Okada using his greater weight to keep Sabre in the positions he wanted, ZSJ attempted to end the match quickly using pin attempts including a bridging Japanese leg-roll clutch. Okada asserted his dominance and hit the tombstone piledriver inside of ten minutes, but Sabre went after his right arm with kicks and submissions to turn the tide. It wasn’t enough, though, as Okada hit a rolling lariat followed by the Rainmaker to pin Zack Sabre Jr. at 12:01. Okada 4 points, Sabre Jr. 0 points.

G1 Climax 29 A Block Match: EVIL [2] defeated Kota Ibushi [0]
After a fiery opening exchange of strikes, EVIL grounded Ibushi through attacks at his bruised left ankle. This is to be expected, since Ibushi stated in an interview that this would be the only way to defeat him. Ibushi fired back with kicks using his right leg, but his trademark flying offense was visibly a struggle. After a stomp to the ankle which elicited a negative response from the crowd, EVIL went for a Scorpion Deathlock but Ibushi got the rope break. Ibushi soon pulled down his left kickpad and hit a Boma Ye for a near fall, then pulled down the right one as well, but EVIL cut him off. EVIL pinned Kota Ibushi after an EVIL at 19:11. EVIL 2 points, Ibushi 0 points.

G1 Climax 29 A Block Match: Hiroshi Tanahashi [0] vs. KENTA [2]
Katsuyori Shibata joined the Japanese commentary table for this match. KENTA wrestled Tanahashi to the ropes and landed a slap to the face, only for Tanahashi to return the favor. KENTA continued to hold Tanahashi down with hard kicks and holds as the crowd rallied behind the NJPW flagbearer. Tanahashi had short bursts where he was making a comeback, but KENTA would continually deny him until Tanahashi caught his leg on a Go 2 Sleep attempt and attacked both with dragon screws. He went for the High Fly Flow and succeeded once, then went for it once more KENTA blocked it with his knees, and that was the beginning of the end. KENTA pinned Hiroshi Tanahashi with the Go 2 Sleep at 18:35. KENTA 4 points, Tanahashi 0 points.

G1 Climax 29 Standings

A Block

• Lance Archer – 4
• KENTA – 4
• Kazuchika Okada – 4
• Bad Luck Fale – 2
• SANADA – 2
• Will Ospreay – 2
• EVIL – 2
• Kota Ibushi – 0
• Zack Sabre Jr. – 0
• Hiroshi Tanahashi – 0

B Block

• Hirooki Goto – 2
• Tomohiro Ishii – 2
• Jon Moxley – 2
• Juice Robinson – 2
• Toru Yano – 2
• Jeff Cobb – 0
• Tetsuya Naito – 0
• Taichi – 0
• Shingo Takagi – 0
• Jay White – 0

Welcome to our ongoing Live Results of NJPW G1 Climax: Dallas.

New Japan Pro-Wrestling’s 29th G1 Climax tournament begins today and will run until August 12, with the winner getting an opportunity to challenge for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship at Wrestle Kingdom 14 in January 2020.

Match results and points for each competitor will be updated throughout the show for each of the tournament’s nineteen events.

NJPW G1 Climax Dallas Results

Guerrillas of Destiny (Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa) defeated Roppongi 3K (SHO & YOH).
The bulk of the match were G.O.D. dominating the junior heavyweight tag team, with several hope moments for RPG 3K. Tama Tonga pinned YOH following a top rope powerbomb at 6:42.

Jeff Cobb & Ren Narita defeated Tomohiro Ishii & Shota Umino.
The focus of this match was on Cobb and Ishii, who are each other’s first opponents in the B Block. They hit each other extremely hard, and the crowd was very excited. Cobb pinned Shota Umino after a Tour of the Islands to end the match at 7:18. After the match, Ishii and Cobb continued to fight each other until staff pulled them apart.

CHAOS (Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI) defeated Bullet Club (Jay White & Chase Owens).
White received heavy boos from the American crowd. White is facing Goto in the main event of the first B Block show on July 13, and Goto looked strong in this match, overpowering Owens with relative ease. Goto pinned Owens following the GTR at 8:38.

Toru Yano, Juice Robinson & Jushin Thunder Liger def. Los Ingobernables de Japon (Tetsuya Naito, Shingo Takagi & BUSHI).
Most of the match involved the various wrestlers squaring off against their counterpart opponents, including a slugfest between Juice and Takagi, and Naito attempting to avoid Yano’s usual antics. The finish came when Yano delivered a low blow to BUSHI behind the referee’s back at 8:18.

G1 Climax 29 A Block Match: Lance Archer def. Will Ospreay
Despite his loss, Ospreay got in a lot of offense on the heavyweight Archer and looked strong in defeat. The audience was rooting for Ospreay, but Archer kicked out of the Oscutter and managed to evade the Stormbreaker to get the victory. Lance Archer pinned Will Ospreay at 18:16 with the EBD Claw.

G1 Climax 29 A Block Match: Bad Luck Fale def. EVIL
Bad Luck Fale overpowered EVIL with his superior size and strength early on, but EVIL managed to evade him at some points and land attacks of his own. EVIL took chairs out from under the ring, but Fale managed to use them against him. The referee was knocked out of the ring at one point and Fale hit a low blow on EVIL, and then finished him off. Bad Luck Fale pinned EVIL at 11:33 with the Bad Luck Fall.

G1 Climax 29 A Block Match: SANADA def. Zack Sabre Jr.
The match emphasized that SANADA could very much keep up with Zack Sabre Jr. with regards to technical wrestling. They chain-wrestled and transitioned through holds but at a fast pace that kept the crowd energized, leading to a “New Japan” chant at one point. Eventually the match escalated, leading to SANADA using his trademark offense to finish Sabre off, but Sabre kept catching him with submissions. SANADA pinned Zack Sabre Jr. with a bridging O’Connor roll at 21:12.

G1 Climax 29 A Block Match: KENTA def. Kota Ibushi
KENTA made a big impression in his first match in NJPW. This was a hard-hitting fight with many strikes, kicks, and angry faces. Ibushi went for a dive that KENTA countered, but Ibushi looked to hurt his ankle and was not moving as smoothly for the rest of the match. KENTA pinned Ibushi after a Go 2 Sleep at 20:51.

G1 Climax 29 A Block Match: Kazuchika Okada def. Hiroshi Tanahashi
The crowd gave one of the loudest reactions of the night before the two even touched. It’s hard to say novel things about matches between Tanahashi and Okada, since they’ve wrestled many times before, but this match was a first for this rivalry between the two. In all the previous times that they fought during the G1 Climax, the match ended in a 30-minute time limit draw. Okada putting Tanahashi away as quickly, relatively speaking, as he did, demonstrated that Tanahashi is now fully in the rear view mirror for Okada. Okada pinned Tanahashi after a Rainmaker at 22:04.

G1 Climax 29 Standings

A Block

• Lance Archer – 2
• Bad Luck Fale – 2
• SANADA – 2
• KENTA – 2
• Kazuchika Okada – 2
• EVIL – 0
• Kota Ibushi – 0
• Will Ospreay – 0
• Zack Sabre Jr. – 0
• Hiroshi Tanahashi – 0

B Block

• Jeff Cobb – 0
• Hirooki Goto – 0
• Tomohiro Ishii – 0
• Jon Moxley – 0
• Tetsuya Naito – 0
• Juice Robinson – 0
• Taichi – 0
• Shingo Takagi – 0
• Jay White – 0
• Toru Yano – 0

KENTA spent from 2000 to 2014 earning a reputation in Pro Wrestling NOAH. After signing with WWE in 2014, however, things took a different turn for his career. Wrestling as Hideo Itami, KENTA struggled to find a place in NXT or 205 Live. He will take part in this summer’s G1 for NJPW, however, and will open the tournament in Dallas against Kota Ibushi.

NJPW1972.com released part II of an interview with KENTA where he spoke about his decision to sign with NJPW and compete in the G1.

“If you look at wrestling all over the world of late, there isn’t another tournament that’s as tough, as rigorous as this one,” KENTA said of the G1. “To come out on top of it all, that’s a tremendous, tremendous achievement. Incredibly difficult, but if I were able to make my mark and get results there, then that will instantly put me on the global map. It’s a huge opportunity.”

KENTA also talked about his decision to sign with NJPW during the interview.

“‘I chose to come here after a lot of thought,” KENTA said. “Quite frankly, if this doesn’t pan out, I’m done.”

This week on https://t.co/GsbwNuB2sY:
KENTA interview part 1:https://t.co/OTVpa59RTA
Part 2:https://t.co/yjL3fxGcB1
Shibata, Naito, SANADA in history column:https://t.co/yUdR8DBJxM#g129 pic.twitter.com/RnNJdd6Apc

— NJPW Global (@njpwglobal) July 6, 2019

KENTA in NJPW

KENTA also spoke about the difference between the pro-wrestling scene in Japan now and in 2014 when he left.

“Like I said before, I’ve been away from Japan for five years now. Everything is different now. The wrestlers themselves are different, and this whole business is different. I’m really not equipped to talk about a lot of the scene now. As an example, in Japan, there’s been this term ‘pu-joshi’ to talk about all the female fans who love pro wrestling lately. That word didn’t exist when I was here last.”

• KENTA Explains Why He Is Better Suited For NJPW Than WWE

The full interview can be read here.

The former Hideo Itami appeared on New Japan’s Dominion event in Osaka over the weekend. He was accompanied to the ring by Katsuyori Shibata and then declared himself for this summer’s G1 Climax tournament. KENTA sat down with NJPW commentator Chris Charlton recently and spoke about why he signed with NJPW, his history with Shibata and more.

Charlton asked KENTA why he signed with NJPW after leaving WWE and having been so associated with Pro Wrestling NOAH in the past.

“Now New Japan goes worldwide,” KENTA said. “I want to show my wrestling to the world as KENTA, not Hideo Itami. I want to show my wrestling to the world and New Japan goes worldwide, US, UK, everybody knows New Japan. So, I decided New Japan.”

KENTA is here!@KENTAG2S makes his English podcast debut on the official English NJPW podcast!
Plus, Rocky Romero (@azucarRoc ) drops by to talk BOSJ, Inoki and LA Dojo memories!
listen: https://t.co/IcZ1kNtO7D
YouTube: https://t.co/JCeFmHAtA9 pic.twitter.com/VCtK5vtZRs

— NJPW Global (@njpwglobal) June 13, 2019

KENTA On Potentially Wrestling Jon Moxley

KENTA also spoke about Jon Moxley debuting in New Japan and the time they both spent in WWE. He mentioned that in WWE, KENTA and Moxley were on separate paths.

“(Moxley) was the top of the top in WWE but, you know, I was not,” KENTA said.

Charlton then asked if KENTA is interested in wrestling Moxley in the G1.

“Definitely,” KENTA responded. “I want to have a match with him because now I’m not just stupid Hideo Itami, now I’m KENTA. I want to fight him as KENTA.”

KENTA also spoke on his relationship with Katsuyori Shibata and more. The full interview can be viewed in the player below:

Naomichi Marufuji celebrated his 20th anniversary in wrestling today. A special anniversary show was held today and Marufuji wrestled his former partner KENTA, also known as Hideo Itami.

Before the match, Marufuji admitted he felt some jealousy in 2014 when Itami left for WWE.

“(Itami) and I are on different paths,” Marufuji said to Japanese media recently. “I did feel some jealousy when he went to America because I had decided that I had to do it ‘here.’ I don’t want it to be lost in the meaning of his going to America, I have been thinking about that. Because of the excitement, I want to show content that matches it, and above all the ‘results.'”

Marufuji would continue to speak on his former partner and rival. “He will not give up, and I want to take advantage of my ability to win,” Marufuji continued. “I think he is thinking many things, especially about the reaction of the fans when he was displayed on the monitor at Korakuen. I think that was the most and best ‘real.’ I want him to have an explosion like that at the venue. Everyone had hoped for him, and that was the proof.”

Earlier this year, it was revealed WWE was allowing the cruiserweight to perform on the show.

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???????????????????????#noah_ghc #?? #???? #?????? pic.twitter.com/riCWtawshD

— ??“????“?? (@kodamaxmax) September 1, 2018

Naomichi Marufuji and Hideo Itami

In 2003, both Tokyo Sports and the Wrestling Observer Newsletter named KENTA and Naomichi Marufuji as the top tag-team in the world. The Wrestling Observer would give them the honor in 2004 as well. In 2006, Tokyo Sports would award them the “Match of the Year” for a match they had against each other.

By 2014, each had established themselves as a top guy in Pro Wrestling NOAH. KENTA was looking to do something else with his career, however. He signed with WWE, reported to the Performance Center, and adopted the name of Hideo Itami.

https://twitter.com/tobi_102/status/1035931421494272002

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??????#noah_ghc#??#???? pic.twitter.com/6ZMfDM62a0

— SHINYA? (@shinyaaaa_2810) September 1, 2018

WWE 205 Live superstar Hideo Itami posted a tribute to Kenta Kobashi marking the 5 Year Anniversary since his retirement from professional wrestling. The Japanese legend wrestled his final bout at Pro Wrestling NOAH’s Final Burning event in 2013 teaming alongside Jun Akiyama, Keiji Muto and Kensuke Sasaki to defeat Go Shiozaki, Maybach Taniguchi, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Hideo Itami/KENTA himself.

Kobashi is widely regarded not just as one of the greatest performers in Japanese history but one of the greatest in the modern era worldwide. His accolades include a combined 977 days as AJPW World Tag Team Champion and combined 735 days as the GHC Heavyweight Champion.

If you have never had the opportunity to witness a Kobashi match then here are 3 of the best to check out to get you started:

• Fri, Jun 11th 1999 – AJPW Budokan Hall Show (Jun ’99) vs Mitsuharu Misawa
• Sat, Oct 1st 2005 – ROH Joe Vs. Kobashi vs Samoa Joe
• Thu, Jul 29th 1993 – AJPW Budokan Hall Show (Jul ’93) vs Stan Hansen

5 years ago today

5/11/2013 pic.twitter.com/6kIADwo1Pp

— KENTA aka Lil’K (@KENTAG2S) May 11, 2018

Yesterday marked 8 years since the passing of Japanese wrestling legend Mitsuharu Misawa. Misawa was a hugely influential performer and left an indelible mark on the wrestling business. Greats such as William Regal, Daniel Bryan, CM Punk and Chris Hero have called him one of the greatest ever in the industry.

On June 13th 2009, Misawa teamed with Go Shiozaki against GHC Tag Team Champions Akitoshi Saito and Bison Smith in a title match at Hiroshima Green Arena. This match was to be Misawa’s last for the company that he founded: Pro Wrestling NOAH.

After taking a belly to back Suplex from Saito, Misawa lost consciousness and was taken to a hospital, he passed away that evening.

Hideo Itami/KENTA took to Twitter to pay tribute to the legend and man whose company gave Hideo his greatest success thus far. He posted the following tweet with the words Never Forget. We Miss You.

Never forget. We miss you. #noah_ghc pic.twitter.com/vxVMwaafQy

— KENTA aka Lil’K (@KENTAG2S) June 13, 2017

We’re all familiar with the WWE. It’s the most profitable and prevalent wrestling organization in the world, and the primary focus of our coverage here at SEScoops. However, what about the rest of the wrestling world?

I decided to compile a list of 25 non-WWE wrestling matches that every fan should see. In order to qualify, each match had to meet three conditions:

• An organization other than the WWE put on the match.
• The full-length match is available on YouTube.
• The match is something every wrestling fan should see.

The matches are listed at random and not ranked. The intention here isn’t to inspire debate regarding where a match should be placed on the list, but simply to provide fans with the opportunity to catch up on some classic matches they may have missed over the past few years. Already seen every match on the list? Relive your favorite moments again. Never seen a single one of the matches? You’ve got hours of material at your disposal, so sit back and enjoy.

25. Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kazuchika Okada (NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 9)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Xy7KkH7NdY

24. Bryan Danielson (Daniel Bryan) vs. Jushin Thunder Liger (Ring of Honor Weekend of Thunder 2004)

23. Prince Devitt (Finn Balor) vs. Davey Richards (NJPW Circuit 2010 New Japan Alive)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HXyAM9-9gHc

22. Ricochet vs. Kyle O’Reilly (IPW 10^th Annual Super Junior Heavyweight Tournament)

21. The American Wolves vs. The Briscoe Brothers (Indypendence Day 2008)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FchH61FbWAo

If there was ever an awful time for a ten-person pay-per-view main event … this is it.

Why WWE is choosing to run with a ten-person elimination match for the upcoming Survivor Series show is completely beyond me. At this point in time, the depth among WWE’s roster is at one of the lowest that I can ever recall.

With top stars such as Daniel Bryan and Roman Reigns on the shelf, and guys like CM Punk leaving at the peak of their popularity and Brock Lesnar working infrequently, WWE is left with very little at the top of the card. The only positive is that it forces them to move guys up the ladder at a faster rate than they normally might do.

With that being said, and I’m well aware that it’s a tradition to have multi-person elimination matches at Survivor Series, but I just can’t fathom why WWE is running with that concept this year, considering the state of their roster.

There’s been plenty of times in the past where they abandoned the elimination match concept at Survivor Series, so it’s not like something they have to make work because they do it every single year.

Regardless, that’s the direction we’re headed this year.

Having said that, one has to wonder how Survivor Series will come off later this month. WWE has put on some pretty solid pay-per-view shows in recent months, but I’ve got my reservations as to how well this show will come off in two weeks.

With pretty much all of the top guys either injured or involved in the main event, what is the rest of the show going to look like? Outside of Bray Wyatt vs. Dean Ambrose, thus far there’s virtually nothing on the Survivor Series undercard that I’m looking forward to.

Sure, Adam Rose vs. The Bunny will no doubt be an instant ring classic, but I digress.

All kidding aside, what’s left for the Survivor Series undercard? How many people that matter that aren’t tied up in the main event are left? The answer — not many.

It will be interesting to watch as the card continues to take shape in the final week of television next week leading up to the event.

By the way, if the stipulation in the Survivor Series main event has The Authority losing power if “Team Authority” loses the ten-man elimination main event, why isn’t Triple H trading his suit in for a pair of tights?

Beats me.

You would think with so much on the line, “The Game” would take matters into his own hands, but that doesn’t appear to be the case. Unless I’m missing something, however, I guess it’s still possible, as last I checked there is one spot yet to be filled on the heel team. One would assume Triple H will fill that spot, although I haven’t seen any hints aimed in that direction.

While the roster is badly in need of some more depth right now, it is refreshing to know that the talent pool in developmental is as deep — if not deeper — than the current main roster in terms of promising young talent.

I can’t wait for guys like KENTA (Hideo Itami), Kevin Steen (Kevin Owens), Prince Devitt (Finn Balor), Sami Zayn, Adrian Neville, Tyler Breeze and The Ascension to get their chance to make a splash on the main roster.

Look at some of the recent call-ups from NXT and how they are performing on the main roster. Guys like Roman Reigns, Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins, Bray Wyatt and others are among WWE’s absolute top-tier performers these days. If WWE brings in guys like the names I just mentioned the way those guys were, as opposed to say, the way Adam Rose and Bo Dallas were brought up, the WWE main roster could be quite the group this time next year.

If and when that day comes, WWE can put on as many ten-man elimination matches as they’d like. For now, however, it just boggles my mind that they are choosing to do so with the roster in the state that it’s in.

What do you guys think? Leave your feedback in the “Comments” section below. You can also hit me up on Facebook at Facebook.com/MattBooneWZR and/or on Twitter @MBoone420.

The following are highlights of a new Shake Them Ropes interview with former NXT trainer Nick “Eugene” Dinsmore:

On seeing the WWE Performance Center: “No, this is something that when I first saw it, it blew my mind. I heard they went and looked at the New York Giants facility to see what the standard is for professional athletes, and I feel like the Performance Center far exceeds that.”

On new talent coming in: “There’s a wide variety of talent there, from former professional athletes to actors to independent wrestlers… They’re people that can perform. It’s something special I saw at the Performance Center.”

On KENTA (Hideo Itami) and Prince Devitt’s (Finn Balor) integration into WWE: “Kenta would have English class every day to help with his English. Fergal had apparently never driven a car before, so he would have driving classes. WWE was right there to help anyone who wanted to take a college course to help them with their WWE product, WWE was a very helpful company. Phenomenal.”

Check out the complete interview at VoicesofWrestling.com.

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– Hideo Itami, formerly known as KENTA, will be making his NXT live event debut this Thursday in Jacksonville, Florida. Tickets for the event are available right now at this link.

– WWE Hall Of Famer Mick Foley recently tweeted the following, praising Triple H’s recent appearance on Chris Jericho’s “Talk Is Jericho” podcast:

Any @TripleH haters need to listen to his #TalkIsJericho interview on @PodcastOne with @IAmJericho. It just might change your perspective.

— Mick Foley (@realmickfoley) September 30, 2014

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– WWE creative member Stephen Guerrieri is said to be the lead writer for NXT television shows. Prior to Guerrieri, Ryan Ward was said to be the main writer for the product. Guerrieri has worked in the past for Rachel Ray, as well as other Food Network shows.

– The inspiration behind KENTA’s name-change to Hideo Itami comes from former MLB player Hideo Nomo. The Itami part of the name apparently has something to do with Naruto Manga anime.

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(Credit: Wrestling Observer Newsletter)

– The former “KENTA,” Hideo Itami, tweeted the following on Friday about his official WWE in-ring debut at the NXT television tapings in Winter Park, Florida. For those who missed it, we have full spoilers for the next four weeks of NXT TV on the site right now.

I never forget today. 9.12.2014. With ring debut in @WWENXT #HideoItami pic.twitter.com/TUDLITj4wT

— Kenta Kobayashi (@HideoItami) September 13, 2014

– Below is a photo of Triple H presenting five Full Sail University students with scholarships from WWE for creativity, academia and professionalism.

.@TripleH presented 5 @FullSail students with scholarships from #WWE for creativity, academia, and professionalism! pic.twitter.com/slrlvZdvjL

— WWE NXT (@WWENXT) September 12, 2014

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– Hideo Itami, formerly known as KENTA, has changed his official Twitter handle to reflect his new ring name. You can now reach him on Twitter @HideoItami.

– Brie Bella’s new theme song is called “Beautiful Life” and is now available online via iTunes.

– Below is a new episode of The JBL (not Cole) Show:

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