Game Changer Wrestling has announced the main event for their Bloodsport show on April 4th. The WrestleMania weekend show will be taking place on the Thursday at 337 Newark Avenue in Jersey City. The show is officially called ‘Josh Barnett’s Bloodsport’ and now the star of the show has his bout. Barnett will be taking on New Japan Pro Wrestling legend Minoru Suzuki.
Game Changer have said that the bout will be “Catch Wrestling Violence that will be possessed by the spirits of Karl Gotch and Billy Robinson.” Suzuki is regarded as one of the finest practitioners of Strong Style wrestling on the planet. The Suzuki-gun leader brings a vicious streak to the ring that is only matched by his charisma and presence.
Revolution Pro (Rev Pro) Wrestling has announced two top New Japan Pro Wrestling stars for their upcoming Epic Encounter 2019 event. The show will be taking place on Friday May 10th from York Hall in Bethnal Green, London.
Aussie Open (Kyle Fletcher and Mark Davis) will be taking on the British Tag Team Champions in one of the feature bouts of the night. Suzuki-gun’s Zack Sabre Jr and Minoru Suzuki are the current reigning and defending champions for this bout. Aussie Open are one of the top teams currently touring the UK independent scene, having performed on cards for PROGRESS, DEFIANT and of course Rev Pro. Zack Sabre Jr recently fought Tomohiro Ishii for the company’s British Heavyweight Championship at Wrestle Kingdom in January.
David Starr vs El Phantasmo has also been announced for Epic Encounter. Starr is one of the more underrated talents on the UK/European scene, he is currently a free agent. The likes of AEW, NJPW and ROH are likely to start taking notice with his recent performances across the globe. Starr is also scheduled to be taking part in the wXw 16 Carat Gold tournament in Germany this weekend. El Phantasmo has also been prominent for Rev Pro over the past year having won the British J Cup at Wrestling Media Con in 2018.
Friday May 10th. York Hall, Bethnal Green Epic Encounter 2019 Mailing list pre-sale starts Monday at 7pm pic.twitter.com/xQmTxUN4uv
Tetsuya Naito is set to face Minoru Suzuki September 17th in the main event of Destruction in Beppu. Interestingly, the leader of the Los Ingobernables de Japon stable has decided to call out the devastating Suzuki…even calling him a hypocrite of sorts.
Naito appeared on camera following his ‘Road To’ bout against the Suzuki-Gun stable alongside his Ingobernables team. Naito made the following comments; “2018…back on March 6th. After the match in Ota City Gymnasium. You still do remember what you said backstage don’t you? We fought for the Intercontinental Title in the semi-main event. The main event was a special singles match between Okada and Ospreay. On that day you were very upset, weren’t you? But in a couple of weeks, on September 17th in Beppu Plaza…there will be a title match that will once again be the semi-main event. The main event will be a special singles match. The NEVER title, which you once said was your treasure, is in the semi-main event. And the special singles match, which the King (Suzuki) will be featured in, is the main event.”
Naito went on to state: “Don’t you have anything to say about this? 6 months ago you were furious. Will you just stay silent because now you are in the main event? You only speak when it benefits you huh?”
Revolution Pro Wrestling (Rev Pro) have announced more names for the upcoming Strong Style Evolved UK events taking place on June 30th/July 1st in Milton Keynes and Manchester respectively.
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Will Ospreay, Taichi, Yuji Nagata, and Toru Yano will be joining the already announced leader of the Suzuki-Gun stable Minoru Suzuki, Bullet Club’s ‘New Bone Soldier’ Taiji Ishimori, Rev Pro British Heavyweight Champion Tomohiro Ishii and IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada.
Fans hoping to see the likes of Kenny Omega at the shows are sadly out of luck, he confirmed recently that he will not be heading to the UK for SSE. More names are expected to be announced for the shows in the coming weeks and we will update here on the site as soon as news becomes available.
Tickets for the first Strong Style Evolved shows outside of the United States are available to purchase via the official Rev Pro website.
IWGP Jr Heavyweight Champion will be in action June 30/July 1 #SSEUK
Japanese wrestling legend Minoru Suzuki will be facing current reigning IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada for his upcoming 30th Anniversary match. Suzuki made the following comments during an interview with New Japan’s English language site NJPW1972.com:
“When we were putting this card together, this match was part of the conversation from the very start. The reason I wanted Okada was that he was born at the same time my career started, and right now he’s at the very top of the wrestling world. It’s really a dream match to show to so many people, all gathered for free under the blue Yokohama sky. He’s the best opponent I could think of to show everyone just what incredible things can happen in life. That’s what I kept in mind as we negotiated the match.”
The match will be part of the Great Pirate Festival, a two day free event on June 23rd and 24th at Yokohama’s Red Brick Warehouse and wrestling cards will be part of the presentation on both days. It has not been confirmed if the event will be shown on NJPWWorld.com however at this juncture it is unlikely to a live broadcast.
Suzuki has also been confirmed for the main event of day 2, where he will be teaming with Hikaru Sato to take on the team of NOSAWA Rongai & MASADA.
Tetsuya Naito has won back the IWGP Intercontinental Championship. This is Naito’s second reign with the title after his first run with the belt almost ended in the title’s destruction.
The title change happened yesterday in Kumamoto, Japan. New Japan Pro Wrestling’s Hinokuni 2018 show featured several matches with wrestlers from Los InGobernables de Japon (LIJ) taking on members of Suzuki-Gun. In the end, it would be LIJ who would get the better of the evening, successfully defending the heavyweight tag titles and winning the IC title in the night’s main and co-main event.
Naito originally won the title from Michael Elgin on September 25th, 2016. As part of his Tranquilo perspective, Naito developed a disrespectful attitude towards the belt itself. After each title defense, Naito began chipping away at the title and breaking off pieces. He defended the title against Jay Lethal, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Michael Elgin, and Juice Robinson before losing it to Tanahashi at Dominion 2017 in Osaka, Japan. Naito had said if he defeated Tanahashi on that night, he would have destroyed the title belt completely.
Minoru Suzuki’s reign with the title did not last long. After defeating Tanahashi for the belt at the New Beginning in Sapporo, Suzuki was able to defend it successfully against Togi Makabe in March. His match against Naito yesterday was just his second scheduled title defense.
Suzuki-gun (Taichi, TAKA Michinoku, Takashi Iizuka & Zack Sabre Jr.) defeated Golden Lovers (Kenny Omega & Kota Ibushi) & BULLET CLUB (Chase Owens& Yujiro Takahashi)
Hiroshi Tanahashi, Juice Robinson, KUSHIDA & Michael Elgin defeated CHAOS(Hirooki Goto, Kazuchika Okada, Will Ospreay & YOSHI-HASHI)
BUSHI defeated El Desperado by DQ
Hiromu Takahashi defeated Yoshinobu Kanemaru
IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Title Championships Los Ingobernables de Japon (EVIL & SANADA) (c) defeat Killer Elite Squad(Davey Boy Smith Jr. & Lance Archer)
Rev Pro has announced an incredible battle for their upcoming WrestleMania weekend show as part of Wrestlecon in New Orleans on Friday April 6th.
IWGP Intercontinental Champion Minoru Suzuki will be going up against Lucha Underground star Jeff Cobb in what is likely to be one of the matches of the weekend. Rev Pro has also announced that the following stars will be hand for the Supershow this April:
Kota Ibushi
Hiroshi Tanahashi
Juice Robinson
Zack Sabre Jr
Will Ospreay
Aussie Open
More names are expected to be announced closer to the event.
Irish promotion Over The Top Wrestling (OTT) has announced the first two matches for their upcoming Scrappermania IV show. Scrappermania is OTT’s Wrestlemania, it is the biggest wrestling show in Ireland and will again be held in Dublin’s National Stadium. These two matches are more than worth of the honor, as Keith Lee will be taking on Minoru Suzuki and Jeff Cobb will be facing Tomohiro Ishii.
The speculation following these two match announcements is that both Keith Lee and Jeff Cobb are being looked at as possible entrants in this year’s G1 Climax tournament. Jeff Cobb has already made his debut for New Japan as part of 2017’s World Tag League tournament where he teamed with Michael Elgin (he was originally scheduled to team with Matt Riddle). Keith Lee has yet to make his way over to NJPW but he does have the pedigree for a run over in Japan, having faced Tomohiro Ishii in an absolute barnburner back at Rev Pro’s Global Wars 2017 as well as his incredible runs in PROGRESS, EVOLVE and PWG.
Tickets for OTT’s Scrappermania will be available to purchase as of March 2nd.
Revolution Pro Wrestling has announced that IWGP Intercontinental Champion and one half of their British Tag Team Champions Minoru Suzuki will be heading to Wrestlecon on April 6th as part of their Wrestlemania weekend event.
Suzuki has made several appearances for the British company over the past year due to Rev Pro’s ongoing business relationship with New Japan Pro Wrestling. Minoru is a legend on the Japanese scene and now he is starting to make more appearances in the UK and United States, the most notable his in ring debut for Ring of Honor last year.
Brand new IWGP Intercontinental Champion & one half of the Undisputed British Tag Team Champions MINORU SUZUKI is coming to New Orleans! Friday April 6th, 4pm https://t.co/E5FLimjU90 for tickets pic.twitter.com/fWSbsNZA1L
Revolution Pro Wrestling has announced a potential match of the year candidate for their upcoming ‘High Stakes’ event on January 20th. Zack Sabre Jr and Minoru Suzuki (representing SUZUKI-GUN) will be taking on the team of Trent Seven & Tyler Bate. This NJPW vs WWE UK bout for the Rev Pro British Tag Team Championship will headline one of the biggest events in Rev Pro’s year.
As well as pitting 3 of the most technically gifted UK performers around the presence of Japanese legend Suzuki will lend a strong style edge to the bout, this is certainly not one to be missed if you are a UK fan and can make it to York Hall on January 20th. Tickets are available to purchase via the tweet below.
Revolution Pro has announced the first name for their High Stakes 2018 show that will take place on January 20th from the legendary York Hall in Bethnal Green, London.
Japanese wrestling legend Minoru Suzuki will once again be gracing UK shores with his now confirmed appearance. Suzuki’s opponent has not yet been named however a slew of challengers has already been suggested by Rev Pro’s fanbase including fellow Suzuki-Gun member Zack Sabre Jr and rematches against Matt Riddle and Will Ospreay.
Suzuki recently appeared as part of Rev Pro/NJPW’s Global Wars co branded shows in both London and Walthamstow, he faced Hirooki Goto, Will Ospreay and Matt Riddle as part of the two day festivities.
High Stakes 2018 Saturday January 20th HE'S BACK Mailing list ticket pre-sale starts MONDAY 7PM pic.twitter.com/YnK7AQJBfQ
Revolution Pro Wrestling has just announced two huge matches for their upcoming Global Wars shows on November 9th and 10th.
The two matches announced for Night 2 are Minoru Suzuki vs Matt Riddle and Will Ospreay vs Zack Sabre Jr.
Suzuki vs Riddle is an absolute dream match for fans of the NEVER/Strong Style of pro wrestling. Riddle is scheduled to take part in the World Tag League tournament for NJPW later this year and could this match be the precursor for a NEVER Openweight title match down the line?
Ospreay vs Sabre Jr is also a match to definitely not sleep on. Both men have fully established themselves as mainstays in New Japan and now these two icons of British wrestling collide once again in their homeland.
The main event of Ring of Honor’s Death Before Dishonor XV PPV has been revealed.
ROH officials announced at Saturday’s TV tapings that Cody Rhodes would defend the ROH World Title against Minoru Suzuki in the main event of the upcoming pay-per-view event, which takes place next month. This marks Suzuki’s first match in the United States in over 25 years.
If you recall, Cody had previously tweeted that facing Suzuki was one of his dream matchups. Now, that dream will come true. KUSHIDA will also be working the event.
The Death Before Dishonor PPV is set to take place at Sam’s Town Live in Las Vegas, Nevada on September 22nd. Several wrestlers from New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) are expected to work the event. We have full spoilers from the tapings posted on the homepage, and you can check them out here.
New Japan Pro Wrestling’s annual G1 Climax tournament began this week with some incredible A Block action, including standout performances from Zack Sabre Jr and Kota Ibushi.
The B Block of the tournament begins tomorrow and will feature the following bouts:
Minoru Suzuki vs. Kenny Omega – The leaders of Suzuki-Gun and Bullet Club/The Elite will face off in what will likely be the main event of the show. Kenny Omega will be looking to get his tournament off to a flying start after his win at last year’s G1. Minoru Suzuki is a legend in the Japanese scene and will be a unique test for Kenny stylistically. I’m going with Suzuki for this one as New Japan like to throw in the odd upset early on it the tournament.
SANADA vs. EVIL – Los Ingobernables collide! These two members of arguably New Japan’s most popular faction will look to start their tournaments with a win, I’m expecting an EVIL victory here.
Kazuchika Okada vs. Toru Yano – The IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada will start this year’s G1 with a match against comedy figure Toru Yano. Yano has been a mainstay for years in the G1 and is sometimes a welcome break from the intense nature of the hard hitting tournament. I’m expecting an Okada win but would not be shocked if New Japan go for the upset.
Michael Elgin vs. Tama Tonga – Michael Elgin has gone from strength to strength in New Japan over the past year. His performances against the likes of Kenny Omega and Hiroshi Tanahashi has seen him become a firm favourite in the eyes of the New Japan faithful, I am definitely expecting him to take the win here.
Satoshi Kojima vs. Juice Robinson – Juice Robinson is another man who has been impressive over the last calendar year. His transition to the Japanese scene from NXT has been fluid and his popularity is higher now than it ever has been, I am fully expecting him to get the win over a game Kojima.
7/20 at Korakuen Hall! A rare battle between New Japan’s baddest leaders! Kenny Omega v. Minoru Suzuki! https://t.co/zULepT1A61