New Japan Pro Wrestling continued its second round of the New Japan Cup on March 12 at the Shiga Pref. Cultural Industry Community House Event Hall in Shimotara Maibara, Shiga, Japan. SEScoops has the results from the event down below!
The main event had Hirooki Goto take on Kyle Fletcher in the tournament’s second round. Fletcher defeated Goto’s tag team partner Yoshi-Hashi to advance in the New Japan Cup on March 10. Goto wanted revenge for his partner as both aimed to move to the next round. The co-main event featured another New Japan Cup second-round match between Never Openweight Champion Tama Tonga and Aaron Henare.
The event went live on NJPW World at 4:00 AM ET/1:00 AM PT. However, to watch the New Japan Cup, fans must subscribe to their service, which is $9.99 in the United States.
If you would like more results for this week’s events in wrestling, please check back on our results section.
??????? 3?12?(?)17????????????????
?NEW JAPAN CUP?2??? ???????????vs??????????? ???????????vs??????????? ?EVIL???????????
New Japan Pro Wrestling held the start of this year’s New Japan Cup tournament on March 5 at the Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan.
The main event had Sanada taking on Taichi to determine who would advance in the New Japan Cup. Last year, Zack Sabre Jr. was the talent who won the annual tournament. Another match on the card had Tetsuya Naito taking on El Phantasmo in the opening round of this year’s tournament.
The event went live on NJPW World and is available on replay, but fans must have a subscription. An NJPW World subscription costs $9.99 in the United States.
If you would like more results for this week’s events in wrestling, please check back on our results section.
Today is the second day of New Japan Pro-Wrestling’s largest event of the year, Wrestle Kingdom.
This event will be streamed live on NJPW’s streaming service, NJPW World, and on Fite TV. English and Japanese commentary are available on both platforms. This event will have a reduced attendance capacity to comply with COVID-19 social distancing restrictions.
Start Times: January 5, 12AM Pacific, 3AM Eastern, 8AM UK, 5PM Japan, 7PM East Australia
Results
Four Way Match for the Provisional KOPW 2021 Championship: Toru Yano def. Chase Owens, BUSHI, Bad Luck Fale (7:34) Both BUSHI and Toru Yano were refusing to enter the ring, at first, but were forced to break up the pin when Chase Owens laid down for Bad Luck Fale to let him win. Owens and Fale worked together to abuse Yano, while BUSHI mostly tried to avoid getting involved. Yano tried to body slam Fale, who fell on top of him and nearly pinned him then and there. Fale and Chase double teamed BUSHI and put him down with the Grenade Launcher, but kept breaking up each other’s pin attempt. They argued with each other and the referee until Yano slid in, low blowed them both, and pinned the still down BUSHI. Toru Yano is the provisional KOPW 2021 Champion, but will only be crowned as such if he retains the trophy until the end of the year.
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship Match: Suzuki-gun (El Desperado & Yoshinobu Kanemaru) def. Ryusuke Taguchi & Master Wato The tornillo that Master Wato pulled off on El Desperado might have been the most impressive he has looked since his return. He and Taguchi took advantage early until Suzuki-gun focused their team efforts on Taguchi, working his legs and cutting off the ring, and attacking Master Wato whenever Taguchi got even close to tagging him in. A hip attack from Taguchi gave him the room needed to rally, but Desperado and Kanemaru’s generous amount of tag team offense had him playing defense soon again. Taguchi tried for the Dodon, but El Desperado rolled through it for a near pinfall. El Desperado decisively finished off Taguchi with the Loco Mono straight punch, followed by Pinche Loco. Suzuki-gun retain the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championships.
NEVER Openweight Championship Match: Shingo Takagi (c) def. Jeff Cobb (21:11) Shingo Takagi found himself in the rare position of being the smaller, weaker man in a singles match, as Jeff Cobb ate his strikes and returned heavier ones, and tossed the former junior heavyweight like a ragdoll. Takagi was forced to get creative, pushing Cobb into the ropes and using the bounce to finally take him off his feet with a backdrop driver. Cobb tried to retaliate with a crucifix powerbomb from the apron to the floor, but Shingo avoided it, knocked Cobb off the apron, and came hurtling through the air. You don’t often see a tope con hilo from Shingo Takagi. Shingo tried to follow up with the Noshigami, but Cobb was too heavy, and he picked Shingo up from behind to land a black tiger bomb. Feeling desperate, Shingo immediately fought back with a Death Valley driver, followed by a superplex. He gave a Pumping Bomber with such speed that, despite impacting Jeff, he couldn’t stop and fell out of the ring. He came back in and immediately looked to the leg, taking Cobb off his feet again with a dragonscrew leg whip, and then hoisting him in the air for Made in Japan, which earned a near fall. Shingo came running for another Pumping Bomber, but Cobb pushed him into the ropes, then caught him on the rebound to deliver Tour of the Islands. He was too hurt to go for the pin right away, and when he did, Takagi’s foot found the bottom rope, breaking the pin. He tried to take Shingo for another Tour of the Islands, but was blasted with one more Pumping Bomber! With the Last of the Dragon, Shingo Takagi retains the NEVER Openweight Championship.
SANADA def. EVIL (23:40) SANADA attacked EVIL with an uncharacteristic ferocity at Power Struggle, but on this day, in the Tokyo Dome, EVIL was ready with weapons. He tossed SANADA into the barricade, causing the timekeeper’s table (and the timekeeper) to be knocked over. He set up a table outside the ring and attempted to STO SANADA through it, but it didn’t take. Nevertheless, EVIL maintained control, partly thanks to aid from Dick Togo on the outside. He lifted SANADA to the top, then brought him crashing down with a superplex. EVIL applied a scorpion deathlock, but SANADA achieved a rope break. Despite this, he was too hurt to make a comeback, and EVIL landed Darkness Falls, but SANADA weakly kicked out. As soon as SANADA rose to his feet, EVIL barreled towards him, looking for a lariat, but SANADA pushed EVIL into the exposed turnbuckle that he himself was the cause of. Seeing his advantage slip away, EVIL pushed SANADA into the referee, allowing Dick Togo to make his presence known. The two performed the Magic Killer, and Dick Togo rose to the top turnbuckle for a senton, but SANADA kicked EVIL into the ropes, causing Togo to lose his balance and fall. From there, SANADA mounted his first major comeback, trapping EVIL in the Skull End. He went for a top rope moonsault, and then another, but EVIL lifted his knees on the latter. As EVIL distracted the referee, Dick Togo tried to come in and choke SANADA out, but SANADA freed himself and pushed EVIL into Togo, causing Togo to comically crash through the table that EVIL placed. With Togo out, SANADA hit EVIL with EVIL’s own finish hold, and then landed a top rope moonsault for the pinfall victory. No bloodshed, but victory nonetheless.
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship Match: Hiromu Takahashi def. Taiji Ishimori (c) (25:31) At this point, Hiromu and Ishimori know what it’s like to fight each other very well, and often had a hard time making their moves work without being countered. Ishimori’s early strategy was to work over Hiromu’s arms, smart considering many of Hiromu’s best moves start with a fireman’s carry hold. His early attempt at the Yes Lock, with which he tapped Hiromu out at Summer Struggle, was thwarted by a rope break. Before Ishimori’s arm work could pay off, Hiromu was on the offensive, delivering multiple death valley bombs into the corner. Having already wrestled against El Phantasmo last night, Hiromu wasn’t as fresh as Ishimori, and he tried to finish the match early with the Time Bomb. Ishimori would slip out of it and land a Canadian Destroyer to stop Hiromu in his tracks. He kept Hiromu on his knees with the hardest elbow strikes that his compact but overdeveloped body could produce. With a La Mistica into the Yes Lock, Ishimori had Hiromu working for every centimeter as he wriggled to the ropes for one more rope break. Hiromu’s Victory Royale granted him a moment of respite, and he then bowled Ishimori over with a lariat, then drove him into the corner that still had no turnbuckle pad from the previous match. The Time Bomb connected, but Ishimori was not out yet! He tried once more for the Yes Lock, but Hiromu lifted him onto his shoulders and finally pinned Ishimori with the Time Bomb II. “Mr. Belt” is back in the possession of Hiromu Takahashi.
IWGP Heavyweight & IWGP Intercontinental Championship Match: Kota Ibushi (c) def. Jay White (48:05) It feels like Jay White has been a thorn in Kota Ibushi’s side for years. True, Ibushi defeated him to win his first ever G1 Climax, but he also lost to Jay, and became the first person to ever lose the G1 briefcase. The first ten minutes were almost all Jay, as he grinded Ibushi into the mat with strikes and holds. White cleverly cut off all of Ibushi’s comebacks, sweeping Ibushi’s legs out from under him when he tried for any sort of aerial offense. Gedo called for the Kiwi Crusher, and Jay tried to oblige, but Ibushi fought him off and rallied with a half nelson suplex, followed by the hitodenashi driver. His bicycle knee missed, and Jay was finally able to connect with the Kiwi Crusher for a near fall. He tried for his first Blade Runner, but Ibushi wasn’t having it. Jay tried to roll Ibushi into a pin with his legs elevated on the ropes, but the referee noticed it and refused to count the three. Angered, Ibushi ate Jay White’s elbow strikes and blasted him with kicks, forcing him into the fetal position. He growled for Jay to hit him harder, and would return every strike twice as hard. Ibushi shoved the referee away when they told him to let Ibushi up, but Jay White pounced with a low blow. He took control with repeated German suplexes, and brought Ibushi to the apron. Ibushi rocked him with a high kick and delivered his patented rope-assisted inside to outside German suplex. His first Kamigoye missed, and this gave Jay an opening for him to dump Ibushi on his head with suplexes. He tried again for the Blade Runner, but again Ibushi avoided it, and landed a Kamigoye flush, but Jay kicked out! With no hesitation, Ibushi ascended to the top turnbuckle and delivered a beautiful phoenix splash, but Gedo pulled the referee out of the ring. He tried to hit Ibushi with brass knuckles, but Ibushi caught him and obliterated him with a Kamigoye. Ibushi brought the referee back in, but Jay sprung with a Blade Runner, keeping Ibushi down until just shy of 3. Jay locked in the TTO leglock, but Ibushi crawled with all his might and made it to the ropes. Jay hit a cross-arm Bloody Sunday and tried again for the Blade Runner, and got blasted with a bicycle knee. Jay desperately tried again for the Blade Runner, but Ibushi leveled him with a lariat! He delivered a Kamigoye to the back of Jay’s head, then spun him around for another, and it was all over. Kota Ibushi is still your IWGP Heavyweight and IWGP Intercontinental Champion.
New Japan Pro-Wrestling thirtieth annual G1 Climax tournament has arrived!
Watch live on NJPW World with a paid subscription. English and Japanese commentary are available! This event will have reduced attendance capacity to comply with COVID-19 social distancing restrictions.
Gabriel Kidd def. Yuya Uemura (8:16) Based on the math, Yota Tsuji has already clinched his place as the winner of the unofficial “C-Block” between these three young lions. Neverthe less, Uemura and Kidd did not give off the impression that they were any less motivated to fight their hardest. Both men jockeyed for position, trying to attack each other’s arm to set up for their finishing arm-trap suplex, before the match devolved into an energetic slugfest. Gabriel Kidd’s standing dropkick followed by the double underhook suplex sealed the deal for Uemura. This would put Kidd, unofficially, in second place, and Uemura in last.
B Block: YOSHI-HASHI def. Toru Yano (6:10) Yano spent all of fifteen seconds calling for a “clean fight” before he attempted to remove a turnbuckle pad. As it turned out, YOSHI-HASHI had hidden a roll of tape in his own trunks that the referee did not find before the match. He used them to tape his staff to Yano’s wrist between the bars of the guardrail on the outside. Yano was barely able to find a way to get his hand free and make it back in the ring before being counted out. From there, he tried to roll YOSHI up repeatedly, and even hit a low blow from behind. As he did, YOSHI-HASHI caught Yano’s arm between his own legs, and used that to roll into an arm-trap cradle for the pinfall victory over his CHAOS stablemate. He has truly performed well above his station and I’m glad he ended his tournament on a happy note. YOSHI-HASHI finishes with 4 points (2 wins, 7 losses). Toru Yano finishes with 6 points (3 wins, 6 losses).
B Block: Juice Robinson def. Hirooki Goto (12:07) Both Goto and Juice have ended up with fairly unfavorable G1 records after starting off strong. Goto in particular, his story the whole tournament has been his hurt arm, which KENTA caused by targeting it relentlessly in their match together, and has dragged his performance down since. At first, Juice went to targeting the hurt arm as well, before switching gears to trying to prove that he could brawl with a weakened Goto. Juice won a battle of lariats, but Goto caught the running Juice with an Ushigoroshi. Still, Juice had the werewithal to catch Juice’s kick and rise to his feet, then rock Goto with a right-handed punch. He called for Pulp Friction, but as he was setting it up, Goto applied a sleeper hold and tried to transition it into a pinning combination, but only achieved a near fall. Out of nowhere, Juice landed a big left-handed punch, then one more, and finally the Pulp Friction to end his G1 with a win. Hirooki Goto finishes with 8 points (4 wins, 5 losses) Juice Robinson finishes with 8 points (4 wins, 5 losses)
B Block: Hiroshi Tanahashi def. Zack Sabre Jr. (12:01) I wonder if Zack Sabre Jr. spins a wheel with different names of body parts to decide what he’s going to focus on for his match on any given day. Today, it would be Tanahashi’s neck. With locks and cranks, Zack did his best to immobilize the Ace with neck work. Tanahashi, being technically-versed in his own right, was never at Zack’s mercy for too long. He turned a headscissors neck lock into a modified cloverleaf. Tanahashi used all his bursts of momentum to attack the leg, as he usually does, and it was a battle of who could be clever and creative enough to take control long enough to steal the win. Suddenly, Tanahashi was able to hit a Sling Blade, then immediately went for the High Fly Flow. He managed to land it on a standing Zack, but Zack rolled through it to apply an armbar. Thinking quickly, Tanahashi got to his feet and, with his arm-still trapped, rolled Zack into a lateral press cradle for the victory! He even kept pinning Zack after the three had been counted, because he’s just that cool. Hiroshi Tanahashi finishes with 8 points (4 wins, 5 losses). Zack Sabre Jr. finishes with 10 points (5 wins, 4 losses).
B Block: KENTA def. Tetsuya Naito (21:06) No one who knew what KENTA was like before entering NJPW would have thought that this match with Tetsuya Naito would be a battle of mischevious personalities. At first, KENTA tried to provoke Naito by repeatedly bailing from the ring, but he had a clever plan in mind. As KENTA left the ring again, Naito followed him, but KENTA picked up his IWGP US Heavyweight Championship #1 contender briefcase and hit Naito with it as he leaned over the ropes, making a loud smacking sound. He was trained on Naito’s neck in much the same way that Zack just was against Tanahashi, hoping to hurt it before finishing with the Go 2 Sleep. After landing the Shibata-style corner dropkick into the diving foot stomp, Naito was really struggling to find any breathing room for himself. However, as KENTA lifted Naito onto his shoulders, Naito sat up and hit a reverse frankensteiner, and then went after KENTA with repeated elbows to the back of the neck. He pressed his new advantage with a super frankensteiner and the Gloria slam for a near fall. He tried for the Destino, but KENTA elbowed him away easily, and then lifted Naito’s feet onto the second rope for a DDT. He tried again for the Go 2 Sleep, but Naito would turn it into a counter Destino! He followed up with Valentia and went for the arm-trap Destino, but before he could lock it in, KENTA turned it into an inside cradle roll up for the flash pinfall victory on Naito. KENTA can’t win the G1, but now Naito is out. KENTA finishes with 10 points (5 wins, 4 losses). Tetsuya Naito finishes with 12 points (6 wins, 3 losses).
B Block: SANADA def. EVIL (27:01) EVIL left the ring immediately upon the first bell and offered a too-sweet to Hiromu Takahashi, who was a guest commentator at ringside. Hiromu just gave him a goofy grin and a thumbs-up. SANADA eventually got tired of waiting for EVIL to fight him, and chased him, but this gave EVIL the opportunity to suplex him on a pile of chairs that he had taken out on the outside. The hurt SANADA was a sitting duck for EVIL’s offense, and a smattering of well-timed aid from Dick Togo. SANADA finally rose up and delivered a standing dropkick and plancha to EVIL to take him out. He then brought Dick Togo into the ring and put him in the Paradise Lock, and would do the same to EVIL upon his recovery. He followed up with a springboard dropkick and a bridging tiger suplex for a near fall on the former double champion. SANADA then landed the giant swing into the Skull End, but released it too soon to hit the moonsault and EVIL was able to move out of the way. EVIL would rise to his feet first to deliver a superplex before applying the scorpion deathlock, and held it for a good long time before SANADA finally managed to grab the bottom rope to force the rope break. Still reeling, he barely managed to kick out of Darkness Falls as it was announced that the time limit would come in 10 minutes. EVIL tried for the EVIL (STO), but SANADA blocked it and locked in the Skull End with bodyscissors once again. SANADA stood up and landed two top rope moonsaults on EVIL, but Dick Togo pulled the referee out of the ring and started hitting SANADA with a chair. The two of them landed the Magic Killer on SANADA, but Hiromu, having seen enough, got out of the commentary chair and laid Togo out with a superkick, but EVIL would hit a low blow on Hiromu. Togo and EVIL then hit the Magic Killer on Hiromu as well. EVIL picked up SANADA and threw him back down with a running lariat, and then Dick Togo started choking SANADA. Hiromu came back again to hit another superkick on Togo. But, finally, SANADA pushed EVIL into Dick Togo, and then pinned him with the Japanese leg roll clutch! EVIL finishes with 12 points (6 wins, 3 losses). SANADA finishes with 12 points (6 wins, 3 losses).
Due to his victories over both other men who have 12 points, Tetsuya Naito and EVIL, SANADA is the winner of the B Block. He will face Kota Ibushi and one of them will leave tomorrow the 30th G1 Climax winner!
New Japan Pro-Wrestling thirtieth annual G1 Climax tournament has arrived!
Watch on NJPW World with a paid subscription. Only live Japanese commentary available. English commentary will be uploaded within several days. This event will have reduced attendance capacity to comply with COVID-19 social distancing restrictions.
Yota Tsuji def. Yuya Uemura (7:56) Once more, the classic and always compelling dynamic of technique versus power was on display between Uemura and Tsuji. Uemura took advantage early with a keylock to weaken Tsuji’s arms in preparation for his “deadbolt” double arm suplex. Tsuji showed that he’s not all brute force as well, when he rolled through Uemura’s hold to get on top and apply a single leg Boston crab. Uemura was able to break the hold, but Tsuji landed a spear followed by a giant swing, then the Boston crab for the submission victory.
B Block: KENTA def. YOSHI-HASHI Soon into the match, KENTA left the ring and started playing with the staff that YOSHI-HASHI carries to the ring. Perturbed by this, YOSHI-HASHI would follow him to the outside, but be thrown head-first into the ring post. From there, KENTA went about systematically dismantling YOSHI’s left arm. YOSHI’s comebacks were short-lived, and KENTA hit a diving foot stomp and went for the Go 2 Sleep. YOSHI-HASHI managed to avoid it and hit a spin kick to grant himself some reprieve. He hit a running powerbomb and tried to apply the Butterfly Lock even with one bad arm. KENTA did not tap, and YOSHI broke the hold to hit a running double knee attack, but KENTA got out of the way and punished YOSHI-HASHI with heavy kicks. He attempted the Go 2 Sleep again but YOSHI would reverse it into a DDT to the crowd’s pleasure. He hit the Kumagoroshi for a near fall and went for Karma, but KENTA avoided it and applied the Game Over facelock. YOSHI-HASHI nearly earned a rope break, but KENTA rolled him back into the center of the ring and YOSHI-HASHI submitted. KENTA goes to 8 points
B Block: Zack Sabre Jr. def. Juice Robinson To the surprise of likely everyone, the match began with Juice Robinson grinding Zack Sabre Jr. down on the mat, using his weight advantage to keep the spindly submission artist beneath him. All the skill and leverage in the world won’t help if you can’t move. Eventually, Juice stood up and started trying to lift Zack for power moves, at which point Zack was able to mount a comeback, targeting Juice’s left arm to weaken the left handed punch that often signals the end for his opponent. Juice still had one good arm and was able to put up a fight, but Zack would repeatedly interrupt his comebacks with guillotine chokes and bodyscissors attacks. He kept going back to the left arm, and when Juice tried to powerbomb him out of an armbar, he needed two tries to do so. Juice hit a big right-handed punch and went for the Pulp Friction, but Zack dropped out of it and rolled him into the European Clutch for the three-count. Zack Sabre Jr. goes to 10 points
B Block: Tetsuya Naito def. Toru Yano (8:04) Tetsuya Naito was walking especially slowly to the ring as he entered, which made Yano get restless. Of course, when the bell rang, Yano was not actually interested in wrestling Naito, and spent a long time going in and out of the ring to delay the inevitable. Soon, though, he had pushed both Yota Tsuji at ringside and Tetsuya Naito down and taped their wrists together between the guardrail, but they were able to make it back in the ring before before Naito was counted out. Naito offered Tsuji a fist bump after they had delivered a double clothesline to Yano and freed themselves from the tape. Tsuji was going to accept it, but it was just a fake out; Naito kicked Tsuji and body-slammed him on top of Yano. Yano hit a sneak low blow on Naito and tried to roll him up, but Naito kicked out. Naito retaliated with a pop-up kick to the groin and a jackknife pin to defeat the Sublime Master Thief. Tetsuya Naito goes to 12 points
B Block: EVIL def. Hirooki Goto (15:33) With Naito now at 12 points, Goto is ostensibly out of the running, while EVIL has the best chances of defeating him since he has the tiebreaker victory. If Goto does win, it will be a matter of honor and sportsmanship conquering… evil. With the aid of Dick Togo at ringside, EVIL dominated Goto in the early stages of the match. Goto fired back up to lift the running EVIL and hit the Ushigoroshi, but Togo’s distraction enabled EVIL to stop Goto as he climbed to the top rope to capitalize on his first bit of momentum. EVIL hit a heavy lariat followed by Darkness Falls only for Goto to kick out, and attempted the EVIL STO, but EVIL avoided it. He forced EVIL out of the ring and hit a plancha on both EVIL and Togo! Goto hit a headbutt and a reverse GTR on EVIL for a near fall. He tried for the regular GTR, but EVIL dodged it. He attempted a discus lariat and EVIL caught his shoulder to transition into the STO finish. The G in G1 does not stand for Goto this year. EVIL goes to 12 points
B Block: SANADA def. Hiroshi Tanahashi (28:25) Matches between Hiroshi Tanahashi and SANADA are always interesting because a trained eye can spot all the ways that they wrestle like each other. Being both proteges of Keiji Mutoh, their offense, largely based on attacking the neck and knees to make them more susceptible to both submissions and bursts of high-speed offense. Tanahashi exemplified this, as he caught SANADA with his first dragonscrew, sending him reeling to the outside, and then landed on him with a High Fly Flow crossbody. He brought SANADA back and continued attacking his legs with Dragonscrews, but SANADA was able to make it to the ropes to break Tanahashi’s Texas Cloverleaf. SANADA was able to make it to his feet and fight back with a rope-hung Magic Screw and a springboard dropkick. SANADA went for the top rope moonsault, and he could see that Tanahashi had moved while he was in flight. When he landed on his feet, he felt it in his knees, and his stumble allowed Tanahashi to hit a Sling Blade. He followed up with a bridging full nelson suplex for a near fall, and looked to capitalize with the High Fly Flow. SANADA lifted his knees to block the move, but it hurt him just as much as Tanahashi. He managed to trap Tanahashi in the Skull End and soon went for the top rope moonsault again, but Tanahashi got his knees up! Feeling the pressure, SANADA tried for a hurricanrana, but Tanahashi caught his legs in midair and twisted SANADA into the Texas cloverleaf again! SANADA scratched and clawed and made it to the ropes. Tanahashi hit another Sling Blade and tried for the High Fly Flow, but SANADA hit him with a cutter in midair! With two top rope moonsaults, he stays in G1 contention. SANADA goes to 10 points
G1 Climax 30 Standings
A Block: 12 points – Kota Ibushi, Jay White, Kazuchika Okada 10 points – Will Ospreay 8 points – Jeff Cobb, Taichi 6 points – Minoru Suzuki, Tomohiro Ishii, Shingo Takagi 0 points – Yujiro Takahashi
New Japan Pro-Wrestling thirtieth annual G1 Climax tournament has arrived!
Watch on NJPW World with a paid subscription. Only live Japanese commentary available. English commentary will be uploaded within several days. This event will have reduced attendance capacity to comply with COVID-19 social distancing restrictions.
Gabriel Kidd def. Yota Tsuji (7:09) The longer this tournament lasts, the less patient and the mroe aggressive the young lions are getting with each other. It’s as if they are losing their inhibitions and becoming more willing to wrestle all-out, whether they win or lose. Also, you see both Uemura and Kidd gunning for Tsuji as he proves himself the favorite. Kidd, in particular, has been showing his LA Dojo training more and more, using body language while throwing elbow strikes that even commentary mentioned as being patterned after Katsuyori Shibata. Kidd landed a dropkick and double underhook suplex for the three-count.
B Block: Zack Sabre Jr. def. YOSHI-HASHI (13:34) In the early going, Zack went after YOSHI-HASHI’s left arm, controlling the pace and forcing the first-time champion to rely on rope breaks to escape his holds. With strikes from his good arm, YOSHI-HASHI was able to fight back, taking advantage of Zack’s lack of durability. Zack clung to his game plan, throwing kicks to the bad arm and applying an Octopus hold, but YOSHI was able to reverse it into a cobra twist, and he transitioned into the Butterfly Lock. Zack was able to get to the bottom rope to break the hold and land more stomps to the left arm, but YOSHI’s thrust kick sent him flopping to the mat again. YOSHI tried for Karma, but Zack was not having it, and he continued trying to rip YOSHI’s left arm out of its socket. YOSHI-HASHI was trapped, and did not have the mental capacity to give up, but the referee made that decision for him. Zack Sabre Jr. goes to 8 points
B Block: KENTA def. Toru Yano (8:56) KENTA and Yano spent a good few minutes yelling at each other to put away the foreign objects that they brought to the ring: Yano’s red steel chair and KENTA’s IWGP US Heavyweight Championship #1 Contender briefcase. It was ruled that neither object was allowed. Finally having touched after nearly five minutes, Yano threw KENTA into the guardrail, sprayed sanitizing fluid in his face, then threw a turnbuckle pad at him, but KENTA was able to make it back into the ring in time. KENTA worked over Yano and then pulled him, along with the briefcase, to the entrance stage. He hit Yano in the head with the briefcase, causing it to open, and countless rolls of tape to spill out. KENTA taped Yano’s arm to the truss of the entranceway and left him to be counted out. KENTA goes to 6 points
B Block: SANADA def. Juice Robinson (15:06) Both Juice and SANADA’s ability to factor into the finals of this tournament are largely dependent on the result of this match. Surprisingly, only a few days after SANADA’s victory over Tetsuya Naito, Juice was getting the better of him, while delivering some prime banter. Between calling SANADA “Cold Stone” and telling the referee that he has until five in Japanese, showing his personality is where Juice shines. SANADA was finally able to create some momentum for himself after he dodged Juice’s cannonball splash and hit a dropkick and plancha. SANADA’s comeback did not last long, though, as Juice caught him with a full nelson slam, then hit a superplex and jackhammer to press the advantage. SANADA was still able to dodge Juice’s Left Hand of God and block his attempts at Pulp Friction. SANADA tried multiple times at the Skull End, but Juice avoided it in creative ways multiple times. Finally, SANADA was able to hit the dragon sleeper giant swing into the Skull End, followed by the top rope moonsault to put Juice away and stay alive. SANADA goes to 8 points
B Block: Hirooki Goto def. Hiroshi Tanahashi (13:38) Another match with both men on the bubble of elimination. Tanahashi, as he is apt to do, targeted Goto’s knees with laserlike focus. Goto was already worn down by this tournament, having a wrapped right shoulder since his second match, and now his base was being removed from him as well. Tanahashi tried early for the Texas cloverleaf, but Goto got out of it without too much difficulty and hit the Ushigoroshi to finally inflict some offense. He tried for the Shouten Kai, but Tanahashi sandbagged it and hit Twist and Shout, followed by a counter Sling Blade. He perched on the top rope for the High Fly Flow, but Goto climbed up with him and slowed his roll with multiple headbutts. He lifted Tanahashi on his shoulders and dropped him to the mat with a nasty looking Ushigoroshi, but this also hurt his own knees in the process. Goto followed up with the reverse GTR, and Tanahashi desperately tried to apply a flash pin, but Goto kicked out of it. He hit the normal GTR and put the Ace down for the three count. Goto is still in; Tanahashi is out. Hirooki Goto goes to 8 points
B Block: EVIL def. Tetsuya Naito (23:57) After wrestling two main event title matches, Naito and the new EVIL are well-acquainted with each other. However, even though Naito definitively won at Summer Struggle, his animosity for EVIL, the man who betrayed Los Ingobernables de Japon, was more evident than ever. He smiled as he cranked EVIL’s neck in holds and refused to break them, even when he was told to by the referee. However, this did not mean he was immune to EVIL’s nefarious deeds, or those of his new right-hand man, Dick Togo. Togo was still there to distract the referee at times, or even be the aggressor, but Naito was smarter about avoiding their tactics this time. Nevertheless, Naito was on the back foot for most of this match. He got out of EVIL’s Scorpion Deathlock and retaliated with a rolling kick and Gloria for a near fall. EVIL pushed Naito into an exposed turnbuckle and used this opportunity to take control again. EVIL got Naito up for Darkness Falls but received a counter Destino for it. EVIL tried for his self-named finish but Naito avoided it, only to be hit by Darkness Falls this time. EVIL kept trying for EVIL, but Naito kept foiling his attempts. Dick Togo got in the ring yet again, and Naito disposed of him easily, but EVIL had the opportunity to hit a low blow on Naito in the meantime. This did not deter Naito, who hit a flying forearm on EVIL, followed by a running Destino for a near fall. He tried for one more Destino, but EVIL countered it into his self-named finish hold for the victory. EVIL goes to 10 points
G1 Climax 30 Standings
A Block: 10 points – Jay White, Will Ospreay, Kota Ibushi, Kazuchika Okada 6 points – Taichi, Minoru Suzuki, Tomohiro Ishii, Shingo Takagi, Jeff Cobb 0 points – Yujiro Takahashi
New Japan Pro-Wrestling thirtieth annual G1 Climax tournament has arrived!
Watch on NJPW World with a paid subscription. Only live Japanese commentary available. English commentary will be uploaded within several days. This event will have reduced attendance capacity to comply with COVID-19 social distancing restrictions.
Gabriel Kidd def. Yuya Uemura (8:47) Over the course of this G1, which is past the halfway mark at this point, Gabriel Kidd has shown himself to be the most adaptable of the three young lions, in my view. He has the strength to strike with Tsuji and the technique to grapple with Uemura, while the two Japanese young lions are more specialized. Kidd and Uemura were both able to reach the ropes with their dueling Boston crabs early in the match, but, and Kidd had enough fight in him to stuff Uemura’s attempt at a double arm suplex. He hit a dropkick, a vertical suplex, followed by his own double underhook suplex for the win.
B Block: Hirooki Goto def. YOSHI-HASHI (14:12) Goto’s last several matches have ended in very decisive fashion, lasting only several minutes combined. His right arm and shoulder are bandaged and it is a wonder whether that has made Goto fight with more urgency. YOSHI-HASHI focused on Goto’s hurt arm, applying a keylock that Goto needed a rope break to escape. Goto rallied with a spinning kick and a running bulldog, followed by the Ushigoroshi, but the pain in his arm stopped him from capitalizing. YOSHI-HASHI smartly countered with a lariat to the arm, followed by a Dragon suplex and the Butterfly Lock. He transitioned it into a sleeper hold and backstabber when Goto started moving towards the ropes, followed by the Kumagoroshi for a near fall. He tried to hit the Karma, but Goto stuffed it and lifted YOSHI-HASHI for the GTW. He tried to follow up, but YOSHI-HASHI hit a headbutt, only for Goto to return the favor. Finally, he hit the GTR for the pinfall win. Goto 6 points, YOSHI-HASHI 2 points
B Block: Zack Sabre Jr. def. Toru Yano (12:20) Toru Yano claimed to want a clean fight with Zack Sabre Jr., and voluntarily removed many rolls of wrist tape from his trousers. He then proceeded to challenge Zack to grappling, followed by amateur wrestling, but Zack was not interested in engaging. Zack then adopted an amateur wrestling stance as well, but Yano instead ran to remove a turnbuckle pad. He left to retrieve a chair from outside the ring, along with a roll of tape, and he tied Zack’s arm to a chair outside the guardrail. Still, Zack was able to pull the chair through the bars of the guardrail to make it back in the ring before he could be counted out. The referee removed the chair and Yano apologized profusely to Zack, before hitting a belly-to-belly suplex. Yano pulled him out of the ring and tried to hit a German suplex on the floor, but Zack pulled him into an ankle lock and dragged him away from the ring. Yano was still able to limp back to the ring before the 20-count, though. The slowed Yano was a sitting duck for more leg attacks from Zack. Yano got to his feet and removed a turnbuckle pad, but then engaged Zack in a series of fighting for pinning combinations. Zack trapped him in an ankle lock yet again, then transitioned it into a heel hook, and Yano had nowhere to go. Zack 6 points, Yano 6 points
B Block: SANADA def. KENTA (11:24) KENTA’s “IWGP US Heavyweight Championship #1 contender” briefcase had a big crack in it from when KENTA hit Tanahashi across the face with it two days ago. It had a note taped over the crack with Tanahashi’s name written. KENTA controlled the match early, grinding SANADA down with strikes and holds to the head. SANADA blocked a kick of KENTA’s and applied the Paradise Lock, which to this day amuses the audience very much. With a running dropkick followed by a diving double footstomp, KENTA brought the momentum of the match back in his favor. Hew went for the Go 2 Sleep, but this may have been premature, as SANADA avoided it easily. SANADA hit a pop-up TKO and applied the sleeper hold, but KENTA pushed him into the referee and left to pick up the briefcase again. He tried to hit SANADA in the face with it, but SANADA dodged it and dropkicked the briefcase into KENTA’s face. He then went for a moonsault, but KENTA blocked it with his knees. Seeing the opportunity, he tried for the Go 2 Sleep again, but SANADA avoided it and pulled KENTA into a Japanese leg roll clutch for the pinfall win. SANADA 6 points, KENTA 4 points
B Block: Tetsuya Naito def. Juice Robinson (25:01) Juice has been one of the best at engaging a crowd that isn’t allowed to cheer, but Naito was the more popular man in the building. Naito dominated Juice in the early going, almost mocking him, and perhaps his Blues Brothers cosplay outfit, as he scraped his boot across Juice’s face. He mimicked Juice’s crowd-rallying pose while holding Juice in a headscissors hold, but Juice was finally able to get to his feet and grant himself some space with a spinebuster. This did not last long, though, as Naito pounced with a neckbreaker drop into the Pluma Blanca necklock. Naito condescendingly encouraged Juice to try harder, only for Juice to catch his flying forearm and hit a full nelson slam. He fired up the crowd as he lifted Naito to the top rope and landed a superplex into a jackhammer for a near fall on the double champion. Naito wriggled out of Juice’s Pulp Friction finish and awarded Juice a reverse Frankensteiner for his efforts. Naito went for the running Destino, but Juice caught him with a leg lariat as he yelled profanely. He caught Naito’s rope-assisted tornado DDT, but Naito modified it into a reverse Destino. Juice reversed Naito’s next Destino attempt into a falling powerbomb as the crowd applauded. Past the 20 minute mark, Juice hit a big lariat and tried once more for the Pulp Friction, but again Naito avoided it, but was knocked to the mat by the Left Hand of God. Juice tried yet again for his finish, but again Naito managed to hit another running Destino. The crowd came unglued as Juice kicked out! Naito was unfazed, though, and landed one last Destino to extend his lead on the rest of B Block. Naito 10 points, Juice 6 points
B Block: EVIL def. Hiroshi Tanahashi (19:58) It didn’t take a long period of Tanahashi getting the better of EVIL for Dick Togo to interfere on EVIL’s behalf. EVIL whipped Tanahashi into the barricade, and while he was down, he pulled out a pile of chairs, suplexed Yota Tsuji onto them, and removed a turnbuckle pad. Togo would repeatedly be there when Tanahashi was starting to take control. EVIL tried to throw Tanahashi to the outside, but he skinned the cat to get back in the ring, only to get thrown halfway across with a German suplex. Tanahashi fought off EVIL’s Scorpion Deathlock attempt and tried to apply the Texas cloverleaf, but EVIL grabbed his hair to get Tanahashi off of him. Tanahashi hit a sliding dropkick to knock down Togo, followed by multiple Dragonscrews and another go at the cloverleaf. EVIL’s back was severely arched, but he managed to crawl to the bottom rope and free himself. EVIL returned to form with a big lariat, but Tanahashi reversed his Darkness Falls into a Sling Blade. Tanahashi climbed to the top rope for a High Fly Flow, and Togo tried to distract him, but Tsuji pulled him away. He hit the crossbody on a standing EVIL and transitioned into the Texas cloverleaf once more, but Togo came in and started choking Tanahashi with his wire. Tanahashi was able to lift it off of his neck and slap Togo in the face to send him reeling. From there, he hit a Sling Blade and a High Fly Flow to EVIL’s back, then went for another. However, Dick Togo pulled his leg, making his groin land on the turnbuckle, and giving EVIL the opening he needed. He superplexed Tanahashi off the top rope and landed Darkness Falls for a two-count. Finally, he landed his self-named STO for the three count. EVIL 8 points, Tanahashi 6 points
G1 Climax 30 Standings
A Block: 8 points – Kota Ibushi, Kazuchika Okada, Will Ospreay, Jay White 6 points – Taichi, Minoru Suzuki, Tomohiro Ishii, Shingo Takagi 4 points – Jeff Cobb 0 points – Yujiro Takahashi
New Japan Pro-Wrestling thirtieth annual G1 Climax tournament has arrived!
Watch on NJPW World with a paid subscription. Only live Japanese commentary available. English commentary will be uploaded within several days. This event will have reduced attendance capacity to comply with COVID-19 social distancing restrictions.
Yuya Uemura drew against Yota Tsuji (15:00) A lot of non-young lion wrestlers throughout the entire sport could learn from young lions about how to make working a hold compelling. Young lions don’t slap on a headlock to kill time because they don’t have time to kill; rather, this is how they learn to do more with less. The raucous applause Tsuji and Uemura would receive received for scratching, clawing, and eventually reaching the bottom rope to break each other’s Boston crabs was a testament to that. After the ring announcer announced that only one minute was left, they immediately scrambled for flash pinfall attempts, but neither could make one stick. The match ended in a 15:00 time limit draw.
B Block: Hirooki Goto def. Toru Yano (0:18) Similar to how he did towards Juice Robinson, Toru Yano tried the trick of giving one of his t-shirts to Goto and asking him to put it on, so that he could get a flash pin while their shirt was over their head. Goto was not having it and threw the shirt to the mat. As Yano turned around to pick it up, Goto hit a lariat to Yano’s back, then applied the Goto Shiki pinning combination and got the three-count. This was the shortest match in the history of the G1 Climax, and likely one of the shortest in all of NJPW’s history. Goto 4 points, Yano 6 points
B Block: SANADA def. Zack Sabre Jr. (14:31) Zack Sabre Jr. has a reputation for pulling SANADA’s more technical side whenever they wrestle, and that was more than evident in this match. However, most of SANADA’s attempts at matching Zack hold for hold ended in vain, as the lanky Brit rotated between SANADA’s arms, legs, and neck as targets for submission holds. He had SANADA scouted as well: he dodged SANADA’s plancha to the outside and applied an Octopus hold, but had to break it to avoid being counted out. Later, he blocked SANADA’s TKO and avoided multiple attempts at the his leg roll clutch. He even got a bit cocky, applying his own variation of the Skull End, but this may have been his undoing. SANADA reversed Zack’s dragon sleeper variation, then lifted Zack’s legs onto the top rope for a rope-assisted TKO. He followed up with the top rope moonsault for his second victory of the G1. SANADA 4 points, Zack 4 points
B Block: EVIL def. Juice Robinson (15:35) Not long into the match, EVIL suplexed Juice into a pile of steel chairs that he pulled out from under the ring, then used the time while Juice was laying in agony to remove a turnbuckle pad. When he was finally able to get back into the ring, EVIL put him in a half Boston crab, but the anguished Juice would crawl to the bottom rope to break the hold. With a big leg lariat and a spinebuster, Juice would make his comeback, then hit a plancha on Dick Togo to temporarily take him out. The crowd clapped and stomped rhythmically for Juice as he hit a superplex followed by a Jackhammer for a near fall on the former IWGP double champion. However, EVIL would push Juice to the ropes so that the recovered Togo could slam a steel chair into Juice’s back. This gave EVIL the opportunity to hit Darkness Falls for a two count, but Juice would block the EVIL, only for EVIL to block the Pulp Friction as well. EVIL hit a low blow as Juice was going for the Left Hand of God, and from there he hit his eponymous STO for the tainted victory. EVIL 6 points, Juice 6 points
B Block: Tetsuya Naito def. YOSHI-HASHI (24:43) Coming off of winning the first ever championship of his career, YOSHI-HASHI is in a stronger position than he has ever been. This provided him the fire he needed to hold the advantage against Naito, hitting a tope con hilo followed by a top rope Headhunter for a two-count. However, the double champion Naito would not go down without a fight. He reversed YOSHI-HASHI’s running powerbomb into a Frankensteiner, and followed it with a tornado DDT. He fought off the first attempt at the Butterfly Lock with relative ease as well. He hit the Gloria for a near fall, then followed up with a first Destino attempt, but a western lariat from YOSHI-HASHI thwarted it. YOSHI-HASHI fought back with a shoulderbuster followed by another try at the Butterfly Lock. He transitioned it into a backstabber when he saw Naito inching towards the ropes, and applied it again. For what seemed like an eternity, Naito was in the Butterfly Lock, but was finally able to get a rope break as it was announced 20 minutes of the match had elapsed. Still, as soon as Naito got to his feet, YOSHI-HASHi capitalized with a running lariat, but his attempt at the Kumagoroshi ended in Naito hitting a reverse Destino. YOSHI-HASHI’s counterplay was countering Naito’s next Destino attempt with the Kumagoroshi, and going for Karma. Naito stuffed the Karma and hit a rolling kick, followed by Valentia for a near fall. A final Destino finished off YOSHI-HASHI. Naito 8 points, YOSHI-HASHI 2 points
B Block: Hiroshi Tanahashi def. KENTA (23:41) KENTA was able to take advantage early and execute his plan: neutralizing Tanahashi’s known bad legs to make him more averse to using the High Fly Flow. Also, he was feeling particularly smarmy today, playing the air bass guitar while Tanahashi was writhing in agony on the mat. Tanahashi was able to give himself breathing room with a Dragonscrew and a front flip senton, but soon enough KENTA was back to working the knees with a Figure Four Leglock. He took Tanahashi to the apron and gave him a Dragonscrew from the apron to the floor, leaving him to be nearly counted out. KENTA pounced with a diving double foot stomp when Tanahashi came in and went for the Go 2 Sleep, but Tanahashi managed to wriggle out of it. He came back with a Sling Blade and multiple Dragonscrews while the crowd were with him, but sustained some cracking backhand slaps from KENTA in the process. KENTA pushed Tanahashi into the referee, making them fall to the mat, and hit multiple splashes on the two of them. He grabbed his IWGP US Heavyweight Championship #1 Contender briefcase from ringside and hit Tanahashi square in the face with it. Tanahashi rose to his knees only for a Busaiku Knee Kick to greet him. KENTA lifted Tanahashi for the Go 2 Sleep, but Tanahashi got out of it again and hit multiple Twist and Shouts. After a High Fly Flow on a standing KENTA, Tanahashi applied a Texas cloverleaf for the submission victory! Tanahashi 6 points, KENTA 4 points
New Japan Pro-Wrestling thirtieth annual G1 Climax tournament has arrived!
Watch on NJPW World with a paid subscription. Only live Japanese commentary available. English commentary will be uploaded within several days. This event will have reduced attendance capacity to comply with COVID-19 social distancing restrictions.
Yota Tsuji vs. Gabriel Kidd ended in a draw (15:00) Gabriel Kidd has come along a great deal since joining NJPW. He worked a headlock on Tsuji in the most interesting way I’ve ever seen someone do it, cranking on it and reversing all of Tsuji’s attempts to break it in creative ways. His creative holds and transitions enabled him to dominate the majority of the match against Tsuji. Tsuji retaliated with a body slam into a single-leg Boston crab, but it was enough to make Kidd’s crumble after he tried a body slam of his own. Kidd locked in a full Boston crab, but Tsuji was able to make it to the ropes to break the hold. Tsuji hit a back body drop and applied a Boston crab of his own. Kidd was able to get out of it and hit a dropkick as the ring announcer said there was less than 1 minute to go. They both attempted flash pins but the 15 minute time limit arrived before either man was finished Both men kept striking each other after the bell rang until they collapsed in a heap.
B Block: Juice Robinson def. Toru Yano (6:42) Toru Yano threw one of his t-shirts at Juice and asked him to put it on. Juice was suspicious of Yano’s intentions, but he insisted, and then attempted to roll Juice up, but failed. He then left the ring and told Juice to come after him, but Juice ripped the Yano shirt off and rubbed it between his legs before running after Yano. Yano outsmarted him and taped Juice’s legs together, then bolted back into the ring for the countout victory, but Juice hopped on his taped-together legs back into the ring in time. Juice managed to rip the tape off and hit the Left Hand of God, but Yano blocked Juice’s Pulp Friction. He tried for another roll up but Juice reversed it into a prawn hold for the pinfall victory. Juice 6 points, Yano 6 points
B Block: Zack Sabre Jr. def. Hirooki Goto (3:59) Following his loss at the hands of KENTA, Zack Sabre Jr. wasted no time trying to dismantle the bandaged right shoulder of Hirooki Goto. He brought Goto to his knees with an octopus hold, then hit a cheeky penalty kick for good measure. The angered Goto hit a lariat with his bad arm and paid the price, collapsing in pain. He managed to still perform the Ushigoroshi on Zack, but when he went for his finishing move, the GTR, Zack dropped out of his grip and flipped Goto into the bridging European Clutch for the three-count, in a very fast match.
B Block: Hiroshi Tanahashi def. YOSHI-HASHI (18:41) YOSHI-HASHI, seemingly in defiance of one of the elder statesmen of NJPW, adapted part of Tanahashi’s trademark strategy for himself, going after Tanahashi’s legs early in the match, including a Dragonscrew. Irate, Tanahashi pushed YOSHI-HASHI into the corner with elbow strikes and then repaid him with a Dragonscrew of his own. Shockingly, YOSHI-HASHI overpowered Tanahashi in a chop battle and then put him down for a 2-count with a sitout powerbomb. Tanahashi hit a Sling Blade when YOSHI-HASHI ran off the ropes, and then went for the High Fly Flow, but YOSHI-HASHI blocked it with his knees! He then hit a big lariat and applied the Butterfly Lock as the crowd rallied behind Tanahashi. He could see Tanahashi inching toward the rope and transitioned into a backcracker. Tanahashi tried to come back with repeated Dragonscrews, but YOSHI-HASHI managed to hit the Kumagoroshi for a near fall. Tanahashi blocked YOSHI-HASHI’s attempt at the Karma and hit a fast Sling Blade, followed by two High Fly Flows to put YOSHI-HASHI away. 4 points Tanahashi, 2 points YOSHI-HASHI
B Block: EVIL def. KENTA (15:40) I was interested in this match before the tournament began, with the potential interactions between two Bullet Club members who have not interacted recently, and how Dick Togo’s allegiance might factor in. KENTA offered a 2-Sweet at the start of the match, and EVIL and Dick Togo gave each other a 2-Sweet instead of KENTA. Seemingly perturbed by this, KENTA whispered something to Dick Togo and then went about beating EVIL from pillar to post. He asked Dick Togo to help him but Togo did not get involved. EVIL irish-whipped KENTA into the ropes and Togo grabbed his foot, making him trip, which made KENTA furious at how a Bullet Club member could cheat against another one. From here, EVIL controlled the pace, grinding KENTA down and wrenching on his bad left shoulder. KENTA retaliated with powerful kicks and a flying lariat for a near fall, but when he tried to follow up, Dick Togo jumped onto the apron to distract him and put EVIL back in control. KENTA pushed the referee into EVIL and went to grab his “IWGP US Heavyweight Champion #1 contender” briefcase. Dick Togo asked KENTA for it, and got hit in the face with it. KENTA then hit EVIL with it as well and followed up with the Busaiku Knee Kick, but EVIL kicked out. EVIL then came back with the Darkness Falls, but KENTA blocked the EVIL, and lifted the interfering Dick Togo into the Go 2 Sleep. This gave EVIL the opportunity to hit a low blow from behind and then the EVIL STO for the dirty win over KENTA. 4 points EVIL, 4 points KENTA
B Block: SANADA def. Tetsuya Naito (27:08) Naito and SANADA have met in the G1 several times since SANADA joined LIJ, but no LIJ member has ever defeated Naito in the G1. However, the crowd today, being in the same prefecture that SANADA was born in, was on SANADA’s side. They clapped in bursts of three, as if chanting the syllables of his name. Naito took this personally, finding every opportunity possible to crank on SANADA’s neck while urging the crowd to chant for their hometown hero. Naito softened SANADA’s neck up with a top rope Frankensteiner and the Esperanza, but SANADA reversed his running Destino into the TKO cutter. From there, he landed the moonsault into the Skull End, reapplying the bodyscissors when Naito managed to get to his feet. He broke the hold to hit the top rope moonsault, but Naito rolled out of the way! As the ring announcer said that 25 minutes had passed, Naito hit a Destino only for SANADA to kick out. He wound up for another, but SANADA blocked it and hit a Destino of his own! He followed up with two top rope moonsaults and got the pin on Naito! SANADA 2 points, Naito 6 points
New Japan Pro-Wrestling thirtieth annual G1 Climax tournament has arrived!
Watch on NJPW World with a paid subscription. Only live Japanese commentary available. English commentary will be uploaded within several days. This event will have reduced attendance capacity to comply with COVID-19 social distancing restrictions.
Yuya Uemura def. Gabriel Kidd At the start, Gabriel Kidd was laser-focused on Uemura’s arm, using a bridging arm lock to weaken him, so that he would be unable to break free of the double underhook suplex that Kidd has been using to finish matches lately. Uemura was able to reverse the hold into a leglock, but Kidd grabbed the bottom rope to break it. They engaged in a battle of strikes but Kidd was getting the upper hand, but Uemura hit a beautiful dropkick and locked in a high-angle Boston crab; Kidd had no choice but to tap out.
B Block: YOSHI-HASHI def. SANADA (15:15) SANADA trained his offense on YOSHI-HASHI’s neck, likely a setup for the Skull End. YOSHI-HASHI hit a lariat to SANADA against the ropes, sending him tumbling to the outside, but when he went to the outside to follow up, SANADA lifted YOSHI-HASHI’s legs onto the barricade and gave him a body dragonscrew. SANADA looked to have YOSHI-HASHI’s number, rallying the Korakuen Hall crowd. YOSHI-HASHI finally hit a desparation lariat, followed by a sitout powerbomb for a near fall. He rose to the top rope, but SANADA blocked the Swanton Bomb with his legs. He then hit a moonsault on a standing YOSHI-HASHI into the Skull End. YOSHI briefly got his head free, but SANADA pulled him back into it. SANADA broke the hold to hit his finishing top rope moonsault, but YOSHI-HASHI blocked it with his knees, in an act of retribution. He rose to his feet and delivered a dragon suplex followed by the Kumagoroshi for a near fall as the crowd clapped for him. Finally, he hit the Karma for the three-count! YOSHI-HASHI 2 points, SANADA 0 points
B Block: KENTA def. Zack Sabre Jr. (15:46) KENTA did not begin the match by retreating to the outside of the ring like he did against his prior opponents. Zack laid on the mat and challenged KENTA to grapple with him, but KENTA just kicked him in the chest. KENTA pelted the spindly ZSJ with strikes for quite a while. Zack even sat up and put his arms behind his back, challenging KENTA to kick him, but he soon regretted it. Zack finally realized he couldn’t sustain much more of this and brought the match onto his terms, attacking KENTA’s right arm. KENTA tried to hit a lariat, but was clutching his arm in pain after he did so. KENTA decided to use his other limbs to fight, landing multiple shotgun dropkicks and a diving foot stomp for a near fall. He tried to lift Zack for the Go 2 Sleep, but Zack started cranking on his arm and he had to stop. Zack hit a guillotine choke and transitioned into the Jim Breaks armbar, but KENTA forced the rope break. Zack hit the ropes, but ran into KENTA’s knee strike on the way back. KENTA lifted the dazed Zack for the Go 2 Sleep and the pinfall victory. KENTA 4 points, Zack 2 points
B Block: Hiroshi Tanahashi def. Juice Robinson (14:16) Tanahashi found himself outpowered by Juice in the early going, as Juice worked over the Ace’s lower back with punches, backbreakers, and a sidewalk slam. He placed Tanahashi in a seated full nelson while egging on Tanahashi to do better. He broke the hold to hit another lower back punch, but the freed Tanahashi put Juice on his back with a dropkick to the leg and a dragonscrew. Slowed, but not beaten, Juice continued to push Tanahashi, hitting a big lariat and the cannonball splash, as the crowd flared up with rhythmic applause. Juice hit a jackhammer for a near fall, but when he went for the Pulp Friction, Tanahashi blocked it and hit a Sling Blade. He went to the top rope for the High Fly Flow, but the standing Juice rolled through it into a pinning combination for a two-count. Juice hit his Left Hand of God punch on Tanahashi and went for the Pulp Friction again, but Tanahashi dropped to the mat to avoid it and pulled Juice into a victory roll for the pinfall victory, to finally make it on the board. Tanahashi 2 points, Juice 4 points
B Block: Toru Yano def. EVIL (4:33) Yano immediately went after EVIL’s second, Dick Togo, so that he would not be present to give EVIL the advantage. He taped Togo’s arm to the outside barricade, but EVIL was able to break him free later on. As Togo distracted the referee, EVIL hit a low blow on Yano, but then Yano whipped him into the referee. EVIL stopped before hitting the referee, but it gave Yano the opening to hit a low blow of his own. Immediately, Dick Togo came in and hit a low blow on Yano, but Yano retaliated with a mule kick. He whipped Togo into EVIL and then hit a low blow on both of them at once, then pinned EVIL with a roll-up. Yano 6 points, EVIL 2 points
B Block: Tetsuya Naito def. Hirooki Goto (21:58) Goto’s right shoulder was already taped up from his match with KENTA and Naito focused on it immediately, using arm wringers, strikes, and a Kimura lock to further damage Goto’s dominant arm. Naito had said in a recent interview that he viewed Goto as just a guy, whose presence did not mean much in the grand scheme. This was Goto’s chance to prove that statement wrong, but his early comebacks were all thwarted by Naito. When Naito lifted Goto to the middle rope for his super frankensteiner, Goto slid under and delivered a superplex, sending Naito reeling to the outside. He followed up with the first plancha I’ve ever seen him do. As the match reached 15 elapsed minutes, Naito was back on the offense again, catching Goto with a swinging DDT and repeated elbows to the back of the head, and then successfully performing the super Frankensteiner. Naito went for the running Destino, but Goto blocked hit and hit the reverse GTR! He followed up with a rope-hung GTR for a near fall, but when he went for the Ushigoroshi Naito countered it into a Destino. Naito went for the final Destino, but Goto caught it and hit the GTW! Goto attempted the GTR, but Naito blocked it, then finished Goto off with the Valentia and Destino! Naito 6 points, Goto 2 points
Yota Tsuji def. Yuya Uemura (8:13, Submission, Boston Crab)
B Block: Hirooki Goto def. SANADA (11:03, Pinfall, GTR)
B Block: Toru Yano def. Hiroshi Tanahashi (7:15, Pinfall, Leg Hook Cradle)
B Block: Juice Robinson def. KENTA (17:01, Pinfall, Pulp Friction)
B Block: EVIL def. YOSHI-HASHI (17:21, Pinfall, EVIL)
B Block: Tetsuya Naito def. Zack Sabre Jr. (28:28, Pinfall, Destino)
Standings
A Block 4 points – Will Ospreay, Taichi, Jay White 2 points – Jeff Cobb, Kazuchika Okada, Minoru Suzuki, Kota Ibushi 0 points – Tomohiro Ishii, Shingo Takagi, Yujiro Takahashi
New Japan Pro-Wrestling thirtieth annual G1 Climax tournament has arrived!
Watch on NJPW World with a paid subscription. Only live Japanese commentary available. English commentary will be uploaded within several days. This event will have reduced attendance capacity to comply with COVID-19 social distancing restrictions.
Yota Tsuji def. Gabriel Kidd (9:15) I would recommend that everyone reading this go to NJPW’s English website and read Gabriel Kidd’s interview, in which he discusses Shibata grabbing his stomach fat and telling him to lose weight before he could join the LA Dojo. He certainly has, but it may have been Yota Tsuji’s weight may have helped him press the advantage, as he overpowered Gabriel Kid with strikes, and was too heavy for Kidd to lift when he attempted a suplex. Kidd hit a great standing dropkick to cut off Tsuji briefly, but in the end Tsuji caught him in the Boston Crab for the submission victory.
B Block: Juice Robinson def. YOSHI-HASHI (15:57) Unlike Ishii yesterday, YOSHI-HASHI entered while proudly displaying his NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship. Meanwhile, Juice Robinson entered in a white tank top and tight black pants and shoes, looking like a Blues Brother. These two hit some of the loudest chops I’ve heard recently, up there with the one sin yesterday’s match between Ishii and Suzuki. Juice made the crowd stomp and clap to the rhythm of “We Will Rock You” by Queen. His focus on the crowd let YOSHI-HASHI catch him in the Butterfly Lock, but the crowd resumed the rhythmic noise-making to support Juice. YOSHI-HASHI broke the hold to hit a swanton bomb, but Juice kicked out at two as the crowd. His chest red from chops, he went for the Karma, but Juice was able to sprawl to stop the hold and a heavy lariat. Finally, he hit two big punches and the Pulp Friction to put YOSHI-HASHI away. Juice 2 points, YOSHI-HASHI 0 points
B Block: Toru Yano def. SANADA (6:16) SANADA also decided to bring new gear to the G1, wearing a black and silver outfit that looks like something a supervillain would wear, but a comically small skull mask. Toru Yano was carrying three rolls of tape in his trunks, which were removed by the referee early in the match. After being unceremoniously worked over, Yano retreated to the outside and told SANADA to come after him, but SANADA didn’t take the bait and Yano had to run back to the ring to stop from being counted out, and SANADA hit a plancha to the outside to press his advantage. From there, SANADA pulled Yano to the entrance walkway and put him in the Paradise Lock, then left him to trapped to be counted out. However, a young lion, thinking this was unfair, rolled Yano onto his back to set him free. This enabled Yano to tie SANADA and the young lion’s legs together with his last roll of tape, and win the match by countout. Also, the young lion wasn’t wearing his mask over his nose, shame on him. Yano 2 points, SANADA 0 points
B Block: KENTA def. Hirooki Goto (17:15) Goto also didn’t bring out his NEVER 6-Man title, and it’s getting on my nerves that YOSHI-HASHI is the only one who did. KENTA had promised on Twitter that he would win this match using his Game Over submission, which he had used in this same building to win the GHC Heavyweight Championship when he was in Pro Wrestling NOAH. He put that plan into action, targeting Goto’s right arm with holds and kicks. As KENTA kicked Goto in the chest, Goto rose to his feet went for a lariat, but KENTA grabbed his arm, immobilizing Goto in pain. Goto fought back and started working on KENTA’s arm too. KENTA was able to get his foot on the rope to break Goto’s seated armbar, and got Goto back on the defensive again with a diving foot stomp. He lifted Goto for the Go 2 Sleep, but Goto grabbed KENTA’s knee to stop its impact. He applied his Shoryu Kekkai arm submission, but KENTA was able to reach the bottom rope to break it. Goto tried to finish the match with the GTR, but KENTA forced him into the Game Over and there was nowhere for Goto to go. KENTA wins by submission. KENTA 2 points, Goto 0 points
B Block: Zack Sabre Jr. def. EVIL (15:54) With one of the briefest IWGP Heavyweight Championship reigns in recent history behind him, EVIL has a lot to prove in the G1. Credit to him, he was beating Zack from pillar to post in the early going, a little bit of help from Dick Togo notwithstanding. With his quickness, Zack was able to make his move and went to twisting EVIL’s neck and arms in a brutal fashion. EVIL was able to break Zack’s abdominal stretch by pulling on his ear, living up to his name. He went back to pummeling the wiry submission master with strikes and big suplexes. Zack countered EVIL’s lariat with an arm drag into a submission hold, but Dick Togo came onto the apron as a distraction. Zack casually kicked him away, but EVIL whipped him into the referee, and Dick Togo came in to lay boots to Zack. After being hit with one senton from each, Zack was able to fight back to take Togo out. EVIL went for a mule kick, but Zack caught EVIL’s leg in between his knees. EVIL hit the Darkness Falls for a near fall, and went for the EVIL STO, but Zack rolled him into the European Clutch for the pinfall victory. He was hurt and struggling to walk afterward, but the points go to him, overcoming a two on one disadvantage. Zack 2 points, EVIL 0 points
B Block: Tetsuya Naito def. Hiroshi Tanahashi (27:16) Tanahashi’s plan, as it often is, was to attack Naito’s knees to neutralize his advantage of speed. However, early on, Naito was always one step ahead of Tanahashi, avoiding his front flip senton while laying on the mat in his tranquilo pose. Naito held control until Tanahashi hit a dragonscrew legwhip to send Naito retreating to the outside, and then hit the High Fly Flow to Naito standing outside. He said he was going to retire that move four years ago and yet here we are. He brought Naito back into the ring and landed more dragonscrews with Naito hung up in the ropes, then went for the Texas Cloverleaf, but Naito was able to stuff the hold. Tanahashi hit more Dragonscrews and was able to lock in the Texas Cloverleaf this time, which he used to tap out Naito in their last match and win the IWGP Intercontinental Championship, three years ago. He locked it in at an even higher angle, but Naito grabbed the middle rope and saved himself. Tanahashi pushed his advantage with a bridging arm-trap suplex for a very close near fall. He went for the Sling Blade but Naito dodged it and landed a twirling DDT to put Tanahashi on his back. He hit repeated clubbing blows to the back of the neck, then hit Gloria only for Tanahashi to kick out at two. Naito went for the Destino, but Tanahashi countered it into the Sling Blade as the crowd applauded wildly and the ring announcer called that 25 minutes had passed. He hit a second Sling Blade and then the High Fly Flow, but then went for another High Fly Flow and Naito rolled out of the way. Naito capitalized with a gnarly running Destino that got a 2-count, then hit the Valentia and another Destino for the three-count! Naito 2 points, Tanahashi 0 points
New Japan Pro-Wrestling returns to Meiji Jingu Stadium for their first outdoor wrestling event in 21 years, as the Summer Struggle 2020 tour comes to a head.
Watch on NJPW World with a paid subscription. Live English and Japanese commentary available. This event will have reduced attendance capacity to comply with COVID-19 social distancing restrictions.
Start Times (August 29, 2020): 1AM Pacific, 4AM Eastern, 9AM UK, 5PM Japan, 6PM East Australia
NJPW Summer Struggle in Jingu Results
Yoshinobu Kanemaru def. Master Wato (7:31) The atmosphere of an outdoor show in daylight, albeit the sun beginning to set, was enjoyable and novel for me. Kanemaru dominated the match early, using strikes and holds to wear down his more energetic opponent, for whom this is only his second match since returning in early July. Wato took control with a dropkick to the outside and a plancha. His ability was never in question, just this persona and look of his was the subject of criticism and some humor. Kanemaru pushed Wato into the referee and tried to spit whiskey in his face, but Wato kicked the bottle out of his hand before he could. Wato was on the verge of winning, about to set up his corkscrew senton, but Kanemaru grabbed his legs and rolled him into a flash pin for the three count.
KOPW 2020 Final Four Way Match: Toru Yano def. Kazuchika Okada, SANADA, El Desperado (7:01) Toru Yano was visibly distraught by the smoke machines as he made his entrance. I’ve never seen a four way match involving heavyweights in my time watching NJPW, but this brought something novel and interesting. Wrestlers from different factions working together to break up other wrestlers’ pinfalls, and wrestlers from the same faction working together, and then turning on each other when one went for the pinfall. Okada and Yano engaged in the latter, and it was sufficiently amusing. SANADA caught Okada in the skull end, but El Desperado broke it up with a top rope splash. Okada caught Desperado with the cobra clutch, but Toru Yano snuck up on Okada from behind, hit him with a blow blow, then rolled him up for the victory! Toru Yano is the provisional KOPW 2020 Champion.
The KOPW 2020 trophy is amusingly small.
NEVER Openweight Championship: Minoru Suzuki def. Shingo Takagi (c) (14:56) People have been looking forward to seeing Shingo and Suzuki in a straight up fight, but it was not before long that Suzuki’s cunning was on display, as he bullied Shingo around the outside of the ring, slamming him into barricades. As the match returned to between the ropes, Shingo fired back up with his powerful strikes and throws. Perhaps Suzuki had the advantage in pain tolerance too, as he ate Suzuki’s strikes and came up laughing. From there, Suzuki fought back with headbutts, and put Shingo in the sleeper hold. He looked for the Gotch piledriver again, but Shingo slipped out of it, and came off the ropes looking for the Pumping Bomber, but Minoru Suzuki slowed his roll with a dropkick. The two of them continued to exchange strikes and headbutts, which resounded loudly even in the open air stadium. After a particularly blunt sounding elbow strike, Suzuki applied the sleeper hold again and hit the Gotch-style piledriver for the 3 count! Minoru Suzuki is now a two-time NEVER Openweight Champion!
SUMMER STRUGGLE in JINGU NEVER OPENWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH@suzuki_D_minoru 'Headbutt'
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship: Taiji Ishimori def. Hiromu Takahashi (c) (13:30) This match had a thunderous start, as Hiromu and Ishimori came at each other with all the energy they had, moving fast enough that neither of them could catch each other. But something had to give, and Ishimori was able to throw himself into a La Mistica, putting pressure down on Hiromu’s left shoulder, which is in poor shape as a result of Ishimori’s attacks on it in recent weeks. Hiromu tried to fight back by hitting the sunset flip powerbomb with his opponent on the apron, but Ishimori backflipped out of it and continued to press the advantage. Frustrated, Hiromu ripped all the supportive tape all his shoulder. He tried to throw a running Ishimori into the turnbuckle pad, but Ishimori was able to catch himself, only to fail to do so after Hiromu tried it again. The two madmen traded German suplexes, and Hiromu floored him with a lariat and the Dynamite Plunger. Hiromu kept the pressure on, but Ishimori granted himself a few moments of rest when he hit the Cipher Uteki. He hit the La Mistica again into the Yes Lock, but Hiromu was able to get a free hand on the ropes to break the hold. Ishimori set up the Bloody Cross, but Hiromu got out of it, only for Ishimori to put him down again with a lariat. He tried the Bloody Cross again, but Hiromu stopped the lift, then brought Ishimori to his shoulders and hit a death valley bomb into the turnbuckle pad. He hit the Time Bomb, but Ishimori kicked out at two! He tried for the Time Bomb II, but Ishimori blocked it and hit a move I’ve never seen before, the reverse Bloody Cross. He applied the Yes Lock again and Hiromu submitted! Taiji Ishimori is now a two-time IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion.
SUMMER STRUGGLE in JINGU IWGP Jr. HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH@taiji_ishimori 'Corbata Armbreaker'
IWGP Tag Team Championship: Dangerous Tekkers (Zack Sabre Jr. & Taichi) (c) def. Golden Ace (Hiroshi Tanahashi & Kota Ibushi) (16:01) As the sky turned dark, Hiroshi Tanahashi and Kota Ibushi entered to new mashup entrance music.These two teams, some of the most high-profile to fight for the IWGP Tag Team Championships in recent memory, have been at each other’s throats ever since NJPW began having shows again in June. As such, they know what to expect of each other more than ever. Furthermore, the dynamic between Golden Ace has been brought into question; Ibushi questioned his faith in Tanahashi as a partner after he took the losing fall at Dominion, but they have since reassured the public that they are fine. As Ibushi and Taichi were about to begin, Tanahashi called out that Zack was sneaking up behind Ibushi. Dangerous Tekkers focused their double team offense on Tanahashi, meaning perhaps they thought he was the weak link of the team as well. Ibushi ran wild after getting tagged in, hitting a running shooting star press on a prone Taichi. Ibushi and Taichi engaged each other in a battle of kicks under the lights. After Ibushi hit a brutal high kick, he tagged in Tanahashi, who delivered repeated dragonscrew leg whips to Zack Sabre Jr, and then to Taichi, with the aid of Ibushi. Zack slowed Tanahashi’s roll with the Jim Breaks Armbar, but was interrputed by Taichi, who had pulled out the Iron Finger from Hell. Ibushi kicked him in the face nonchalantly and continued on. Tanahashi hit the High Fly Flow on Zack Sabre Jr., and climbed to the top rope for another, but Zack moved out of the way. From that point, Taichi ran in, and they together hit the Zack Mephisto on Tanahashi for the pinfall victory. Dangerous Tekkers retain the IWGP Tag Team Championships. Kota Ibushi looked absolutely distraught, and perhaps disappointed yet again.
IWGP Heavyweight & IWGP Intercontinental Championship: EVIL (c) vs. Tetsuya Naito (26:20) EVIL had a very cool entrance, emerging from the dugout in pitch-blackness, with the stadium lights turned off, as if entering from “The Darkness World” if you will. EVIL controlled the match early on, as well-timed help from Dick Togo enabled him to take advantage of the leader of the unit he used to be a part of. Naito came back multiple times, but Dick Togo was continually a thorn in his side. It’s unknown whether Naito, like Hiromu, has insisted to the rest of LIJ that he fight his own battle regardless of the circumstances, but he could really use their help in these circumstances. Naito’s comebacks continued to garner thunderous applause, and he looked to be making the most progress yet before EVIL pushed the referee into an exposed turnbuckle, and Dick Togo came in again to attack Naito. He and EVIL hit the Magic Killer on Naito, prompting heavy boos. BUSHI ran in and fought off the two of them, but Gedo was also there to take out BUSHI. EVIL brandished a chair as Naito rose to his feet, but Naito kicked it away before Dick Togo came in and choked him with a wire. SANADA ran in and he and BUSHI fought off everyone, hitting simultaneous planchas on Togo and Gedo. EVIL and Naito rose to their feet, and Naito hit the running Destino for a near fall. Naito hit the Destino again, but EVIL blocked it and hitting a mule kick. EVIL went for his self-named finish, but Naito managed to block it. EVIL tried to hit Naito in the groin again, but Naito blocked his hand and slapped him in the face before hitting the Valentia. Finally, he hit the Destino for the three count. Tetsuya Naito is IWGP Heavyweight Champion and IWGP Intercontinental Champion again!
As he always does after winning in a main event, Tetsuya Naito performed the roll call of Los Ingobernables de Japon, emphasizing not mentioning EVIL. A firework display began, and Naito posed under the dazzling night sky.
New Japan Pro-Wrestling has announced that, following EVIL’s defection to Bullet Club from Los Ingobernables de Japon, the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship has been vacated. It was previously held by EVIL, BUSHI, and Shingo Takagi. Their reign lasted 206 days with 2 successful defenses.
To determine new champions, NJPW will hold a single-elimination tournament with eight teams during next week’s events as part of the Summer Struggle tour. The tournament is scheduled as follows:
New NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Champions will be determined next week!
Start Times: 2AM Pacific, 5AM Eastern, 10AM UK, 6PM Japan, 7PM East Australia
An English commentary version will be uploaded later in the week. Note: This event was held with a reduced attendance capacity so that the crowd could maintain social distancing.
NJPW Sengoku Lord 2020 in Nagoya Results
Taiji Ishimori def. Yuya Uemura (8:02) It continues to be obvious that Yuya Uemura has a lot of potential. If I were in charge, I would have both him and Yota Tsuji skip excursion and simply turn up as non-Young Lions one day. After all, it’s not going to be practical or fruitful to send them overseas to wrestle any time soon. Uemura looked a bit awkward when he did a springboard crossbody, he lost his balanced on the top rope but was able to save it. Taiji Ishimori submitted Yuya Uemura with the Yes Lock after hitting the Cipher Uteki.
Togi Makabe, Satoshi Kojima & Ryusuke Taguchi def. Tomohiro Ishii, Toru Yano & Gabriel Kidd (10:25) Tomoaki Honma and Yota Tsuji were also supposed to be on oppiste teams in this match, but NJPW reported that they had recently been on a TV show, where they were in close proximity with a cast member who has since tested positive for COVID-19, so they were removed from the show out of an abundance of caution. This match was at its best towards the end when it involved young lion Gabriel Kidd against Togi Makabe. Makabe was using his power to run over Gabriel with lariats, but Kidd was able to get Makabe down for multiple near falls using clever pinning combinations. Togi Makabe pinned Gabriel Kidd with a bridging German suplex.
Los Ingobernables de Japon (BUSHI, Tetsuya Naito & SANADA) def.CHAOS (SHO, Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI) (10:31) The most interesting thing about this match is what’s going to happen with two sets of splintered tag team championships that have members present here. SHO has the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship, but YOH is likely going to be out for the rest of the year with the ACL tear he sustained. The NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championships, which are held by EVIL, SANADA, and BUSHI, are also in an obvious state of flux. EVIL said in an interview that he didn’t need the championship other than the fact that he was able to call himself a triple champion, so it will be interesting to see what happens. Notably, while SHO brought his championship, SANADA and BUSHI did not bring theirs, and EVIL likely will not bring his during his match tonight. SANADA submitted SHO with the Skull End. After the match, all of LIJ attacked the referee, which they used to do frequently, but haven’t done at all recently.
At this point, an intermission to disinfect the ring was held, but NJPW had a major announcement to make. They will be running their second outdoor event in history on August 29th to conclude the Summer Struggle Tour. It will take place at Meiji Jingu Stadium, a baseball stadium in Tokyo that can seat over 30,000 people. Read all about it.
For the first time in 21 years, open air action in the legendary Jingu Stadium!
Hiroshi Tanahashi, Kota Ibushi, Yuji Nagata, Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Master Wato def. Suzuki-gun (Taichi, Zack Sabre Jr., Minoru Suzuki, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & DOUKI) (12:55) It was notable that Tenzan entered to Master Wato’s music while all the other members of that team entered to Tanahashi’s. It’s really being presented that Tenzan and Wato are in something of a master-and-student relationship. Kota Ibushi pinned DOUKI after the Kamigoye. He and Tanahashi gestured at IWGP Tag Team Champions Taichiand Zack Sabre Jr. as if they wanted their championships back. The match in which Dangerous Tekkers won the championships involved heavily unfair two-on-one offence, so it might be the best course of action to give them a rematch.
Kazuchika Okada def. Yujiro Takahashi (13:43) Yujiro was hesitant to start this match from the beginning. In interviews leading up to this match, Yujiro had acknowledged that Okada was stronger than him, but said that he would try to brign Okada down to his own level. Okada got Yujiro in the cobra clutch, which he has been using to win matches lately, but Yujiro was able to get his foot on the bottom rope to braek the hold. Following that, Gedo came in and hit Okada with a spanner, but Okada still kicked out when Yujiro went to pin him. Finally, Okada knocked Gedo off the apron when he tried to interfere again, then hit Yujiro with a spinning tombstone piledriver and then submitted him with the Cobra Clutch.
NEVER Openweight Championship: Shingo Takagi (c) def. El Desperado (17:03) El Desperado entered wearing the NEVER Openweight Championship that he had stolen from Shingo Takagi at Dominion. Furious, Shingo Takagi entered quickly to start the match, and laid waste to Despy with his explosive power. However, El Desperado knew he wouldn’t be able to outmatch Shingo blow for blow, and instead relentlessly went after Shingo’s legs. Shingo was still capable of brief bursts of quickness, but his damaged leg stopped him from following up at speed. El Desperado lured Shingo out of the ring only to hit him with his own NEVER Openweight Championship. As Shingo barely made it back in before the count, Despy floored him with a spear and the Guitara de Angel for a two count. With a brief display of energy, Shingo was able to get Despy up for Made in Japan, but it only garnered a near fall. El Desperado tried to push Shingo into the referee and give him a low blow, but Shingo blocked it. With his last energy, he hit the Pumping Bomber and Last of the Dragon to put El Desperado away. He them limped back up the ramp, damaged but victorious.
IWGP Heavyweight & IWGP Intercontinental Championships: EVIL (c) def. Hiromu Takahashi (33:57) EVIL’s look has improved substantially from his victory several weeks ago, as he’s substituted the awkward skirt for some tights that are more appropriate for the rest of his look. Dick Togo entered with him, wearing an all white suit that made him look like a drug lord. Hiromu Takahashi blitzed him at the start of the match, incensed by the betrayal of his former stablemate and friend. He took advantage early, but well-timed and subtle interference from Dick Togo let EVIL firmly take control. The crowd was all for Hiromu here, wanting to see good conquer EVIL, so to speak. He tried to hit Hiromu with the Darkness Falls on the apron, but Hiromu stuffed it and made EVIL’s plan backfire with an apron death valley bomb, then a diving senton bomb from the top rope to the outside. EVIL was able to fire back with a superplex and he went for the EVIL, but Hiromu blocked it, only for EVIL to throw him with multiple high-angle German suplexes. He went for the EVIL again, but Hiromu just slapped him in the face, and followed up with a lariat for a 2.9 count. EVIL threw Hiromu into the referee and this gave Dick Togo the opportunity to interfere again. He and EVIL hit a Magic Killer on Hiromu, and Dick Togo went to the top turnbuckle, but Hiromu kicked EVIL into the ropes, causing Togo to fall. Hiromu capitalized by hitting EVIL with his own self-named finish, then a death valley bomb into an exposed turnbuckle. He then hit the Time Bomb, but it onlymanaged a two count! He then hit the Time Bomb II, and it looked like he would win, but Dick Togo pulled the referee out right before the three. Hiromu was about to take out Togo, but EVIL hit him with a low blow from behind to slow his roll. Togo was out, but EVIL hit the Darkness falls and the EVIL for the pinfall victory. He retains the IWGP Heavyweight and IWGP Intercontinental Championships.
Following the match, Taiji Ishimori attacked the fallen Hiromu, and tried to hit him with the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship, but Tetsuya Naito finally ran in to scare him off. Naito stared EVIL down and expressed his desire for revenge, before leaving with Hiromu slumped over his shoulder.
Following the events of yesterday’s New Japan Cup Final, New Japan Pro-Wrestling has been shaken up by the betrayal of EVIL, turning his back on Los Ingobernables de Japon and joining Bullet Club after his victory over Kazuchika Okada to win the New Japan Cup. Today, he challenges Tetsuya Naito in the main event for Naito’s IWGP Heavyweight and IWGP Intercontinental Championships.
Watch exclusively on NJPW World with Japanese commentary. English commentary will be recorded and uploaded to NJPW World this week. Note: This event will have a reduced attendance capacity to comply with social distancing regulations. Also, the live audience was instructed not to cheer loudly to reduce exhalation of potentially contagious aerosols.
NJPW Dominion 2020 Results
Yuji Nagata, Satoshi Kojima & Ryusuke Taguchi def. Togi Makabe, Tomoaki Honma & Gabriel Kidd (9:25) The audience only reacting by applause is still somewhat jarring, but the crowd is making the most of it. There was an extended bit of Kojima and Honma trading Machine Gun chops in which the crowd clapped in time with every single chop. Their hands are going to be sore by the end of the night. These matches do get repetitive, but when a young lion’s in there it’s always satisfying to see the process of their development. Finish: Yuji Nagata over Gabriel Kidd by submission (Nagata Lock II)
Los Ingobernables de Japon (Hiromu Takahashi, BUSHI & SANADA) def. Tomohiro Ishii, Toru Yano & Yota Tsuji (10:15) The story of this match was more how Los Ingobernables de Japon were processing EVIL’s betrayal yesterday. None of them looked particularly happy to be there. and SANADA and BUSHI weren’t carrying the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championships that they were holding with EVIL. Hiromu Takahashi’s hair was frayed like he’d been up all night and his wrist tape had “Why?” written on it over and over again. Finish: Hiromu Takahashi over Yota Tsuji by submission (Boston crab)
Suzuki-gun (El Desperado, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & DOUKI) def.Master Wato, Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Yuya Uemura Master Wato’s strikes are a little loose, but he wrestles with a good energy about him and he’s very young so I don’t view it as particularly problematic. He got over as a young lion for being an underdog who you could really feel for, so his lack of dominance can be forgiven, but Hiroyoshi Tenzan being the one to draw sympathy by being beaten up by all three members of Suzuki-gun seemed misplaced. Finish: El Desperado over Yuya Uemura by pinfall (Pinche Loco)
Bullet Club (Taiji Ishimori & Yujiro Takahashi) def. CHAOS (Kazuchika Okada & Hirooki Goto) Okada threw his big coat at Yujiro as he entered, incensed by Yujiro’s intereference in the New Japan Cup yesterday, and he kept trying to go after Yujiro. This isn’t the first time Yujiro interfered to Okada’s detriment in a big match, so Okada’s bone to pick was evident. After a while, Gedo came out and hit Okada in the back with a spanner while Goto was the legal man, and this gave Ishimori and Yujiro the opportunity to team up on Goto for the victory. Finish: Yujiro Takahashi over Hirooki Goto by pinfall (Pimp Juice)
After the match, Okada was able to shake Gedo off to attack Yujiro some more, but Yujiro planted him with a Pimp Juice of his own. As he said in an interview yesterday, he wasn’t on Okada’s level, but he could pull Okada down to his own level.
NEVER Openweight Championship Match: Shingo Takagi (c) def. SHO We’ve seen a lot of this match over the last month, with SHO defeating Shingo for the first time in the first round of the New Japan Cup, and them coming to blows ever since. SHO has continued to carry himself more and more like Shingo’s equal despite Shingo’s advantage in experience and size. It goes without saying that these two hit each other hard and threw each other hard, but they brought it into a new gear in this match, just potatoing each other in a way that pleased my hindbrain very much. SHO looked to have Shingo on the ropes and lifted him for the Shock Arrow, but Shingo sprawled and lifted SHO for a Made in Japan that gave him a near fall. He hit a Pumping Bomber, but SHO kicked out immediately, even before the one count. SHO attacked with a cross-arm piledriver for a near fall. From that point, he kept going for a cross armbreaker, but Shingo used his strength to keep getting out of it. SHO finally hit a straight punch, followed by a GTW and the Last of the Dragon for the win. Shingo Takagi defends the NEVER Openweight Championship.
As Shingo celebrated on the ramp, El Desperado came from behind the curtain and punched him in the face, then hit Shingo with his own belt. He yelled that Shingo would be accepting this challenge no matter what.
IWGP Tag Team Championship Match: Dangerous Tekkers (Taichi & Zack Sabre Jr.) def. Golden Ace (Hiroshi Tanahashi & Kota Ibushi) (c) Even Zack Sabre Jr., who is considered a relatively noble wrestler by Suzuki-gun’s standards, couldn’t help but stoop down to Taichi’s level. The two of them took turns beating down Tanahashi while keeping him separate from Ibushi. Zack bit off more than he could chew and Tanahashi got out of his abdominal stretch and whipped him with a reverse Dragon screw. He reached Ibushi for the hot tag, who unleashed hot fire on his enemies. Ibushi was on the verge of winning, but Zack came in and put him in a guillotine, which he was nearly disqualified for. Ibushi landed a LOUD high kick that dropped Taichi to the mat, then tagged in Tanahashi as Taichi tagged in Zack. Tanahashi hit a sling blade for a near fall when Taichi came in to break up the pin. Tanahashi hit another sling blade and a high fly flow, but Zack got his knees up. With Taichi holding Tanahashi in place, Zack hit repeated dragonscrews on both of Tanahashi’s legs. Taichi hit a high kick on Tanahashi as Zack planted him with the Zack driver for the victory. Dangerous Tekkers (Taichi & Zack Sabre Jr.) are the new IWGP Tag Team Champions.
IWGP Heavyweight & IWGP Intercontinental Championships Match: EVIL def. Tetsuya Naito (c) EVIL entered with new music and a new look about him, like a cross between a Roman gladiator and a dominatrix. Every member of Bullet Club in the country accompanied him to the ring, but the referee refused to start the match with them present. EVIL rolled in and out of the ring as the match began, but the angered Naito ran straight after him. EVIL took the early edge, and with Naito laying, EVIL took Milano Collection AT’s EVIL toy scythe and broke it in half, then threw it at him. Incensed, Milano jumped the barricade and tried to fight EVIL, but EVIL whipped him into the guardrail, knocking him out of commission. EVIL continued to batter Naito, destroying his knee to nullify his speed advantage. He had pulled out a table earlier in the match and he lifted Naito and gave him a sickening knee drop straight through the table on the outside, which also gave Naito a big cut on his back. He grinned (evilly, as you might imagine) at Naito, then floored him with a running lariat and Darkness Falls for a two-count. Naito took back the momentum with a turning rope-assisted DDT and the Gloria for a near fall of his own. He lifted EVIL to the top rope to hit a super hurricanrana, then a running DDT for yet another count of two. Naito went for the Destino again, but EVIL blocked it and pushed him into the referee, giving Bullet Club the opportunity to interfere. Hiromu Takahashi ran out and took on Jado and Taiji Ishimori by himself. Although they were apprehended, EVIL had grabbed a steel chair amidst the chaos and slammed it right over Naito’s head, popping the seat off. He looked to capitalize, but Naito blocked the EVIL finish and went for the Destino only for EVIL to hit a mule kick while pushing the referee down. BUSHI came out and lifted Naito to his feet, only to attack him. EVIL stomped Naito in the groin and hit the EVIL for the three count. EVIL is the new IWGP Heavyweight and IWGP Intercontinental Champion.
BUSHI, who had helped EVIL win the match, took his mask off to reveal he wasn’t BUSHI, but Dick Togo, a freelance wrestler who has been in NJPW before. Hiromu Takahashi came out and, to avenge Naito’s loss, wanted to challenge EVIL for his newly won championships. If not both, either one would be fine, he noted. EVIL brushed him off and left Hiromu going ballistic in the ring.
Today, NJPW will hold the ninth and final day of the 2020 New Japan Cup. It is a 32-man single elimination tournament. The winner will challenge Tetsuya Naito for the IWGP Heavyweight and IWGP Intercontinental Championships at NJPW Dominion on July 12. Today’s card will hold the final match to determine tomorrow’s main event challenger at Dominion!
Watch exclusively on NJPW World with Japanese commentary. English commentary will be recorded and uploaded to NJPW World this week. Note: This event will have a reduced attendance capacity to comply with social distancing regulations.
New Japan Cup 2020 Day 9 Results
Great Bash Heel (Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma) def.Yota Tsuji & Yuya Uemura (9:15) Everyone in this match wrestled with a level of enthusiasm befitting the first NJPW match with a paying crowd in over four months. Also, there was a mystifying new element to this match: the fact that the crowds were told by NJPW not to cheer loudly. Instead, it was just a sea of applause for every cool move and every time the young lions made a comeback. The happiness was palpable. Togi Makabe finished off Yota Tsuji with a bridging German suplex.
TenKoji (Satoshi Kojima & Hiroyoshi Tenzan) def. Hirooki Goto & Gabriel Kidd (9:57) The euphoria of the return of the audience was still affecting me during this match, and it must have been affecting Gabriel Kidd too because he was a house of fire in this match. Even after the crowd successfully stifled the instinct to chant Kojima’s “Icchauzo bakayaro” catchphrase, Kidd lifting Kojima up for a vertical sequence got the biggest vocal reaction so far, prompting gasps from the crowd. Katsuyori Shibata must be a great trainer. Satoshi Kojima put Gabriel Kidd down for the three count with a lariat.
Master Wato def. DOUKI (7:46) I’m not sure that Master Wato came out like a house of fire, leveling DOUKI with high kicks and a spinning uppercut. When DOUKI took control of the match, it was mostly with repeated eye-rakes and hitting Wato with his pipe. I’m still not sure about Wato. His strikes are very good and fit his persona well, and he certainly looks better than he did in the video package hyping him up over the last month, but it still feels out of place. Master Wato pinned DOUKI with a top rope corkscrew somersault senton.
Following the end of the match, as Wato celebrated, Yoshinobu Kanemaru came out and attacked him. Hiroyoshi Tenzan came out to pull Kanemaru off Wato and the two of them shook hands.
Bullet Club (Taiji Ishimori & Yujiro Takahashi) def.Los Ingobernables de Japon (SANADA & BUSHI) (9:20) It seemed like Los Ingobernables de Japon especially relished the return of live audiences. The crowd roared (with applause) when SANADA applied the Paradise Lock on Taiji Ishimori, and BUSHI was over as well. There was a single person booing when Ishimori tried to rip off BUSHI’s mask, which may have been unintentional comedy. Yujiro Takahashi pinned BUSHI with the Pimp Juice DDT.
Suzuki-gun (Taichi, Zack Sabre Jr., El Desperado & Yoshinobu Kanemaru) def. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Kota Ibushi, Yuji Nagata & Ryusuke Taguchi (12:43) Hiroshi Tanahashi experienced the highest of highs and the lowest of lows in this match. He soaked in the crowd’s applause like no one else, then ten minutes later he was having his knees twisted, pummeled, pulverized, and punished by everyone in Suzuki-gun. This damage may make the difference in the outcome of Tanahashi and Ibushi’s first defense of the IWGP Tag Team Championships against Zack Sabre Jr. and Taichi tomorrow. Ibushi and Zack Sabre Jr. exchanged incredibly quick blows and transitions, Nagata threw some lovely suplexes, and Taguchi’s shtick is much more enjoyable with a crowd, even if all they do is clap. El Desperado pushed Taguchi into the referee, then hit him with a straight punch and the Pinche Loco for the pinfall victory.
Golden Ace and Dangerous Tekkers came to blows after the match, but for once in this whole rivalry it was Tanahashi and Ibushi who held the IWGP Tag Team Championships high in the end.
Los Ingobernables de Japon (Tetsuya Naito, Shingo Takagi & Hiromu Takahashi) def. CHAOS (SHO, Tomohiro Ishii & Toru Yano) (15:00) This was a wild trios match featuring five great athletes, and one generational athlete in Toru Yano. But seriously, between SHO and Shingo coming to violent blows as they usually do, Hiromu Takahashi and Tomohiro Ishii in a battle of speed versus hardness, and Toru Yano being surprisingly formidable and only going down after being triple-teamed by all three members of LIJ, and getting several dramatic near-falls on the dual IWGP Heavyweight and Intercontinental Champion, this match was action-packed. Tetsuya Naito pinned Toru Yano with a jackknife pin for the victory.
After the match, the three members of Los Ingobernables de Japon posed in the ring, with five Championship belts between the three of them.
New Japan Cup 2020 Final: EVIL def. Kazuchika Okada (31:50) EVIL has really been living up to his name this tournament. Every match he’s won to make it to this point has occurred in a dastardly fashion, with groin stomps and chair shots as far as the eye can see. He went to finish the match early, going for his namesake finisher within two minutes of the opening bell, but to no avail. Even though the crowd was instructed not to cheer vocally, you could hear people calling out EVIL and Okada’s name from time to time. EVIL’s game plan, at first, was to work Okada’s arm to weaken both the Rainmaker, which Okada has yet to actually win a match with in the tournament, and the cobra clutch, which he has been finishing all his matches with. Okada hit a flapjack and a short-range dropkick to slow EVIL’s roll and applied the cobra clutch, but EVIL made it to the ropes to break the hold. Okada tried to capitalize, but EVIL pushed him into the referee and delivered a low blow to Okada. With both Okada and the referee down, EVIL threw no fewer than four chairs into the ring, and Okada with Darkness Falls into the pile of chairs. Okada had enough energy to hit a reverse neckbreaker, but fell to the mat. EVIL hit a nasty rolling elbow and went to run the ropes, but Okada hit a standing dropkick and reapplied the cobra clutch, but EVIL raked his eyes to stop it. Okada applied the cobra clutch once more, but stopped it to hit a short-range Rainmaker. As Okada went to follow up, Gedo came out and distracted the referee, then Yujiro Takahashi attacked Okada while the referee wasn’t looking. Okada caught EVIL in the cobra clutch yet again, but EVIL broke it with a mule kick and then stomped the laying Okada right in the groin. Finally, EVIL hit the EVIL on Okada for the three count.
EVIL wins the New Japan Cup 2020. He will challenge Tetsuya Naito for the IWGP Heavyweight and IWGP Intercontinental Championships tomorrow at Dominion!
After the match, Tetsuya Naito showed up to congratulate EVIL on his victory. He said that he enjoyed the new EVIL he’s been seeing lately, and that he was looking forward to their match tomorrow. He offered a fist bump to EVIL, but EVIL met it with a Too Sweet, and he hit the EVIL on Naito. Every Bullet Club member in Japan showed up to applaud him, and he left with then. EVIL is Bullet Club.
Today, New Japan Pro-Wrestling will hold the eighth day of the 2020 New Japan Cup. The New Japan Cup is NJPW’s annual 32-man single elimination tournament, usually scheduled for the Spring. The winner will challenge Tetsuya Naito for the IWGP Heavyweight and IWGP Intercontinental Championships at NJPW Dominion on July 12. Today’s card will hold the two semifinal matches.
Watch exclusively on NJPW World with Japanese commentary. English commentary will be recorded and uploaded to NJPW World this week. Note: This event was held in an empty arena.
New Japan Cup 2020 Day 8 Results
Suzuki-gun (Minoru Suzuki, Zack Sabre Jr., El Desperado & Taichi) def.Hiroshi Tanahashi, Kota Ibushi, Yuji Nagata & Gabriel Kidd As expected, the main theme of the match was continuing the heated rivalries forged during the New Japan Cup, namely Minoru Suzuki with Yuji Nagata and the Golden Aces against Zack Sabre Jr. and Taichi. I wouldn’t be surprised if both of said rivalries culminate at Dominion. In addition, Gabriel Kidd’s gumption was on display, as he stepped right up to Minoru Suzuki, only for Suzuki to eat his elbow strikes and drop him with one slap. In the end, El Desperado finished Kidd off with a punch to the face and the Pinche Loco. The fighting continued after the match, and the Dangerous Tekkers threw the IWGP Tag Team Championships at Tanahashi and Ibushi as Zack exclaimed “We’ll make those belts worth something!” Ibushi chased them backstage in a fit of rage.
CHAOS (SHO, Hirooki Goto & Tomohiro Ishii) def. Los Ingobernables de Japon (Tetsuya Naito, Shingo Takagi & BUSHI) If there had to be one wrestler who was the focus of this match, it was undoubtedly SHO. He came out like a house of fire against every member of LIJ to prove what he had to offer. When Shingo Takagi and SHO fought last year, it seemed like SHO was always on the back foot, that Shingo was never in danger of losing. After beating Shingo in the first round of the tournament and his performance in this match, he now feels like Takagi’s equal and I can think of no greater praise than that. SHO pinned BUSHI with the Shock Arrow. Afterwards, Shingo brandished his two championships at SHO, asking which one he wanted. SHO pulled the NEVER Openweight Championship, making his intentions clear. Shingo attempted to hit SHO with said Championship, but SHO dodged it and hit an impactful spear to state his case. Expect that match to take place at Dominion as well.
Prior to the cleaning and disinfection intermission, a new vignette played involving the new wrestler coming to NJPW who has been referred to as “The Grandmaster.” It revealed that this was Hirai Kawato, who was returning from his learning excursion in Mexico. His gimmick appears to be something of a martial artist, and his new name is “Master Wato.” Personally, I think it looks too goofy and it’s hard to take seriously. It turned out that he was in the building and made his entrance to speak a few words in the ring. As he posed, DOUKI came out of nowhere and attacked him, and Wato needed to be helped to the back after the assault. Perhaps DOUKI will be Master Wato’s first obstacle to overcome.
Semifinal Match: EVIL def. SANADA (20:13) The match began at a tempered pace, as the teammates gingerly approached each other. Their level of trust has been a recurring theme in their matches together, and EVIL has won his matches so far in the tournament in less than sportsmanlike ways. The question was whether or not EVIL would fight fairly and honorably in this match. As you would guess from his name, of course not. SANADA offered a handshake and EVIL accepted it only to go for his EVIL finish right away, but SANADA had it scouted. As the match progressed, EVIL seemed to have the advantage most of the way through. Shortly after the ten minute mark, he hit the Darkness Falls for a near fall. Not out yet, SANADA wrenched on the Skull End, but EVIL flipped backwards over him to get out of the hold and then floored him with an evil lariat. SANADA fired back up with a cutter from the top rope, but appeared to land on his own head and it looked bad. As EVIL looked to capitalize on the mistake, SANADA rolled him into the Skull End again, but stood up to go for a top rope moonsault but EVIL blocked it with his knees. EVIL pushed SANADA into the referee and hit a low blow, then hit him in the face with a steel chair. With the referee still down, EVIL stomped on SANADA’s groin. He then pushed the referee into the ring, hit the EVIL and won. EVIL advances to the New Japan Cup Final.
Semifinal Match: Kazuchika Okada def. Hiromu Takahashi (27:00) Hiromu looked excited to wrestle against Okada, while Okada didn’t have any particular expression about him. Hiromu took control of the early going, hitting Okada with rapid and high-powered offense and using his speed advantage on the former IWGP Heavyweight Champion. Okada had 20 kilograms on Hiromu but that extra weight was costing him. Okada hitting a flapjack and a shotgun dropkick to even out the momentum of the match. Okada continued with a top rope dropkick, sending Hiromu flying across the ring, and now seemed firmly in control. Okada went to the top rope, but Hiromu dropkicked off of it, and then sunset flip powerbombed Okada to the floor. He followed up with the Dynamite Plunger, but Okada managed a standing dropkick to end his momentum. Okada hit the Tombstone piledriver and the Cobra clutch, but Hiromu struggled to his feet, picked Okada up, and gave him a death valley bomb in the corner turnbuckle pad. Hiromu hit Okada with a rainmaker of his own and the Time Bomb, but Okada kicked out just before the three count. Hiromu went for the Time Bomb II, but Okada wiggled out of it and hit a spinning Tombstone piledriver and a discus Rainmaker. Finally, he hit a wrist-clutch Rainmaker and applied the Cobra clutch again. Hiromu was unresponsive, and the referee called the match for Okada. Kazuchika Okada advances to face EVIL in the New Japan Cup Final.
Today, New Japan Pro-Wrestling will hold the seventh day of the 2020 New Japan Cup. The New Japan Cup is NJPW’s annual 32-man single elimination tournament, usually scheduled for the Spring. The winner will challenge Tetsuya Naito for the IWGP Heavyweight and IWGP Intercontinental Championships at NJPW Dominion on July 12. Today’s card will hold the four quarterfinal matches.
Watch exclusively on NJPW World with Japanese commentary. English commentary will be recorded and uploaded to NJPW World this week. Note: This event was held in an empty arena.
New Japan Cup 2020 Day 7 Results
Quarterfinal Match: Hiromu Takahashi def. Tomohiro Ishii (19:29) Hiromu charged Ishii immediately, but his recklessness resulted in him making one of the worst possible decisions: challenging Ishii to a chop battle. Ishii decisively won said battle and started Hiromu off on the back foot, showing Hiromu he’d need to be more tactical to win. The more you watch these two together, you realize that they’re not that different in size for supposedly being in two different weight classes. Hiromu went to repeatedly applying an armbar known as D to Ishii’s right arm, but was unable to disable Ishii’s lariats. Ishii went for the brainbuster, but Hiromu reversed it and lifted Ishii for the Dynamite Plunger and a near fall. Hiromu went for the Time Bomb but Ishii stuffed it, only for Hiromu to floor him with a loud headbutt. Hiromu hit the Time Bomb but Ishii kicked out of it at two, being the only second person after Will Ospreay to kick out of it. Ishii briefly fired back up, only for Hiromu to drop him on his head with the Time Bomb II. Hiromu Takahashi advances to the semifinals.
Quarterfinal Match: EVIL def. YOSHI-HASHI (2:00) YOSHI-HASHI was limping to the ring during his entrance, clearly feeling the effects of hyperextending it during his match with BUSHI yesterday. At the bell, EVIL pushed the referee out of the ring and immediately laid into YOSHI-HASHI’s right leg with a steel chair. From there, EVIL put YOSHI-HASHI in the Darkness Scorpion (sharpshooter) for a solid minute. He kept fighting and didn’t tap out, but the referee saw there was no way out for him and called the match: EVIL won by referee stoppage. EVIL advances to the semifinals.
Los Ingobernables de Japon (Tetsuya Naito, Shingo Takagi & BUSHI) def.SHO, Hirooki Goto & Yuya Uemura (9:34) BUSHI entered holding EVIL’s NEVER Openweight Six Man Tag Team Championship in addition to his own, so every member of LIJ in this match were holding two belts, and it made for a cool visual. No one in this match is in the New Japan Cup running anymore, so there’s no future matches to speak of, but it was well-worked and everyone looked good, especially Yuya Uemura, SHO, and Shingo. BUSHI pinned Yuya Uemura with a spin-out codebreaker. Afterwards, SHO squared up to Shingo Takagi yet again and Shingo held up both his NEVER Openweight and NEVER Openweight Six-Man Tag Team championships at SHO, as if asking him which one he wanted.
Quarterfinal Match: Kazuchika Okada def. Taiji Ishimori (16:52) Okada entered through the stairs opposite the entrance stage, where the orange seats are, and gestured towards a crowd that wasn’t there. Okada took control of the match early on, but within the first five minutes Gedo was out and hit Okada with a spanner while Ishimori distracted the referee. The match evened out from then on, and Ishii was able to get a momentary Yes Lock on before Okada made it to the ropes to break the hold. Okada hit the reverse neckbreaker and went for the top rope elbow drop, but Gedo lurked in the corner and got Okada’s attention, allowing Ishimori to push Okada off the apron and hit a triangle moonsault. Ishimori hit a beautiful La Mistica into the Yes Lock (yes, that Yes Lock) but Okada was able to get his foot on the bottom rope yet again. Okada hit a standing dropkick and the tombstone piledriver, but Gedo got on the top rope and Okada broke the hold to go after him, but reapplied it. He went to flip Ishimori over to get him further away from the ropes, but as he did so, Ishimori pulled the referee’s shirt, flipping his over as well. Gedo came in with a pair of brass knuckles as the referee was down, but Okada dropkicked him to avoid the attack. Finally, Okada hit another dropkick on Ishimori and put him in the cobra clutch for the submission victory. Kazuchika Okada advances to face Hiromu Takahashi in the semifinals.
Quarterfinal Match: SANADA def. Taichi (22:50) The match began with Taichi attempting to be underhanded as usual, trying to choke SANADA with the ropes and tying him up in the ropes to immobilize him, only for it to backfire when SANADA put him in an upside down Paradise Lock while hung up in the ropes. Taichi often has these moments in matches where he realizes that fighting fairly might actually be more effective than cheating, despite it being outside his nature, and this was one of those moments. As Taichi went back to his tried-and-true kicks and backdrop drivers, he began to gain advantage, and went for the Black Mephisto but SANADA blocked it. SANADA hit a corner moonsault into the Skull End but Yoshinobu Kanemaru, who was on commentary, jumped onto the apron. He didn’t do anything, but the referee who was focused on removing him didn’t notice Taichi tapping out in the Skull End. SANADA broke the hold but Taichi hit a backdrop driver on him and his own Skull End, which lasted a good while before SANADA was able to put his foot on the rope to break it. Taichi followed up with a bridging backdrop driver, an homage to Jumbo Tsuruta, but SANADA kicked out at two. Kanemaru tried to distract SANADA again, but SANADA was too smart this time. He pushed Taichi into Kanemaru and pinned him with a bridging O’Connor roll. SANADA advances to face EVIL in the semifinals.
Scheduled for tomorrow, the two semifinal matches are SANADA vs. EVIL and Hiromu Takahashi vs. Kazuchika Okada. Two other matches will also take place.
Today, New Japan Pro-Wrestling will hold the sixth day of the 2020 New Japan Cup. The New Japan Cup is NJPW’s annual 32-man single elimination tournament, usually scheduled for the Spring. The winner will challenge Tetsuya Naito for the IWGP Heavyweight and IWGP Intercontinental Championships at NJPW Dominion on July 12. Today’s card will hold four of the eight matches in the second round.
Watch exclusively on NJPW World with Japanese commentary. English commentary will be recorded and uploaded to NJPW World this week. Note: This event was held in an empty arena.
New Japan Cup 2020 Day 6 Results
Second Round Match: YOSHI-HASHI def. BUSHI (10:22) BUSHI entered wearing a mask with a glowing red eye and a suit with a skeleton design over it, which clearly means he wants a match with Jado. BUSHI attacked YOSHI-HASHI as he posed in the corner before the bell, and it was amusing watching them fight while the latter was still in his green entrance robe. BUSHI targeted YOSHI-HASHI’s right leg, and before long he was moving much slower than usual. However, as BUSHI went for the M-X, YOSHI-HASHI simply lariated him out of the air. YOSHI-HASHI applied the Butterfly Lock, but BUSHI made it to the ropes to force a break. YOSHI-HASHi was able to follow up with the Karma sitout driver for the three-count. YOSHI-HASHI advances to the quarterfinals.
Second Round Match: SHO vs. SANADA (14:43) After vanquishing Shingo Takagi, SHO looked to follow up against another member of Los Ingobernables de Japon. This turned out to be a battle of a heavyweight’s technique versus a junior heavyweight’s power, which is unusual. SANADA often found his more finesse-based moves thwarted by SHO’s sheer strength, as SHO also tried to wear down SANADA’s arm to disable to the Skull End. As SANADA went for a leapfrog, SHO caught him and landed a German suplex into an arm bar, but SANADA was able to lift him into a powerbomb to end the hold. SHO came off the ropes and SANADA went for a rana, but again SHO caught him and lifted him into the Powerbreaker for a near fall. SHO went for the Shock Arrow, but SANADA blocked it and was able to wrestle him to the corner, then moonsault into the Skull End for the submission victory. Still, SHO looked great in defeat. SANADA advances to the quarterfinals.
Los Ingobernables de Japon (Tetsuya Naito, Shingo Takagi & Hiromu Takahashi) def. Tomohiro Ishii, Toru Yano & Yota Tsuji As a result of defeating Toru Yano in the second round, Hiromu Takahashi seemed to have gotten over his primal fear of Yano. Nevertheless, Yano brandished in a plastic bag the lock of hair he managed to cut off during their match. Perhaps he viewed it as a symbolic victory. In this match, the main themes were Yota Tsuji getting mercilessly beaten up by everyone, especially Shingo Takagi, and Hiromu facing off against his New Japan Cup quarterfinals opponent tomorrow, Tomohiro Ishii. Tsuji attempted some convoluted submission on Hiromu, like a cross-legged crossface with the opponent held over his knee. In the end, Hiromu Takahashi submitted Yota Tsuji with a Boston crab. After the match, Hiromu got right in Ishii’s face and Ishii grabbed him by the hair, but unlike when Yano did it, it didn’t seem to bother Hiromu at all.
Second Round Match: Taichi def. Kota Ibushi (18:08) In Ibushi and Taichi’s respective corners were Hiroshi Tanahashi and Zack Sabre Jr., who spent as much of the match fighting each other as Ibushi and Taichi did. Ibushi started the match on the back foot, as Taichi took him outside the ring and smashed his face into folded up bleachers, leading Ibushi to nearly get counted out. In the ring, Ibushi and Taichi engaged in a battle of leg kicks, which seemed mostly evenly matched.Taichi landed a high-angle backdrop driver on Ibushi and went for the Taichi-style Last Ride, but a violent head kick sent him falling to the mat, and Ibushi followed up with the sitout elevated powerbomb. Zack Sabre Jr. briefly distracted the referee, giving the opportunity for Taichi to hit a low blow on Ibushi and pin him, but Ibushi kicked out at two. Ibushi landed a jumping knee and went for the Kamigoye, but Taichi avoided it and hit another backdrop driver. As Ibushi went for the Kamigoye yet again, Taichi pushed him into the referee, and Zack came in and attacked Ibushi, only for Tanahashi to fight him off. With the referee still down, Taichi hit Ibushi with the Iron Finger from Hell and the Black Mephisto for the pinfall victory. Taichi advances to face SANADA in the quarterfinals.
Second Round Match: EVIL def. Hirooki Goto (18:25) EVIL entered first and waited outside the ring for Goto, so the brawling commenced before they even got in the ring. EVIL took advantage early, perhaps partly due to a stray chair shot, and arrogantly brushed his boot in Goto’s face as if it was completely earned. Incensed, Goto fired up and delivered a belly-to-back suplex followed by the Ushigoroshi. As they struggled for a suplex, Goto spun EVIL around and hit the reverse GTR, but didn’t go for a pin. He was determined to continue punishing EVIL for his disrespect, but paid for it when he went for a headbutt and got hit with a heavy elbow to the face. EVIL hit the Darkness Falls for a near fall and went for the EVIL, but Goto reversed out of it and hit a headbutt and the GTW, but EVIL kicked out at two. EVIL hit a stomp to the groin and then hit the EVIL for the three count. EVIL advances to face YOSHI-HASHI in the quarterfinals.
Today, New Japan Pro-Wrestling will hold the fourth day of the 2020 New Japan Cup. The New Japan Cup is NJPW’s annual 32-man single elimination tournament, usually scheduled for the Spring. The winner will challenge Tetsuya Naito for the IWGP Heavyweight and IWGP Intercontinental Championships at NJPW Dominion on July 12. Today’s card will hold four of the sixteen matches in the first round.
Watch exclusively on NJPW World with Japanese commentary. English commentary will be recorded and uploaded to NJPW World this week. Note: This event was held in an empty arena.
New Japan Cup 2020 Day 4 Results
New Japan Cup First Round Match: BUSHI def. YOH (15:42) YOH entered to new music that I’ve never heard before. In singles matches in the past, he always entered to the Roppongi 3K music. YOH and BUSHI have a lot of experience against each other, but in the past it has been almost exclusively tag team affairs for the Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championships. BUSHI took control at the start softening up YOH’s neck for the M-X, but YOH fought back soon enough with flying forearms and a figure four leglock that BUSHI got out of with a rope break. BUSHI tried to scramble to the ropes for the M-X, but YOH got out of the way and laid in consecutive German suplexes. YOH kept going for a dragon suplex, but BUSHI stuffed his attempts. BUSHI rocked YOH with a codebreaker and then hit the M-X for the victory. Both sets of Tag Team Champions had one member lose and one advance in the first round.
New Japan Cup First Round Match: YOSHI-HASHI def. Hiroyoshi Tenzan (17:35) YOSHI-HASHI brought an uncharacteristic aggression as he took the fight to Tenzan, reddening the Raging’s Bull’s chest with a flurry of chops. He delivered a headbutt only to recoil in pain while Tenzan seemed unharmed. YOSHI-HASHI seemed determined to put the 49-year-old out of his misery, but Tenzan showed the spirit was still within him, running up to the top rope to attempt a super Mountain bomb. YOSHI-HASHI blocked it and sunset flipped over Tenzan to land a sitout powerbomb. Tenzan wrenched YOSHI-HASHI into an STF and broke the hold to go for the top rope moonsault, and he did pull it off but YOSHI-HASHI moved out of the way. YOSHI-HASHI capitalized and put on the Butterfly Lock but Tenzan made it to the ropes. Tenzan applied his patented Anaconda Vice, but YOSHI-HASHI rolled over him and got his shoulders down for a near fall, then tapped out Tenzan with the Butterfly Lock. He will advance to to face BUSHI in the second round.
CHAOS (SHO, Kazuchika Okada, Tomohiro Ishii & Toru Yano) vs. Los Ingobernables de Japon (Tetsuya Naito, Shingo Takagi, Hiromu Takahashi & SANADA) ended in a Double Countout Hiromu Takahashi made his entrance first and looked positively traumatized by the sight of Toru Yano. As a young lion, Hiromu’s head was involuntarily shaved by Yano and they just so happen to be facing each other in the second round. Hiromu demanded that the referee check Yano for foreign objects, and Yano was indeed smuggling a spray bottle of water and a hair trimmer in his tights. As SHO engaged Shingo in battles of heavy strikes and power moves, and tried to overwhelm SANADA’s finesse with brute force, Yano continued to stalk Hiromu with his clippers. When Yano and Hiromu were both legal, Yano chased Hiromu into the lobby and duct-taped his legs together. Okada followed Yano to remind him to get back in the ring on time, but it was too late, and both legal men were counted out.
New Japan Cup First Round Match: Hirooki Goto def. Yujiro Takahashi (16:40) With Pieter unavailable, Yujiro’s only valet was Jado. Yujiro knew that he would be outmatched in a straightforward fight so he stalled outside the ring until Goto lost his patience and was lured into a trap on the outside, in which Yujiro evaded Goto’s attack while Jado irish whipped Goto into the barricade. Yujiro continued to control the match, not being rocked by Goto’s lariats and getting him to the top rope for a super fisherman’s suplex. Goto used a moment of opportunity to land the Ushigoroshi, and when Yujiro tried to fight back, Goto leveled him with a cracking forearm to the face. Goto then landed a gnarly rope-hung reverse GTR, but couldn’t follow up when Jado hit him with a kendo stick as he ran the ropes. Opportunistically, Yujiro used this moment to land the Miami Shine, but Goto blocked his attempt at the Pimp Juice DDT. Jado distracted the referee leading to Yujiro attempting to hit Goto with his pimp cane. However, Goto saw it coming and avoided the attack, and then irish-whipped Yujiro into Jado to take Jado out. Finally, Goto hit the GTW only for Yujiro to kick out at two, and then hit the GTR to advance to the second round.
New Japan Cup First Round Match: EVIL def. Satoshi Kojima (20:08) EVIL had a game plan from the moment the bell rang: take out Kojima’s right arm, the arm that his delivered so many match-ending lariats. Between arm-wringers and bashing Kojima’s arm with a steel chair, EVIL dominated the early going of the match. A DDT from Kojima brought the match on even footing, and Kojima’s continued use of chops and elbows showed that EVIL hadn’t done enough to take out his dominant arm. Kojima hit the Koji Cutter, then lifted EVIL to the top rope for a super Koji Cutter, but EVIL was not down yet. EVIL buffeted Kojima with repeated lariats, bringing Kojima to his knee, and EVIL finally took him down with yet another running lariat. EVIL hit the Darkness Falls for a near fall. EVIL went to follow up, but Kojima responded with a left arm lariat to get EVIL down for a count of two, exposing the flaw of EVIL’s strategy. As EVIL hit the ropes, Kojima hit the lariat with his right arm, but was in too much pain to go for the pin immediately, and EVIL kicked out at two. Kojima kept going to the well with the lariat, but EVIL kept blocking them and caught Kojima with the EVIL STO for the pinfall victory. EVIL will face Hirooki Goto in the second round.
All eight second round matches have been determined. They are as follows:
Today, New Japan Pro-Wrestling will hold the third day of the 2020 New Japan Cup. The New Japan Cup is NJPW’s annual 32-man single elimination tournament, usually scheduled for the Spring. The winner will challenge Tetsuya Naito for the IWGP Heavyweight and IWGP Intercontinental Championships at NJPW Dominion on July 12. Today’s card will hold four of the sixteen matches in the first round.
Watch exclusively on NJPW World with Japanese commentary. English commentary will be recorded and uploaded to NJPW World this week. Note: This event was held in an empty arena.
New Japan Cup 2020 Day 3 Results
Suzuki-gun (Minoru Suzuki, El Desperado, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & DOUKI) def. Yuji Nagata, Yota Tsuji, Yuya Uemura & Gabriel Kidd (10:33) After the first three days of NJPW action taking place in a nondescript television studio, New Japan is back in Korakuen Hall, which has a decidedly better atmosphere even without a crowd. Minoru Suzuki went on a rampage against Uemura and Nagata, thanks to the latter eliminating him from the New Japan Cup in the first round last week. El Desperado landed a slap on Yota Tsuji that echoed throughout the hall, then hit the Pinche Loco for the pinfall victory. Only Nagata and Kanemaru are still in tournament contention. Respectively, they will face off against Kazuchika Okada and Taiji Ishimori in the second round two days from now.
New Japan Cup First Round Match: SANADA def. Ryusuke Taguchi (15:47) SANADA didn’t enter wearing his pirate, which I feel means he should be blackballed from the sport for not taking Taguchi seriously. Taguchi caught SANADA’s leg and placed him in the Paradise Lock. SANADA lackadaisically removed himself from Taguchi’s improperly applied hold and put Taguchi in the Paradise Lock. SANADA elected to attack Taguchi’s tailbone through repeated atomic drops. SANADA attempted the Skull End, but Taguchi got out of it and applied the Oh My and Garankle. SANADA was able to roll out of it and apply the Skull End with a giant swing. Taguchi attempted to fight back with a hip attack, but SANADA did one more atomic drop and then pinned Taguchi with an O’Connor roll to advance to the second round.
New Japan Cup First Round Match: SHO def. Shingo Takagi (17:06) Determined to prove himself after his loss in last year’s Best of the Super Juniors tournament, SHO immediately blasted Shingo with a brutal lariat. Shingo had a guard of some sort on his right hand, which SHO noticed and immediately went to work attacking Shingo’s right arm to try and nullify the Pumping Bomber. A left arm lariat from Shingo showed that this strategy could only ever be so effective. Shingo lifted SHO to the top rope but SHO blocked his move with a headbutt, then sunset flipped over him and hit the Powerbreaker. SHO hit a very delayed bridging German suplex for a two count. SHO set up the Shock Arrow but Shingo blocked it. An incredibly loud slap and Made in Japan from Shingo landed a near fall, then a Pumping Bomber resulted in yet another. Shingo went for the Last of the Dragon, but SHO got out of it and hit a cross-arm piledriver, followed by the Shock Arrow to score the upset. SHO will face SANADA in the second round.
New Japan Cup First Round Match: Kota Ibushi def. Zack Sabre Jr. (15:15) The match began with fast-paced mat wrestling until Ibushi lost his patience and started kicking Zack in his spindly legs. Zack responded by trying to apply holds to Ibushi’s legs, but Ibushi responded by throwing heavy forearms and Zack crumbled under their force. In a classic brains versus brawn battle, Zack continued to grind down Ibushi’s limbs while Ibushi just tried to apply as much blunt force trauma as possible. The attrition favored Zack the longer the match went, but out of nowhere, Ibushi hit a running knee strike and then hit the Kamigoye for the pinfall victory.
New Japan Cup First Round Match: Taichi def. Hiroshi Tanahashi (21:51) Tanahashi entered wearing an all silver ring attire with massive shoulder spikes, reminiscent of a Road Warrior. As Tanahashi posed on the turnbuckle to the crowd that didn’t exist, Taichi got under him and powerbombed him, then delivered a Buzzsaw Kick as Tanahashi writhed in pain. DOUKI was also present, as he attacked Tanahashi with his bent pipe when he rolled out of the ring. Tanahashi finally began fighting back as Yota Tsuji pounded the mat for his hero to get up. As Tanahashi rebounded off the ropes to hit the Sling Blade, Taichi attempted a big boot but Tanahashi caught his leg and hit a dragonscrew. Tanahashi fought back but Taichi landed repeated kicks to Tanahashi’s abdomen and then planted him on his head with a backdrop driver. Taichi went for another backdrop but Tanahashi reversed it into the Sling Blade. Tanahashi hit the Sling Blade for a two count, then the High Fly Flow on a standing Taichi. He went for another High Fly Flow, but DOUKI tried to interfere only for Tanahashi to slap him away. Taichi used the distraction to hit a low blow into the Gedo Clutch, but Tanahashi kicked out at two. Taichi an Axe Bomber and an elevated powerbomb for another two count. Finally, Taichi removed his pants, hit a superkick, and put Tanahashi away with the Black Mephisto. He will face Kota Ibushi in the second round.
Taichi and DOUKI continued to attack Tanahashi after the match ended. Kota Ibushi came to Tanahashi’s rescue, and he and Taichi stood each other down in the ring, before DOUKI and Taichi teamed up on Ibushi also. Taichi hit Tanahashi with one of the IWGP Tag Team Championship belts, then posed on top of both members of Golden Ace. Taichi said on the microphone that both the IWGP Tag Team Championships and the New Japan Cup would be his.
Today, New Japan Pro-Wrestling will hold the second day of the 2020 New Japan Cup. The New Japan Cup is NJPW’s annual 32-man single elimination tournament, usually scheduled for the Spring. The winner will challenge Tetsuya Naito for the IWGP Heavyweight and IWGP Intercontinental Championships at NJPW Dominion on July 12. Today’s card will hold four of the sixteen matches in the first round.
Watch exclusively on NJPW World with Japanese commentary. English commentary will be recorded and uploaded to NJPW World this week. Note: This event was held in an empty arena.
New Japan Cup 2020 Day 2 Results
New Japan Cup First Round Match: Gabriel Kidd vs. Taiji Ishimori (8:53) Gabriel Kidd is a British wrestler who was personally scouted from Revolution Pro Wrestling by Katsuyori Shibata last year. This would be his first singles match against non-young lion opposition. Ishimori channeled his absent tag team partner El Phantasmo with dirty techniques like back rakes and irish whipping Kidd into the outside guardrail. Ishimori went for a springboard rana but Kidd caught his legs and lifted him into a Boston crab, but Ishimori made it to the ropes to force a break. Ishimori hit a springboard kick to Kidd’s face and then applied the Yes Lock to defeat Gabriel Kidd by submission. Ishimori advances to the second round.
New Japan Cup First Round Match: Yoshinobu Kanemaru def. Yuya Uemura (9:32) If Yuya Uemura truly wants to be in the ring one-on-one against Minoru Suzuki like he’s said, winning this match would be the first step towards that achievement. Meanwhile, if Kanemaru wins, his opponent would be Taiji Ishimori.Those two have wrestled one-on-one twelve times and Ishimori has never won. Kanemaru dominated the bulk of the match, but Uemura landed a springboard splash for a near fall and desperately tried to land the arm-trap suplex to no avail. Kanemaru attempted to spit his whiskey in Uemura’s face, but the referee stopped him. Nevertheless, Kanemaru landed a dropkick followed by the diving DDT known as Deep Impact to win and advance to face Taiji Ishimori in the second round.
CHAOS (SHO, YOH, Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI) def. Los Ingobernables de Japon (Shingo Takagi, EVIL, BUSHI & SANADA) (12:14) The two main themes of this match were LIJ demonstrating their lack of adherence to proper tag conduct by all beating down Goto and YOSHI-HASHI together, and SHO and Shingo delivering a hard-hitting preview to their first round tournament match coming up next week. BUSHI tagged in and went for the M-X, but Goto dodged it and hit the GTR to pin BUSHI for the win.
New Japan Cup First Round Match: Yuji Nagata def. Minoru Suzuki (20:35) Happy birthday to Minoru Suzuki, who turns 52 today. Unfortunately, there was no crowd to chant “Kaze Ni Nare” on this special day. These two old men took their sweet time slapping and forearming each other and jaw-jacking about how they wanted to be hit harder in between. With Nagata’s neck being an appropriate shade of crimson, Suzuki took the match to the outside and hit Nagata with a folding chair so hard that the seat popped off. Back in the ring, Nagata made a comeback by attacking the right arm of Suzuki with kicks and arm wringers. As Nagata went for another, Suzuki applied a sleeper hold and pushed Nagata to the ground. He pinned him for a near fall then lifted him up to apply the Gotch-style piledriver. Nagata blocked it and lifted him into a back body drop. A slap and headbutt from Suzuki got Nagata bleeding from the mouth. Incensed, Nagata delivered an exploder suplex followed by a bridging backdrop driver to win the match and advance to the second round. Minoru Suzuki loses on his birthday.
New Japan Cup First Round Match: Kazuchika Okada def. Gedo (15:30) Gedo entered with his right arm in a sling and got on the microphone to say that he injured himself during practice today, but still wanted to fight in this match. Gedo slowly removed the sling, but hid a can of spray in his hand that Okada slapped away. Okada also found a set of brass knuckles on Gedo’s person and wrenched them away. Gedo then brandished a spanner and hit Okada with it. With Okada laying, Gedo stole the ring announcer’s table and repeatedly bashed it into Okada’s chest, and then did the same with a folding chair. After more than five minutes of this, Okada rallied and went for a diving elbow drop, but Gedo rolled out of the ring and tried to escape. When Okada caught him, Gedo revealed that he had stolen the ring announcer’s bell hammer and attacked Okada with it. Okada came back with the revesre neckbreaker and went for the tombstone piledriver, but Gedo wiggled out of it and pushed Okada into the referee to hit a low blow. Gedo removed part of the ring apron to remove another set of brass knuckles that he had stashed there at some point. He punched Okada with them and applied the Gedo Clutch, but Okada kicked out at two. Gedo even attempted the Blade Runner. Jado then showed up and distracted the referee while Gedo went for another brass knuckle punch, but Okada caught him with a dropkick, knocked Jado off the ring apron, and submitted Gedo with a cobra clutch. Okada will face Yuji Nagata in the second round.
Today, New Japan Pro-Wrestling will hold their first wrestling event in 110 days. Since late February, the promotion has cancelled all events as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. However, with testing of workers and staff, and approval of the Japanese government, that hiatus ends today.
Watch: NJPW World (English Commentary) NJPW World (Japanese Commentary) Note: This show was held in an empty arena.
NJPW Together Project Special Results
Yota Tsuji def. Gabriel Kidd (8:43) Even without a crowd, the fire of young lions often leaps off the screen. The noise of the commentary, the ring, the grunts and growls of the wrestlers, and their hard strikes more than compensated for the lack of an audience to react. Yota Tsuji hit a spear and then submitted Gabriel Kidd with a Boston crab.
Suzuki-gun (El Desperado & Yoshinobu Kanemaru) def. Tomohiro Ishii & Yuya Uemura (12:57) Yuya Uemura has clearly gained muscle mass over the last several months. Ishii and Uemura attacked the Suzuki-gun junior heavyweights before the bell rang. The main focuses of this match were Suzuki-gun beating down Uemura together, followed by Ishii fending off both of them by himself. Suzuki-gun worked together to attack Ishii’s knee. After taking him out of commission, they systematically dismantled Yuya Uemura in similar fashion. El Desperado submitted Yuya Uemura with a Numero Dos, a stretch muffler.
Ishii did some squats outside of the ring to show El Desperado that his knee wasn’t affected that much. Tomorrow, June 16th, Tomohiro Ishii faces El Desperado in the first round of the New Japan Cup, as does Yuya Uemura against Yoshinobu Kanemaru on June 17th.
Bullet Club (Taiji Ishimori, Yujiro Takahashi, Gedo & Jado) def.Hirooki Goto, Toru Yano, YOSHI-HASHI & Tomoaki Honma (13:20) Toru Yano entered with a disinfectant spray bottle instead of his usual spitting water, as compliant with NJPW safety regulations. YOSHI-HASHI entered with new black and red gear that says “Get Back Up” on one leg, which I’m convinced is a rib. Yano immediately went to remove the turnbuckle, while Jado brandished a kendo stick. They dared each other to drop their weapon first. Honma missing the second-rope Kokeshi was surprisingly impactful considering the lack of reaction, but this gave Yujiro the opening he needed to secure the victory. Yujiro Takahashi pinned Tomoaki Honma with the Pimp Juice DDT.
The New Japan Cup fixtures for this match are as follows: Toru Yano versus Jado (6/16), Taiji Ishimori versus Gabriel Kidd (6/17), and Hirooki Goto versus Yujiro Takahashi (6/23).
During the intermission to disinfect the ring and the ringside area, a vignette played for a new wrestler coming to NJPW. It only referred to them as “The Grandmaster.”
Satoshi Kojima, Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Ryusuke Taguchi def. Los Ingobernables de Japon (EVIL, SANADA & BUSHI) (13:33) Tenzan and Kojima looked much more well-rested than they did prior to this hiatus. Kojima and EVIL took each other on in a battle of brawn. Failed attempt at the Paradise Lock aside, Taguchi looked surprisingly capable of standing in the ring with SANADA. Notably, SANADA is the only member of Los Ingobernables de Japon who does not possess any championship, and some have postulated that he should be the favorite to win the New Japan Cup. This was a chaotic match involving a lot of teamwork, but TenCozy and Taguchi showed unexpected synergy. Ryusuke Taguchi submitted BUSHI with his ankle lock known as Oh My and Garankle to win.
The New Japan Cup first round matches involving people in this match are Ryusuke Taguchi versus SANADA (6/22), Hiroyoshi Tenzan versus YOSHI-HASHI (6/23), and EVIL versus Satoshi Kojima (6/23).
Hiroshi Tanahashi, Kota Ibushi, Togi Makabe & Yuji Nagata def. Suzuki-gun (Minoru Suzuki, Zack Sabre Jr., Taichi & DOUKI) (13:04) Hiroshi Tanahashi might have appreciated three months of rest more than anyone. Neither arm of his donned a compression sleeve for what seems like the first time in ages. Suzuki and Nagata defied their combined age of 104 years old with some of the hardest strikes on this whole show while Zack Sabre Jr., the only non-young lion foreign wrestler on this show, squared off against Ibushi at a high rate of speed. Ibushi hit a double Pele Kick on both DOUKI and Zack to stop Suzuki-gun all ganging up on him. Togi Makabe hit the King Kong Knee Drop on DOUKI to win the match for his team. Makabe’s music, a cover of Led Zeppelin’s Immigrant Song, played in the building. This is unusual, usually a generic dubbed rock song plays when he wins since paying for licensed music is expensive.
Minoru Suzuki goes one-on-one with Yuji Nagata on day one of the New Japan Cup tomorrow while Tanahashi and Ibushi compete against Taichi and Zack Sabre Jr. respectively on June 22.
Los Ingobernables de Japon (Tetsuya Naito, Hiromu Takahashi & Shingo Takagi) def. CHAOS (Kazuchika Okada, SHO & YOH) (14:17) It was amusing watching Okada gesticulate excessively to absent members of the crowd. In what might be a first for Okada, he was the only person in this six man tag team match to not be a Champion. Naito and Okada briefly opened the match with grappling, but it kicked into the next gear when SHO and Shingo Takagi tagged in to batter each other. SHO and Shingo have both stated that their rivalry that began in last year’s Best of the Super Juniors is not over, and they took the fight especially hard to each other. Tetsuya Naito pinned YOH with the Destino to close out the show. Naito and Hiromu fist-bumped each other after the match, but Shingo did not take part.
In the New Japan Cup first round, Kazuchika Okada will face Gedo, Hiromu Tanahashi will face Tomoaki Honma, it’s Shingo Takagi versus SHO, and YOH versus BUSHI. Tetsuya Naito sits out of the New Japan Cup as the reigning IWGP Heavyweight and IWGP Intercontinental Champion, set to defend both championships against the winner of the tournament at Dominion next month.
On May 25th, the Japanese government lifted the nationwide state of emergency caused by the coronavirus pandemic. New Japan Pro-Wrestling has announced their plans to return to conducting live wrestling events over the next month. To ensure minimal risk of virus propagation, NJPW has been conducting antibody testing on wrestlers, crew, trainers, and other live event staff, and preparation of venues has begun.
The last NJPW event took place on February 26th in Okinawa, Japan. New Japan Pro-Wrestling’s first live event following the end of Japan’s COVID-19 state of emergency will be an empty arena event on June 15th, called the NJPW Together Special. In all, eleven events have been scheduled, including a rescheduled New Japan Cup and Dominion.
The New Japan Cup participants have changed to accommodate international travel restrictions caused by the pandemic. The majority of participants who live overseas have been replaced. As such, the 32-man New Japan Cup, usually a heavyweights-only tournament, now includes a number of NJPW’s junior heavyweight wrestlers. Also, it has been announced that, as previously, Tetsuya Naito will defend both his IWGP Heavyweight and IWGP Intercontinental championships against the winner of the New Japan Cup.
All events will be streamed live on NJPW World. NJPW has also announced that their Summer Struggle 2020 tour, originally scheduled to take place from July 11 to July 19, has been cancelled.
NJPW Event Schedule
June 15: NJPW Together Project Special
Matches unknown
June 16: New Japan Cup 2020 First Round (empty arena)
Togi Makabe vs. Yota Tsuji
Tomohiro Ishii vs. El Desperado
Toru Yano vs. Jado
Tomoaki Honma vs. Hiromu Takahashi
Unknown “special match”
June 17: New Japan Cup 2020 First Round (empty arena)
Kazuchika Okada vs. Gedo
Yuji Nagata vs. Minoru Suzuki
Yuya Uemura vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru
Gabriel Kidd vs. Taiji Ishimori
Unknown “special match”
June 22: New Japan Cup 2020 First Round (empty arena)
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Taichi
Kota Ibushi vs. Zack Sabre Jr.
Ryusuke Taguchi vs. SANADA
SHO vs. Shingo Takagi
Unknown “special match”
June 23: New Japan Cup 2020 First Round (empty arena)
Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. YOSHI-HASHI
YOH vs. BUSHI
Satoshi Kojima vs. EVIL
Hirooki Goto vs. Yujiro Takahashi
Unknown “special match”
June 24: New Japan Cup 2020 Second Round (empty arena)
Four New Japan Cup second round matches
Unknown “special match”
July 1: New Japan Cup 2020 Second Round (empty arena)
Four New Japan Cup second round matches
Unknown “special match”
July 2: New Japan Cup 2020 Quarterfinals (empty arena)
Four New Japan Cup quarterfinal matches
Unknown “special match”
July 3: New Japan Cup 2020 Semifinals (empty arena)
Two New Japan Cup semifinal matches
Two unknown “special matches”
July 11: New Japan Cup 2020 Final (Osaka-jo Hall, Osaka, one third capacity attendees)
New Japan Cup 2020 Final match
July 12: Dominion (Osaka-jo Hall, Osaka, one third capacity attendees)