The new Black Tiger, who won the junior tournament on the NEVER brand shows to win a place in the Best of the Super Jr. tournament, has become the second wrestler to exit the tournament before it even starts. Although New Japan has not printed an official reason, the man under the mask (NOSAWA Rongai) was caught trying to smuggle weed out of Mexico and into Japan the other day and was arrested.

New Japan will announce a replacement soon. Davey Richards has already been forced to pull out of the tournament due to health concerns and was replaced by Brian Kendrick, but who will replace Black Tiger?

NJPW “NEVER.9 ~ROAD TO THE SUPER JR. 2DAYS TOURNAMENT Final~”, 4/15/12
Shin-Kiba 1st RING
250 Fans – No Vacancy

1. ROAD TO THE SUPER JR. 2DAYS TOURNAMENT – Semi Final: Madoka beat Hiro Tounai (8:49) with the Ranhei.
2. ROAD TO THE SUPER JR. 2DAYS TOURNAMENT – Semi Final: Black Tiger beat Ryuichi Sekine (6:29) with a la magistral.
3. YOSHI-HASHI beat Takaaki Watanabe (9:05) with a Swanton bomb.
4. Jado, Gedo & Tomohiro Ishii beat Captain New Japan, Kaji Tomato & Yusuke Kodama (15:02) when Ishii used a lariat on Tomato.
5. TAKA Michinoku & Taichi beat KUSHIDA & Hiromu Takahashi (14:08) when Taichi used a Gedo clutch on Takahashi.
6. ROAD TO THE SUPER JR. 2DAYS TOURNAMENT – Final: Black Tiger beat Madoka (9:56) with the BT Driver.

* Look out Tiger Mask! The latest version of Black Tiger stormed to victory in the second ROAD TO THE SUPER JR. 2DAYS TOURNAMENT, earning himself a place in this year’s Super Jr. tournament. He defeated Madoka who has been unlucky enough to lose two finals in two years and miss out on the Super Jr. tournament twice. Black Tiger appears to have aligned himself with Suzuki Gun as he was photographed with TAKA and Taichi in a Suzuki Gun t-shirt. He spoke in Japanese and is apparently a personal friend of Suzuki.

Pro Wrestling NOAH’s Takashi Sugiura and on-fire youngster Go Shiozaki have demanded that Nakamura & Goto, the team that bested Misawa & Sugiura on 1/4, battle them on March 1st at NOAH’s Tokyo Nippon Budokan show. President Sugabayashi has responded to that with a refusal but compromise, saying he doesn’t think Goto’s knee is in the right condition so instead has proposed sending Milano Collection AT to team with Nakamura. He expects Milano can easily match Sugiura’s ground techniques, and look for this match to be determined any day now.

All participants for the New Japan Cup have been announced and it is mostly a home-based cast with the exception of old favourite Yutaka Yoshie, who again returns to his old haunt for special participation. The ongoing Hirasawa vs. Honma feud will culminate with a singles match at Korakuen on 2/28 with the winner getting the last spot. The other participants are: Yuji Nagata, Manabu Nakanishi, Shinsuke Nakamura, Wataru Inoue, Hirooki Goto, Milano Collection AT, Togi Makabe, Toru Yano Takashi Iizuka, Giant Bernard, Tomohiro Ishii, Karl Anderson, and Yutaka Yoshie.

NJPW, 3/8/09
Aichi Prefectural Gymnasium

1. New Japan Cup - Round 1: Winner of Hirasawa/Honma vs. Takashi Iizuka
2. New Japan Cup - Round 1: Milano Collection AT vs. Toru Yano
3. New Japan Cup - Round 1: Wataru Inoue vs. Tomohiro Ishii
4. New Japan Cup - Round 1: Hirooki Goto vs. Karl Anderson
5. New Japan Cup - Round 1: Manabu Nakanishi vs. Yutaka Yoshie
6. New Japan Cup - Round 1: Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Togi Makabe

New Japan also announced the first landing of Val Venis, the former WWE Intercontinental Champion, WWE European Champion, WWE Tag Team Champion, among others. He will join GBH as a recruit by his old friend Giant Bernard. Black Tiger also arrives as another new member of GBH, filling the void recently left by Low Ki.

Finally, the full card for the 2/28 standalone show at Korakuen…

NJPW “NEW DIMENSION”, 2/28/09 (SXW)
Tokyo Korakuen Hall

1. Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Nobuo Yoshihashi
2. New Japan Cup Participant Match: Mitsuhide Hirasawa vs. Tomoaki Honma
3. Tiger Mask & Kazuchika Okada vs. Jushin Thunder Liger & Koji Kanemoto
4. Manabu Nakanishi & Taichi Ishikari vs. Jado & Gedo
5. AKIRA vs. Takashi Iizuka
6. New Japan Cup Special 6 Man Tag Match: Shinsuke Nakamura, Wataru Inoue & Milano Collection AT vs. Togi Makabe, Toru Yano & Tomohiro Ishii
7. New Japan Cup Special Tag Match: Hiroshi Tanahashi & Yuji Nagata vs. Masahiro Chono & Hirooki Goto