NJPW “KING OF PRO-WRESTLING”, 10/13/14 (WPW/PPV)
Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan
9,100 Fans – Super No Vacancy Full House

1. Special 8 Man Tag Match: Togi Makabe, Yuji Nagata, Tomoaki Honma & Kota Ibushi beat Karl Anderson, Doc Gallows, Bad Luck Fale & Tama Tonga (7:48) when Ibushi used a Phoenix splash on Tonga.
2. NWA World Jr. Heavyweight Title: Chase Owens (c) beat BUSHI (7:02) with the Package Driver.
3. NWA World Tag Team Title: Lance Archer & Davey Boy Smith Jr. beat Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima (c) (11:22) when Archer used the Killer bomb on Kojima to become the 76th champions.
4. Special Tag Match: Toru Yano & Kazushi Sakuraba beat Minoru Suzuki & Takashi Iizuka (5:30) when Yano used the Akakiri on Iizuka.
5. IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Title – 3WAY Match: KUSHIDA & Alex Shelley (c) beat Matt Jackson & Nick Jackson and Rocky Romero & Alex Koslov (18:56) when KUSHIDA used a horizontal cradle on Koslov (3rd defense).
6. IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title: Ryusuke Taguchi (c) beat El Desperado (12:12) with an ankle hold (1st defense).
7. NEVER Openweight Title: Tomohiro Ishii beat Yujiro Takahashi (c) (17:48) with a brainbuster to become the 5th champion.
8. Special Tag Match: Hirooki Goto & Katsuyori Shibata beat Shinsuke Nakamura & YOSHI-HASHI (13:49) when Shibata used a PK on YOSHI-HASHI.
9. Tokyo Dome IWGP Heavyweight Title #1 Contender Match: Kazuchika Okada beat Tetsuya Naito (19:17) with the Rainmaker.
10. IWGP Heavyweight Title: Hiroshi Tanahashi beat AJ Styles (c) (27:04) with the High Fly Flow to become the 61st champion.

* Hiroshi Tanahashi becomes the first wrestler to ever hold the IWGP Heavyweight Title seven times after beating AJ Styles in today’s main event. He had been tied on 6 reigns with Tatsumi Fujinami and now not only does he have the most successful defenses, but the most reigns. A living legend? Perhaps he may not be given such a status until later in his career, but as a man with so much success and the figurehead of New Japan’s revival, it isn’t a stretch to consider him a legend already.

* Guess who’s back? Naofumi “Yoshi Tatsu” Yamamoto appeared to save Tanahashi from a Jeff Jarrett guitar shot. The New Japan dojo graduate looks to have returned home following his WWE exit some time back. Yamamoto last appeared for New Japan on 11/2/07 at Korakuen Hall, so his return comes after almost 7 years away.

* Tanahashi is set to face old rival Kazuchika Okada in the 1/4 Tokyo Dome main event, after Okada retained his #1 contendership by beating Tetsuya Naito in the semi final. Tanahashi and Okada’s match was confirmed so unless of any unexpected events that will headline the next “WRESTLE KINGDOM”.

* Tomohiro Ishii regained the NEVER Openweight Title from Yujiro Takahashi, the man who took it from him, and so begins his second reign.

* After a tag success today, Katsuyori Shibata challenged Shinsuke Nakamura for a shot at his IWGP Intercontinental Title, a match many would be pleased to see, especially if they save it for the Tokyo Dome.

* Ryusuke Taguchi’s long awaited second reign as IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion avoided the same fate as KUSHIDA’s first, as he bypassed his first challenger, forcing El Desperado to tap out.

* Time Splitters retained the IWGP Jr. Tag Team Title for the third time in a 3WAY Match, beating the Young Bucks and Forever Hooligans when KUSHIDA rolled up Koslov.

* The legendary Tenzan & Kojima dropped the NWA World Tag Team Title, won in the same building this April, as their old nemesis’ the Killer Elite Squad returned and took the belts from them. Kojima hit Tenzan with an accidental lariat during the match and there was some tension between the two. Something to keep an eye on in the upcoming tag league…

* BUSHI failed to win the NWA World Jr. Title from Chase Owens and after that match the NWA’s Bruce Tharpe called out the great Jushin Thunder Liger. Liger said he wanted one last run with a title, hinting that perhaps finally retirement is on the mind (NOOOO!), and he could be next to challenge Owens.

Six titles will be defended at this year’s “KING OF PRO-WRESTLING”, which takes place at Sumo Hall on October 13. The biggest of them all sees AJ Styles make his V3 defense of the IWGP Heavyweight Title against ace Hiroshi Tanahashi in what could be a match that helps define the 1/4 Tokyo Dome main event. The other match that could do likewise sees Okada again risk his 1/4 title shot, this time against the “Stardust Genius” Tetsuya Naito.

Ishii attempts to win back the NEVER Openweight Title when he challenges Yujiro, Taguchi defends his IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title against El Desperado, and the Time Splitters must fend off the challenge of both the Young Bucks and Forever Hooligans in a 3WAY Match for the IWGP Jr. Tag Team Title.

Earlier on the card, two major NWA titles will be defended with the legendary Tenzan & Kojima continuing their neverending feud with the Killer Elite Squad as Archer & Smith challenge for the NWA World Tag Team Title. And an unfamiliar face enters New Japan as Chase Owens defends the NWA World Jr. Heavyweight Title against masked man BUSHI.

Unless plans have changed and I missed it, USTREAM’s iPPV service is ending on October 1 and this show isn’t advertised, so it is unlikely to air on iPPV. New Japan is apparently looking into other ways to show the events live to foreign audiences.

NJPW “KING OF PRO-WRESTLING”, 10/13/14 (WPW)
Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan

1. Special 8 Man Tag Match: Togi Makabe, Yuji Nagata, Tomoaki Honma & Kota Ibushi vs. Karl Anderson, Doc Gallows, Bad Luck Fale & Tama Tonga
2. NWA World Jr. Heavyweight Title: Chase Owens (c) vs. BUSHI
3. NWA World Tag Team Title: Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima (c) vs. Lance Archer & Davey Boy Smith Jr.
4. Special Tag Match: Toru Yano & Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Minoru Suzuki & Takashi Iizuka
5. IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Title – 3WAY Match: KUSHIDA & Alex Shelley (c) vs. Matt Jackson & Nick Jackson vs. Rocky Romero & Alex Koslov
6. IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title: Ryusuke Taguchi (c) vs. El Desperado
7. NEVER Openweight Title: Yujiro Takahashi (c) vs. Tomohiro Ishii
8. Special Tag Match: Shinsuke Nakamura & YOSHI-HASHI vs. Hirooki Goto & Katsuyori Shibata
9. Tokyo Dome IWGP Heavyweight Title #1 Contender Match: Kazuchika Okada vs. Tetsuya Naito
10. IWGP Heavyweight Title: AJ Styles (c) vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi

NJPW “DESTRUCTION IN KOBE”, 9/21/14 (WPW/iPPV)
Kobe World Hall
8,000 Fans – Super No Vacancy

1. Tomohiro Ishii, Rocky Romero & Alex Koslov beat Yujiro Takahashi, Matt Jackson & Nick Jackson (7:51) when Romero pinned Nick after the Contract Killer.
2. Alex Shelley, Maximo & BUSHI beat TAKA Michinoku , El Desperado & Taichi (2:43) when Taichi was DQ’d.
3. Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima, Jushin Thunder Liger & Tomoaki Honma beat Yuji Nagata, Manabu Nakanishi, Tiger Mask & Captain New Japan (5:22) when Honma used the Kokeshi on Captain.
4. Special Tag Match: Kazushi Sakuraba & Toru Yano beat Minoru Suzuki & Takashi Iizuka (11:34) when Yano used the Akakiri on Iizuka.
5. IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title: Ryusuke Taguchi beat KUSHIDA (c) (14:55) with an ankle hold to become the 69th champion.
6. Special Tag Match: Tetsuya Naito & Kota Ibushi beat AJ Styles & Tama Tonga (12:57) when Ibushi used a Phoenix splash on Tonga.
7. IWGP Tag Team Title: Karl Anderson & Doc Gallows (c) beat Kazuchika Okada & YOSHI-HASHI (11:42) when Gallows pinned YOSHI-HASHI after the Magic Killer (6th defense).
8. Special Singles Match: Togi Makabe beat Hirooki Goto (14:38) with a King Kong kneedrop.
9. Special Singles Match: Hiroshi Tanahashi beat Katsuyori Shibata (17:57) with the High Fly Flow.
10. IWGP Intercontinental Title: Shinsuke Nakamura beat Bad Luck Fale (c) (19:13) with the Boma Ye to become the 10th champion.

* Three months to the day after dropping the IWGP Intercontinental Title to Bad Luck Fale, Shinsuke Nakamura today regained “his” belt to take the number of reigns for the upstart title into double figures. Nakamura sunk the big man with his Boma Ye to begin his third reign as champion and send the fans home happy.

* Tanahashi avenged his G1 Climax loss to Shibata in the semi, but the big story came after it when the two, known for their rivalry inside and outside of the ring, shook hands to perhaps put an end to their long-standing grudge.

* Anderson & Gallows reign as IWGP Tag Team Champions, which began on January 4th at the Tokyo Dome, continued with a successful V6 defense over CHAOS’s Okada & YOSHI-HASHI with YOSHI-HASHI, who has sprung to life this month (and still has a NEVER Openweight Title match in a couple of days), falling to the Magic Killer.

* A long and painful 7 year wait is over. Ryusuke Taguchi is the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion for the first time since 2007. Back then, he was the young breakout star of the junior division and beat the likes of Minoru, Tiger Mask and Koji Kanemoto when the three were in their stronger years. He ended KUSHIDA’s brief reign as champion today with an ankle hold and after being in Devitt’s shadow for so many years, now may have a chance to rule the junior division again.

Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi will headline “WRESTLE KINGDOM 8″ at the Tokyo Dome, the third time this combination has main evented the famous 1/4 show. On 1/4/05 the two young men were given the big responsibility of headlining an otherwise terrible Tokyo Dome show and did well, with Shinsuke winning. Then a more mature Tanahashi and Nakamura headlined again, this time for the IWGP Heavyweight Title, on 1/4/08, Shinsuke again winning. Now, the two are established superstars of the Japanese industry and won a fan vote with 20,422 votes to headline the show above Okada vs. Naito (11,886 votes), perhaps a sign that fans are not yet ready to accept Naito as a top guy.

The full card for 1/4 was announced today with a few big additions. Hirooki Goto returns from injury to resume his fierce rivalry with Katsuyori Shibata in a singles match. Togi Makabe and King Fale will meet in a “King of Destroyer Match” where there will be no pinfalls or submissions, only a KO or TKO finish.

Toru Yano will bring a mystery partner to the Tokyo Dome to face Minoru Suzuki & Shelton Benjamin. Satoshi Kojima gets a second chance at Rob Conway’s NWA World Heavyweight Title as the two meet. And World Tag League winners Karl Anderson & Doc Gallows cash on on their chance to take the IWGP Tag Team Title, as they face the Killer Elite Squad.

So, a stacked card, so stacked that there isn’t even space for the likes of Tenzan, Nakanishi, Yujiro, Liger, and Tiger Mask, although it’s possible there will be a dark match with these.

NJPW “WRESTLE KINGDOM 8 IN TOKYO DOME”, 1/4/14 (WPW/PPV/iPPV)
Tokyo Dome

1. IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Title – 4WAY Match: Matt Jackson & Nick Jackson (c) vs. KUSHIDA & Alex Shelley vs. TAKA Michinoku & Taichi vs. Rocky Romero & Alex Koslov
2. IWGP Tag Team Title: Lance Archer & Davey Boy Smith Jr. (c) vs. Karl Anderson & Doc Gallows
3. NWA World Heavyweight Title: Rob Conway (c) vs. Satoshi Kojima
4. Special Tag Match: Yuji Nagata & Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Daniel Gracie & Rolles Gracie
5. Special Tag Match: Minoru Suzuki & Shelton Benjamin vs. Toru Yano & X
6. King of Destroyer Match: Togi Makabe vs. King Fale
7. Special Singles Match – Hirooki Goto Return Match: Hirooki Goto vs. Katsuyori Shibata
8. IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title: Prince Devitt (c) vs. Kota Ibushi
9. Double Main Event I – IWGP Heavyweight Title: Kazuchika Okada (c) vs. Tetsuya Naito
10. Double Main Event II – IWGP Intercontinental Title: Shinsuke Nakamura (c) vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi

–> YOSHINOYA PRESENTS KIZUNA ROAD 2013 <--

NJPW, 7/5/13 (Samurai! TV/iPPV)
Tokyo Korakuen Hall
2,015 Fans – Super No Vacancy Full House

1. Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima & Super Strong Machine beat Toru Yano, Takashi Iizuka & Jado (9:08) when Iizuka was DQ’d.
2. Togi Makabe, Manabu Nakanishi, Tiger Mask & KUSHIDA beat Yuji Nagata, Hirooki Goto, Captain New Japan & Takaaki Watanabe (11:02) when KUSHIDA used a reverse cross armbreaker on Watanabe.
3. Minoru Suzuki, TAKA Michinoku & Taichi beat Tomohiro Ishii, Rocky Romero & Alex Koslov (11:38) when Taichi used the Low Fly Flow on Koslov.
4. Shinsuke Nakamura, Masato Tanaka & Yujiro Takahashi beat Tetsuya Naito, Tomoaki Honma & La Sombra (12:52) when Takahashi used the Tokyo Pimps on Honma.
5. Karl Anderson & Bad Luck Fale beat Kazuchika Okada & YOSHI-HASHI (9:22) when Fale used the Grenade on YOSHI-HASHI.
6. CMLL World Tag Team Title: Hiroshi Tanahashi & Jushin Thunder Liger beat El Terrible & Tama Tonga (c) (12:12) when Tanahashi used the High Fly Flow on Terrible to become the 34th champions.
7. IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title: Prince Devitt (c) beat Gedo (18:11) with the Bloody Sunday (4th defense).

* Prince Devitt had a peculiar task tonight of defending his IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title just 2 weeks before he challenges for the IWGP Heavyweight Title. As stipulated when Okada accepted his challenge, Devitt first had to make his V4 defense of the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title against Okada’s sidekick Gedo. Gedo was hugely popular at Korakuen against Devitt, who has gone from heroic junior ace to one of the most despised wrestlers in the company since his betray of Taguchi and formation of the BULLET CLUB. But great fan support couldn’t carry him to the title as Devitt dropped him with the Bloody Sunday to complete another successful defense. Next target: Okada.

* You can’t keep Hiroshi Tanahashi away from gold for too long! Tanahashi and the legendary Jushin Thunder Liger today ended the 8 month reign of El Terrible & Tama Tonga to become the new CMLL World Tag Team Champions. Tanahashi pinned Terrible with the High Fly Flow to add yet another trophy to his bulging cabinet. They rarely team up but if they head to CMLL to defend these belts, Tanahashi & Liger will make an instantly recognizable team of New Japan stars. This is the third CMLL title Liger, now 48, has held in his career and yet another accolade for this living legend.

* G1 Climax 2013 participants and blocks have been announced! Take a look at Block A! The only ‘surprise’ names this year are Shibata and Ibushi but New Japan has so many stars these days that outsiders aren’t needed as much as they once were. Plus, after some great performances this year Ishii is rewarded with a place in the big one.

Block A:
- Hiroshi Tanahashi
- Togi Makabe
- Hirooki Goto
- Satoshi Kojima
- Kazuchika Okada
- Tomohiro Ishii
- Lance Archer
- Davey Boy Smith Jr.
- Prince Devitt
- Katsuyori Shibata

Block B:
- Hiroyoshi Tenzan
- Yuji Nagata
- Tetsuya Naito
- Shinsuke Nakamura
- Toru Yano
- Yujiro Takahashi
- Minoru Suzuki
- Shelton Benjamin
- Karl Anderson
- Kota Ibushi

Prince Devitt will challenge Kazuchika Okada for the IWGP Heavyweight Title in the main event of New Japan’s last big show before the G1 Climax on 7/20. Okada’s V3 defense of the title will be unlike his others and he may have more than just the Irishman to face, with the BULLET CLUB becoming renowned already for their outside inteference. Laughter7 return to New Japan once again with Kazushi Sakuraba returning from injury to face Yuji Nagata in a long awaited singles match, while old classmates Katsuyori Shibata and Hirooki Goto have their third singles match on successive big shows with Goto searching for his first win after a defeat and draw. La Sombra faces Shinsuke Nakamura in a Special Singles Match and if Sombra overcomes his upcoming V1 defense of the IWGP Intercontinental Title in Mexico against Volador Jr., you would think this would become a title match with Shinsuke given chance to reclaim the belt he dropped to Sombra in Mexico.

The newly returned Tetsuya Naito challenges Masato Tanaka for the NEVER Openweight Title, Naito having originally been the poster boy of the tournament to determine the first NEVER champion before pulling out due to injury. IWGP Tag Team Champions face GHC Tag Team Champions as Tenzan & Kojima make their V2 defense of the IWGP belts against Yano & Iizuka. The NOAH belts are not on the line and the CHAOS team may not even hold them by that point as they defend against Shane Haste & Mikey Nicholls on NOAH’s major 7/7 show at Tokyo Ariake Colosseum. After their heated exchanges in a tag match yesterday, Minoru Suzuki and Tomohiro Ishii go to war in a Special Singles Match and Suzuki Gun will also have the chance to win the IWGP Jr. Tag Team Title when TAKA & Taichi challenge Forever Hooligans in the second match.

Before the big 7/20 show, there will be two title matches on 7/5 at Korakuen plus the announcement of G1 Climax participants. Before he challenges Gedo’s friend Okada for the big one, Devitt makes his V4 defense of the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title against Gedo himself. Meanwhile, fan favourites Tanahashi and Liger unite to challenge El Terrible & Tama Tonga for the CMLL World Tag Team Title. New Japan will be going head-to-head with the WWE’s Sumo Hall show in Tokyo when they run Korakuen on 7/5.

NJPW, 7/5/13 (Samurai! TV)
Tokyo Korakuen Hall

1. Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima & Super Strong Machine vs. Toru Yano, Takashi Iizuka & Jado
2. Togi Makabe, Manabu Nakanishi, Tiger Mask & KUSHIDA vs. Yuji Nagata, Hirooki Goto, Captain New Japan & Takaaki Watanabe
3. Tomohiro Ishii, Rocky Romero & Alex Koslov vs. Minoru Suzuki, TAKA Michinoku & Taichi
4. Tetsuya Naito, Tomoaki Honma & La Sombra vs. Shinsuke Nakamura, Masato Tanaka & Yujiro Takahashi
5. Kazuchika Okada & YOSHI-HASHI vs. Karl Anderson & Bad Luck Fale
6. CMLL World Tag Team Title: El Terrible & Tama Tonga (c) vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi & Jushin Thunder Liger
7. IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title: Prince Devitt (c) vs. Gedo

NJPW, 7/7/13
New Sunpia Takasaki

1. Sho Tanaka vs. Yohei Komatsu
2. Manabu Nakanishi & Tiger Mask vs. Captain New Japan & KUSHIDA
3. Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima vs. Yuji Nagata & Takaaki Watanabe
4. Tomohiro Ishii, Rocky Romero & Alex Koslov vs. Minoru Suzuki, TAKA Michinoku & Taichi
5. Hirooki Goto, Tetsuya Naito, Tomoaki Honma & La Sombra vs. Shinsuke Nakamura, Yujiro Takahashi, YOSHI-HASHI & Jado
6. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Togi Makabe & Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Karl Anderson, El Terrible & Tama Tonga
7. Kazuchika Okada & Gedo vs. Prince Devitt & Bad Luck Fale

NJPW, 7/9/13
Tsuruga Castle Gymnasium

1. KUSHIDA & Takaaki Watanabe vs. Sho Tanaka & Yohei Komatsu
2. Yuji Nagata & Hirooki Goto vs. Manabu Nakanishi & Captain New Japan
3. Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima & Tiger Mask vs. Toru Yano, Takashi Iizuka & Gedo
4. Tomohiro Ishii, Rocky Romero & Alex Koslov vs. Minoru Suzuki, TAKA Michinoku & Taichi
5. Togi Makabe, Tetsuya Naito & La Sombra vs. Shinsuke Nakamura, Yujiro Takahashi & YOSHI-HASHI
6. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Tomoaki Honma & Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Karl Anderson, El Terrible & Tama Tonga
7. Kazuchika Okada & Jado vs. Prince Devitt & Bad Luck Fale

NJPW, 7/10/13
Yamagata City Sports Center #2

1. Sho Tanaka vs. Yohei Komatsu
2. Yuji Nagata, Hirooki Goto & Takaaki Watanabe vs. Manabu Nakanishi, Captain New Japan & KUSHIDA
3. Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima & Tiger Mask vs. Toru Yano, Takashi Iizuka & Jado
4. Tomohiro Ishii, Rocky Romero & Alex Koslov vs. Minoru Suzuki, TAKA Michinoku & Taichi
5. Tetsuya Naito, Jushin Thunder Liger & La Sombra vs. Shinsuke Nakamura, Yujiro Takahashi & Gedo
6. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma vs. Karl Anderson, El Terrible & Tama Tonga
7. Kazuchika Okada & YOSHI-HASHI vs. Prince Devitt & Bad Luck Fale

NJPW, 7/13/13 (Samurai! TV)
Sapporo Teisen Hall

1. Tiger Mask & KUSHIDA vs. Takaaki Watanabe & Sho Tanaka
2. Yuji Nagata & Hirooki Goto vs. Manabu Nakanishi & Tomoaki Honma
3. Rocky Romero vs. Taichi
4. Tomohiro Ishii & Alex Koslov vs. Minoru Suzuki & TAKA Michinoku
5. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Jushin Thunder Liger & Captain New Japan vs. Karl Anderson, El Terrible & Tama Tonga
6. Kazuchika Okada & YOSHI-HASHI vs. Prince Devitt & Bad Luck Fale
7. New Japan & CMLL vs. CHAOS Elimination Match: Togi Makabe, Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima, Tetsuya Naito & La Sombra vs. Shinsuke Nakamura, Toru Yano, Takashi Iizuka, Masato Tanaka & Yujiro Takahashi

NJPW, 7/14/13 (Samurai! TV)
Sapporo Teisen Hall

1. Takaaki Watanabe vs. Yohei Komatsu
2. Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima, Tiger Mask & KUSHIDA vs. Toru Yano, Takashi Iizuka, Jado & Gedo
3. Alex Koslov vs. TAKA Michinoku
4. Tomohiro Ishii & Rocky Romero vs. Minoru Suzuki & Taichi
5. Yuji Nagata & Hirooki Goto vs. Yujiro Takahashi & YOSHI-HASHI
6. Tetsuya Naito, Tomoaki Honma & La Sombra vs. Kazuchika Okada, Shinsuke Nakamura & Masato Tanaka
7. New Japan vs. BULLET CLUB Elimination Match: Hiroshi Tanahashi, Togi Makabe, Manabu Nakanishi, Jushin Thunder Liger & Captain New Japan vs. Prince Devitt, Karl Anderson, El Terrible, Tama Tonga & Bad Luck Fale

NJPW, 7/15/13 (Samurai! TV)
Sapporo Teisen Hall

1. Sho Tanaka vs. Yohei Komatsu
2. Takaaki Watanabe vs. Rocky Romero
3. Togi Makabe, Tomoaki Honma & KUSHIDA vs. Manabu Nakanishi, Jushin Thunder Liger & Tiger Mask
4. Tomohiro Ishii & Alex Koslov vs. Minoru Suzuki & Taichi
5. Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima, Tetsuya Naito & La Sombra vs. Shinsuke Nakamura, Toru Yano, Takashi Iizuka & Masato Tanaka
6. Hiroshi Tanahashi & Captain New Japan vs. Yuji Nagata & Hirooki Goto
7. CHAOS vs. BULLET CLUB Elimination Match: Kazuchika Okada, Yujiro Takahashi, YOSHI-HASHI, Jado & Gedo vs. Prince Devitt, Karl Anderson, El Terrible, Tama Tonga & Bad Luck Fale

NJPW, 7/17/13
Obihiro City Gymnasium

1. Sho Tanaka vs. Yohei Komatsu
2. Manabu Nakanishi, Jushin Thunder Liger & Tiger Mask vs. Captain New Japan, KUSHIDA & Takaaki Watanabe
3. Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima & Yuji Nagata vs. Toru Yano, Takashi Iizuka & YOSHI-HASHI
4. Tomohiro Ishii, Rocky Romero & Alex Koslov vs. Minoru Suzuki, TAKA Michinoku & Taichi
5. Tetsuya Naito, Tomoaki Honma & La Sombra vs. Shinsuke Nakamura, Yujiro Takahashi & Jado
6. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Togi Makabe & Hirooki Goto vs. Karl Anderson, El Terrible & Tama Tonga
7. Kazuchika Okada & Gedo vs. Prince Devitt & Bad Luck Fale

NJPW, 7/20/13 (WPW/PPV)
Akita Municipal Gymnasium

1. Manabu Nakanishi, Tomoaki Honma, Tiger Mask & KUSHIDA vs. Yujiro Takahashi, YOSHI-HASHI, Jado & Gedo
2. IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Title: Rocky Romero & Alex Koslov (c) vs. TAKA Michinoku & Taichi
3. Special Singles Match: Tomohiro Ishii vs. Minoru Suzuki
4. IWGP Tag Team Title: Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima (c) vs. Toru Yano & Takashi Iizuka
5. NEVER Openweight Title: Masato Tanaka (c) vs. Tetsuya Naito
6. Special Singles Match: La Sombra vs. Shinsuke Nakamura
7. Special 8 Man Tag Match: Hiroshi Tanahashi, Togi Makabe, Jushin Thunder Liger & Captain New Japan vs. Karl Anderson, El Terrible, Tama Tonga & Bad Luck Fale
8. Special Singles Match: Hirooki Goto vs. Katsuyori Shibata
9. Kazushi Sakuraba Return Match: Yuji Nagata vs. Kazushi Sakuraba
10. IWGP Heavyweight Title: Kazuchika Okada (c) vs. Prince Devitt

-

NJPW “NEW JAPAN PRO-WRESTLING IN MIYAKO FISH MARKET II”, 7/21/13
Miyako Fish Market

1. Yuji Nagata vs. Takaaki Watanabe
2. Tomohiro Ishii, Jado & Gedo vs. Minoru Suzuki & Taichi
3. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Togi Makabe, Hirooki Goto & Tetsuya Naito vs. Kazuchika Okada, Shinsuke Nakamura, Yujiro Takahashi & YOSHI-HASHI

Seven titles will be defended across two shows as New Japan presents “INVASION ATTACK” on 4/7 at Sumo Hall and “ROAD TO INVASION ATTACK” two days earlier at Korakuen Hall. At Korakuen, the Killer Elite Squad will make their V4 defense of the IWGP Tag Team Title against Nakamura & Ishii after accepting a challenge from the CHAOS team yesterday. Prince Devitt makes his V3 defense of the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title against Alex Shelley and like the tag match this also leads into another title match two days later. Another match of note at Korakuen is GHC Tag Team Champions, Yano & Iizuka, facing the all-star Suzuki & Takayama duo (non-title).

On to Sumo Hall and there will be a triple main event featuring three title matches! Of course the biggest of them all sees Hiroshi Tanahashi make his V8 defense of the IWGP Heavyweight Title against New Japan Cup winner Kazuchika Okada. Tanahashi’s previous reign lasted from 1/4/11 to 2/12/12 before Okada took the belt off him. But Tanahashi then won it back on 6/16/12 and has held it since, and looks to continue his domination of Japan’s most prestigious title in April. Nakamura makes his V7 defense of the IWGP Intercontinental Title against Davey Boy Smith Jr. in a direct sequel to the IWGP Tag Team Title match two days earlier, and of course he beat Smith’s tag partner Lance Archer in his previous defense. The NWA invasion begins with Rob Conway defending the historic NWA World Heavyweight Title against Satoshi Kojima, Kojima’s most high profile match for a while.

Nagata once again locks horns with Sakuraba but not in the singles match he requested, instead another tag as he and Goto face Saku & Shibata. In a rematch from the New Japan Cup second round, Minoru Suzuki looks to avenge his defeat to Toru Yano, while Tomoaki Honma makes his formal return by teaming with Makabe against Masato Tanaka & Yujiro Takahashi. The CMLL World Tag Team Title will be on the line as New Japan’s Tama Tonga and his partner El Terrible defend the belts against La Mascara & Valiente. Akebono and Bob Sapp return for the first time since 1/4 in another New Japan vs. CHAOS eight man tag, and the show opens with TIME SPLITTERS’ V3 defense of the IWGP Jr. Tag Team Title against 4-time champions Apollo 55. This show should be on iPPV like most other important New Japan events these days, but nothing announced just yet.

NJPW “ROAD TO INVASION ATTACK”, 4/5/13 (Samurai! TV)
Tokyo Korakuen Hall

1. Road to INVASION ATTACK I: Ryusuke Taguchi vs. KUSHIDA
2. Road to INVASION ATTACK II: Yuji Nagata & Hirooki Goto vs. Manabu Nakanishi & Captain New Japan
3. Road to INVASION ATTACK III: Togi Makabe, Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima vs. Yujiro Takahashi, YOSHI-HASHI & Jado
4. Road to INVASION ATTACK IV: Minoru Suzuki & Yoshihiro Takayama vs. Toru Yano & Takashi Iizuka
5. Road to INVASION ATTACK V: Hiroshi Tanahashi & BUSHI vs. Kazuchika Okada & Gedo
6. IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title: Prince Devitt (c) vs. Alex Shelley
7. IWGP Tag Team Title: Lance Archer & Davey Boy Smith Jr. (c) vs. Shinsuke Nakamura & Tomohiro Ishii

NJPW “INVASION ATTACK”, 4/7/13 (WPW)
Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan

1. IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Title: KUSHIDA & Alex Shelley (c) vs. Prince Devitt & Ryusuke Taguchi
2. Special 8 Man Tag Match: Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Manabu Nakanishi, Super Strong Machine & Akebono vs. Takashi Iizuka, Tomohiro Ishii, YOSHI-HASHI & Bob Sapp
3. CMLL World Tag Team Title: El Terrible & Tama Tonga (c) vs. La Mascara & Valiente
4. Special Tag Match: Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma vs. Masato Tanaka & Yujiro Takahashi
5. Special Singles Match: Toru Yano vs. Minoru Suzuki
6. Special Tag Match: Yuji Nagata & Hirooki Goto vs. Kazushi Sakuraba & Katsuyori Shibata
7. Triple Main Event I – NWA World Heavyweight Title: Ron Conway (c) vs. Satoshi Kojima
8. Triple Main Event II – IWGP Intercontinental Title: Shinsuke Nakamura (c) vs. Davey Boy Smith Jr.
9. Triple Main Event III – IWGP Heavyweight Title: Hiroshi Tanahashi (c) vs. Kazuchika Okada

NJPW “THE NEW BEGINNING”, 2/10/13 (WPW/PPV/iPPV)
Hiroshima Sun Plaza
4,780 Fans – Super No Vacancy Full House

1. Yuji Nagata, Manabu Nakanishi, Tama Tonga, Jushin Thunder Liger & Tiger Mask beat Toru Yano, Takashi Iizuka, Tomohiro Ishii, YOSHI-HASHI & Jado (8:20) when Nagata used a backdrop hold on Jado.
2. IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Title: KUSHIDA & Alex Shelley (c) beat Rocky Romero & Alex Koslov (11:26) when KUSHIDA used the Midnight Express on Koslov (1st defense).
3. IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title: Prince Devitt (c) beat Ryusuke Taguchi (14:01) with the Bloody Sunday (2nd defense).
4. IWGP Tag Team Title: Lance Archer & Davey Boy Smith Jr. (c) beat Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima (14:16) when Archer used the Killer bomb on Kojima (3rd defense).
5. Special Singles Match: Togi Makabe beat Yujiro Takahashi (8:00) with a King Kong kneedrop.
6. Special Tag Match: Kazushi Sakuraba & Katsuyori Shibata beat Hirooki Goto & Wataru Inoue (11:07) when Sakuraba used a Kido clutch on Inoue.
7. Special Singles Match: Shinsuke Nakamura beat Kengo Mashimo (11:21) with the Boma Ye.
8. Special Singles Match: Minoru Suzuki beat Kazuchika Okada (15:59) with a Gotch-style piledriver.
9. IWGP Heavyweight Title: Hiroshi Tanahashi (c) beat Karl Anderson (25:10) with the High Fly Flow (7th defense).

* “THE NEW BEGINNING” turned out to be anything but as a packed house of 4,780 fans in Hiroshima watched four successful title defenses today. I haven’t been able to watch the iPPV yet but was told the main event was sensational which is no surprise given the talent levels of the two men involved.

* Hiroshi Tanahashi made a successful V7 defensive of his IWGP Heavyweight Title over Karl Anderson in what was described as the best match of the show as mentioned. This was Anderson’s first shot at the title, quite belated given how impressive he has been in recent years, and he put up a good 25 minute challenge before succumbing to the High Fly Flow. Tanahashi is well on course to matching if not beating his V11 defense record set last year and other than Okada’s 3 month reign with two successful title defenses included, Tanahashi has now held the title for the better part of two years with 18 successful defenses since 1/4/11. No new challenger appeared after the match although Devitt’s recent surprise pinfall has brought up the idea he could challenge Tanahashi at the 3/3 anniversary show. If not, the New Japan Cup is next month and as always will produce a new contender.

* Kazuchika Okada suffered his second high profile defeat already this year as he fell to Suzuki Gun leader Minoru Suzuki in the semi final. Suzuki himself had lost at the Tokyo Dome like Okada, falling to Nagata, so it was an important match for both men. Suzuki showed how competitive he still is with the top dogs though, pinning Okada after his Gotch-style piledriver. This was the only thing resembling an upset on the show and may lead to the continuation of CHAOS vs. Suzuki Gun.

* In the other CHAOS vs. Suzuki Gun match, Shinsuke Nakamura unsurprisingly defeated K-DOJO’s Kengo Mashimo with his Boma Ye. After the match though, IWGP Tag Team Title co-holder Lance Archer – also a member of Suzuki Gun – appeared and challenged Shinsuke to an IWGP Intercontinental Title match.

* Laughter7 returned to New Japan after their complete defeat at the Tokyo Dome where Shibata was crushed by Makabe and Sakuraba narrowly lost to Nakamura in one of the best matches of recent times. Today they were back in tag mode as they face two men with strong links to Shibata, Hirooki Goto & Wataru Inoue. Inoue once again proved to be a fairly easy target for the hard-hitting tag team and Sakuraba went old school when he busted out a Kido clutch to finish off Wataru. What next for Laughter7?

* One of very few new rivalries of late has been Togi Makabe vs. Yujiro Takahashi, two of New Japan’s tough guys and recent scuffles led to a singles match today. Makabe continued his fine form so far this year by pinning Yujiro after his King Kong kneedrop and must be quite high in contention for a shot at Tanahashi.

* The Killer Elite Squad once again proved too much for TenKoji as they made a successful V3 defense of their IWGP Tag Team Title. Lance Archer & Davey Boy Smith Jr. have so far proven much too strong for the most famous team of New Japan’s modern era, taking the belts off them, beating them in their V1 defense, and now beating them again in their V3 defense. Tenzan & Kojima did interupt that string of victories by beating the KES on the opening day of the 2012 World Tag League but compared to the three title matches that wasn’t important. The Killer bomb which has tormented TenKoji so was again their downfall today as Archer pinned Kojima after it.

* After half a year of the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title being traded between Devitt, Low Ki, and Ibushi, Devitt is hoping to keep hold of the title for a while in his third reign of champion. Today he made a successful V2 defense of the belt he has become so familiar with since 2010 against against his close friend and Apollo 55 tag partner, winning with the Bloody Sunday. For Taguchi it was more of the same – seen as New Japan’s great young junior hope some years ago, he won the title in 2007 for what was his only reign so far and beat big dogs like Minoru (Tanaka), Tiger Mask, and Kanemoto. But since then he has struggled to make the same impact outside of tag matches and again fell short today.

* The TIME SPLITTERS (KUSHIDA & Alex Shelley) made a successful V1 defense of their IWGP Jr. Tag Team Title against the team they took the belts off last November, Forever Hooligans (Rocky Romero & Alex Koslov). KUSHIDA pinned Koslov after his Midnight Express in what was the first of four successful title defenses on the show.

Bushiroad president Takaaki Kidani is reportedly stepping down according to Tokyo Sports. Kidani apparently brought in Sakuraba and Shibata without even telling Jado and Gedo, while two of New Japan’s biggest and most influential stars Tanahashi and Nakamura opposed the move. Kidani is a big pro wrestling fan who enjoyed the ‘shoot’ influence of the 80s and 90s and tried to bring some of it back with Laughter7′s invasion. However it seems some in New Japan are not in favour of this and the pressure may lead to Kidani’s exit. There was also talk of Kidani becoming an on-screen heel owner ala Eric Bischoff with the idea of an nWo style group pitched. There is the possibility of this being some sort of storyline especially as Kidani has been quite an innovative and progressive head figure since Bushiroad bought New Japan with things like the internet PPVs that allow us foreigners to watch New Japan coming from him. And despite the apparent opposition to Laughter7′s arrival in New Japan, the storyline played out very well culminating with one of the best matches I have seen in years yesterday, Nakamura vs. Sakuraba.

New Japan today announced lineups for “FANTASTICA MANIA 2013″, the now annual shows run in conjunction with CMLL. Three titles will be defended on the triple header including Nakamura’s next defense of the IWGP Intercontinental Title against La Sombra in what should be a very different match to Shinsuke’s clash with Sakuraba. Masato Tanaka makes his V2 defense of the NEVER Openweight Title at Korakuen Hall on 2/3 against Tomohiro Ishii in what should be an excellent match. The next big show which is due to be on iPPV I believe is “THE NEW BEGINNING” and is headlined by Tanahashi’s V7 defense of the IWGP Heavyweight Title against Karl Anderson in a rematch from the G1 where Anderson upset Tana on the final day to reach the final. After their big win over Muto & Otani, Tenzan & Kojima return to #1 contendership for the IWGP Tag Team Title and challenge the Killer Elite Squad who won the belts off them and beat them again in a title defense last year. Apollo 55 collide as Prince Devitt makes his V1 defense of the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title against his underachieving partner Ryusuke Taguchi. And “TIME SPLITTERS” KUSHIDA & Alex Shelley make their V1 defense of the IWGP Jr. Tag Team Title against the team they won them from, “Forever Hooligans” Rocky Romero & Alex Koslov.

NJPW/CMLL, 1/18/13 (Samurai! TV)
Tokyo Korakuen Hall

1. Tama Tonga & Titan vs. Euphoria & OKUMURA
2. Ryusuke Taguchi, BUSHI & Diamante vs. Yujiro Takahashi, Tomohiro Ishii & Rey Escorpion
3. Rush vs. YOSHI-HASHI
4. La Mascara, Mascara Dorada & Maximo vs. Volador Jr., TAKA Michinoku & Taichi
5. Special 6 Man Tag Match: Mistico, Jushin Thunder Liger & Tiger Mask vs. Mephisto, Jado & Gedo
6. Special Singles Match: Prince Devitt vs. Dragon Rojo Jr.
7. Special Tag Match: Hiroshi Tanahashi & La Sombra vs. Shinsuke Nakamura & Misterioso Jr.

NJPW/CMLL, 1/19/13 (Samurai! TV)
Tokyo Korakuen Hall

1. Tama Tonga & Maximo vs. TAKA Michinoku & Taichi
2. Jushin Thunder Liger, Tiger Mask & Titan vs. Jado, Gedo & Misterioso Jr.
3. Mascara Dorada & Diamante vs. Mephisto & OKUMURA
4. Prince Devitt, Ryusuke Taguchi & BUSHI vs. Dragon Rojo Jr., Tomohiro Ishii & YOSHI-HASHI
5. Special Singles Match: Mistico vs. Euforia
6. Special 6 Man Tag Match: Hiroshi Tanahashi, La Mascara & Rush vs. Kazuchika Okada, Volador Jr. & Rey Escorpion
7. IWGP Intercontinental Title: Shinsuke Nakamura (c) vs. La Sombra

NJPW/CMLL, 1/20/13 (Samurai! TV)
Tokyo Korakuen Hall

1. Special Singles Match: Maximo vs. Taichi
2. 6 vs. 6 Torneo Cibernetico: Jushin Thunder Liger, Tiger Mask, Mascara Dorada, Diamante, Titan & BUSHI vs. Tomohiro Ishii, Jado, Gedo, Misterioso Jr., OKUMURA & YOSHI-HASHI
3. Special Singles Match: Rush vs. Rey Escorpion
4. NWA World Historic Welterweight Title: Dragon Rojo Jr. (c) vs. La Sombra
5. Mexican National Light Heavyweight Title: La Mascara (c) vs. Volador Jr.
6. Special 6 Man Tag Match: Hiroshi Tanahashi, Prince Devitt & Mistico vs. Kazuchika Okada, Mephisto & Euforia

-

NJPW, 2/3/13 (Samurai! TV)
Tokyo Korakuen Hall

1. NEVER Openweight Title: Masato Tanaka (c) vs. Tomohiro Ishii

-

NJPW “THE NEW BEGINNING”, 2/10/13 (WPW/PPV/iPPV)
Hiroshima Sun Plaza

1. IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Title: KUSHIDA & Alex Shelley (c) vs. Rocky Romero & Alex Koslov
2. IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title: Prince Devitt (c) vs. Ryusuke Taguchi
3. IWGP Tag Team Title: Lance Archer & Davey Boy Smith Jr. (c) vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima
4. IWGP Heavyweight Title: Hiroshi Tanahashi (c) vs. Karl Anderson

-

Plans to rename the New Japan Cup to the World War League seem to have been abandoned with the 2013 New Japan Cup announced. Six dates have been announced:

- 3/11 @ Tokyo Korakuen Hall SAMURAI!
- 3/17 @ Amagasaki Memorial Park Gymnasium SAMURAI!
- 3/19 @ Shirakawa City Central Gymnasium
- 3/20 @ Sendai Industrial Exhibition Hall Aztec Museum
- 3/22 @ Kumagaya Citizen Gymnasium
- 3/23 @ Tokyo Korakuen Hall WPW

NJPW “WRESTLE KINGDOM 7 ~EVOLUTION~ IN TOKYO DOME”, 1/4/13 (WPW/PPV/iPPV)
Tokyo Dome
29,000 Fans

0-1. Wataru Inoue, Tama Tonga & Captain New Japan beat Tomohiro Ishii, YOSHI-HASHI & Jado (5:58) when Tonga used the Headshrinker on Jado.
0-2. Ryusuke Taguchi, KUSHIDA & BUSHI beat Jushin Thunder Liger, Tiger Mask & Hiromu Takahashi (7:12) when BUSHI used a Firebird splash on Takahashi.
1. Special 8 Man Tag Match: Manabu Nakanishi, MVP, Strong Man & Akebono beat Toru Yano, Takashi Iizuka, Yujiro Takahashi & Bob Sapp (7:53) when Nakanishi used an Argentine backbreaker on Iizuka.
2. NEVER Openweight Title: Masato Tanaka (c) beat Shelton Benjamin (6:41) with the Sliding D (1st defense).
3. IWGP Tag Team Title: Lance Archer & Davey Boy Smith Jr. (c) beat Hirooki Goto & Karl Anderson (10:52) when Smith used the Killer bomb on Goto (2nd defense).
4. Special Singles Match: Yuji Nagata beat Minoru Suzuki (17:03) with a backdrop hold.
5. IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title – 3WAY Match: Prince Devitt (c) beat Low Ki & Kota Ibushi (14:45) with an avalanche-style Bloody Sunday on Ibushi (1st defense).
6. Special Tag Match: Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima beat Keiji Muto & Shinjiro Otani (15:36) when Tenzan used a moonsault press on Otani.
7. Special Singles Match: Togi Makabe beat Katsuyori Shibata (8:37) with a King Kong kneedrop.
8. Double Main Event I – IWGP Intercontinental Title: Shinsuke Nakamura (c) beat Kazushi Sakuraba (11:12) with the Boma Ye (4th defense).
9. Double Main Event II – IWGP Heavyweight Title: Hiroshi Tanahashi (c) beat Kazuchika Okada (33:34) with the High Fly Flow (6th defense).

The “Wrestlemania of Japan”, New Japan’s annual January 4th Tokyo Dome super-show, lived up to its hype and then some more. For the first time ever a 1/4 show aired live for all of us outside of Japan on New Japan’s USTREAM channel and while the price was up from the other iPPVs at $35, it was full value for money. The PPV was about 4 1/2 hours long not including the dark matches.

Bushiroad owned New Japan really turned up the spectacle for this show with several pop culture tie-ins including musical acts and special entrances that I will go into a little more detail about below. If this was a glimpse of the New Japan to come, mixing a reasonable but not excessive amount of entertainment with the great wrestling and characters we’re used to, then I have no complaints.

New Japan claimed 29,000 paid for this show with an emphasis on “paid” which seemed to be a new standard of announcing an attendance, whether for just this show or not remains to be seen. Without doubt this looked to be the best Tokyo Dome attendance in years even though the listed attendance gave an almost opposite impression. I would guess under normal standards they would have claimed 50,000 if not more for this show. Next year 1/4 falls on a Saturday so if New Japan has another strong year it’s possible the company could edge closer to selling out the Dome again. UPDATE: President Sugabayashi confirmed the new practice of listing paid fans only, no more “sponsor announcements” (whether for just the Tokyo Dome or in general I don’t know). He also confirmed what I suspected that there were more fans than last year when the announced attendance was 43,000.

I missed the dark matches if they were screened at all but the show opened with an eight man tag. 9 years ago Bob Sapp vs. Akebono was watched by about 40% of Japan and was one of the biggest fights in history as Akebono the sumo legend was going up against Sapp the pop culture icon who had been a sensation that year not just as a K-1 fighter but as a celebrity in general. “Sapp Time” couldn’t be avoided, it was everywhere you looked. But many years later their star has faded, Sapp little more than a novelty act and Akebono a respectable pro wrestler who has kept his career going. They were added on to what looked a generic New Japan vs. CHAOS match to give it a little more of a “Tokyo Dome” feel. The match was lighthearted and entertaining enough for an opener. Sapp did hardly anything except take offense, he was a far cry from the invincible beast who held the IWGP Heavyweight Title many years ago and almost a self-parody. Nakanishi racked Iizuka with his Argentine backbreaker for the win.

The only major disappointment of the show was Masato Tanaka vs. Shelton Benjamin for the recently established NEVER Openweight Title. With the IWGP Intercontinental Title having an unexpected rise in status that would be accelerated further on this show, the NEVER title from New Japan’s sub-brand could be seen as a replacement for that. But what promised to be something of an ECW throwback was a basic sprint with no real excitement. A couple of nice moments but it was short and didn’t really feel like a title match. Tanaka won with his Sliding D to successfully defend the new title for the first time.

Thing started to pick up when the Killer Elite Squad defended their IWGP Tag Team Title against Goto & Anderson in a rematch of the 2012 World Tag League final. The Killer Elite Squad, comprised of Lance Archer & Davey Boy Smith Jr., appeared out of nowhere as a team late last year and won the belts off the famous Tenzan & Kojima duo before beating them again to really establish themselves. Today was their first post-TenKoji challenge against two more prolific singles wrestlers. Archer entered on a motorbike and along with his partner wore a cool mask to the ring. Goto & Anderson had a gimmicked entrance of their own as Anderson shot what looked to be t-shirts or something out of several bazookas along the Tokyo Dome rampway. The match turned out to be a good display of traditional tag wrestling with the KES coming out on top after two Killer bombs on Goto. So the Killer Elite Squad seem to have replaced Bad Intentions as the dominant foreign tag team of New Japan.

Yuji Nagata and Minoru Suzuki had their third New Japan Tokyo Dome match. It could be seen as overkill but some rivalries in pro wrestling never get old. We saw TAJIRI vs. Super Crazy what felt like 100 times on ECW TV and PPVs back in the day and never got bored of them. These two wrestle as such a high level that you’re always guaranteed something good and this was very, very good. Once again we were treated to spectacle as Ayumi Nakamura performed Suzuki’s famous “Kaze ni Nare” entrance music live on stage. The match will be remembered mostly for some entertaining slapfest where they just delivered slap after slap, Nagata occasionally interupting them to throw some stiff kicks. They were 1-1 on Dome shows before this and I’d hazard a guess that this was the decider as it probably won’t happen again at the Dome. And it was Nagata who picked up the win with his backdrop hold and continued to be relevant long after the younger generation have taken over leadership in New Japan.

New Japan has rarely ever done a good 3WAY match in my memory. The Chono vs. Fujita vs. Lesnar one from the Dome in 2005 stands out as particularly bad. So I was a little worried that today’s IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title 3WAY match between three of the world’s most exciting juniors Prince Devitt, Low Ki, and Kota Ibushi would disappoint. My worries were unfounded as they put on one of the smoothest, slickest, and high quality junior matches I’ve seen in a long time. It was under 15 minutes long but wrestled at a great pace with many exciting moments including a couple of great dives, Ibushi’s the pick of them. Low Ki entered dressed as Agent 47 from Hitman and carrying two pistols… a cool look but jaws dropped when people realized he was going to wrestle in this suit which he did without any problems somehow. Towards the end you just couldn’t guess who was winning but Devitt hit a Bloody Sunday off the top rope on Ibushi to successfully defend his title for the first time. The junior title has lacked stability since Devitt’s previous reign having gone from him to Ki to Ibushi and back to Devitt within 6 months but I get the feeling this Devitt reign may last a while again.

New Japan’s most famous tag team of the last 15 years, Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima, squared off against the legendary Keiji Muto & Shinjiro Otani in a special tag match. All four are New Japan dojo trained wrestlers with Tenzan, Kojima, and Otani from the same era, but only Tenzan and Kojima belong to New Japan now so it was a reunion. Initially designed to showcase the son of the late, great Shinya Hashimoto, Daichi, it had to be altered when Daichi broke his arm and Otani stepped in. In a match full of nostalgia and goosebump-inducing moments, Otani entered to Hashimoto’s old theme, now used by his son Daichi who seconded him. Then Muto entered to one of his famous New Japan themes and the crowd was really excited and emotional. TenKoji then entered to their remixed theme and the match began. It wasn’t one of the better matches on the show but the quality of the event was so high that it was still good with Otani showing he still has much to offer. Years pass but like Liger, Keiji Muto somehow keeps going strong despite his knees having been shot since the 90s. Despite the individual brilliance of Muto & Otani, the teamwork of Tenzan & Kojima was the difference maker as Otani succumbed to Kojima’s lariat followed by Tenzan’s moonsault. Daichi Hashimoto was irate after the match and got into a little scuffle with the winning team but it was brief and didn’t lead to anything. Hashimoto’s New Japan debut will have to wait but will definitely happen when he is healthy again.

Laughter7′s invasion of New Japan has been a great highlight of recent months. Laughter7 is comprised of Kazushi Sakuraba the pro wrestler who became a legend in MMA with his “Gracie Hunter” persona and his protégé Katsuyori Shibata, a New Japan trueborn who walked out on the company years ago just as they were pushing him to superstardom with Tanahashi and Nakamura. He embarked on a thoroughly mediocre MMA career and was largely forgotten by pro wrestling fans before his sudden return last year. The two had dominated every match for months leading to this show with Shibata the man in focus but today would be Sakuraba’s turn in the main spotlight as Shibata was placed just outside of the main event against one of New Japan’s “enforcers” Togi Makabe. This was a fight from the start and entertaining but not quite as intense as I expected. They traded offense in a good brawl but the finish was quite surprising as Makabe beat Shibata in rather dominating fashion with his King Kong kneedrop. I had expected Shibata to beat Makabe and Nakamura to beat Sakuraba to set up the big Nakamura vs. Shibata reunion match, but was wrong. My feeling that may or may not be right was that this was belated punishment for Shibata’s betrayal of a company that put so much faith in him. I really hope he sticks around as there is so much he could offer, feuds with Tanahashi, Nakamura, and Goto – all of whom he has history with – haven’t even been explored yet.

The first of the “double main event” saw Shinsuke Nakamura defend the IWGP Intercontinental Title against Kazushi Sakuraba. Nakamura is such a character who oozes charisma, style, and likeability. Even as the co-leader of New Japan’s top heel group he is just impossible to hate. After their recent awkwardness in a tag match together, there was a legitimate fear this could be a disaster though. Sakuraba has very little recent pro wrestling experience and Shibata had been doing much of the work in tags. What a surprise then this was. In the USTREAM chat people were going nuts over this match and for good reason, it is one I will remember for years and already a frontrunner for my 2013 match of the year. There was a tense and special atmosphere as they faced off just like the old New Japan vs. shoot-style outsider matches during the New Japan vs. UWF, New Japan vs. UWFi, and New Japan vs. UFO feuds. In the 2000s we had the shoot-style outsiders but it was ugly and awkward most of the time with the exception of some good matches (mostly featuring Kazuyuki Fujita), this was the opposite of that and was “shoot-style pro wrestling” rather than “a messy clusterf*ck of pro wrestling and MMA”. I was disappointed when they shook hands at the start because I thought it could lead to a boring “polite” match. After a feeling out process, Nakamura slapped Sakuraba in the face and BOOM we had lift-off. It turned into a pro wrestling masterclass with Sakuraba finally stepping out of Shibata’s shadow in this New Japan stint and coming across as a lethal, dangerous fighter who Nakamura struggled to compete with. The match had one of the most brutal knees to the face I’ve ever seen which replays showed caught Nakamura full force. I could feel my heart racing as I watched this, willing Nakamura to win but sensing it was Sakuraba’s for several reasons – Shibata having already lost, Nakamura missing the Boma Ye, and how dangerous Saku’s arm submissions came across as. The drama was immense. Nakamura escaped the chickenwing armlock but a while later was back in it, which convinced me it was game over. But somehow he escaped it and also survived a cross armbreaker and won with his Boma Ye to an enormous Tokyo Dome pop. They shook hands and hugged afterwards, showing great respect to each other. I felt this match elevated Nakamura even more than he already has been. There are almost no “New Japan vs. outsider” matches that could do this anymore but this did, while at the same time his IWGP Intercontinental Title also moved much further away from the midcard belt it originally seemed to be. An absolutely amazing match, a throwback to old times and a style Bushiroad boss Kidani seems to love and will hopefully ask to see more of in New Japan. 30 minute classics are great as we’d find out right after this but the true feel of Strong Style is in matches like Nakamura vs. Sakuraba.

New Japan went back a year to show Okada’s abysmal return from TNA Wrestling on the 1/4/12 show where he and YOSHI-HASHI (in a dark match today that highlighted their contrasting fortunes) had a real dud of a match. Okada later challenged Tanahashi to a title match and was largely laughed at or booed as no one took him seriously. What would follow would stun the Japanese wrestling scene as within a year Okada became one of the industry’s biggest stars and won the Tokyo Sports MVP award. His title reign so soon after returning could have bombed hard but he turned himself into a star with the IWGP Heavyweight Title. Since losing the title back to Tanahashi in June the build to the big rematch has been great with the two clocking up important wins as the time drew near for their clash of destiny. J-Pop band BREAKERZ performed live on the stage just before the main event as New Japan continued to crank up the spectacle value and implement pop culture into the product, which is one way of trying to get pro wrestling back into the mainstream consciousness. The band would accompany Tanahashi to the ring shortly after but Okada’s entrance was the best of the lot as he slowly descended on an elevator looking like the perfect bad boy, a new Tokyo Dome remix of his theme playing. As he hit the ring money rained down on the crowd, signalling the arrival of the new superstar, the “Rainmaker” Kazuchika Okada. The match began slowly as you could tell it was going to be long but was never anything less than great. With a double main event you expect both matches to offer something different and these were complete opposites. This was modern pro wrestling at its best and a match worthy of its hype. The last 15 or so minutes were out of this world and the Tokyo Dome crowd was red hot as you just couldn’t guess who was winning. Okada kicked out of the first High Fly Flow and survived Tana’s Texas Cloverleaf hold despite his hand flapping and coming so close to tapping out. Okada fought back but could never hit the Rainmaker, not even once, and always seemed one step behind Tanahashi to me. Tanahashi eventually won with a perfectly executed High Fly Flow and proved yet again he is the king of New Japan Pro-Wrestling. The match was almost 35 minutes long but was not boring at all. I was really disappointed Okada didn’t win, I was expecting it to catapult him to new levels, but you just can’t deny what a great champion Tanahashi is. Time and time again he delivers in these matches and wins over the crowd. And while I wanted Okada to win, I do think Tanahashi was the better performer on the day and showed his greatness. He is about 11 years older than Okada and this match established that he still has the edge but unless the rumours of Okada going to WWE are true (which I hope they are not, New Japan will cultivate his potential far better than WWE possibly could), he will be the star of New Japan in years to come.

The big surprise after the main event is that no new challenger showed his face and Tanahashi did his routine air guitar performance to send everyone home happy. No titles changed hands on the entire show and it felt much like closure for 2012. Perhaps “THE NEW BEGINNING”, New Japan’s next big show in February, is where new things may happen. Despite the lack of shake-ups this was a January 4th show for the ages and certainly one of the best I have ever seen. New Japan had a fantastic 2012 and 2013 has started even better as this year’s 1/4 show was much better than its equivalent last year. The event is available on VOD (video on demand) until 1/11 5pm JST if you want to watch it on New Japan’s USTREAM channel.

New Japan presents one of its strongest lineups in a long time at “KING OF PRO-WRESTLING”, the new name of New Japan’s October show at Sumo Hall. From top to bottom this is a loaded card with all five IWGP titles being defended, and will be topped by the Tokyo Dome rematch of Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Minoru Suzuki for the IWGP Heavyweight Title. Tanahashi successfully defended the title against Suzuki in January in his previous reign as Okada has of course had a memorable first reign since then, but Suzuki hit back in the G1 Climax by beating Tanahashi. Speaking of Okada, he is willing to risk his number one contendership for the belt which he is contractually entitled to and will put it on the line against the on-fire “Machine Gun” Karl Anderson in a rematch of the 2012 G1 Climax final which Okada won.

Hirooki Goto is given chance to win back the IWGP Intercontinental Title against the man who took it from him, Shinsuke Nakamura, in the semi final while Sakuraba & Shibata face a tougher level of opposition this time with no young lion to bully as Makabe leads Wataru Inoue into war against the duo. NO LIMIT collide again as the former tag partners continue their endless grudge after Yujiro attacked Naito’s injured knee yesterday, leading to a big singles match between them at Sumo Hall. TenKoji finally make their V1 defense of the IWGP Tag Team Title after regaining them in July, taking on Suzuki Gun’s Lance Archer & Davey Boy Smith Jr., the latter being Harry Smith who has decided to rename himself in tribute of his late father.

And of course the juniors can’t be forgotten as the junior dream match is repeated, Kota Ibushi making his V3 defense of the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title against the man he won the belt from Low Ki. Rocky Romero & Alex Koslov make their V2 defense of the IWGP Jr. Tag Team Title against the Japan-USA alliance of KUSHIDA & Alex Shelley. And what better way to start the show than with the return of the hugely popular Manabu Nakanishi? Nakanishi finally returns to action and teams with old friend Yuji Nagata and 2010 Tokyo Sports Tag Team of the Year partner Strong Man, who of course formed Muscle Orchestra with Nakanishi.

NJPW “NJPW 40TH ANNIVERSARY ~ KING OF PRO-WRESTLING”, 10/8/12 (WPW/PPV/iPPV)
Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan

1. Manabu Nakanishi Return Match: Manabu Nakanishi, Yuji Nagata & Strong Man vs. Toru Yano, Takashi Iizuka & Tomohiro Ishii
2. IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Title: Rocky Romero & Alex Koslov (c) vs. KUSHIDA & Alex Shelley
3. IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title: Kota Ibushi (c) vs. Low Ki
4. IWGP Tag Team Title: Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima (c) vs. Lance Archer & Davey Boy Smith Jr.
5. Tetsuya Naito vs. Yujiro Takahashi
6. Togi Makabe & Wataru Inoue vs. Kazushi Sakuraba & Katsuyori Shibata
7. Tokyo Dome IWGP Heavyweight Title #1 Contender Match: Karl Anderson vs. Kazuchika Okada
8. IWGP Intercontinental Title: Shinsuke Nakamura (c) vs. Hirooki Goto
9. IWGP Heavyweight Title: Hiroshi Tanahashi (c) vs. Minoru Suzuki

Before then…

NJPW “THE MEMORY MEETING OF KASABOKO SUMMIT IN NIIGATA ON NJPW 40TH ANNIVERSARY TOUR”, 10/6/12
Niigata Nishikawa Sports Center

1. Hiromu Takahashi vs. Takaaki Watanabe
2. Jushin Thunder Liger & Tiger Mask vs. Captain New Japan & BUSHI
3. Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima & Yuji Nagata vs. Toru Yano, Takashi Iizuka & Jado
4. Togi Makabe & Wataru Inoue vs. Tomohiro Ishii & YOSHI-HASHI
5. Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Minoru Suzuki
6. Hirooki Goto & Tetsuya Naito vs. Shinsuke Nakamura & Yujiro Takahashi
7. Hiroshi Tanahashi & KUSHIDA vs. Kazuchika Okada & Gedo

NJPW “DESTRUCTION ’12″, 9/23/12 (WPW/PPV)
Kobe World Hall
8,000 Fans – Super No Vacancy

1. Takashi Iizuka & Tomohiro Ishii beat Captain New Japan & Tama Tonga (9:16) when Ishii used a brainbuster on Captain.
2. KUSHIDA, Alex Shelley & BUSHI beat Rocky Romero, Alex Koslov & Gedo (9:37) when Shelley used the I-94 on Koslov.
3. Low Ki beat Daisuke Sasaki (8:45) with a diving footstomp.
4. Minoru Suzuki, Lance Archer & Harry Smith beat Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima & Yuji Nagata (12:02) when Suzuki used a Gotch-style piledriver on Nagata.
5. Togi Makabe beat Kengo Mashimo (9:02) with a King Kong kneedrop.
6. Kazushi Sakuraba & Katsuyori Shibata beat Wataru Inoue & Hiromu Takahashi (3:03) when Shibata used a PK on Takahashi.
7. IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title: Kota Ibushi (c) beat Ryusuke Taguchi (17:06) with a Phoenix splash (2nd defense).
8. Hirooki Goto, Tetsuya Naito & Karl Anderson beat Shinsuke Nakamura, Kazuchika Okada & Yujiro Takahashi (15:08) when Goto used the Shouten Kai on Okada.
9. IWGP Heavyweight Title: Hiroshi Tanahashi (c) beat Naomichi Marufuji (23:35) with the High Fly Flow (3rd defense).

* Tanahashi overcame a stiff V3 defense of his IWGP Heavyweight Title in the main event of today’s sold out Kobe show, beating the man who upset him in the G1 Climax, NOAH’s Naomichi Marufuji. Tanahashi had little time to recover before Minoru Suzuki was in the ring challenging him for a title match, which would be a rematch of this January’s Tokyo Dome show and also another G1 rematch, as Suzuki was one of three men (the others being Marufuji and Anderson) who beat Tana in that tournament.

* Kota Ibushi’s second run as IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion continues to impress as today he survived the challenge of Taguchi in another difficult defense. Like Tanahashi, Ibushi was greeted by his probable next challenger right after winning as the man he defeated to win the title, Low Ki, made his presence felt and demanded another match with the high-flying champion.

* Kazushi Sakuraba and Katsuyori Shibata are finally here! The invading duo ran through Wataru Inoue and young lion Hiromu Takahashi in just 3 minutes to advertise their re-arrival in New Japan. Togi Makabe, who earlier had beaten Suzuki Gun’s newest member Kengo Mashimo, appeared after the match to challenge the two, and Makabe & Inoue vs. Sakuraba & Shibata has already been determined for October’s Sumo Hall show.

* Manabu Nakanishi is back! Or almost. After well over a year out of action with a serious injury, the big man announced in the ring today that he will return to action at Sumo Hall. Kobe responded with a loud “Nakanishi!” chant.

* As things stand the 10/8 Sumo Hall show is looking likely to have Tanahashi vs. Suzuki (IWGP Heavyweight), Ibushi vs. Low Ki (IWGP Jr. Heavyweight), Sakuraba & Shibata vs. Makabe & Inoue, and Nakanishi’s return. There are also whispers of a Nakamura vs. Goto rematch for the IWGP Intercontinental Title after Goto impressively pinned Okada today in a six man tag match.

NJPW “NJPW 40TH ANNIVERSARY ~ LAST REBELLION”, 7/29/12 (Samurai! TV)
Tokyo Korakuen Hall
2,040 Fans – Super No Vacancy Full House

1. Captain New Japan & KUSHIDA beat Jado & Gedo (7:22) when KUSHIDA used a Buzzsaw kick on Gedo.
2. Wataru Inoue, Jushin Thunder Liger & Tiger Mask beat Ryusuke Taguchi, BUSHI & Tama Tonga (9:09) when Inoue used a German suplex hold on BUSHI.
3. Karl Anderson, MVP, Shelton Benjamin & Rush beat Minoru Suzuki, Lance Archer, TAKA Michinoku & Taichi (10:15) when Benjamin used the Paydirt on Taichi.
4. Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima & Yuji Nagata beat Toru Yano, Takashi Iizuka & Tomohiro Ishii (10:09) when Nagata used a backdrop hold on Ishii.
5. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Togi Makabe, Hirooki Goto & Tetsuya Naito beat Shinsuke Nakamura, Kazuchika Okada, Yujiro Takahashi & YOSHI-HASHI (17:12) when Naito used a Stardust press on YOSHI-HASHI.
6. Double Main Event I – IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title: Kota Ibushi beat Low Ki (c) (19:30) with a Phoenix splash to become the 30th champion.
7. Double Main Event II – NWA World Historic Middleweight Title: Prince Devitt (c) beat Volador Jr. (13:05) with an avalanche-style Bloody Sunday (2nd defense).

* The final show before this year’s G1 Climax was the junior-centric “LAST REBELLION” and was a complete sell out at a packed Korakuen Hall.

* NWA World Historic Middleweight Champion, Prince Devitt, is unfamiliar with the idea of not holding a title these days so having lost the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title back in May had to make sure he overcame the tough challenge of CMLL star Volador Jr. in part two of the double main event. This was a good match with many exciting high-flying moves although the fans were a little burned out from what came before it, but New Japan wanted one of its own stars in the final match of the card. And Devitt came out on top, sinking Volador with an avalanche-style Bloody Sunday to complete a successful V2 defense.

* The most anticipated match of the show was the first of the two main events and saw dominant IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion, Low Ki, take on DDT star and former champion Kota Ibushi in something of a modern day junior dream match. This was Ibushi’s first singles match in New Japan since defeating Taguchi in a title defense in his last reign just under a year ago, after which he was forced to vacate the title with a badly dislocated shoulder. Having not long returned Ibushi has quickly returned to New Japan and put on a wildly exciting match with Ki today in what was Ki’s V2 defense of the title. And Ibushi picked up where he left off in New Japan, sinking Ki with a Phoenix splash to capture the title for the second time. KUSHIDA, who upset Ki in a non-title match a week ago, appeared afterwards to issue a challenge to Ibushi which could set up another match with great potential. Hopefully Ki’s quick back-to-back losses don’t mean he is on his way out so soon as he has boosted the junior division a lot since his New Japan return.

New Japan today announced that CHAOS tandem Toru Yano & Takashi Iizuka have been stripped of their IWGP Tag Team Title with immediate effect after the double non-finish in Osaka on Saturday. President Sugabayashi said they could not be deemed worthy champions after such a finish (or non-finish). It looks like the Osaka match won’t be recognised as Yano & Iizuka’s V1 defense either. But all is not lost for the dastardly duo as they have a quick chance to reclaim the title in a July packed with title matches.

Prince Devitt defends his NWA World Historic Middleweight Title, won earlier in the year when he traveled to Mexico, against Suzuki Gun’s Taichi on 7/8 at Korakuen Hall. At the end of the same tour, New Japan hits the Yamagata Sports Center with four huge title matches. As mentioned, Yano & Iizuka can regain the IWGP Tag Team Title but so can Tenzan & Kojima as the two sides meet in a decision match to determine the 60th champions. Whoever wins the IWGP Heavyweight Title clash at Sumo Hall on July 1st won’t have much time to enjoy that victory as either Tanahashi or Makabe will defend the title against Masato Tanaka later in the main event of the Yamagata show.

New Japan’s secondary singles belt, the IWGP Intercontinental Title, suddenly doesn’t seem quite so secondary as Hirooki Goto will make his V3 defense of the one-year old title against old rival Shinsuke Nakamura in a huge match that some would say is even bigger than the IWGP Heavyweight Title match. And finally, Jushin Thunder Liger & Tiger Mask make their V1 defense of the IWGP Jr. Tag Team Title against the foreign duo of Rocky Romero & Alex Koslov, the latter of whom impressed in the Super Jr. so has been invited back. Akebono, Kota Ibushi, and Daisuke Sasaki will appear on the 7/18-7/19 Sapporo Teisen Hall double header on this tour also. Update: CMLL’s Maximo has also been announced for the entire tour.

After the tour and before the G1, New Japan is again at Korakuen Hall with a show that sees Low Ki defends his IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title in an already much anticipated match against Ibushi.

NJPW, 7/8/12 (J SPORTS)
Tokyo Korakuen Hall

1. NWA World Historic Middleweight Title: Prince Devitt (c) vs. Taichi

NJPW, 7/22/12 (WPW)
Yamagata Sports Center

1. IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Title: Jushin Thunder Liger & Tiger Mask (c) vs. Rocky Romero & Alex Koslov
2. IWGP Intercontinental Title: Hirooki Goto (c) vs. Shinsuke Nakamura
3. IWGP Tag Team Title: Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima vs. Toru Yano & Takashi Iizuka (decision match)
4. IWGP Heavyweight Title: Winner of Tanahashi/Makabe (c) vs. Masato Tanaka

NJPW “NJPW 40TH ANNIVERSARY ~ LAST REBELLION”, 7/29/12
Tokyo Korakuen Hall

1. IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title: Low Ki (c) vs. Kota Ibushi

NJPW “DOMINION 6.16″, 6/16/12 (WPW/PPV)
Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium
6,850 Fans – Super No Vacancy Full House

1. Kota Ibushi , Kenny Omega & Daisuke Sasaki beat Prince Devitt, KUSHIDA & BUSHI (10:48) when Ibushi used a sit-down Last Ride on BUSHI.
2. YOSHI-HASHI, Tomohiro Ishii & Rocky Romero beat Yuji Nagata, Wataru Inoue & Captain New Japan (9:26) when Ishii used a brainbuster on Captain.
3. IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Title: Jushin Thunder Liger & Tiger Mask beat TAKA Michinoku & Taichi (9:20) when Tiger used a Tiger suplex hold on Taichi to become the 32nd champions (decision match).
4. Special Tag Match: MVP & Shelton Benjamin beat Karl Anderson & Tama Tonga (10:19) when Benjamin used the Paydirt on Tonga.
5. IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title: Low Ki (c) beat Ryusuke Taguchi (12:32) with the Warrior’s Wrath (1st defense).
6. IWGP Tag Team Title: Toru Yano & Takashi Iizuka (c) vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima went to a double countout (2:41). (RESTART) Toru Yano & Takashi Iizuka (c) vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima went to a no contest (12:26).
7. Special Tag Match: Shinsuke Nakamura & Masato Tanaka beat Hirooki Goto & Tetsuya Naito (13:28) when Tanaka used the Sliding D on Naito.
8. Special Singles Match: Togi Makabe beat Minoru Suzuki (16:21) with a King Kong kneedrop.
9. IWGP Heavyweight Title: Hiroshi Tanahashi beat Kazuchika Okada (c) (28:06) with the High Fly Flow to become the 58th champion.

* Another complete sell out for New Japan with people turned away, the company remains on fire and the healthiest it has been in many years.

* The first “Rainmaker” era is over as a rematch from February in the same building saw ace Hiroshi Tanahashi avenge his IWGP Heavyweight Title loss to upstart Kazuchika Okada by defeating him in a memorable main event. Okada has seemed unstoppable since he shocked the wrestling world and defeated Tanahashi, but the leader of New Japan struck back today and defeated the CHAOS man with his High Fly Flow. Thus begins Tanahashi’s sixth reign as champion, equaling Tatsumi Fujinami’s record six reigns that Tanahashi seems very likely to better in his career. Masato Tanaka and Togi Makabe, both big winners on the show, appeared after the match to challenge Tanahashi for the title.

* Makabe feels he deserved a shot after a big win over Suzuki Gun leader, Minoru Suzuki, in the semi final. This grudge feud that has been going on for much of the year came to a head in Osaka with Makabe pinning Suzuki for an important victory.

* Tanaka’s own shout for a title shot came in the seventh match as he and CHAOS leader Nakamura defeated Hirooki Goto & Tetsuya Naito. Naito, who has been a little unfocused lately and arguing constantly with Tanahashi who he seems a little bitter (jealous?) of, fell to Tanaka’s Sliding D.

* The TenKoji vs. Yano & Iizuka feud showed no signs of ending in Osaka as Tenzan & Kojima were granted a rematch for the IWGP Tag Team Title that they lost to the CHAOS tandem in Fukuoka last month. The match had barely started before both teams were counted out. President Sugabayashi ordered a restart and a more orderly bout began but after 12 1/2 minutes the referee completely lost control and had to throw the match out.

* The Best of the Super Jr. final was repeated just days after the event in which Ryusuke Taguchi stalled the Low Ki juggernaut. Low Ki had won nine matches in a row without a defeat until Taguchi defeated him in the final, setting up an enticing V1 defense of the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title for Ki in Osaka. But despite his big tournament win, Taguchi was unable to get the job done on a bigger stage tonight as he was beaten. DDT’s Kota Ibushi, returning to New Japan after a long absence due to injury, appeared afterwards and challenged Ki to a title match that could be quite spectacular. This could happen on the joint New Japan/All Japan anniversary show at Sumo Hall in July.

* For the first time since 2006, Jushin Thunder Liger appeared as Kishin Liger as he and Tiger Mask met TAKA Michinoku & Taichi for the vacant IWGP Jr. Tag Team Title. The Kishin Liger persona was debuted in the legendary Liger vs. Great Muta match at Kobe World Hall in 1996 and revived briefly in 2006 when Liger destroyed Bad Boy Hido. He and Tiger Mask finally got their shot at the belts today as they were supposed to last month in Fukuoka but Davey Richards was unable to appear, forcing the title to be held up. In their way stood TAKA & Taichi but they proved to be little match for the fearsome Kishin Liger who went on a rampage, spitting red mist in Taichi’s eyes which allowed Tiger Mask to drop the young punk with his Tiger suplex hold for the win. So Liger finally wins IWGP gold again for the first time since he and AKIRA won these sames belts in 2008, while this is Tiger Mask’s first title since dropping the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title to Marufuji on 1/4/10.

It’s official! Ryusuke Taguchi and Low Ki go to war again just days after Taguchi defeated Low Ki to win the Best of the Super Jr. for the first time. That win moved him into instant contendership for Low Ki’s IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title and the two will collide for it in Osaka. As reported yesterday, the vacant IWGP Jr. Tag Team Title will also be on the line as the masked hero team of Liger & Tiger face Suzuki Gun’s TAKA Michinoku & Taichi. On top of those, the most notably additions are the return of the MVP & Shelton Benjamin tag team and the long awaited return of DDT’s Kota Ibushi, last seen in New Japan holding the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title before a serious injury kept him out of action long-term.

NJPW “DOMINION 6.16″, 6/16/12 (WPW)
Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium

1. Prince Devitt, KUSHIDA & BUSHI vs. Kota Ibushi , Kenny Omega & Daisuke Sasaki
2. Yuji Nagata, Wataru Inoue & Captain New Japan vs. YOSHI-HASHI, Tomohiro Ishii & Rocky Romero
3. IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Title: Jushin Thunder Liger & Tiger Mask vs. TAKA Michinoku & Taichi (decision match)
4. Special Tag Match: Karl Anderson & Tama Tonga vs. MVP & Shelton Benjamin
5. IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title: Low Ki (c) vs. Ryusuke Taguchi
6. IWGP Tag Team Title: Toru Yano & Takashi Iizuka (c) vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima
7. Special Tag Match: Hirooki Goto & Tetsuya Naito vs. Shinsuke Nakamura & Masato Tanaka
8. Special Singles Match: Togi Makabe vs. Minoru Suzuki
9. IWGP Heavyweight Title: Kazuchika Okada (c) vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi

NJPW “NJPW 40TH ANNIVERSARY ~ WRESTLING DONTAKU 2012″, 5/3/12 (WPW/PPV)
Fukuoka International Center
6,500 Fans – Super No Vacancy Full House

1. YOSHI-HASHI, Jado & Tomohiro Ishii beat Strong Man, Captain New Japan & Tama Tonga (7:12) when Ishii used a brainbuster on Tonga.
2. TAKA Michinoku & Taichi beat Ryusuke Taguchi & KUSHIDA (8:16) when Taichi used a Taichi-style Gedo clutch on KUSHIDA.
3. Jushin Thunder Liger & Tiger Mask beat Rocky Romero & Gedo (7:50) when Tiger used a crucifix hold on Gedo.
4. IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title: Low Ki beat Prince Devitt (c) (21:01) with the Ki Krusher ’99 to become the 63rd champion.
5. IWGP Tag Team Title: Toru Yano & Takashi Iizuka beat Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima (c) (16:47) when Yano used the Oni Koroshi on Kojima to become the 59th champions.
6. Special Tag Match: Minoru Suzuki & Yoshihiro Takayama beat Togi Makabe & Yuji Nagata (13:43) when Suzuki used a Gotch-style piledriver on Makabe.
7. Special Singles Match: Shinsuke Nakamura beat Karl Anderson (12:15) with the Boma Ye.
8. Special Tag Match: Hiroshi Tanahashi & Tetsuya Naito beat Masato Tanaka & Yujiro Takahashi (13:59) when Tanahashi used the High Fly Flow on Takahashi.
9. IWGP Heavyweight Title: Kazuchika Okada (c) beat Hirooki Goto (24:55) with the Rainmaker (2nd defense).

* Who can stop the Rainmaker!? New Japan Cup winner and IWGP Intercontinental Champion, Hirooki Goto, remains unable to win the greatest prize available, the IWGP Heavyweight Title, after another near miss at a packed Fukuoka International Center today. It was a match that could have gone either way but the vigor and momentum of Okada carried him over the line as he finished off Goto with the Rainmaker. Tanahashi appeared after the match and challenged Okada to a match which would be a rematch of their February class where Okada shocked everyone by winning the title. And it looks like this match could take place at the very same building as last time, Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium, with “DOMINION 6.16″ looming as New Japan’s next big show.

* Tanahashi had just teamed with Naito to defeat Tanaka & Yujiro before his post-main event appearance, pinning Yujiro after his High Fly Flow. There was said to be some issues between Tanahashi and Naito after the match which could be isolated or hint at some bigger problems.

* Shinsuke Nakamura avenged his upset New Japan Cup loss to Karl Anderson, which was one of my personal favourite matches of 2012 (the NJC match). This was a slightly shorter match but was also said to be very exciting with Shinsuke’s Boma Ye making the difference.

* The thorn in TenKoji’s side, CHAOS’ Toru Yano & Takashi Iizuka, became a much bigger problem today. After beating TenKoji in a non-title match then Yano recently pinning Kojima in a singles match, the dastardly heels today went one step further by capturing the IWGP Tag Team Title from Tenzan & Kojima. After the Iron Fingers from Hell by Iizuka, Yano dropped Kojima with his Oni Koroshi for the huge win, very momentous for both men. This is Yano’s first title since he and Makabe held the IWGP Tag Title in 2008 while for Iizuka this is his first title since 1996(!) when he and Kazuo Yamazaki held the tag belts.

* Prince Devitt, the absolute ace of New Japan’s junior division for two years now, said going into his match with the “One World Warrior” Low Ki that he may be the underdog given Ki’s track record across the world where he has wrestled in almost every major promotion. Devitt had beaten Ki last year in New York in an IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title defense but today marked Low Ki’s true return to New Japan as he ended Devitt’s half-year reign as champion in an exciting match. Ki spiked Devitt with the Ki Krusher ’99 and finally the Irishman seems to have found his first worthy challenger since Kota Ibushi went down with a long-term injury.

New Japan has revealed the full card for the major 5/3 show at Fukuoka International Center today, which includes four title matches and three special matches. As confirmed on the heels of his New Japan Cup win yesterday, Hirooki Goto will be Kazuchika Okada’s next challenger for the IWGP Heavyweight Title in the main event. Also confirmed was the much expected TenKoji defense of the IWGP Tag Team Title against CHAOS’ Toru Yano & Takashi Iizuka, who defeated Tenzan & Kojima in a non-title match not long ago. The No Remorse Corps, Davey Richards & Rocky Romero, make their V1 defense of the IWGP Jr. Tag Team Title against the masked super hero team of Jushin Thunder Liger & Tiger Mask, the first time this title has not been NRC vs. Apollo 55 this year. He’s back! “One World Warrior” Low Ki returns to New Japan for his latest stint and instantly challenges Prince Devitt for the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title in a rematch from last year in America when Devitt won during New Japan’s tour of the east coast. Of the special matches announced, the standout is a rematch from the New Japan Cup where Shinsuke Nakamura and Karl Anderson blew the roof off Korakuen Hall with an incredible match that the “Machine Gun” won. Shinsuke will look to avoid a similar upset.

Tour matches before and after the Fukuoka show were also announced.

-

–> NJPW 40TH ANNIVERSARY TOUR ~ NEW JAPAN BRAVE 2012 <--

NJPW, 4/21/12 (Samurai! TV)
Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium #2

1. Tama Tonga vs. Hiromu Takahashi
2. Strong Man & Captain New Japan vs. YOSHI-HASHI & Tomohiro Ishii
3. Prince Devitt, Ryusuke Taguchi, Jushin Thunder Liger & Tiger Mask vs. Low Ki, Rocky Romero, Jado & Gedo
4. Togi Makabe, Wataru Inoue & KUSHIDA vs. Minoru Suzuki, TAKA Michinoku & Taichi
5. Special Singles Match: Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Takashi Iizuka
6. Special Singles Match: Satoshi Kojima vs. Toru Yano
7. Special 8 Man Tag Match: Hiroshi Tanahashi, Hirooki Goto, Tetsuya Naito & Karl Anderson vs. Kazuchika Okada, Shinsuke Nakamura, Masato Tanaka & Yujiro Takahashi

NJPW, 4/24/12
Kaikyo Messe Shimonoseki

1. Wataru Inoue & Takaaki Watanabe vs. KUSHIDA & Tama Tonga
2. Prince Devitt & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Low Ki & Gedo
3. Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima, Jushin Thunder Liger & Tiger Mask vs. Toru Yano, Takashi Iizuka, Rocky Romero & Jado
4. Togi Makabe, Yuji Nagata & Strong Man vs. Minoru Suzuki, TAKA Michinoku & Taichi
5. Karl Anderson & Captain New Japan vs. Shinsuke Nakamura & Tomohiro Ishii
6. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Hirooki Goto & Tetsuya Naito vs. Kazuchika Okada, Yujiro Takahashi & YOSHI-HASHI

NJPW, 4/25/12
Shunan Shinnanyo Gymnasium

1. Wataru Inoue & Hiromu Takahashi vs. Ryusuke Taguchi & Tama Tonga
2. Jushin Thunder Liger & Tiger Mask vs. Rocky Romero & Jado
3. Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima & Strong Man vs. Toru Yano, Takashi Iizuka & Tomohiro Ishii
4. Tetsuya Naito & Prince Devitt vs. Low Ki & Gedo
5. Togi Makabe, Yuji Nagata & KUSHIDA vs. Minoru Suzuki, TAKA Michinoku & Taichi
6. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Hirooki Goto, Karl Anderson & Captain New Japan vs. Kazuchika Okada, Shinsuke Nakamura, Yujiro Takahashi & YOSHI-HASHI

NJPW, 4/27/12
Kitajima North Park Gymnasium

1. Wataru Inoue & Takaaki Watanabe vs. KUSHIDA & Tama Tonga
2. Strong Man & Prince Devitt vs. YOSHI-HASHI & Low Ki
3. Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima & Captain New Japan vs. Toru Yano, Takashi Iizuka & Jado
4. Togi Makabe, Yuji Nagata & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Minoru Suzuki, TAKA Michinoku & Taichi
5. Tetsuya Naito & Karl Anderson vs. Shinsuke Nakamura & Tomohiro Ishii
6. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Hirooki Goto, Jushin Thunder Liger & Tiger Mask vs. Kazuchika Okada, Yujiro Takahashi, Rocky Romero & Gedo

NJPW, 4/28/12
Kochi Sunpia Chres

1. Wataru Inoue & Hiromu Takahashi vs. Ryusuke Taguchi & Tama Tonga
2. Jushin Thunder Liger & Tiger Mask vs. Rocky Romero & Gedo
3. Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima & Strong Man vs. Toru Yano, Takashi Iizuka & YOSHI-HASHI
4. Tetsuya Naito & Prince Devitt vs. Low Ki & Jado
5. Togi Makabe, Yuji Nagata & KUSHIDA vs. Minoru Suzuki, TAKA Michinoku & Taichi
6. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Hirooki Goto, Karl Anderson & Captain New Japan vs. Kazuchika Okada, Shinsuke Nakamura, Yujiro Takahashi & Tomohiro Ishii

NJPW, 4/30/12
Kumamoto City Distribution & Information Hall

1. Wataru Inoue & Takaaki Watanabe vs. KUSHIDA & Tama Tonga
2. Prince Devitt & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Low Ki & Jado
3. Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima, Jushin Thunder Liger & Tiger Mask vs. Toru Yano, Takashi Iizuka, Rocky Romero & Gedo
4. Togi Makabe, Yuji Nagata & Strong Man vs. Minoru Suzuki, TAKA Michinoku & Taichi
5. Tetsuya Naito & Karl Anderson vs. Shinsuke Nakamura & YOSHI-HASHI
6. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Hirooki Goto & Captain New Japan vs. Kazuchika Okada, Yujiro Takahashi & Tomohiro Ishii

NJPW, 5/1/12
Oita Event Hall

1. Wataru Inoue & Hiromu Takahashi vs. KUSHIDA & Tama Tonga
2. Prince Devitt, Jushin Thunder Liger & Tiger Mask vs. Low Ki, Rocky Romero & Jado
3. Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima & Captain New Japan vs. Toru Yano, Takashi Iizuka & Gedo
4. Togi Makabe, Yuji Nagata & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Minoru Suzuki, TAKA Michinoku & Taichi
5. Hiroshi Tanahashi & Tetsuya Naito vs. Yujiro Takahashi & Tomohiro Ishii
6. Hirooki Goto, Karl Anderson & Strong Man vs. Kazuchika Okada, Shinsuke Nakamura & YOSHI-HASHI

-

NJPW “NJPW 40TH ANNIVERSARY ~ WRESTLING DONTAKU 2012″, 5/3/12 (WPW/PPV)
Fukuoka International Center

1. Strong Man, Wataru Inoue, Captain New Japan & Tama Tonga vs. YOSHI-HASHI, Jado, Gedo & Tomohiro Ishii
2. Ryusuke Taguchi & KUSHIDA vs. TAKA Michinoku & Taichi
3. IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Title: Davey Richards & Rocky Romero (c) vs. Jushin Thunder Liger & Tiger Mask
4. IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title: Prince Devitt (c) vs. Low Ki
5. IWGP Tag Team Title: Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima (c) vs. Toru Yano & Takashi Iizuka
6. Special Tag Match: Togi Makabe & Yuji Nagata vs. Minoru Suzuki & Yoshihiro Takayama
7. Special Singles Match: Karl Anderson vs. Shinsuke Nakamura
8. Special Tag Match: Hiroshi Tanahashi & Tetsuya Naito vs. Masato Tanaka & Yujiro Takahashi
9. IWGP Heavyweight Title: Kazuchika Okada (c) vs. Hirooki Goto

-

–> NJPW 40TH ANNIVERSARY TOUR ~ NEW JAPAN LIVE 2012 <--

NJPW, 5/4/12
Hiroshima Industrial Hall West Exhibition Pavilion

1. Hiromu Takahashi vs. Takaaki Watanabe
2. Jushin Thunder Liger, Tiger Mask, Ryusuke Taguchi & KUSHIDA vs. Davey Richards, Rocky Romero, Jado & Gedo
3. Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima & Captain New Japan vs. Toru Yano, Takashi Iizuka & Tomohiro Ishii
4. Togi Makabe, Strong Man & Wataru Inoue vs. Minoru Suzuki, TAKA Michinoku & Taichi
5. Karl Anderson & Tama Tonga vs. Shinsuke Nakamura & YOSHI-HASHI
6. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Hirooki Goto & Tetsuya Naito vs. Kazuchika Okada, Masato Tanaka & Yujiro Takahashi

NJPW, 5/5/12
Takamatsu City Gymnasium

1. Hiromu Takahashi vs. Takaaki Watanabe
2. Strong Man, Wataru Inoue, Captain New Japan & Tama Tonga vs. YOSHI-HASHI, Jado, Gedo & Tomohiro Ishii
3. Togi Makabe, Ryusuke Taguchi & KUSHIDA vs. Minoru Suzuki, TAKA Michinoku & Taichi
4. Special Elimination Match I: Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima, Jushin Thunder Liger & Tiger Mask vs. Toru Yano, Takashi Iizuka, Davey Richards & Rocky Romero
5. Special Elimination Match II: Hiroshi Tanahashi, Hirooki Goto, Tetsuya Naito & Karl Anderson vs. Kazuchika Okada, Shinsuke Nakamura, Masato Tanaka & Yujiro Takahashi

NJPW, 5/6/12
Okayama Orange Hall

1. Wataru Inoue & Tama Tonga vs. Hiromu Takahashi & Takaaki Watanabe
2. Captain New Japan vs. Yujiro Takahashi
3. Jushin Thunder Liger, Tiger Mask, Ryusuke Taguchi & KUSHIDA vs. Davey Richards, Rocky Romero, Jado & Gedo
4. Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima & Strong Man vs. Toru Yano, Takashi Iizuka & Tomohiro Ishii
5. Togi Makabe & Yuji Nagata vs. Minoru Suzuki & Taichi
6. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Hirooki Goto, Tetsuya Naito & Karl Anderson vs. Kazuchika Okada, Shinsuke Nakamura, Masato Tanaka & YOSHI-HASHI

–> “NJPW 40TH ANNIVERSARY TOUR ~ NEW JAPAN GLORY 2012” <--

NJPW, 3/10/12 (Samurai! TV)
Nagoya International Conference Hall
2,500 Fans – Super No Vacancy

1. Tomohiro Ishii beat Takaaki Watanabe (10:05) with a lariat.
2. KUSHIDA beat Hiromu Takahashi (8:35) with the 9469.
3. Jushin Thunder Liger, Tiger Mask & Ryusuke Taguchi beat Rocky Romero, Jado & Gedo (10:51) when Liger used an air scissors drop on Gedo.
4. Toru Yano, Takashi Iizuka & YOSHI-HASHI beat Karl Anderson, Captain New Japan & Tama Tonga (9:33) when Yano used the Kuro Kirishima on Tonga.
5. Togi Makabe, Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima, Yuji Nagata & Wataru Inoue beat Minoru Suzuki, Yoshihiro Takayama, Lance Archer, TAKA Michinoku & Taichi (15:35) when Makabe used a King Kong kneedrop on Taichi.
6. Kazuchika Okada, Shinsuke Nakamura, Masato Tanaka & Yujiro Takahashi beat Hiroshi Tanahashi, Hirooki Goto, Tetsuya Naito & Tomoaki Honma (16:08) when Okada used the Rainmaker on Honma.
7. IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title: Prince Devitt (c) beat Davey Richards (15:25) with the Bloody Sunday (4th defense).

* Devitt’s successful V4 defense of the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title means that he will carry the belt to CMLL in Mexico as he heads there after tomorrow’s show, starting up on the 15th and remaining there until April 8th. Today’s win over IWGP Jr. Tag Title co-holder Richards means that New Japan’s long-standing junior ace has retained the belt three times against him now over his two reigns. Devitt’s first reign lasted one day shy of a year and a record-breaking 7 defenses, but his second reign is quietly chugging along, as he will soon be half a year into the reign with four challengers bypassed.

Kazuchika Okada makes his V1 defense of the IWGP Heavyweight Title on March 4th at Korakuen Hall, in the main event of New Japan’s 40th anniversary show. A new generation steps into the spotlight when the 24-year-old new champion battles 29-year-old Tetsuya Naito in the main event. Soon after the March series, “NJPW 40TH ANNIVERSARY TOUR ~ NEW JAPAN GLORY 2012“, begins, and although full cards have not yet been announced, three title matches have. Prince Devitt continues his long-running feud with Davey Richards when the two meet for the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title in Nagoya on 3/10. This will be the third match for the title the two have had, with Devitt 2-0 so far. A day later in Hamamatsu, Hirooki Goto makes his V1 defense of the IWGP Intercontinental Title against rival Yujiro Takahashi, who like his former tag partner Naito will be looking for his first singles gold in New Japan. Then on the 18th in Iwate, TenKoji face the imposing challenge of Yoshihiro Takayama & Lance Archer in their V2 defense of the IWGP Tag Team Title.

NJPW “40TH ANNIVERSARY SHOW”, 3/4/12 (WPW)
Tokyo Korakuen Hall

1. Prince Devitt, Ryusuke Taguchi & KUSHIDA vs. Tama Tonga, Hiromu Takahashi & Takaaki Watanabe
2. Tomoaki Honma & Captain New Japan vs. YOSHI-HASHI & Tomohiro Ishii
3. Jushin Thunder Liger & Tiger Mask vs. Jado & Gedo
4. Togi Makabe, Yuji Nagata & Wataru Inoue vs. Minoru Suzuki, TAKA Michinoku & Taichi
5. Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima vs. Toru Yano & Takashi Iizuka
6. Special 6 Man Tag Match: Hiroshi Tanahashi, Hirooki Goto & Karl Anderson vs. Shinsuke Nakamura, Masato Tanaka & Yujiro Takahashi
7. IWGP Heavyweight Title: Kazuchika Okada (c) vs. Tetsuya Naito

NJPW, 3/10/12 (Samurai! TV)
Nagoya International Conference Hall

1. IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title: Prince Devitt (c) vs. Davey Richards

NJPW, 3/11/12
Act City Hamamatsu

1. IWGP Intercontinental Title: Hirooki Goto (c) vs. Yujiro Takahashi

NJPW, 3/18/12
Iwate Prefectural Gymnasium

1. IWGP Tag Team Title: Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima (c) vs. Yoshihiro Takayama & Lance Archer

NJPW “ROAD TO KINGDOM 1ST”, 12/23/11 (Samurai! TV)
Tokyo Korakuen Hall
1,900 Fans – No Vacancy

1. Kyosuke Mikami beat Hiromu Takahashi (6:20) with a crab hold.
2. Hirooki Goto, Ryusuke Taguchi & Hideo Saito beat Takashi Iizuka, Yujiro Takahashi & Gedo (10:41) when Saito used the Caribbean Death Grip on Gedo.
3. Shinsuke Nakamura, Toru Yano & Tomohiro Ishii beat Yuji Nagata, Wataru Inoue & King Fale (10:25) when Nakamura used the Boma Ye on Fale.
4. Special Singles Match: Satoshi Kojima beat Karl Anderson (9:23) with a lariat.
5. Special Singles Match: Hiroyoshi Tenzan beat Giant Bernard (9:28) with a side cradle.
6. Special 8 Man Tag Match: Hiroshi Tanahashi, Togi Makabe, Tiger Mask & KUSHIDA beat Minoru Suzuki, Yoshihiro Takayama, TAKA Michinoku & Taichi (15:50) when KUSHIDA used the 9469 on Taichi.
7. IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title: Prince Devitt (c) beat Rocky Romero (18:35) with the Bloody Sunday (3rd defense).
8. IWGP Intercontinental Title: Masato Tanaka (c) beat Tomoaki Honma (22:40) with the Sliding D (3rd defense).

* Both IWGP titles defended successfully and both were said to be very good matches, especially Tanaka vs. Honma which saw the underdog Honma push Tanaka quite far in a 20+ minute match before ultimately succumbing to the Sliding D.

* TenKoji bested Bad Intentions in two singles matches but can they do the same for the IWGP Tag Team Title on 1/4?

* Jushin Thunder Liger made his long awaited return before the show after a very lengthy stay in CMLL.

* New Japan also paid tribute to the late Umanosuke Ueda, who passed away at the age of 71 the other day. Ueda was a top heel in the 1970s and was the inspiration for Tatsutoshi Goto, Mr. Gannosuke, and Toru Yano’s heel personas.

Full cards for the remaining shows of New Japan’s 2011 have been announced, including the fan voted dream match show, Kojima’s 20th anniversary show, ahd the Korakuen double header around Christmas time. Naito has been removed from the main event of Kojima’s show where he was to team with FUNAKI, due to an injury he has been carrying that has forced him off shows. Singles matches between TenKoji and Bad Intentions appear to confirm suspicions that the most dominant IWGP Tag Team Champions in history, Bernard & Anderson, will face one of the most beloved tag teams in history, Tenzan & Kojima, at the Tokyo Dome. Two titles will be defended on the first Xmas show at Korakuen with Devitt making his V3 defense of the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title against Rocky Romero, while in what would have once been an indie dream match, Masato Tanaka makes his V3 defense of the IWGP Intercontinental Title against Tomoaki Honma. Cards also reflect Hideo Saito being booted out of CHAOS as he goes up against members of the group.

NJPW “J SPORTS CROWN DREAM MATCH”, 12/9/11 (J SPORTS)
Tokyo Differ Ariake

1. Hiromu Takahashi vs. Tomohiro Ishii
2. Hirooki Goto, Tomoaki Honma & King Fale vs. Toru Yano, Takashi Iizuka & Yujiro Takahashi
3. Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima vs. Jado & Gedo
4. Yuji Nagata & Wataru Inoue vs. Minoru Suzuki & TAKA Michinoku
5. J SPORTS CROWN DREAM MATCH ~ Worst Voted: Hideo Saito vs. Taichi
6. J SPORTS CROWN DREAM MATCH ~ #3: Togi Makabe vs. KUSHIDA
7. J SPORTS CROWN DREAM MATCH ~ #2: Tiger Mask vs. Shinsuke Nakamura
8. J SPORTS CROWN DREAM MATCH ~ #1: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Ryusuke Taguchi

NJPW “NEW JAPAN LIVE IN YOKKAICHI”, 12/11/11
Yokkaichi Australia Memorial Hall

1. Tiger Mask & KUSHIDA vs. King Fale & Hiromu Takahashi
2. Hideo Saito vs. Jado
3. Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima vs. Takashi Iizuka & Gedo
4. Yuji Nagata & Tomoaki Honma vs. Masato Tanaka & Tomohiro Ishii
5. Togi Makabe, Hirooki Goto & Wataru Inoue vs. Shinsuke Nakamura, Toru Yano & Yujiro Takahashi
6. Hiroshi Tanahashi & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Minoru Suzuki & Taichi

NJPW “SATOSHI KOJIMA 20TH ANNIVERSARY SHOW ~ RUSH!!”, 12/14/11 (Samurai! TV)
Tokyo Korakuen Hall

1. Tiger Mask & Hiromu Takahashi vs. Ryusuke Taguchi & Kyosuke Mikami
2. Hideo Saito vs. Tomohiro Ishii
3. Togi Makabe, Hirooki Goto & King Fale vs. Shinsuke Nakamura, Toru Yano & Yujiro Takahashi
4. Special Tag Match: The Great Sasuke & The Great Kosuke vs. Jado & Gedo
5. 3rd Generation vs. Hamaguchi Dojo Special 6 Man Tag Match: Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Yuji Nagata & Koji Kanemoto vs. Yutaka Yoshie, Wataru Inoue & Tomoaki Honma
6. Hiroshi Tanahashi & KUSHIDA vs. Minoru Suzuki & Taichi
2. Satoshi Kojima 20th Anniversary Match: Satoshi Kojima & Kaz Hayashi vs. FUNAKI & X

NJPW “NEW JAPAN LIVE IN TOKOROZAWA”, 12/18/11
Saitama Kusunoki Hall

1. Tomoaki Honma vs. King Fale
2. Ryusuke Taguchi & KUSHIDA vs. Kyosuke Mikami & Hiromu Takahashi
3. Hideo Saito vs. Gedo
4. Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima vs. Takashi Iizuka & Jado
5. Yuji Nagata & Wataru Inoue vs. Toru Yano & Tomohiro Ishii
6. Togi Makabe & Hirooki Goto vs. Shinsuke Nakamura & Yujiro Takahashi
7. Hiroshi Tanahashi & Tiger Mask vs. Minoru Suzuki & Taichi

NJPW “ROAD TO KINGDOM 1ST”, 12/23/11 (Samurai! TV)
Tokyo Korakuen Hall

1. Kyosuke Mikami vs. Hiromu Takahashi
2. Hirooki Goto, Ryusuke Taguchi & Hideo Saito vs. Takashi Iizuka, Yujiro Takahashi & Gedo
3. Yuji Nagata, Wataru Inoue & King Fale vs. Shinsuke Nakamura, Toru Yano & Tomohiro Ishii
4. Special Singles Match: Satoshi Kojima vs. Karl Anderson
5. Special Singles Match: Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Giant Bernard
6. Special 8 Man Tag Match: Hiroshi Tanahashi, Togi Makabe, Tiger Mask & KUSHIDA vs. Minoru Suzuki, Yoshihiro Takayama, TAKA Michinoku & Taichi
7. IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title: Prince Devitt (c) vs. Rocky Romero
8. IWGP Intercontinental Title: Masato Tanaka (c) vs. Tomoaki Honma

NJPW “ROAD TO KINGDOM ~BATTLE XMAS~”, 12/24/11 (Samurai! TV)
Tokyo Korakuen Hall

1. Tiger Mask, Ryusuke Taguchi & KUSHIDA vs. Rocky Romero, Jado & Gedo
2. Special Singles Match I: Hideo Saito vs. Takashi Iizuka
3. Special Singles Match II: Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Karl Anderson
4. Special Singles Match III: Satoshi Kojima vs. Giant Bernard
5. Special Singles Match IV: Wataru Inoue vs. Shinsuke Nakamura
6. Special Singles Match V: Hirooki Goto vs. Yujiro Takahashi
7. Special Singles Match VI: Yuji Nagata vs. Toru Yano
8. Special Tag Match: Hiroshi Tanahashi & Togi Makabe vs. Minoru Suzuki & Yoshihiro Takayama

NJPW “NEW JAPAN LIVE IN AKITA”, 12/25/11
Akita Terrsa Hall

1. Kyosuke Mikami vs. Tomohiro Ishii
2. Ryusuke Taguchi & Hiromu Takahashi vs. Rocky Romero & Gedo
3. Tomoaki Honma & Hideo Saito vs. Takashi Iizuka & Yujiro Takahashi
4. Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima & Hirooki Goto vs. Giant Bernard, Karl Anderson & King Fale
5. Yuji Nagata & Wataru Inoue vs. Shinsuke Nakamura & Toru Yano
6. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Togi Makabe, Tiger Mask & KUSHIDA vs. Minoru Suzuki, Yoshihiro Takayama, TAKA Michinoku & Taichi

Ten big matches make up the last major show of 2011 for New Japan in Aichi, the tour climax of the upcoming “NEW JAPAN ALIVE 2011“. All eyes are on the most prestigious prize in Japanese pro wrestling, the IWGP Heavyweight Title, as Hiroshi Tanahashi looks to equal Yuji Nagata’s defense record of ten by making his V10 defense of the belt against the man himself. Tanahashi vs. Nagata is the centerpiece of the entire tour, meaning every main event has a New Japan vs. New Japan look to it, rather than the typical New Japan vs. enemy faction setup. The G1 Climax final is revisited in Aichi also as Tetsuya Naito tries to take down Shinsuke Nakamura, while following on from the IWGP Tag Team Title match in Osaka, Giant Bernard and Minoru Suzuki go to war in singles action.

After bypassing the challenge of Hirooki Goto, Masato Tanaka makes his V2 defense of the IWGP Intercontinental Title against the founding champion MVP, while Prince Devitt again treads on familiar ground by making his V2 defense of the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title against one of the men who took the IWGP Jr. Tag Team Title from he and Taguchi recently, Davey Richards. Of course Richards pinned Devitt in that match and so earns another shot at singles gold as he did during Devitt’s first reign. Special tag matches are also set up including the revival of an old feud between Hirooki Goto and the most successful GHC Heavyweight Champion in its history, NOAH’s Takashi Sugiura. Since their singles series these two have sporadically met in tag action, suggesting another singles match could be on the cards at some point.

Satoshi Kojima reforms his “KojiKaz” team with Kaz Hayashi on 12/14 at Korakuen as part of his 20th anniversary show. They team up against the special Animal Hamiguchi Dojo pair of Tetsuya Naito and FUNAKI in the main evemt. Kojima will also revive his old Great Kosuke persona to team with The Great Sasuke again Jado & Gedo. More matches to be announced for that show.

NJPW, 11/18/11
Sun Village Shibata

1. Hiromu Takahashi vs. Takaaki Watanabe
2. Kyosuke Mikami vs. Hideo Saito
3. Prince Devitt, Ryusuke Taguchi & KUSHIDA vs. Rocky Romero, Jado & Gedo
4. Hiroyoshi Tenzan & King Fale vs. Toru Yano & Takashi Iizuka
5. Giant Bernard, Karl Anderson & Tiger Mask vs. Minoru Suzuki, TAKA Michinoku & Taichi
6. Hirooki Goto, MVP, Tetsuya Naito & Tama Tonga vs. Shinsuke Nakamura, Masato Tanaka , Yujiro Takahashi & Tomohiro Ishii
7. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma vs. Yuji Nagata, Satoshi Kojima & Wataru Inoue

NJPW, 11/19/11
Odawara Arena

1. Kyosuke Mikami vs. Takaaki Watanabe
2. Hiromu Takahashi vs. Tomohiro Ishii
3. Tiger Mask, KUSHIDA & King Fale vs. Jado, Gedo & Hideo Saito
4. Satoshi Kojima & Tama Tonga vs. Toru Yano & Takashi Iizuka
5. Giant Bernard, Karl Anderson & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Minoru Suzuki, TAKA Michinoku & Taichi
6. Tetsuya Naito, MVP, Tomoaki Honma & Prince Devitt vs. Shinsuke Nakamura, Masato Tanaka , Yujiro Takahashi & Rocky Romero
7. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Togi Makabe & Hirooki Goto vs. Yuji Nagata, Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Wataru Inoue

NJPW, 11/20/11
Tatebayashi Citizen Gymnasium

1. Kyosuke Mikami vs. Rocky Romero
2. Tama Tonga & Hiromu Takahashi vs. Jado & Gedo
3. Giant Bernard & Karl Anderson vs. TAKA Michinoku & Taichi
4. Hirooki Goto, Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Wataru Inoue vs. Takashi Iizuka, Hideo Saito & Tomohiro Ishii
5. King Fale vs. Minoru Suzuki
6. Togi Makabe, Tetsuya Naito & Tomoaki Honma vs. Shinsuke Nakamura, Toru Yano & Yujiro Takahashi
7. Hiroshi Tanahashi, MVP, Prince Devitt & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Yuji Nagata, Satoshi Kojima, Tiger Mask & KUSHIDA

NJPW, 11/23/11
Tottori Industrial Gymnasium

1. King Fale vs. Takaaki Watanabe
2. Hiromu Takahashi vs. TAKA Michinoku
3. Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Black Buffalo vs. Takashi Iizuka & Hideo Saito
4. Prince Devitt, Ryusuke Taguchi, Tiger Mask & KUSHIDA vs. Davey Richards, Rocky Romero, Jado & Gedo
5. Giant Bernard & Karl Anderson vs. Minoru Suzuki & Taichi
6. Hirooki Goto, Tetsuya Naito, Tomoaki Honma & Tama Tonga vs. Shinsuke Nakamura, Toru Yano, Yujiro Takahashi & Tomohiro Ishii
7. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Togi Makabe & MVP vs. Yuji Nagata, Satoshi Kojima & Wataru Inoue

NJPW, 11/24/11
Onohara Hall

1. Hiromu Takahashi & Takaaki Watanabe vs. Jado & Gedo
2. Kyosuke Mikami vs. Hideo Saito
3. King Fale vs. Takashi Iizuka
4. Tomoaki Honma, Prince Devitt & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Yujiro Takahashi, Davey Richards & Rocky Romero
5. Giant Bernard, Karl Anderson & Tama Tonga vs. Minoru Suzuki, TAKA Michinoku & Taichi
6. Togi Makabe, Satoshi Kojima & Tetsuya Naito vs. Shinsuke Nakamura, Toru Yano & Tomohiro Ishii
7. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Hirooki Goto, MVP & KUSHIDA vs. Yuji Nagata, Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Wataru Inoue & Tiger Mask

NJPW, 11/26/11
ITEM Ehime

1. Kyosuke Mikami vs. Tomohiro Ishii
2. KUSHIDA & Hiromu Takahashi vs. Jado & Gedo
3. King Fale vs. Yujiro Takahashi
4. Hirooki Goto, Satoshi Kojima & Tama Tonga vs. Toru Yano, Takashi Iizuka & Hideo Saito
5. Giant Bernard, Karl Anderson & Tiger Mask vs. Minoru Suzuki, TAKA Michinoku & Taichi
6. Tetsuya Naito, MVP, Prince Devitt & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Shinsuke Nakamura, Masato Tanaka , Davey Richards & Rocky Romero
7. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma vs. Yuji Nagata, Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Wataru Inoue

NJPW, 11/27/11
Tex Port Imabari

1. Hiromu Takahashi vs. Toru Yano
2. Hiroyoshi Tenzan, King Fale & Kyosuke Mikami vs. Takashi Iizuka, Hideo Saito & Tomohiro Ishii
3. Giant Bernard & Tama Tonga vs. TAKA Michinoku & Taichi
4. MVP, Prince Devitt, Ryusuke Taguchi, Tiger Mask & KUSHIDA vs. Masato Tanaka , Davey Richards, Rocky Romero, Jado & Gedo
5. Karl Anderson vs. Minoru Suzuki
6. Tetsuya Naito & Tomoaki Honma vs. Shinsuke Nakamura & Yujiro Takahashi
7. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Togi Makabe & Hirooki Goto vs. Yuji Nagata, Satoshi Kojima & Wataru Inoue

NJPW, 11/28/11
Yamaguchi Butterfly Arena

1. Hiromu Takahashi & Takaaki Watanabe vs. Jado & Gedo
2. Wataru Inoue & King Fale vs. Takashi Iizuka & Hideo Saito
3. Satoshi Kojima, Prince Devitt & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Tomohiro Ishii, Davey Richards & Rocky Romero
4. Togi Makabe, Giant Bernard & Karl Anderson vs. Minoru Suzuki, TAKA Michinoku & Taichi
5. Tetsuya Naito, MVP, Tomoaki Honma & Tama Tonga vs. Shinsuke Nakamura, Toru Yano, Masato Tanaka & Yujiro Takahashi
6. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Hirooki Goto & KUSHIDA vs. Yuji Nagata, Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Tiger Mask

NJPW, 11/29/11
Wakayama Arita Municipal Gymnasium

1. Hiromu Takahashi vs. Tomohiro Ishii
2. King Fale & Kyosuke Mikami vs. Takashi Iizuka & Hideo Saito
3. Karl Anderson, Prince Devitt, Ryusuke Taguchi & Tama Tonga vs. Davey Richards, Rocky Romero, Jado & Gedo
4. Giant Bernard, Tiger Mask & KUSHIDA vs. Minoru Suzuki, TAKA Michinoku & Taichi
5. Satoshi Kojima, Tetsuya Naito, MVP & Tomoaki Honma vs. Shinsuke Nakamura, Toru Yano, Masato Tanaka & Yujiro Takahashi
6. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Togi Makabe & Hirooki Goto vs. Yuji Nagata, Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Wataru Inoue

NJPW, 12/4/11 (WPW/PPV)
Aichi Prefectural Gymnasium

1. Karl Anderson & Killer Rabbit vs. Jado & Gedo
2. Satoshi Kojima, Tiger Mask, Ryusuke Taguchi & Tama Tonga vs. Toru Yano, Yujiro Takahashi, Tomohiro Ishii & Rocky Romero
3. Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Tomoaki Honma vs. Takashi Iizuka & Hideo Saito
4. Special Tag Match: Hirooki Goto & KUSHIDA vs. Takashi Sugiura & Atsushi Aoki
5. Special Tag Match: Togi Makabe & Wataru Inoue vs. Yoshihiro Takayama & Lance Archer
6. IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title: Prince Devitt (c) vs. Davey Richards
7. IWGP Intercontinental Title: Masato Tanaka vs. MVP
8. Special Singles Match: Giant Bernard vs. Minoru Suzuki
9. Special Singles Match: Tetsuya Naito vs. Shinsuke Nakamura
10. IWGP Heavyweight Title: Hiroshi Tanahashi (c) vs. Yuji Nagata

-

NJPW “SATOSHI KOJIMA 20TH ANNIVERSARY SHOW ~ RUSH!!”, 12/14/11 (Samurai! TV)
Tokyo Korakuen Hall

1. Special Tag Match: The Great Sasuke & The Great Kosuke vs. Jado & Gedo
2. Satoshi Kojima 20th Anniversary Match: Satoshi Kojima & Kaz Hayashi vs. Tetsuya Naito & FUNAKI

Hiroshi Tanahashi makes his V9 defense of the IWGP Heavyweight Title at “POWER STRUGGLE” next month against the man who stole it from him yesterday, CHAOS’ Toru Yano. Tanahashi had accepted a challenge from IWGP Heavyweight Title defense record holder Yuji Nagata before Yano attacked Tana and ran off with his belt, in doing so luring the ace of New Japan into agreeing to a title match against the super-heel. The show name is fitting as four title matches have been announced and all have a theme of New Japan army vs. rival faction. In addition to Tanahashi vs. Yano, CHAOS’ Masato Tanaka makes his V1 defense of the IWGP Intercontinental Title against old rival Hirooki Goto who he had a lengthy series of matches with not so long ago.

Prince Devitt makes his V2 defense of the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title against TAKA Michinoku, who challenged Devitt unsuccessfully in February during the Irishman’s previous reign. And new IWGP Jr. Tag Team Champions, Davey Richards & Rocky Romero, make their V1 defense against Tiger Mask & KUSHIDA. KUSHIDA has yet to hold a title in New Japan while Tiger Mask, once the dominant ace of the division, hasn’t held any IWGP gold since losing the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title at the beginning of 2010. TenKoji collide again as old friends and rivals Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Satoshi Kojima have another singles battle, going into this match 1-1 after recent matches.

Also announced today were full G1 Tag League cards. New Japan also runs a charity show on the 15th at the Miyako Fish Market for victims of the earthquake earlier this year. This will be free admission and will have just a few matches.

NJPW “NEW JAPAN PRO-WRESTLING IN MIYAKO FISH MARKET ~ EAST JAPAN EARTHQUAKE CHARITY”, 10/15/11
Miyako Fish Market

1. Tetsuya Naito vs. King Fale
2. Togi Makabe, Tomoaki Honma & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Minoru Suzuki, TAKA Michinoku & Taichi
3. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Hirooki Goto, Tiger Mask & KUSHIDA vs. Shinsuke Nakamura, Toru Yano, Jado & Gedo

NJPW “NEW JAPAN LIVE IN YAMAGATA”, 10/16/11
Yamagata Sports Center #2

1. Hiromu Takahashi vs. TAKA Michinoku
2. Yuji Nagata & Kyosuke Mikami vs. Takashi Iizuka & Hideo Saito
3. Tetsuya Naito, Tiger Mask & KUSHIDA vs. Yujiro Takahashi, Jado & Gedo
4. Hiroyoshi Tenzan & King Fale vs. Satoshi Kojima & Tama Tonga
5. Togi Makabe, Wataru Inoue & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Minoru Suzuki, Lance Archer & Taichi
6. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Hirooki Goto & Tomoaki Honma vs. Shinsuke Nakamura, Toru Yano & Tomohiro Ishii

NJPW, 10/22/11 (J SPORTS)
Tokyo Korakuen Hall

1. Ryusuke Taguchi & Takaaki Watanabe vs. Kyosuke Mikami & Hiromu Takahashi
2. Tiger Mask & KUSHIDA vs. TAKA Michinoku & Taichi
3. G1 Tag League – Block B: Takashi Iizuka & Hideo Saito vs. Tomohiro Ishii & Don Fujii
4. G1 Tag League – Block A: Yuji Nagata & King Fale vs. Masato Tanaka & Yujiro Takahashi
5. G1 Tag League – Block A: Tetsuya Naito & Tomoaki Honma vs. Strong Man & Tama Tonga
6. G1 Tag League – Block A: Giant Bernard & Karl Anderson vs. Minoru Suzuki & Lance Archer
7. G1 Tag League – Block B: Togi Makabe & Satoshi Kojima vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Wataru Inoue
8. G1 Tag League – Block B: Hiroshi Tanahashi & Hirooki Goto vs. Shinsuke Nakamura & Toru Yano

NJPW, 10/23/11 (J SPORTS)
Kuki City Gymnasium

1. Ryusuke Taguchi & Takaaki Watanabe vs. TAKA Michinoku & Taichi
2. Tiger Mask & KUSHIDA vs. Kyosuke Mikami & Hiromu Takahashi
3. G1 Tag League – Block A: Yuji Nagata & King Fale vs. Strong Man & Tama Tonga
4. G1 Tag League – Block A: Masato Tanaka & Yujiro Takahashi vs. Minoru Suzuki & Lance Archer
5. Tetsuya Naito, Giant Bernard, Karl Anderson & Tomoaki Honma vs. Shinsuke Nakamura, Toru Yano, Tomohiro Ishii & Jado
6. G1 Tag League – Block B: Togi Makabe & Satoshi Kojima vs. Takashi Iizuka & Hideo Saito
7. G1 Tag League – Block B: Hiroshi Tanahashi & Hirooki Goto vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Wataru Inoue

NJPW, 10/24/11
New Sunpia Tochigi

1. Takaaki Watanabe vs. TAKA Michinoku
2. Yuji Nagata, King Fale & Hiromu Takahashi vs. Strong Man, Tama Tonga & Kyosuke Mikami
3. G1 Tag League – Block B: Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Wataru Inoue vs. Takashi Iizuka & Hideo Saito
4. G1 Tag League – Block B: Shinsuke Nakamura & Toru Yano vs. Tomohiro Ishii & Don Fujii
5. Togi Makabe, Satoshi Kojima & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Minoru Suzuki, Lance Archer & Taichi
6. G1 Tag League – Block A: Tetsuya Naito & Tomoaki Honma vs. Giant Bernard & Karl Anderson
7. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Hirooki Goto, Tiger Mask & KUSHIDA vs. Masato Tanaka , Yujiro Takahashi, Jado & Gedo

NJPW, 10/26/11
Chiba Port Arena Sub Arena

1. Kyosuke Mikami vs. Hiromu Takahashi
2. G1 Tag League – Block A: Strong Man & Tama Tonga vs. Masato Tanaka & Yujiro Takahashi
3. G1 Tag League – Block B: Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Wataru Inoue vs. Tomohiro Ishii & Don Fujii
4. G1 Tag League – Block A: Yuji Nagata & King Fale vs. Tetsuya Naito & Tomoaki Honma
5. Giant Bernard, Karl Anderson & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Shinsuke Nakamura, Toru Yano & Jado
6. Togi Makabe, Satoshi Kojima, Tiger Mask & KUSHIDA vs. Minoru Suzuki, Lance Archer, TAKA Michinoku & Taichi
7. G1 Tag League – Block B: Hiroshi Tanahashi & Hirooki Goto vs. Takashi Iizuka & Hideo Saito

NJPW, 10/30/11 (J SPORTS)
Nishio City Gymnasium

1. Ryusuke Taguchi & Takaaki Watanabe vs. TAKA Michinoku & Taichi
2. Tetsuya Naito, Tomoaki Honma & Hiromu Takahashi vs. Strong Man, Tama Tonga & Kyosuke Mikami
3. Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Wataru Inoue, Tiger Mask & KUSHIDA vs. Takashi Iizuka, Hideo Saito, Jado & Gedo
4. G1 Tag League – Block A: Yuji Nagata & King Fale vs. Minoru Suzuki & Lance Archer
5. G1 Tag League – Block A: Giant Bernard & Karl Anderson vs. Masato Tanaka & Yujiro Takahashi
6. G1 Tag League – Block B: Togi Makabe & Satoshi Kojima vs. Shinsuke Nakamura & Toru Yano
7. G1 Tag League – Block B: Hiroshi Tanahashi & Hirooki Goto vs. Tomohiro Ishii & Don Fujii

NJPW, 11/3/11 (J SPORTS)
New Sunpia Gunma

1. Ryusuke Taguchi & Hiromu Takahashi vs. TAKA Michinoku & Taichi
2. Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Wataru Inoue & Takaaki Watanabe vs. Yuji Nagata, King Fale & Kyosuke Mikami
3. G1 Tag League – Block A: Giant Bernard & Karl Anderson vs. Strong Man & Tama Tonga
4. G1 Tag League – Block B: Togi Makabe & Satoshi Kojima vs. Tomohiro Ishii & Don Fujii
5. G1 Tag League – Block B: Shinsuke Nakamura & Toru Yano vs. Takashi Iizuka & Hideo Saito
6. G1 Tag League – Block A: Tetsuya Naito & Tomoaki Honma vs. Minoru Suzuki & Lance Archer
7. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Hirooki Goto, Tiger Mask & KUSHIDA vs. Masato Tanaka , Yujiro Takahashi, Jado & Gedo

NJPW, 11/4/11 (J SPORTS)
Tokyo Differ Ariake

1. Takaaki Watanabe vs. Hideo Saito
2. Kyosuke Mikami & Hiromu Takahashi vs. TAKA Michinoku & Taichi
3. Tiger Mask, Ryusuke Taguchi & KUSHIDA vs. Takashi Iizuka, Jado & Tomohiro Ishii
4. G1 Tag League – Block A: Strong Man & Tama Tonga vs. Minoru Suzuki & Lance Archer
5. G1 Tag League – Block A: Tetsuya Naito & Tomoaki Honma vs. Masato Tanaka & Yujiro Takahashi
6. G1 Tag League – Block A: Yuji Nagata & King Fale vs. Giant Bernard & Karl Anderson
7. G1 Tag League – Block B: Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Wataru Inoue vs. Shinsuke Nakamura & Toru Yano
8. G1 Tag League – Block B: Hiroshi Tanahashi & Hirooki Goto vs. Togi Makabe & Satoshi Kojima

NJPW, 11/6/11 (J SPORTS)
Tokyo Korakuen Hall

1. G1 Tag League – Semi Final: Block A 1st place vs. Block B 2nd place
2. G1 Tag League – Semi Final: Block B 1st place vs. Block A 2nd place
3. G1 Tag League – Final:

NJPW “POWER STRUGGLE”, 11/12/11 (WPW/PPV)
Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium

1. IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Title: Davey Richards & Rocky Romero (c) vs. Tiger Mask & KUSHIDA
2. IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title: Prince Devitt vs. TAKA Michinoku
3. Special Singles Match: Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Satoshi Kojima
4. IWGP Intercontinental Title: Masato Tanaka (c) vs. Hirooki Goto
5. IWGP Heavyweight Title: Hiroshi Tanahashi (c) vs. Toru Yano

–> “G1 CLIMAX SPECIAL 2011” <--

NJPW “KANTARO HOSHINO MEMORIAL SHOW”, 9/19/11 (WPW/PPV)
Kobe World Hall
7,800 Fans – Super No Vacancy

1. TAKA Michinoku & Taichi beat Tomoaki Honma & Kyosuke Mikami (8:30) when TAKA used the Just Facelock on Mikami.
2. Kantaro Hoshino Memorial Match: Koji Kanemoto beat Makai #28 (5:25) with an ankle hold.
3. Toru Yano, Takashi Iizuka, Tomohiro Ishii & Gedo beat Hirooki Goto, Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Tama Tonga & Killer Rabbit (12:42) when Yano used the Oni Koroshi on Rabbit.
4. Special Singles Match: Yuji Nagata beat Hideo Saito (9:24) with a backdrop hold.
5. IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title: Prince Devitt beat KUSHIDA (13:30) with the Bloody Sunday to become the 62nd champion (decision match).
6. Special 6 Man Tag Match: Masato Tanaka , Davey Richards & Rocky Romero beat MVP, Tiger Mask & Ryusuke Taguchi (10:02) when Richards used the Contract Killer on Taguchi.
7. Special Singles Match: Minoru Suzuki beat Wataru Inoue (13:02) with a Gotch-style piledriver.
8. Special Singles Match: Tetsuya Naito beat Yujiro Takahashi (12:37) with a Stardust press.
9. Special Singles Match: Togi Makabe beat Lance Archer (11:22) with a King Kong kneedrop.
10. IWGP Heavyweight Title: Hiroshi Tanahashi (c) beat Shinsuke Nakamura (26:07) with the High Fly Flow (7th defense).

* New Japan ace Hiroshi Tanahashi returned from an excursion to CMLL in Mexico and made a successful V7 defense of his IWGP Heavyweight Title against his greatest rival Shinsuke Nakamura. It was the traditional IWGP vs. G1 Climax match held in September or October and as always the two put on a great show for the sold out Kobe World Hall. But for the second time in this, his fifth reign as champion, Tanahashi defeated Nakamura and looks close to unstoppable in a reign that has now entered its eighth month.
* Tanahashi’s next challenger will be G1 Climax runner-up Tetsuya Naito who finally turned around his 0-2 record against former NO LIMIT tag partner Yujiro Takahashi today by pinning the man who betrayed him following a Stardust press. Naito appeared after Tana’s victory over Nakamura and issued his challenge
* Following singles victories for both today, Togi Makabe and Minoru Suzuki are set to do battle at Sumo Hall next month after Makabe had harsh words for the Pancrase man.
* After close to a year of performing in the company as a freelancer, Satoshi Kojima showed up for the first time since the G1 Climax today and announced he is formally rejoining New Japan! Kojima left the company with the All Japan breakaway crew of Keiji Muto and Kendo Kashin way back in January ’02 but can now officially call himself a New Japan wrestler again. Kojima nominated sworn friend Hiroyoshi Tenzan as his return match opponent for “DESTRUCTION ’11″ on 10/10 at Sumo Hall.
* The IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title is back in New Japan hands but only after Kota Ibushi was forced to vacate the belt, leading to today’s decision match between Prince Devitt and KUSHIDA. Devitt held the title for almost a year in his previous reign that Ibushi ended in June but was too strong for KUSHIDA in this decision match, hitting the Bloody Sunday to begin his second reign as champion. Can Devitt hold the belt for such an epic length of time as he did last time?
* After he beat former young lion disciple Hideo Saito, Nagata was attacked by another CHAOS member, Toru Yano, who assaulted him with scissors and said he would shave Nagata’s hair off. Nagata declared war on Yano.
* Of course as the title suggests, this show was held in tribute to the late Kantaro Hoshino who passed away last November. Hoshino and his son for years had done exceptional work promoting shows like these in Kobe and helping New Japan get good attendances just like today’s. A former wrestler and manager (of the Makai Club) in New Japan, Hoshino is sorely missed. “BISSHIBISHI!” President Hoshino!

Hiroshi Tanahashi will make his V7 defense of the IWGP Heavyweight Title against 2011 G1 Climax winner Shinsuke Nakamura at Kobe World Hall on 9/19. This battle of eternal rivals promises to be one of the biggest between them yet as Nakamura looks to end Tanahashi’s nine month reign as champion. Also announced was Kota Ibushi’s V3 defense of the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title against KUSHIDA. Kojima picked up a right eye injury in yesterday’s match with Tenzan and is a doubt for the tour.

Also announced today was another excursion to CMLL in Mexico for the living legend Jushin Thunder Liger. He will leave after the 9/11 Korakuen show and his return date is undecided, suggesting he could be there for a while. Koji Kanemoto, a part-timer in New Japan these days despite being under contract, will also be missing as he competes in All Japan’s Jr. Heavyweight League from 9/11 to 9/25.

NJPW “KANTARO HOSHINO MEMORIAL SHOW”, 9/19/11 (WPW/PPV)
Kobe World Hall

1. IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title: Kota Ibushi (c) vs. KUSHIDA
1. IWGP Heavyweight Title: Hiroshi Tanahashi (c) vs. Shinsuke Nakamura

Full cards and match order (besides 8/14) for the upcoming “G1 CLIMAX XXI ~THE INVINCIBLE FIGHTER~” have been announced. Two very notable additions for the opening and closing day shows.

On day one in Fukuoka, Kota Ibushi makes his V2 defense of the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title against Ryusuke Taguchi. Having taken the belt off Taguchi’s tag partner Devitt, then having defeated Devitt in his first defense, Ibushi must now overcome the other half of Apollo 55.

Then on the tour climax at Sumo Hall, the long-running Apollo 55 vs. Golden Lovers saga continues when Devitt & Taguchi make their V6 defense of the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Title against Ibushi & Kenny Omega, the team they regained the belts from in January after previously losing them to the DDT tandem.

NJPW, 8/1/11 (WPW/PPV)
Fukuoka International Center

1. G1 Climax – Block B: Wataru Inoue vs. La Sombra
2. G1 Climax – Block A: Giant Bernard vs. Hideo Saito
3. G1 Climax – Block A: Toru Yano vs. Yoshihiro Takayama
4. G1 Climax – Block B: Hirooki Goto vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan
5. IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title: Kota Ibushi (c) vs. Ryusuke Taguchi
6. G1 Climax – Block A: Tetsuya Naito vs. Yujiro Takahashi
7. G1 Climax – Block A: Togi Makabe vs. Lance Archer
8. G1 Climax – Block B: Satoshi Kojima vs. Minoru Suzuki
9. G1 Climax – Block B: Shinsuke Nakamura vs. MVP
10. G1 Climax – Block A: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Yuji Nagata

NJPW, 8/2/11 (Samurai! TV)
Fukuoka International Center

1. G1 Climax – Block B: Karl Anderson vs. La Sombra
2. G1 Climax – Block A: Lance Archer vs. Hideo Saito
3. G1 Climax – Block B: Wataru Inoue vs. Strong Man
4. G1 Climax – Block A: Giant Bernard vs. Yujiro Takahashi
5. Hirooki Goto, Jushin Thunder Liger & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Jado, Gedo & Tomohiro Ishii
6. G1 Climax – Block A: Yuji Nagata vs. Tetsuya Naito
7. G1 Climax – Block B: MVP vs. Minoru Suzuki
8. G1 Climax – Block A: Togi Makabe vs. Toru Yano
9. G1 Climax – Block B: Satoshi Kojima vs. Shinsuke Nakamura
10. G1 Climax – Block A: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Yoshihiro Takayama

NJPW, 8/5/11 (Samurai! TV)
Tokyo Korakuen Hall

1. G1 Climax – Block B: Strong Man vs. La Sombra
2. G1 Climax – Block A: Yujiro Takahashi vs. Hideo Saito
3. G1 Climax – Block B: Wataru Inoue vs. MVP
4. G1 Climax – Block B: Karl Anderson vs. Minoru Suzuki
5. G1 Climax – Block A: Giant Bernard vs. Lance Archer
6. G1 Climax – Block A: Yuji Nagata vs. Toru Yano
7. G1 Climax – Block B: Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Shinsuke Nakamura
8. G1 Climax – Block A: Togi Makabe vs. Tetsuya Naito
9. G1 Climax – Block B: Hirooki Goto vs. Satoshi Kojima

NJPW, 8/6/11 (J SPORTS)
Aichi Prefectural Gymnasium

1. G1 Climax – Block B: Hirooki Goto vs. La Sombra
2. G1 Climax – Block B: Karl Anderson vs. Strong Man
3. G1 Climax – Block A: Yuji Nagata vs. Yujiro Takahashi
4. G1 Climax – Block B: Wataru Inoue vs. Shinsuke Nakamura
5. Satoshi Kojima & MVP vs. TAKA Michinoku & Taichi
6. G1 Climax – Block A: Togi Makabe vs. Hideo Saito
7. G1 Climax – Block B: Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Minoru Suzuki
8. G1 Climax – Block A: Tetsuya Naito vs. Toru Yano
9. G1 Climax – Block A: Giant Bernard vs. Yoshihiro Takayama
10. G1 Climax – Block A: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Lance Archer

NJPW, 8/7/11 (J SPORTS)
Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium

1. G1 Climax – Block A: Hideo Saito vs. Yoshihiro Takayama
2. G1 Climax – Block A: Toru Yano vs. Yujiro Takahashi
3. G1 Climax – Block B: Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Wataru Inoue
4. G1 Climax – Block B: La Sombra vs. Minoru Suzuki
5. Tetsuya Naito & Tomoaki Honma vs. Lance Archer & TAKA Michinoku
6. G1 Climax – Block B: Strong Man vs. Shinsuke Nakamura
7. G1 Climax – Block B: Hirooki Goto vs. Karl Anderson
8. G1 Climax – Block A: Yuji Nagata vs. Giant Bernard
9. G1 Climax – Block B: Satoshi Kojima vs. MVP
10. G1 Climax – Block A: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Togi Makabe

NJPW, 8/8/11 (J SPORTS)
Yokohama Bunka Gymnasium

1. G1 Climax – Block B: Wataru Inoue vs. Karl Anderson
2. G1 Climax – Block B: Satoshi Kojima vs. Strong Man
3. G1 Climax – Block A: Yujiro Takahashi vs. Yoshihiro Takayama
4. G1 Climax – Block A: Tetsuya Naito vs. Lance Archer
5. G1 Climax – Block B: Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. MVP
6. G1 Climax – Block B: La Sombra vs. Shinsuke Nakamura
7. G1 Climax – Block A: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Hideo Saito
8. G1 Climax – Block B: Hirooki Goto vs. Minoru Suzuki
9. G1 Climax – Block A: Togi Makabe vs. Yuji Nagata

NJPW, 8/10/11 (Samurai! TV)
Yoyogi National Stadium Gymnasium #2

1. G1 Climax – Block A: Yujiro Takahashi vs. Lance Archer
2. G1 Climax – Block A: Toru Yano vs. Hideo Saito
3. G1 Climax – Block B: Satoshi Kojima vs. La Sombra
4. G1 Climax – Block B: Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Strong Man
5. G1 Climax – Block B: Wataru Inoue vs. Minoru Suzuki
6. G1 Climax – Block B: Karl Anderson vs. Shinsuke Nakamura
7. G1 Climax – Block B: Hirooki Goto vs. MVP
8. G1 Climax – Block A: Tetsuya Naito vs. Yoshihiro Takayama
9. G1 Climax – Block A: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Giant Bernard

NJPW, 8/11/11 (Samurai! TV)
Yoyogi National Stadium Gymnasium #2

1. G1 Climax – Block A: Tetsuya Naito vs. Hideo Saito
2. G1 Climax – Block B: Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. La Sombra
3. G1 Climax – Block B: Hirooki Goto vs. Wataru Inoue
4. G1 Climax – Block A: Toru Yano vs. Lance Archer
5. G1 Climax – Block B: MVP vs. Strong Man
6. G1 Climax – Block B: Karl Anderson vs. Satoshi Kojima
7. G1 Climax – Block A: Togi Makabe vs. Giant Bernard
8. G1 Climax – Block A: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Yujiro Takahashi
9. G1 Climax – Block A: Yuji Nagata vs. Yoshihiro Takayama

NJPW, 8/13/11 (Samurai! TV)
Tokyo Korakuen Hall

1. G1 Climax – Block B: MVP vs. La Sombra
2. G1 Climax – Block B: Wataru Inoue vs. Satoshi Kojima
3. G1 Climax – Block B: Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Karl Anderson
4. G1 Climax – Block A: Yuji Nagata vs. Lance Archer
5. G1 Climax – Block B: Strong Man vs. Minoru Suzuki
6. G1 Climax – Block A: Tetsuya Naito vs. Giant Bernard
7. G1 Climax – Block A: Togi Makabe vs. Yoshihiro Takayama
8. G1 Climax – Block B: Hirooki Goto vs. Shinsuke Nakamura
9. G1 Climax – Block A: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Toru Yano

NJPW, 8/14/11 (WPW/PPV)
Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan

1. IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Title: Prince Devitt & Ryusuke Taguchi (c) vs. Kota Ibushi & Kenny Omega
2. G1 Climax – Block A: Lance Archer vs. Yoshihiro Takayama
3. G1 Climax – Block A: Giant Bernard vs. Toru Yano
4. G1 Climax – Block A: Yuji Nagata vs. Hideo Saito
5. G1 Climax – Block A: Togi Makabe vs. Yujiro Takahashi
6. G1 Climax – Block A: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Tetsuya Naito
7. G1 Climax – Block B: Karl Anderson vs. MVP
8. G1 Climax – Block B: Hirooki Goto vs. Strong Man
9. G1 Climax – Block B: Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Satoshi Kojima
10. G1 Climax – Block B: Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Minoru Suzuki
11. G1 Climax – Final: Block A 1st place vs. Block B 1st place

Prince Devitt’s attempt to win back the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title from the man who ended his one year reign as champion failed today. Devitt challenged Kota Ibushi on Ibushi’s home soil in a feature match on DDT’s Sumo Hall super-show. The match progressed at a breakneck pace before Ibushi dropped his Phoenix splash on Devitt to complete a successful V1 defense.

DDT “RYOGOKU PETER PAN 2011″, 7/24/11
Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan
8,660 Fans – Super No Vacancy

- IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title: Kota Ibushi (c) beat Prince Devitt (13:53) with a Phoenix splash (1st defense).

Kota Ibushi will make his V1 defense of the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title against the man he just won the belt from, Prince Devitt, at DDT’s Sumo Hall super-show on July 24th. After winning the Super Jr. then dethroning Devitt yesterday, this is a potential banana skin for Ibushi, as Devitt will be desperate to reclaim the belt he held for a year.

DDT “RYOGOKU PETER PAN 2011″, 7/24/11
Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan

- IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title: Kota Ibushi (c) vs. Prince Devitt

-

Yuji Nagata failed to follow up on winning All Japan’s Champion Carnival by winning the Triple Crown at All Japan’s own Sumo Hall show today. He challenged a man he defeated during the Carnival, Suwama, in a gripping match. Nagata won both the New Japan Cup and Champion Carnival this year but failed to beat either Tanahashi or Suwama in the subsequent title matches he earned from winning the tournaments.

AJPW “PRO WRESTLING LOVE IN RYOGOKU VOL.12″, 6/19/11
Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan
8,000 Fans

- Triple Crown: Suwama (c) beat Yuji Nagata (30:13) with a backdrop hold (4th defense).

NJPW “DOMINION 6.18″, 6/18/11 (WPW/PPV)
Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium
6,200 Fans – Super No Vacancy Full House

1. Koji Kanemoto beat Hiromu Takahashi (3:04) with a single-leg crab hold.
2. Brian Kendrick , Jado & Gedo beat Jushin Thunder Liger, Tiger Mask & KUSHIDA (8:33) when Kendrick used the Sliced Bread #2 on KUSHIDA.
3. CMLL World Welterweight Title: Mascara Dorada beat Ryusuke Taguchi (c) (8:26) by pinfall to become the 26th champion.
4. Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Yuji Nagata & Wataru Inoue beat Takashi Iizuka, Masato Tanaka & Tomohiro Ishii (9:12) when Nagata used a backdrop hold on Ishii.
5. Special Singles Match: Yujiro Takahashi beat Tetsuya Naito (11:12) with the Tokyo Pimps.
6. IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title: Kota Ibushi beat Prince Devitt (c) (13:49) with a Firebird splash to become the 61st champion.
7. Special Tag Match: Minoru Suzuki & Lance Archer beat Togi Makabe & Satoshi Kojima (12:39) when Suzuki used a Gotch-style piledriver on Kojima.
8. IWGP Intercontinental Title: MVP (c) beat Toru Yano (10:50) with a leg roll clutch hold (1st defense).
9. Double Title Match – IWGP Tag Team Title & GHC Tag Team Title: Giant Bernard & Karl Anderson (c) beat Yoshihiro Takayama & Takuma Sano (c) (12:03) when Bernard used the Bernard Driver on Sano (8th defense) to become the 22nd GHC Tag Team Champions.
10. IWGP Heavyweight Title: Hiroshi Tanahashi (c) beat Hirooki Goto (25:28) with the High Fly Flow (5th defense).

* A packed house of 6,200 fans saw another great show by New Japan in the hotbed known as Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium.
* TNA Wrestling’s Brian Kendrick, who became popular in Japan earlier in the 2000s as Spanky in ZERO-ONE, made a surprise appearance in the second match in the place of Killer Rabbit, teaming with Jado & Gedo.
* Taguchi’s half year reign as CMLL World Welterweight Champion ended at the hands of the man he won it from, Mascara Dorada, the Funky Weapon failing in his V3 defense of the belt.
* AKIRA returned to his old haunt after the fourth match to continue his feud with former JJ Jacks tag partner Iizuka from TAJIRI’s SMASH promotion. After the same match, Mitsuhide Hirasawa made his long awaited return to Japan, surprisingly betraying his Blue Justice mentor Nagata and possibly (awaiting confirmaiton) joining CHAOS!
* Yujiro drew first blood in what is likely to be a lengthy grudge feud with former NO LIMIT partner Naito, and Naito was gang attacked after the match before Honma made the save.
* Best of the Super Jr. winner, Kota Ibushi, ended Prince Devitt’s one year reign as IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion in an emotional match. After several high profile losses to Devitt, including the 2010 BOSJ final and a title match at this year’s Tokyo Dome show, Ibushi finally rose to the peak of the junior scene to capture the prestigious IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title. Although Devitt’s memorable reign came to an end on the same day his close friend Taguchi also dropped gold, Apollo 55 do still hold the IWGP Jr. Tag Team Title remember.
* MVP retained the newly founded IWGP Intercontinental Title in a rematch of the tournament final where he won it, pinning Toru Yano with a cradle for a successful V1 defense.
* Bad Intentions made history twice over with one three count, smashing Chono & Tenzan’s IWGP Tag Team Title defense record while at the same time taking the GHC Tag Team Title from NOAH to become double champions. Bernard & Anderson cement themselves as one of the most dominant teams in Japanese tag wrestling history.
* Tanahashi retained the IWGP Heavyweight Title over Goto in what is being called an epic match. Goto came closer than ever to winning the title that has eluded him so far but disappointingly still wasn’t able to surpass Tanahashi and the wait continues. The two shook hands out of respect after the match, despite their recent bitter. After making history in the match beforehand, Giant Bernard appeared after the match and challenged Tanahashi! Tanahashi counter-challenged Bernard for a shot at the tag belts, with Goto as his partner. If the singles match is realized, Bernard has the chance to become a 3-crown champion.

Best of the Super Jr. 2011 winner Kota Ibushi challenges Prince Devitt for the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title in one of several matches added to a stacked Osaka PPV today. There will be little time for Ibushi to lose the momentum he gained by becoming the first outsider to ever win the BOSJ yesterday as he challenges Devitt about a week from now in the Irishman’s V8 defense of the belt he will have held a day shy of one year when this match takes place.

NO LIMIT explode in Osaka as Tetsuya Naito and Yujiro Takahashi go to war after their recent split, when Yujiro betrayed Naito and forcibly ejected him from the CHAOS faction. Naito appeared yesterday at Korakuen demanding this match and the two upstarts will do battle.

Also added today was BOSJ runner-up Ryusuke Taguchi’s V3 defense of the CMLL World Welterweight Title against the man he took it from in January, Mascara Dorada. Ten matches make up what should be an exciting show, with the main event of course being Tanahashi’s V5 defense of the IWGP Heavyweight Title against Goto, while for the first time ever New Japan’s IWGP Tag Team Champions battle NOAH’s GHC Tag Team Champions, with Bad Intentions battling Takayama & Sano in a double title match.

NJPW “DOMINION 6.18″, 6/18/11 (WPW/PPV)
Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium

1. Koji Kanemoto vs. Hiromu Takahashi
2. Jushin Thunder Liger, Tiger Mask & KUSHIDA vs. Jado, Gedo & Killer Rabbit
3. CMLL World Welterweight Title: Ryusuke Taguchi (c) vs. Mascara Dorada
4. Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Yuji Nagata & Wataru Inoue vs. Takashi Iizuka, Masato Tanaka & Tomohiro Ishii
5. Special Singles Match: Tetsuya Naito vs. Yujiro Takahashi
6. IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title: Prince Devitt (c) vs. Kota Ibushi
7. Special Tag Match: Togi Makabe & Satoshi Kojima vs. Minoru Suzuki & Lance Archer
8. IWGP Intercontinental Title: MVP (c) vs. Toru Yano
9. Double Title Match – IWGP Tag Team Title & GHC Tag Team Title: Giant Bernard & Karl Anderson (c) vs. Yoshihiro Takayama & Takuma Sano (c)
10. IWGP Heavyweight Title: Hiroshi Tanahashi (c) vs. Hirooki Goto

New Japan advances on the Tokyo Dome with “WRESTLE KINGDOM V” on January 4th, and the full card of 13 big matches were announced today! As expected, ace Hiroshi Tanahashi is the chosen one to try and bring home the IWGP Heavyweight Champion from freelancer Satoshi Kojima, who has returned to New Japan with such impact this year. The feud that never dies, Togi Makabe vs. Masato Tanaka, continues under it as in a rematch from their IWGP Heavyweight Title slugfest a few months ago, they collide again.

Two young men at the top of their promotions go to war again as Shinsuke Nakamura and Pro Wrestling NOAH’s great young hope Go Shiozaki meet one year to the day after Shiozaki faced Nakamura’s generation rival, Tanahashi, in the same building. One half of NO LIMIT, Tetsuya Naito, is thrown into the spotlight as he challenges the “Charismatic Enigma” Jeff Hardy for the TNA World Heavyweight Title in the biggest match of Naito’s career to date. One of New Japan’s brightest young stars, Naito has impressed massively this year and is rewarded with this match.

Another of New Japan’s great young hopes, Kazuchika Okada, returns home after a lengthy spell in TNA Wrestling, as he teams with Hirooki Goto against GHC Heavyweight Champion, Takashi Sugiura, and the man who was in last year’s 1/4 main event, Yoshihiro Takayama. A very big return match for Okada, who will look to show his growth and make an impact. The Best of the Super Jr. final will be replayed, this time over the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title, as two of the most impressive junior heavyweights in Japan, Prince Devitt and Kota Ibushi, collide over the prestigious belt. This continues Devitt’s run of defending the belt against outsiders, the Irishman yet to have defended against one of New Japan’s own.

Old rivals Yuji Nagata and Minoru Suzuki reunite in combat on the heels of Suzuki return to New Japan days ago, in a rematch from the original “WRESTLE KINGDOM” titled show on 1/4/07. Rob Van Dam, known to all American wrestling fans, is another TNA star to hit the Dome as he battles CHAOS second-in-command, Toru Yano. And speaking of CHAOS, the dastardly Takashi Iizuka revives his blood feud from 2009 with the recently returned Hiroyoshi Tenzan in a “DEEP SLEEP TO LOSE MATCH”, where the only way to win is to render your opponent unconscious.

The road to the CMLL/New Japan co-hosted “FANTASTIC MANIA” show sees three of CMLL’s finest showcased at the Dome, as Hector Garza teams with New Japan’s own Jushin Thunder Liger against La Sombra & Mascara Dorada. The show will kick off with a bang as Bad Intentions defend their IWGP Tag Team Title in a 3WAY Match against Tokyo Sports Tag MVP winners, Manabu Nakanishi & Strong Man, and TNA Wrestling’s Beer Money Inc., who defeated Bernard & Anderson in a non-title match at the beginning of the G1 Tag League tour.

There will also be two dark matches for fans who arrive early, focusing on interpromotional junior action and the New Japan vs. CHAOS feud.

NJPW “WRESTLE KINGDOM V IN TOKYO DOME”, 1/4/11 (WPW/PPV)
Tokyo Dome

0-1. World Wrestling Interpromotional Match: Wataru Inoue, Tiger Mask, Tomoaki Honma & Tama Tonga vs. Yujiro Takahashi, Tomohiro Ishii, Jado & Gedo
0-2. World Wrestling Invitation Match: Koji Kanemoto & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Kenny Omega & Taichi
1. IWGP Tag Team Title – 3WAY Match: Giant Bernard & Karl Anderson (c) vs. James Storm & Robert Roode vs. Manabu Nakanishi & Strong Man
2. ROAD TO FANTASIC MANIA: Jushin Thunder Liger & Hector Garza vs. La Sombra & Mascara Dorada
3. DEEP SLEEP TO LOSE: Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Takashi Iizuka
4. NJPW-TNA Greatest Showcase: Toru Yano vs. Rob Van Dam
5. NO JUSTICE, NO LIFE: Yuji Nagata vs. Minoru Suzuki
6. IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title: Prince Devitt (c) vs. Kota Ibushi
7. NJPW vs. NOAH Battle Combustion I – Kazuchika Okada Return Match: Hirooki Goto & Kazuchika Okada vs. Takashi Sugiura & Yoshihiro Takayama
8. TNA World Heavyweight Title: Jeff Hardy (c) vs. Tetsuya Naito
9. NJPW vs. NOAH Battle Combustion II: Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Go Shiozaki
10. The Absolute Exhaust: Togi Makabe vs. Masato Tanaka
11. IWGP Heavyweight Title: Satoshi Kojima (c) vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi

Before the Tokyo Dome comes a build-up show at Korakuen with some big matches leading in!

NJPW “ROAD TO KINGDOM ~BATTLE XMAS!~”, 12/23/10 (Samurai! TV)
Tokyo Korakuen Hall

1. Manabu Nakanishi & Tomoaki Honma vs. Toru Yano & Jado
2. Hirooki Goto & Tama Tonga vs. Yujiro Takahashi & Tetsuya Naito
3. Jushin Thunder Liger, Koji Kanemoto & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Taichi, X & X
4. Special 6 Man Tag Match: Togi Makabe, Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Tiger Mask vs. Masato Tanaka , Takashi Iizuka & Tomohiro Ishii
5. Special Tag Match: Shinsuke Nakamura & Gedo vs. Go Shiozaki & Atsushi Aoki
6. Special Tag Match: Yuji Nagata & Wataru Inoue vs. Yoshihiro Takayama & Minoru Suzuki
7. Special Tag Match: Hiroshi Tanahashi & Prince Devitt vs. Satoshi Kojima & Kota Ibushi

–> “CIRCUIT 2010 NEW JAPAN ISM” <--
Prince Devitt's immense growth in the past year was still not enough as he again found himself "that" close to glory in a rematch of the SUPER J-CUP final today. New IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion, Naomichi Marufuji, made a successful V1 defense of the belt against the young Irishman in another closely contested bout. The experience of Marufuji was again enough to give him the edge though as he dropped Devitt with his Tiger Frosion for the win. His next challenger may be an even proposition though as veteran Koji Kanemoto appeared after the match and challenged Marufuji. Marufuji responded rudely to the junior legend, calling him a "deteriorated version of KENTA", heating up what should be a spectacular match in the near future.

CHAOS' Toru Yano took one of his biggest scalps lately in the semi final, a tag match designed more to build up Nakamura vs. Nakanishi, as Nakamura & Yano battled Nakanishi & Tanahashi. But it was the brewing rivalry between Tanahashi and a fellow young generation man typically placed a few notches below the "4 Heroes", Yano, that took center stage as Yano blocked the High Fly Flow with both knees and cradled Tanahashi for the flash three count. A singles match between the two is a possibility for the 2/14 Sumo Hall show, where neither is yet booked.

NJPW, 1/30/10 (Samurai! TV)
Tokyo Korakuen Hall
2,005 Fans - Super No Vacancy Full House

1. Tomoaki Honma beat Nobuo Yoshihashi (4:47) with the Shalimarti.
2. Black Cat Memorial Match: Koji Kanemoto, Tiger Mask & El Samurai beat Super Strong Machine, Wataru Inoue & Mitsuhide Hirasawa (10:25) when Kanemoto used an ankle hold on Hirasawa.
3. Hirooki Goto beat Kazuchika Okada (9:46) with the Shouten.
4. Takashi Iizuka, Tomohiro Ishii, Jado & Gedo beat Riki Choshu, Togi Makabe, Ryusuke Taguchi & Taichi (8:28) when Gedo used the Gedo clutch on Taichi.
5. Special 6 Man Tag Match: Yuji Nagata, Yujiro & Tetsuya Naito beat TAJIRI, Giant Bernard & Karl Anderson (13:30) when TAJIRI was DQ’d.
6. Special Tag Match: Shinsuke Nakamura & Toru Yano beat Manabu Nakanishi & Hiroshi Tanahashi (16:49) when Yano pinned Tanahashi.
7. IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title: Naomichi Marufuji (c) beat Prince Devitt (20:19) with the Tiger Frosion (1st defense).

Manabu Nakanishi will again try to stall the new generation’s leadership of New Japan when he challenges Shinsuke Nakamura for the IWGP Heavyweight Title at Sumo Hall next month. Shinsuke’s V5 defense of the belt is now official, one day after he toppled the mighty Yoshihiro Takayama. NO LIMIT attempt to finish one piece of business from CMLL as they make their V1 defense of the IWGP Tag Team Title against the men who took their hair, El Terrible & El Texano Jr., the New Japan/CMLL relationship in full effect. February will be a busy month for Prince Devitt, as at Korakuen Hall on the 30th, he challenges new IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion, Naomichi Marufuji, in a rematch from the SUPER J-CUP final, then at Sumo Hall he and Taguchi defend their IWGP Jr. Tag Team Title against Jado & Gedo. And as for Tanahashi? He is interested in further battles with NOAH, after pinning Shiozaki yesterday but named no one in particular. He said if there was an offer, he’d consider it, and expects NOAH will be interested in throwing some wrestlers at the MVP this year.

NJPW “EXCITING BATTLE IN OKINAWA 2010″, 1/22/10
Okinawa Prefectural Budokan

1. Jushin Thunder Liger, Super Delfin , Kaijin Habu Otoko & Golden Pine vs. Ryusuke Taguchi, Shisaou , Mil Mongoose & Menso~re Oyaji
2. Riki Choshu & Kazuchika Okada vs. Yuji Nagata & Mitsuhide Hirasawa
3. Super Strong Machine & Tiger Mask vs. Koji Kanemoto & Nobuo Yoshihashi
4. Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma vs. Toru Yano & Takashi Iizuka
5. Manabu Nakanishi, Hirooki Goto & Wataru Inoue vs. Shinsuke Nakamura, Jado & Gedo
6. Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Tomohiro Ishii

NJPW, 1/30/10 (Samurai! TV)
Tokyo Korakuen Hall

1. IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title: Naomichi Marufuji (c) vs. Prince Devitt

NJPW, 2/14/10 (WPW)
Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan

1. IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Title: Ryusuke Taguchi & Prince Devitt (c) vs. Jado & Gedo
2. IWGP Tag Team Title: Yujiro & Tetsuya Naito (c) vs. El Terrible & El Texano Jr.
3. IWGP Heavyweight Title: Shinsuke Nakamura (c) vs. Manabu Nakanishi

41,500 fans flocked to the Tokyo Dome today to see “WRESTLE KINGDOM IV”, an exciting show with many memorable moments. “Strong Style” was the theme as IWGP Heavyweight Champion, Shinsuke Nakamura, met the returning Yoshihiro Takayama in a rematch from the same show six years before. As expected, this was quite physical and a very tight match, with Nakamura proving his strength again to begin the New Year and pinning Takayama after his Boma Ye, a more decisive victory than in 2004. Takayama is supposedly on the next tour poster and while I haven’t seen it, if so it would confirm continuing participation by the big man. To the surprise of some, it was Manabu Nakanishi who confronted Nakamura after the match and declared his candidacy to be Nakamura’s fifth challenger.

New Japan Pro-Wrestling and Pro Wrestling NOAH did battle in an exciting four match series that, to the surprise of few, ended in a stalemate. Takashi Sugiura again defeated Hirooki Goto in their closest match yet over the GHC Heavyweight Title. Sublimely close, fans at one point were convinced that Sugiura would tap out but he didn’t, persisting and winning with his ankle hold. The biggest match of the 4 vs. 4 was right underneath, as the ace of New Japan, Hiroshi Tanahashi, battled the ace of NOAH, Go Shiozaki, in a blockbuster match that is earning early “Best Bout” candidacy in Japan. This was an action-packed match with Shiozaki coming close to victory, but Tanahashi’s experience giving him the edge as the MVP marched to a win with his High Fly Flow.

Naomichi Marufuji followed up on his SUPER J-CUP victory by facing the “end game” boss, Tiger Mask, in a dream match over the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title. This was said to be an excellent match with many spectacular moves and moments. Marufuji had to unleash his Tiger Frosion finisher to become the champion, achieving a junior title grand slam, and becoming the top junior in Japan. It will be a difficult task for New Japan’s juniors to bring home the title but the chase begins now. The series began with a short sprint as Togi Makabe made short work of GHC Tag Team Champion, Mohammed Yone. Yone jumped Makabe on the ramp, setting the pace in a short but eventful match. Makabe won overwhelmingly in the end with his top rope King Kong kneedrop and will look to get another over Yone when he and Honma enter the Global Tag League shortly, in the same block as Rikio & Yone, NOAH’s tag kings.

Legends assembled in one of the most entertaining matches of the night, as Terry Funk, Choshu, Chono, and Nakanishi beat Abdullah The Butcher, Yano, Iizuka & Ishii. The turning point came when Abby turned against Iizuka, leading to Nakanishi racking the CHAOS man for the submission win. TAJIRI vs. Aogi-gun picked up steam as he and Masato Tanaka defeated the dream tandem of Nagata & Akebono. Some tricks led to TAJIRI pinning Nagata after his Buzzsaw kick, raising the possibility of a singles match in the near future.

NO LIMIT, Yujiro & Tetsuya Naito, left Japan about a year ago as young lions in hunt of junior belts. Today, they returned with the big boys, in the form of the world famous Team 3D and G1 Tag League ‘09 winners, Bernard & Anderson. Team 3D fought Bad Intentions to a non-finish late last year setting up this natural rematch but in an attempt to convince NO LIMIT to return home, President Sugabayashi slotted them into this three way hardcore match. And what a return, as the two had people in shock, having bulked up to heavyweights and having completely changed their image. Comparisons to the legendary TenKoji were raised as NO LIMIT outsmarted both American tandems to capture the IWGP Tag Team Title, Yujiro pinning Anderson after the Limitless Evolution. In addition to the young stars that now lead New Japan, a potential “franchise” tag team emerged today.

Apollo 55 made a successful V4 defense of the IWGP Jr. Tag Team Title against CMLL assassins, Ultimo Guerrero & Averno, in an exciting match. Taguchi sealed the win, pinning Averno after his and Devitt’s Black Hole Vacation. They nominated Jado & Gedo as their next challengers, wanting to finally exceed the “wrestling masters” and win the delayed decision match to see who New Japan’s top junior team is.

NJPW “WRESTLE KINGDOM IV IN TOKYO DOME”, 1/4/10 (WPW/PPV)
Tokyo Dome
41,500 Fans

1. New Japan Pro-Wrestling 2010 Beginning: Super Strong Machine, Wataru Inoue & Mitsuhide Hirasawa beat Jushin Thunder Liger, Koji Kanemoto & Kazuchika Okada (4:59) when Inoue used the Triangle Lancer on Okada.
2. IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Title ~Amistad combativa~: Ryusuke Taguchi & Prince Devitt (c) beat Ultimo Guerrero & Averno (9:07) when Taguchi pinned Averno after the Black Hole Vacation (4th defense).
3. IWGP Tag Team Title - 3WAY Hardcore Rules Match ~Victim and Greed~: Yujiro & Tetsuya Naito beat “Team 3D” Brother Ray & Brother Devon (c) and Giant Bernard & Karl Anderson (13:28) when Yujiro pinned Anderson after the Limitless Emotion to become the 55th champions.
4. Wrestle Kingdom Special Tag Match ~Blood Stream Blue~: TAJIRI & Masato Tanaka beat Yuji Nagata & Akebono (9:37) when TAJIRI used a Buzzsaw kick on Nagata.
5. Wrestle Kingdom Special 8 Man Tag Match ~The legend never rots~: Terry Funk, Riki Choshu, Masahiro Chono & Manabu Nakanishi beat Abdullah The Butcher, Toru Yano, Takashi Iizuka & Tomohiro Ishii (8:52) when Nakanishi used an Argentine backbreaker on Iizuka.
6. NJPW vs. NOAH Battle Effusions ~Wilderness~: Togi Makabe beat Mohammed Yone (5:39) with a top rope King Kong kneedrop.
7. IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title ~Highest sky~: Naomichi Marufuji beat Tiger Mask (c) (14:14) with the Tiger Frosion to become the 59th champion.
8. NJPW vs. NOAH Battle Effusions ~Radiance~: Hiroshi Tanahashi beat Go Shiozaki (19:04) with the High Fly Flow.
9. GHC Heavyweight Title - NJPW vs. NOAH Battle Effusions ~Blast~: Takashi Sugiura (c) beat Hirooki Goto (20:54) with an ankle hold (1st defense).
10. IWGP Heavyweight Title - The newest, The strongest: Shinsuke Nakamura (c) beat Yoshihiro Takayama (15:51) with the Boma Ye (4th defense).

Hiroshi Tanahashi’s evolution continued today as the brilliant young superstar of the Japanese wrestling industry shone brightly and fended off the challenge of global superstar Kurt Angle today at Sumo Hall. The man who has helped bring so much back to the IWGP Heavyweight Title followed up on his Tokyo Dome victory over Keiji Muto and successful V1 defense over rival Shinsuke Nakamura by facing the former IWGP 3rd Belt holder, Angle, in an electric main event full of drama and great crowd heat. Tanahashi endured Angle’s ankle locks and bombs, winning cleanly and decisively with two High Fly Flows to further cement his status as the ace. Tanahashi, who will next defend against NJC winner Hirooki Goto in Fukuoka just under a month from now, declared that his evolution hasn’t finished yet.

Nakamura has been trying to keep up with Tanahashi since failing to lift the belt off him in February but a loss to Goto in the New Japan Cup didn’t help matter. Today, he risked losing to the other of the four men who top the new generation, Togi Makabe, who sought revenge for his NJC round one loss to Nakamura. Perhaps Makabe might have beaten Nakamura had not his GBH ally Toru Yano suddenly betrayed him with a chairshot, leading to Nakamura hitting the Landslide for the win. There was much confusion over Yano’s status after the match but the general question was is Yano about to join Nakamura in the fight against GBH? Yano himself fell to the on-fire Goto earlier in the show but only after a difficult challenge against the #1 contender for Tanahashi’s title.

Former tag partners and once upon a time trusted friends, Yuji Nagata and Takashi Iizuka, went to war in a Chain Death Match today, the first of its kind since Iizuka put Tenzan to sleep in the same building last October. Blood was shed, more of Iizuka’s than Nagata’s but the dangerous Iizuka again proved to be a handful as he hanged Nagata over the ropes with his chain until Nagata blacked out, forcing the referee stoppage. With this victory over Nagata and not a single fall defeat since last July, Iizuka can surely stake a claim for a shot at the IWGP Heavyweight Title — if that is even in his plans.

Wild Child’s reunion went completely wrong! The long awaited revival of Manabu Nakanishi & Takao Omori, former IWGP Tag Team Champions, took place and with them facing Bernard and Anderson, the latter a young undercarder still learning the ropes, pretty much everyone expected a straightforward victory for the Japanese big men. And yet somehow, Omori blundered and was pinned not by Bernard but Anderson, leaving the reunion in tatters. Nakanishi raged after the match, unable to believe they had lost and now handed a dilemma - whether to choose Omori or Yutaka Yoshie as his regular tag partner.

Tiger Mask risked his IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title against Black Tiger’s mask today in the decisive battle between the two old rivals - and as it turned out, this was the same Black Tiger that Tiger Mask feuded with several years back. The first stage of the match ended inconclusively as both were counted out, leading to huge boos from the fans. But with the stipulation demanding an outcome it was restarted and Tiger Mask made short work of his challenger, pinning him with his new Destroy suplex hold. The fourth generation of Black Tiger then unmasked, revealing Rocky Romero at last and he shook hands with Tiger. And then came the twist - as the same Black Tiger in black who attacked Tiger Mask at the last Sumo Hall show, again appeared and laid out Tiger Mask with a Death Valley bomb, then unmasked him. So Black Tiger Romero seemed to be a front to a new threat in the life of Tiger Mask.

The Motor City Machine Guns, after fending off NO LIMIT on home soil in TNA, today faced “Apollo 55″ Ryusuke Taguchi & Prince Devitt in what was described as a very exciting match. This lasted much longer than the four minute NO LIMIT challenge for MCMG’s IWGP Jr. Tag Team Title and ended with Devitt falling to the Made in Detroit. Shelley and Sabin both expressed their will to keep defending the belts in both countries.

Hiroyoshi Tenzan appeared during the show to speak to the fans, his long absence nearing its end. Tenzan announced that both he and his famous tandem with Satoshi Kojima, TenKoji, will return on 5/3 when New Japan runs the Fukuoka International Center. The two will be targetting Team 3D’s IWGP Tag Team Title and with Wild Child’s reunion failing, could quickly be granted a shot at the TNA Wrestling duo.

NJPW “RESOLUTION ‘09″, 4/5/09 (WPW/PPV)
Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan
8,000 Fans

1. Koji Kanemoto beat Kazuchika Okada (8:27) by referee stop.
2. Tomohiro Ishii, Jado & Tomoaki Honma beat Wataru Inoue, Milano Collection AT & Taichi Ishikari (8:52) when Honma used a diving headbutt on Ishikari.
3. Resolution ‘09 Special 6 Man Tag Match - NJPW Greatest Heritage: Masahiro Chono, Jushin Thunder Liger & AKIRA beat Riki Choshu, Super Strong Machine & El Samurai (8:19) when AKIRA used a Musasabi press on Samurai.
4. IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Title: Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin (c) beat Ryusuke Taguchi & Prince Devitt (12:54) when Shelley pinned Devitt after the Made in Detroit (2nd defense).
5. IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title - Belt Contra Mascara: Tiger Mask (c) vs. Black Tiger went to a double countout (6:47).
5a. IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title - Belt Contra Mascara: Tiger Mask (c) beat Black Tiger (4:49) with a Destroy suplex hold (2nd defense).
6. Resolution ‘09 Special Tag Match - Big Comeback WILD HEART: Giant Bernard & Karl Anderson beat Manabu Nakanishi & Takao Omori (15:50) when Anderson used the Gun Stun on Omori.
7. Resolution ‘09 Special Singles Match - HUGE RIOT: Hirooki Goto beat Toru Yano (16:10) with a modified armlock.
8. Resolution ‘09 Special Singles Match - Bolt from the blue - Chain Death Match: Takashi Iizuka beat Yuji Nagata (21:58) by referee stop.
9. Resolution ‘09 Special Singles Match - The end of discord: Shinsuke Nakamura beat Togi Makabe (12:42) with the Landslide.
10. IWGP Heavyweight Title - WHICH IS GENIUS?: Hiroshi Tanahashi (c) beat Kurt Angle (15:11) with the High Fly Flow (2nd defense).

Two big matches have been officially added to the big 4/5 Sumo Hall show, finally giving us a look at what to expect besides Tanahashi vs. Angle. Tiger Mask risks his belt against old nemesis Black Tiger’s mask in what has become a mask vs. title match that could settle this renewed rivalry very quickly. And Makabe’s demand for a rematch against Nakamura has been accepted as the GBH leader looks to avenge his NJC round one loss to the RISE leader, who has losses to both Tanahashi and Goto to try and bounce back from.

NJPW “RESOLUTION ‘09″, 4/5/09 (WPW/PPV)
Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan

1. IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title - Belt Contra Mascara: Tiger Mask (c) vs. Black Tiger
2. Special Singles Match: Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Togi Makabe
3. IWGP Heavyweight Title: Hiroshi Tanahashi (c) vs. Kurt Angle

After he requested it, New Japan have had a new IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title belt created for Tiger Mask. He said if a new IWGP Heavyweight Title belt could be created last year, why not one for the junior strap? A first glimpse of it can be found in the new Weekly Pro - is that it pictured above?