New Japan presents its “WRESTLING DONTAKU 2009″ super-show at the Fukuoka International Center on May 3rd and two more matches have been announced. Tanahashi vs. Goto is of course official after yesterday’s main event result but after their unlikely win over Wild Child, Bernard & Anderson have the task of facing TenKoji, the winner of which will challenge Team 3D for the IWGP Tag Team Title some time soon. And after many years, the face of DRAGON GATE, CIMA, returns to New Japan as part of a special tag match in which he and Liger face Tiger Mask and Kanemoto. CIMA appeared in New Japan as a young boy along with other (then) Toryumon wrestlers but after Kanemoto was a bit too abusive in the ring, relations were cut off. The Fukuoka show has also been announced as another live PPV.

NJPW “WRESTLING DONTAKU 2009″, 5/3/09 (WPW/PPV)
Fukuoka International Center

1. Wrestling Dontaku 2009 Special Tag Match: Tiger Mask & Koji Kanemoto vs. Jushin Thunder Liger & CIMA
2. TenKoji Return - IWGP Tag Team Title #1 Contender Match: Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima vs. Giant Bernard & Karl Anderson
3. IWGP Heavyweight Title: Hiroshi Tanahashi (c) vs. Hirooki Goto

One name not on the Fukuoka card as yet that was scheduled is that of Mexican superstar Mistico. However, the Mexican “Child of God” has been confirmed for the Korakuen Hall double header that follows Fukuoka, on 5/5 and 5/6. He will be joined by fellow luchadore Misterioso Jr. in some interesting multicultural matches.

NJPW “DIVERGENCE”, 5/5/09 (Samurai! TV)
Tokyo Korakuen Hall

1. Special 6 Man Tag Match - Mistico 3rd Impact!!!: Hiroshi Tanahashi, Tiger Mask & Mistico vs. Giant Bernard, Black Tiger & Misterioso Jr.

NJPW “DISSIDENCE”, 5/6/09 (SXW)
Tokyo Korakuen Hall

1. Special Tag Match - Mistico 3rd Impact!!!: Hiroshi Tanahashi & Mistico vs. Hirooki Goto & Misterioso Jr.

Main matches have been announced for the upcoming “CIRCUIT 2009 NEW JAPAN BRAVE“, which begins on April 11th, so these are pretty late. Wild Child persist! Takao Omori appears on all shows and will team with Nakanishi in an attempt to get their reunion on track after yesterday’s false start. On 4/21 in Osaka they have a rematch against Bernard & Anderson. The following day in the same building Omori faces Tanahashi in a huge singles match, a show that also features Tiger Mask vs. the NEW Black Tiger who is on the tour, as well as Nakanishi vs. Hirooki Goto. Makabe is off the tour due to a neck injury suffered when Yano laid him out and judging by the opening day card Yano is still in GBH. The only other news is that Taichi Ishikari is renaming himself to simply Taichi.

NJPW, 4/11/09 (SXW)
Twin Messe Shizuoka

1. Koji Kanemoto vs. Nobuo Yoshihashi
2. Tiger Mask & Kazuchika Okada vs. Black Tiger & Jado
3. Riki Choshu & Mitsuhide Hirasawa vs. Manabu Nakanishi & Takao Omori
4. Masahiro Chono, Jushin Thunder Liger & AKIRA vs. Toru Yano, Giant Bernard & Karl Anderson
5. Yuji Nagata & Wataru Inoue vs. Takashi Iizuka & Tomohiro Ishii
6. Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Tomoaki Honma
7. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Ryusuke Taguchi & Prince Devitt vs. Hirooki Goto, Milano Collection AT & Taichi (Taichi Ishikari)

NJPW, 4/18/09
Kuwana City Gymnasium

1. Hiroshi Tanahashi & Nobuo Yoshihashi vs. Hirooki Goto & Kazuchika Okada

NJPW, 4/19/09
Iwade Municipal Townsman Gymnasium

1. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Ryusuke Taguchi & Prince Devitt vs. Hirooki Goto, Jushin Thunder Liger & AKIRA

NJPW, 4/21/09 (SXW)
Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium #2

1. Manabu Nakanishi & Takao Omori vs. Giant Bernard & Karl Anderson
2. Hiroshi Tanahashi & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Hirooki Goto & Milano Collection AT

NJPW, 4/22/09 (SXW)
Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium #2

1. Tiger Mask vs. Black Tiger
2. Manabu Nakanishi vs. Hirooki Goto
3. Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Takao Omori

NJPW, 4/23/09
Zentsuji Citizen Gymnasium

1. Hiroshi Tanahashi & Prince Devitt vs. Hirooki Goto & AKIRA

NJPW, 4/24/09
Shunan Sports Center

1. Hiroshi Tanahashi & Riki Choshu vs. Hirooki Goto & AKIRA

NJPW, 4/26/09
Oita Daihatsu Arena

1. Hiroshi Tanahashi & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Hirooki Goto & AKIRA

NJPW, 4/27/09
Nagasaki Prefectural Gymnasium

1. Hiroshi Tanahashi & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Hirooki Goto & Jushin Thunder Liger

NJPW, 4/29/09
Hiroshima Trade Center West Pavillion

1. Hiroshi Tanahashi & Prince Devitt vs. Hirooki Goto & Jushin Thunder Liger

NJPW, 4/30/09
Oita Event Hall

1. Hiroshi Tanahashi & Prince Devitt vs. Hirooki Goto & Milano Collection AT

NJPW, 5/1/09
Kagoshima Citizen Gymnasium

1. Hiroshi Tanahashi & Koji Kanemoto vs. Hirooki Goto & Jushin Thunder Liger

Who will be the strongest of midsummer? The schedule for the “G1 CLIMAX 2009 ~NEW LORDS, NEW LAWS~” tour has been announced with eight shows in all, one more than last year. It begins in Hiroshima before another double header in Osaka. Then its on to Yokohama before the standard “small” show of the tour at Korakuen, then Aichi, and finally the Sumo Hall double header.

G1 CLIMAX 2009 ~NEW LORDS, NEW LAWS~
- 8/7 @ Hiroshima Sun Plaza
- 8/8 @ Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium
- 8/9 @ Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium
- 8/10 @ Yokohama Bunka Gymnasium
- 8/11 @ Tokyo Korakuen Hall
- 8/13 @ Aichi Prefectural Gymnasium
- 8/15 @ Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan
- 8/16 @ Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan

You may have been wondering why Yujiro and Tetsuya Naito, aka NO LIMIT, aren’t on any upcoming New Japan cards. Well, after winning top contendership for the Motor City Machine Guns’ IWGP Jr. Tag Team Title recently at Sumo Hall, the young lions are off to America, specifically TNA Wrestling, in an attempt to get an early title shot. They aren’t on any shows before April at least, so we might be able to expect their returns on the 4/5 Sumo Hall show, if not later.

Although it isn’t known yet if Mistico will be on the 4/5 Sumo Hall event, he will be on the 5/3 Fukuoka International Center show, according to Ovaciones and SoloLuchas in Mexico (thanks to TheCubsFan’s great luchablog for this). The problem is, both publiciations offer conflicting reports. Ovaciones says that he’s facing Liger in a title match, which given that Liger has no title and recently failed to win the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title, could be a tough task — unless they mean Mistico’s CMLL World Welterweight Championship. SoloLuchas has the more plausible story that Mistico will be challenging Tiger Mask for the IWGP Jr. belt, something that has been teased since his Tokyo Dome appearance. Given that New Japan is treating the Fukuoka show in Golden Week as a major show, booking Mistico isn’t too unsurprising. Dragon Rojo Jr. will also be joining Mistico to work that show.

New Japan will be sending a batch of wrestlers to A BATHING APE’s “BAPESTA!! PRO WRESTLING 2008″ special show at the not-quite-second-Korakuen (they said that about Differ too), Tokyo JCB Hall. JCB was hyped as the next big thing for pro wrestling, and ZERO1-MAX christened it with a big show earlier this year, but the usage cost is extremely high and so it has seen very little use as far as pro wrestling goes. Anyway, BAPESTA!! will be using it, and will utilize wrestlers from all over in some intriguing matches, such as… Muto vs. Chono! In six man tag form, that is.

A BATHING APE “BAPESTA!! PRO WRESTLING 2008″, 12/23/08
Tokyo JCB Hall

1. Great Sasuke & Tiger Mask vs. Jushin Thunder Liger & Tigers Mask
2. Teriyaki Boy & Super Milo vs. Ebessan & Kuishinbo Kamen
3. Minoru Suzuki , NOSAWA Rongai & MAZADA vs. X, Jado & Gedo
4. Satoshi Kojima & THE APEMAN vs. Manabu Nakanishi & THE APEMAN GOLD
5. Keiji Muto , Ultimo Dragon & Jinsei Shinzaki vs. Masahiro Chono , Sanshiro Takagi & TAKA Michinoku

Mexican sensation Mistico is on his way to New Japan and sent a photograph of himself to Japan, that you can see above. He also attached a message that sounds very familiar, about how honoured he is to be appearing at the Tokyo Dome on 1/4, and that it will be a special show for him - his first appearance in Japan, in fact. He has heard of the “all-star” nature of the show, with TNA superstars and names from across Japan appearing, so it has given him motivation to show that lucha libra is the world’s number one style.

Mistico has revealed his apparent Tokyo Dome match to the SuperLuchas magazine in Mexico and it involves another luchadore. Barring a change of plans, he will team up with fellow young juniors Taguchi and Devitt against CMLL rival Averno, who teams up with fellow veterans Jado & Gedo. Not exactly the huge match for Mistico that was hinted, but this isn’t completely unexpected given that juniors rarely get big singles matches at the Dome unless a belt is on the line. Thanks to The Cubs Fan for that news!

A gorgeous cast of foreigners will advance on the highest stage of Japanese pro wrestling on January 4th when New Japan hits the Tokyo Dome for “WRESTLE KINGDOM III IN TOKYO DOME”. From TNA Wrestling we will see the return of former IWGP 3rd Belt holder Kurt Angle, nWo co-founder Kevin Nash, the world famous Team 3D (Brother Ray & Brother Devon), and the Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin). From CMLL we will be treated to the first appearance of Mexico’s young icon, “Child of God” Mistico, in his first Japanese appearance.

President Sugabayashi held a press conference in which he held the mask of Mistico up to the media and spoke of these big events. It was Mistico he chose to focus the press conference on, as the luchadore has a lot of hype in Japan and is called a national hero of Mexico. Sugabayashi said he is held in such high esteem in Mexico that he acted as a local reporter in the recent Beijing Olympics. Sugabayashi said nothing but a big match would be suitable for the young revolution fighter.

All of TNA Wrestling’s representatives have experience in Japan. Kurt Angle and Kevin Nash are both members of TNA’s own version of Legend called the Main Event Mafia, and unsurprisingly it looks like they are ready to conspire with Legend in some way, Sugabayashi suggesting that the likes of Chono may be involved with them. Angle defeated Yuji Nagata in a match being considered for Tokyo Sports’ 2008 Best Bout award, before losing the big IWGP unification match to Nakamura in February. He then returned for a couple of tag matches in the G1, pinning Tanahashi in one of them. Nash appeared at the huge Osaka Dome show in 1997 when the nWo was at its peak, but hasn’t been seen in New Japan since, and his return will come over a decade later.

A fax arrived from Team 3D requesting a match at the Tokyo Dome, with particular interest in the IWGP Tag Team Title. On this year’s show they defeated last year’s Japanese Tag MVPs and current IWGP Tag Team Champions, Makabe & Yano, so have already perhaps earned a rematch. Sugabayashi isn’t sure though, because Makabe & Yano still have to defend against Nakanishi & Yoshie on 12/6 in Nagoya. Sugabayashi also noted that TenKoji may be involved in some way, and four teams - Makabe & Yano, Nakanishi & Yoshie, TenKoji, and Team 3D - are on the president’s mind, and it looks like in some way those two teams will be involved in two matches, one for the title and one possibly a contendership match.

The Motor City Machine Guns are one of the top junior tag teams in America, so its only natural they are being linked to an IWGP Jr. Tag Team Title shot. Sugabayashi hinted that it is almost a lock that they will challenge the winners of NO LIMIT vs. Jado & Gedo, set to take place on 12/7 in Osaka.