Hiroyoshi Tenzan is about to return with a bang, firstly in the TenKoji reunion and today announced a showdown with the legendary Kenta Kobashi! Tenzan is one of several New Japan wrestlers who will appear on Pro Wrestling NOAH’s May 6th Tokyo Nippon Budokan show. He will take promising young lion Kazuchika Okada with him and the two will face Kobashi and NOAH youngster Atsushi Ito. Once they were nicknamed “The Unbeatables”, Jushin Thunder Liger & Koji Kanemoto being the team that entered NOAH to bring home the IWGP Jr. Tag Team Title in 2003. They re-board the Ark on the same show as they face Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Genba Hirayanagi in response to provocation from the team aimed at the New Japan legends. By the way, this show is on the same day as the second half of NJ’s Korakuen double header, the first half of which sees Hirooki Goto & Kazuchika Okada vs. Takashi Sugiura & Atsushi Aoki in another NJ vs. NOAH bout.

NOAH “GLOBAL TAG LEAGUE ‘09″, 5/6/09
Tokyo Nippon Budokan

- Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Genba Hirayanagi vs. Jushin Thunder Liger & Koji Kanemoto
- Kenta Kobashi & Atsushi Ito vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Kazuchika Okada

Both IWGP Tag titles were successfully defended at TNA’s “LOCKDOWN” PPV on the 19th. Team 3D went to war with Beer Money Inc. in an IWGP Tag vs. TNA Tag double title match and the world famous tandem came out on top, Brother Ray pinning Robert Roode after a 3D through the table. Meanwhile, NO LIMIT again failed to recapture the IWGP Jr. Tag Team Title, this time in a 3WAY cage match as champions, the Motor City Machine Guns, defeated both them and Homicide and the 285lbs (yeah…) Shawn Hernandez. Both matches were officially sanctioned IWGP defenses unlike various others held in America in the past. The task remains for teams from New Japan to beat Team 3D and the MCMG.

TNA “LOCKDOWN”, 4/19/09 (PPV)
Philadelphia Liacouras Center

- 3WAY Tornado Six Sides of Steel Cage Match - IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Title: Chris Sabin & Alex Shelley (c) beat Homicide & Shawn Hernandez and Yujiro & Tetsuya Naito (11:53) when Sabin pinned Naito after the Made in Detroit (3rd defense).
- Philadelphia Street Fight - IWGP Tag Team Title & TNA World Tag Team Title: “Team 3D” Brother Ray & Brother Devon (c) beat James Storm & Robert Roode (c) (13:57) when Ray pinned Roode after a 3D through a table (2nd defense) to become the 11th TNA World Tag Team Champions.

TNA Wrestling presents an IWGP Tag Team Title vs. TNA World Tag Team Title match at the upcoming Lockdown PPV on April 19th at the Liacouras Center in Philadelphia. It’ll be Beer Money Inc. (Robert Roode & James Storm) who recently appeared in New Japan against Team 3D, who of course took the IWGP Tag Team Title back to America. It’ll be a Steel Cage match and apparently both titles will be on the line but if history teaches us anything its not to consider it an official IWGP match until New Japan says so as there have been a handful of title defenses never sanctioned by New Japan, so we’ll wait and see if this one is.

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.