Finally, there's five big NJPW shows coming up.

Capital Collision (April 15, Washington DC) - www.njpw1972.com/147137
Collision in Philadelphia (April 16) - www.njpw1972.com/147138
Road to Dontaku (April 27) - www.njpw1972.com/147611
Satsuma no Kuni (April 29) - www.njpw1972.com/147613
Wrestling Dontaku (May 3) - www.njpw1972.com/147614

Notable matches:
- Lance Archer vs Juice Robinson - The first semifinal in a four-man tournament to challenge Kenny Omega for the IWGP US Belt. Tanahashi and Ospreay will face in the second semifinal down the line.
- Hiromu Takahashi vs Yoshinobu for the KOPW Championship
- SANADA vs Hiromu Takahashi for the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship

Man dude looking at the card and write ups to Dontaku and seeing Kenta with a headband just reminds me how long he's been around for. Is he considered "old"?

Did not know this was a thing, but NJPW put but Battle in the Valley on Youtube.

Has Mone vs Kairi on it.

Where any of our Aussies aware NJPW has an Australian brand - Tamashii?

Apr 11, 2023 20:08:42 GMT Emperor said:

Finally, there's five big NJPW shows coming up.

Capital Collision (April 15, Washington DC) - www.njpw1972.com/147137
Collision in Philadelphia (April 16) - www.njpw1972.com/147138
Road to Dontaku (April 27) - www.njpw1972.com/147611
Satsuma no Kuni (April 29) - www.njpw1972.com/147613
Wrestling Dontaku (May 3) - www.njpw1972.com/147614

Notable matches:
- Lance Archer vs Juice Robinson - The first semifinal in a four-man tournament to challenge Kenny Omega for the IWGP US Belt. Tanahashi and Ospreay will face in the second semifinal down the line.
- Hiromu Takahashi vs Yoshinobu for the KOPW Championship
- SANADA vs Hiromu Takahashi for the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship

As someone who doesn't really follow NJPW, a couple of those matches definitely have my interest.

Aussie Open vs. The MCMG's vs. The Dream Team (Capital Collision)
Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Tom Lawlor (Capital Collision)
Gabriel Kidd vs. Orange Cassidy (Collision in Philadelphia) - Mostly for Cassidy, big fan of the guy.
Volador Jr. & El Desperado vs Kevin Knight & Delirious (Collision in Philadelphia)
Aussie Open vs. TMDK (Satsuma no Kuni)

Edit: I love me some Aussie Open, they're a fantastic team IMO.

Aussie Open are now the IWGP Heavyweight Tag Champs.

My triple post had the unintended consequence of burying my previous two NJPW updates at the bottom of the last page, so I don't know if anyone saw them!

Capital Collision spoilers

SPOILER: Click to show

Clark Connors is the newest member of Bullet Club. David Finlay said he was going to hand pick a new member and at Capital Collision tonight it turned out to be him.

Probably could have guessed since Connors just signed a new deal with NJPW.

Have to wonder what this means for Bullet Club Gold since both Finlay & Connors have appeared in AEW before and worked Forbidden Door (or the build to) last year.

More:

SPOILER: Click to show

Aussie Open win the STRONG Tag Team titles. Match was amazing. Weirdly though, Okada/Tanahashi were barely a factor and weren’t even involved in the finish. It was all AO & MCMG.

Aussie Open now hold both heavyweight tag titles in NJPW heading towards Forbidden Door and a clear feud with FTR. Fucking lets go.

Zack Sabre Jr. versus Tom Lawler was a thing of beauty, I absolutely loved every second of it.

What I wouldn't give to see Sabre Jr. versus Danielson at Forbidden Door, preferably without the television championship on the line, cause I'm gonna need them to go at it for more than fifteen minutes.

That match would get me to watch it. Mostly because I hate ZSJ and want his head kicked in, but I doubt it'd happen. The head kicking not the match, I assumed Danielson has wanted the match since leaving.

Apr 16, 2023 3:11:22 GMT RT said:

More:

SPOILER: Click to show

Aussie Open win the STRONG Tag Team titles. Match was amazing. Weirdly though, Okada/Tanahashi were barely a factor and weren’t even involved in the finish. It was all AO & MCMG.

Aussie Open now hold both heavyweight tag titles in NJPW heading towards Forbidden Door and a clear feud with FTR. Fucking lets go.

Yea, the match was fantastic.

The Machine Guns might be a bit slower these days, however, I've still been enjoying their work as a tag team.

Edit: I also wanted to say I dug KENTA/Edwards, and the SANADA tag team match as well. Overall, I thought Capital Collision was a pretty good show.

Capital Collision weekend was all Aussie Open. It's almost unbelievable how hard they are being pushed. But they deserve it. Amazing tag team with several amazing double team moves, and in general far more interesting than FTR.

They won four championship matches over the span of 9 days.

April 08 - IWGP Tag Team Title: Aussie Open (Kyle Fletcher & Mark Davis) defeat Bishamon (Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI) (c) (15:30) - TITLE CHANGE !!!
April 12 - IWGP Tag Team Title: Aussie Open (Kyle Fletcher & Mark Davis) (c) defeat Best Friends (Chuck Taylor & Trent Beretta) (9:24)
April 15 - NJPW STRONG Openweight Tag Team Title Three Way: Aussie Open (Kyle Fletcher & Mark Davis) defeat Hiroshi Tanahashi & Kazuchika Okada and The Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin) (c) (25:13) - TITLE CHANGE !!!
April 16 - NJPW STRONG Openweight Tag Team Title: Aussie Open (Kyle Fletcher & Mark Davis) (c) defeat CHAOS (Lio Rush & Tomohiro Ishii) (20:58)

They closed out both NJPW shows in the USA. Amazing.

---------------------

Clark Connors is a great addition to Bullet Club. Finlay personally recruited him, stating he wanted savages, and that Connors has been overlooked for far too long. His promo also talked about his vision for Bullet Club, he doesn't want guys in his group who just sell t-shirts. He wants killers and savages. If any member even so much as looks at him in the wrong way, they're out. As El Phantasmo learned the hard way.

---------------------

Zack retained his NJPW TV Championship against Tom Lawlor in an awesome match.

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SANADA and Kanemaru met Hiromu and Naito on the first night. SANADA started wrestling heelishly and aggressively towards Hiromu, and Hiromu brought the fight right back. We continue to see new sides of SANADA and they are bringing the heat to this rivalry. The match ended with Kanemaru rolling up Hiromu for a three count.

---------------------

Lance Archer def. Fred Rosser to advance to the finals of the IWGP US Championship #1 Contender Tournament. He will face the winner of Tanahashi vs Ospreay. Archer was meant to face Robinson, but Juice got suspended after viciously attacking Fred Rosser prior to their match on the previous night. His suspension didn't stop him getting involved in this match to help Archer win.

---------------------

There are a few championship matches coming up.

April 27
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Title Match
Catch 22 (Francesco Akira & TJP) (c) vs. Jet Setters (Kevin Knight & KUSHIDA)

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title Match
Hiromu Takahashi (c) vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru

April 29

IWGP Tag Team Title Match
Aussie Open (Kyle Fletcher & Mark Davis) (c) vs. TMDK (Mikey Nicholls & Shane Haste)

NJPW King Of Pro-Wrestling Title Match
Shingo Takagi (c) vs. Taichi


Wrestling Dontaku - May 03

NJPW STRONG Openweight Title Match
KENTA (c) vs. Hikuleo

NJPW World Television Title Match
Zack Sabre Jr. (c) vs. Jeff Cobb

NEVER Openweight Six Man Tag Team Title Match
Strong Style (El Desperado, Minoru Suzuki & Ren Narita) (c) vs. CHAOS (Kazuchika Okada & Tomohiro Ishii) & TBC

NEVER Openweight Title Match
Tama Tonga (c) vs. David Finlay

IWGP World Heavyweight Title Match
SANADA (c) vs. Hiromu Takahashi

I've watched more New Japan this year, than I have in the last two or three years combined.

Wrestle Kingdom 17
Battle In The Valley
Sakura Genesis
Capital Collision

I'm about to watch Collision in Philadelphia right now. If I had to pick my favourite show so far, I'd go with Capital Collision, followed by Wrestle Kingdom 17.

Apr 22, 2023 19:43:02 GMT Emperor said:

Capital Collision weekend was all Aussie Open. It's almost unbelievable how hard they are being pushed. But they deserve it. Amazing tag team with several amazing double team moves, and in general far more interesting than FTR.

Absolutely agreed (minus the shot at FTR), Aussie Open continue to prove they are one of the best tag teams in professional wrestling today.

It shouldn't be long until Mercedes Mone holds more NJPW gold.

As she is scheduled to partake in a four-women one-night tournament (May 21st at Resurgence), to crown the first ever NJPW STRONG women’s champion, where she will battle against CMLL's Stephanie Vaquer. The other first-round match will see AEW's Willow Nightingale taking on STARDOM's Momo Kohgo.

www.njpw1972.com/148837

April 27th show was pretty fun.

Tetsuya Naito faced DOUKI in an exhibition match. We have a top heavyweight facing a middle-of-the-road junior, so a foregone conclusion, but they still wrestled an exciting contest. Naito praised DOUKI after the match, which seems to be a trend when DOUKI faces off against someone way above his stature.

-------------------------------------

Next, the newly-formed tag team of Jet Setters (KUSHIDA and Kevin Knight) defeated Catch-22 (TJP and Francesco Akira) to capture the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championships. Catch-22 had a fantastic run, one of the longest runs in the history of the belts. Kevin Knight is a recently graduated young lion from Shibata's L.A. Dojo. KUSHIDA picked him as his partner, and he made a brilliant choice.

The match itself was fantastic, the only complaint I have was the double team finish of the Jet Setters. I won't describe it, I'll just say it was really dumb. Like, Canadian Destroyer dumb.

-------------------------------------

Hiromu Takahashi retained the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championships championship against Yoshinobu Kanemaru in the main event. Put this match in a vacuum and it's good, borderline great. It had great psychology and a hot finishing stretch. The problem is, it's a carbon copy of every recent title defense of Hiromu. His opponent focuses on the knee for the whole match. Hiromu sells like his leg is broken. He makes a comeback, and he's limping around, except when he isn't limping around and hitting all of his junior flying moves. Hiromu kicks out of literally everything and then wins.

I do mean everything. Kanemaru hit all of his finishers, including his super finisher, the Dangerous Brainbuster. He had Figure Four Leg Locks and other leg holds applied for minutes at a time. Hiromu kicked out and made the ropes every time. Out of nowhere he hits some moves and wins. It's suppose to be exciting and dramatic, but when you've seen Hiromu do this against all his other challengers his formula becomes really cheap.

My biggest problem is that Hiromu is never the better wrestler in his matches. He's constantly outwrestled, outsmarted, outmanoeuvred. Kanemaru was on offense for 75% of this match, as was Robbie Eagles in his previous title defense. But he wins because he's literally invincible.

I understand people get sick of Okada winning all the time, me included, but Hiromu is far worse. Okada builds his finishing stretches with a great sense of psychology and drama. He never wins just because he's invincible, at least not any more than his opponents. He wins because he has that little extra conditioning, he has that one last dropkick, that one last reversal. It's a tiny difference in endurance and stamina, but that's how Okada outlasts his competition. Okada does come across as beatable despite how infrequently he loses. Hiromu wins because he can kick out of an endless amount of finishers and survive submissions holds infinitely. Yawn.

At least I get to see him lose to SANADA in a few days time. Maybe the way Hiromu works his own matches is to build for his first ever IWGP Heavyweight Championship match. Here's a guy who quite literally cannot be defeated, he's got to beat SANADA right?

Satsuma no Kuni, another solid show.

-------------------------------------

Aussie Open retained the IWGP Tag Team Championship against TMDK. Awesome match that just kept getting better and better. Both teams really got the best out of each other. Australia should be proud of that match.

-------------------------------------

Taichi def. Shingo Takagi to become the new King of Pro Wrestling Champion. Great match that was an upgrade of the recent Takagi defense against Henare. An upgrade both in terms of the stipulation and the match quality. I love how the King of Pro Wrestling title forms its own identity depending on who the champion is. When Toru Yano held the belt it was all comedy matches where Yano could escape by the skin of his teeth. Takagi beat Yano and then it became the Ironman belt with super gruelling matches. It will be interesting to see what Taichi will bring to the table. Sing-offs? Cosplay competitions?

-------------------------------------

On the April 30 show Okada announced his mystery partner in his quest for the Trios Championship held by Strong Style (Minoru Suzuki, Ren Narita, El Desperado)

Okada, Ishii and...HIROSHI TANAHASHI! This is only a surprise because Tanahashi was injured, but it seems he's clear for Wrestling Dontaku... which has already happened by the way.

The fun didn't end there. Ishii immediately turned away and walked out on Okada. According to commentary, Ishii said he doesn't want to team with Tanahashi. Okada stood in the ring in shocked silence, while the crowd laughed, and while Strong Style mocked him. Okada said "Well...like it or not, Ishii is going to team with us, and we'll win." :lol:

Imagine if Ishii turns on Okada and joins Strong Style. That would be interesting, in what is a very interesting time.

At Wrestling Dontaku Jon Moxley announced his return, summoned by his buddy Shota Umino to take on the trio of Okada, Tanahashi and Ishii. The third man is currently unknown.

Mad King would be a safe bet.  That said, DB could be said person if they bring BCC to New Japan.

Wrestling Dontaku was incredibly interesting. Lots to talk about. A phrase I'm using after every big NJPW show recently - of course that can only be a good time. We're in an exciting period.

---------------------------------------

Hikuleo def. KENTA to become the NEW Strong Openweight Champion

The match wasn't very good but having a young prospective talent win gold from a seasoned veteran is pretty interesting. Hikuleo, the man who ousted Jay White from Japan, put another dent in Bullet Club by taking gold from the group's only champion on the 10th Anniversary of their formation. But...life gets better for Bullet Club later on.

---------------------------------------

Zack Sabre Jr. drew with Jeff Cobb (time limit reached) to retain the NJPW Television Championship

ZSJ already racked up an impressive five title defenses before coming up against the Imperial Unit. Great psychology going into the match: Cobb was full of confidence saying that Zack can't submit him, pin him, or put him to sleep. Indeed, he's so incredibly dense and strong that it's hard to imagine how Zack could tie him in knots. Zack was also full of confidence, because that's how he always is.

However the champion struggle to achieve anything against Cobb in the first five minutes of the fifteen minute time limit. Cobb simply wouldn't budge, and when the opportunity arose he started going on the attack. Cobb's was flawless until he went for his trademark standing moonsault. The moment Cobb left the ground is the moment Zack struck. He twisted around and caught the falling Cobb and started applying holds. He focused on Cobb's left knee.

From there it became a more even contest but Zack was on the back foot for most of the match which was rare. Cobb scored with a gutwrench suplex from the top rope, which rocked him as almost as much as it did Zack. In the end the time limit expired with Cobb in control. Cobb wasn't really close to putting away Zack, but he was far closer than Zack was to defeating Cobb. On a judge's decision Cobb wins pretty handily, but there are no judges, the rule states the champion retains on a time limit draw. The first time this has happened in the championship's short history.

Fun match, and neither man was happy at the result. A rematch is on the cards.

---------------------------------------

Okada, Tanahashi and Ishii def. Strong Style (Suzuki, Narita and Desperado) to become NEW NEVER Openweight Six Man Tag Team Champions.

Normally this would be a throwaway match but there are several mini-stories going on that made this match worthwhile. I mentioned before the potential COMBUSTIBLE ELEMENTS in Okada's team due to Ishii not approving of Tanahashi. Ishii decided to go along with it and wrestle, mainly due to his heated rivalry with Desperado.

The main angle involves Okada. Okada is perpetually champion, and is therefore often lost without the title, but the recently returned young lions Ren Narita and Shota Umino are both hungry hyenas, racing to pick the weakened carcass of Okada. Narita got there first, confronting Okada backstage after his loss to SANADA and challenging him. There is the obvious parallel to the extremely heated angle between Okada and NOAH's Kiyomiya from earlier in the year. Okada hasn't forgotten about that, and he's carrying this Okada murder rage to his feud with Narita.

Indeed, early on in this title match we see Okada punking out Narita in exactly the same way he did to Kiyomiya in that famous clip that went viral. His teammates had to save him from an early defeat via Money Clip, and we returned to a standard six man fare. Desperado and Ishii had extended time in the ring to settle their differences, but neither man could defeat the other, and they tagged out to Narita and Okada, taking us back to where we started. Narita got the advantage over Okada, but tag team shenanigans saw Narita on the end of a triple team from Okada, Tanahashi and Ishii.

After that Narita was easy pickings. Okada hits Landslide and Rainmaker, soundly defeating one of the vultures gunning for him, and the Six Man belts change hands.

To be honest I wasn't expecting a title change, but given what happened next, it makes perfect sense.

On the heels of Narita's defeat, out comes Shota Umino to challenge Okada, and with him he brought Jon Moxley via video package.

Needless to say, Okada was not impressed. He and Tanahashi did a joint backstage interview where Okada said, "Shota...people were way excited to see Moxley than they were to see you. You know what that means? You've got a long way to go. Challenge us for these belts and show us what you've got. You're not ready yet. You can't ride on the coattails of your seniors forever. I'm gonna teach you a lesson. Get ready you cocky bastards." Tanahashi's reaction was hilarious.



---------------------------------------

David Finlay def. Tama Tonga to become the NEW Never Openweight Champion

The result isn't surprising, but the way it happened was. It was a violent, back and forth match for a while, but then rather suddenly Finlay started dominating. It started when he shoved Tonga off the top rope and onto the floor. Then a powerbomb on the apron. Three powerbombs in a row in the ring and the challenger was dead. Finlay hit Into Oblivion (the thankfully renamed Trash Panda). Cover. Finlay picks the shoulders up at two. He picked Tama up and hit his finisher again. Once more, lift the shoulders up. Finlay hit a third Into Oblivion and mercifully pinned his opponent's shoulders to the mat.

We haven't seen such a decisive victory in a NJPW ring in a long time. Tonga was taken out on a stretcher. Finlay proved what he's been saying for months: he's a savage, a killer.

His celebrations were cut short by the return of El Phantasmo, who sent the new champion scurrying.

El Phantasmo cut a pretty weak backstage promo challenging David Finlay at Dominion. Phantasmo has the Riddle problem: he's too naturally goofy and nice to cut a convincing intense/serious promo. I'll give him credit for trying.

---------------------------------------

SANADA def. Hiromu Takahashi to retain the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship

SANADA has undergone a radical shift to become the company's top star, but in the ring he still needs to prove that he really is a top worker. He had some good-to-great matches in the New Japan Cup, and a great match to defeat Okada, but here comes a real challenge.

I will say that SANADA has done a lot to win me over, this match included. I took a big dump on Hiromu's ability to work a main event match in a previous post, fortunately this was clearly a SANADA match by how the match was laid out. It was a solid back and forth match which pitted SANADA's superior weight and strength against Hiromu's speed and agility. SANADA focused on the back and neck instead of going after the knee like all of Hiromu's recently Junior Heavyweight foes. A fresh change of pace.

The match was kinda just there until the final 5-10 minutes, a really exciting closing stretch worthy of an IWGP Championship match. Hiromu kicked out of SANADA's Skull End/Moonsault combo and avoided the new finished Deadfall on several occasionas. SANADA in turn survived both versions of Hiromu's Time Bomb finisher, a feat only previously accomplished by El Desperado. In the end SANADA caught Hiromu with a gorgeous Shining Wizard and then hit Deadfall to retain the championship.

I love how SANADA is using the Shining Wizard in a similar way to how Okada uses the Dropkick. The ultimate clutch move that turns the match around at the last moment. Problem is, his opponents are going to start to becoming wise to it once it becomes an established move, which is now is.

SANADA had a few minutes to close the show for the audience, but like Finlay earlier, his celebration was interrupted by a new challenger. I'll let the video speak for itself.



This is very very exciting, and I'll explain why in a future post.

Best of Super Juniors begins!

I'm not planning to watch everything but I caught the opening show at Korakuen Hall. The first show is where every competitor is at their freshest, and most eager to deliver a great show to set the standards, and indeed everyone delivered.


A Block

Taiji Ishimori def. Ryusuke Taguchi

Ishimori always gets a raw deal. When he participated as the junior champion, Hiromu was headlining almost every show. Now that Ishimori is not the champion, he's the opening match in his block. That's largely due to his opponent, a former top junior who now adopts the Toru Yano role. Shorter comedic matches, will upset a few big players but is mostly there to lose.

Perhaps aware of his age limitations, Taguchi went on the attack early, relentlessly trying to tap Ishimori out with the ankle lock. Ishimori writhed and struggled, but was ultimately too fresh for this strategy to work. He escaped various times, countering into his own submission finisher, the Bone Lock, on two separate occasions. On the second instance Taguchi was caught and had no choice but to submit. Ishimori wins in about 3 minutes.

DOUKI def. KUSHIDA

KUSHIDA made a shocking return to the company June 2022, challenging then-champion Ishimori. Ishimori laughed off his challenger, and he was proved to be right, as KUSHIDA suffered an injury and disappeared from Japan for a while. Since then he's wrestled a bunch in America, but only recently returned to Japan, winnin the junior tag titles with Kevin Knight. In fact, this is his first singles match in the country since his return nearly a year ago.

DOUKI is on the rise, recently having an exciting feud with top heavyweight Tetsuya Naito.

The crowd was split at first, but KUSHIDA wrestled a relentless aggressive style, going after DOUKI's arm. He earned the crowd's ire when he refused to release an armbar after DOUKI made the ropes. After that the crowd was all DOUKI. KUSHIDA continued to dominate with some lovely submission holds, but DOUKI survived and crawled back into the match. The comeback wasn't the usual affair, the last few minutes were highly technical, with both guys trying to roll each other up. KUSHIDA got close with La Magistral, but in the end DOUKI caught KUSHIDA with a seatbelt pin for a minor upset.

Lio Rush def. SHO

As you'd expect from House of Torture, this was a handicap match. EVIL jumped Lio Rush before the bell and threw him to SHO. SHO his two of his high impact moves, but Rush survived. Rush countered the Shock Arrow finisher, prompting EVIL to immediately get involved. Rush somehow survived both men. He low blowed EVIL, then hit him with SHO's wrench, before turning the weapon on its owner. With SHO out cold, Rush hit a frog splash, and grabbed the dazed referee to make a three count in yet another match going under 5 minutes.

Titán def. TJP

Titán was unremarkable in previous BOSJ appearances, but with the Los Ingobernables de Japón endorsement behind him, he may have more success. Despite the short matches, wrestling fatigue was setting in, so I only watched the finish of this one. Titán started off strong, forcing the technical TJP to submit to a variation of the Muta Lock.

"Speedball" Mike Bailey def. Hiromu Takahashi

Mike Bailey is a name I've heard a lot about, but his first appearance in a Japanese NJPW ring is the first appearance to the eyes of Emperor. He certainly has his work cut out for him as he steps in the ring with the current junior champion and four time winner, Hiromu Takahashi.

Takahashi won the tournament in 2018, 2020, 2021 and 2022. That is certainly a great record. His success is partially due to his ability to lose the championship before the tournament, since he is well aware of the curse that the champion never wins BOSJ or G1 Climax. This year he became literally invincible and so, try as he might, he was unable to drop the championship before the start of BOSJ 2023. However, his last match was a loss to IWGP World Heavyweight Champion SANADA. As it turns out, that loss may have stripped him of his invincibility.

Not only did Hiromu lose, but he lost in just over 15 minutes, an unusually short match by his standards. The contest was a balls-to-the-wall speedfest with both guys running hard and dishing out the punishment. Bailey's versatile kicks kept him on top, confusing the champion with an endless variety of spinkicks. Even when Hiromu dodged one kick, Bailey would smoothly transition into another. I love kick-based movesets and Bailey's is one of the best I've seen in a long time.

Bailey finished Hiromu off with a Shooting Star knee drop to the back. It looked brutal, and it was enough to keep the champion down.

However Takahashi is no stranger to first round losses so I wouldn't be surprised if he makes the final. He may even win the tournament outright. He's booked even stronger than Okada these days so if anyone's going to break that curse, it's Hiromu Takahashi.



B Block

Clark Connors def. Kevin Knight

The first match of the tournament. With Gedo at his side, Bullet Club's newest member Clark Connors demonstratively defeated one half of the junior tag team champions. A victory wasn't enough for Connors as he grabbed a steel chair and destroyed Knight's back after the win. Knight's partner KUSHIDA tried to get some revenge, throwing a chair at Connors during his backstage interview, but Connors and Gedo escaped unscathed.

Dan Moloney def. BUSHI

"Who?" I hear the readers ask. In my imagination, because I have no readers. I didn't know either. Dan Moloney is apparently the newest member of the United Empire, a man who "packs heavyweight power in a junior body". He dropped 30 pounds to make weight for the tournament. Well he defeated BUSHI, which doesn't mean much, but still good to start your tournament with a victory.

Master Wato def. Francisco Akira

Another short but exciting affair that had the crowd hot. Wato won with a Crucifix Bomb, a move that previously only got a near fall but has apparently upgraded to finisher status.

Robbie Eagles def. YOH

Eagles started off in Bullet Club, a stable where he didn't belong. After 7 months he escaped without being beaten out of the group, and found himself in CHAOS, along with YOH. A month ago Eagles announced his transition to TMDK. In the first round he stepped in the ring with former stablemate YOH. YOH defeated Eagles on two previous occasions in the BOSJ, but it wouldn't be three in a row. Eagles focused on YOH's leg as usual, but victory came not with a submission but with a spinning roundhouse kick to the head. New finisher?!

Yoshinobu Kanemaru def. El Desperado

Former tag team championship partners went to war. Kanemaru attacked Desperado during his entrance, kickstarting a war of attrition that saw both men violently attacking each other's knees. Kanemaru's Figure Four Leg Lock against Desperado's Numero Dos (Stretch Muffler). Desperado ought to be the favourite in a straight up fight, being the younger, more decorated, and slightly larger competitor, but perhaps Kanemaru's sneak attack gave him the edge he needed to win the war. On this occasion the Figure Four Leg Lock was too much for Desperado to handle, and he was forced to submit.



Fantastic show, 10 matches that went by rather quickly. The average match time must have been under 10 minutes.

I heard Mercedes got injured tonight in her match with Willow Nightingale.

Broke her ankle. She tried to cover it by having Willow pin her early, but the ref did not count three despite Mercedes not kicking out, forcing them to awkwardly redo the spot for the 3 count.

Willow wins the Strong title in the end.

///

Mercedes resigned with Bushiroad for future dates.  No shock there, she seems to be very happy with this arrangement.  

I hope it isn't too severe a fracture. Depending on the break it could be anywhere from a couple months off to a full year. Ankles and wrists have a million bones in them and every break is different. Hoping for a good prognosis.

She will almost definitely miss Forbidden Door though, which fucking SUCKS. I'll lend her my ankle I don't care. I can hop around for a bit.

That ref really fucked up. There's no way they didn't communicate to him that she was hurt, and you always ALWAYS make the full count. I hope someone backstage gave him an earful after the show.

Overall great show though. The women really shone and all of them got great receptions from the crowd. All 3 tournament matches had a hot crowd and definitely delivered. Big night for women's wrestling.

Mox & Okada had the crowd on their feet more than once too. If they aren't doing BCC vs Elite again at Forbidden Door, which is likely since Omega vs Ospreay is probably happening, Mox vs Okada would be amazing. If not there, maybe at Dominion? Or later this year? Mox does the G1 again? Hmmm

I forgot Toni Storm and Juice were married. When she popped up in his match I was like "OUTSIDERS JOIN BULLET CLUB GOLD!?" then remembered and was like "ah..darn."

Likely was using the old WWE method of only counting three for the final three count.

Sounds like a simple break. She posted about it last night. If it was serious, she would not likely have been upbeat and posting shortly after, she would be getting emergency surgery. Still means she is out 3 to 4 months and missing Forbidden Door and Wembley. But that does not mean she cannot appear in AEW another time. She has ties to many of the girls. Paige is a huge Mone fan for instance oddly enough. And she just put over Willow happily.

I think the language barrier is tough for that ref. Neither Willow nor Mercedes know Japanese IIRC or at least enough to signal this is legit so it is a tough spot if the ref doesn't know English or enough to communicate. You'd think you would want a ref who knows basic English calling a match between 2 Americans but alas.

Very likely what happened. Since she will likely be backstage at shows, she should gimmick this. Work with the air cast until she is ready to wrestle again, and take it off after issuing a challenge a few months down the line.

NJPW struck with two more tragic injuries.

Taiji Ishimori suffered a concussion in the penultimate round of Best of the Super Juniors, dashing his chances of making the finals.

Aussie Open's Mark Davis also suffered an injury, forcing Aussie Open to vacate both the IWGP and STRONG Tag Team Championships.

I watched NJPW Strong Resurgence.

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Caught the end of Juice vs Rosser and it reeked of an overbooked clusterfuck.

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KENTA takes the Strong title back from Hikuleo right after winning it. That is certainly a booking decision that was made.

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The Shooter/Okada match was fun. Entertained the crowd, everyone got a chance to shine, and it achieved everything it needed to do. Although he was the biggest star on his team, Mox rightly took a backseat to the brewing Shooter vs Okada rivalry. He even ate a Rainmaker to pop the crowd, and Shooter got the last laugh on Okada. Great booking and great work.

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We all know Mercedes has insane star quality but Willow Nightingale has grown so much in a very short of space. Super confident and definitely belonged in that main event spot with a modern day legend. It's a shame the match ended the way it did, not just because of the injury, but because Mercedes had hit almost zero offense, I was eager to see how they worked the comeback.

That referee really did mess up hard stopping the count, chalk that one down to inexperience and pressure I guess. Willow took care of her well enough, she's more than strong enough to move Mercedes around without hurting her more.

A sad end for Mercedes but an incredible night for female wrestling and Willow Nightingale in particular. No idea if she was supposed to win the belt but what an awesome star-making moment and the crowd were fully behind her.

What shocks me the most about Willow is WWE could have had her, but passed. She worked for Booker, so you know damn well he put in a word about her as even before AEW and RoH, she could win over fans. I assume WWE passed solely on her not looking like a diva.

And yeah since she appeared a few years back she just has been improving, and with the AEW girls all getting behind her, she is getting a lot of confidence fast. Banks was clearly happy with putting her over. Banks was likely set to lose as I cannot imagine her changing the results of a title match on the fly. And that finish came fast after she was hurt.