Posts tagged "hiroshi tanahashi"
  1. 1 month ago 
    [Kobashi’s Retirement Show News] The full event card has been announced for Kenta Kobashi’s retirement show on May 11th.Among the newly announced matches is the semi-final match which will see the re-formation of two former tag team champion teams. As Naomichi Marufuji will once again be teaming with Minoru Suzuki, 10th GHC Tag Champions, to take on Yoshihiro Takayama and Takao Omori in which many of you may better remember them as “NO FEAR”.The fifth match of the show will see a 6 man tag between NOAH vs. NJPW which could be something special to see a potential Sugiura vs. Tanahashi showdown. Genichiro Tenryu will also be involved in the show, as he teams with Yoshinari Ogawa to take on Takeshi Morishima and Masao Inoue. The full event is listed below.FINAL BURNING in Budokan ~ Kenta Kobashi’s Retirement Commemorative Event, 5/11/2013 [Sat] 17:00 @ Nippon Budokan in Tokyo(1) Feel the Dangerzone: Masanobu Fuchi [AJP] vs. Hitoshi Kumano [NOAH](2) This is the NOAH Junior Tag Match: (NO MERCY) SUWA [Free] & Genba Hirayanagi vs. (BRAVE) Taiji Ishimori & Atsushi Kotoge~ Kenta Kobashi retirement ceremony(3) Burning vs Burning Tag Match: Tamon Honda [Free] & Kentaro Shiga [Free] vs. Kotaro Suzuki [Burning] & Atsushi Aoki [Burning](4) J’s Spirits vs Revolution Special Tag Match: Takeshi Morishima [BRAVE/NOAH] & Masao Inoue [Free] vs. Genichiro Tenryu [Tenryu Project] & Yoshinari Ogawa [NOAH](5) NOAH vs NJPW Special 6 Man Tag Match: Takashi Sugiura, Mohammed Yone & Akitoshi Saito [Free] vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Yuji Nagata & Satoshi Kojima(6) Four Men GET Together ~ Special Tag Match: Naomichi Marufuji [NOAH] & Minoru Suzuki [Pancrase MISSION] vs. Yoshihiro Takayama [Takayama Hall] & Takao Omori [AJP](7) “FINAL BURNING in Budokan” Kenta Kobashi’s Retirement Commemorative 8 Man Tag Match: Kenta Kobashi, Jun Akiyama [Burning], Keiji Mutoh [AJP] & Kensuke Sasaki [DIAMOND RING] vs. KENTA [NMC/NOAH], Go Shiozaki [Burning], Yoshinobu Kanemaru [Burning] & Maybach Taniguchi [NOAH]

    [Kobashi’s Retirement Show News] The full event card has been announced for Kenta Kobashi’s retirement show on May 11th.

    Among the newly announced matches is the semi-final match which will see the re-formation of two former tag team champion teams. As Naomichi Marufuji will once again be teaming with Minoru Suzuki, 10th GHC Tag Champions, to take on Yoshihiro Takayama and Takao Omori in which many of you may better remember them as “NO FEAR”.

    The fifth match of the show will see a 6 man tag between NOAH vs. NJPW which could be something special to see a potential Sugiura vs. Tanahashi showdown.
    Genichiro Tenryu will also be involved in the show, as he teams with Yoshinari Ogawa to take on Takeshi Morishima and Masao Inoue.

     The full event is listed below.

    FINAL BURNING in Budokan ~ Kenta Kobashi’s Retirement Commemorative Event, 5/11/2013 [Sat] 17:00 @ Nippon Budokan in Tokyo

    (1) Feel the Dangerzone: Masanobu Fuchi [AJP] vs. Hitoshi Kumano [NOAH]
    (2) This is the NOAH Junior Tag Match: (NO MERCY) SUWA [Free] & Genba Hirayanagi vs. (BRAVE) Taiji Ishimori & Atsushi Kotoge

    ~ Kenta Kobashi retirement ceremony

    (3) Burning vs Burning Tag Match: Tamon Honda [Free] & Kentaro Shiga [Free] vs. Kotaro Suzuki [Burning] & Atsushi Aoki [Burning]
    (4) J’s Spirits vs Revolution Special Tag Match: Takeshi Morishima [BRAVE/NOAH] & Masao Inoue [Free] vs. Genichiro Tenryu [Tenryu Project] & Yoshinari Ogawa [NOAH]

    (5) NOAH vs NJPW Special 6 Man Tag Match: Takashi Sugiura, Mohammed Yone & Akitoshi Saito [Free] vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Yuji Nagata & Satoshi Kojima
    (6) Four Men GET Together ~ Special Tag Match: Naomichi Marufuji [NOAH] & Minoru Suzuki [Pancrase MISSION] vs. Yoshihiro Takayama [Takayama Hall] & Takao Omori [AJP]

    (7) “FINAL BURNING in Budokan” Kenta Kobashi’s Retirement Commemorative 8 Man Tag Match: Kenta Kobashi, Jun Akiyama [Burning], Keiji Mutoh [AJP] & Kensuke Sasaki [DIAMOND RING] vs. KENTA [NMC/NOAH], Go Shiozaki [Burning], Yoshinobu Kanemaru [Burning] & Maybach Taniguchi [NOAH]

     
  2. Notes: 4 / 1 month ago 
    [NJPW News] Following the iPPV on April 7th, New Japan is moving forward into the next iPPV on May 3rd with WRESTLING DONTAKU.A new champion was crowned in “Rainmaker” Kazuchika Okada and a challenger has already been set in stone with “The Ultimate Invader” Minoru Suzuki.Okada aims to change the history of New Japan with his now 2nd reign of the IWGP Heavyweight belt, but first he must manage to beat Suzuki whom he already suffered defeat against back on February 10th. Will Okada revenge his loss or will Suzuki prove that he has more skill as a veteran over the younger Okada?Shinsuke Nakamura successfully defended the IWGP Intercontinental belt against Davey Boy Smith Jr. over this weekend and will be set to defend the belt against a mystery (X) opponent from Suzuki-gun. TAKA Michinoku is calling this mystery guy an assassin and it will be interesting to see who emerges as this mystery competitor.Hiroshi Tanahashi is without the IWGP belt once again and will be down the ranks looking to re-build his position as New Japan’s “ace”. Tanahashi’s first singles match without the belt will be against “The Machine Gun” Karl Anderson on May 3rd in what is sure to be a solid contest. Will Anderson finally claim a much needed win over Tanahahashi or will the ace begin his climb to the top once more?Hirooki Goto finally gets his singles match, he has been asking for quite some time, against Katsuyori Shibata on May 3rd. Goto and Shibata have known one another since High School and if their tag match on April 7th was any indication, we might have a physical match on the horizon.Togi Makabe and Tomoaki Honma, G.B.H. (Great Bash Heel) have reformed with the return of Honma and they will be in singles action against the “Complete Players” in Masato Tanaka and Yujiro Takahashi. Makabe and Yujiro will once again face off in singles action at the Dontaku show in what seems to be a never-ending feud between the two this year. Tomoaki Honma will be getting a shot against Masato Tanaka and the NEVER Championship. These two last faced off in the NJPW ring last year when Tanaka was the IWGP IC champion. Will Honma get revenge from their last meeting and claim a belt for his own, or will Tanaka take him out with another Sliding D.The IWGP Tag belts will be defended in the USA this month at a NWA show in Houston, Texas. “KES” Archer and Smith will be defending the belts against the current reigning NWA World Tag Champions in the “Kings Of The Underground” Scot Summers & Ryan Genesis. It seems that both belts will be on the line in the match with the winner coming back to defend the IWGP Tag belts on May 3rd in a special 4WAY tag title match.Prince Devitt finally showed his true colors and turned on his long time friend and partner in Ryusuke Taguchi at the April 7th show. With that also came the NJPW return of “King” Fale now known as Bad Luck Fale. Apollo55 is officially no more and Devitt looks to be on the verge of forming a new group with Fale as his “bouncer”, as he so fittingly puts it.The opening match of the next iPPV will see the IWGP Junior Tag belts being defended as “TIME SPLITTERS” will be challenged once again by the “Forever Hooligans” in Rocky Romero & Alex Koslov.The full tour before the upcoming PPV “Road to WRESTLING DONTAKU” has been updated in full with all the lead in matches.http://www.puroresuspirit.com/2013/03/03/new-japan-event-cards-for-march-april-2013/Below is the announced card for the PPV show.NJPW “WRESTLING DONTAKU 2013”, 5/3/2013 [Fri] 17:00 @ Fukuoka Kokusai Center(0) Yuji Nagata, Jushin Thunder Liger, Tiger Mask IV & Maximo [CMLL] vs. Tomohiro Ishii, YOSHI-HASHI, Jado & Gedo(1) IWGP Junior Tag Championship Match: [34th Champions] “TIME SPLITTERS” KUSHIDA & Alex Shelley vs. [Challengers] “Forever Hooligans” Rocky Romero & Alex Koslov(2) Fale’s Return Match: Ryusuke Taguchi & Captain New Japan vs.  Prince Devitt & Bad Luck Fale(3) IWGP Tag Championship 4WAY Match: [Champions] Winner of April 20th Match in Houston, Texas vs. [Challengers] “TenCozy” Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima vs. “Muscle Orchestra” Manabu Nakanishi & Strongman vs. “CHAOS” Toru Yano & Takashi Iizuka(4) NEVER Openweight Championship Match: [1st Champion] Masato Tanaka vs. [Challenger] Tomoaki Honma~ 3rd defense(5) Togi Makabe vs. Yujiro Takahashi(6) Hirooki Goto vs. Katsuyori Shibata(7) Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. “The Machine Gun” Karl Anderson(8) Double Main Event I ~ IWGP Intercontinental Championship Match: [4th Champion] Shinsuke Nakamura vs. [Challenger] X~ 8th defense.(9) Double Main Event II ~ IWGP Heavyweight Championship Match: [59th Champion] Kazuchika Okada vs. [Challenger] Minoru Suzuki~ 1st defense.

    [NJPW News] Following the iPPV on April 7th, New Japan is moving forward into the next iPPV on May 3rd with WRESTLING DONTAKU.
    A new champion was crowned in “Rainmaker” Kazuchika Okada and a challenger has already been set in stone with “The Ultimate Invader” Minoru Suzuki.
    Okada aims to change the history of New Japan with his now 2nd reign of the IWGP Heavyweight belt, but first he must manage to beat Suzuki whom he already suffered defeat against back on February 10th. Will Okada revenge his loss or will Suzuki prove that he has more skill as a veteran over the younger Okada?

    Shinsuke Nakamura successfully defended the IWGP Intercontinental belt against Davey Boy Smith Jr. over this weekend and will be set to defend the belt against a mystery (X) opponent from Suzuki-gun. TAKA Michinoku is calling this mystery guy an assassin and it will be interesting to see who emerges as this mystery competitor.

    Hiroshi Tanahashi is without the IWGP belt once again and will be down the ranks looking to re-build his position as New Japan’s “ace”. Tanahashi’s first singles match without the belt will be against “The Machine Gun” Karl Anderson on May 3rd in what is sure to be a solid contest. Will Anderson finally claim a much needed win over Tanahahashi or will the ace begin his climb to the top once more?

    Hirooki Goto finally gets his singles match, he has been asking for quite some time, against Katsuyori Shibata on May 3rd. Goto and Shibata have known one another since High School and if their tag match on April 7th was any indication, we might have a physical match on the horizon.

    Togi Makabe and Tomoaki Honma, G.B.H. (Great Bash Heel) have reformed with the return of Honma and they will be in singles action against the “Complete Players” in Masato Tanaka and Yujiro Takahashi. Makabe and Yujiro will once again face off in singles action at the Dontaku show in what seems to be a never-ending feud between the two this year. Tomoaki Honma will be getting a shot against Masato Tanaka and the NEVER Championship. These two last faced off in the NJPW ring last year when Tanaka was the IWGP IC champion. Will Honma get revenge from their last meeting and claim a belt for his own, or will Tanaka take him out with another Sliding D.

    The IWGP Tag belts will be defended in the USA this month at a NWA show in Houston, Texas. “KES” Archer and Smith will be defending the belts against the current reigning NWA World Tag Champions in the “Kings Of The Underground” Scot Summers & Ryan Genesis. It seems that both belts will be on the line in the match with the winner coming back to defend the IWGP Tag belts on May 3rd in a special 4WAY tag title match.

    Prince Devitt finally showed his true colors and turned on his long time friend and partner in Ryusuke Taguchi at the April 7th show. With that also came the NJPW return of “King” Fale now known as Bad Luck Fale. Apollo55 is officially no more and Devitt looks to be on the verge of forming a new group with Fale as his “bouncer”, as he so fittingly puts it.

    The opening match of the next iPPV will see the IWGP Junior Tag belts being defended as “TIME SPLITTERS” will be challenged once again by the “Forever Hooligans” in Rocky Romero & Alex Koslov.

    The full tour before the upcoming PPV “Road to WRESTLING DONTAKU” has been updated in full with all the lead in matches.
    http://www.puroresuspirit.com/2013/03/03/new-japan-event-cards-for-march-april-2013/

    Below is the announced card for the PPV show.

    NJPW “WRESTLING DONTAKU 2013”, 5/3/2013 [Fri] 17:00 @ Fukuoka Kokusai Center

    (0) Yuji Nagata, Jushin Thunder Liger, Tiger Mask IV & Maximo [CMLL] vs. Tomohiro Ishii, YOSHI-HASHI, Jado & Gedo

    (1) IWGP Junior Tag Championship Match: [34th Champions] “TIME SPLITTERS” KUSHIDA & Alex Shelley vs. [Challengers] “Forever Hooligans” Rocky Romero & Alex Koslov

    (2) Fale’s Return Match: Ryusuke Taguchi & Captain New Japan vs.  Prince Devitt & Bad Luck Fale

    (3) IWGP Tag Championship 4WAY Match: [Champions] Winner of April 20th Match in Houston, Texas vs. [Challengers] “TenCozy” Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima vs. “Muscle Orchestra” Manabu Nakanishi & Strongman vs. “CHAOS” Toru Yano & Takashi Iizuka

    (4) NEVER Openweight Championship Match: [1st Champion] Masato Tanaka vs. [Challenger] Tomoaki Honma
    ~ 3rd defense

    (5) Togi Makabe vs. Yujiro Takahashi
    (6) Hirooki Goto vs. Katsuyori Shibata
    (7) Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. “The Machine Gun” Karl Anderson

    (8) Double Main Event I ~ IWGP Intercontinental Championship Match: [4th Champion] Shinsuke Nakamura vs. [Challenger] X
    ~ 8th defense.

    (9) Double Main Event II ~ IWGP Heavyweight Championship Match: [59th Champion] Kazuchika Okada vs. [Challenger] Minoru Suzuki
    ~ 1st defense.

     
  3. 1 month ago 

    All Japan Official Videos for April 5, 2013

    Suwama vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi, 2008 Champion Carnival Match, from April 9, 2008 at the Korakuen Hall in Tokyo.
    2008年4月9日　後楽園ホール　チャンピオンカーニバル優勝決定戦　諏訪魔vs棚橋弘至

    Masayuki Kono vs. Yuji Nagata from February 11, 2012 at the Matsushita IMP Hall in Osaka.
    2012年2月11日大阪・松下IMPホール　河野真幸vs永田裕志

  4. Notes: 3 / 1 month ago 
    [NJPW News] New Japan announced the full card for the upcoming INVASION ATTACK iPPV for April 7th as well as the lead-in show that will be held on April 5th.Following his win on March 24th, Kazuchika Okada has once again laid down a claim to another tournament win with the NEW JAPAN CUP, and also the right as the youngest to ever do so (an honor he already held with his victory in the 2012 G1 Climax). Okada has earned himself another title opportunity against the reigning IWGP Heavy Champion in Hiroshi Tanahashi. Of course, Okada already headlined the Tokyo Dome on 1.4 in a losing effort to Tanahashi, though following his win the NJC he appears to have a new found sense of purpose.The event will be headlined with 2 other title matches with Shinsuke Nakamura looking to defend the IWGP IC against the other half of K.E.S. in Davey Boy Smith Jr. This will mark Nakamura’s 7th defense with the belt as he aims to continue on with his breakthrough reign. First though Nakamura will be going after K.E.S. and their tag team titles as he teams with Tomohiro Ishii on April 5th. Of course this match will be a continuing of the CHAOS vs. Suzuki-gun war.Following the news of Bruce Tharpe, President of the NWA, stating that he is bringing over a wrestler to compete in NJPW. Satoshi Kojima was the first to challenge the incoming wrestler which has been determined to be the newly crowned NWA Heavyweight Champion, “Iron Man” Rob Conway. Conway has been competing for over 15 years now and is looking to leave his mark in Japan and gain a strong defense as champion in the process.Yuji Nagata & Hirooki Goto will be joining forces to take on the Laughter7 duo in Kazushi Sakuraba & Katsuyori Shibata. This could potentially be the toughest challenge for Laughter7 yet as there is a lot of history between each man involved. Will Nagata finally be able to pull out a win, with Goto, against the invader team or will Laughter7 once again prove to have fate on their side?Minoru Suzuki will be looking for revenge against Toru Yano following the 2nd round match of the NEW JAPAN CUP in which Yano walked away with the controversial victory. CHAOS and Suzuki-gun have had nothing but animosity towards each other all throughout this year and “the ultimate invader” Minoru Suzuki will not sit back and let a loss, let alone a “cheap” loss, loom over him. The two will meet in a tag match before the ppv on April 5th, as Suzuki will be teaming with close friend Yoshihiro Takayama as they face the current (NOAH) GHC Tag Champions, Yano and Takashi Iizuka. Takayama of course will be teaming with KENTA in NOAH’s upcoming GLOBAL TAG LEAGUE tournament and will this could become an early look at a possible outcome if KENTA & Takayama managed to win the tag league.Tomoaki Honma made his surprise return to New Japan in the form of support for Togi Makabe following another attack from Yujiro. The duo use to form G.B.H. (Great Bash Heel) in years prior, but after Honma left NJPW last year Makabe has found himself primarily on his own. No word yet if G.B.H. has truly reformed, but Makabe could really use the aid as they are set to take on Masato Tanaka & Yujiro Takahashi.Tama Tonga will be defending the CMLL World Tag belts, along with Terrible, against La Mascara & Valiente. NJPW has built a strong relationship with CMLL in the last several years and New Japan is yet again giving a platform for the “lucha libre” style to showcase itself.Prince Devitt will have a heavy few days in front of him as he will be defending his IWGP Jr. belt against Alex Shelley on 4/5 and then on 4/7 the two will be involved in the IWGP Jr. Tag match. As the reigning champions “TIME SPLITTERS” KUSHIDA & Alex Shelley will defend against “Apollo55” Prince Devitt & Ryusuke Taguchi. Devitt has been on edge over the last month and has been showing plenty of “heel attitude” like tendencies against his opponents. With a huge challenge set before him, will Devitt’s new persona manifest itself over these two shows, or will it prove to have been nothing more than Devitt just looking to blow off some steam.Below are the event cards for the upcoming shows in April.New Japan Event Cards for March & April 2013http://www.puroresuspirit.com/2013/03/03/new-japan-event-cards-for-march-april-2012/———————————————————-New Japan Pro Wrestling “Road to INVASION ATTACK”, 4/5/2013 [Fri] 18:30 @ Korakuen Hall in Tokyo(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 Championship Match: [66th Champion] Prince Devitt vs. [Challenger] Alex Shelley~ 3rd Defense.(7) IWGP Tag Championship Match: [61st Champions] “K.E.S.” Lance Archer & Davey Boy Smith Jr. vs. [Challengers] Shinsuke Nakamura & Tomohiro Ishii~ 4th Defense.———————————————————-New Japan Pro Wrestling “INVASION ATTACK”, 4/7/2013 [Sun] 16:00 @ Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo(1) IWGP Junior Tag Championship Match: [34th Champions] “TIME SPLITTERS” KUSHIDA & Alex Shelley vs. [Challengers] Prince Devitt & Ryusuke Taguchi~ 3rd Defense.(2) Special 8 Man Tag Match: Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Manabu Nakanishi, Super Strong Machine & Akebono [Free] vs. Takashi Iizuka, Tomohiro Ishii, YOSHI-HASHI & Bob Sapp(3) CMLL World Tag Championship Match: [Champions] El Terrible & Tama Tonga vs. [Challengers] La Mascara & Valiente(4) Special Tag Match: Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma [Free] vs. Masato Tanaka [ZERO1] & Yujiro Takahashi(5) Special Single Match: Toru Yano [CHAOS] vs. Minoru Suzuki [Suzuki-gun](6) Special Tag Match: Yuji Nagata & Hirooki Goto vs. Kazushi Sakuraba & Katsuyori Shibata(7) Triple Main Event I ~ NWA World Heavyweight Championship Match: [Champion] Rob Conway vs. [Challenger] Satoshi Kojima(8) Triple Main Event II ~ IWGP Intercontinental Championship Match: [4th Champion] Shinsuke Nakamura vs. [Challenger] Davey Boy Smith Jr.~ 7th Defense.(9) Triple Main Event III ~ IWGP Heavyweight Championship Match: [58th Champion] Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. [Challenger] Kazuchika Okada~ 8th Defense.

    [NJPW News] New Japan announced the full card for the upcoming INVASION ATTACK iPPV for April 7th as well as the lead-in show that will be held on April 5th.

    Following his win on March 24th, Kazuchika Okada has once again laid down a claim to another tournament win with the NEW JAPAN CUP, and also the right as the youngest to ever do so (an honor he already held with his victory in the 2012 G1 Climax). Okada has earned himself another title opportunity against the reigning IWGP Heavy Champion in Hiroshi Tanahashi. Of course, Okada already headlined the Tokyo Dome on 1.4 in a losing effort to Tanahashi, though following his win the NJC he appears to have a new found sense of purpose.

    The event will be headlined with 2 other title matches with Shinsuke Nakamura looking to defend the IWGP IC against the other half of K.E.S. in Davey Boy Smith Jr. This will mark Nakamura’s 7th defense with the belt as he aims to continue on with his breakthrough reign. First though Nakamura will be going after K.E.S. and their tag team titles as he teams with Tomohiro Ishii on April 5th. Of course this match will be a continuing of the CHAOS vs. Suzuki-gun war.

    Following the news of Bruce Tharpe, President of the NWA, stating that he is bringing over a wrestler to compete in NJPW. Satoshi Kojima was the first to challenge the incoming wrestler which has been determined to be the newly crowned NWA Heavyweight Champion, “Iron Man” Rob Conway. Conway has been competing for over 15 years now and is looking to leave his mark in Japan and gain a strong defense as champion in the process.

    Yuji Nagata & Hirooki Goto will be joining forces to take on the Laughter7 duo in Kazushi Sakuraba & Katsuyori Shibata. This could potentially be the toughest challenge for Laughter7 yet as there is a lot of history between each man involved. Will Nagata finally be able to pull out a win, with Goto, against the invader team or will Laughter7 once again prove to have fate on their side?

    Minoru Suzuki will be looking for revenge against Toru Yano following the 2nd round match of the NEW JAPAN CUP in which Yano walked away with the controversial victory. CHAOS and Suzuki-gun have had nothing but animosity towards each other all throughout this year and “the ultimate invader” Minoru Suzuki will not sit back and let a loss, let alone a “cheap” loss, loom over him. The two will meet in a tag match before the ppv on April 5th, as Suzuki will be teaming with close friend Yoshihiro Takayama as they face the current (NOAH) GHC Tag Champions, Yano and Takashi Iizuka. Takayama of course will be teaming with KENTA in NOAH’s upcoming GLOBAL TAG LEAGUE tournament and will this could become an early look at a possible outcome if KENTA & Takayama managed to win the tag league.

    Tomoaki Honma made his surprise return to New Japan in the form of support for Togi Makabe following another attack from Yujiro. The duo use to form G.B.H. (Great Bash Heel) in years prior, but after Honma left NJPW last year Makabe has found himself primarily on his own. No word yet if G.B.H. has truly reformed, but Makabe could really use the aid as they are set to take on Masato Tanaka & Yujiro Takahashi.

    Tama Tonga will be defending the CMLL World Tag belts, along with Terrible, against La Mascara & Valiente. NJPW has built a strong relationship with CMLL in the last several years and New Japan is yet again giving a platform for the “lucha libre” style to showcase itself.

    Prince Devitt will have a heavy few days in front of him as he will be defending his IWGP Jr. belt against Alex Shelley on 4/5 and then on 4/7 the two will be involved in the IWGP Jr. Tag match. As the reigning champions “TIME SPLITTERS” KUSHIDA & Alex Shelley will defend against “Apollo55” Prince Devitt & Ryusuke Taguchi. Devitt has been on edge over the last month and has been showing plenty of “heel attitude” like tendencies against his opponents. With a huge challenge set before him, will Devitt’s new persona manifest itself over these two shows, or will it prove to have been nothing more than Devitt just looking to blow off some steam.

    Below are the event cards for the upcoming shows in April.

    New Japan Event Cards for March & April 2013
    http://www.puroresuspirit.com/2013/03/03/new-japan-event-cards-for-march-april-2012/
    ———————————————————-
    New Japan Pro Wrestling “Road to INVASION ATTACK”, 4/5/2013 [Fri] 18:30 @ Korakuen Hall in Tokyo

    (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 Championship Match: [66th Champion] Prince Devitt vs. [Challenger] Alex Shelley
    ~ 3rd Defense.

    (7) IWGP Tag Championship Match: [61st Champions] “K.E.S.” Lance Archer & Davey Boy Smith Jr. vs. [Challengers] Shinsuke Nakamura & Tomohiro Ishii
    ~ 4th Defense.
    ———————————————————-

    New Japan Pro Wrestling “INVASION ATTACK”, 4/7/2013 [Sun] 16:00 @ Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo

    (1) IWGP Junior Tag Championship Match: [34th Champions] “TIME SPLITTERS” KUSHIDA & Alex Shelley vs. [Challengers] Prince Devitt & Ryusuke Taguchi
    ~ 3rd Defense.

    (2) Special 8 Man Tag Match: Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Manabu Nakanishi, Super Strong Machine & Akebono [Free] vs. Takashi Iizuka, Tomohiro Ishii, YOSHI-HASHI & Bob Sapp

    (3) CMLL World Tag Championship Match: [Champions] El Terrible & Tama Tonga vs. [Challengers] La Mascara & Valiente

    (4) Special Tag Match: Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma [Free] vs. Masato Tanaka [ZERO1] & Yujiro Takahashi
    (5) Special Single Match: Toru Yano [CHAOS] vs. Minoru Suzuki [Suzuki-gun]
    (6) Special Tag Match: Yuji Nagata & Hirooki Goto vs. Kazushi Sakuraba & Katsuyori Shibata

    (7) Triple Main Event I ~ NWA World Heavyweight Championship Match: [Champion] Rob Conway vs. [Challenger] Satoshi Kojima

    (8) Triple Main Event II ~ IWGP Intercontinental Championship Match: [4th Champion] Shinsuke Nakamura vs. [Challenger] Davey Boy Smith Jr.
    ~ 7th Defense.

    (9) Triple Main Event III ~ IWGP Heavyweight Championship Match: [58th Champion] Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. [Challenger] Kazuchika Okada
    ~ 8th Defense.

     
  5. Notes: 4 / 2 months ago 
    [NJPW News] New Japan announced the talent and matches involved in the New Japan Cup 2013 which is set to begin on March. As you can tell many grudge matches have yet again been set in place for the first rounds of the tournament. CHAOS vs. Suzuki-gun will clash in the main event matches as Shisuke Nakamura will go up against Davey Boy Smith Jr. in the main event, and Kazuchika Okada is set to go up against Lance Archer.Yuji Nagata and Minoru Suzuki have once again been placed against one another in singles competition, as well as Makabe and Yujiro have also been paired against one another.In what I think could be a sleeper hit of the night, Satoshi Kojima will be going up against Tomohiro Ishii in the opening match of the show. Both men can play brutal with the best of them, and I already expect nothing but that in their confrontation.The winner of the New Japan Cup will earn the next the IWGP Heavyweight Championship match against Hiroshi Tanahashi on April 9 at Ryogoku Kokugikan. New Japan Pro Wrestling “NEW JAPAN CUP 2013 [1st Round]”, 3/11/2013 [Mon] 18:30 @ Korakuen Hall in Tokyo (1) NEW JAPAN CUP 2013 1st Round Match: Satoshi Kojima vs. Tomohiro Ishii (2) NEW JAPAN CUP 2013 1st Round Match: Hirooki Goto vs. Tama Tonga (3) NEW JAPAN CUP 2013 1st Round Match: Manabu Nakanishi vs. Toru Yano (4) NEW JAPAN CUP 2013 1st Round Match: Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. “The Machine Gun” Karl Anderson (5) Special 6 Man Tag Match: Hiroshi Tanahashi, KUSHIDA & Alex Shelley vs. Captain New Japan, Prince Devitt & Ryusuke Taguchi (6) NEW JAPAN CUP 2013 1st Round Match: Togi Makabe vs. Yujiro Takahashi (7) NEW JAPAN CUP 2013 1st Round Match: Yuji Nagata vs. Minoru Suzuki (8) NEW JAPAN CUP 2013 1st Round Match: Kazuchika Okada vs. Lance Archer (9) NEW JAPAN CUP 2013 1st Round Match: Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Davey Boy Smith Jr. New Japan Pro Wrestling “NEW JAPAN CUP 2013 [2nd Round]”, 3/17/2013 [Sun] 16:00 @ Beikomu General Gymnasium (-) NEW JAPAN CUP 2013 2nd Round Match: (-) NEW JAPAN CUP 2013 2nd Round Match: (-) NEW JAPAN CUP 2013 2nd Round Match: (-) NEW JAPAN CUP 2013 2nd Round Match: New Japan Pro Wrestling “NEW JAPAN CUP 2013”, 3/19/2013 [Tue] 19:00 @ Shirakawa City Center Gymnasium (1) Sho Tanaka vs. Yohei Komatsu (2) Prince Devitt, Ryusuke Taguchi, Hiromu Takahashi & Takaaki Watanabe vs. KUSHIDA, Alex Shelley, Jushin Thunder Liger & Tiger Mask IV (3) Hirooki Goto & BUSHI vs. YOSHI-HASHI & Gedo (4) Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima & Captain New Japan vs. Yuji Nagata, Manabu Nakanishi & Tama Tonga (5) Shinsuke Nakamura, Kazuchika Okada, Tomohiro Ishii & Jado vs. Minoru Suzuki, Lance Archer, Davey Boy Smith Jr. & TAKA Michinoku (6) Hiroshi Tanahashi, Togi Makabe & Karl Anderson vs. Toru Yano, Takashi Iizuka & Yujiro Takahashi New Japan Pro Wrestling “NEW JAPAN CUP 2013”, 3/20/2013 [Wed] 15:00 @ Sendai Industrial Exhibition Hall, Aztec Museum (1) Sho Tanaka vs. Yohei Komatsu (2) Prince Devitt, Ryusuke Taguchi, Jushin Thunder Liger & Tiger Mask IV vs. KUSHIDA, Alex Shelley, BUSHI & Hiromu Takahashi (3) Karl Anderson & Tama Tonga vs. YOSHI-HASHI & Jado (4) Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima & Captain New Japan vs. Yuji Nagata, Manabu Nakanishi & Takaaki Watanabe (5) Shinsuke Nakamura, Kazuchika Okada, Tomohiro Ishii & Gedo vs. Minoru Suzuki, Lance Archer, Davey Boy Smith Jr. & TAKA Michinoku (6) Hiroshi Tanahashi, Togi Makabe & Hirooki Goto vs. Toru Yano, Takashi Iizuka & Yujiro Takahashi New Japan Pro Wrestling “NEW JAPAN CUP 2013”, 3/22/2013 [Fri] 18:30 @ Kumagai City Civic Gymnasium (no matched announced at this time) New Japan Pro Wrestling “NEW JAPAN CUP 2013 [Finals]”, 3/23/2013 [Sat] 18:30 @ Korakuen Hall in Tokyo (-) NEW JAPAN CUP 2013 Semi-Final Match: (-) NEW JAPAN CUP 2013 Semi-Final Match:http://www.puroresuspirit.com/2013/03/03/new-japan-event-cards-for-march-april-2012/

    [NJPW News] New Japan announced the talent and matches involved in the New Japan Cup 2013 which is set to begin on March.

    As you can tell many grudge matches have yet again been set in place for the first rounds of the tournament. CHAOS vs. Suzuki-gun will clash in the main event matches as Shisuke Nakamura will go up against Davey Boy Smith Jr. in the main event, and Kazuchika Okada is set to go up against Lance Archer.
    Yuji Nagata and Minoru Suzuki have once again been placed against one another in singles competition, as well as Makabe and Yujiro have also been paired against one another.
    In what I think could be a sleeper hit of the night, Satoshi Kojima will be going up against Tomohiro Ishii in the opening match of the show. Both men can play brutal with the best of them, and I already expect nothing but that in their confrontation.

    The winner of the New Japan Cup will earn the next the IWGP Heavyweight Championship match against Hiroshi Tanahashi on April 9 at Ryogoku Kokugikan.

    New Japan Pro Wrestling “NEW JAPAN CUP 2013 [1st Round]”, 3/11/2013 [Mon] 18:30 @ Korakuen Hall in Tokyo

    (1) NEW JAPAN CUP 2013 1st Round Match: Satoshi Kojima vs. Tomohiro Ishii
    (2) NEW JAPAN CUP 2013 1st Round Match: Hirooki Goto vs. Tama Tonga
    (3) NEW JAPAN CUP 2013 1st Round Match: Manabu Nakanishi vs. Toru Yano
    (4) NEW JAPAN CUP 2013 1st Round Match: Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. “The Machine Gun” Karl Anderson

    (5) Special 6 Man Tag Match: Hiroshi Tanahashi, KUSHIDA & Alex Shelley vs. Captain New Japan, Prince Devitt & Ryusuke Taguchi

    (6) NEW JAPAN CUP 2013 1st Round Match: Togi Makabe vs. Yujiro Takahashi
    (7) NEW JAPAN CUP 2013 1st Round Match: Yuji Nagata vs. Minoru Suzuki
    (8) NEW JAPAN CUP 2013 1st Round Match: Kazuchika Okada vs. Lance Archer
    (9) NEW JAPAN CUP 2013 1st Round Match: Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Davey Boy Smith Jr.

    New Japan Pro Wrestling “NEW JAPAN CUP 2013 [2nd Round]”, 3/17/2013 [Sun] 16:00 @ Beikomu General Gymnasium

    (-) NEW JAPAN CUP 2013 2nd Round Match:
    (-) NEW JAPAN CUP 2013 2nd Round Match:
    (-) NEW JAPAN CUP 2013 2nd Round Match:
    (-) NEW JAPAN CUP 2013 2nd Round Match:

    New Japan Pro Wrestling “NEW JAPAN CUP 2013”, 3/19/2013 [Tue] 19:00 @ Shirakawa City Center Gymnasium

    (1) Sho Tanaka vs. Yohei Komatsu
    (2) Prince Devitt, Ryusuke Taguchi, Hiromu Takahashi & Takaaki Watanabe vs. KUSHIDA, Alex Shelley, Jushin Thunder Liger & Tiger Mask IV
    (3) Hirooki Goto & BUSHI vs. YOSHI-HASHI & Gedo
    (4) Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima & Captain New Japan vs. Yuji Nagata, Manabu Nakanishi & Tama Tonga
    (5) Shinsuke Nakamura, Kazuchika Okada, Tomohiro Ishii & Jado vs. Minoru Suzuki, Lance Archer, Davey Boy Smith Jr. & TAKA Michinoku
    (6) Hiroshi Tanahashi, Togi Makabe & Karl Anderson vs. Toru Yano, Takashi Iizuka & Yujiro Takahashi

    New Japan Pro Wrestling “NEW JAPAN CUP 2013”, 3/20/2013 [Wed] 15:00 @ Sendai Industrial Exhibition Hall, Aztec Museum

    (1) Sho Tanaka vs. Yohei Komatsu
    (2) Prince Devitt, Ryusuke Taguchi, Jushin Thunder Liger & Tiger Mask IV vs. KUSHIDA, Alex Shelley, BUSHI & Hiromu Takahashi
    (3) Karl Anderson & Tama Tonga vs. YOSHI-HASHI & Jado
    (4) Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima & Captain New Japan vs. Yuji Nagata, Manabu Nakanishi & Takaaki Watanabe
    (5) Shinsuke Nakamura, Kazuchika Okada, Tomohiro Ishii & Gedo vs. Minoru Suzuki, Lance Archer, Davey Boy Smith Jr. & TAKA Michinoku
    (6) Hiroshi Tanahashi, Togi Makabe & Hirooki Goto vs. Toru Yano, Takashi Iizuka & Yujiro Takahashi

    New Japan Pro Wrestling “NEW JAPAN CUP 2013”, 3/22/2013 [Fri] 18:30 @ Kumagai City Civic Gymnasium

    (no matched announced at this time)

    New Japan Pro Wrestling “NEW JAPAN CUP 2013 [Finals]”, 3/23/2013 [Sat] 18:30 @ Korakuen Hall in Tokyo

    (-) NEW JAPAN CUP 2013 Semi-Final Match:
    (-) NEW JAPAN CUP 2013 Semi-Final Match:

    http://www.puroresuspirit.com/2013/03/03/new-japan-event-cards-for-march-april-2012/

     
  6. 2 months ago 

    New Japan Official Video for March 1, 2013

    Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Prince Devitt from December 17, 2010 @ Differ Ariake.

    ~ 2nd NJPW released prelude video before their upcoming singles confrontation on March 3, 2013.

  7. Notes: 4 / 3 months ago 
    [NJPW News] New Japan announced the full card for their upcoming Anniversary Show on March 3rd.The main event for the show will showcase the currently leading champions “aces” of their respected division as Hiroshi Tanahashi and Prince Devitt will face off in a special singles match.Devitt picked up the win over Tanahashi in a tag match earlier this month, on February 3rd, but a week later Tanahashi would reclaim that loss. There was still a lot of shock to see Devitt take out the Heavyweight champion with the Bloody Sunday finisher and New Japan took it upon themselves to make a match of it.The Semi-Final match will see Lance Archer getting a shot at Shinsuke Nakamura’s IWGP IC belt. Following Nakamura’s singles win over K-DOJO’s Kengo Mashimo on the 2.10 iPPV, Archer came out to the ring to call out Nakamura for a title shot. Archer has definitely proven himself as one of the strongest in NJPW today and he has the size to back it up as well. Nakamura has stated that he wants to face all challengers, let alone challengers from all over the world. This will mark Nakamura’s 6th defense of the belt.The CHAOS vs. Suzuki-gun (SZKG) war shows no signs of stopping soon and will see an Eight-Man Elimination Tag match held on the show. Kazuchika Okada will lead CHAOS against Minoru Suzuki and his crew. The match will take place like a standard tag match, but when a wrestler is pinned, submitted or thrown over the top rope, they will be eliminated from the match.The IWGP Junior Tag belts will also be on the line on the show as the “TIME SPLITTERS” will be defending their belts, for their 2nd defense, against the junior legend tag team of Jushin Thunder Liger & Tiger Mask IV.Below is the full card for the show.NJPW “Raising an Army Anniversary ~ Strong Style 41st Anniversary~”, 3/3/2013 [Sun] 18:30 @ Korakuen Hall in Tokyo(1) Hiromu Takahashi & Takaaki Watanabe vs. Sho Tanaka & Yohei Komatsu(2) Yuji Nagata, Wataru Inoue, Super Strong Machine & Captain New Japan vs. Hirooki Goto, “The Machine Gun” Karl Anderson, Tama Tonga & Ryusuke Taguchi(3) IWGP Jr. Tag Championship Match: [34th Champions] “TIME SPLITTERS” KUSHIDA &  Alex Shelley vs. [Challengers] Jushin Thunder Liger & Tiger Mask IV~ 2nd Defense.(4) Togi Makabe, Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima & Manabu Nakanishi vs. Toru Yano, Takaashi Iizuka, Yujiro Takahashi & YOSHI-HASHI(5) Elimination Tag Match: [CHAOS] Kazuchika Okada, Tomohiro Ishii, Gedo & Jado vs. [Suzuki-gun] Minoru Suzuki, Davey Boy Smith, Jr., Kengo Mashimo & TAKA Michinoku (6) IWGP Intercontinental Championship Match: [4th Champion] Shinsuke Nakamura vs. [Challenger] Lance Archer~ 6th Defense.(7) Special Single Match: [58th IWGP Heavy Champion] Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. [66th IWGP Jr. Champion] Prince Devitt———————————————————————-Later in March, New Japan will kick off the NEW JAPAN CUP 2013 which will be held for during a 6 day tour from March 11th to March 23rd.~ No competitors have been announced at this time.- [1st Round] 3/11/2013 [Mon] 18:30 @ Korakuen Hall in Tokyo- [2nd Round] 3/17/2013 [Sun] 16:00 @ Beikomu General Gymnasium- 3/19/2013 [Tue] 19:00 @ Shirakawa City Center Gymnasium- 3/20/2013 [Wed] 15:00 @ Sendai Industrial Exhibition Hall, Aztec Museum- 3/22/2013 [Fri] 18:30 @ Kumagai City Civic Gymnasium- [Finals] 3/23/2013 [Sat] 18:30 @ Korakuen Hall in Tokyo

    [NJPW News] New Japan announced the full card for their upcoming Anniversary Show on March 3rd.
    The main event for the show will showcase the currently leading champions “aces” of their respected division as Hiroshi Tanahashi and Prince Devitt will face off in a special singles match.
    Devitt picked up the win over Tanahashi in a tag match earlier this month, on February 3rd, but a week later Tanahashi would reclaim that loss. There was still a lot of shock to see Devitt take out the Heavyweight champion with the Bloody Sunday finisher and New Japan took it upon themselves to make a match of it.

    The Semi-Final match will see Lance Archer getting a shot at Shinsuke Nakamura’s IWGP IC belt. Following Nakamura’s singles win over K-DOJO’s Kengo Mashimo on the 2.10 iPPV, Archer came out to the ring to call out Nakamura for a title shot. Archer has definitely proven himself as one of the strongest in NJPW today and he has the size to back it up as well. Nakamura has stated that he wants to face all challengers, let alone challengers from all over the world. This will mark Nakamura’s 6th defense of the belt.

    The CHAOS vs. Suzuki-gun (SZKG) war shows no signs of stopping soon and will see an Eight-Man Elimination Tag match held on the show. Kazuchika Okada will lead CHAOS against Minoru Suzuki and his crew. The match will take place like a standard tag match, but when a wrestler is pinned, submitted or thrown over the top rope, they will be eliminated from the match.

    The IWGP Junior Tag belts will also be on the line on the show as the “TIME SPLITTERS” will be defending their belts, for their 2nd defense, against the junior legend tag team of Jushin Thunder Liger & Tiger Mask IV.

    Below is the full card for the show.

    NJPW “Raising an Army Anniversary ~ Strong Style 41st Anniversary~”, 3/3/2013 [Sun] 18:30 @ Korakuen Hall in Tokyo

    (1) Hiromu Takahashi & Takaaki Watanabe vs. Sho Tanaka & Yohei Komatsu
    (2) Yuji Nagata, Wataru Inoue, Super Strong Machine & Captain New Japan vs. Hirooki Goto, “The Machine Gun” Karl Anderson, Tama Tonga & Ryusuke Taguchi

    (3) IWGP Jr. Tag Championship Match: [34th Champions] “TIME SPLITTERS” KUSHIDA &  Alex Shelley vs. [Challengers] Jushin Thunder Liger & Tiger Mask IV
    ~ 2nd Defense.

    (4) Togi Makabe, Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima & Manabu Nakanishi vs. Toru Yano, Takaashi Iizuka, Yujiro Takahashi & YOSHI-HASHI

    (5) Elimination Tag Match: [CHAOS] Kazuchika Okada, Tomohiro Ishii, Gedo & Jado vs. [Suzuki-gun] Minoru Suzuki, Davey Boy Smith, Jr., Kengo Mashimo & TAKA Michinoku

    (6) IWGP Intercontinental Championship Match: [4th Champion] Shinsuke Nakamura vs. [Challenger] Lance Archer
    ~ 6th Defense.

    (7) Special Single Match: [58th IWGP Heavy Champion] Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. [66th IWGP Jr. Champion] Prince Devitt
    ———————————————————————-

    Later in March, New Japan will kick off the NEW JAPAN CUP 2013 which will be held for during a 6 day tour from March 11th to March 23rd.
    ~ No competitors have been announced at this time.

    - [1st Round] 3/11/2013 [Mon] 18:30 @ Korakuen Hall in Tokyo
    - [2nd Round] 3/17/2013 [Sun] 16:00 @ Beikomu General Gymnasium
    - 3/19/2013 [Tue] 19:00 @ Shirakawa City Center Gymnasium
    - 3/20/2013 [Wed] 15:00 @ Sendai Industrial Exhibition Hall, Aztec Museum
    - 3/22/2013 [Fri] 18:30 @ Kumagai City Civic Gymnasium
    - [Finals] 3/23/2013 [Sat] 18:30 @ Korakuen Hall in Tokyo

     
  8. Notes: 11 / 3 months ago 
    [News] Three generations come together for the opening day of a Pro Wrestling Photo Exhibition in Tokyo.There will be a special photo exhibition going on for the next week in Japan (February 15th to the 21st), which I believe it is being held at Fujifilm Square in Roppongi. The exhibit is being called 甦る激闘の記憶 “Memories of Revived Fierce Fight” and will feature over 120 photo’s showcasing over the last 60 years of Pro Wrestling in Japan.The current IWGP Heavyweight Champion, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Antonio Inoki and Keiji Mutoh were on hand for the opening of the exhibit.

    [News] Three generations come together for the opening day of a Pro Wrestling Photo Exhibition in Tokyo.

    There will be a special photo exhibition going on for the next week in Japan (February 15th to the 21st), which I believe it is being held at Fujifilm Square in Roppongi. The exhibit is being called 甦る激闘の記憶 “Memories of Revived Fierce Fight” and will feature over 120 photo’s showcasing over the last 60 years of Pro Wrestling in Japan.

    The current IWGP Heavyweight Champion, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Antonio Inoki and Keiji Mutoh were on hand for the opening of the exhibit.

     
  9. Notes: 5 / 3 months ago 
    [NJPW News] New Japan announced the full card for their upcoming iPPV which will be held on February 10th.Among the newly announced matches are 4 matches that have been set in place following the show on February 3rd. Kazuchika Okada will be taking on Minoru Suzuki in the semi-final match of the show, with Okada looking to prove himself against the leader of Suzuki-gun. It has been a war between the two leading heel units in New Japan today with CHAOS vs. Suzuki-gun as of late, and on the 2/3 show Okada challenged Suzuki to a singles match for the 2/10 show. It didn’t take long for NJPW to announce the match on the upcoming iPPV and it will surely be one to cause a rift between the two heel factions.Shinsuke Nakamura will also be defending CHAOS as he takes on another member of Suzuki-gun in K-DOJO’s Kengo Mashimo. Mashimo is known as of the more skilled wrestlers in the Indy scene in Japan and on the 2/3 show him and Nakamura showed their hatred against one another. It seemed a match would be coming soon following, and it was announced to happen on 2/10. This will be a big opportunity for Mashimo to show his skill against the current IWGP Intercontinental Champion in a non-title match. Who knows, if he can pull out the upset win he would surely be in line for a rematch with the belt on the line.Hirooki Goto made a shocking announcement on the 2/3 show at calling out, his friend since High School, Katsuyori Shibata. It may have seemed like Laughter7 was done in NJPW after them both losing at the big WRESTLE KINGDOM show, but after the announcement of their inclusion on the upcoming show they might have more still left to do. Goto might not have gotten the single match he wanted, but he will be teaming with Wataru Inoue (who is far from a stranger of the two) as they take on the Laughter7 duo.The last of the special matches announced with see Makabe going one on one against Yujiro Takahashi. Yujiro has taken it upon himself to attack Makabe physically and verbally after their matches scheduled tag matches this month. Makabe will be surely looking for revenge, and Yujiro will have to contend with the very angry Unchained Gorilla face to face. Will Yujiro prove himself as the better man that he thinks he is, or will Makabe shut up the Playboy?This event will be offered on live iPPV on NJPW’s USTREAM channel for $25. You can order the event by checking out the link below.http://www.ustream.tv/channel/njpw1972New Japan Pro Wrestling “THE NEW BEGINNING”, 2/10/2013 [Sun] 15:00 @ Hiroshima Sun Plaza Hall(1) Yuji Nagata, Manabu Nakanishi, Tama Tonga, Jushin Thunder Liger & Tiger Mask IV vs. Toru Yano, Takashi Iizuka, Tomohiro Ishii, YOSHI-HASHI & Jado(2) IWGP Junior Tag Championship Match: [34th Champions] “TIME SLITTERS” KUSHIDA & Alex Shelley vs. [Challengers] “FOREVER HOOLIGANS” Rocky Romero & Alex Koslov~ 1st Defense.(3) IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship Match: [66th Champion] Prince Devitt vs. [Challenger] Ryusuke Taguchi~ 2nd Defense.(3) IWGP Tag Championship Match: [61st Champions] “KILLER ELITE SQUAD” Lance Archer & Davey Boy Smith, Jr. vs. [Challengers] “TenCozy” Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima~ 2nd Defense.(4) Special Single Match: Togi Makabe vs. Yujiro Takahashi(5) Special Tag Match: Hirooki Goto & Wataru Inoue vs. Kazushi Sakuraba & Katsuyori Shibata [Laughter7](6) Special Single Match: Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Kengo Mashimo [K-DOJO](7) Special Single Match: Kazuchika Okada vs. Minoru Suzuki(8) IWGP Heavyweight Championship Match: [58th Champion] Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. [Challenger] “The Machine Gun” Karl Anderson~ 7th Defense.http://www.puroresuspirit.com/2012/12/22/njpw-event-cards-for-january-february-2013/

    [NJPW News] New Japan announced the full card for their upcoming iPPV which will be held on February 10th.

    Among the newly announced matches are 4 matches that have been set in place following the show on February 3rd. Kazuchika Okada will be taking on Minoru Suzuki in the semi-final match of the show, with Okada looking to prove himself against the leader of Suzuki-gun. It has been a war between the two leading heel units in New Japan today with CHAOS vs. Suzuki-gun as of late, and on the 2/3 show Okada challenged Suzuki to a singles match for the 2/10 show. It didn’t take long for NJPW to announce the match on the upcoming iPPV and it will surely be one to cause a rift between the two heel factions.

    Shinsuke Nakamura will also be defending CHAOS as he takes on another member of Suzuki-gun in K-DOJO’s Kengo Mashimo. Mashimo is known as of the more skilled wrestlers in the Indy scene in Japan and on the 2/3 show him and Nakamura showed their hatred against one another. It seemed a match would be coming soon following, and it was announced to happen on 2/10. This will be a big opportunity for Mashimo to show his skill against the current IWGP Intercontinental Champion in a non-title match. Who knows, if he can pull out the upset win he would surely be in line for a rematch with the belt on the line.

    Hirooki Goto made a shocking announcement on the 2/3 show at calling out, his friend since High School, Katsuyori Shibata. It may have seemed like Laughter7 was done in NJPW after them both losing at the big WRESTLE KINGDOM show, but after the announcement of their inclusion on the upcoming show they might have more still left to do. Goto might not have gotten the single match he wanted, but he will be teaming with Wataru Inoue (who is far from a stranger of the two) as they take on the Laughter7 duo.

    The last of the special matches announced with see Makabe going one on one against Yujiro Takahashi. Yujiro has taken it upon himself to attack Makabe physically and verbally after their matches scheduled tag matches this month. Makabe will be surely looking for revenge, and Yujiro will have to contend with the very angry Unchained Gorilla face to face. Will Yujiro prove himself as the better man that he thinks he is, or will Makabe shut up the Playboy?

    This event will be offered on live iPPV on NJPW’s USTREAM channel for $25. You can order the event by checking out the link below.
    http://www.ustream.tv/channel/njpw1972

    New Japan Pro Wrestling “THE NEW BEGINNING”, 2/10/2013 [Sun] 15:00 @ Hiroshima Sun Plaza Hall

    (1) Yuji Nagata, Manabu Nakanishi, Tama Tonga, Jushin Thunder Liger & Tiger Mask IV vs. Toru Yano, Takashi Iizuka, Tomohiro Ishii, YOSHI-HASHI & Jado

    (2) IWGP Junior Tag Championship Match: [34th Champions] “TIME SLITTERS” KUSHIDA & Alex Shelley vs. [Challengers] “FOREVER HOOLIGANS” Rocky Romero & Alex Koslov
    ~ 1st Defense.

    (3) IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship Match: [66th Champion] Prince Devitt vs. [Challenger] Ryusuke Taguchi
    ~ 2nd Defense.

    (3) IWGP Tag Championship Match: [61st Champions] “KILLER ELITE SQUAD” Lance Archer & Davey Boy Smith, Jr. vs. [Challengers] “TenCozy” Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima
    ~ 2nd Defense.

    (4) Special Single Match: Togi Makabe vs. Yujiro Takahashi
    (5) Special Tag Match: Hirooki Goto & Wataru Inoue vs. Kazushi Sakuraba & Katsuyori Shibata [Laughter7]
    (6) Special Single Match: Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Kengo Mashimo [K-DOJO]
    (7) Special Single Match: Kazuchika Okada vs. Minoru Suzuki

    (8) IWGP Heavyweight Championship Match: [58th Champion] Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. [Challenger] “The Machine Gun” Karl Anderson
    ~ 7th Defense.

    http://www.puroresuspirit.com/2012/12/22/njpw-event-cards-for-january-february-2013/

     
  10. 4 months ago 
    [NJPW February Event Card Update] New Japan has announced all the matches for their lead in tour heading into “THE NEW BEGINNING” PPV on February 10th.I am not sure yet if this will be an iPPV, but since most big events have been offered for iPPV I can only assume yes at this time.This next tour which takes place in early February will be main evented by multi-man tag matches highlighted with both IWGP singles belts as the IWGP Heavy Champion Hiroshi Tanahashi and Ryusuke Taguchi will be taking on “The Machine Gun” Karl Anderson and the IWGP Junior Champion Prince Devitt. These matches will be taking the main event spot for the majority of the shows leading into their respected title matches on February 10th. One title match has been set in place for the tour as ZERO1’s Masato Tanaka defends the NEVER Openweight Championship against Tomohiro Ishii on February 3rd.All the matches leading into the PPV are setup up as prelude’s to the show as each competitor or team aim to build any form of momentum heading into the show. KILLER ELITE SQUAD vs. TenCozy IWGP prelude tag matches will be doing just that kind of build. The same can go for the TIME SPLITTERS vs. Forever Hooligans who will be involved in multi-man tag leading into the PPV.A noteworthy series of matches of the upcoming tour will see 6 Man clashes between the CHAOS team of namely Nakamura and Okada facing off against the team of Suzuki-gun which will be primarily comprised of Minoru Suzuki and Kengo Mashimo, from KAIENTAI DOJO. A heel vs. heel dynamic is an interesting change for NJPW, and the inclusion of Mashimo yet again is good news to hear. Nakamura has yet to have a new challenger for the IWGP IC belt, so we can only assume that Suzuki, or maybe Mashimo, could become a new challenger if this feud pans out.You can see the full announced events below.http://www.puroresuspirit.com/2012/12/22/njpw-event-cards-for-january-february-2013/New Japan Pro Wrestling “Road to THE NEW BEGINNING”, 2/2/2013 [Sat] 18:00 @ Gifu Industrial Hall(1) Sho Tanaka vs. Yohei Komatsu(2) Jushin Thunder Liger & Tiger Mask IV vs. Hiromu Takahashi & Takaaki Watanabe(3) KUSHIDA, Alex Shelley & BUSHI vs. Rocky Romero, Alex Koslov & Jado(4) Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima & Captain New Japan vs. Lance Archer, Davey Boy Smith, Jr & TAKA Michinoku(5) Togi Makabe, Yuji Nagata, Manabu Nakanishi & Wataru Inoue vs. Toru Yano, Takashi Iizuka, Yujiro Takahashi & YOSHI-HASHI(6) Shinsuke Nakamura, Kazuchika Okada & Tomohiro Ishii vs. Minoru Suzuki, Kengo Mashimo & Taichi(7) Hiroshi Tanahashi, Hirooki Goto & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. “The Machine Gun” Karl Anderson, Tama Tonga & Prince DevittNew Japan Pro Wrestling “Road to THE NEW BEGINNING”, 2/3/2013 [Sun] 18:30 @ Korakuen Hall in Tokyo(1) Jushin Thunder Liger, Tiger Mask IV & BUSHI vs. Tama Tonga, Hiromu Takahashi & Takaaki Watanabe(2) Hirooki Goto, Wataru Inoue, KUSHIDA, Alex Shelley & BUSHI vs. YOSHI-HASHI, Jado, Rocky Romero, Alex Koslov(3) Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima & Captain New Japan vs. Lance Archer, Davey Boy Smith, Jr & TAKA Michinoku(4) Togi Makabe, Yuji Nagata & Manabu Nakanishi vs. Toru Yano, Takashi Iizuka & Yujiro Takahashi(5) Shinsuke Nakamura, Kazuchika Okada & Gedo vs. Minoru Suzuki, Kengo Mashimo & Taichi(6) Hiroshi Tanahashi & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. “The Machine Gun” Karl Anderson & Prince Devitt(7) NEVER Openweight Championship Match: [Champion] Masato Tanaka vs. [Challenger] Tomohiro Ishii~ 2nd Defense.New Japan Pro Wrestling “Road to THE NEW BEGINNING”, 2/5/2013 [Tue] 19:00 @ Koga City Gymnasium in Ibaraki(1) BUSHI & Yohei Komatsu vs. Hiromu Takahashi & Takaaki Watanabe(2) KUSHIDA, Alex Shelley & Tiger Mask IV vs. Rocky Romero, Alex Koslov & Jado(3) Manabu Nakanishi, Hirooki Goto & Captain New Japan vs. Toru Yano, Takashi Iizuka & Tomohiro Ishii(4) Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima & Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Lance Archer, Davey Boy Smith, Jr & Taichi(5) Togi Makabe & Wataru Inoue vs. Yujiro Takahashi & YOSHI-HASHI(6) Shinsuke Nakamura, Kazuchika Okada & Gedo vs. Minoru Suzuki, Kengo Mashimo & TAKA Michinoku(7) Hiroshi Tanahashi, Yuji Nagata & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. “The Machine Gun” Karl Anderson, Tama Tonga & Prince DevittNew Japan Pro Wrestling “Road to THE NEW BEGINNING”, 2/6/2013 [Wed] 18:30 @ Chino City Citizen Museum Multi-Hall(1) BUSHI & Sho Tanaka vs. Hiromu Takahashi & Takaaki Watanabe(2) KUSHIDA, Alex Shelley & Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Rocky Romero, Alex Koslov & Gedo(3) Yuji Nagata, Manabu Nakanishi & Wataru Inoue vs. Toru Yano, Takashi Iizuka & Tomohiro Ishii(4) Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima & Tiger Mask IV vs. Lance Archer, Davey Boy Smith, Jr & Taichi(5) Togi Makabe & Hirooki Goto vs. Yujiro Takahashi & YOSHI-HASHI(6) Shinsuke Nakamura, Kazuchika Okada & Jado vs. Minoru Suzuki, Kengo Mashimo & TAKA Michinoku(7) Hiroshi Tanahashi, Captain New Japan & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. “The Machine Gun” Karl Anderson, Tama Tonga & Prince DevittNew Japan Pro Wrestling “Road to THE NEW BEGINNING”, 2/7/2013 [Thu] 19:0 @ New Sunpia Tochigi(1) BUSHI & Yohei Komatsu vs. Hiromu Takahashi & Takaaki Watanabe(2) KUSHIDA, Alex Shelley & Tiger Mask IV vs. Rocky Romero, Alex Koslov & Jado(3) Yuji Nagata, Manabu Nakanishi & Wataru Inoue vs. Toru Yano, Takashi Iizuka & Tomohiro Ishii(4) Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima & Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Lance Archer, Davey Boy Smith, Jr & TAKA Michinoku(5) Togi Makabe & Wataru Inoue vs. Yujiro Takahashi & YOSHI-HASHI(6) Shinsuke Nakamura, Kazuchika Okada & Gedo vs. Minoru Suzuki, Kengo Mashimo & Taichi(7) Hiroshi Tanahashi, Hirooki Goto & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. “The Machine Gun” Karl Anderson, Tama Tonga & Prince Devitt

    [NJPW February Event Card Update] New Japan has announced all the matches for their lead in tour heading into “THE NEW BEGINNING” PPV on February 10th.
    I am not sure yet if this will be an iPPV, but since most big events have been offered for iPPV I can only assume yes at this time.

    This next tour which takes place in early February will be main evented by multi-man tag matches highlighted with both IWGP singles belts as the IWGP Heavy Champion Hiroshi Tanahashi and Ryusuke Taguchi will be taking on “The Machine Gun” Karl Anderson and the IWGP Junior Champion Prince Devitt. These matches will be taking the main event spot for the majority of the shows leading into their respected title matches on February 10th.

    One title match has been set in place for the tour as ZERO1’s Masato Tanaka defends the NEVER Openweight Championship against Tomohiro Ishii on February 3rd.

    All the matches leading into the PPV are setup up as prelude’s to the show as each competitor or team aim to build any form of momentum heading into the show. KILLER ELITE SQUAD vs. TenCozy IWGP prelude tag matches will be doing just that kind of build. The same can go for the TIME SPLITTERS vs. Forever Hooligans who will be involved in multi-man tag leading into the PPV.
    A noteworthy series of matches of the upcoming tour will see 6 Man clashes between the CHAOS team of namely Nakamura and Okada facing off against the team of Suzuki-gun which will be primarily comprised of Minoru Suzuki and Kengo Mashimo, from KAIENTAI DOJO. A heel vs. heel dynamic is an interesting change for NJPW, and the inclusion of Mashimo yet again is good news to hear. Nakamura has yet to have a new challenger for the IWGP IC belt, so we can only assume that Suzuki, or maybe Mashimo, could become a new challenger if this feud pans out.

    You can see the full announced events below.
    http://www.puroresuspirit.com/2012/12/22/njpw-event-cards-for-january-february-2013/

    New Japan Pro Wrestling “Road to THE NEW BEGINNING”, 2/2/2013 [Sat] 18:00 @ Gifu Industrial Hall

    (1) Sho Tanaka vs. Yohei Komatsu
    (2) Jushin Thunder Liger & Tiger Mask IV vs. Hiromu Takahashi & Takaaki Watanabe
    (3) KUSHIDA, Alex Shelley & BUSHI vs. Rocky Romero, Alex Koslov & Jado
    (4) Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima & Captain New Japan vs. Lance Archer, Davey Boy Smith, Jr & TAKA Michinoku
    (5) Togi Makabe, Yuji Nagata, Manabu Nakanishi & Wataru Inoue vs. Toru Yano, Takashi Iizuka, Yujiro Takahashi & YOSHI-HASHI
    (6) Shinsuke Nakamura, Kazuchika Okada & Tomohiro Ishii vs. Minoru Suzuki, Kengo Mashimo & Taichi
    (7) Hiroshi Tanahashi, Hirooki Goto & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. “The Machine Gun” Karl Anderson, Tama Tonga & Prince Devitt

    New Japan Pro Wrestling “Road to THE NEW BEGINNING”, 2/3/2013 [Sun] 18:30 @ Korakuen Hall in Tokyo

    (1) Jushin Thunder Liger, Tiger Mask IV & BUSHI vs. Tama Tonga, Hiromu Takahashi & Takaaki Watanabe
    (2) Hirooki Goto, Wataru Inoue, KUSHIDA, Alex Shelley & BUSHI vs. YOSHI-HASHI, Jado, Rocky Romero, Alex Koslov
    (3) Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima & Captain New Japan vs. Lance Archer, Davey Boy Smith, Jr & TAKA Michinoku
    (4) Togi Makabe, Yuji Nagata & Manabu Nakanishi vs. Toru Yano, Takashi Iizuka & Yujiro Takahashi
    (5) Shinsuke Nakamura, Kazuchika Okada & Gedo vs. Minoru Suzuki, Kengo Mashimo & Taichi
    (6) Hiroshi Tanahashi & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. “The Machine Gun” Karl Anderson & Prince Devitt

    (7) NEVER Openweight Championship Match: [Champion] Masato Tanaka vs. [Challenger] Tomohiro Ishii
    ~ 2nd Defense.

    New Japan Pro Wrestling “Road to THE NEW BEGINNING”, 2/5/2013 [Tue] 19:00 @ Koga City Gymnasium in Ibaraki

    (1) BUSHI & Yohei Komatsu vs. Hiromu Takahashi & Takaaki Watanabe
    (2) KUSHIDA, Alex Shelley & Tiger Mask IV vs. Rocky Romero, Alex Koslov & Jado
    (3) Manabu Nakanishi, Hirooki Goto & Captain New Japan vs. Toru Yano, Takashi Iizuka & Tomohiro Ishii
    (4) Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima & Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Lance Archer, Davey Boy Smith, Jr & Taichi
    (5) Togi Makabe & Wataru Inoue vs. Yujiro Takahashi & YOSHI-HASHI
    (6) Shinsuke Nakamura, Kazuchika Okada & Gedo vs. Minoru Suzuki, Kengo Mashimo & TAKA Michinoku
    (7) Hiroshi Tanahashi, Yuji Nagata & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. “The Machine Gun” Karl Anderson, Tama Tonga & Prince Devitt

    New Japan Pro Wrestling “Road to THE NEW BEGINNING”, 2/6/2013 [Wed] 18:30 @ Chino City Citizen Museum Multi-Hall

    (1) BUSHI & Sho Tanaka vs. Hiromu Takahashi & Takaaki Watanabe
    (2) KUSHIDA, Alex Shelley & Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Rocky Romero, Alex Koslov & Gedo
    (3) Yuji Nagata, Manabu Nakanishi & Wataru Inoue vs. Toru Yano, Takashi Iizuka & Tomohiro Ishii
    (4) Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima & Tiger Mask IV vs. Lance Archer, Davey Boy Smith, Jr & Taichi
    (5) Togi Makabe & Hirooki Goto vs. Yujiro Takahashi & YOSHI-HASHI
    (6) Shinsuke Nakamura, Kazuchika Okada & Jado vs. Minoru Suzuki, Kengo Mashimo & TAKA Michinoku
    (7) Hiroshi Tanahashi, Captain New Japan & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. “The Machine Gun” Karl Anderson, Tama Tonga & Prince Devitt

    New Japan Pro Wrestling “Road to THE NEW BEGINNING”, 2/7/2013 [Thu] 19:0 @ New Sunpia Tochigi

    (1) BUSHI & Yohei Komatsu vs. Hiromu Takahashi & Takaaki Watanabe
    (2) KUSHIDA, Alex Shelley & Tiger Mask IV vs. Rocky Romero, Alex Koslov & Jado
    (3) Yuji Nagata, Manabu Nakanishi & Wataru Inoue vs. Toru Yano, Takashi Iizuka & Tomohiro Ishii
    (4) Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima & Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Lance Archer, Davey Boy Smith, Jr & TAKA Michinoku
    (5) Togi Makabe & Wataru Inoue vs. Yujiro Takahashi & YOSHI-HASHI
    (6) Shinsuke Nakamura, Kazuchika Okada & Gedo vs. Minoru Suzuki, Kengo Mashimo & Taichi
    (7) Hiroshi Tanahashi, Hirooki Goto & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. “The Machine Gun” Karl Anderson, Tama Tonga & Prince Devitt

     
  11. 4 months ago 
    [NJPW News] New Japan announced a few big newsworthy items today and I will do my best to collect them all in this post.P.S. I normally try and gets news up pretty early in the day, but I have a lot of stuff going on this weekend. Keep that in mind if I cannot get results for tomorrow up until later in the day. Thanks for the understanding.NJPW announced that the NEW JAPAN CUP will be returning again this year and will be taking place on March 11, 17, 19, 20, 22, and 23. That will be a total of 6 shows compared to last years total of 5 shows for the single elimination tournament.NJPW announced the full event cards that will be taking place for the NJPW & CMLL joint shows in Japan later on this month.Among the shows is the announcement that Shinsuke Nakamura will be defending the IWGP IC belt against La Sombra. From the top of my head I am reminded of the singles match betwwen Nakamura and Sombra in the 2011 G1 CLIMAX, of course which saw Nakamura come out the victor. The title will be on the line this time around and I think it could be somewhat of a toss up. Sombra has proven to be somemone that NJPW has shown interest in over the last few years, but with Nakamura looking to bring some real prestige to the IC belt it is tough call what may actually happen on the show day.Below are the cards for the 3 NJPW/CMLL shows.http://www.puroresuspirit.com/2012/12/22/njpw-event-cards-for-january-february-2013/ NJPW PRESENTS CMLL FANTASTICA MANIA 2013, 1/18/2013 [Fri] 18:30 @ Korakuen Hall in Tokyo (1) Tama Tonga & Titan vs. Euforia & OKUMURA (2) Ryusuke Taguchi, BUSHI & Diamante vs. Yujiro Takahashi, Tomohiro Ishii & Rey Escorpion (3) Rush vs. YOSHI-HASHI (4) La Mascara, Mascard Dorada & Maximo vs. Volador, Jr., TAKA Michinoku & Taichi (5) Special 6 Man Tag Match: Mistico II, Jushin Thunder Liger & Tiger Mask IV vs. Mephisto, Gedo & Jado (6) Special Single Match: Prince Devitt vs. Dragon Roho, Jr. (7) Special Tag Match: Hiroshi Tanahashi & La Sombra vs. Shinsuke Nakamura & Misterioso Jr. NJPW PRESENTS CMLL FANTASTICA MANIA 2013, 1/19/2013 [Sat] 18:30 @ Korakuen Hall in Tokyo (1) Tama Tonga & Maximo vs. TAKA Michinoku & Taichi (2) Jushin Thunder Liger, Tiger Mask IV & Titan vs. Gedo, Jado & 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 Single Match: Mistico II vs. Euforia (6) Special 6 Man Tag Match: Hiroshi Tanahashi, La Mascara & Rush vs. Kazuchika Okada, Volador, Jr. & Rey Escorpion (7) IWGP Intercontinental Championship Match: [4th Champion] Shinsuke Namaura vs. [Challenger] La Sombra~ 5th Defense. NJPW PRESENTS CMLL FANTASTICA MANIA 2013, 1/20/2013 [Sun] 12:00 @ Korakuen Hall in Tokyo (1) Special Single Match: Maximo vs. Taichi (2) Turneo Cibernetico 6vs6: Jushin Thunder Liger, Tiger Mask IV, BUSHI, Mascara Dorada, Titan & Diamante vs. Tomohiro Ishii, YOSHI-HASHI, Gedo, Jado, OKUMURA & Misterioso Jr. (3) Special Single Match: Rush vs. Rey Escorpion (4) NWA World Historic Light Heavyweight Championship Match: [Champion] Dragon Rojo Jr. vs. [Challenger] La Sombra (5) Mexican National Light Heavyweight Championship Match: [Champion] La Mascara vs. [Challenger] Volador, Jr. (6) Special 6 Man Tag Match: Hiroshi Tanahashi, Prince Devitt & Mistico II vs. Kazuchika Okada, Mephisto & Euforia —————————————————————————————Then lastly NJPW announced the next title defenses that will take place in February.The first title match of February will be on the 3rd as Masato Tanaka will defend the NEVER Openweight belt against Tomohiro Ishii. The two last faced off in the semi-finals of the NEVER crowning tournament and it was a pretty solid match, but you shouldn’t expect any less from two guys who work pretty solid.New Japan also announced the title matches that will be headlining big show in February in THE NEW BEGINNING on February 10th. Hiroshi Tanahashi will be defending his IWGP Heavy belt for his seventh defense against the man who beat him the 2012 G1 CLIMAX in Karl Anderson. Following his win over Okada at the dome, Tanahashi announced that he wants a rematch against Anderson as his next possible defense, and with no one stepping up to face the champion, Tanahashi took the chance to name his own opponent. His loss over Anderson is definitely something that has been on his mind for the last few months and on Feb. 10th he aims to reclaim that loss.Apollo 55 will find themselves across the ring from one another come the show on Feb. 10th, following WK7 Taguchi made the bid to be the next contender against Devitt and the jr. belt and Devitt accepted. Both have been closer friends for years and it should be interesting to see what plays out whenever they are across from each other than being next to each other.Both tag belts will be defended on the show as Archer & Smtih are set to defend against Tenzan & Kojima, and then KUSHIDA/Shelley will be defending the jr. tag belts against Romero & Koslov.Below are announced matches at this time for the February shows. New Japan Pro Wrestling “Road to THE NEW BEGINNING”, 2/3/2013 (-) NEVER Openweight Championship Match: [Champion] Masato Tanaka vs. [Challenger] Tomohiro Ishii~ 2nd Defense. ————————————————————————————— New Japan Pro Wrestling “THE NEW BEGINNING”, 2/10/2013 [Sun] 15:00 @ Hiroshima Sun Plaza Hall (-) IWGP Junior Tag Championship Match: [34th Champions] “TIME SLITTERS” KUSHIDA & Alex Shelley vs. [Challengers] “FOREVER HOOLIGANS” Rocky Romero & Alex Koslov~ 1st Defense. (-) IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship Match: [66th Champion] Prince Devitt vs. [Challenger] Ryusuke Taguchi~ 2nd Defense. (-) IWGP Tag Championship Match: [61st Champions] “KILLER ELITE SQUAD” Lance Archer & Davey Boy Smith, Jr. vs. [Challengers] “TenCozy” Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima~ 2nd Defense. (-) IWGP Heavyweight Championship Match: [58th Champion] Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. [Challenger] “The Machine Gun” Karl Anderson~ 7th Defense.

    [NJPW News] New Japan announced a few big newsworthy items today and I will do my best to collect them all in this post.

    P.S. I normally try and gets news up pretty early in the day, but I have a lot of stuff going on this weekend. Keep that in mind if I cannot get results for tomorrow up until later in the day. Thanks for the understanding.

    NJPW announced that the NEW JAPAN CUP will be returning again this year and will be taking place on March 11, 17, 19, 20, 22, and 23. That will be a total of 6 shows compared to last years total of 5 shows for the single elimination tournament.

    NJPW announced the full event cards that will be taking place for the NJPW & CMLL joint shows in Japan later on this month.
    Among the shows is the announcement that Shinsuke Nakamura will be defending the IWGP IC belt against La Sombra. From the top of my head I am reminded of the singles match betwwen Nakamura and Sombra in the 2011 G1 CLIMAX, of course which saw Nakamura come out the victor. The title will be on the line this time around and I think it could be somewhat of a toss up. Sombra has proven to be somemone that NJPW has shown interest in over the last few years, but with Nakamura looking to bring some real prestige to the IC belt it is tough call what may actually happen on the show day.

    Below are the cards for the 3 NJPW/CMLL shows.
    http://www.puroresuspirit.com/2012/12/22/njpw-event-cards-for-january-february-2013/

    NJPW PRESENTS CMLL FANTASTICA MANIA 2013, 1/18/2013 [Fri] 18:30 @ Korakuen Hall in Tokyo

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

    NJPW PRESENTS CMLL FANTASTICA MANIA 2013, 1/19/2013 [Sat] 18:30 @ Korakuen Hall in Tokyo

    (1) Tama Tonga & Maximo vs. TAKA Michinoku & Taichi
    (2) Jushin Thunder Liger, Tiger Mask IV & Titan vs. Gedo, Jado & 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 Single Match: Mistico II vs. Euforia
    (6) Special 6 Man Tag Match: Hiroshi Tanahashi, La Mascara & Rush vs. Kazuchika Okada, Volador, Jr. & Rey Escorpion

    (7) IWGP Intercontinental Championship Match: [4th Champion] Shinsuke Namaura vs. [Challenger] La Sombra
    ~ 5th Defense.

    NJPW PRESENTS CMLL FANTASTICA MANIA 2013, 1/20/2013 [Sun] 12:00 @ Korakuen Hall in Tokyo

    (1) Special Single Match: Maximo vs. Taichi
    (2) Turneo Cibernetico 6vs6: Jushin Thunder Liger, Tiger Mask IV, BUSHI, Mascara Dorada, Titan & Diamante vs. Tomohiro Ishii, YOSHI-HASHI, Gedo, Jado, OKUMURA & Misterioso Jr.
    (3) Special Single Match: Rush vs. Rey Escorpion

    (4) NWA World Historic Light Heavyweight Championship Match: [Champion] Dragon Rojo Jr. vs. [Challenger] La Sombra

    (5) Mexican National Light Heavyweight Championship Match: [Champion] La Mascara vs. [Challenger] Volador, Jr.

    (6) Special 6 Man Tag Match: Hiroshi Tanahashi, Prince Devitt & Mistico II vs. Kazuchika Okada, Mephisto & Euforia

    —————————————————————————————
    Then lastly NJPW announced the next title defenses that will take place in February.
    The first title match of February will be on the 3rd as Masato Tanaka will defend the NEVER Openweight belt against Tomohiro Ishii. The two last faced off in the semi-finals of the NEVER crowning tournament and it was a pretty solid match, but you shouldn’t expect any less from two guys who work pretty solid.
    Photobucket
    New Japan also announced the title matches that will be headlining big show in February in THE NEW BEGINNING on February 10th.
    Hiroshi Tanahashi will be defending his IWGP Heavy belt for his seventh defense against the man who beat him the 2012 G1 CLIMAX in Karl Anderson. Following his win over Okada at the dome, Tanahashi announced that he wants a rematch against Anderson as his next possible defense, and with no one stepping up to face the champion, Tanahashi took the chance to name his own opponent. His loss over Anderson is definitely something that has been on his mind for the last few months and on Feb. 10th he aims to reclaim that loss.
    Apollo 55 will find themselves across the ring from one another come the show on Feb. 10th, following WK7 Taguchi made the bid to be the next contender against Devitt and the jr. belt and Devitt accepted. Both have been closer friends for years and it should be interesting to see what plays out whenever they are across from each other than being next to each other.
    Both tag belts will be defended on the show as Archer & Smtih are set to defend against Tenzan & Kojima, and then KUSHIDA/Shelley will be defending the jr. tag belts against Romero & Koslov.

    Below are announced matches at this time for the February shows.

    New Japan Pro Wrestling “Road to THE NEW BEGINNING”, 2/3/2013

    (-) NEVER Openweight Championship Match: [Champion] Masato Tanaka vs. [Challenger] Tomohiro Ishii
    ~ 2nd Defense.

    —————————————————————————————

    New Japan Pro Wrestling “THE NEW BEGINNING”, 2/10/2013 [Sun] 15:00 @ Hiroshima Sun Plaza Hall

    (-) IWGP Junior Tag Championship Match: [34th Champions] “TIME SLITTERS” KUSHIDA & Alex Shelley vs. [Challengers] “FOREVER HOOLIGANS” Rocky Romero & Alex Koslov
    ~ 1st Defense.

    (-) IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship Match: [66th Champion] Prince Devitt vs. [Challenger] Ryusuke Taguchi
    ~ 2nd Defense.

    (-) IWGP Tag Championship Match: [61st Champions] “KILLER ELITE SQUAD” Lance Archer & Davey Boy Smith, Jr. vs. [Challengers] “TenCozy” Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima
    ~ 2nd Defense.

    (-) IWGP Heavyweight Championship Match: [58th Champion] Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. [Challenger] “The Machine Gun” Karl Anderson
    ~ 7th Defense.

     
  12. Notes: 1 / 4 months ago 
    NJPW “WRESTLE KINGDOM 7” results for January 4, 2013 NJPW Presents WRESTLE KINGDOM 7 ～EVOLUTION～ in Tokyo Dome, 1/4/2013 [Fri] 17:00 @ Tokyo Dome in… View Post shared via WordPress.com

    NJPW “WRESTLE KINGDOM 7” results for January 4, 2013

    NJPW Presents WRESTLE KINGDOM 7 ～EVOLUTION～ in Tokyo Dome, 1/4/2013 [Fri] 17:00 @ Tokyo Dome in…

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    shared via WordPress.com

     
  13. Notes: 11 / 5 months ago 
    The winners of the 2012 Tokyo Sports Puroresu Awards have been released.▽ Most Valuable Player Award: Kazuchika Okada [NJPW]▽ Best Match Award: Kazuchika Okada vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi, DOMINION, June 16th in Osaka. [NJPW]▽ Best Tag Team Award: “GET WILD” Takao Omori & Manabu Soya [AJP]▽ Distinguished Service Medal: Takeshi Morishima [NOAH]▽ Fighting Spirit Award: Abdullah Kobayashi [BJW]▽ Technical Award: Shinsuke Nakamura [NJPW]▽ Top Newcomber Award: Daichi Hashimoto [ZERO1]▽ Joshi Award: Yuzuki Aikawa [Stardom]▽ Lifetime Achievement Award: Seiji Sakaguchi [NJPW]————————————————————————————————————MVP of the year runners….~ Takeshi Morishima~ Hiroshi TanahashiOkada won outright with 16 votes, compared to Mori’s 3 and Tana’s 2.————————————————————————————————————Also listed as the best matches of the year….2nd: Onita vs. Akebono from 8.26 in Yokohama [Special Show]3rd: Kota Ibushi vs. Kenny Omega from 8.18 in Budokan. [DDT]~ Nakamura/Okada vs. Suwama/Kondo from 7.1 in Ryogoku. [ALL TOGETHER]~ Tanahashi vs. MiSu from 10.8 in Ryogoku. [NJPW]~ Tanahashi vs. Okada from 2.10 in Osaka. [NJPW]~ Suwama vs. Kea from 5.7 in Korakuen. [AJP]~ Akiyama vs. Funaki from 8.26 in Ota. [AJP]~ Jun Kasai vs. MASADA from 8.27 in Korakuen. [Kasai Produce]~ Masato Tanaka vs. Tomohiro Ishii from 11.19 in Shibuya [NEVER]~ Takashi Sugiura vs. KENTA from 11.23 in Korakuen. [NOAH]~ Kane vs. Daniel Bryan from 8.9 in Ryogoku. [WWE]~ Atsushi Sawada & Shinichi Suzukawa vs. Kazushi Sakuraba & Katsuyori Shibata from 12.31 in Saitama [IGF]————————————————————————————————————Runners for Tag Teams…~ Jimmy’s [DG]~ Sakuraba & Shibata [Laughter7]~ Brahman Brothers [Free]————————————————————————————————————Runners for Distinguished Service…~ Masakatsu Funaki~ Abdullah Kobayashi~ KENTA~ Sanshiro Takagi———————————————————————————————————— Runners for Fighting Spirit….~ CIMA~ Hirooki Goto~ Katsuyori Shibata~ Atsushi Onita————————————————————————————————————Runners for Technical Award…~ CIMA~ Masakatsu Funaki~ Toru Yano~ Antonio Honda————————————————————————————————————

    The winners of the 2012 Tokyo Sports Puroresu Awards have been released.

    ▽ Most Valuable Player Award: Kazuchika Okada [NJPW]

    ▽ Best Match Award: Kazuchika Okada vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi, DOMINION, June 16th in Osaka. [NJPW]

    ▽ Best Tag Team Award: “GET WILD” Takao Omori & Manabu Soya [AJP]

    ▽ Distinguished Service Medal: Takeshi Morishima [NOAH]
    ▽ Fighting Spirit Award: Abdullah Kobayashi [BJW]
    ▽ Technical Award: Shinsuke Nakamura [NJPW]
    ▽ Top Newcomber Award: Daichi Hashimoto [ZERO1]
    ▽ Joshi Award: Yuzuki Aikawa [Stardom]
    ▽ Lifetime Achievement Award: Seiji Sakaguchi [NJPW]

    ————————————————————————————————————
    MVP of the year runners….
    ~ Takeshi Morishima
    ~ Hiroshi Tanahashi

    Okada won outright with 16 votes, compared to Mori’s 3 and Tana’s 2.
    ————————————————————————————————————
    Also listed as the best matches of the year….
    2nd: Onita vs. Akebono from 8.26 in Yokohama [Special Show]
    3rd: Kota Ibushi vs. Kenny Omega from 8.18 in Budokan. [DDT]

    ~ Nakamura/Okada vs. Suwama/Kondo from 7.1 in Ryogoku. [ALL TOGETHER]
    ~ Tanahashi vs. MiSu from 10.8 in Ryogoku. [NJPW]
    ~ Tanahashi vs. Okada from 2.10 in Osaka. [NJPW]
    ~ Suwama vs. Kea from 5.7 in Korakuen. [AJP]

    ~ Akiyama vs. Funaki from 8.26 in Ota. [AJP]
    ~ Jun Kasai vs. MASADA from 8.27 in Korakuen. [Kasai Produce]
    ~ Masato Tanaka vs. Tomohiro Ishii from 11.19 in Shibuya [NEVER]
    ~ Takashi Sugiura vs. KENTA from 11.23 in Korakuen. [NOAH]
    ~ Kane vs. Daniel Bryan from 8.9 in Ryogoku. [WWE]
    ~ Atsushi Sawada & Shinichi Suzukawa vs. Kazushi Sakuraba & Katsuyori Shibata from 12.31 in Saitama [IGF]
    ————————————————————————————————————
    Runners for Tag Teams…
    ~ Jimmy’s [DG]
    ~ Sakuraba & Shibata [Laughter7]
    ~ Brahman Brothers [Free]
    ————————————————————————————————————
    Runners for Distinguished Service…
    ~ Masakatsu Funaki
    ~ Abdullah Kobayashi
    ~ KENTA
    ~ Sanshiro Takagi
    ————————————————————————————————————
     Runners for Fighting Spirit….
    ~ CIMA
    ~ Hirooki Goto
    ~ Katsuyori Shibata
    ~ Atsushi Onita
    ————————————————————————————————————
    Runners for Technical Award…
    ~ CIMA
    ~ Masakatsu Funaki
    ~ Toru Yano
    ~ Antonio Honda
    ————————————————————————————————————

     
  14. 5 months ago 

    TV commercial for WRESTLE KINGDOM 7, Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kazuchika Okada version.

    TV commercial for WK7, Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Kazushi Sakuraba version.

  15. Notes: 6 / 6 months ago 
    [NJPW News] New Japan announced the teams for the upcoming WORLD TAG LEAGUE 2012 tournament that is scheduled to take place from November 20th to December 2nd.Full post on the website.http://www.puroresuspirit.com/2012/11/11/njpw-world-tag-league-2012/A BLOCK★ [Captain Ace] Hiroshi Tanahashi & Captain New Japan★ [Always Hypers] Togi Makabe & Wataru Inoue★ [SWORD & GUNS] Hirooki Goto & “The Machine Gun” Karl Anderson ★ [Mr. Anti-Aging E & W] Yuji Nagata & Masaaki Mochizuki★ [CHAOS Invincible] Shinsuke Nakamura & Tomohiro Ishii★ [CHAOS RIDE THE LIGHTNING] Kazuchika Okada & YOSHI-HASHI★ [Suzuki-gun (Army)] Minoru Suzuki & Kengo MashimoB BLOCK★ [TenKoji] Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima★ [Japan & Mexico Muscle Orchestra Returns] Manabu Nakanishi & Strongman★ [THE WORLD’S GREATEST TAG] MVP & Shelton Benjamin★ [CMLL ASESINO] Rush & Diamante Azul★ [Chaos Dark Instigators] Toru Yano & Takashi Iizuka★ [Complete Players] Masato Tanaka & Yujiro Takahashi★ [Killer Elite Squad] Lance Archer & Davey Boy Smith, Jr.

    [NJPW News] New Japan announced the teams for the upcoming WORLD TAG LEAGUE 2012 tournament that is scheduled to take place from November 20th to December 2nd.

    Full post on the website.
    http://www.puroresuspirit.com/2012/11/11/njpw-world-tag-league-2012/

    A BLOCK
    ★ [Captain Ace] Hiroshi Tanahashi & Captain New Japan
    ★ [Always Hypers] Togi Makabe & Wataru Inoue
    ★ [SWORD & GUNS] Hirooki Goto & “The Machine Gun” Karl Anderson
    ★ [Mr. Anti-Aging E & W] Yuji Nagata & Masaaki Mochizuki
    ★ [CHAOS Invincible] Shinsuke Nakamura & Tomohiro Ishii
    ★ [CHAOS RIDE THE LIGHTNING] Kazuchika Okada & YOSHI-HASHI
    ★ [Suzuki-gun (Army)] Minoru Suzuki & Kengo Mashimo

    B BLOCK
    ★ [TenKoji] Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima
    ★ [Japan & Mexico Muscle Orchestra Returns] Manabu Nakanishi & Strongman
    ★ [THE WORLD’S GREATEST TAG] MVP & Shelton Benjamin
    ★ [CMLL ASESINO] Rush & Diamante Azul
    ★ [Chaos Dark Instigators] Toru Yano & Takashi Iizuka
    ★ [Complete Players] Masato Tanaka & Yujiro Takahashi
    ★ [Killer Elite Squad] Lance Archer & Davey Boy Smith, Jr.

     
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