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El Desperado vs Taiji Ishimori @ NJPW Summer Struggle in Sapporo

The first night of Summer Struggle in Sapporo, and the first night of the entire Summer Struggle tour itself, took place earlier today, and you can see it now on NJPWWorld. An IWGP Juniorheavyweight title match was the main event. Kota Ibushi was scheduled for this show, but had to sit out, officially due to “side effects of the COVID-19 vaccine,” ergo he was knackered after getting jabbed, which, hey, it happens. Hiromu Takahashi also made an appearance before the opening bell rang once more.

Summer Struggle in Sapporo - 7/10/2021, Hokkaido Makomanai Sekisui Heim Ice Arena (NJPWWorld)

Master Wato d. Yuya Uemura (RPP, 9:09)

EVIL & Dick Togo [Bullet Club] d. Tomohiro Ishii & YOH [CHAOS] (EVIL > YOH, Scorpion Deathlock, 11:37)

Hiroshi Tanahashi, Ryusuke Taguchi & Rocky Romero [CHAOS] d. KENTA, Yujiro Takahashi & El Phantasmo [Bullet Club] (Tanahashi > Yujiro, High Fly Flow, 15:00)

Jeff Cobb & Great O-Khan [United Empire] d. Kazuchika Okada & SHO [CHAOS] (Cobb > SHO, Tour Of The Islands, 11:41)

Tetsuya Naito, SANADA, Shingo Takagi & BUSHI [Los Ingobernables] d. Taichi, Zack Sabre Jr., Yoshinobu Kanemaru & DOUKI [SZKG] (Takagi > DOUKI, Pumping Bomber, 13:40)

IWGP Juniorheavyweight Championship: El Desperado [SZKG] © d. Taiji Ishimori [Bullet Club] (Pinche Loco, 28:54) - El Desperado succeeds his 2nd defense

Taiji Ishimori fails to become a double-crown junior champion, like Despy was earlier this year. Post-main, Robbie Eagles challenges Despy via video message. I had honestly forgotten Robbie Eagles was still a NJPW wrestler, although he had taken part in Best of the Super Juniors XXVII just this past December. Whoops!

KENTA, Rocky Romero and Jeff Cobb all returned to the lineups today. Cobb looks to be in a feud with Okada, whilst KENTA is engaging with Tanahashi. Cobb returning is good because it means we can get more Great O-Khan.

Last post, detailing the now fourth state of emergency in Tokyo, I said nobody knew exactly now this would affect the already-postponed-once Wrestle Grand Slam in Tokyo Dome, the rescheduled date being 7/25/2021. Now we do know: the show will go on, but ticket sales will be ending tomorrow (Sunday 7/11/2021).

On July 25, ‘Godzilla vs Kong presents: Wrestle Grand Slam in Tokyo Dome’ will proceed as planned, with NJPW continuing its commitment to safe events as held across Japan with fans for the past year.

However, in light of the recent announcement of another state of emergency across Tokyo and the subsequent restrictions this enforces on live events, we regret to announce that ticket sales for Wrestle Grand Slam will end at midnight JST on July 11.

We deeply apologize for the inconvenience this causes. We look forward to welcoming fans on July 25, with fan safety given the utmost priority.

So there’s that, then. I am not altogether certain which attendance cap will apply here (5000 spectators or 50% capacity -- previous enforcement took the *higher* number into account), so I guess we will find out. I am going to guess it won’t be Wrestle Kingdom levels, but I could be wrong.

Last night’s NJPW Strong was the Road to Tag Team Turbulence, that tournament beginning with next Friday’s episode. Here, three singles matches act as prelude, including the return of someone we could really do without.

Barrett Brown d. The DKC (Schoolboy, 7:02)

Alex Coughlin Challenge Match Series: PJ Black [ROH] d. Alex Coughlin (Bad Habit, 9:33)

Josh Alexander [Impact] d. Rocky Romero [CHAOS] (Divine Intervention, 11:51)

Amazing how that main event happened what with Rocky in Japan this morning and Josh Alexander in Chicago last night wrestling Jake Something in AAW. Ahem. PJ Black also returns to Strong, but was also still spouting off anti-vaxxer bullshit on Twitter just yesterday, so fuck that guy. 

The tournament starts next episode, with these matches taking place (not sure of order):

TJP [FREE] & Clark Connors v. Karl Anderson & Doc Gallows [Impact]

Kevin Knight & The DKC v. Jorel Nelson & Royce Isaacs

Yuji Nagata & Ren Narita v. Fred Yehi & Wheeler Yuta

Brody King [ROH] & Chris Dickinson v. JR Kratos & Danny Limelight [Team Filthy]

Strong’s 50th episode (which I’ve now “corrected” my episode count above, so there’s no Episode 47 here on this blog. However, they had a special recap/best-of episode around XMas or New Year’s last December and I didn’t count that as an ep, but clearly they do. So now we’re in line, I guess.) will happen during the tournament, and it will be main evented by “Filthy” Tom Lawlor’s 3rd defense of the NJPW Strong Openweight Championship, taking on Satoshi Kojima, who challenged him several episodes ago, and had been feuding with Team Filthy’s JR Kratos.

In other Bread Club news, Kojima looks to be done in Impact Wrestling, as he tweeted out on Thursday. Since Impact is still no-fans and pre-taped, who knows how much more material will make it to air. He was not on this Thursday’s episode of Impact, but there’s another episode to go before the Slammiversary PPV next Saturday 7/17/2021. My guess would be if Kojima is on that, he will face William Morrissey as that was who seemed to be calling him out on last week’s Impact episode. We’ll see as the Slammiversary card gets announced.

Tomorrow is the second night of Summer Struggle in Sapporo, with another title match main event. Kota Ibushi is still listed for this show, but the card is, as always, subject to change.

- 7/11/2021, Hokkaido Makomanai Sekisui Heim Ice Arena (NJPWWorld)

SHO [CHAOS] & Yuya Uemura v. El Desperado & Yoshinobu Kanemaru [SZKG]

Tomohiro ishii [CHAOS], Ryusuke Taguchi & Rocky Romero [CHAOS] v. EVIL, Taiji Ishimori & El Phantasmo [Bullet Club]

Hiroshi Tanahashi & Yota Tsuji v. KENTA & Yujiro Takahashi [Bullet Club]

Kazuchika Okada & YOH [CHAOS] v. Jeff Cobb & Great O-Khan [United Empire]

Kota Ibushi & Master Wato v. Shingo Takagi & BUSHI [Los Ingobernables]

NJPW SUMMER STRUGGLE in JINGU Review (August 29th, 2020, Tokyo, Jingu Stadium)

Master Wato vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru  **1/4

KOPW 2020 Decision Match: Kazuchika Okada vs. SANADA vs. Toru Yano vs. El Desperado  **3/4

NEVER Openweight Championship Match: Shingo Takagi © vs. Minoru Suzuki  ****1/2

IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship Match: Hiromu Takahashi © vs. Taiji Ishimori  ****+

IWGP Tag Team Championship Match: Taichi & Zack Sabre Jr. © vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi & Kota Ibushi  ****

IWGP Heavyweight & Intercontinental Double Championship Match: EVIL © vs. Tetsuya Naito  ****

Photos.

* I tried to edit some minor things on my original post, but it was inexplicably deleted. Thankfully I had a version backed up, for some reason, so here it is posted anew.

This was a fun, brisk show (it clocked in at about 2 and a half hours) from a socially distanced crowd of around 5,000, that delivered a few great matches. On the whole everything felt a bit short, especially the first two matches that were both sprinted through in 7 minutes. Yoshinobu Kanemaru countered an RPP attempt into a cradle to pin Master Wato in an opener that was marred by a few noticeable botches, then Toru Yano very surprisingly pinned Okada to be the inaugural KOPW trophy holder. The finish came when Okada had Despy in the Cobra Clutch, but Yano rolled in, hit a low blow on his CHAOS stablemate, then School Boy’d him for the win. This was fun, but at 7:01, it was much too short to be anything other than “just there”. Things really picked up in match 3 as Shingo Takagi, who has been one of the (if not the) standout workers of 2020, defending his NEVER title against grouchy psychopath Minoru Suzuki. This was the best match on the show, and these guys pummelled each other in the blistering August sun. Special mention must go to Suzuki’s facials in this, which were tremendous. Shingo managed to escape a rear naked choke and nailed a Death valley Bomb, then hit Made In Japan for a near fall. Suzuki escaped a Last Of The Dragon attempt and hit a headbutt to the back of Takagi’s head. Shingo came off the ropes for a Pumping Bomber, but Suzuki nailed him with his big dropkick. They exchanged stiff forearms and Lariats, before Suzuki hit a shoot headbutt, and locked in the choke again. He let go and hit the Gotch Style Piledriver to win his second NEVER championship at the 14:56 mark.

The Jr. Title Match that followed had a lot riding on its shoulders. Firstly, Hiromu is nursing a separated shoulder, so he was limited in what he could do, and Ishimori hasn’t looked like his old self since injuring his neck in last years BOSJ, so whilst this was a really great match, it was nowhere in the same league as their classic 2018 BOSJ final. Bone Soldier worked over Hiromu’s injured shoulder, ramming it into the ring post after hitting a Moonsault to the floor, and trying for the Yes Lock. Takahashi made a comeback by hitting a dropkick off the apron, then went for a German into the buckles, but Taiji countered into a reverse Frankensteiner. Hiromu popped up and hit the German into the corner anyway, then got a near fall with Dynamite Plunger. They traded German’s which resulted in both guys landing square on top of their respective heads. I’ve no idea what they were thinking here, unless the plan was to flip out onto their feet, but neither made it properly. Takahashi tried the “D” triangle choke, but Ishimori tried to power him up into a powerbomb, nearly dropped him, then hit a buckle bomb which Hiromu took head first in frightening fashion. Hiromu battled back with a big Lariat, hit the Death Valley Bomb into the corner, then hit Time Bomb for a great near fall. He tried Time Bomb II, but Ishimori escaped and hit a reverse Bloody Cross, which looked terrifying, then locked in the Yes Lock again. Hiromu fought valiantly, but Ishimori turned it into a Border City Stretch he’s calling the Bone Lock, and Takahashi had to tap at 13:30. An interesting title switch here, but realistically, there are no fresh challengers for Hiromu at this point (or anyone really), and he’s probably going to factor into the G1, so it makes sense. And I know that I sound like an old fuddy-duddy here, but Hiromu needs to stop taking these bumps onto his head and neck. He only returned from a serious, potentially career-ending neck injury in December, and by August he’s needing to take time off again.

The Tag Title bout was an excellent match. It went 16 minutes so didn’t stay in the doldrums for the first half, like their half hour Dominion outing, and was essentially all action. The beginning was just as you’d expect; the heels worked over Tana’s destroyed knees, and he sold and sold. However, he made the hot tag to Ibushi, who ran wild like a man possessed, hitting stiff kicks, a standing moonsault and standing shooting star. He traded more hard kicks with Taichi, with both guys hitting a double headkick on each other for the double down. Zack was sporting a taped up knee, so Tanahashi zeroed in on it after escaping a Brakes Arm Bar, hitting Dragon Screws, including the babyfaces hitting the assisted version they’ve been devastating Tanahashi with all summer. After Ibushi kicked the Iron Fingers From Hell off Taichi’s hand, it came down to Tana and ZSJ again. The Ace hit a standing HFF, then went up for another, but Sabre moved and he ate canvas. Taichi again hit the ring and the champions hit the double team Black Mephisto that they’re calling Zack Mephisto (very clever), to retain the titles. I honestly think it’s time Tana and Ibushi parted ways for the time being so Kota can figure into the main title picture again. He’s been in the tag scene ever since he lost at Wrestle Kingdom, and it feels like he’s lost a lot of momentum. As for the champions, I’m never going to pretend to like Taichi, but he does his job well here.

And in the main event, Tetsuya Naito sought revenge on EVIL and reclaim his Double Titles in another Dominion rematch. This was a hundred times better than their Osaka outing as the interference was kept to a minimum (well as minimum as interference gets nowadays) as they didn’t needlessly go 40 damn minutes this time. The story of this was both guys going after the others neck, with Naito hitting neckbreakers, and EVIL doing his chair around the head gimmick. The King Of Darkness tried Darkness Falls onto the apron, but Naito countered into a neckbreaker to the floor, then scored a near fall with a Frankensteiner off the top. EVIL sent Naito into the exposed turnbuckles and hit a massive suplerplex. He followed that up with Darkness Falls for 2, and countered a Naito Destino attempt with an eye rake. The prerequisite chicanery happened next as Dick Togo nailed Naito with a chair as EVIL held the ref. After a botched ref bump, EVIL just threw Red Shoes into the exposed buckles, which brought Togo back. He and EVIL nailed a Magic Killer on Naito, which (shock of all shocks) brought out BUSHI, who took Togo out with a dropkick. From here, Gedo came in and poked BUSHI in the eyes, and they brawled at ringside. Dick Togo used the garrotte on Naito, which caused SANADA to run out, hit dropkicks on EVIL and Togo, then wipe Togo out with a TKO, which the veteran took a great bump for. SANADA and BUSHI hit stereo Pescado’s, then dragged the interfering Bullet Clubbers to the back, leaving it one-on-one. Naito hit Destino, but EVIL kicked out. EVIL countered a second Destino attempt with a low blow, and hit a massive Lariat for a near fall. Naito blocked an attempt at another low blow, then hit Valentia (this is a much better finisher, in my opinion), then lifted him up and hit Destino to regain the belts at the 26:20 mark.

Naito cut a promo in the post match about over coming adversity, there was a fireworks display, and everyone went home happy. So the EVIL experiment is over, for the time being. I have absolutely no problem with them wanting to elevate EVIL, but it was more of the manner they were going about it which raised concerns with me. He really didn’t need to be out there doing the whole Bullet Club shenanigans, as they really don’t play to his strengths at all. Next up is the G1, which should be interesting. It doesn’t have the same sort of buzz around it for me this year (what could?), for obvious reasons, but I’m sure it’ll be a ton of fun.

NJPW SUMMER STRUGGLE in Korakuen Hall Review (July 31st, 2020, Tokyo)

Satoshi Kojima, Ryusuke Taguchi, Yota Tsuji & Gabriel Kidd vs. Hirooki Goto, Tomohiro Ishii, Toru Yano & YOSHI-HASHI  ***1/4

Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma vs. Shingo Takagi & SANADA ***1/4

Hiroshi Tanahashi, Kota Ibushi, Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Master Wato & Yuya Uemura vs. Taichi, Zack Sabre Jr., El Desperado, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & DOUKI  **3/4

Kazuchika Okada & SHO vs. Yujiro Takahashi & Gedo  *1/2

EVIL & Taiji Ishimori vs. Tetsuya Naito & BUSHI  **1/2

Yuji Nagata vs. Minoru Suzuki  ****1/4

Photos.

I’m about a week late with this, as I was going to post it over the weekend, but things go on top of me. This was a fairly average show, form a socially distanced crowd of around 500 from Korakuen Hall, on this tour in which every card looks the same. I really do need to do a double take whenever I look at these cards, as to the untrained eye, they’ve all been exactly the same matches. This was the first to offer something different, in an excellent main event between two hard-hitting veterans who always deliver when they’re in there with each other. Beyond the strong opener and very fun Shingo/SANADA vs. GBH match that followed, the main event was the only real thing of worth here. I cannot muster any enthusiasm for more variations on the Tana/Ibushi vs. Taichi/ZSJ multi man offerings we’ve seen God-knows-how-many-times since New Japan came back from hiatus, and the absolutely God awful team of Gedo and Yujiro (and now with the added bonus of Jado!) has total go-away heat with me now. For the love of all that is holy, find something for Okada to do beyond feud with Yujiro. I thought this ended at Sengoku Lord, but still this programme trundles on to the despair of all. The EVIL and Naito feud still gathers steam, but again, I feel like I’ve been watching these matches for a month now. Coming up is the start of a tournament to crown new NEVER Six Man Champions, so that should help give these shows a sense of purpose, and feel different.

Which brings us to the Nagata vs Suzuki main event. This was an excellent, 20 minute strong style slug fest, that was perhaps a shade inferior to their empty arena classic in the New Japan Cup first round. They opened this up with an intense strike battle, and kept it up throughout the whole match, as the crowd stomped and clapped in anticipation. They ended up outside, where Suzuki worked over Nagata’s leg, ramming it into and wrapping it around the barricade. Back in the ring, Nagata worked over Suzuki’s leg, then hit a couple of hard kicks to the chest, which saw Suzuki pull a tremendous sell from a round kick to the solar plexus as if it had nearly killed him. The exchange more forearms, Suzuki tries a choke, but Nagata escapes, and they start slapping the hell out of each other to the crowds approval. Both guys sold the strikes like death, then dropped to all fours and started doing ramming headbutts. They did a tease for the same finish as the NJC match, as Suzuki tried the fake-out sleeper spot, but Nagata caught him in the Back Drop Hold position again. Suzuki had that spot scouted though, and battled free, but Blue Justice hit an Exploder for the double down. Nagata again tried the Back Drop, but Suzuki headbutted his way free, the final one was a hard, clunking headbutt which was brutal. They engaged in another strike battle, smacking each other in the face really hard. Suzuki then unloaded with his signature rapid fire shots to the body and face, which stunned Nagata enough to be hoisted up into the Gotch Style Piledriver, allowing Suzuki to get the win in 20:36, and avenge his Cup loss. The main event of this show is well worth checking out, but the rest of the show is easily skippable.

Hey there. This post should have been made yesterday, however issues both technical (laptop was being very borky yesterday but I think it’s resolved for the moment) and mental (yeah, not a good weekend for the mental health) prevented me from doing so.

Let’s start off with the serious news: a few days ago, the government announced the state of emergency would now be extended until 9/12/2021. It was supposed to elapse this coming Tuesday, 8/31/2021. The Delta variant, much like here in the USA, is running rampant all over Japan. The Olympics didn’t help, as expected. The Paralympics currently going on probably aren’t helping much either. 33 of Japan’s 47 prefectures are now under some sort of emergency declaration. Also not helping, is the open defiance of these orders, and the largely toothless nature of them to begin with. Again, much like here in the USA -- the entire state of Illinois is currently under an indoor mask mandate, but it is not being enforced at all, from personal experience, and from seeing on AEW TV last week when CM Punk returned. (For which, I’m selling all my tickets for the AEW, GCW and Black Label pro events next week. ALL OUT are sold, the rest can be seen here.)

It’s kinda hard to be optimistic about the state of things in Japan at this point, it has to be said.

Anyway...

The last two shows for the NJPW Summer Struggle 2021 tour took place on Thursday and Friday 8/26/2021 and 8/27/2021. They were both streamed on NJPWWorld. The most important bit is Friday’s main event, which saw the return to ring action for Hiromu Takahashi.

- 8/26/2021, Tokyo Korakuen Hall (NJPWWorld)

Ryohei Oiwa TLD Kosei Fujita (10:00)

Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Master Wato d. Tomoaki Honma & Robbie Eagles [CHAOS] (Tenzan > Honma, Anaconda Vice, 12:50)

Taichi, Zack Sabre Jr. & DOUKI [SZKG] d. Hirooki Goto [CHAOS], YOSHI-HASHI [CHAOS] & Tiger Mask IV (Sabre > Tiger, Clarky Cat, 10:59)

Taiji Ishimori, El Phantasmo & Jado [Bullet Club] d. El Desperado, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Minoru Suzuki [SZKG] (Ishimori > Desperado, Sudden Death [ELP], 13:35)

Jeff Cobb & Great O-Khan [United Empire] d. Kazuchika Okada [CHAOS] & Satoshi Kojima (Cobb > Kojima, Tour Of The Islands, 16:53)

- 8/27/2021, Tokyo Korakuen Hall (NJPWWorld)

Ryohei Oiwa TLD Kosei Fujita (10:00)

Taichi, Zack Sabre Jr. & Minoru Suzuki [SZKG] d. Hirooki Goto [CHAOS], YOSHI-HASHI [CHAOS] & Ryusuke Taguchi (Taichi > Ryusuke, Tensho Zack Driver, 3:32)

Jeff Cobb & Great O-Khan [United Empire] d. Kazuchika Okada [CHAOS] & Togi Makabe (Cobb > Makabe, Tour Of The Islands, 9:13)

Robbie Eagles [CHAOS] d. Master Wato (Ron Miller Special, 17:32)

Hiromu Takahashi Return Match: Hiromu Takahashi [Los Ingobernables] d. DOUKI [SZKG] (Timebomb II, 29:43)

Both combatants in the IWGP Juniorheavyweight title match win their matches. Hiromu and Eagles promo one another after the final match, with Hiromu asking for 1 minute to talk to Belt-san, before declaring his victory at Wrestle Grand Slam in MetLife Dome on 9/5/2021. Meanwhile, despite the Master Wato name, Hirai Kawato is just a guy now, and bar a miracle, I’m not expecting anything to come from him anytime soon. Even a halfway-decent BOSJ seems to be off the table, at least right now.

Cobb makes a clean sweep in the prelude tag matches for his grudge match v. Okada. I can almost see Cobb winning the Wrestle Grand Slam match, to set up a rubber match during G1 Climax 31. Which they have not announced anything for, beyond the dates. Otherwise, other feuds had their final builds. Oiwa and Fujita continue to do 10-minute time-limit draws. So far, so Young Lion.

Boy, in the end, this WAS a struggle to get through, eh?

Friday’s episode of NJPW Strong was indeed the second night of Summer Struggle USA. You can see that on NJPWWorld as well.

Bateman [ROH], Misterioso & Barrett Brown d. Wheeler Yuta, Adrian Quest & The DKC (Bateman > DKC, This Is A Kill, 9:26)

Karl Fredericks d. Alexander James (MD, 9:37)

Juice Robinson, Lio Rush [FREE], Brody King [ROH] & Chris Dickinson [ROH] d. “Filthy” Tom Lawlor, JR Kratos, Jorel Nelson & Royce Isaacs [Team Filthy] (Dickinson > Nelson, STF, 14:24)

The babyfaces get the win over Team Filthy, as we continue the on-screen build to Lawlor v. Lio Rush for the NJPW Strong Openweight title (that already happened). I’m pretty secure in saying next week will begin the Fighting Spirit Unleashed episodes of NJPW Strong. An earlier post revealed the matches only, not the results, so you can find it if you want to see what’s coming up. Meanwhile, it seems like only a matter of time before Wheeler Yuta is signed either by NJPW or AEW, so we’ll see who gets there first. (AEW, more than likely.)

Speaking of AEW, last Wednesday’s ediiton of Dynamite revealed a match for the ALL OUT PPV happening next Sunday 9/5/2021 from Hoffman Estates, IL. (Sigh.) In a promo segment, Moxley said he got a signed contract back from NJPW to face him at the event, and he “knew who it wasn’t.” (Hiroshi Tanahashi, the current IWGP US champion, who has a match in Japan on 9/4/2021.) Instead, former IWGP Heavyweight, Tag Team, and AJPW Triple Crown champion (and NWA World’s Heavyweight champion too) Satoshi Kojima will make his AEW debut at the event. On the last episode of my weekly AEW Dynamite review podcast, my co-host and I joked they should have Kojima give away free baguettes like CM Punk did ice cream bars, leaning into the whole Bread Club gimmick. There is a Gonnella factory about 5 miles east of the NOW Arena, so it isn’t totally unfeasible! There’s been some criticism of this booking online. I say nuts to that. Although, Mox seems to be going down the card a bit -- last year’s edition of ALL OUT, he was in the main event, defending the AEW World Championship against Maxwell Jacob Friedman. This AEW card does look pretty stacked, however; pity I don’t feel safe enough to go like I originally wanted to.

Minoru Suzuki’s tour of the US indies continues unabated, it seems, with more matches announced since last time I posted. First, another match for GCW has been announced, for their 9/17/2021 Highest In The Room event in LA. There, Suzuki will face off against ROH’s Jonathan Gresham, which is a match a LOT of people have been wanting to see over the years. That one might be shoot-tastic.

Added to the itinerary are two matches in the St. Louis area in the first weekend of October. On 10/1/2021, Suzuki will go to WrestleMax for their Episode VI event, where he will face Calvin Tankman, a wrestler I know personally from Indianapolis. Then on 10/3/2021, Suzuki will go to Glory Pro to square off against Davey Richards at their Little Ring Of Horrors event. Glory Pro was founded yet (ALLEGEDLY) no longer owned by a man I have sworn to never mention by name on this blog again; I attended a swath of their shows the year of their founding in 2017, but then Everything with this person happened, and even tho the ownership has allegedly changed, I am probably not exactly welcomed in that area anymore. One of this person’s students is making a big return to this company after being cut from NXT, and he basically threatened me at one point during the debacle, so that settles that. 

Oh, and Suzuki will not only have a singles match v. Fred Rosser, but will also team with Lance Archer in a Suzuki-gun reunion v. “Filthy” Tom Lawlor & Royce Isaacs at the two nights of NJoA’s Autumn Attack event, on 9/25 + 9/26/2021 in Garland, TX. 

Once we get the complete list of Suzuki’s activities in the USA, I’ll post a full itinerary so we can keep track. 

Despite Jay White getting a definitive win over David Finlay Jr. at the NJPW Resurgence event on 8/14/2021, it looks like the war between FinJuice v. BeyBlade continues in Impact Wrestling. Thursday’s episode featured a singles match between Finlay and the Bullet Club’s newest member, Chris Bey, which of course Bey cheated to win, getting a roll-up with feet on the ropes to get the pinfall. So evidently this feud isn’t ending anytime soon. Bey notably still not getting into the whole Bullet Club uniformity thing with his ring gear, although he has added Bullet Club patches to his leather entrance jacket.

The next show is on Saturday, the first night of Wrestle Grand Slam in MetLife Dome from Saitama. The full cards still have not yet been announced. One of them won’t be seen anywhere except by attendees live at the MetLife Dome. As I mentioned earlier, we are still no closer to knowing who will be in G1 Climax 31 either, and that starts less than three weeks from now.

Wrestle Grand Slam in MetLife Dome - 9/4/2021, Saitama MetLife Dome (NJPWWorld)

STARDOM Offer Dark Match: TBA

Provisional KOPW2021 No-DQ I Quit Match: Chase Owens [Bullet Club] (c) v. Toru Yano [CHAOS]

IWGP US Heavyweight Championship: Hiroshi Tanahashi (c) v. Kota Ibushi

Kazuchika Okada [CHAOS] v. Jeff Cobb [United Empire]

The tour continued today, and you can see it now on NJPWWorld. An Elimination Match was your main event today.

- 8/25/2021, Tokyo Korakuen Hall (NJPWWorld)

Ryohei Oiwa TLD Kosei Fujita (10:00)

Taiji Ishimori & El Phantasmo [Bullet Club] d. Minoru Suzuki & DOUKI [SZKG] (Ishimori > DOUKI, Sudden Death [ELP], 10:27)

Toru Yano [CHAOS] & Togi Makabe d. Chase Owens & Jado [Bullet Club] (Yano > Owens, DQ, 7:43)

Jeff Cobb & Great O-Khan [United Empire] d. Kazuchika Okada [CHAOS] & Tomoaki Honma (Cobb > Honma, Tour Of The Islands, 14:29)

Elimination Match: Hirooki Goto [CHAOS], YOSHI-HASHI [CHAOS], Robbie Eagles [CHAOS] & Tiger Mask IV d. Taichi, Zack Sabre Jr., El Desperado & Yoshinobu Kanemaru [SZKG] (29:41) Order of Eliminations: - Despy > Tiger, OTTR - Eagles > Despy, OTTR (enzuiguri) - Kanemaru > Eagles, OTTR - Goto/YOSHI-HASHI > Kanemaru, OTTR - YOSHI-HASHI > Taichi, Butterfly Lock - Sabre > YOSHI-HASHI, OTTR - Goto > Sabre, OTTR (lariat)

Goto is the last man standing, but Dangerous Tekkers attack Goto & YOSHI-HASHI post-main regardless. Owens hit a Package Driver on Yano, onto a chair. The Young Lions wrestle to another time-limit draw tonight.

The tour continues tomorrow and Friday. I am going to be busy with a prior engagement tomorrow, so no post tomorrow. Likely this waits until Saturday, so I’ll just remind that NJPW Strong will be on Friday night, and it will be the second night of Summer Struggle USA. But also, Hiromu Takahashi returns to action at last on Friday too! Enjoy!

- 8/26/2021, Tokyo Korakuen Hall (NJPWWorld)

Ryohei Oiwa v. Kosei Fujita

Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Master Wato v. Tomoaki Honma & Robbie Eagles [CHAOS]

Hirooki Goto [CHAOS], YOSHI-HASHI [CHAOS] & Tiger Mask IV v. Taichi, Zack Sabre Jr. & DOUKI [SZKG]

El Desperado, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Minoru Suzuki [SZKG] v. Taiji Ishimori, El Phantasmo & Jado [Bullet Club]

Kazuchika Okada [CHAOS] & Satoshi Kojima v. Jeff Cobb & Great O-Khan [United Empire]

- 8/27/2021, Tokyo Korakuen Hall (NJPWWorld)

Ryohei Oiwa v. Kosei Fujita

Hirooki Goto [CHAOS], YOSHI-HASHI [CHAOS] & Ryusuke Taguchi v. Taichi, Zack Sabre Jr. & Minoru Suzuki [SZKG]

Kazuchika Okada [CHAOS] & Togi Makabe v. Jeff Cobb & Great O-Khan [United Empire]

Robbie Eagles [CHAOS] v. Master Wato