Ah, thought he was still in New Zealand. Silly bugger moving to the States.

NJPW enacted a new change for this year's G1 Climax tournament.

Those competing in the tournament will not be wrestling on shows that do not feature their tournament matches.

Official reason is related to their current coronavirus health safety precaution policy for talent.

https://www.njpw1972.com/78801

That’s good and and bad.

Bad because the tag matches gave them a chance to add a little story to the upcoming match. Almost like a mini feud.

Good because the G-1 is already a lot of wrestling to watch in a small amount of time. Add in the tag matches and it can start to feel like a slog, despite the quality of the content.

Yeah it does throw a wrench in how NJPW usually builds up storylines and cards but on the bright side, those in the tournament now get more rest during NJPW's most grueling part of the year.

Instead of around 20 matches in a span of a month, it would be just 10 matches for this year's tournament for each A & B block guy.

Meh, I know that the prelim tags add to the story but they're fairly formulaic and I invariably have to ditch them and just watch the tourney matches to catch up.

Seems NJPW might have gotten a new ring for tonight's NJPW Strong show since it doesn't look as tiny as before and Kevin Kelly mentioned its size.

Even a week later, clean shaven Tama Tonga still looks really weird.

Probably a lock Moxley's defending his IWGP US belt against either KENTA or Jeff Cobb based on what just happened with the David Finlay vs. Tama Tonga.

Jesus I forgot he even had it.

Cobb vs. KENTA was decent despite its very sluggish pace.

Finals of New Japan Cup USA tournament:


This week's episode was ok or average overall. Neither of the two tournament matches were that special.

Mox hasn't been allowed to work any televised US bookings since signing with AEW, which is why he couldn't be on night 1 of the G1 in Dallas last year. Assuming his next title defense is the US (which it would almost have to be with Japan unlikely to allow anyone from the US anytime soon), it'll mean NJPW and AEW worked out an agreement of some sort.

I don't care about the US Title at all.

I'm close to agreeing with you, but likely for vastly different reasons.

It seems kinda like a monkey's paw on Mox. On the one hand, it felt like they were trying to use him to make it a big deal and something worthwhile for whoever he dropped it to (maybe his protege/kidnap victim/illigitimate Japanese son, Shota) to defend it in the US branch they're so keen on launching; and it was poised to work with the right combination of timing, booking, and luck. On the other, you had exactly the opposite luck roll in right after with a combination of the airline snafu, his staph infection, and now pandemic travel restrictions keeping him from freely bouncing between AEW and NJPW as planned; and only one of those things could be argued to be his fault.

It can't be a valued prize if it's never seen, especially for months at a time. And even though I say this as a sarcastic joke, but almost not... I'm surprised they didn't find a way to strip him of it and "arbitrarily" put it on EVIL.

All reasonable points. The belt always felt way too much to me though. You have the Heavyweight, IC and NEVER ones -- do you really need to create another one? It's never really felt "embedded" to me. I mean, there's nothing "wrong" with it, per se. It's a belt with a name. You could always treat it like the IC Title and it'd be like the IC Title. But you've already got the IC Title so it's not the IC Title so what does it matter? I dunno if I'm explaining that clearly, haha.

Seems Jay White got a new entrance tron since I don't remember shots with blades and logos on blades being in his original one.

Ouch at Chase Owens getting spiked on the head for the tag match finish.

If they were going to make a new title after the NEVER title, they should have made one focused around the Young Lions. Especially considering all the YL focused shows they’ve been promoting in recent years.

Feel giving the Young Lions their own title and division would sort of defeat the purpose of their current Young Lions system.

Like those Young Lions shows are mostly just so they get more in-ring experience in front of crowds and nothing in terms of actual feuds or storylines.

Next IWGP US title match should be pretty good based on the results from tonight's New Japan Cup USA Finals.



Compared to NJPW's other trophies, the one for the New Japan Cup USA tournament pales a lot by comparison.

Yeah it would be unnecessary. I’m just spitballing that if they felt they absolutely HAD to have another singles title, it would be the lesser evil compared to the ones we have now.

This week's NJPW Strong episode was decent but these shows really need a crowd of sorts since it suffers from the same lack of atmosphere problem as Impact's empty arena shows.

As hit-or-miss as the KOPW title idea has been so far, I look at it more as just something NJPW decided to do as an emergency idea to freshen things up and something out of the box because of the current situation they are in.

Okada having to feud with Yujiro and them going hyper drive on EVIL's big push were clear signs whatever big plans they had for the year went out the window due to the coronavirus.

NJPW announced both the date for this year's Fighting Spirit Unleashed tour in the US and former WWE talent Darren Young will be making his official debut for the company during this tour.

I’d make some snide remark about Darren Young in NJPW, but after Juice Robinson and Lance Archer, I’m not going to write anybody off.

Missed the first match on tonight's NJPW Strong show due to getting some food but the 8-man tag between Clark Connors, Karl Fredericks, ACH, & TJP vs. Adrian Quest, Blake Christian, Barrett Brown, & Misterioso was pretty good.

Misterioso almost botched a sunset flip counter and came very close to landing head first onto the mat.

Chase Owens vs. PJ Black was decent but NJPW should have went with the 8-man tag for the main event since it was more enjoyable.

Wasn't that into the Owens vs. Black match. Nothing was really wrong with it but didn't feel like something worthy to close out a show.

This week's episode was enjoyable based on what I was able to watch though.

it's reassuring to hear that owens vs black didn't feel like something worthy to close out a show, because it sure as fuck doesn't sound that way

Thought they would have at least done something interesting with the ref bump spot but the ref sort of botched the moment and nothing really came from it anyways.

Also for some unknown reason, kept thinking Jay White was wrestling tonight and not Chase.

Darren Young was awful. Hopefully he has gotten A LOT better.

Fred Rosser's (Darren Young) debut match in NJPW on tonight's Strong show ended up being decent.

Never bothered to really pay attention to it before but Karl Fredericks' theme sort of sounds like something that came straight from hack-and-slash game Castle Crashers.

Hikuleo beating Brody King was a bit of a surprise.

Their match was a pretty good big man/hoss fight and best match on tonight's show so far.

Hikuleo was the shits last I saw him. Sounds like he’s gotten a little better?

Yeah seems like it although tonight's good match from him likely was more due to Brody being very good in the ring.

Tonight's main event between Flip Gordon & Jay White was decent but was also better than last week's main event match.

G1 field finally getting announced tonight.

That they waited until days before the start of the tourney to make the announcement makes me think they were stalling for as long as possible to see if they could get anybody into the country. Presumably anybody that is coming in for the tourney has already been there for a week for quarantine purposes, and that's if they were able to get an exemption to bring them in at all.

I'd give better odds to Ospreay and Juice making it in from the UK than White and Kenta making it in from the US. But we'll see.

As I said on the last page, they still have enough people to keep it totally in house. Apparently Yuji Nagata said he'd be fine with walking back his previous G1 retirement given the circumstances, a bit like a player unretiring to help an injured team during a playoff push. I'd be all for more Nagata.

Well I’ll be damned, they got everybody back.

A BLOCK (Sept. 19, 23, 27, 30; Oct. 5, 7, 10, 13, 16)

Kota Ibushi
Jeff Cobb
Kazuchika Okada
Tomohiro Ishii
Will Ospreay
Shingo Takagi
Minoru Suzuki
Taichi
"Switchblade" Jay White
Yujiro Takahashi

B BLOCK (Sept. 20, 24, 29; Oct. 1, 6, 8, 11, 14, 17)

Hiroshi Tanahashi
Juice Robinson
Hirooki Goto
Toru Yano
YOSHI-HASHI
Tetsuya Naito
SANADA
Zack Sabre Jr.
KENTA
"King Of Darkness" EVIL

So of the three not returning from last year’s tourney, two were already known (Mox and Archer) so Suzuki and YOSHI-HASHI get back in after missing last year.

The only other change being Bad Luck Fale replaced by Yujiro

I was going to say Japan announced a while back anybody who got a residence there who was stuck outside the country is going to open up to get them back in.

Yujiro & Toru are easy wins for their blocks but obviously they'll fuck over someone when the time comes. Pretty balanced this year.

A Block is loaded. Okada and Ibushi there of course but you also have the returns of Switchblade who is always protected and Ospreay who was reportedly in line for a big 2020 push prior to the pandemic. Will those two be re-established straight away? I'd imagine when schedules are out, those four will be paired off in some combination on the final day.

I can't imagine the B Block "main event" being anything other than Naito vs. EVIL part 3.

Yano will win a couple of matches by trickery as he usually does. He's a "night off" for guys in a grueling tournament but his gimmick also presents a unique roadblock in that he can pull off an upset anybody on the roster.

Yujiro on the other hand is a legit candidate to get Honma'd, but I think he'll sneak a win or two just because if White and KENTA are back to the US after this...Yujiro is depressingly the #2 heavyweight in Bullet Club.

Looks pretty much the same as always.

Eh, a lot of us are waiting for SANADA to get his moment. But, I think you're right.

Last year had the biggest shake up in the field in a long time with 6 debuts (Ospreay, Shingo, KENTA, Mox, Cobb, Taichi) and Archer returning for the first time in years, so I'm not surprised this year's field is very similar especially given the global climate.

I think in a non-pandemic timeline, Yujiro never would've sniffed the tourney and YOSHI-HASHI probably wouldn't be back in either. I could've seen them maybe giving a spot to one or two guys from other Japanese promotions, but this year it's not really an option as everyone's running their big tournaments concurrently.

Kinda disappointed EVERYONE is back, would have loved to have seen Hiromu and SHO continuing to take it to the heavyweights. Also fucking Yujiro is going to be a total buzz kill, honestly even Honma has pulled off some better performances this year. Feel like his spot as the A Block butt monkey should have gone to Koji and hes really only there to screw Okada out of two points. Wouldnt have missed Cobb either actually.

A Block seems a bit too loaded and both blocks could have been better balanced had they swapped a couple guys around.

Other than that, nice looking field for this year's tournament.

I am goddamn ready for Ishii in this A Block. I see at least 7 different 4 star matches in there.

I'm just ready for Ishii in general, regardless of what time of year it is.

I hope Suzuki Gotch-style piledrives Ospreay into oblivion.

The schedule is set:

https://www.njpw1972.com/80304

Actually very surprised Naito/EVIL is Night 14 and not 18. They could be once again giving me false hope on a SANADA win!

Looking at nights 17 and 18 thought my best guess is Okada vs. EVIL in the finals with Okada winning to set up Okada/Naito at the Dome again. We shall see.

SANADA is definitely winning B Block and then getting cucked in the finals because SANADA is SANADA.

Popular opinion seems to be a Switchblade victory, but honestly SANADA taking it seems a hell of a lot more interesting than just doing White / Naito at the Dome for the second year in a row.

The fact that Switchblade goes up against Okada and Ibushi so early is a bit of a head scratcher to me, I would have figured he'd have to go through one of them as the final hurdle if he was going win A Block.

The other thing is....is he going to be going back to Florida after this tourney or is he staying in Japan? I think they had to pull some strings to get all these guys back into the country in the first place. Even though it's Switchblade I can see them maybe not wanting to commit him to a Dome main event unless they know for sure he'll be there, nobody knows what the world will look like in the winter.

The A Block finals seem to be set up in a way where every potential winner is up against a potential spoiler rather than somebody winning or losing the block outright. Okada taking it to face SANADA could also work thematically, if they are actually giving SANADA the nod. Ibushi making the finals and not Tanahashi could also potentially happen to set up their WK match.

I actually feel like Okada/Ospreay could be for an outright A Block win, provided they still want to give Ospreay the huge push they were planning to pre-pandemic. He'll rack up some wins.

Ospreay will presumably be staying in Japan for the long haul, he and Bea Priestley live there, they just happened to be in the UK when shit went down and they had to ride it out.

Probably staying in Japan since if he leaves, that's another 2 week quarantine if they want him for a future show or tour.

In terms of their NJPW Strong series, they don't really need him to be on the show based on how its setup and KENTA, Cobb, and Juice likely are going back to the US to boost the star power of that series.

I feel like Ospreay will get a few key wins but pushing him as a top contender in THAT block seems a bit much, I'd expect him to be levelling off around Shingo / Ishii / Suzuki /Taichi in the middle of the pack but yeah thats totally viable, they could have him almost go the distance. You never know how Gedo is going to book it, Yujiro shouldn't be getting any points at all but he could easily get 8 and beat all the top 4 guys if he really wanted to fuck with everyone.

It is going to be interesting seeing if Gedo has that much faith in Ospreay at this point, especially a super roided up, controversial in the West Ospreay who hasnt wrestled in months or even put his new body to the test yet.

Next tour or special for NJPW's weekly Strong series will be called NJPW Lion's Break Crown. NJPW made the announcement during tonight's Strong show.

Its been weeks into his new look but Tama Tonga still looks weird with the clean shaven appearance.

If someone ever started an Ultimate Warrior-like urban legend of this Tama not being the original Tama, I'd believe it.

The most Gedo thing ever would be to book Switchblade vs. EVIL in a Bullet Club wankfest final.

KENTA managed to successfully defend his IWGP US case against Jeff Cobb tonight and still on track to face Jon Moxley for the IWGP US belt.

This week's episode of NJPW Strong was decent overall. So far, tag matches and multi-tag matches have been mostly good in NJPW's empty arena setting for these Strong shows while their singles matches has been very hit or miss.

First time seeing Will Ospreay in a NJPW ring since they went on the coronavirus break and he's a lot more bigger/thicker than before.

Seems this year's G1 shows are going to be around 2 hours long if Night 1 is any indication so far.

Half of tonight's card is done and hit the intermission break around 50 minutes into the show.

Yeah. No tag team previews and just the Lions fighting to open things up. Keeping the minimum amount of roster in the building. Which is understandable.

Not bad. So long as the "juicy stuff" at the end got some time to it, it's all good.

Holy hell at the sound of these strikes Suzuki has been laying into Ishii.

Making the Thunder Rosa vs. Ivelisse shoot fight or not on AEW's Dynamite show earlier this week looking like child's play in comparison.

Don't think I've ever seen Ishii get that brutalized in a match before.

Suzuki managed to even create a loud echo with one of his strikes.

Like if Ishii was a cat, Suzuki just took away 8 of his lives from that bout.

Someone elsewhere mentioned Okada's popped collar jacket looks like a Ramen Noodle Cup and now I can't unsee it. Same style coloring and designs as well.

Yikes at that DDT Ibushi took on the outside.

Got planted hard on his head and made a very loud thud sound when it happened.

Tuned in really late. So far this Okada / Ibushi shit is top notch.

Okada stay working the neck, which I'm not sure is very smart because Ibushi's neck is lined with admantium or something.

Whoa.

Ibushi vs. Okada was great.

Same for the whole show in general as well. Easily among the best wrestling shows of this coronavirus ravaged year.

Suzuki and Ishii trying to murder each other with elbow strikes in the first 2 minutes of a match. Ya gotta love it.

Fuck, the sounds these elbows are making.

It just turned into Slapsgiving

Fuckin Suzuki like a horror movie villain. Ishii keeps putting him down, Suzuki gets up, laughs maniacally, and then just continues to beat the ever loving shit out of poor Tomo.

I really could watch Suzuki and Ishii fight forever.

Sooooooo, who shaved Yota Tsuji while he was sleeping?

Bummer. They couldn't pay Pieter to come back and shake her ass to make these Yujiro matches worth it.

:'(

:lol: at Juice Robinson's entrance gear.

Sort of looks like a long lost member of the Blues Brothers or Deuce 'n Dominio tag team. Not sure the slick back mullet-style look is a good choice for him either.

YOSHI-HASHI vs. Juice Robinson was pretty good overall.

SANADA's new little mask looks a bit goofy. Like he left it in the dryer for a bit too long and it shrunk since it barely covered his face.

:lol: at the ending to the Yano vs. SANADA match.

Ouch at Goto's arm.

KENTA did the Double Foot Stomp but overshot it a bit and landed right on Goto's arm.

Goto vs. KENTA and EVIL vs. Sabre Jr. were very good.

One of the Japanese announcers, might have been Jushin Liger, screaming his support for Sabre during his match was pretty cool.

So far the show has been enjoyable but doesn't hold a candle to Night 1 in terms of greatness although Tanahashi vs. Naito hasn't happened yet.

Naito's not going to have any knees left if Tana keeps up with his Dragon Screw onslaught.

Tanahashi vs. Naito was amazing.

That match and Ishii vs. Suzuki already strong contenders for best match of this year's tournament.

:lol: at Liger giving the middle finger to Naito after the show. Was done as a playful taunt and nothing malicious.

Night 2 of this year's G1 Climax was very good overall.

Yano/SANADA has me rolling.

I like how Juice seemingly realized midway through his match that the crowd aren’t allowed to vocalize due to NJPW’s COVID rules and then got them involved with the claps and stomps instead. And it fit given his gear looked like a cross between the Blues Brothers and Freddie Mercury.

Watching night 2.

I miss Pimp Juice and/or Officer Juice. Not digging this new gear he got going on.

Now that SANADA got victimized by Yano, hope he rips apart the rest of the block.

Card tonight looks real good.

Cobb/Shingo could be great
Ishii/Ospreay will def slap
Ibushi/White always good together

Shingo is strong as fuck, holding Cobb up like that for the Made in Japan :eek:

Dang....that was good.

Okada probably should junk the Cobra Clutch finisher since no matter how many times he tries it, it rarely feels as good of a finish to his matches compared to the Rainmaker. Same for crowds not being that enthusiastic for it.

Taichi vs. Suzuki was pretty good.

Suzuki's gameplan for this year's G1 Climax tournament seems to be him trying to set a new record of how many guys he can destroy since he tried doing the same to Taichi.

Ospreay vs. Ishii was amazing.

Some of the shots Ishii took to his head and neck looked brutal though. A couple of them by Ospreay looked like he didn't hold back or missed hitting Ishii somewhere else besides his nose.

:lol: Jay White trolling the crowd by trying to get them to chant Ibushi's name even though they can't due to NJPW's rules.

White vs. Ibushi was very good.

Night 3 started off mostly fine but got a ton better after intermission. Show itself was very good overall.

Suzuki vs Taichi was a treat. I popped for that finish.

Finished last night's A block, everything was really good.

Goto/SANADA first match for B Block

Goto vs. SANADA was pretty good.

SANADA's new mask still looks terrible.

The True Ace vs. Tanahashi