Interesting NJPW news, and a damn sad bit of news too.

[What Would Kevin Do?]

First, the sad part. Hiroshi Tanashi has a torn ligiment in his knee, and will be out 6-12 months. This really blows since he's seriously been the wrestler of 2008 so far. Match for match, he has been putting on the best matches of anyone I've seen, and the only real contention he has IMO is Shawn Micheals. Shit deal on the injury.

Moving on to interesting news... Stolen from puroresupower.com

Results] New Japan, 4/27/08 by Stuart - 27 Apr 2008


--> "CIRCUIT 2008 NEW JAPAN BRAVE" <--
After eight years and four months, Keiji Muto is again the IWGP Heavyweight Champion! 6,000 fans watched the spectacle of Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Keiji Muto today, the young ace of the industry vs. the living legend, for Japanese pro wrestling's top prize. Nakamura aimed for an arm, while Muto aimed for a leg, not too surprising given their trademark moves, and it was a grueling technical battle over 20 minutes. Even Muto's Shining Wizard and Nakamura's Landslide couldn't finish this match, and it was old school Muto that made the difference, a Schmidt-style backbreaker and moonsault press, the professional wrestling master defeating the man who it was said had no enemies left after defeating Tanahashi twice and submitting the mighty Kurt Angle. Osaka rose with "Muto" chants after the match, the legend's popularity as always overwhelming, the crowd treating him as one of their own, rather than an outsider as has always been the case in his returns. Nakamura's RISE second-in-command, Hirooki Goto, who fell to the Great Muta at the Tokyo Dome on January 4th, challenged Muto to a match after his celebration.

After their no contest with Nakamura & Bernard in March not counting as a defense, GBH's Togi Makabe & Toru Yano made their second V1 defense of the IWGP Tag Team Title against the on-fire "Friendship" tag of Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Takashi Iizuka. But the unexpected happened as suddenly Iizuka betrayed his tag partner, choking a bloody Tenzan out with a sleeper hold. Makabe dropped the King Kong knee on GBH's former leader for the win, while Iizuka mysteriously exited, it would seem a GBH member now - although he did not confirm that tonight. Wataru Inoue made a successful V3 defense of the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title, ending his three match series with TNA superstar, Christopher Daniels. Wataru's V1 defense of the title was against Daniels at the Tokyo Dome in January, before Daniels won a non-title rematch at Sumo Hall in February, setting up this third and decisive battle, again for the title. Well, in their closest and longest match yet, Wataru pulled through, pinning the Fallen Angel after his Oracion Flame.

ZERO1-MAX's ace combination of Masato Tanaka & Shinjiro Otani earned quick revenge for their promotion's 3-1 series loss on the Hakata double header, beating Koji Kanemoto & Ryusuke Taguchi today, Tanaka pinning Taguchi. Nagata's music hit after the match and he intruded, getting into a showdown with Tanaka.