Indy Wrestling Express

The New Japan Pro Wrestling 40th Anniversary show will air live on pay per view from the Tokyo Korakuen Hall on the 4th of March. Here is the full card, courtesy of http://www.puroresufan.com : 

1. Prince Devitt, Ryusuke Taguchi & KUSHIDA vs. Tama Tonga, Hiromu Takahashi & Takaaki Watanabe

2. Tomoaki Honma & Captain New Japan vs. YOSHI-HASHI & Tomohiro Ishii

3. Jushin Thunder Liger & Tiger Mask vs. Jado & Gedo

4. Togi Makabe, Yuji Nagata & Wataru Inoue vs. Minoru Suzuki, TAKA Michinoku & Taichi

5. Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima vs. Toru Yano & Takashi Iizuka

6. Special 6 Man Tag Match: Hiroshi Tanahashi, Hirooki Goto & Karl Anderson vs. Shinsuke Nakamura, Masato Tanaka & Yujiro Takahashi

7. IWGP World Heavyweight Championship: Kazuchika Okada (c) vs. Tetsuya Naito

A few other title matches are scheduled for later in March: Prince Devitt will defend the IWGP junior heavyweight title against Davey Richards at the Nagoya Internation Conference Hall on the 10th, Hirooki Goto will defend the IWGP intercontinental title against Yujiro Takahashi in the Ace City Hamamatsu on the 11th, while Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima will defend the IWGP heavyweight tag team championship against Yoshihiro Takayama & Lance Archer at the Iwate Prefectural Gymnasium on the 18th. 

Thoughts: The pay per view looks solid, as always from New Japan. It’s going to be weird not seeing Tanahashi in the main event. 

Davey Richards winning the junior heavyweight title would be cool. This will be his second challenge to Devitt, who won the belt back in September. 

- Lee

* The war between Junction Three and Blood Warriors came to an end on Thursday at Korakuen Hall. Each stable had a seven man team in the “losing unit must disband” match, which ended after 71 minutes when Blood Warriors leader Akira Tozawa finished the JIII leader Masaaki Mochizuki with a german suplex. After the match, Tozawa slapped Genki Horiguchi and Ryo Saito, whom he has given much verbal and physical abuse to in recent weeks, which led to an assault on them (from their stablemates) and ultimately their ejection from Blood Warriors. 

Horiguchi and Saito were saved by former Blood Warriors leader (and Open The Dream Gate champion) CIMA, with his new allies Don Fujii and Stalker Ichikawa. CIMA then introduced two more allies in his war against the stable he created; Kaientai Dojo owner (and former WWF light heavyweight champion) TAKA Michinoku and Dramatic Dream Team owner Sanshiro Takagi. 

* The show ended with the former Junction Three members giving speeches and thanking each other in the ring, before their theme music, “United Arrows”, played one last time. 

* Here are the full results from the show, courtesy of http://iheartdg.com : 

2/9/2012 Tokyo, Korakuen Hall - 1850 Attendance

1. Ryo Saito{W}, Genki Horiguchi (8:53 Double Cross) Eita Kobayashi, Yosuke Watanabe, Kotoka{L}

2. Chihiro Tominaga (1:16 Flying Cross Armbreaker) Super Shenlong

3. Jimmy Kagetora (8:27 Kagenui) Gamma

4. K-ness, Kenichiro Arai{W}, Super Shisa (15:06 Hanshin Tiger Suplex) CIMA, Don Fujii, Hollywood Stalker Ichikawa{L}

5. Blood Warriors vs. JUNCTION THREE Losing Unit Disbands Yoshida Style Elimination Match: Akira Tozawa, BxB Hulk, Cyber Kong, Naruki Doi, Kzy, “Naoki Tanizaki”, Yasushi Kanda (7-6) Masaaki Mochizuki, YAMATO, Shingo Takagi, Masato Yoshino, Jimmy Susumu, Dragon Kid, Rich Swann

Order of Entry: Doi & Yoshino, Tanizaki, Kid, Kanda, Swann, Kzy, Susumu, Tozawa, YAMATO, Hulk, Takagi, Kong, Mochizuki

-Yoshino (2:21 Torbellino Crucifix) Tanizaki

-Kong (42:19 Cyber Bomb) Takagi

-Kong (44:21 Cyber Bomb) Swann

-Doi (50:49 Ultra Hurricanrana Cutback) Kid

-Susumu (52:10 Jumbo no Kachi!gatame) Doi

-Kzy (Skayde Schoolby) YAMATO

-Susumu (54:00 Mugen) Kzy

-Susumu (57:02 Jumbo no Kachi!) Kanda

-Hulk (58:58 First Flash) Susumu

-Yoshino (Speed Star) Kong

-Hulk (64:28 Top Rope E.V.O) Yoshino

-Mochizuki (68:01 Dragon Suplex Hold) Hulk

-Tozawa (71:53 Package German Suplex Hold) Mochizuki

*JUNCTION THREE have to disband

Miscellaneous notes: 

* Open The Brave Gate champion Ricochet is no longer a member of Blood Warriors. When he returns to Japan (on February 24th) , he will team up with Masato Yoshino, as was requested by CIMA. The only match they currently have scheduled together is on the 25th (of February) in Kyoto, where they will participate in a three way match against YAMATO and Shingo Takagi and the team of Naruki Doi and Yasushi Kanda. 

* The show at the Kobe Sambo Hall in Hyogo on the 20th will be headlined by two back to back no rope, no disqualification matches. BxB Hulk will face YAMATO in the first, while Akira Tozawa will face Shingo Takagi in the second. 

* CIMA’s guests TAKA Michinoku and Sanshiro Takagi will team up with him to take on Tozawa, Hulk and Cyber Kong at Korakuen Hall on the 1st of March. 

* Here is the current unit situation in Dragon Gate:

Blood Warriors: Akira Tozawa (leader), BxB Hulk, Cyber Kong, Naruki Doi, Yasushi Kanda, fake Naoki Tanisaki (actually Tomahawk T.T), Naoki Tanisaki (injured), Kzy

CIMA and friends (not an official unit, and that isn’t their actual name): CIMA, Don Fujii, Stalker Ichikawa, TAKA Michinoku (guest, only appearing on certain shows), Sanshiro Takagi (same as TAKA)

YAMATO and Shingo are still teaming up, Maraha Isappa (Genki Horiguchi and Ryo Saito) are still together, and as I’ve already mentioned, Yoshino and Ricochet will team up once Ricochet returns to Japan. 

Thanks again to http://iheartdg.com for all the news. 

Thoughts: And so the war ends. Blood Warriors winning was the certainly the right move, and I imagine Tozawa came off as a star as he ended it with his pinfall of Mochizuki. It’s a shame that the epic match won’t be airing in full, but I’ll still be very happy to see the clipped version on Infinity. 

* By the way, I predicted the Blood Warriors victory AND the subsequent ejection of Maraha Isappa the night before on Twitter. I think I said something similar in last week’s Dragon Gate news too. I also had a less confident prediction that Yoshino would turn on Mochi after the main event, but that didn’t come to pass. 

* Tominaga vs Shenlong lasting only one minute and seventeen seconds makes me hopeful that it will make it to TV. 

* TAKA coming in is a nice surprise, I’ve always been a fan of his. 

* Two no-rope matches in a row is a cool idea. Tozawa vs Shingo should be awesome. The only singles match I’ve seen between them was at Kobe World Hall last year, and it absolutely ruled. 

* YAMATO and Hulk’s no rope match will be their second, since they had one at Dragon Gate USA: Revolt last year. It wasn’t my favourite of their matches, and it wasn’t as good as the YAMATO/Tozawa no rope match that happened around the same time (in Japan) either, it was still pretty good though. Hopefully this one will be even better. 

- Lee

Welcome to the long awaited seventeenth edition of PuroMania!

(by Lee)

* At Osaka on the 19th, Ricochet finally defeated PAC for the Open The Brave Gate! It was Ricochet’s third shot at the title, and his fifth singles match with PAC overall. Ricochet will make his first defence at the Final Gate pay per view. Masato Yoshino and Dragon Kid will face off on the 4th of December to determine the first challenger. 

* The seventh challenger to Masaaki Mochizuki’s Open The Dream Gate has been decided; it will be CIMA. The match will take place at Final Gate. If CIMA wins, he will become the only person to have ever held the title three times, and it would also mark the first time that the top prize in Dragon Gate has been in the hands of Blood Warriors.

* The first ever Blood Warriors solo show, First Blood, took place in Tokyo earlier today. The biggest news from the show is that Uhaa Nation destroyed Kotoka in his Japanese debut, Team Doi Darts (Naruki Doi, Kzy & Naoki Tanizaki) retained Open The Triangle Gate against NOSAWA Rongai, KIKUZAWA and FUJITA from Tokyo Gurentai, and in the main event, the Spike Mohicans (CIMA and Ricochet) retained Open The Twin Gate against their stablemates BxB Hulk & Akira Tozawa. CIMA and Ricochet vacated the Twin Gate after the match, deciding to focus on their solo exploits. Hulk and Tozawa will face Susumu Yokosuka and KAGETORA for the vacant titles tomorrow.

* New Japan’s junior heavyweight ace Prince Devitt will be in action at tomorrow’s Dragon Gate show. PAC requested him as a partner for his match against Ryo Saito and Genki Horiguchi. 

Thoughts: Congratulations Ricochet! It didn’t look like PAC and his record shattering reign could ever be stopped, I’m so pleased Ricochet was the one who ended it. He has come so far in such a short space of time in Dragon Gate. 

With all but the Dream Gate in the hands of Blood Warriors, it seems inevitable that CIMA will take the belt at Final Gate. While the leaders of the two mega stables going at in a PPV main event is both logical and exciting, I’m not crazy about the prospect of another CIMA Dream Gate reign. I’d rather see Naruki Doi take the strap again. 

I bet the Blood Warriors show was a good one. I’m very pleased for Uhaa Nation. I have to say though, I don’t understand why the Spike Mohicans didn’t drop the titles to Tozawa and Hulk in the main event. They had a great reign, and to end it by simply vacating the titles is anti-climatic. I would be very surprised to see Yokosuka and KAGETORA win the belts, I reckon Tozawa and Hulk will take them, which makes the decision to not have the Spike Mohicans drop the belts to them seem even more baffling. Ricochet wouldn’t have lost anything had he been pinned following finishers from both opponents. 

I can’t wait to see the Devitt/PAC tag team match. What a dream team! 

New Japan Pro Wrestling: Power Struggle aired live on pay per view on November the 11th. Here are the full results from the show:

Jado & Gedo defeated Tama Tonga & Killer Rabbit

Wataru Inoue & Tomoaki Honma defeated Hideo Saito & Takashi Iizuka

Yuji Nagata defeated Tomohiro Ishii 

Yoshihiro Takayama & Taichi defeated Ryusuke Taguchi & Togi Makabe

IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Championship: Davey Richards & Rocky Romero (c) defeated KUSHIDA & Tiger Mask IV

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship: Prince Devitt defeatedTAKA Michinoku  

MVP & Tetsuya Naito defeated Shinsuke Nakamura & Yujiro Takahashi 

Hiroyoshi Tenzan defeated Satoshi Kojima 

IWGP Intercontinental Championship: Masato Tanaka (c) defeated Hirooki Goto 

IWGP Tag Team Championship: Bad Intentions (Giant Bernard & Karl Anderson - champions) defeated Minoru Suzuki & Lance Archer 

IWGP World Heavyweight Championship: Hiroshi Tanahashi (c) defeated Toru Yano

The next pay per view will take place on Sunday the 4th of December. The show will feature Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Yuji Nagata for the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship, Prince Devitt vs Davey Richards for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship, Shinsuke Nakamura vs Tetsuya Naito in a rematch from the G1 Climax final, Masato Tanaka vs MVP for the IWGP Intercontinental Championship (a rematch from Destruction, where Tanaka took the belt from MVP), Giant Bernard vs Minoru Suzuki and much more!

Thoughts: I didn’t see the entire Power Struggle PPV, but of the matches I did watch, Devitt vs TAKA was the best. Excellent match that I would certainly recommend checking out on Youtube. I thoroughly enjoyed the Yuji Nagata match too. Hard hitting stuff, that saw him bust Ishii open the hard way with relentless strikes to the face. 

The next PPV has a great line up. Nagata is quite possibly my favourite New Japan wrestler, so I can’t wait to see him challenge the seemingly unstoppable Tanahashi. Prince Devitt vs Davey Richards should be awesome too.

Pro Wrestling NOAH: Great Voyage 2011 vol.4 took place on the 27th of November. Go Shiozaki made his third successful defence of the GHC World Heavyweight Championship against KENTA in the main event. In the penultimate match, Jun Akiyama retained the AJPW Triple Crown championship against All Japan’s Taiyo Kea, ensuring that the belt remains in NOAH. In other notable news from the show, Katsuhiko Nakajima defeated Ricky Marvin to win the vacant GHC Junior Heavyweight Championship, Kenta Kobashi and Kensuke Sasaki bested Takuma Sano and Shuhei Taniguchi, and Naomichi Marufuji lost to Takashi Sugiura in his (Marufuji’s) return match. 

That’s all for PuroMania this week! Check back for the next instalment next Wednesday!

Sources: 

http://iheartdg.com

http://www.puroresufan.com/njpw

http://www.puroresuspirit.com