New Japan Pro Wrestling News and Card Announcements Thread

[Tsunaru]

Fale beating Elgin was probably the least shocking thing to happen last night to me. He's played spoiler to and beaten Tanahashi, Okada and Makabe in the first round for the last three years prior, so while it wasn't really expected, the fact that it actually happened isn't overly surprising. I'd say of the three upsets yesterday, it was the most likely to happen. Now it's mostly a question of if it'll be Fale or Yano that EVIL beats on his way to the finals.

 

[ヒュー　G.　レックション]

Indeed. I can remember Fale always being booked strong in years prior but I thought the company had gone off of him. Elgin has been booked really strong. That match he had with Naito was one hell of a match. I really like both of them and they make for good big men. But Fale actually winning the Cup would be a massive upset. I'm not sure if that would've been the case with Elgin. It would've been surprising but not completely out of the realm of possibility for him to have beaten say Omega in the finals.

If Shibata wins the Cup it would be so amazing my God he would have to pull off so much.

 

[Tsunaru]

Well, I'm 99% convinced Gedo saw my prediction list, took a look at it and said "Hey, let's make the opposite happen on all of these" because holy shit what is even happening.

I'm not even going to hazard a guess as to who is going to win now.

 

[ShinChan]

Well, I'm 99% convinced Gedo saw my prediction list, took a look at it and said "Hey, let's make the opposite happen on all of these" because holy shit what is even happening.

I'm not even going to hazard a guess as to who is going to win now.

Lol. He saw my list as well. Only 2 out of my 8 predictions were right. Damn. Just a 0.25. Biggest surprise was Kenny Omega losing in the first round itself. It was the longest match though.

I think that Katsuyori Shibata could win this now. He could win the whole tournament and then challenge Okada. But I don't think that he will succeed in getting the big title. It could happen but I'm doubtful. I'm gonna try again.

Block A
Evil Vs. Yuji Nagata
Bad Luck Fale Vs. Toru Yano

Block B
Katsuyori Shibata Vs. Juice Robinson
Tomohiro Ishii Vs. Sanada

Only interested in Shibata Vs. Robinson

Block A
Evil Vs. Toru Yano

Block B
Katsuyori Shibata Vs. Tomohiro Ishii

Evil, Shibata and Ishii got some big victories in first round. So, I expect or rather predict them to make the semifinals.

Evil Vs. Katsuyori Shibata

And Shibata wins the whole tourney.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

While it was sort of shocking to see Tanahashi go down to Evil in the first round, I couldn't help but think that it's nice to see an established superstar like Tanahashi put over a much younger guy who's been making some strides the past 4 or 5 months. Tanahashi is 40 where as Evil, is what? About 29 or 30? Tanahashi has ruled the roost in New Japan for well over a decade now, he's not getting any younger and he's someone in New Japan that's risen to the level where he doesn't need to be champion to be a main event player. Tanahashi hasn't been "the guy" in New Japan for a little while in the sense that he hasn't been champ and that he's lost quite a bit. It sorta puts me in mind of John Cena in a good way, but it's shown, yet again, that having your marquee guys lose sometimes in hard fought, competitive matches doesn't negate their stardom and it's something I wish Vince McMahon could get a little more firmly behind.

Ishiii going over Kenny Omega was shocking and I'm not altogether sure it was the right move. I'm not hugely familiar with the regular goings on in New Japan, I try to keep up as best I can but I really only get to watch some of what goes down via YouTube, but it just seems to me that Omega is primed and ready to win the title. As of right now, with the possible exception of Okada and Tanahashi, he's probably New Japan's MVP and he's been the most talked about guy on their roster for months.

 

[Tsunaru]

Omega is primed to win the title, but I think they've got other things in mind for him beforehand. He's been teasing something with Cole for a while now on The Elite's Youtube channel, and that started spilling over onto TV during the Honor Rising shows. Cole's contract with ROH is supposedly coming to an end at the end of next month, so it's something they need to pull the trigger on quickly if they plan on actually making that a program. As much of a work horse as Omega is, I don't think he could juggle chasing the title and working a program with Cole at the same time. He's also started teasing something with Ibushi on twitter earlier today.

Ishii may not have been the best choice to eliminate Omega, but he's certainly not the worst that could have been picked either. Dude's been on fire the last couple years, putting on fantastic matches with Makabe, Honma, Okada, and now what will probably be the match of the tournament with Omega.

 

[ヒュー　G.　レックション]

I want to say first that Suzuki vs Shibata was pretty disappointing to me. It felt like there was no heat, just like a normal match, when considering what Suzuki did there absolutely should've been! Let's hope they were intentionally holding back for rematches.

As far as Ishii vs Omega is concerned. I really can't believe how I am constantly tricked by these matches. The crowd was with Omega, he was very dominant, I figured Ishii would get a comeback but no way did I think he was winning. However I'm very happy for him!

There was a moment, I think just after the OWA-stunner spot (which was fantastic!) The crowd seemed to realise "wait... Is Ishii gonna win?" and suddenly erupted. What a moment.

I really think Ishii could win it all... Still hoping for Shibata! But I think whoever wins is going to challenge Naito. If Ishii wins, not sure he would challenge his own stablemate (would still be cool though). If Shibata wins, he no doubt would've had to put up with shenanigans in the final against Evil from the rest of LIJ maybe from Naito himself which gives him the motivation. BUT Shibata vs Okada is really the match I want to see.

 

[ShinChan]

This time I got the winner right. Yay.

I think that considering Kenny Omega and Suzuki were out in the first round itself, the right person won the whole tournament. I'm curious to see which Championship is challenged for next. I would love it to be the big one but it could be Never Openweight since it will be an impromptu rematch against Hirooki Goto.

 

[ヒュー　G.　レックション]

BUT Shibata vs Okada is really the match I want to see.

Fuck yes! My number one dream match in New Japan is happening and I'll be there to witness it!

From a pure booking standpoint, has there ever been a tournament so shocking? I can't believe how differently everything panned out, I was wrong a good portion of the time, even before the final, thinking Evil was guaranteed there. But I'm so happy with Shibata winning it all!

As far as matches go, Ishii vs Omega, Shibata vs Sanada and Ishii vs Shibata were the standouts. But I think this tournament will be remembered by me for how it was booked more than anything.

 

[ShinChan]

Fuck yes! My number one dream match in New Japan is happening and I'll be there to witness it!

From a pure booking standpoint, has there ever been a tournament so shocking? I can't believe how differently everything panned out, I was wrong a good portion of the time, even before the final, thinking Evil was guaranteed there. But I'm so happy with Shibata winning it all!

As far as matches go, Ishii vs Omega, Shibata vs Sanada and Ishii vs Shibata were the standouts. But I think this tournament will be remembered by me for how it was booked more than anything.

Is it confirmed that Shibata will challenge Okada? If yes, then that's a damn good news. I thought that he would be more interested in getting his Never Openweight Championship back from Hirooki Goto after he lost it at Wrestle Kingdom 11.

If Shibata really challenges Okada, I think that title change could surely take place like it happened with Naito last year. Then Okada could regain it before Wrestle Kingdom 12.

 

[ヒュー　G.　レックション]

Yep, I was worried he would say Goto. But he directly challenged Okada after the match.

 

[Bagpipes]

I second the motion that this tournament really didn't have those one or two memorable matches that it usually produces, but hot damn was it a booker's wet dream.

I still love a good surprise in wrestling, however rare it may be these days, so I enjoyed this tourney. It's so early in the year that I'm not going to get excited if Shibata takes some of the main event spotlight away from Omega, it's not like he hasn't earned it.

 

[Papa Pillman]

Its been hard for me to stay up to date with everything on NJPWWorld, and even harder to find time to post, but I thought I'd catch up on some of my thoughts on the early goings on of 2017.

First, New Beginning in Sapporo was a pretty standard show with the main event being the only real standout. And I honestly wasn't a huge fan of Okada/Suzuki; not that it was bad, but I think all of the hype behind Suzuki returning and getting this title shot put way too high expectations onto the match and the performance that was delivered was a little too slow and deliberate and overly dragged out. Okada and Suzuki did far better against one another in the G-1 a couple years back, and this was on the lower end of the scale from what I usually rate Okada title defenses. The one other note that I will bring up from this show is that the LIJ versus Tana and friends match was insanely fun, and the best 8-10 man early/midcard tag match that the company has offered so far this year.

As for New Beginning in Osaka, it was a worlds better show, and a great true headliner for the tour. The Shibata/Ospreay match was outstanding, Hiromu and Dragon Lee added another borderline classic to their rivalry, and Elgin/Naito put on a main event that belongs in the early MOTY conversation circles.

The Honor Rising shows were mostly just the caliber of throwaway "road to" shows, but there were some solid outings. Night 1 produced two fun tag matches with the Bucks versus War Machine and the Briscoes versus Cole and Omega; while Night 2 featured a solid Cole title defense against YOSHI-HASHI that continued to further YOSHI's stock in my eyes after a great 2016, and the 8-man tag main event was just awesome and capped the shows nicely, especially with the tease of dissension at the top of the Bullet Club ranks that is eventually playing out on ROH TV.

The 45th anniversary show delivered in my eyes with a pretty well worked card throughout, a very good showing from Taguchi continuing to carry the serious streak through the match and getting perhaps the most different title defense that we've seen from this Hiromu reign, and Ibushi(in the tiger mask) and Okada absolutely tore the house down with a match that I feel was much better than Suzuki/Okada from New Beginning.

I'm still wading through all of the NJ Cup tourney matches, but from what I've seen so far... EVIL/Tanahashi was very good and not far behind the level of Tana/Naito from the Dome. Night two was the best overall night I've seen from the tour and featured three solid tourney matches, with YOSHI/SANADA being very good but not getting enough love; Shibata/Suzuki being very solid but getting perhaps too much love; and Omega/Ishii putting on a match that is probably the second best match on the planet so far in 2017 just the thinnest of hairs behind the Wrestle Kingdom main event. As for the rest of the tourney matches in the later rounds(and I still haven't caught the final) , though I enjoyed the unpredictable booking and see some of the logic, there really wasn't much to see as far as great wrestling. Shibata and Ishii's semifinal was the only other match worth going out of your way to see, but it was an awesome match and probably the second best match on the tour after Ishii/Omega.

Shibata versus Okada should be great, and its a very reasonable direction for the company to go, but I can't help but admit that an Ishii/EVIL final with Ishii winning by beating an LIJ guy and then challenging Naito for the IC belt to try and capture all three top singles titles for CHAOS seemed like a more viable story arch to me. Plus Ishii deserves a spot like that with the way he's been performing.

From early returns, it appears that Ishii, Okada, Shibata, and Omega are going to battle tooth and nail as the best big match performers in the world throughout 2017 and it should be a fun journey to watch. Also Naito, Elgin, Tana, Hiromu, and Tiger Mask W should continue to be put in positions to follow up some incredible early 2017 showings as well.

As has been the case in most recent years, the Cup tourney was more about curve balls and left field booking than it was great wrestling, but it still delivered a fun tour from what I've seen and sets up NJPW to continue its momentum heading into the Spring and building toward the United States debut shows.

 

[Tsunaru]

I don't see Shibata winning the title from Okada. It makes little sense in the grand scheme of things to have Shibata be a transitional champion if Omega is still planned to hold the title going into the G1 Special, unless they want to hold off on him getting his win back over Okada until WK12.

I admit to having completely forgot that they were going to need a way to write Cole out when his contract expired at the end of April, which is why I was so sure Omega was taking the NJC. In hindsight, that was a bad call on my part. I was going to film a video discussing the first round of the NJC (Or "Upset City Bitch" as I called it), and got as far as writing the script, but I ended up never finding the time to actually record until we'd passed the semi-finals, at which point it was kind of irrelevant, so I'll summarize it here instead.

I was originally on the fence about every major favorite being eliminated so early on (Shibata could have arguably been a favorite elsewhere in the bracket, but his getting paired with Suzuki in the first round made him an underdog initially, while he took over the spot as one of two favorites in the quarterfinals). I was bemused by it at first, but then I questioned the logic behind it. I ended up debating it with a buddy of mine though, who was staunchly against it, and managed to talk myself into it being a good thing.

The New Japan Cup, especially over the last half a dozen years, has been primarily used as a launching pad for those who are on the cusp of being main event level. We've got three guys this year (Shibata, EVIL and Ishii) that spent the entirety of last year in lower to mid card positions feuding over the NEVER Openweight Title, and Fale who played his usual spoiler role against upper card guys in tournaments. These are all guys that could now realistically make a play for either the Heavyweight or Intercontinental titles and find themselves in the upper card, which adds some flavor to the shows rather than going the WWE route and having the same feuds over and over for months on end. Maybe having the four big favorites (Omega, Tanahashi, Elgin and Suzuki) all lose out on the first round was a bit much, as the brackets probably could have been tweaked a little to have those eliminations take place over the preliminary and the quarterfinals, but there isn't much later that it could have happened in order to still give a rub to all four guys.

Losses don't do anything to hurt the bigger guys in the tournament either. Pro Wrestling is treated much more like a legitimate sport in Japan, and like in any legitimate sport, anybody can beat anybody else on any day. This was the equivalent of the WildCard2 seed beating the Division1 seed in the Stanley Cup playoffs, except even easier to believe happening due to it's nature of a single match elimination style rather than a Best of Seven.

I'm finding myself intrigued by this, because it was so out from left field and unexpected. I'm the biggest Kenny Omega mark in the world, so obviously I would have loved had it gone as originally as most people expected, but now I find myself even more curious about how it's going to turn out, giving me more incentive to tune in and see.

 

[ShinChan]

Something that came into my mind while posting in Samoa Joe Vs. Randy Orton tourney thread.

What if Samoa Joe had gone to NJPW? He has a very strong style of wrestling as shown by his matches against Zayn and Nakamura. I'm just intrigued to think about him going against NJPW wrestlers like Kenny Omega, Katsuyori Shibata. Those would've been hard hitting brutal matches. Damn.

 

[Bagpipes]

Something that came into my mind while posting in Samoa Joe Vs. Randy Orton tourney thread.

What if Samoa Joe had gone to NJPW? He has a very strong style of wrestling as shown by his matches against Zayn and Nakamura. I'm just intrigued to think about him going against NJPW wrestlers like Kenny Omega, Katsuyori Shibata. Those would've been hard hitting brutal matches. Damn.

Joe vs. Ishii has always been a dream match of mine. Especially say 5-7 years ago when both guys were in their prime and not beat up quite as much, I think they could have had an all-time classic, or at the very least beat the holy hell out of each other. I'd still love to see it now.

 

[ShinChan]

So, I was wandering around to know more and more about various wrestlers, thanks to WrestleZone Tournament.

What I saw was that Kazuchika Okada is arguably the new Hiroshi Tanahashi. He's just 29. He has already headlined the biggest NJPW show and not once or twice but four times. Already a 4-time IWGP World Heavyweight Champion.

Tanahashi is already 40 and I may be wrong but I don't think that he can wrestle beyond 2020. Even if not, Okada has already achieved everything possible in NJPW.

NJPW has successfully built a talented heir to Tanahashi even before Tanahashi retires and I can only commend their efforts. Now I see why Omega didn't win the title from him at this year's Wrestle Kingdom.

 

[ヒュー　G.　レックション]

Well here are my thoughts. First of all I wanna say the Sumo Hall is an awesome venue. It's very well laid out, reasonable seating room and you van probably sit anywhere in the building and have a good view. There were a couple dozen empty spots I noticed so perhaps just shy of a sellout

Young Lions vs Finlay, Liger and Nakanishi
Nice opener with funny spots. It's great to actually hear Liger's rheme, probably one of the hest themes ever and tragic that it gets cenaored on nroadcasts. Finlay looks tubbier than I remember. Young lions all acted very heelish towards the veterans.

Bullet Club vs Nagata, Makabe and the Tiger Masks
Nobody cared about BC outside of Tonga. Big reactions for Tiger Mask W and everything he did, but it was actually Makabe who got the biggest reactions. I always underestimate his mainstream appeal I guess.

Suzukigun vs Chaos
Suzuki really was the star of this one. He did so much great work and I'd actually love him to take on any of these three in a solo feud.

WCTT vs Taichi and Kanemaru
Taichi is probably the most hated talent on the roster. His entrance and failed karaoke singer gimmick are amazing. It's just an absolute shame he is paired with Kanemaru who is just there, he doesn't really add anything and literally anybody could be in his spot. Taichi has a tendency to ruin matches and should have someone who can carry the team. I'd propose Yoshitatsu because he is also despised. Good finish and RPG Vice as next challengers is perfectly logical.

Kenny and Fale vs Ishii and Yano
I really enjoyed the comedy in this match, it was serious when it needed to be and then they moved to great comedy spots too. Kenny got the biggest reactions and of course was the highlight. I think this match showcases what a versatile performer he is. Kenny pins Ishii which is great, now they can rematch in singles and Kenny hopefully gets his revenge!

LIJ vs "Taguchi Japan"
People are probably sick of seeing this. LIJ has had various matches with "Taguchi Japan" (I'm still not sure if they're officially a stable...) with Elgin. Nakanishi, Kushida and Hiromu rotating in and out. However I loved this match. First of all, Naito with the biggest pop of the night. The fans absolutely went crazy for him. He took a long ass time but we were all clapping along with his music. His hold over the crowd really can't he understated.. Without a doubt LIJ had the most merchandise worn. As he was coming out I kind of felt "Man Naito is wasted in this match."

However I loved this match. It seemed like with all of their previous encounters, they took everything that worked and put it all together. Everybody played their roles to perfection. Tanahashi, who could easily steal the spotlight if he wanted to, takes a backseat and continues to put Evil over. Ricochet looked fucking amazing and the crowd loved him. Taguchi as leader was hilarious and really is excellent in comedy. Sanada acts as the perfect foil to him. Bushi did good teamwork with Naito, ah of course Naito, who ends up being pinned and puts over Juice big time. I think a lot of people would've seen this coming but the crowd still reacted hugely because Naito being pinned is such a big deal. I hope Juice is very grateful (I'm sure he is) for this opportunity to go up against a main eventer, because there are probably many on the roster more deserving. But I'm sure Naito will headline whatever show this will be for and he's enough of a draw by himself, I'm convinced of that.

Anyway all around awesome match, everyone came out of it looking better.

We go to interval. I need a piss desperately and I hear some kind of G1 related announcement. I think Cody is confirmed to be entering. I think Cody is nowhere near as special as some seem to think. But I'm glad he's being put in the G1 for variety's sake and because I think he's going to get exposed big time.

We now have the tag title match. War Machine vs TenCozy. Now considering TenCozy weren't even supposed to go near these belts (I believe KES were slated to win, but then Archer got injured. Then GBH were slated, then Honma got paralyzed). So honestly big respect for TenCozy because even though both are quite old now they really went all out in this one. Kojima is such a legend, it'll be a sad day when he retires, total package wrestler in my opinion. Now War Machine, these guys are great. Two Japanese guys in front of me were total marks for them, especially Hansen cheering everything he did and I can totally see why. Hansen especially I could see as a singles star down the line. Incredibly athletic big men! These guys remind me a lot of NXT era Ascension. War Machine go over and actually bow to TenCozy which got a great reaction. Japanese fans really do love showings of respect.

Never belt Goto vs Zack Sabre Jr. Unfortunately I don't think I can really give a fair assessment of it because I was laughing my ass off through it. The reason is because two fans (sitting next to me, different from the two in front) were basically ripping on Sabre for the entire match. Of course I'm not a completely fluent speaker but they were basically calling him a pussy, saying he was too skinny and that he is not on Goto's level. I do actually really like Sabre and think he's a great addition to any roster, but this match didn't seem to click.

The problem with Sabre is he is kind of an anomaly, nobody really wrestles like him, so anybody who wrestles him has to do it his way. Sabre's great at what he does, but if he tries to do anything outside of that, ie "normal" wrestling, it doesn't really work. His striking and selling are very bad. The way he sold Goto's brutal finisher by sitting up after getting pinned was idiotic. I'd like him to tag with Davey Boy Smith Jr. while Archer's injured.

Kushida vs Hiromu for the Junior belt.
As Kushida was coming out to a good reaction I was thinking "What a great talent Kushida is. Ace of the juniors. Always has good matches." ....I don't know what the fuck happened, incredibly shocking. After Kushida did the dive there was a Hiromu chant, then Hiromu seemef to hit the Time Bomb (He has his back to me so I'm kind of not sure.) Then he does the DVD to the corner, then another Time Bomb.... It's over. In minutes. The crowd and me responded with "EEEHHHHH!?" incredibly confused. Outside of a Yano match I would never expect this and I was actually really disappointed. The two fans who shat on Sabre though loved it, calling Hiromu "incredible" lol but this kind of squash really does not suit Hiromu's style. I never thought I would say Brock vs Goldberg was a better match than this.

Two possibilities went through my mind. Either Kushida got injured before or during the match and they needed to improvise. Or they're gonna do an AJ Styles-style BFG redemption. Kushida said he'd never challenge Hiromu again if he lost. But if he won BOTSJ it would force the match to take place. Well Ricochet vs Hiromu will he awesome I'm sure.

IWGP Heavyweight title Shibata vs Okada
Every single time. New Japan takes me in and I fucking fall for it! Insane match, loved it. Shibata was over huge. Okada playing the heel in this one was great. Just going with the flow of the fans is so much better than ignoring them. Okada basically thinking he could hang with Shibata in striking was a great story, and when Shibata was doing the"penalty shootout" I was convinced the reign was over. I think this is a career defining match for Shibata (probably would be his best match ever if not for the masterpiece Ishii G1 2013 match) and proves he belongs n the main event for sure. The lack of near falls was also really refreshing. The one issue I had with the match was the extended submission spot by Shibata. After the Suzuki defence, I think Roman Reigns has a higher likelihood of tapping than Okada does. I just couldn't buy it.

Okada wins but I couldn't really be mad. This guy is having such an amazing title reign. Every single one of his matches has been top class, and every one has had a different approach to it. This year so far; Omega, Suzuki, Tiger Mask W (not for the title but it should've been) and now this match. All great, all very different matches. Okada is a master of his craft, absolutely the best in the world right now I believe, and he always delivers the goods. Having Fale come out afterwards was smart because fans would've probably been sour towards Okada if he had mic time. Fale will essentially be a filler opponent and it allows them to "reset" Okada back to face. There's no fan who is going to cheer Fale over Okada.

 

[ShinChan]

PWInsider.com is reporting that New Japan Pro Wrestling’s Katsuyori Shibata has been pulled from the upcoming NJPW tour dates. Shibata was hospitalized for a subdural hematoma that was caused by a nasty headbutt during his match with IWGP champion Kazuchika Okada.

Man, that's a bad news.

Apparently, Subdural hematoma means a pool of blood between the brain and its outermost covering.

I hope that his injury is healed soon. But more than that, I think that they need to cut down the strong style to a lesser extent. I mean that I don't mind such brutal matches but I can't enjoy it on the expense of the wrestler itself.

 

[Papa Pillman]

Meltzer is proposing the very real possibility from some backstage sources that the Shibata brain injury story is actually a work.

While this would be out of character for NJPW, and considering the nature of the reported injury, would also be very distasteful; there is reason to believe that New Japan would be looking to separate Shibata from the product for a while. First Shibata has been noticeably banged up for some time dealing with shoulder and back injuries that he could badly use time to heal up from, and secondly the company may be looking to get him out of the spotlight for a few months in the wake of his extra-marital affair scandal- a situation that is culturally a far bigger deal in Japan than it would be for many top wrestlers elsewhere in the world.

Those reasonings combined with the fact that the company's powers that be feel that they are over bloated with talent currently, may have given them fuel to believe that they can operate for the next few months with no serious need for Shibata on the cards. If it is a work, expect to see Shibata back in time for either Dominion, the US tour, or the G-1.

 

[ShinChan]

Meltzer is proposing the very real possibility from some backstage sources that the Shibata brain injury story is actually a work.

While this would be out of character for NJPW, and considering the nature of the reported injury, would also be very distasteful; there is reason to believe that New Japan would be looking to separate Shibata from the product for a while. First Shibata has been noticeably banged up for some time dealing with shoulder and back injuries that he could badly use time to heal up from, and secondly the company may be looking to get him out of the spotlight for a few months in the wake of his extra-marital affair scandal- a situation that is culturally a far bigger deal in Japan than it would be for many top wrestlers elsewhere in the world.

Those reasonings combined with the fact that the company's powers that be feel that they are over bloated with talent currently, may have given them fuel to believe that they can operate for the next few months with no serious need for Shibata on the cards. If it is a work, expect to see Shibata back in time for either Dominion, the US tour, or the G-1.

Here's a sad update:

F4wonline.com now reports that the news is bad, and that the Shibata injury is not an angle. The site reports that a combination of dehydration and the trauma of the legit head butt from Shibata to Okada has Shibata hospitalized; he is currently in the hospital and is awake, can carry on a conversation, has some memories of the match itself. He initially had some right side paralysis but that is getting better. The fear now is that he will never be cleared to wrestle due to the injury. More on the story as details are made available.

Assuming that the update is actually true, I'm sad about this. I seriously hope that it ain't this serious that Shibata has to retire from professional wrestling. Looks like those hard hitting brawls are showing their harmful nature.

 

[ヒュー　G.　レックション]

It's very unfortunate to read this. Honma of course another fantastic talent who may never be able to wrestle again.

But if Shibata really can't come back, wow what a way he went out.

 

[ヒュー　G.　レックション]

I never usually watch the Road To shows but tonight I happened to see it in the website and caught the main event. Okada and Ishii vs Omega and Fale.

What kept going through my mind was "Who the hell is gonna take the pin in this one?" all four are very high on the totem pole. I was assuming Ishii, but no. Okada gets pinned! Cleanly! Via a Fale tombstone. That was surprising in a very good way. I've always said Okada has the gift of putting over talents even when he beats them, but he does actually take pins too.

 

[ShinChan]

I never usually watch the Road To shows but tonight I happened to see it in the website and caught the main event. Okada and Ishii vs Omega and Fale.

What kept going through my mind was "Who the hell is gonna take the pin in this one?" all four are very high on the totem pole. I was assuming Ishii, but no. Okada gets pinned! Cleanly! Via a Fale tombstone. That was surprising in a very good way. I've always said Okada has the gift of putting over talents even when he beats them, but he does actually take pins too.

I think that it was right decision to let Fale pin Okada. It actually increases the credibility of Fale and makes him a competitive challenger instead of a filler one. It makes people believe that Fale has a chance of defeating Okada and becoming the next champion.

However Okada should still retain.

 

[ShinChan]

So after Kazuchika Okada successfully defended his IWGP World Heavyweight Championship against Bad Luck Fale, he called out Kenny Omega. It was confirmed that Kazuchika Okada will headline Dominion 6.11 against Kenny Omega for the title in a rematch from Wrestle Kingdom 11. I'm too excited for this match as I loved the first match between these two.

As of now, I think that Kazuchika Okada has more chance to win this match.