NJPW has announced that the New Japan Cup USA tournament will begin on April 3, but before that, episodes of NJPW Strong will feature qualifying matches. The qualifying matches for the eight-man tournament begin on the March 5 episode of NJPW Strong: Road to Strong Style Evolved.
The main event will be Lio Rush vs. Rocky Romero for a spot in the tournament. Another qualifying match for that episode will feature THE DKC against Tom Lawlor. There will also be a tag team match on that show, with Karl Fredericks & Alex Coughlin against Clark Connors & Kevin Knight.
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the views of WrestlingInc or its staff
Fans of both NJPW and AEW have been dreaming of the day a working agreement between the two promotions would be announced since the moment AEW was founded. As the company started weekly television, fans were just waiting for that one moment when a NJPW star would make a surprise appearance on AEW television, and start the working relationship between the two companies.
On Wednesday night, that is exactly what happened. KENTA strolled into the ring at the end of Dynamite and delivered the Go To Sleep on Jon Moxley, making it clear that NJPW was now allowing their contracted wrestlers to appear on AEW television. With Dave Meltzer reporting that a working relationship does exist between the two promotions, it opens the door to a million different fantasy angles that fans have been itching to see for years.
Welcome to TJRWrestling’s preview for New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW)’s premier event, Wrestle Kingdom. This will be the 30
th annual NJPW January 4 Dome show, and the second event to take place over two nights. It’s the Japanese version of WrestleMania, so you know it’s going to be a high-standards show.
This year, however, things will be very different. The global coronavirus pandemic has Goldberged its way around the world, destroying one industry after another. And now Japan is in the midst of a potential second wave of infections, which puts major shows in jeopardy. There was a previous hope that NJPW could get around 15-20% capacity in the Tokyo Dome per night, which would translate into 15,000-20,000 people. Now, they’ll be lucky if they can even get 5,000 people into the venue. Then again, any company would love to have that many fans appearing live, especially in North America. And yet, I still think NJPW will make the best of things and will put on the best show
Highs and Lows went well… so here we go again!
As some expected going in, the Best of the Super Junior/World Tag League combined tour hasn’t churned out a stream of bangers… and with some of the higher profile indies in the US reducing their already-limited schedules, we’ve seen a bit of a slowdown.
So, what’s out there to recommend from November?
Hiromu Takahashi vs. Robbie Eagles from the 11/29 New Japan show was my pick of the bunch, with Eagles showing why so many were calling him the MVP of the Best of the Super Junior tournament, despite his fairly low standing.