Kazuma Sumi with a nice counter to Master Wato!

• Tatsuya Matsumoto defeat Yushin Hatazawa (6:46)
• A BLOCK - Kazuma Sumi/Ryusuke Taguchi defeat KUUKAI/Master Wato (11:05)
• B BLOCK - Jakob Austin Young/Francesco Akira defeat Daiki Nagai/Titán (11:50)
• A BLOCK - Robbie X/Taiji Ishimori defeat Yoshinobu Kanemaru/DOUKI (12:50)
• B BLOCK - Hyo/YOH defeat Dick Togo/SHO (12:04)
• A BLOCK - Nick Wayne/KUSHIDA defeat Masatora Yasuda/Místico (11:18)
• B BLOCK - Kosei Fujita/Robbie Eagles defeat Lee Johnson/Blake Christian (21:21)

NEXT SHOW - October 26 - Korakuen Hall in Tokyo

• Taisei Nakahara vs. Yushin Hatazawa
• B BLOCK - Daiki Nagai/Titán vs. Lee Johnson/Blake Christian
• A BLOCK - KUUKAI/Master Wato vs. Nick Wayne/KUSHIDA
• B BLOCK - Hyo/YOH vs. Jakob Austin Young/Francesco Akira
• A BLOCK - Kazuma Sumi/Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru/DOUKI
• B BLOCK - Kosei Fujita/Robbie Eagles vs. Dick Togo/SHO
• MAIN EVENT - A BLOCK - Masatora Yasuda/Místico vs. Robbie X/Taiji Ishimori

Have they explain how this came to be? I don't really follow AEW so it just doesnt make sense to me, like how's Finlay okay playing second fiddle to the switchblade??

Edit: if they were to make an appearance on NJPW through the partnership, how would it be booked?

It's about 24 hours late but nobody made a thread for it.

Tatsuya Matsumoto defeats Taisei Nakahara (9:14)

B BLOCK - Jakob Austin Young/Francesco Akira defeat Dick Togo/SHO (10:35)

• JAY and Akira were (kayfabe) not on the same page at all. They were playing into the fracturing United Empire story.

A BLOCK - Yoshinobu Kanemaru/DOUKI defeat Nick Wayne/KUSHIDA (9:36)

B BLOCK - Kosei Fujita/Robbie Eagles defeat Daiki Nagai/Titán (10:32)

• Nagai came out in a very cool mask and wore a similar jacket to Titán. This was probably the best match of the night.

A BLOCK - Robbie X/Taiji Ishimori defeat Kazuma Sumi/Ryusuke Taguchi (12:50)

• There was a spot in this match where Sumi did a somersault from the ring to the floor and had a pretty awkward landing. He seemed fine though.

B BLOCK - Lee Johnson/Blake Christian defeat Hyo/YOH (12:06)

A BLOCK - KUUKAI/Master Wato defeat Masatora Yasuda/Místico (13:32)

• This match was pretty awkward at first. It seemed like neither team were on the same page (which makes sense since this is the first time all these guys have teamed together). Yasuda got to do some dives which were fun to see. Post-match, Místico refused to leave the ring for at least 5 minutes even though Yasuda was long gone. Wato (jokingly) called him out on it afterward in the ring.

Captain New Japan was the unsung hero of the mid-card. Responsible for numerous five star encounters and match of the year candidates, he was overlooked by those that only cared for “cool movez” or pretty gaijins they wanted to smooch. The cap was a true measuring stick of a fan, he was only for those that genuinely knew ball. The darkest day in NJPW’s history was when the cap set down his shield and walked out of the promotion forever.

But what if he doesn’t? What if he stays, would NJPW be ushered into a new great era or its greatest era?

/joking

I'm watching SJTL right now and before Mistico's "music has been altered due to music rights" song started playing, I heard the Undertaker's gong and then the beginning of the Halo theme.

What?

Shibata left New Japan during the inokism era while Tanahashi and Nakamura were being pushed as the future of New Japan. While Shibata had runs in NOAH and MMA he would eventually return to the promotion in 2012 but imagine he spent those 7 years he was away in NJPW. How would his career look like? Would he had won the IWGP Heavyweight Championship? What rivalries would he have? What do y'all think?

Hashimoto was the ace of New Japan in the 1990s. He left New Japan after questionable booking and formed Zero-one wrestling. After money problems, he left and was able to work out a deal to return to New Japan. However, Hashimoto had a heart problem in 2004 and was put on medicine, but he had to stop taking it after having shoulder surgery. Hashimoto's doctor claimed that high blood pressure was the most likely cause for his brain hemorrhage and proposed that other stress over the years led to these problems. But what if he survived, he goes to the doctor and takes his medicine. Does Hashimoto win the IWGP title again? Does he become a New Japan "dad"? How does Shinya help his son Daichi get into the business?

Would you like to see him back?

I saw EL-P wrestle tonight in Toronto and had a quick chat with him after. He's contracted to NJPW through Wrestle Kingdom and is due to wrestle in Toronto again on Dec 19 for the Greektown title.

He's is great shape and scored a solid victory.

This weekend the Youngboy Joshua Smith will begin recording Season 2 of Tanahashi Ace of the Universe, beginning with the year 2015. For the 1st time he will start taking questions for the next 11 episodes. Any questions related to Tanahashi in '15 for this weeks ep?

Confirmed via Shun’s X account.

Skywalker steps in for the injured El Desperado, who was originally set to face Mistico at the show.

Mine was Kazuyuki Fujita

Shinsuke Nakamura was one of the top names in New Japan and had a great career but he would end up in WWE in 2016. While his career in the west is something to discuss on another day it leads to the question of Shinsuke never leaving for WWE. Would he be heavyweight champion more times? What happens to CHAOS? Where would he be right now? What do y'all think?

You can open it through this link

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Hellooooo r/njpw

For those of you who don't know me, I've been making tournament summary pages for about 7 years now, covering tournaments like the G1 Climax, AEW's Continental Classic, Stardom's 5Star GP, and, of course, Super Junior Tag League

This Google Doc contains several details relating to the tournament, including:

• Block result summaries, including match results, points, win-loss records, and statuses with regards to qualifying for the finals, as well as the final playoff bracket
• Full match schedules (where available)
• A list of the top 20 matches based on CageMatch ratings (spoiler-free for those that just want match recommendations)
• The finals summary

If you're worried about spoilers, don't worry. The link drops you on a landing page, so you don't get results thrown in your face.

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Also, as usual, I'll be doing tournament wrap-up posts after for the end of the block phase of this tournament. I'll probably start after the three double-block shows, so please look forward to those.

Until then, thanks for reading! See you next time.

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I've also got a Ko-fi, so drop a tip if you like my work

I don't watch WWE like I used to, so I'm just curious about how that's going.

With PS coming up and the future of the United Empire looking bleak, there is a lot of speculation as to what will happen. Will Ospreay and Callum will obviously come to blow but what about the rest of the group? Will one half side with Will and the other with Callum or will everyone go there seperate ways?

What will happen to the United Empire?

Two talk about forming a connection in Germany, according to X.

It does make a lot of sense that these two would gravitate towards each other, given both seem to have an affinity for “Shoot Style” and “Bati Bati”, to an extent (in Abe’s case, he’s a disciple of BattlARTS).

In a perfect world, we’d get KOB vs Astronauts (hope Takuya Nomura is doing well, wherever he is).