BritWres to Impress Preview // RevPro // PCW // FutureShock [Dec '17 Wk 1]

Welcome back for another edition of BritWres to Impress, as we preview the biggest, brightest and best professional wrestling on offer in the United Kingdom this week. As we begin December, we've got another eclectic bunch of shows to look at. We'll be looking at a pair of double headers beginning with Revolution Pro Wrestling's BWTI debut with Contenders 17 in Portsmouth on Saturday and Live at the Cockpit 23 in London on Sunday and then focusing on another BWTI debutante Preston City Wrestling with a pair of shows, starting with Joey Janela's Big Top Adventure on Friday in Blackpool, Lancashire and then onto Live! on Saturday in Wrexham, Clwyd, before concluding with a look at Futureshock Wrestling in Manchester for Reloaded #4, also on Sunday. So lets get into it, here is the BritWres to Impress for the first week of December 2017!

Also This Week 

Friday // Fight Club: PRO Infinity 2017 // Wolverhampton // fightclubpro.bigcartel.com

Sunday // Pro Wrestling 4 U Ho Ho Ho Let's Go // Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire //  facebook.com/prowrestling4u

Saturday // HOPE Wrestling Evolution 54: Broken Bones Matilda Left a Note and a Rose... // Leicester // hopewrestling.co.uk

Saturday // Revolution Pro Wrestling Contenders 17 // Portsmouth // revolutionprowrestling.com

Sunday // Revolution Pro Wrestling Live at the Cockpit 23 // London // revolutionprowrestling.com

As the dust settles from the massive Global Wars 2017, RevPro is back for their final shows in Porstmouth and at the Cockpit of the year. 

The Portsmouth show is a smaller affair, featuring up and comers, clashing with regular roster members. The scheduled card so far see's Andy Boy Simmonz tag with Ian Logan to take on Johnny Rocket & Timo, whilst Zan Phoenix goes one on one with Rishi Ghosh in an intergender showcase.

One group who had an amazing Global Wars was CCK. Travis Banks and Chris Brookes put away Rocky Romero & YOSHI-HASHI on Night One before Lykos joined them in picking up a victory over Hirooki Goto, YOSHI-HASHI and Gedo on Night Two. The Legion of Lords didn't have as good a time, with Chief Deputy Dunne and Lord Gideon Grey falling to Gedo and Toru Yano on the first show, but with Rishi Ghosh returning for the first time since Dunne joined the group, maybe they'll find a new groove here. The other pressing matter is that Kid Lykos has suffered another major injury last weekend and will be unable to join Brookes and Banks for the match. Who will CCK draft in as a replacement? How will that effect their rhythm as a trio? How will Dunne try to stop anyone from having fun? There's lots of questions to be answered at the CCKpit on Sunday, but it'll no doubt be entertaining finding out! 

It appeared that "Flash" Morgan Webster had Josh Bodom's number in RevPro. Webster defeated Bodom in August 2015 in Sittingbourne, then a month later in a triple threat with Mark Haskins in Broxbourne, January 2016 saw Webster advance past Bodom in a tournament to crown a new British Cruiserweight Champion at the Cockpit, before Webster returned to the promotion with a victory over the then British Cruiserweight title holder Bodom this October. Since then their feud has escalated, with Bodom getting disqualified in a title match in Cardiff two weeks later and then cost Flash a match with El Phantasmo at last month's Cockpit show. Things seemed to be setting up for an all-out war between the two over the belt, but then Global Wars when Ryan Smile walked out as British Cruiserweight Champion in a match also including El Desperado. So now we have Webster vs. Smile for the strap on Sunday. They've clashed in ATTACK, SCW, Kamikaze Pro and FIGHT! in the past, including a couple of title matches, but at the Cockpit the stakes may never have been higher. Expect these two high-flyers to put on a spectacular showcase in the intimate theatre.

Josh Bodom will also be action, tagging with new partner Zack Gibson to take on Aussie Open's Mark Davis and Kyle Fletcher. Whilst Bodom's fortunes where mixed at Global Wars dropping the Cruiserweight belt, but also picking up a big win against former IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Rocky Romero, Gibson did not have the same fortunes taking two straight loses to Yuji Nagata and Toru Yano. They'll both be looking to use that weekend to push on as a duo and stop Aussie Open from regaining the momentum that they came into the promotion with in September. Either way it'll be a fascinating clash of styles and personalities. Another fascinating clash sees a debut and a return. Martin Stone has been absent since beating Eddie Dennis in August, spending time working in America for WWE, Beyond and MLW, in the mean time "Smash Mouth" Chris Ridgeway has been killing it in PCW, SWA, Southside and all over the country. The two go head to head at the Cockpit and considering how these two hit, they could very well tear each other apart!

Also Jinny prepares to be the first woman to wrestle for RevPro in York Hall on 8th December with a clash against Charli Evans, El Phantasmo goes up against Kurtis Chapman and RJ Singh faces Rob Lias.

Friday // Preston City Wrestling Joey Janela's Big Top Adventure // Blackpool, Lancashire // prestoncitywrestling.com

Saturday // Preston City Wrestling Live! // Wrexham, Clwyd // prestoncitywrestling.com

When PCW returns to Blackpool for the first time since August, the Lancashire fans are in for something a little bit different. Anyone who caught the Game Changer Wrestling show Joey Janela's Spring Break during WrestleMania weekend in Florida will know exactly the kind of madness to expect from Joey Janela's Big Top Adventure. 

Janela has had a breakthrough year in 2017, tearing it up in Beyond, CZW, AIW and elsewhere for his hardcore style and off the wall imagination. One of the elements introduced at his Spring Break was the mystical Invisble Man. At Big Top Adventure, the Invisible Man returns to go one on one with Janela. Yes, Joey Janela is having a singles match with the Invisible Man. The Invisble Man is literally...an...invisible...man. If you're someone who struggle to suspend your disbelief this will almost certainly not going to be the match for you. But if you're not a Jim Cornette type and can enjoy the more bizarre areas of the art form then you should have a whale of a time! But who could come out with the win? That's the real question, that will be answered on Friday, when the unstoppable force meets the invisible object! 

Spring Break saw Marty Jannetty, Glacier and Dan Severn make appearances and Blackpool will be treated to some more wrestling "legends" when Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake and Virgil hit the Tower. A smorgasbord of guys who were below average for the 1980s, but this is gonna be retro and cool and stuff, probably. Virgil tags up with Danny Hope and Joey Hayes to take on Big T Justice, Sheik el Sham & Dave Birch in a match that is certainly happening this weekend. I have no idea where to even begin when previewing this, to be honest. The Models are comedy gold and Virgil used to managed Ted DiBiase back in the day, so there's that. Lots of comedic potential that will hopefully be realised on Friday night!

The PCW Heavyweight Championship is also on the line as T-Bone puts the title on the line against the man he took the belt from in October, Iestyn Rees. Both men spent time as the FWB faction that was rampant on PCW shows in 2015, but have since been part of fiery rivalry. The two clash in a Street Fight on Friday night, which promises to be a violent, hard-hitting affair between two heavyweight brawlers. There's also a match between two men who know each other very well as Scarlet & Graves duo Dezmond Xavier and Zachary Wentz go head to head. The two are known for their risk-tasking as a duo, so this should be a spectacular blink and you miss it contest. Xavier got the victory on a joint PCW/CZW show in Liverpool in November 2016, so Wentz has something to prove when they go head to head again in Lancashire.

The rest of the card includes a triple threat that may well steal the show as Bubblegum returns to face Chris Ridgeway and Ashton Smith, whilst Martin Kirby, Lionheart, Matthew Brookes, Tal Benham, Arcadian and Phillip Michael have a six man Ladder match. The whole event is available on PPV through Powerbomb.TV

There's nothing announced for the free show in Wrexham on Saturday, but the promotions first and only trip to Wales in 2017 is scheduled to feature the likes of Joey Janela, T-Bone and Dean Allmark are all scheduled to appear.

Sunday // FutureShock Wrestling Reloaded #4 // Manchester // futureshockwrestling.co.uk

FutureShock Wrestling returns to 53Two Theatre in Manchester and their bringing former ROH World Champion Jay Lethal with them. It's been three month's since FutureShock were in Manchester, but they're back with another hot card of family-friendly action. 

In November, T-Bone's FutureShock Championship match with Ashton Smith ended in disqualification when T-Bone introduced the champion to a steel chain in Stockport. With Smith obviously wanting some revenge on the WWE UK competitor, things are set to taken up a notch on Sunday as the two take part in the most appropriate match available, a chain match. The match would seem to favour the rougher T-Bone, who has in the past used No DQ matches to his advantage winning a Street Fight against Mark Massa in April 2016, as well as putting away rival Rampage Brown in Trailer Park Street Fight in August. Smith is going to have to dig deep and find something to get passed the 6 footer from Worcester on Sunday. Who knows whether he'll be able to do it, but it should be fascinating to watch him try.

Jay Lethal has collected titles wherever he's gone in wrestling. In ROH he took the World, Television and Pure Championships, in TNA he took the X Division title six times, as well as the World Tag Team straps with Consequences Creed, as well as the World Heavyweight Championship in the now-defunct FWE. Now he's coming for Xander Cooper's Adrenaline Championship. The last time Lethal was in FutureShock, way back in March 2013, Xander Cooper was just beginning to find a foothold in the promotion as a singles star, having won the Trophy tournament the previous November, but since then he's developed massively, developing the Uprising faction, taking the FutureShock Championship from Jack Gallagher and is now in his second run as Adrenaline Champion. Cooper is also no stranger to defeating International stars however, he took the title from WWE United Kingdom Champion Pete Dunne in October (in three way including Soner Dursun) and having manager Bobby Gage by his side means that he always has something up his sleeve if things don't quite go his way. This could be the proverbial chess match come Sunday night in Manchester. 

There will also be two more First Round matches in the Legacy Tournament. Joey Hayes and Abel Stevens have already qualified for the next round and on Sunday, Soner Dursun will take on Kenny Williams in what is sure to be an aerial showcase. Up and comer JJ Webb is also scheduled to take on the reinvented Thomas Wolfe as the competition continues to throw up intriguing combinations. Cyanide will look to keep his path of destruction going as Joey Hayes steps up following his victory over Damon Leigh, whilst Lana Austin puts her Women's Championship on the line against Molly Spartan.

Thanks for checking out BritWres to Impress this week, hopefully we've helped you find the right show for you. Don't forget to send your reviews in acrossthepondwrestling@hotmail.co.uk. 

Article by James Marston

Event Review: ROH Reach For The Sky Show 2 - The Young Bucks v Marty Scurll & Will Ospreay

On 19th November, Ring of Honor headed to Leicester, England for the very first time for the stop two of the Reach for the Sky Tour at the Leicester Community Sports Arena. The show was main event by The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson & Nick Jackson) defending the World Tag Team Championships against "The Villain" Marty Scurll & World Television Champion Will Ospreay, whilst old rivals reDRagon (Bobby Fish & Kyle O'Reilly) and The Briscoes (Jay Briscoe & Mark Briscoe) met two on two for the first time in two years and World Champion Adam Cole was opposite Chris Sabin. The likes of The Addiction (Christopher Daniels & Frankie Kazarian), Alex Shelley, Joe Hendry, Dalton Castle and Lio Rush were all featured on the undercard. 

Venue & Crowd - It was my first time at the Leicester Community Sports Arena and I was impressed with the venue itself, which had a great set-up, but it was probably a little too big for this particular event. Whilst there was a relatively sizable crowd, around half of the bleachers were covered and there was plenty of empty seats. Leicester seemed like a slightly odd choice when only running three shows in England and perhaps the event would have drawn better in Birmingham. The crowd on hand though was a lively and appreciative bunch for the most of the event and I get the feeling that this may have been many people's first ever show, as a lot of the earlier matches were getting big pops for relatively simple things. There were a few people heckling at points, which ranged from mildly funny to rude and then homophobic. There's no place for that at wrestling show or anywhere else. 

The main event saw The Young Bucks retain their World Tag Team Champions over World Television Champion Will Ospreay and "The Villain" in a must-see spectacular. This match could have easily been a let down, because fan expectations were so high. I never should have doubted these four gentleman as they delivered one of the silliest spectacles that I've seen this year. This was advertised as a "Dream Match" and it had pretty much everything that you'd want to see as the four personalities collided. There were superkicks from Nick and Matt, there was faux superkicks and villainous antics from Marty and there was flips and tricks from Will. That's is, of course, a horrendous over simplification of how this match played out, because there was so much more that went into it, but it was on these pre-established traits that the rest of the match would orbit around. All the trademark moments that one would expect from the two teams came flying out at breakneck speed, in a style that one might associate more with Reseda, California than Leicester, East Midlands! 

The final stretch of the contest brought together a number of elements that had been introduced throughout the bout as the Young Bucks went for their Meltzer Driver on Scurll for the second time in the match, with Ospreay managing to meet a Jackson on the top rope, but instead of the forearm that The Aerial Assassin used earlier in the match, he pulled out a rana, that sent the Jackson straight into the Meltzer Driver. Like what the fuck? How does that even happen? These guys are made of magic or some shit. If that description doesn't make much sense it's probably because it's not actually physically possible and it was a mass hallucination. That's kind of how I felt watching this entire match. Like none of what these four blokes did was actual real. Too much silliness. How? This was just a glimpse at the potential of Marty Scurll and Will Ospreay in ROH. Imagine what kind of stuff they'll be able to do once the Villain and Aerial Assassin characters are firmly entrenched within the storytelling potential that the companies set-up allows for. 

reDRagon remained The Briscoes bogie team as Bobby Fish & Kyle O'Reilly walked out victorious in the first 2v2 meeting between the teams in almost two years. This was a good solid, face v face tag encounter, that went twenty minutes and never outstayed it's welcome. After some initial comedy from Fish bumping off Mark's redneck kung-fu, the match settled into a nice pace that displayed a number of different styles that the four are capable of. There was hard strikes, smooth transitions, some scrappy brawling and some tough submission work. These two teams could have good matches with each other with their eyes closed and with an arm or two tied behind their back. There's clearly a level of understanding between all four, best seen in the swift sequence between Mark and O'Reilly, where Jay came seemingly out of nowhere with a Death Valley Driver.

Where the match didn't quite reach it's full potential for me was that as soon as things seemed to be heading into the next gear, that sense of momentum that the contest had was halted because The Young Bucks were out on the entrance ramp. It was cool to see these shows get brought into the ongoing stories of the promotion, as Young Bucks and The Briscoes will clash on 2nd December with the straps on the line, but there's no doubt that a more exciting finishing stretch could have been created without the distraction. That lack of top gear held the match back from living up to the potential that I think many had expected it to cash in on. Twenty minutes is a long time to invest into a contest that features all the important action in it's last few minutes and it was hard not to come away from this feeling like it could have been much more than it was.

Adam Cole successfully defended the World Championship against Chris Sabin in a paint-by-numbers clash, that displayed both just well enough to satisfy. The opening exchange perhaps offered the best action of the contest as the pair went back and forth in a number of mirror image spots that concluded with a pair of enziguiris. From there the match came along nicely, taking stops at Cole's Figure Four Leg Lock and rolling through a couple of near falls, but nothing seemed to stay long to create an overall arc for the bout, beyond that initial exchange. There were hints that it could move onto another level, with a gear changing sequence of superkicks and lariats and both men got a solid near fall on the other as Sabin came close with Cradle Shock, whilst Cole seemed to have things done and dusted with a Panama Sunrise. 

There was, of course, one problem that the pair were always going to struggle to overcome and that was that Cole was clearly never going to lose, especially with the title on the line. When you've got a crowd as savvy as the ROH audience tends to be, that can take a little bit of the energy out of an audience and that can in turn take a little bit of energy out of the match itself. Sabin hasn't had the most fruitful time as a singles competitor in ROH lately, losing his last three singles bouts to Frankie Kazarian, Colt Cabana and Jay Lethal, so it was always clear that this was nothing but a "warm-up" bout for Cole's clash with Lethal in London the next night. Whilst the story managed to wrap itself up nicely, with Cole having to resort to a low blow to set up his victory with the Last Shot, I never felt like I could fully buy into it and therefore always felt at least one step removed from what was going on in the ring.

The Addiction's victory over the make-shift tandem of Dalton Castle and Delirious lead me to write such notes as "Just Fun" and "Japes" and that probably tells you how this match went down. The clash wouldn't have looked out of place on an Attack! Pro Wrestling show as Daniels, Kazarian, Castle, Delirious and even referee Todd Sinclair got involved in some mad chicanery, that the crowd ate it up. Seeing Sinclair throwing out a hip toss felt even more bizarre, because it came from a company like ROH, which isn't particularly known for it's funnies. Castle attempting to instigate fisticuffs by shouting "Fight. Fight. Fight" as if on a primary school playground popped me in a place I didn't know it was possible to be popped. However, when things did get more serious, the athletic performance level was there to back up the comedic performance level. Castle's hot tag sequence and the double teams from The Addiction were just the final flurry that the match needed with the wonderful Best Meltzer Ever (Double jump moonsault spike kneeling reverse piledriver) acting as the proverbial cherry.

In the opener, Jay White remained undefeated one on one with a victory over newcomer Joe Hendry, in a solid, yet unspectacular encounter. After the initial excitement of Hendry's theme getting an ROH remix, the clash struggled to grip me throughout it's earlier exchanges and whilst nothing was particularly bad, there was nothing to get the crowd pumped up. I felt like this match needed someone to grab hold of it and create a sense of direction for it. The pair remained more or less babyfaces throughout the entire contest and whilst there were glimpses of Hendry's overbearing "Local Hero" character coming through, this match was in desperate need of someone to take control and grab the audience. Things picked up towards the finish, with White hitting a tasty suicide dive and as well as Hendry catching White coming off the top rope into Freak of Nature (Fallaway Slam). There's potential for these two have a better match in a different environment, with both more settled into their ROH roles, but whilst it was probably a bit too long and out of place as the opener, there's no doubt that this was a decent, watchable bout, by two competitors who will only continue to grow over the next few years. 

Jay Lethal was victorious over Alex Shelley in a good match, that was the first meeting between the two since 2009. It was surprisingly Lethal's first victory over Shelley in ROH, after Shelley won the previous two bouts in 2004. The bout was structured well, with Lethal constantly attempting to hit a suicide dive, with Shelley always having an answer and eventual being able to take complete control of the match. The build towards that move was some of the best use I've seen of the move, especially considering that there were plenty others across the rest of the evening. The two looked extremely comfortable in the ring together, perhaps too much so as there were time where it felt like Lethal and Shelley were quite happy to go through the motions here. When you've got two men as talented and experienced as Lethal and Shelley, that still produces an enjoyable contest, but I definitely got the feeling this wasn't the best effort from either. 

Coming seemingly out of nowhere, Donavon Dijak's victory over Lio Rush, was a ridiculous match, that got the crowd to their feet after ten minutes of excitement and innovation. This was the best match that I've seen out of either man, as they took the power v speed dynamic and ran with it. Despite the lighting rig trying it's best to take the spotlight (geddit?) from them, Rush and Dijak put together some breath taking sequences, whilst also showing that they had the simple stuff on a lock as well. Dijak lobbing Rush around the ring was almost as entertaining as Rush's speedy spots! The exploration of the big man v small man trope was where the match took things to the next level, as Dijak showed he was prepared to take to the sky with a stunning moonsault to the outside, whilst Rush went toe to toe with Dijak on the apron and then hit a ridiculous Spanish Fly off the apron! Having Rush attempt to beat the man who was over a foot taller than him by countout was an astute piece of booking. I feel like everyone in the audience came away with a higher regard for both men than they had when they walked in. If you get the chance to see this, do it.

Before the Delirious/Castle v The Addiction match got underway, there was some comedy japes from everyone involved as Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian attempted to get Delirious to join their stable, by offering a pair of shoes. This was five minutes of pure wonderfulness as the foursome molded their gimmicks together to create some laugh out loud comedy. The Addiction played their part down to a tee, as Delirious uttered non-nonsensical replies and the pair attempted to translate. By the end of the exchange, that concluded with Castle uttering the immortal line "Shoes? Where we're going we don't need shoes", the match between the two teams felt more important than it had before hand and everyone involved had had a jolly good time. Can't complain with that!

Finally...

ATPW Scale Rating - 7.05/10

Beyond perhaps appearances from ACH or War Machine this event had pretty much every ROH talent that I wanted to see on it, so that's always going to be a major positive. In terms of wrestling quality, the main event was straight up silly and managed to live up to expecations, whilst Donavon Dijak v Lio Rush seemed to take everyone by surprise also. The Castle/Delirious v The Addiction contest offered something completely different, but remained entertaining throughout. For the most part, the rest of the card produced some good action, but mainly struggled to either live up to expectation and didn't hit the top level that you'd expect from of the individuals involved. 

In A Sentence - A brilliant main event, a sleeper classic and some entertaining comedy surrounded by a lot of good, but ultimately forgettable wrestling.

Match of the Night - Young Bucks v Scurll/Ospreay 

Review - James Marston

Opinion: Power Struggle, The World Tag League and the Final Steps Towards Wrestle Kingdom 11

We’re approaching the end of 2016 and things are really hotting up in the world of New Japan Pro Wrestling, feuds are being firmly set in motion, wrestlers are scrambling for their desired belts and matches are being penciled in for the massive Tokyo Dome show on January 4th. Within this piece I am hoping to get those less familiar with the Japanese product hyped for the biggest show in New Japan’s calendar so before I go into anything else, here’s how the well-known ‘Road to Wrestlemania’ lines up with the New Japan shows.

G1 Climax (August) = Royal Rumble. We began setting our sights on Wrestle Kingdom 11 way back in August when Kenny Omega overcame all opposition in the round robin tournament and in doing so became the first foreign winner of the G1 in its current incarnation. Now you may be wondering how in the world this relates to the Royal Rumble, well, the prize for winning such a tournament is a guaranteed place in the main event of the Wrestle Kingdom. However, since this is a few months before WK, much like in WWE, there are a couple of hurdles along the way.

Power Struggle/The World Tag League (October/November) = Roadblock/Fastlane. You could also throw NJPW’s Kings of Pro Wrestling event into the mix here but I don’t want to boggle the mind too much so we will focus on these 2 today. Again as occurs in WWE, usually at these PPV’s we see the other, non-main event feuds pan out and not a lot of title changes happen, but that’s not to say they aren’t worth your time, especially given that Power Struggle (which will be talked about in depth further down the page) was fantastic this year.

Wrestle Kingdom (January) = WrestleMania. This is the big one. The showcase of the immortals. The show of all shows. Just like Mania, Wrestle Kingdom is the largest show in the Japanese version of the sport and fans flock from across the globe in order to see it in person at the famous Tokyo Dome. If you haven’t seen them already I would recommend checking out the highly acclaimed Wrestle Kingdom 9 and 10 events, they both have insane matches that can be enjoyed even without storyline context and way after their broadcast date. I think AJ Styles v Shinsuke Nakamura from 10 might be my most watched match this year so please treat yourself if you haven’t already.

Did you digest of that? I certainly hope so because now you’ve had your appetiser I’m about to head into the main course of this article; a review of the most important matches from Power Struggle and an overview and prediction for the World Tag League tournament and don’t worry, there will be a desert too!

Power Struggle Review

On 5th November, NJPW treated us to their annual Power Struggle event and before we go any further let me say this was a truly enjoyable show. Usually this event can suffer from being right before Wrestle Kingdom meaning nothing too important happens but the company pulled out something really special for us viewers, especially given the injury to scheduled main eventer, Michael Elgin. So here are my views on the most important matches from the night, 4 of which feature members of the Los Ingobernables De Japon group which I talked about at length last month, right here: 

http://www.acrossthepondwrestling.co.uk/2016/10/opinion-njpw-power-struggle-2016-aka.html

Match #1 – IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Title - Guerillas of Destiny (Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa (Donny Marlow)) (C) versus CHAOS (Tomohiro Ishii and YOSHI-HASHI)

Tonga and Loa, A.K.A The Guerrillas of Destiny have engaged in a number of simply terrible matches this year. Their tangles with The Briscoes (Jay Briscoe & Mark Briscoe) over the IWGP Heavyweight Tag Titles were muting fans and leaving everyone wondering whether the newly introduced Loa was the worst member to every join the highly-saturated Bullet Club.

Their pathway looked bleak and many groaned when they regained their straps but lo and behold, they had a very good match with Ishii and YOSHI-HASHI! Wrestling Jesus must have been smiling down on them because the match was very slick and the sequences between Tonga and YOSHI-HASHI were both especially impressive, including the mesmerising finish which saw Tonga reverse a pump handle slam into his cutter.

The pace slowed massively whenever Loa hit the ring but he is clearly improving and if the pair can get a few more solid matches under their wings during the Tag League they can perhaps soar higher and bring much needed prestige back to the floundering Heavyweight tag belts.

Match #2 – Super Junior Tag Team Tournament Final - Roppongi Vice (Berreta (Trent Barreta) and Rocky Romero) versus ACH and Taiji Ishimori

Roppongi Vice took on ACH and Ishimori in the final match of the Super Juniors Tag Tournament with the winner gaining, you guessed it, a shot at the Junior Heavyweight straps versus The Young Bucks at Wrestle Kingdom in January. Overall the tournament has been very fun this year with the action being fast paced and exciting from the first round to the last.

This finale was the best collision in the entire bracket too. Growing tension between Beretta and Romero was showcased, but the twosome overcame their differences and managed to achieve the win with a whole host of impressive tag team manoeuvres that played into the fact that Romero is the most experienced of the foursome. The tale of wise veterans versus young up-and-coming being perfectly displayed ad in the end the right team won; ACH and Ishimori will have their time but the biggest Junior Tag match available is Young Bucks versus Roppongi Vice.

Move of the match was undoubtedly ACH hitting a Shooting Star Press from standing on the mat, over the top rope, to the outside – I was stunned. If we see this match again down the road I would be all for it though, everyone knew what the crowd wanted and played to it wonderfully. All in all, a great end to an enjoyable tourney.

Match #3 – IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title - BUSHI (C) versus KUSHIDA

The first match involving an LIJ member was this one, as BUSHI and KUSHIDA faced off once again for the Junior Heavyweight Championship, this time though, it was personal. BUSHI had essentially stolen the belt from KUSHIDA and the former champ was gunning for revenge from the off. He charged his foe and nailed him with strikes before heading to the outside for a horrible looking piledriver to the floor. It was nasty stuff from the babyface.

With a start like this the match was clearly going to be of different taste to their previous affairs and that thankfully continued as we saw many more submission based attacks being thrown in the mix alongside their usual supplement of suicide dives, (they look so much more vicious in Japan) top rope moves and finisher attempts.

After hitting 2 codebreakers and his MX, BUSHI was somehow unable to put his challenger away and in retaliation we saw another heelish move from KUSHIDA as he tore at the mask of BUSHI; will there be a hair v mask match down the line? I would be all over that! Following the tear KUSHIDA managed to lock in his hoverboard lock for what seemed like an eternity – BUSHI was forced to tap of have his arm broken and thus he relinquished his belt.

The result was certainly a shock and the whole contest was tremendous viewing; the chemistry between the two is off the charts. As KUSHIDA celebrated though, the New Japan time bomb counter hit zero and bursting from the shade in a quite insane jacket was Kamatitachi who had been over in CMLL and ROH on learning excursions. I don’t think too many could have predicted the bomb would have been him but the bout is now set for WK as KUSHIDA will be forced to defend his belt against the returning man in a match that could well steal the show at the Dome.

Match #4 – NEVER Openweight Title - Katsuyori Shibata (C) versus EVIL (Takaaki Watanabe)

Shocking moments from the night didn’t end at the Junior match either as the second Los Ingobernables de Japon member to compete was EVIL who against all odds and predictions defeated the fan favourite Katsuyori Shibata and took home the NEVER Openweight Championship!

This was easily the stiffest contest of the PPV as EVIL and Shibata beat the crap out of each other throughout. Watch this one and listen for the sounds of the elbows and kicks, they are truly disgusting; combine those noises with the sight of Shibata’s sleeper suplex and EVIL’s targeting of the champion’s injured shoulder with chair shots and you’ve got a match that makes you wince and entraps you within its grasp. Seriously, the stiffness is so intense that you cannot possibly look away.

EVIL’s victory was one via cheating, obviously. He chucked the ref out of the ring before nailing Katsuyori with the belt, a chair and finished off with a brainbsuter onto the chair and his STO finisher to get the win in a shocking finish. Shibata however has recaptured the belt in the main event of the recent New Japan event in Singapore, so it looks like he will still be going to the Tokyo Dome with the title, which many fans will likely be very happy to see.

Match #5 – Hiroshi Tanahashi versus SANADA (Seiya Sanada)

Ever since the G1, NJPW’s top man, Hiroshi Tanahashi, has been struggling to regain momentum as he has hit a roadblock in the form of LIJ and most notably, SANADA, who got the better of Tanahashi on the first night of said tournament. Clearly then this contest has been a long time coming and the animosity between them finally boiled over at Power Struggle.

Their first meeting at the G1 was marvelous and this one followed suit; both took big risks and little reward was forthcoming as they each missed top rope moves which allowed their foe to get back into the contest. Standout moves were surely Tana’s slingblade on the apron, Hi Fly Flo from the top to the outside and SANADA’s missed moonsault which blew out his knee.

SANADA attempted his dragon sleeper submission a ton of times but he could not get past NJPW’s A+ player. Having managed to avoid the move that destroyed him previously Tanahashi rose to the top as he has done many a time in his career and nailed SANADA with a couple of Hi Fly Flos, finally seeing off the man who has caused him such misery within the year. Both wrestlers had what I believed to be their best match since they last met and I hope they both go on to better things in the next few months as they as incredible competitors – with Tanahashi especially moving forward faster than you might think…

Match #6 – IWGP Intercontinental Title - Tetsuya Naito (C) versus Jay Lethal

Jay Lethal was ushered into the main event for Power Struggle as the mighty Michael Elgin suffered an eye injury in a tag match meaning that he was unable to attempt to win back the Intercontinental Championship from the Ingobernables leader. This would be the first main event match of Lethal’s NJPW tenure and after this strong performance maybe he will find himself in this position again sometime in 2017.

Naito kicked Lethal out of LIJ on an ROH show earlier this year and as former partners they clearly know one another very well, a factor which played heavily into the bout as they continuously countered each other’s offence. The challenger hit a number of lovely moves including a combo of back suplexes and later, Elgin’s classic bucklebomb and Elginbomb, but he couldn’t put away Naito who battled back with a beautiful set of corner dropkicks, a tornado DDT from the Lethal Injection before finally finishing Lethal with a Destino from another Lethal Injection attempt.

It wasn’t anywhere close to the Elgin/Naito amazingness we got treated to previously but it was still really fun to watch and a worthy main event of a wonderful Power Struggle card. The crowd were super into Naito and hung on every move in the match and every word of his very interesting promo that followed his victory.

During the promo a challenger arrived upon the ramp, and of course, it was TANAHASHI! Almost all NJPW fans have been predicting and wanting this match for months and it we will get to witness it at the Tokyo Dome this year. I’m excited and you should be too as when Naito and Tanahashi meet at last for the IC belt it will surely be one of the finest matches of the year. Do not miss it people!

World Tag League Preview

So that was the most interesting stuff that Power Struggle had to offer and it was truly wonderful watching material; now we have just one stop left before Wrestle Kingdom and that will be the World Tag League whereby the winners will be granted a title match on the January card, likely against current champions Guerrillas of Destiny . It seems fitting then that I have a quick bullet point look at the tag teams taking part and let you know how I think each will perform, so lets go!

Block A

• Hiroshi Tanahashi and Juice Robinson: Tanahashi already has a match set for Wrestle Kingdom so there’s no way these two will be winning. But I like the pairing, Robinson will surely benefit from working with a seasoned pro and be able to take pins for Tanahashi.

• TenKoji (Satoshi Kojima and Hiroyoshi Tenzan): TenCozy have been in the business for longer than I have been alive and have done it all, now they are winding down and Kojima has other commitments with Ricochet and David Finlay. Might make the final in a happy moment for the fans.

• BULLET CLUB (Yujiro Takahashi and Hangman Page (Adam Page)): 2 Bullet Club whipping boys with zero chance of doing anything of note.

• Manabu Nakanishi and Henare: Another combination of a young lion with a longtime wrestler, Nakanishi will hopefully be able to tutor Henare along and let the upstart show off too. No threat to the title though.

• War Machine (Hanson and Raymond Rowe): War Machine are the only ROH team taking part and will surely follow Michael Elgin’s suit in getting over fast in NJPW as they are powerful gaijins. Given the weakness of the block they might well make the final and are a dark horse to be the ones competing at Wrestle Kingdom.

• Leland Race (Jason Jones) and Brian Breaker: I have no idea who these guys are and won’t pretend to – they might be good, or they might do very little, most likely the latter.

• Guerillas of Destiny (Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa): The Bullet Club boys are already the champions so they almost certainly will not be winning the block but will likely come in a close second to keep them strong as champions. As mentioned, I hope they manage to put together a few decent matches.

• Tetsuya Naito and A Mystery Partner: Naito said he would be bringing something special for the Tag League and hopefully his mystery man is someone interesting. A partner from the UK indie scene much like CHAOS’ Will Ospreay would be awesome, Marty Scurll anyone?!

Block B

• Great Bash Heel (Togi Makabe and Tomoaki Honma): GBH won last year’s Tag League and won the belts from BULLET CLUB's Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson at Wrestle Kingdom 10. Since then they have been pretty anonymous and another league win would be surprising but beneficial for them. I don’t see it happening though.

• Katsuyori Shibata and Yuji Nagata: I actually had to re-write this part after Shibata won his NEVER Openweight title back from EVIL, before that I thought these two could go very far but instead they will likely just have solid matches and come up short of the finals.

• CHAOS (Kazuchika Okada and YOSHI-HASHI): Hashi has massively improved this year and pairing him with Okada again may be unwise as he needs more protection than he did in 2015. No way they will win, watch their matches though, they will be entertaining.

• CHAOS (Hirooki Goto and Tomohiro Ishii): This pair is my pick to win. Both are already big names in NJPW and can easily be the ones to bring prestige to the Heavyweight tag titles by having great matches each and every month. Plus, neither have anything set for WK yet and there’s no chance they won’t be appearing on the card.

• Yoshitatsu (Naofumi Yamamoto) and Billy Gunn: Tatsu and Gunn? Yea, I don’t understand it either. They will probably be there for comedy purposes. No hope.

• Kenny Omega and Chase Owens: Owens will likely be taking a bunch of pins for the team as they won’t be winning the block. Omega is ready for the main event at the Dome and nothing else.

• BULLET CLUB (Bad Luck Fale and BONE SOLDIER (Captain New Japan)) : Fale and Boner, are you having a laugh?! Fale might win a couple of matches to keep him strong, other than that, they’ll be losing a lot.

• Los Ingobernables de Japon (SANADA and EVIL): In my opinion, these are the only guys who might top Goto and Ishii, especially since EVIL doesn’t have his NEVER Openweight title. Both LIJ have been in high profile matches towards the end of the year and I wouldn’t be shocked to see the twosome advance to the Dome. 1^st or 2^nd place inbound.

So the winners of the Tag League will almost certainly come from Block B with Goto/Ishii or SANADA/EVIL the pairings most likely to gain victory over all others and win the straps at Wrestle Kingdom. I would say Ishii and Goto have the best chance also because they would be babyface challengers to the heel Guerrillas of Destiny.

And that’s it done, Power Struggle was a blast, the Tag League should be a fun watch and we have 4 matches already set for the mighty Wrestle Kingdom 11 show on January 4^th. So go and check out New Japan Pro Wrestling and get yourself ready for what might well be the finest PPV of 2017 – let us know what you think will happen and what you think of the current New Japan product, we would love to have your views.

Words - Thomas Brady 

Images - Thomas Brady & James Marston

Editor - James Marston 

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Opinion: NJPW Power Struggle 2016 - AKA The Los Ingobernables de Japon Show

Power Struggle this year is all about one group, the wonderful Los Ingobernables De Japon; of the 5 matches announced so far for the 5th November event, 4 of them involve members of the stable in headline matches. 

The group, led by Tetsuya Naito, have been a true standout in New Japan this year, successfully filling the void of AJ Styles, Shinsuke Nakamura, Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson and participating in main event level clashes throughout the year. Clearly they deserve to have this PPV based around them and I’m very excited to see their path of destruction continue in Osaka.

Throughout the year they have been a menace to all those before them, including: CHAOS, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Michael Elgin, commentators, ring announcers and beyond as Tetsuya Naito sneaked his way to win the New Japan cup and IWGP Heavyweight belt earlier in the year. People were worried after he dropped the title back to Kazuchika Okada that the clan’s momentum would be stunted and they would perhaps struggle to recover but in actual fact the opposite has occurred, as Naito, EVIL, BUSHI and SANADA have all going from strength to strength.

The 3 heavyweights all had solid showings in the G1 Climax with Naito just missing out of a place in the finals after a match of the year contender versus Kenny Omega and now he holds the IWGP Intercontinental championship having knocked off Elgin last month in another classic bout whilst BUSHI managed to claim his Junior Heavyweight strap over the same set of Destruction shows.

But how will their matches go at Power Struggle? Will they be able to topple their foes or could the faction have bitten off more than they can chew recently? I’m predicting a 50/50 split of wins and losses for the foursome, and here’s a rundown of their quartet of announced matches.

Match #1 – BUSHI (C) versus KUSHIDA

As mentioned previous, BUSHI managed to capture the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship last month at the Destruction in Tokyo event. The masked apprentice won the belt in a match littered with dirty tactics as we saw interference from the other LIJ members, T-shirt choking and even the dreaded black mist to blind his foe. 

The man he screwed over that night was his challenger, KUSHIDA. BUSHI criticised the automatic rematch clause and was reluctant to give the number one contender his deserved shot, but following their 8-man tag at King of Pro Wrestling last week, BUSHI and company laid out KUSHIDA, forcing him to leave on a stretcher and ruling him out of the Power Struggle house shows with a neck injury.

Given the damage Ingobernables have inflicted on the former champion in recent weeks, BUSHI is the clear favourite to keep hold of his new belt as he is the fresher of the two and with the other members of L.I.J having their own fights to focus on I would predict far fewer shenanigans around the contest, which I’m all for based on their match in February at the New Beginning PPV. 

Expect a whole heap of high-flying from the pair as they both are high-risk, high-reward style fighters, and with the belt on the line again they are sure to give everything they have for the most prestigious junior championship in the game. BUSHI should have enough to defeat an injured KUSHIDA with his MX finisher again but it should be 15 minutes of pure action and is not one to be missed.

Match #2 – SANADA versus Hiroshi Tanahashi

You may know SANADA, the newest member of Los Ingobernables, from his orange-haired days in TNA but now the man is almost unrecognisable from those days as he looks to topple one of the greatest pro-wrestlers Japan has ever seen, Tanahashi. 

Tana hasn’t had the best of years so far, he lost the Wrestle Kingdom main event, his Intercontinental Championship match against Omega, got injured and didn’t reach the finals of the G1 Climax. He really needs a victory in order to end his 2016 on a high heading into the January 4th Tokyo Dome show where he is sure to have a huge match once again. 

SANADA on the other hand beat his opponent at the aforementioned G1 on the first night with his dragon sleeper submission and I would imagine this match will be very similar barring the finish. Tanahashi, who is still getting over his shoulder injury will likely get dominated in the early game by SANADA’s striking before making a huge comeback to hit his patented Hi-Fly-Flo in order to gain revenge for his G1 defeat. But simply beating SANADA will surely not be enough for the face who runs the place in Japan…

With the January Tokyo Dome show looming Tanahashi will surely be in the co-main event at the very least, and as his rivalry with L.I.J just bubbling under at the moment I would predict it to boil over after this PPV with him almost certainly colliding with Naito for the IWGP Intercontinental Champion at Wrestle Kingdom 11. The match has been in the pipeline for some time and seeing the pair explode on the grandest stage in Japan would be a delight, keep your eyes out for this feud unfolding.

Match #3 – EVIL versus Katsuyori Shibata (C)

EVIL gunning for Shibata’s NEVER Openweight Championship is something I have personally wanted to see for the majority of the year, and since the champion has beaten a whole flock of worthy contenders the King of Darkness seems an appropriate choice to attempt to knock of one of the hardest men in pro-wrestling today.

The big enforcer got his shot at the belt after blindsiding Shibata at Kings of Pro Wrestling when the latter was distracted by Go Shiozaki, who will instead get a non-title match with Katsuyori at NOAH’s show on October 23rd. With NOAH versus Shibata set to run throughout the winter his match with EVIL feels more like a side-quest rather than a main story adventure for the current belt holder, but that adds to the intrigue over who will leave with the strap. 

This match is going to be rougher than me on a Sunday morning after a night on the booze. As per the majority of Shibata’s matches, he and EVIL are going to kick the stuffing out of one another until one of the pair has nothing left to give. Clotheslines, giant kicks and suplexes will be the flavour of the bout with only the stronger surviving when the dust settles. 

Either man may finish the strongest in this case. Shibata could easily carry the belt through to Wrestle Kingdom to face either Go Shiozaki or Minoru Suzuki, but the story would still work without it, and EVIL could gain some real pedigree by having the championship round his waist, but in the same breath, he could kill it in the world tag league alongside Naito or SANADA. Personally, I’m going for a Shibata win as the belt has become synonymous with him this year and a big match for the title at WK11 would be the icing on the cake of his reign.

Match #4 – Tetsuya Naito (C) versus Jay Lethal

What more can be said about the 2016 of Tetsuya Naito? He has pushed the boundaries to become the most entertaining character and is right up there with Styles and Omega as my pick for wrestler of the year. He is more over than ever before and now the Intercontinental champion in New Japan after capturing the title from Elgin last month in a breathtaking match – and in this main event for Power Struggle I would expect another wonderful face-off.

Elgin was due for his rematch here but since he suffered an injury to the eye socket at KOPW the former ROH champion, Jay Lethal has stepped up. Lethal had aligned with L.I.J back in February but after turning face in August he no longer associated with the faction and scored a victory over Naito at ROH’s All Star Extravaganza, making him the perfect replacement as he is owed a title match.

Their previous match was very slick and smooth as to be expected and I would love to see them turn in up an extra notch here in Osaka; I’m dying to see a Lethal Injection reversed into a Destino or vice-versa. Lethal will surely put on a great show and give a tremendous fight to Naito but I can only see this top-card bout going one way, and that’s to the champion. 

Lethal, having beat his former partner previously, will lose little in defeat, and should he show the heart and desire we have come to expect from him, the New Japan crowd will surely get behind him through the contest and in the future. But Naito is perfectly placed to star in the co-main at the Tokyo Dome and a loss here would make zero sense to the man who has more momentum than a bullet train right now. Naito v Tanahashi is a dream match and if it doesn’t occur it’ll be criminal, I just pray we get given what we so crave. 
So there you have it, Los Ingobernables De Japon are on a roll and deservedly will be featured all across the Power Struggle card. Naito and BUSHI should retain their prestigious belts and so long as SANADA and EVIL perform well in their matches they will be able to threaten in the upcoming World Tag League too. 

If you have not checked out Japan’s hottest faction yet I would fully recommend it as you are missing out on some incredible matches, antics and stories. Here’s to them and here’s to Power Struggle 2016, it should be a cracker!

Words & Images - Thomas Brady 
Editor - James Marston