NJPW 2020

NJPW: WORLD TAG LEAGUE – Night 9 (12.6.20)

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DECEMBER 6, 2020

FUKUOKA – FUKUOKA CONVENTION CENTER

 – Tonight we determine who will face off on the 11th in Buddokan for the World Tag League Finale.  6 teams are tied at the top spot for that chance,  They are:  Tomohiro Ishii & Toru Yano…Taichi & Zack Sabre Jr…YOSHI-HASHI & HIrooki Goto…David Finlay & Juice Robinson…Guerillas of Destiny…Shingo Takagi & SANADA.  There is no way to explain all the different scenarios as to who can win or how a tie will occur.  So let’s head down to the ring (WITH ENGLISH COMMENTARY!).

– Your hosts are Kevin Kelly, Gino Gambino, and Chris Charlton.

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NJPW: World Tag League – Night 8 (12.4.20)

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DECEMBER 4, 2020

OITA – BEPPU B-CON PLAZA

 

– After a short break, we are down to the final two nights of action before we crown this year’s champions.  Not many people would have predicted that Tomohiro Ishii & Toru Yano have sole possession of 1st place at the moment with 10 points.  Then it gets interesting.  Six (!) different teams are tied at 8 points for 2nd place.  We are here a day late, and a dollar short, from Oita to determine the card for Sunday’s matches in Fukuoka.  Let’s head to the ring.

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NJPW: World Tag League – Night 7 (11.30.20)

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NOVEMBER 30, 2020

TOKYO – KORAKUEN HALL

 – Night 7 action is upon us Live from Tokyo.  After a short break and a bigger venue, things tell me we may have a better show tonight.  Fin Juice vs. Dangerous Tekkers is your headliner tonight.  Speaking of the Tekkers, they are atop the leader boards with 8 points in a 3 way tie along with Shingo Takagi & SANADA and Tomohiro Ishii & Toru Yano.  Let’s head to the ring.

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NJPW: World Tag League – Night 6 (11.28.20)

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NOVEMBER 28, 2020

KANAGAWA – FUJISAWA CITY AKIBADAI CULTURAL GYMNASIUM

– Welcome to a live version of Night 6 action from Kanagawa.  Tonight’s headliner is YOSHI-HASHI & Hirooki Goto vs. Guerillas of Destiny.  On the leader board, we foinally have just one team atop the standings:  Shingo Takagi & SANADA with 8 points.  Beneath them are a whopping 5 teams all tied with 6 points.  Let’s head to the ring!

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NJPW: World Tag League – Night 5 (11.24.20)

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NOVEMBER 24, 2020

FUKUSHIMA・BIG PALETTE FUKUSHIMA

 – We are back a day late for Night 5 of the World Tag League.  It’s a 4 way tie at the top of the leader board with Shingo Takagi & SANADA, Guerillas of Destiny, EVIL & Yujiro Takahashi, and Great O-Khan & Jeff Cobb all having 6 points.  Let’s get going!

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NJPW: World Tag League Night 4 (11.22.20)

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NOVEMBER 22, 2020

NAGANO – SAKU CITY GENERAL GYMNASIUM

– LIVE for Night 4 action from Nagano.  Super stoked for General Tekkers vs. Guerillas of Destiny in the main event.  Just about the whole field is tied at 4 points, so it would be quicker to tell you who isn’t on the leader board.  HIrooki Goto and Toru Yano have 2 points.  Hiroshi Tanahashi and Toa Henare along with Bad Luck Fale and Chase Owens have yet to get a win.  Don’t forget to check out Rick Poehling’s coverage of the Super Junior’s Night Four portion tomorrow.

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NJPW: World Tag League – Night 3 (11.19.20)

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NOVEMBER 19, 2020

TOKYO – KORAKUEN HALL

– Night 3 is upon us with a lot to live up to after the incredible main event from night 2.  The Tag Team Champions, Taichi and Zack Sabre Jr are tied atop the standings with 4, along with EVIL and Yujiro Takahashi.

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NJPW: World Tag League 2020 Night 2 (11.16.20)

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NOVEMBER 16, 2020

YOSHITSUNE ARENA, ISHIKAWA

– Tonight is a quick turn around from the opening night of action.  A few upsets and a few surprises.  Then we head into a 3 day break after today’s action.  And from the looks of things, some guys already need it.

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NJPW: World Tag League 2020 Opening Night (11.15.20)

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NOVEMBER 15, 2020

AICHI PREFECTURAL GYMNASIUM

– It’s the opening night of the Best of Super Juniors Tournament, in conjunction with the opening night of the 2020 edition of World Tag League.  Rick Poehling will be handling the Juniors portion each night.   I will be your concierge for the World Tag League portion over the next month.  Let me show you to your room. 

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New Japan Pro Wrestling G1 Climax 30 – Final Night

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Hello You!

Well, we’ve had one heck of a tournament with lots of great matches and now it’s time to tie things off with a nice bow, with A Block Winner Kota Ibushi taking on B Block Winner SANADA.

Let’s find out who will be taking home the bacon!

You can read Rick’s review of the Final Night of B Block by clicking right HERE

Rick should also be doing a review of this particular show as well, so keep a look out for that!

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New Japan Pro Wrestling G1 Climax 30 – 16/10/2020 – A Block Night Nine

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Hello You!

Here we are, it’s time for the Final Night of A Block, with Jay White, Kazuchika Okada and Kota Ibushi all having a chance to win it (Although there may be an outside way for Will Ospreay to still manage it somehow, which will probably happen now just to make me look dumb. I could take this bit out of course, but I’ll leave it in, just for the craic)

My pick is Kota Ibushi, but I’ve enjoyed Okada’s run so much that I’ve decided I’d like him to win the Block. So expect a Jay White victory then!

Rick’s been doing a sterling job with the B Block and you can read his review of Night Eight by clicking right HERE

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New Japan Pro Wrestling G1 Climax 30 – 13/10/2020 – A Block Night Eight

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Hello You!

Cheers to all who said kind words last time out. Had a chat with my mum today and her temperature is pretty much back to normal and she felt well enough to go in the garden for a bit, so here’s hoping she’s past the worst of it.

I’m still in isolation, but I’ve thankfully had no COVID-19 symptoms thus far, so hopefully I should be able to get out and about as soon as my 14 days are up.

Anyway, we’re into the final two nights of A Block now, with a number of workers tied on 10 points. You’d think something would have to give in this round, so let’s see what happens!

If you’d like to read Rick’s review of B Block Night Seven then you can do so by clicking right HERE

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New Japan Pro Wrestling G1 Climax 30 – 10/10/2020 – A Block Night Seven

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Hello You!

More G1 action, and you can read Rick’s review of Night Six of B Block by clicking right HERE

It’s been an interesting week for me. As mentioned in the last A Block review, it was my birthday mid-week so I decided to spend it with my support bubble (If you live on your own in the UK then you’re allowed to visit one other household under the pandemic restrictions), of which my mum is a member.

However, my mum has since come down with COVID-19, which means I’m in isolation for 14 days. Thankfully I can do my entire day job from home and I’ve not shown any symptoms myself as of this writing, which hopefully stays the case. I’m missing my daily walk though, as it was how I got my exercise and cleared my head.

I’m worried about my mum though as she has asthma, which puts her in a high risk category, and I’ve been checking in on her regularly via phone. She’s still keeping to her bed but her temperature is going down at least. I’ve not been tested myself as the guidelines just say to isolate unless you get symptoms, and I’ve got a food delivery booked in for tomorrow, so I’m ready to hunker down. I’ve already had four days in isolation as I decided to play it safe the minute I was told she had symptoms, so just 10 left now and I’ll be released back into polite society.

So with that out of the way, let’s watch some chuffing wrestling so I can take my mind off it all.

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New Japan Pro Wrestling G1 Climax 30 – 07/10/2020 – A Block Night Six

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Hello You!

Let’s get to another night of A Block action. We’re in the second half of the fixtures now, as A Block is really taking shape.

You can read Rick’s review of Night Five of B Block by clicking right HERE

If you’ve got the time, I’ve also written an article on Roman Reigns’ recent heel turn called “The Rejuvenation of Roman Reigns” over on the website Gaming Respawn. If you fancy a read you can do so by clicking right HERE

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Mike Reviews – NJPW Summer Struggle In Jingu (29/08/2020)

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Hello You!

Rick’s been doing a fine job handling the New Japan shows on here so I had decided to focus on other things, but then Rick asked me to help out with G1 this year and I’ve been covering A Block (Which you can see read in my archives). I actually hand wrote this back when the show actually happened because I was intrigued by the stadium setting, but then decided not to post it. Seeing as I’ve dipped a toe back in the New Japan well, I decided to just stick this up as well. It’s over a month out of date, but hopefully no less interesting to read.

This was New Japan’s big event of the summer, featuring a rematch between Tetsuya Naito and EVIL for the IC and IWGP Titles. I’m all for them trying new guys and I’ve enjoyed EVIL’s work ever since he got that big win over Okada in the G1 a few years back, so I’m glad he got a shot and I was interested to see how this match went.

So without further ado, let’s watch some chuffing wrestling!

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New Japan Pro Wrestling G1 Climax 30 – 30/09/2020 – A Block Night Four

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Hello You!

Time for Night Four of A Block!

You can read Rick’s review of Night Three by clicking HERE

It’s been a wacky week here in the UK music wise, where my fellow Everton supporters, in high spirits due to a good start to the season, decided to knock Miley Cyrus off the top of the iTunes charts by buying a number of Everton related songs, with “Spirit of the Blues”, a song from our hot period in the 80’s, being the one that started it all going. A really nice aspect of it all is that one of the writers of the song (Kenny Parry) was going through a rough period due to losing his wife in recent years, and the song getting in the charts has really made his week, which makes it a win however you want to slice it I think.

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New Japan Pro Wrestling G1 Climax 30 – 19/09/2020 – A Block

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Hello You!

Please make sure to check out Rick’s excellent G1 Climax preview for the skinny on what’s taking place in the tournament this year.

I would have had this up earlier, but I had a nice trip to Clitheroe in the afternoon, so apologies for the delay.

I’ll be taking on A Block this year whilst Rick takes on B Block, so look out for his reviews when they go up also.

Great to be tagging with someone this year as it should hopefully make the workload easier to bare and I think it will be interesting to get two perspectives on things.

I haven’t got a clue who will win G1 this year, but I’ll go with Kota Ibushi as they were making him look like the star in the team with Tanahashi on the Summer Struggle Tour, which suggested a passing of the guard, and Ibushi Vs Naito at Wrestle Kingdom would be pretty rad.

So, without further ado, let’s start off Night One of A Block and watch some chuffing wrestling!

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