Post-G129 Press Conference: Ibushi Challenges Okada AND Naito for WK14, Full Super J-Cup, Royal Quest Lineups Announced; This Week’s NJPW on AXS
Last night/this morning, NJPW held their post-G1 Climax 29 press conference, which included statements from the winner, Kota Ibushi. Ibushi accepted the match contract at Wrestle Kingdom 14, to challenge Kazuchika Okada for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. He also said, he would take challenges from EVIL and the newest Bullet Club member, KENTA, as they beat Ibushi during G1.
He then blew the doors wide open on Tetsuya Naito’s chances of becoming a double champion, by challenging Naito to defend the IWGP Intercontinental Championship the next night, on 1/5/2020, assuming Ibushi wins the IWGP Heavyweight belt. So there you have it. The seeds are sown, as they’ve been seeding them since WK13 -- Naito and Ibushi both gunning to be double champions, and they are one of the only real feuds that has happened in NJPW in 2019.
So aren’t you all glad you had your nervous breakdown about Naito, Twitter? He now has a bigger window of opportunity than he would have had he WON G1 Climax.
Needless to say, this all depends on if NJPW actually do bite on this, however it’s all scripted, and you don’t tease a storyline all year long and not pay it off.
NJPW also finally announced the final three entrants into the Super J-Cup, as CHAOS members Will Ospreay & Robbie Eagles (which happened while I was on my hiatus, at the Souther Showdown shows in Australia) and Bullet Club’s El Phantasmo. Sadly, as suspected, the only people outside the NJPW/ROH/CMLL sphere of interest are Amazing Red and *spits* TJP. Which, the wrestlers are OK? But one of the appeals of the previous Super J-Cups were the combinations of wrestlers from other companies beside the hosts (Remember, NJPW was not always the host of Super J-Cup: WAR, Michinoku Pro and Osaka Pro had hosted in other years, although NJPW did host the inaugural event as well as the last two before this one). Now the Super J-Cup is an NJPW-centric single elimination tournament. Which is... OK, I guess?, but nothing special, other than it being held in the USA.
The full lineups will be below. NJPW is also stating that on 8/25/2019 in LA, Tetsuya Naito, Jay White and Juice Robinson will be appearing on that show.
The full card for the Royal Quest show in London on 8/31/2019 was also announced. Four title matches feature on this show, including an IWGP Heavyweight title defense between Kazuchika Okada v. Minoru Suzuki, who directly pinned Okada in a tag match yesterday. I was hoping this would be for King of Pro Wrestling. However, given how much Suzuki has been in, and part of, RevPro the last year or so, this does make sense, and should be a popular match.
Also on the show, Hiroshi Tanahashi will make his second challenge for Zack Sabre Jr.’s RevPro Undisputed British Heavyweight title in 2019, and hopefully not mess up his arm this time. The NEVER Openweight title will also be on defense, as Tomohiro Ishii will defend against KENTA, which should be hot and hard-hitting. Finally, the Guerillas of Destiny will face the challenge of the TBD winners of a currently ongoing RevPro tag tournament, as they also defend the IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team titles.
Also on this show, Tetsuya Naito will face the man who dumped him out of G1 Climax 29, Jay White, in a tag match, in what is surely build for a forthcoming IWGP Intercontinental defense.
According to NJPWWorld, all four shows listed below will be on tape delay of some kind; they’d best not wait too long since Road to Destruction starts on 9/4/2019. It also seems strange they wouldn’t have Royal Quest live during a weekend where a lot of wrestling is going on, what with AEW’s ALL OUT event going out live, but later in the day.
Super J-Cup 2019 - 8/22/2019, Temple Theater, Tacoma, WA
Jushin Thunder Liger & Karl Fredericks v. Shota Umino & Ren Narita
Super J-Cup 2019 First Round: Rocky Romero [CHAOS] v. Soberano Jr. [CMLL]
Super J-Cup 2019 First Round: Clark Connors v.TJP [FREE]
Super J-Cup 2019 First Round: Caristico [CMLL] v. BUSHI [Los Ingobernables]
Super J-Cup 2019 First Round: Ryusuke Taguchi v. Jonathan Gresham [ROH]
Super J-Cup 2019 First Round: Robbie Eagles [CHAOS] v. El Phantasmo [Bullet Club]
Super J-Cup 2019 First Round: YOH [CHAOS] v. Dragon Lee [CMLL]
Super J-Cup 2019 First Round: SHO [CHAOS] v. Taiji Ishimori [Bullet Club]
Super J-Cup 2019 First Round: Will Ospreay [CHAOS] v. Amazing Red [FREE]
- 8/24/2019, SFSU Student Life Events Center, San Francisco, CA
Super J-Cup 2019 Quarterfinal: TBD
Super J-Cup 2019 Quarterfinal: TBD
Super J-Cup 2019 Quarterfinal: TBD
Super J-Cup 2019 Quarterfinal: TBD
More TBA
- 8/25/2019, Walter Pyramid, Long Beach, CA
Super J-Cup 2019 Semifinal: TBD
Super J-Cup 2019 Semifinal: TBD
Super J-Cup 2019 Final: TBD
More TBA
NJPW Royal Quest - 8/31/2019, Copper Box Arena, London
Ryusuke Taguchi, Shota Umino & Ren Narita v. Rocky Romero, SHO & YOH [CHAOS]
Kota Ibushi & Juice Robinson v. Yujiro Takahashi & Hikuleo [Bullet Club]
Will Ospreay & Robbie Eagles [CHAOS] v. Taiji Ishimori & El Phantasmo [Bullet Club]
Tetsuya Naito & SANADA [Los Ingobernables] v. Jay White & Chase Owens [Bullet Club]
IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championship: Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa [Bullet Club] (c) v. TBD
NEVER Openweight Championship: Tomohiro Ishii [CHAOS] (c) v. KENTA [Bullet Club]
RevPro Undisputed British Heavyweight Championship: Zack Sabre Jr. [SZKG] (c) v. Hiroshi Tanahashi
IWGP Heavyweight Championship: Kazuchika Okada [CHAOS] (c) v. Minoru Suzuki [SZKG]
Well we are off same-day coverage of the Saturday G1 Climax shows, for obvious reasons. This week, NJPW on AXS will feature the B Block finals from Tokyo Nippon Budokan this past Sunday, 8/11/2019. Including the match that made Wrestling Twitter melt down. Show starts at 9pm EDT / 8pm CDT, preceded by WOW Women of Wrestling.
This might be it for me the rest of this week, until Super J-Cup begins, barring anything newsworthy. We are planning to return with a podcast this weekend to wrap up the G1 29 cycle, with a lot of rants and raves, and to talk Super J-Cup and Royal Quest some too. Stay tuned.
