With the completion of the Best of the Super Juniors tour this past weekend, New Japan has announced details of its major summer events, the Dominion show on 7/5 in Osaka and the 25th annual G-1 Climax tournament.
The G-1 Climax lineup is very similar to last year, which was only the single greatest tournament in pro wrestling history. But it's almost a disappointment anyway. With the ownership in Pro Wrestling NOAH, there was hope that would open doors to mixing in first-run talent in the tournament, such as a Naomichi Marufuji or a Takashi Sugiura, as well as maybe one interesting smaller promotion star or a surprise foreigner to make the 25th tournament special. Instead, they've cut down from 22 wrestlers to 20, with four wrestlers out from last year–Lance Archer, Davey Boy Smith Jr., Minoru Suzuki and Shelton Benjamin, and two in, Kota Ibushi (who was supposed to be in last year but suffered a concussion a few weeks prior to the tournament, and was in the 2013 tournament where he had his first great singles match with Shinsuke Nakamura) and Michael Elgin (first time in and debut with the promotion).
Archer, Smith Jr., Suzuki and Benjamin are now working for Pro Wrestling NOAH. Archer & Smith Jr. are the GHC and NWA tag champs. Suzuki is the GHC heavyweight champion. It's very clear from a booking standpoint that while New Japan will send wrestlers to NOAH shows and tournaments, they are not going to use NOAH champions and regulars on their biggest events. Last year, Smith Jr. and Archer both had several good matches and Smith was the one who beat Hiroshi Tanahashi to keep him from going to the finals. Suzuki had last year's Match of the Year winner with A.J. Styles during the tournament. His not being in was the biggest disappointment when the lineup was announced at the 6/7 New Japan show at the second Yoyogi Gym in Tokyo.
The decision on this lineup, and apparently where they are going with the Tokyo Dome main event, was made prior to the New Japan/ROH tour. There was some hope from those in ROH that the great performance by Roderick Strong would open up a second spot, because the deal with Elgin was made and completed some time back.
The 20 participants announced were Kazuchika Okada, IWGP heavyweight champion Styles, IC champion Hirooki Goto, Never champion Togi Makabe, Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Yuji Nagata, Satoshi Kojima, Tetsuya Naito, Katsuyori Shibata, Nakamura, Toru Yano, Tomohiro Ishii, Yujiro Takahashi, Karl Anderson, Doc Gallows, Bad Luck Fale, Elgin, Ibushi and Tomoaki Honma.
Honma earned his spot being one of the highlights of last year's tournament. Kazushi Sakuraba, who only works big shows for the company, was not put in, probably because he's limited in what he can do. He's been the one guy who is a featured star with the promotion who hasn't been in during prior years. There was also nobody from the junior heavyweight division put in.
The blocks and cards have not been announced, but the tournament will run from 7/20 to 8/16, by far the longest in history with the most shows. The idea is to have fewer tournament matches on each show, so that the tournament matches will get more time to be able to reach or exceed the level of the past two years, and the talent will have more down time, either days off, or days working less demanding tags and trios matches, between their important matches.
The opening night will be 7/20 in Sapporo for an afternoon show which would be a late Sunday night in the U.S., which is likely a big show The other dates are 7/23 in Shizuoka, 7/24 in Kyoto (likely a big show), 7/25 in Kagawa, 7/26 in Hiroshima (likely a big show), 7/28 in Oita, 7/29 in Fukuoka (likely a big show), 8/1 in Osaka (traditionally one of the biggest shows of the year), 8/2 in Nagoya (also a major show), 8/4 in Miyagi, 8/5 in Iwate, 8/7 back in Shizuoka and 8/8 in Kanagawa.
The last six shows will be in Tokyo, with three shows at Korakuen Hall on8/9, 8/11 and 8/12, and the final three shows at Sumo Hall on 8/14, 8/15 and 8/16. The belief is that every show will air live, since that's what they did the previous two years as part of the G-1 PPV package. In the past, New Japan charged $110 to $160 for the complete G-1 package, but this year one can get it as part of a monthly subscription fee that, if ordered on the first day and covers one month, would be only $8.11.
There has been at least talk of the final night of G-1 airing on traditional PPV in the U.S. as a lower-cost but also lower-reward taped show. The rumor mill is that if it does happen, it would be an ROH produced show, where Kevin Kelly and Steve Corino do voice overs from the U.S. as opposed to going live and a Jeff Jarrett produced show. Right now, such a deal is not in place.
Jarrett gave the impression New Japan isn't as interested in the U.S. PPV market because growing New Japan World is their goal, however the Wrestle Kingdom 9 show did about 15,000 buys on traditional PPV and a few thousand more on the Flipps App, at a much higher price. The entire out of Japan subscriber number for New Japan World is about 3,000, at a much lower price. But there is a dynamic regarding TV-Asahi, as partners in the streaming service regarding live airing of the shows via other methods outside the Japan market. The thing is, the PPV in the North American market is far more viable than New Japan World because of the English language broadcasting as well as people more apt to order via traditional means. A Japanese only broadcast greatly limits potential growth of the product in this market.
I don't know that a taped PPV, unless it's a same day tape where it would air in the traditional Sunday 8 p.m. time slot in the U.S. (The G-1 finals on 8/16 fall on a Sunday, but it's in the middle of the night), is even viable in the current marketplace. My gut says same day in the traditional slot if there is full clearance would work. ROH also has television to promote a potential show, but anything past same day would be iffy. And this coming year, January 4th comes on a Monday.
"As you know, we have formed a strong relationship with New Japan and we continue to strengthen it in an effort to strategically bring the best wrestlers in the world, to the world," said ROH CEO Joe Koff. "There are definitely many opportunities between our companies to do things like this, but nothing has been written."
Koff said that ROH would release information regarding any new deal of this type as soon as it comes to fruition.
For Tenzan, this is his 20th year in the G-1. Others with more than ten years in are Nagata with 17, Tanahashi with 14, Kojima with 14, Makabe with 12, Nakamura with 12 and Yano with 10.
Prior winners of the tournament who are in this year's tournament are Tanahashi (2007), Goto (2008), Makabe (2009), Naito (2013), Tenzan (2003, 2004 and 2006), Kojima (2010), Nagata (2001), Okada (2012 and 2014) and Nakamura (2011). Tanahashi and Nakamura would seem to be the favorites this year, because they are the company's biggest stars and each has only won once. Because of the main event spot at the Tokyo Dome involved, that would seem to leave the number of potential winners rather small, with Ibushi and Ishii perhaps being big enough stars. Ibushi was in the No. 2 match at the Dome last year and followed by taking the New Japan Cup. Ishii is super popular with the regular audience, but the idea of putting him in the Dome main event is a risk. The loser of the Okada vs. Styles match is also a possible G-1 winner. No foreigner has ever won the G-1 tournament, and it may be a risk to headline the Dome with Styles as the challenger going for the title. The last foreigner to headline a New Japan Dome show was Brock Lesnar in 2005 and 2006. That's when the situation was very different. New Japan was at a low point, and those shows didn't do well at all.
The tradition is that the G-1 winner will challenge for the IWGP championship at the 1/4 Tokyo Dome show. However, it is a process where the winner gets a briefcase, modeled after WWE's Money in the Bank, but has to defend the briefcase for several months on PPV shows. Thus far, they've never had someone beat the G-1 champion before the Tokyo Dome show.
Styles or Okada will be IWGP champion in G-1, and the rule of thumb is that the IWGP champion will lose a couple of matches in the tournament's round-robin, and those wrestlers will challenge him on PPVs for the remainder of 2015. So essentially, if this is booked the same as in the past, most, if not every IWGP title match from September through the Tokyo Dome will be set up during the tournament. Even if the title was to change hands during that period, one would think the losses the champion has in the G-1 will play a part in title defenses going forward.
With the Best of the Super Junior tournament over, New Japan was able to announce the complete show for the Dominion PPV on 7/5 at Osaka Jo Hall. This is the company's biggest show since the Tokyo Dome.
It will air at about 2:45 a.m. the morning on July 5th Eastern time and 11:45 p.m. Saturday night Pacific time, with the full card being Kojima & Tenzan & Jushin Liger & Tiger Mask & Yohei Komatsu vs. Nagata & Manabu Nakanishi & Ryusuke Taguchi & Mascara Dorada & Sho Tanaka, Young Bucks defend the IWGP jr. tag titles against Rocky Romero & Barreta and Bobby Fish & Kyle O'Reilly, Naito & Honma vs. Takahashi & Fale, Shibata vs. Sakuraba (their first singles match in New Japan although Sakuraba beat Shibata via armbar in 2007 with the Hero's MMA group), Kenny Omega vs. Kushida for the IWGP jr. title, Makabe vs. Ishii for the Never Open weight title, Michael Bennett & Matt Taven (with Maria Kanellis) defend the IWGP tag titles against Gallows & Anderson (with Amber Gallows), Tanahashi vs. Yano, Goto vs. Nakamura for the IC title and Styles vs. Okada for the IWGP heavyweight title.
It looks on paper like the best show since the Dome. Styles vs. Okada is close to a can't miss, as is Goto vs. Nakamura. Tanahashi vs. Yano should finally end their program with a Tanahashi win, although I don't expect much of a match out of it. The heavyweight tag title match is likely to be more Americanized and probably the first bout out of intermission. Makabe vs. Ishii should tear it up before intermission, and Kushida should have the best match that Omega has had since winning the title. Sakuraba vs. Shibata has been great thus far with the short teases in the tag matches of late. You never know what you get with a Sakuraba single, but Shibata almost always delivers on the big shows. The jr. tag title match looks great on paper, but it's tough for those guys because the stigma is it's the same teams that always face each other in almost every big show title match.
There are at least two other New Japan World shows before that card, with the 6/28 and 7/3 shows at Korakuen Hall, both with 5:30 a.m. Eastern time starts.
The 6/28 show has Taguchi vs. Jay White, Tiger Mask vs. Tanaka, Liger vs. David Finlay, Dorada vs. Komatsu, Tenzan & Kojima vs. Nagata & Captain New Japan, Naito & Nakanishi & Kushida vs. Fale & Tama Tonga & Omega, Okada & Romero & Barreta vs. Anderson & Gallows & Takahashi and an elimination match on top with Goto & Makabe & Tanahashi & Shibata & Honma vs. Nakamura & Ishii & Yano & Sakuraba & Yoshi-Hashi.
The 7/3 show has Komatsu & Tanaka vs. Fish & O'Reilly, Nagata & Liger & Tiger Mask vs. Nakanishi & Taguchi & Dorada, Tanahashi & Kojima & White vs. Fale & Omega & Cody Hall, Kushida & Captain New Japan vs. Omega & Takahashi, Makabe & Tanahashi & Naito vs. Ishii & Yano & Gedo, Goto & Shibata & Honma vs. Nakamura & Sakuraba & Yoshi-Hashi, and Okada & Taven & Bennett & Romero & Barreta vs. Styles & Anderson & Gallows & Young Bucks
watching wk9 now I forgot I had it on a flash drive plugged in my tv.
like five months later it automatically remembered where I left off. I'm on the dude who devitt turned on vs some dude named cage I think.
just finished wk9. The realism and moves that they are allowed to do are fukking off the charts 
my girl even commented like 
this looks way realer and doesn't have that annoying soap opera stuff. This was probably the only one he did but WWE is so stupid for not having JR still on commentary he's the best at what the does..he put the entire roster over especially the main event.
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