New Japan House Show 10.25.24

[swiete2000]

WWA New Japan House Show 10.25.24



President: Hiroshi Tanihashi

Referee: Marty Assami & Red Shoes Unno

Announcer: Kevin Kelley

Color Commentator Chris Charlton

Shown on New Japan World (New Japans streaming platform)



Venue: Kouraken Hall – Tokyo Japan



Show opens with Video Opening of Various Wrestler in New Japan Wrestling showing the Japanese Fighting Spirit. Kevin Kelley voice now is heard welcoming us to the inaugural show of New Japan Pro Wrestling in the WWA. Kevin makes mention that this promotion will showcase some great talent not just in Japan but all over the world. Kevin says he cant do this alone so he introduces his partner, Chris Charlton. Chris gives us some information that the fans have been clamoring in Japan since the announcement was made of this card and being involved in the WWA. Kevin makes mention that some talent is here to make themselves known, while some are here on trial basis to see if they can prove themselves to the Japanese audience.



Kevin mentions today in we will have two qualifying matches for two titles, for the IWGP Junior Tag Title we have Catch 22 (TJP & Francesco Akira) taking on D Courage (Yuki Yoshioka & Dragon Dia ) and Top Flight ( Dante & Darius Martin) taking on Bullet Club (Dan Maloney & Clark Connors). Also, we have Yuyu Uemura taking on Jacob Fatu and Dragon Lee taking on Madoka Kikuta in the NEVER Openweight Title matches. Lastly, Kevin makes mention our main event will the a eight man tag as Bullet Club (Jey Uso, Jay White, Jimmy Uso & Shun Skywalker) take on Elite (Cody Rhodes, Kenny Omega & Kota Ibushi) & Akira Tozawa.



First match on the card was the first of the IWGP Junior Tag Title qualifying matches, as Catch 22 (TJP & Francesco Akira) took on D Courage (Yuki Yoshioka & Dragon Dia.) Kevin and Chris again tell us that the winner of this match will take on the winner of the next match at Wrestle Kingdom for the IWGP Junior Tag Titles. This match opened up with some good action from both sides as they went on the attack right from the opening bell. New Japan fans have heard of Catch 22 in prior incarnations and Chris let us know D Courage is a stable of younger wrestlers wanting to make a name for themselves in New Japan. This stable was making a name for themselves in Dragon Gate Wrestling, but now came to New Japan to do same thing. Also, Chris let us know Dragon Dia was a protégée of Dragon Kid in Japanese Junior fame.



In this match, both teams teamwork was on full display as we saw some good technical trading moves and some good action in and out of the ring. There were time during the match that both sides looked like they could get the win. The finishing stretch saw Akira and Yoshioka battle to the outside as TJP and Dia stayed in the ring. Dia was going for a roleup off the ropes, but TJP caught him and transitioned to a Firemans Carry dropped to a Kick to the the head. The finish of the match came when TJP used a Mamba Splash (Frog Splash) to pin Dragon Dia. After the match, both sides looked at each other knowing they had an even match and results could change at the next altercation.



Our second match on the card was the second of the IWGP Junior Tag Title qualifying matches for Wrestle Kingdom, as Top Flight ( Dante & Darius Martin) took on a team representing the Bullet Club (Dan Maloney & Clark Connors.) The opening of this match started quick like the previous as the Bullet Club team attacked on the bell, but action spilled to outside where dives from Top Flight evened out the match. The action was then even during the match as both teams showed signs of a win could come at any moment. The ending stretch of the match saw some great action and saw previous winners Catch 22 come down and scope the action. What we found out is they were not just watching, as they distracted the Bullet Club team. Dan Maloney had executed a folding powerbomb to a pin on Dante Martin, but Francesco Akira got on the ring apron to distract him. As Maloney came to the ropes to argue, Dante Martin came too and when Maloney turned around Dante executed a springboard frankensteiner to get the pin.



After the match, Top Flight ran to the outside and celebrate as Connors and Maloney were aggravated they lost and tossing comments at Catch 22 who were laughing at the background. Looks like their previous battles in New Japan will continue in this version of New Japan in the WWA.



The third match on the card was another Title qualifier match for Wrestle Kingdom, as it was the first of the NEVER Openweight matches. In this match, we saw Yuya Uemura take on Jacob Fatu. Kevin made mention early in this match that Jacob was part of the Anaoi wrestling Family and mentioned how his family members had come to Japan to wrestle. This match started different then the previous two as it had a more slower pace. Yuya started on the attack early as he was looking to get an early advantage, but the power of Fatu was just too much. Jacob Fatu’s power was out advantage as he just beat Yuya into submission with hard power moves. The finish of the match came when Jacob Fatu came off the Top Rope with a crushing Diving Samoan Splash. After the match, Jacob Fate looked pleased with himself as he now has moved on to Wrestle Kingdom and awaits the winner of the next match.



Our fourth match of the card was the last of the Title Qualifier matches, as Dragon Lee took on Madoka Kikuta in the second of the NEVER Openweight matches. This match featured former IWGP Junior Champ Dragon Lee taking on former Dream Gate champ in Dragon Gate, Madoka Kikuta. This match started at a good pace as both sides were looking to show the fans they had good fighting spirit. On one side, we had Dragon Lee who was using technical ability mixed in with some aerial skill and on the other side we had Madoka Kikuta who used more ground hard hitting style. Finish of the match saw Dragon Lee pin Kikuta with Descunadora. Both men need not to hold their head low as the fans clapped in appreciation of a good match. Dragon Lee now moves on to Wrestle Kingdom to take on Jacob Fatu for the NEVER Openweight Title. Kevin and Chris talk a little bit about the action we saw and we go to intermission.



****** Intermission begins*****



Promo add plays hyping upcoming shows that will be happening for New Japan Stars. Our next show, Power Struggle in November, and the big New Years double shows, Wrestle Kingdom and New Years Dash.



Video was played hyping the streaming platform for New Japan… New Japan World … and it showed events in the archives.



****** Intermission ends *****



Fifth match of the card is our first match back from intermission, as United Empire (Chris Brookes, Great O Khan & Callum Newman) took on Rebellion (Kaito Kiyomiya, Kenoh & Alejandro) in a six man tag match. This match saw an introduction to a new stable to New Japan, in Rebellion as it featured New Japan eyes looking at new wrestlers to the promotion. The United Empire team did feature a new face, as we saw Chris Brookes come into the fold there. Both sides saw were on the attack with good action as we saw the United Empire team showecasing ground skill while the Rebellion team showed some ground skill but high fliying skill too. The two talkers for both teams, Great O Khan for United Empire and Kenoh for Rebellion, were on display early in the match too. The finish of the match came when Kaito Kiyomiya scored a Shining Wizard on Newman to get the pinfall. After the bell rang and winners being announces, we still had some words from both sides. As we are seeing by this, this feud looks not to be over.



Our sixth match on the card was the singles “hoss” fight of the night, as Shingo Takagi took on Masa Kitamiya. As was stated this was your proverbial two bulls going at each other and trying to see which one would slow down. This match had both competitors going for home runs. Many times during the match we saw Kitamiya going to legs of Shingo to set up his Prison Lock and even thought the submission was applied, Shingo would not tap. The finish of the match came when SHINGO used three Pumping Bomber Lariats to score the pin. After the match, both sides looked like they were in a war and still were glancing looks at each other.



Our semi main event of the card was an eight man tag match, as Just 5 Guys (TAICHI, SANADA, Douki & El Desperado) took on Nextream (Kento Miyahara, Yuma Aoyagi, Atsuki Aoyagi & Rising Hayato.) This match had a little showmanship in the beginning as we had dueling entrances by Taichi and Kento Miyahara which had the crowd clapping and increasing the charisma of the match. The Nextream team were the newer kids on the block entering New Japan and they definite showed at times they wanted to prove themselves. We had some good action from both sides and some good near falls. The finish of the match came when Miyahara used a Shutdown German Suplex on Douki.



The main event of the card was another eight man tag, as the Bullet Club Team (Jey Uso, Jay White, Jimmy Uso & Shun Skywalker) took on Elite (Kenny Omega & Kota Ibushi) teaming with Cody Rhodes & Akira Tozawa. This match featured the returning to New Japan from Jay White, Kenny Omega and Cody Rhodes. Jay White had came on twitter announcing that if he is coming back to Japan, he is not coming alone and he is bringing back the Bullet Club to install havoc in New Japan. This match had the Bullet Club team attacking after the bell rang and we had action in and out of the ring. The Omega team looked to be fighting an uphill battle all during this match. Finish came when Skywalker pinned Tozawa with the SSW. Shun let out a maniacal laugh with that pin as the Bullet Club did a post match beatdown, until the bell sounded multiple times to stop the attack.



The referees came to the ring to stop the Bullet Club attack and we saw them walking to the back happy about the job they have done. Kenny Omage propped himself up on the ropes and was shown on the mic telling the Bullet Club that he helped make them relevant in New Japan and if someone should stop them, its him. This feud looks to be kicking off by those words.

[Joe]

I will say right off the rip, looking over the card you did a great job of mixing in talent that some of the less initiated readers might know, which was a smart move. I know about 70%, but I am actively trying to become more familiar thanks to your work inspiring me to do so.

I am going to make a comment on the formatting: I've thought about dabbling in this style and appreciate you going for it. You formatted this like a straight forward writing assignment, as opposed to a more traditional results style you might find for this sort of thing, and I'll let you know how I like it as we continue. I give these reviews as I'm reading and things pop out to me, so I can't say how I truly like it yet.

I think having Catch 22 go over was the move, but I think this match is going to be revisited and we might see a reverse of fortune once D Courage get their footing a little bit. TJP being the one to get the win makes sense to me. I think I'd actually like to see TJP and Dia go at it in a singles bout.

If I were you, I would have switched the placement of the second and third matches, just to give a little change of pacing, as I feel the first two matches had a lot of similarity in the beats they were hitting.

I will say this second match was probably even more of a high flying, quick hitting affair than the first, as it seems like there was a bit more of a technical aspect to the opener. I think Maloney and Connors are more of a power duo, and weren't really grounding and grinding their opponents, so that probably played well, as Top Flight could play the speedy underdogs. We will see if it was wise for Catch 22 to anger the Bullet Club at a later date.

I wasn't sure if you were going to give Uemura the win here, but I wasn't surprised to see Jacob Fatu go over. So far, the names the less initiated might know have gone over, which could definitely be a smart play.

The trend continues into the next match, as we see Dragon Lee get a victory. A match between Dragon Lee and Jacob Fatu could be a really good one. I hope you flesh that one out a bit when it comes, as I think there's a good story there, and potentially a bigger feud that could come of it, given their families and affiliations.

I've reached intermission and I will give one formatting note: I think adding a little color would actually help this out. I'm enjoying the flow, but if I had to change one thing to make it pop a bit more, maybe adding color to the bolded names and like a dash for something like the intermission or commercial, of you have those later.

The fifth match was an exception to the rule I had spoken of previously, as I really didn't know anybody here, but I have recently watched some work from Kiyomiya and Kenoh based on your suggestions and reading your other work. Not that there is anything wrong with that, but I will be approaching this match firmly in your hands to guide me through these characters. Seeing as how Kiyomiya seems to be a big star, it's not surprising he got the win here.

I recently became familiar with Kitamiya and liked what I saw. Shingo is a guy I've been a big fan of for, hell, close to decades now. Seems like a bit of overkill to hit three lariats, but damn it, you gotta do what you gotta do.

The semi-main event would have been a good place to splash in a little more detail, as I can tell we have a lot of big stars here, so I'd have liked to have seen just a little more given to what transpired. That's something I always do, if you've ever read my shows, just kind of naturally as I get to my bigger matches, so it should come as no surprise that I was craving that here. You do what you want, obviously, just letting you know where my head was at. I want to know a bit more about those near falls and the big finale lol.

Man, you had all the big guns out for this main event. Way to bring the show home! And of all the stars, you had Shun Skywalker go over and show some personality! Nice way to make a star here in a match alongside some of the biggest names in the game today.

Nice way to set the table for the future with Omega vowing to put an end to the Bullet Club. Now let's see if The Cleaner can make good on that.

[jp1985]

The Bullet Club is going strong here with The Usos added to the mix. Cody Rhodes back in The Elite is good to see as well. A lot of star power going at it before Shun Skywalker picks up the win on Akira Tozawa. The attack afterward and Kenny Omega's words should keep things interesting vfrom here.

Two champions set to be crowned after Catch 22 and Top Flight get wins to go for the Junior Tag Team Title. Jacob Fatu and Dragon Lee advancing to the Never Openweight Title match should be really good come Wrestle Kingdom in the New Year.

You appear to be going the stables route here as well with the semi main going heavy on that idea. It is a good formula as it gives a little something extra to a lot of the matches. Nextream got the win over Just 5 Guys to start things off, but I think there will be more to come between them in other iterations.