New Japan Pro Wrestling Articles - Page 5

Folks, it’s (basically) official: after roughly seven months of will-they, won’t-they, it sure sounds like Sasha Banks will be making her professional wrestling re-debut outside of WWE at Wrestle Kingdom 17, when she debuts for New Japan Pro Wrestling under another name, be it Mercedes Mone’ or Mercedes Varnado. But why? Why is WWE really […]

If “Switchblade” Jay White is the catalyst of professional wrestling, then The Good Brothers, “Machine Gun” Karl “Bright Lights” Anderson and “The Big LG” Doc-now-Luke Gallows, are his worker bees who have taken the Bullet Club gospel to Impact, AEW, and now WWE, where they work alongside another former Bullet Club leader, A.J. Styles and […]

Sasha Banks’ status in WWE has been one of the biggest stories in professional wrestling since, well, since she and Naomi – real name Trinity Fatu – walked out of the company back in June when Vince McMahon was in charge. It’s been reported numerous times that she’s done, just as many times that she’s […]

When Michael Cole ran through the histories of A.J. Styles and Finn Balor, not just in WWE but in New Japan Pro Wrestling, where the duo were both members and eventually leaders of Bullet Club, it proved one thing and one thing only: this isn’t your Daddy’s WWE. Now sure, it’s borderline impossible to accurately […]

As AEW prepares to return to Chicago for the first show since Kenny Omega, and the Young Bucks, made their triumphant return at Full Gear, one question hangs above the entire event: will fans boo The Elite? Recall, if you will, that Chicago is CM Punk country, and after making his triumphant return to professional […]

When Kenny Omega and the Young Bucks, Nick Jackson and Matt Jackson, made their return in AEW in a World Trios Championship Match against Death Triangle, fans were over the moon. Finally, after almost three months away from an AEW ring following their suspensions for taking part in the “Brawl Out” with CM Punk and […]

Folks, the Good Brothers are officially in WWE. That’s right, while the news of Doc-now-Luke Gallows and “Machine Gun” Karl Anderson jumping ship from NJPW and Impact to The Fed is nothing new, as the return of The OC is so well-worn that they’ve already worked a “Premium Live Event” and added a fourth member […]

Lio Rush has been out of AEW for way longer than he was in the promotion at this point. Initially debuting at Double or Nothing 2021 as the joker in the Casino Battle Royale, Rush was injured in his initial debut but returned to Tony Khan’s company in November of the same year, where he […]

Heading into AEW Dynamite, Tony Khan set a very interesting stipulation for Orange Cassidy’s latest All-Atlantic Championship defense; in order to retain his title, Cassidy would not only have to face off against Rey Fenix, one of the most dominant high-flyers in professional wrestling, but also Luchasaurus, Christian Cage’s “Right Hand of Destruction.” A tough […]

Karl Anderson and his “Good Brother” Doc-now-Luke Gallows are officially back in WWE. Yes, technically, the former is still the Never Openweight Champion of New Japan Pro Wrestling and even has the belt for good measure, but instead of gearing up for an appearance at NJPW Battle Autumn on November 5th, the “Machine Gun” was […]

NJPW goofed up when it comes to the Good Brothers. After agreeing to a handshake deal to keep the duo of Doc-now-Luke Gallows and “Machine Gun” Karl Anderson around through Wrestle Kingdom in January and even giving the latter the NEVER Open Weight Championship for his efforts, the company watched on in horror as they […]

When the Good Brothers, “The Machine Gun” Karl Anderson and Doc-now-Luke Gallows showed up on RAW as backup for A.J. Styles versus fellow former Bullet Club leader Finn Balor, it not only sent shockwaves through the WWE Universe but the professional wrestling world as a whole. Though their in-ring time in Impact Wrestling had come […]

When Sting debuted in AEW at Winter Is Coming in December of 2020, it felt like a massive deal. Sure, that particular show was always going to be a big one, as more than a few fans had a feeling that Kenny Omega was going to take the strap off of Jon Moxley to begin […]

FTR haven’t wrestled on AEW television since Dynamite episode 152, when they wrestled alongside former Pinnacle member Wardlow in a trios match against Ren Jones, Vic Capri, and ex-Ring of Honor stalwart Silas Young. Now granted, they have been on AEW programming once since then, as the very same trio wrestled another long-time ROH member, […]

On Friday evening, the professional wrestling world learned of the loss of Antonio Inoki, the wrestler-turned-promoter-turned-politician who founded New Japan Pro Wrestling and notoriously fought Muhammad Ali at Budokan Hall in 1976. Whether working in NJPW, coming to America for matches in WCW, WWE, or NWA, or simply showcasing his “fighting spirit” as one of […]

It looks like Jon Moxley won’t be taking it easy as AEW World Champion any time soon. That’s right, after defeating fellow Blackpool Combat Club member Bryan Danielson in a barn burner of a match on Wednesday at Grand Slam for the belt, Mox already had his next two opponents in line by the end […]

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before, but Will Ospreay and Kenny Omega really don’t like each other. Though the duo have seldom crossed paths over the past three years, as Omega has been stateside in AEW while Ospreay has thrived in New Japan Pro Wrestling as one of the promotion’s top gaijin stars, […]

Before there was Will Ospreay, Hiroshi Tanahashi, The Good Brothers, and even Kazuchika Okada, there was KENTA, the first man to officially walk through the Forbidden Door between AEW and NJPW. That’s right, though it feels like a generation ago, as Cody Rhodes was still a member of the company and folks like CM Punk, […]

When discussing the best modern champions in professional wrestling, a few teams routinely come to mind. There’s the Young Bucks and FTR of AEW, The Usos of WWE, and even the Briscoe Brothers, who have wrestled for Impact and GCW in addition to their prolific run in Ring of Honor But one team who doesn’t […]

If you’re a hardcore fan of professional wrestling who watches everything from WWE to PWG, you may have noticed that Jonah, aka NXT’s Bronson Reed, has been noticeably absent from Impact television since all the way back in April, when the “Top Dog” lost a “Monster Ball” match to PCO of Honor No More. What […]

There was a time in the not-too-distant past when The Good Brothers were one of the hottest teams in professional wrestling. They were competing for championships in Impact Wrestling, serving as Kenny Omega‘s heavies on his cross-promotional “Belt Collector” tour, and were preparing for a return to NJPW whenever the conditions were right. And yet, […]

Unfortunately, Will Ospreay is not a member of AEW. Sure, he’s wrestled in the promotion on four occasions – five if you count Forbidden Door – and has appeared on the promotion’s programming a few more times, but alas, Ospreay remains contracted to New Japan Pro Wrestling, and unless Gedo and company opt to relieve […]

As AEW fans may or may not know, Kenny Omega and Will Ospreay do not like each other. Their shared tenure in New Japan Pro Wrestling ended on bad terms, with Ospreay “blowing out Kota Ibushi’s brain” ahead of Omega’s final match, and even now that Omega is a member of AEW, the love between […]

AEW’s Andrade El Idolo is on a bit of a roll. Though his team, La Faccion Ingobernable, dropped arguably their most important bout in AEW so far when they lost in the first round of the AEW World Trios Championship Tournament to the Elite trio of Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks, Andrade was able […]

“Hangman” Adam Page had a fantastic run in AEW over the past year. He had a grand buildup to his eventual championship match with former tag team partner Kenny Omega – a run that saw the former member of “The Elite” overcome a crisis of confidence to win the belts at Full Gear – a […]

When AEW announced that Andrade El Idolo and Rush would be joined by none other than Dragon Lee for the tournament to decide on the inaugural winners of the AEW World Trios Championship, it felt like a big deal. Rush and Lee had just turned in a fantastic singles match at Ring of Honor’s Death […]

During his interview with Danny Limelight on the SHAK Wrestling YouTube Channel, Shakiel Mahjouri asked “The Radioactive Papi” about all sorts of different topics, from his thoughts on WWE, to his status in MLW and even his matches with Konosuke Takeshita and Kenny Omega, but the one question that rose above the rest and will […]

A little over three years ago, Kenny Omega decided to take his talents to a brand new professional wrestling company by the name of AEW and left his long-time, on-again, off-again tag team partner Kota Ibushi back in Japan. At the time, this break-up was sad but expected; Ibushi signed a very long-term contract to […]

As the AEW Galaxy prepares for the World Trios Championship Tournament, which will culminate in a bout at All Out, broadcast live from the Now Arena in Chicago, one of the teams with a first-round spot in the tournament just secured some massive momentum heading into the round of eight. That’s right, the team of […]

Kenny Omega has officially been a contracted member of the AEW Galaxy since February 7th, 2019. He’s wrestled 71 matches for the promotion, has been a part of some of the most exciting makes of the past three years regardless of promotion, and for 346 days, had one of the most consequential championship runs in […]

Theoretically, AEW has enough performers under contract that they could field an NCAA-style 64-team tournament to decide on the inaugural AEW World Trios Champions. They could field multiple teams from the same factions, call up performers from AEW Dark, and even bring over Ring of Honor performers like The Righteous and current ROH Six-Man Champions, […]

It’s hard to look at Forbidden Door, the AEW x NJPW Pay-Per-View as anything other than a resounding success for all parties involved. AEW did another massive gate in Chicago, a city so good to the Khan company that some have even linked a potential Jaguars move from Jacksonville to the soon-to-be-vacant Soldier Field, NJPW […]

What do WWE‘s Natalya and Will Ospreay of NJPW have in common? On paper, the answer is a clear nothing; Natalya has never stepped foot in a New Japan ring, and Ospreay has, to the internet’s best knowledge, never even worked out for Vince McMahon’s former company. And yet, in quite possibly the weirdest story […]

When Karl Fredericks had a very public falling out with New Japan Pro Wrestling over not being booked for the Best of the Super Juniors, it felt like the end of an era for the first-ever class of NJPW Strong. Smack dab right in the middle of a compelling Strong storyline where Fredericks was working […]

In case you haven’t heard, Kenny Omega and Will Ospreay are in the middle of an all-out social media war that supersedes their respective roles in AEW and NJPW. The duo have knocked each other’s in-ring abilities, critiqued the way they handle things backstage, and a host of other issues that you can read about […]

In case you haven’t heard, Fightful Select is reporting that Kenny Omega’s return to AEW is in the not-too-distant future, with Tony Khan and company already readying their roster for the “Best Bout Machine’s” eventual return. All things considered, this is very good news indeed. Though Omega’s absence has been for the right reasons both […]

No wrestler in AEW history has ever kicked out of the One-Winged Angel; the finisher is considered one of the most protected finishing moves in all of wrestling and has become so ubiquitous that even casual fans know the name of the Kenny Omega move, a name he stole from Final Fantasy 7 villain Sephiroth. […]

When news broke that Alan “5” Angels of the Dark Order was leaving AEW after failing to agree to a new contract with Tony Khan and company, it felt like a pretty big deal in the grand scheme of the faction’s future in the promotion. Sure, they lost Stu Grayson to a similar contract dispute […]

Fresh off of watching their archrivals, the Young Bucks, lose their AEW Tag Team Championships without either Jackson eating a pin – making their FTYB hashtag totally invalid – FTR have officially landed another choice match in their wrestling careers, taking on the trio of Aussie Open and TJP alongside NJPW standout Alex Zayne at […]