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The Stars of NJPW Rock the WrestleCon Supershow!

APR.5.2019

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The Stars of NJPW Rock the WrestleCon Supershow!

The eyes of the wrestling world are on New York City, with NJPW and ROH presenting G1 Supercard from Madison Square Garden on April 6. Before that though, the stars of New Japan made their presence felt at the Mark Hitchcock Memorial Wrestlecon Supershow in New York Midtown’s Hilton Ballroom on Thursday April 4.

The first member of the NJPW roster looking to make an impact on the event was the Sniper of the Skies, Robbie Eagles. He faced a pair of hot lucha prospects in Arez and Flamita in a three way match. His win, with a spectacular 450 splash delivered to Arez, could be a huge sign of things to come, with his tag partner IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Taiji Ishimori in his own three way match against two of Mexico’s top luchadores this Saturday in MSG.

The fifth match of the night saw the hotly anticipated appearance of Jyushin Thunder Liger. Huge chants went up for the living legend, joined by paper streamers as Liger formed an unlikely trio against two more legends. Liger’s red and white were in contrast to the green and black of X-Pac and Shane ‘Hurricane’ Helms, as they faced Caleb Konley, Jake Manning and Zane Riley.

Liger had his fun in ring, passionately cheering on Helms as he participated in a mid match dance battle. When it came down to it though, he was all business. Mighty Shotei palm strikes were unloaded, and a vertical drop brainbuster saw the living legend victorious in one of his final appearances in New York as an active wrestler. Post match, both Helms and X-Pac credited Liger’s inspiration with kickstarting their careers, and a standing ovation reverberated through the ballroom. 

Some of CMLL’s biggest names were at Wrestlecon too, and Dragon Lee would take on Barbaro Cavernario in a high flying classic. Cavernario would land a death defying splash from top rope to floor in a bid to take out Lee, but it was one of the contenders to the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship Saturday picking up the win. Lee stood tall following the Desnucadora to Cavenario, but can the same be said after his IWGP Junior Heavyweight challenge Saturday in the Garden?

RPW’s Undisputed British Heavyweight Champion Zack Sabre Junior took on American favourite Shane ‘swerve’ Strickland in another huge singles match. Strickland had more than half the passionate crowd in his corner, and made Sabre work for every hold he put in. Strickland came close to victory more than a few times, but Sabre would ultimately spring the submission trap and leave victorious.

The main event of the evening saw NEVER Openweight Champion Will Ospreay in a non title match against Bandido. Ospreay started fast, landing a Space Flying Tiger Drop and Shooting Star Press within a minute of the opening bell. He was unable to polish Bandido off so quickly however, and the spectacular luchador would show how dangerous he could be. Bandido would unleash some brutal offense on Ospreay, but was unable to connect with his ’21’ handspring German Suplex. When he tried for the move one too many times, Ospreay would transition out and tease his Hidden Blade Elbow, before instead connecting with a Robinson Special and an OsCutter. Bandido would kick out of the cutter, but not the Stormbreaker, as the evening ended with Ospreay standing tall and the Wrestlecon crowd standing in appreciation. 

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