On June 29, Southern Showdown sees NJPW head to Melbourne, and the famed Festival Hall, a historic venue with over a century long legacy of combat sports. New Japan adds to that legacy with a huge tag team main event, and three championship matches.
Melbourne tickets still available!
Watch all the action live from 7PM AET (6PMJST, 10AMBST, 5AMEST, 2AMPST) on Fite TV!
Kazuchika Okada & Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Jay White & Bad Luck Fale
In the main event in Melbourne, Hiroshi Tanahashi makes his Australian debut and teams with Kazuchika Okada to take on BULLET CLUB’s Bad Luck Fale and Jay White.
White has openly claimed, many times, that he brought once rivals Okada and Tanahashi together through his actions betraying CHAOS and taking the helm in BULLET CLUB. It was White’s actions that saw an iconic handshake between the two in October, and the foundation of the ‘Dream Team’, but the dream quickly turned nightmarish.
From the first time they teamed together on November 29 2018 through to Wrestle Kingdom on January 4, Okada and Tanahashi lost to a BULLET CLUB combination seven straight times. In 2019, that record went to 11-4 in BC favour, including a New Beginning in Sapporo match on February 2; the first straight tag for Okada and Tanahashi, against the same duo of Fale and White they face in Melbourne.
The form strongly suggests a BULLET CLUB victory then, as does tension that will no doubt be high for Tanahashi and the IWGP Heavyweight Champion Okada. One week after Southern Showdown, the two will meet once more in Dallas, this time opposite one another in their first G1 Climax matchup. Will the old rivals be fired up against bitter foes, or will long standing differences get the better of them?
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship: Robbie Eagles vs Will Ospreay (c)
After Will Ospreay defied the odds to defeat the undefeated Shingo Takagi in the Best of the Super Junior final. After he ‘slayed his second dragon in the space of a week’ by beating Dragon Lee in Osaka at Dominion, Ospreay had one name on his mind. The one person he wanted to defend his freshly won IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship against was Robbie Eagles.
Ospreay and Eagles’ past goes back to 2017, back to a time when a disillusioned Ospreay decided to train and wrestle in Australia to take his mind off of troubles at home. Ospreay instantly fell in love with the Australian scene, and instantly fell in love with wrestling Robbie Eagles. A victory in one wild match in Perth led to a second bout in 2018. Eagles evened the score, and the Eagles/Ospreay rivalry gave Eagles instant worldwide fame.
It also brought global attention to the Australian scene. After their second bout together, Ospreay tore off the Japanese flag on his ring gear and presented it to Eagles as an open invite not just to Eagles to join NJPW and CHAOS, but to the Australian scene as a whole to join the world stage.
Eagles would end up taking a different direction, with Bad Luck Fale inviting the Australian into BULLET CLUB. There, Eagles did gain notoriety, but also had a desire to do things the right way; he was left frustrated by a Best of the Super Juniors loss by ill gotten gains to El Phantasmo, and angered when ELP interfered in his BOSJ match with Ospreay. While Eagles got the win that night, he didn’t get the closure with Ospreay that he wanted, making another meeting inevitable.
The IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship is now defended in Australia for the first time ever. A clean win for Eagles would make for the first change of Junior Heavyweight gold on non Japanese soil in 20 years, but moreover would truly let Eagles stand (and fly) alone, and set himself as the standard bearer for his country in the global wrestling space.
IWGP Tag Team Championships: Juice Robinson & Mikey Nicholls vs Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa(c)
Expect to see Mikey Nicholls receive a hero’s welcome from Festival Hall for this match; though a Perth native, Nicholls has flown the flag for his country high in his world travels, and before joining NJPW and CHAOS, had his first non-WWE match in Melbourne. While he has been successful in singles outings in New Japan, Nicholls’ specialty is in tag team wrestling, and with Juice Robinson, he’s found an effective partner.
That effectiveness was proven in Sendai June 25, when Nicholls pinned Tama Tonga. Post match, he demanded that GoD put the tag belts up for grabs in Melbourne. That has come to pass, and now the IWGP Tag Team Championships are being defended in Australia for the first time. Nicholls could well take the home field advantage and strong chemistry with Juice to become the first ever Aussie tag team champion.
RevPro Undisputed British Cruiserweight Championship: Rocky Romero vs El Phantasmo(c)
It’s harder to think of anybody that has become so hated in such a short period of time by the NJPW audience than El Phantasmo. It started with show boating over the defeated body of Will Ospreay in his debut in Fukuoka, and then the disgust for ELP amplified with each vulgar gesture, each stolen hat, and each beverage spilled and spat.
What has made the fans even more furious is how talented ELP is. Quickly establishing himself as one of the best pure athletes in the junior heavyweight division, the sheer ease with which Phantasmo can pull off the most spectacular and effective maneuvers is unreal. The RevPro Undisputed Cruiserweight Champion has talent almost coming out of his ears, and he won’t let a moment go past without letting everyone know about it.
Rocky Romero has been one of the few to shut ELP up. In front of a rabid Korakuen Hall during Best of the Super Juniors, Romero submitted Phantasmo for a wildly emotional victory for CHAOS’ young veteran. Will ELP head into this singles match with new found respect? Absolutely not, but he does go into the match with a desire to ‘right some wrongs’. ELP has avenged two of his three BOSJ losses already, having teamed with Taiji Ishimori to take YOH and SHO’s junior tag gold, and retaining his cruiserweight championship against Ryusuke Taguchi. Phantasmo looks for a hattrick in Melbourne.
YOSHI-HASHI & Tomohiro Ishii vs Chase Owens & Yujiro Takahashi
CHAOS and BULLET CLUB rarely need special reason to charge at one another, but Chase Owens and Yujiro Takahashi may well be heading into this match with extra large chips on their shoulders. While Tomohiro Ishii found his way into the B Block of G1 Climax, YOSHI-HASHI was on the outside looking in, but successfully negotiated his way into a de facto qualifying match against Zack Sabre Junior in Sendai. YOSHI-HASHI may have lost the bout, but the match nevertheless represented an opportunity that Owens and Yujiro were never granted. The two not only seek to remind everybody what an effective combination they make in Melbourne, but also that they deserve consideration for singles opportunities in future.
SHO, YOH & Toru Yano vs Gedo, Taiji Ishimori & Gino Gambino
For SHO and YOH, their June 16 IWGP Junior Tag Team Championship loss to Taiji Ishimori and El Phantasmo will still be stinging, and Ishimori will doubtless look to rub salt in those wounds, with Gedo instigating. For New Japan fans, a rare chance to see Gino Gambino in the ring, rather than on commentary headsets. Gambino, once beloved, has had a torrid relationship with his home Melbourne crowd in other rings; will the fans rally behind their countryman, or support Yano in placing banana skins for ‘Mr. Juicy’ to slip on?
Aaron Solow vs Slex
This singles match may be contested between two names unknown to NJPW fans, but the smart money is on one or both of Solow and Slex to make their name on the worldwide stage sooner rather than later.
Under the self-confident moniker of ‘The Business’, Slex has been the face of the Australian wrestling scene of late, a two time heavyweight champion in local promotion Melbourne City Wrestling who has faced the world’s best in his home promotion. That includes Kazuchika Okada himself, who Slex pushed hard in a huge singles match in late 2017. While the likes of Robbie Eagles and Mikey Nicholls have emerged onto the world stage, Slex has flown the flag at home, and done so with panache.
Solow has flown his own flag for years. A ten year veteran of the US independent scene, Solow has produced results in other rings, including defeating G1 entrant Jeff Cobb in 2018. Solow now looks to get a landmark victory with the world’s eyes on him.
Toa Henare, Ren Narita & Shota Umino vs Mark Tui, Andrew Villalobos & Michael Richards
The New Japan Dojo has a long held reputation for being the best development system for Japanese wrestlers on the planet. The very best in the world have all come from the Tokyo Dojo, leading to other Dojo adapting the rigorous Japanese style.
The Fale Dojo is one such establishment, with Tui, Villalobos and Richards as three of its prospects. How will they fare against Narita and Umino, still going through the rigours of the Japanese Dojo, and Toa Henare, who will lead this Young Lion team as its senpai? It shoudl be a fascinating clash of young talent to kick off the evening.
