We’re still at least some time away from NJPW returning to in ring action, but the NJPW World archives are always there and always expanding! Here are some of the best matches and moments from this week in history.
April 13, 2007: Justice Served Gold
In a turbulent period for NJPW through the early to mid 2000s, Yuji Nagata was the model of stability. Blue Justice would be at the forefront in NJPW, taking on all comers in the pro-wrestling and MMA spheres, most notably in what was the most successful IWGP Championship reign to that point in history. For a 392 day period over 2002 and 2003, Nagata carried the IWGP standard through a then-record 10 defences. Yet after that reign ended at the hands of Yoshihiro Takayama on May 3 2003, Blue Justice would not reign in New Japan for four years.
While Nagata was separated from the championship, a future Ace found his spot at the top. Hiroshi Tanahashi would secure his first IWGP Heavyweight Championship in July 2006, defeating Giant Bernard in Hokkaido and delivering his ‘I love you’ address to the crowd for the first time.
Tanahashi represented a new generation of New Japan Pro-Wrestling, but as appreciative as he was of the fanbase, the traditionalist fans weren’t instantly appreciative of Tanahashi. As the champions flash and swagger was taken as arrogance from crowds across the country, support stayed strong for the generation above that Nagata represented.
Nagata was willing to bet the farm on their eventual title clash in Osaka; this match would be regarded as Nagata’s ‘last chance’ at IWGP glory. After some brutal hard hits from both sides, the gamble would pay off.
April 14 & 15, 2019: Even Stephen
The intense development process at New Japan Dojos around the world breed a rare companionship, as young prospects spend all day every day with one another working and training together constantly. When these new top talents to be get in the ring together however, that rare companionship turns into an intense rivalry. Wrestlers in the same Dojo class will naturally face intense scrutiny from fans, and comparisons are inevitable.
That said, Yuya Uemura and Yota Tsuji have an even more intense Young Lion rivalry than most. The two both debuted on April 10 2018, and first faced one another one on one two weeks later. Since then, 23 matches have taken place between the two, and even to date, neither man has gotten a clear advantage over the other. In their first 21 meetings the result was a ten minute time limit draw, leading to their matches being given an extended 15 minute time limit from Road to Dontaku 2019. Finally, the draws came to an end, but Uemura and Tsuji would trade victories from these matches last April onward.
Relive these matches here and here!
April 16 1994: Immediate Impact
In April 1994, Jyushin Thunder Liger was able to enact an idea he had been obsessed with for decades. In 1979 as a middle schooler, he had attended the ‘All Star dream Match’ card hosted by Tokyo Sports newspaper on their anniversary. The event brought together names from all over Japan, not isolated to one promotion, for one festival of professional wrestling. Famously this would be the last time that the B-I Cannon duo of Giant Baba and Antonio Inoki would ever team up.
One day, Liger hoped, a similar festival could be brought to contemporary fans, and on April 16, that day came. The Super J-Cup brought together junior heavyweight wrestlers from NJPW, WAR, Michinoku Pro and the independents for one memorable night in the sold out Ryogoku Sumo Hall. Years before social media, Super J-Cup ‘94 became one of the most widely shared, proto-‘viral’ professional wrestling events of the age for the sheer diversity and in ring competitive quality on display.
Liger would memorably face a young firebrand in Hayabusa in the first round. Still in the midst of an excursion from his home FMW, Hayabusa was a relative unknown going into Super J-Cup, but was widely known afterward. Going hell for leather from the outset, Hayabusa unleashed a death defying tope con giro to a Liger still making his entrance, and though Liger would come out on top of the short and intense bout, Hayabusa made a name for himself and then some.
April 17, 2015: Good Brothers, Bad Moods
In the days before Guerrillas of Destiny became BULLET CLUB and NJPW’s franchise team, BC had certified tag team masters in Karl Anderson and Doc Gallows. Anderson had already proven himself a tag team master, having dominated the tag division with Giant Bernard as Bad Intentions, and with Gallows, he was just as effective.
The two would hold IWGP Tag Team Championship gold for the entirety of 2014, and only faced a small bump in the road in January 2015, when they lost the titles to the Meiyu Tag combination of Hirooki Goto and Katsuyori Shibata at Wrestle Kingdom, seizing the gold right back a month later. Then, Anderson’s Achille’s Heel was discovered, and its name was Maria Kanellis.
Maria would prove enough of a distraction for Anderson in the corner of Matt Taven and Michael Bennett of the Kingdom that their second IWGP reign would be cut short at Invasion Attack. BULLET CLUB was eager to get the gold back in short order, and Anderson and Gallows sought to prove they deserved another opportunity ASAP by facing Tetsuya Naito and Tomoaki Honma in Korakuen on the road to Dontaku. As added motivation for Anderson in particular, there was the opportunity to get revenge on the man who knocked him out of the first round in the New Japan Cup that March in Naito…
