More great matches to binge watch on any device on FITE TV from October 24!
After the immense success of the first two Best Bout Collections on FITE, more NJPW action comes to the service with Best Bout Collection Volume 3. More classic matches from recent years in NJPW are in the lineup available from October 24, including the following:
NEVER Openweight Championship: Katsuyori Shibata vs Yuji Nagata (May 3, 2016)
Yuji Nagata and his Third Generation compatriots started 2016 with a fire lit within them. As situations changed at the top of the card, with the departure of familiar forces and the arrival of new names in the top flight, Satoshi Kojima, Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Yuji Nagata would declare that their time was far from over, promising to show what a force they still were. That drew the ire of Katsuyori Shibata. Long a freelance competitor, the NEVER Openweight Champion turned in his gun for hire status to sign a full time contract with NJPW in the spring, but had no intentions of deferring to his senpai. Shibata went through each member of the Third Generation in turn, before attacking Yuji Nagata last, their showdown set for Dontaku in Fukuoka.
IWGP Heavyweight Championship: Tetsuya Naito vs Kazuchika Okada (June 19, 2016)
Tetsuya Naito went through 2015 as public enemy #1 in NJPW. Joining Los Ingobernables in Mexico, and bringing the same concept to Japan, Naito’s anti establishment approach, and arrogant demeanour toward his opponents made him a hated figure, yet as BUSHI and EVIL joined the lineup of what was now Los Ingobernables De Japon, a sea change occurred. Naito spoke without hesitation, and with candour and humour on the issues within NJPW, and won fans over.
Especially in Tokyo, the public saw Naito as an everyman former fan marching to the beat of his own drum all the way to the top, and even with the interference of SANADA, blew the roof off Ryogoku Sumo Hall at Invasion Attack when Naito won the IWGP Heavyweight Championship for the first time. As spring turned to summer though, a rematch with Kazuchika Okada loomed, in the traditionally hostile to Naito crowd of Osaka, and without a single member of LIJ ringside.
G1 Climax 26: Kazuchika Okada vs Hiroshi Tanahashi (August 12, 2016)
Kazuchika Okada and Hiroshi Tanahashi’s epic rivalry already had several chapters written before this meeting in 2016, but their relationship had a different dimension when they both drew the same block in the G1. In the Tokyo Dome on January 4, Okada finally defeated Tanahashi in the main event of Wrestle Kingdom for the first time, vanquishing the ghosts of bitter defeat at Wrestle Kingdom 9 to be widely regarded as the undisputed top wrestler in New Japan Pro-Wrestling. That summer, Okada would begin what would become his legendary 720 day IWGP heavyweight Championship reign, but his G1 Climax started with a shocking loss, to Naomichi Marufuji. As the tournament reached its Ryogoku Climax, Hirooki Goto, Okada and Tanahashi were all in fierce contention, making this last league matchup crucial in determining who would head to the final.
IWGP Heavyweight Championship: Katsuyori Shibata vs Kazuchika Okada (April 7 2017)
After redoubling his commitment to NJPW in 2016, Katsuyori Shibata went on a wildly successful year, with a memorable NEVER Openweight Championship reign segueing into his first New Japan Cup win. That put him on track to challenge for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship against Okada in Ryogoku. Okada, his record setting fourth IWGP Heavyweight Championship reign now underway was in no way willing to hand over the title, and the Wrestler Shibata’s fighting spirit was similarly unbending. In what became the last match of Shibata’s active wrestling career he wagered everything to tackle the Rainmaker.
IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship: Kenny Omega vs Tomohiro Ishii (July 2, 2017)
2017 saw New Japan Pro-Wrestling begin a new era internationally, as it staged its very first events as a solo entity in the United States. The G1 Special events in Long Beach were exciting enough to result in lightning fast sellouts, even before the hook of a brand new championship’s creation drew immense excitement. A single elimination tournament would see the very first IWGP US Heavyweight Champion crowned over two nights, and after an intense series of battles, it all came down to Tomohiro Ishii and Kenny Omega in a classic.
IWGP Heavyweight Championship: Kazuchika Okada vs EVIL (October 9, 2017)
Kazuchika Okada was all but unstoppable in 2017. Having won the IWGP Heavyweight Championship the prior summer, he was victorious in title defence after title defence, and brought unrpecedented momentum into the summer’s G1 Climax. With an unbelievable winning streak through the early matches, it seemed as if the full 20 points might be on the table for the Rainmaker, until EVIL brought Okada’s streak to a close in Osaka. Scoring the biggest win of his career, the King of Darkness secured himself a title opportunity that came at King of Pro-Wrestling.
IWGP Intercontinental Championship: Tetsuya Naito vs Chris Jericho (June 9, 2018)
2018 started in a way that neither Tetsuya Naito nor Chris Jericho envisioned. Both were defeated in the Tokyo Dome in hotly anticipated and heavily hyped matchups; Chris Jericho losing his IWGP US Heavyweight Championship challenge to Kenny Omega, and Tetsuya Naito falling to Kazuchika Okada.
For Jericho, adding insult to the injury of his loss was the position he held on the card. Wrestle Kingdom 12 was built around a ‘double main event’, with Naito vs Okada at the top of the card and Jericho vs Omega underneath. That was something Naito was quick to rub in Jericho’s face; having been in the ‘double main event I’ position before, Naito very openly asserted that only the match that goes on last can truly have main event billing and the credit for the house.
Jericho’s characteristically fragile ego was bruised, and at Dontaku in May he made a shock appearance to brutally attack and bloody Naito, who had in the meantime captured IWGP Intercontinental gold from Minoru Suzuki. That led to a Dominion encounter with personal hatred and white and gold on the line.
G1 Climax 28 B Block: Tetsuya Naito vs Kota Ibushi (August 4 2018)
Tetsuya Naito and Kota Ibushi’s paths have often crossed at critical junctures for both men’s careers, and always with violent and dangerous results. One such instance was toward the end of the G1 Climax 28 campaign for both men. The prior year’s winner Naito was trying to keep his hopes alive, while Ibushi was putting together the form that would see him through into the finals.
‘Like playing with fire’ was how Ibushi would describe the enjoyment and danger of his matches with Naito, and Osaka absolutely felt the heat from this incredible matchup.
Jay White vs Will Ospreay (March 3 2019)
A recent tradition in NJPW has been the meeting of the IWGP Heavyweight and Junior Heavyweight Champions in the main event of the annual Anniversary card. This year, a planned clash between Hiromu Takahashi and Tetsuya Naito was hotly anticipated but ultimately cancelled, but in 2019 there was another wrinkle in the tale. That year, both the IWGP Heavyweight and Junior Heavyweight Championship were in the clutches of BULLET CLUB, with Jay White having won the heavyweight title from Hiroshi Tanahashi at New Beginning in Osaka, and Taiji Ishimori taking the junior heavyweight belt at Wrestle Kingdom. After Ishimori defended the title in February, he called out Jyushin Thunder Liger to challenge him next, which left White seeking an opponent.
Enter Will Ospreay. Then NEVER Openweight Champion, Ospreay was still competing as a junior heavyweight, and more important, saw himself as the man to wipe the arrogant smile off the young champion’s face.
New Japan Cup: Kota Ibushi vs Zack Sabre Jr. (March 16 2019)
2019’s Anniversary Event would see the table set for what was at the time the biggest New Japan Cup in history. 32 men took part in the single elimination tournament, and the second round match that everyone had circled was Kota Ibushi versus Zack Sabre Junior. Always with phenomenal chemistry, Ibushi and ZSJ was going to be a guaranteed classic from jump, and Ibushi had added motivation. In the New Japan Cup one year prior, he was forced to submit to ZSJ in what would be a cup winning campaign for Sabre. Now Ibushi was fighting for revenge and for a main event championship match in Madison Square Garden.
G1 Climax: Jon Moxley vs Tomohiro Ishii (July 19 2019)
Jon Moxley made his NJPW debut in a high profile match at Ryogoku Sumo Hall, when he challenged then IWGP US Heavyweight Champion Juice Robinson amid a ton of hype. Yet as much as Moxley relished the bright lights in Ryogoku, his bucket list was topped by a smaller venue that he always dreamed of wrestling in. The intimate and electric surroundings of Korakuen Hall had a special attraction to Moxley, and the rough and tough Tomohiro Ishii was the perfect opponent for the spot.
