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FEB.26.2021

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Castle Attack night one preview

Osaka Jo Hall to see several issues settled in ring

 

 

February 27 sees NJPW return to Osaka Jo Hall for the first time since Dominion last July. The two night event will start with a massive five singles matches, as the KOPW 2021 trophy is fought for, we see two singles previews of tag team championship action, and CHAOS vs BULLET CLUB comes to a head in two grudge matches. 

Watch Castle Attack in English LIVE February 27 & 28!

Main event: Kazuchika Okada vs EVIL

Singles record: 4-2 Okada

After weeks of demands and ringside brawls, Kazuchika Okada finally gets his long sought after singles match with EVIL in the main event at Osaka Jo Hall on night one of Castle Attack. It’s appropriate that the two men should face off in Osaka; this is the site of lot of history between the Rainmaker and the King of Darkness, and a lot of bad memories for Okada. 

It was in this town, down the road in the Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium that EVIL and Okada first locked horns during G1 Climax 27. There, Darkness Falls on a stack of steel chairs during an intensely punishing bout saw EVIL score a shocking victory that would derail Okada’s dominant to that point G1 campaign. Though Okada would assert his superiority in an ensuing IWGP Heavyweight Championship bout, and the next two G1s, it was in Osaka Jo Hall that EVIL would strike again. 

As NJPW returned to activity in the post pandemic era, Okada, now without the IWGP Heavyweight title that defined him, was intent on winning the New Japan Cup and once again helping professional wrestling back to prominence. Yet the cup final would instead see EVIL align himself with BULLET CLUB, and defeat Okada in controversial form. 

When the remainder of 2020 convinced Okada that a return to the title scene was what he, and New Japan Pro-Wrestling need most of all, EVIL was quick to rebuke him, but slow to agree to a singles bout. Eventually in Hiroshima on February 11, after a tag bout was thrown out, EVIL agreed to the one on one contest, but this too was an evasive ruse, Dick Togo quickly denying the Rainmaker and the fans what they wanted to see. 

Now finally Okada will go head to head with EVIL. Can the Rainmaker vanquish his BULLET CLUB foe? Will Dick Togo once again make his painful presence felt? 

5th Match: Jay White vs Tomohiro Ishii

Singles record: 2-0 Ishii

Since his return from excursion at the tail end of 2017 and into his incredible career in New Japan Pro-Wrestling, one factor seemed to be consistent when talking about Jay White: everything the Switchblade says comes true. From promising to share NJPW to its foundations, in dramatically shifting the power dynamics in CHAOS, hontai and BULLET CLUB to title victories for the IWGP US, Intercontinental and Heavyweight Championships, to becoming the first man to ever relieve the G1 Climax winner of his right to challenge briefcase, every prediction Jay White made was backed up in the ring and put into practical reality. 

That’s something that seemed to give White an impermeable armour of confidence, one that only slipped on Janaury 5 2021. That was the night when the Switchblade’s predictions did not come to pass. jay White did not beat Kota Ibushi to lift double IWGP gold, and for the first time in his career, Jay White was a vulnerable man. White vowed to walk away from the ring, stating that nothing was worth the sacrifices he had made. 

 The next night, Tomohiro Ishii pinned White in a tag bout at New Year Dash, leaving him with the message to take time away, pick himself up and come for revenge. Words meant to motivate, Ishii’s comments sparked indignant rage in White. Not many can claim an unbeaten record against Jay White, but Tomohiro Ishii can, in two successive G1s, his latest win in G1 Climax 30 putting the Switchblade out of his finals and rattling White in a way that foreshadowed his Tokyo Dome breakdown. 

Returning during the Road to the New Beginning, White immediately targeted Ishii with vicious assaults, in the ring, on the microphone and backstage. Now, Castle Attack will see Jay White face Ishii one on one, in a match he feels he desperately needs to win. Will that Switchblade confidence be restored? Or will Ishii put White permanently in his place?

4th Match: KOPW 2021- Toru Yano vs Chase Owens

The KOPW 2021 trophy is at stake at the midway point of tonight’s card. Toru Yano followed his KOPW 2020 victory by seizing the provisional KOPW 2021 status at Wrestle Kingdom, much to his challenger Chase Owens’ chagrin. Owens would complain that Yano backdoored his way into the trophy, entering January 4’s New Japan Ranbo last and not even competing to qualify for the next night’s four way, where he won via a low blow. The new Texas Heavyweight Champion is insisting he’ll make an example of Yano, but can he become the King of Pro-Wrestling?

3rd Match: Hirooki Goto vs Tama Tonga

Singles record: 5-0 Goto

February 28’s IWGP Tag Team Championship bout will be previewed on night one of Castle Attack with a pair of singles matches. Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa have earned the label of NJPW’s franchise team with a record seven IWGP Tag Team Championship reigns, but in singles action, the record is not in Tonga’s favour. 5-0 Goto is the scoreline, and Goto will look to extend that tonight, but more crucially, he’ll be looking to deal some damage en route to the next night’s big title challenge.

2nd Match: YOSHI-HASHI vs Tanga Loa

The second bout of the evening sees the other half of the IWGP Tag Team Championship preview. Thursday in Hiroshima, the valiant YOSHI-HASHI was able to overcome Tanga Loa’s raw power; a thrilling NEVER 6-Man bout ended with a Butterfly Lock on Loa that led to a roll-up pinfall win. Can YOSHI-HASHI keep up that momentum tonight? Or could Loa deal some heavy damage to YOSHI-HASHI and set the pace for tomorrow’s title match early?

1st Match: Satoshi Kojima, Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Hiroshi Tanahashi vs United Empire (Will Ospreay, Jeff Cobb & Great-O-Khan)

Kicking off the night’s action, a six man preview of the next night’s NEVER Openweight Championship match as Hiroshi Tanahashi gets ready to face Great-O-Khan by teaming with United Empire’s two most recent foes in TenCozy. Hard fought matches ended in disappointment for the veterans in Nagoya on January 30; can they rally tonight in Osaka, or will the United Empire’s road to conquest roll through their opposition?

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