Photo: NJPW

The NJPW G1 US Special shows come to an end tomorrow, and the promotion is all ready to crown the inaugural IWGP United States Champion. The semi-finals and finals of the tournament will be held tomorrow night, along with matches for 2 other IWGP Championships.

Hiroshi Tanahashi will defend his IWGP Intercontinental Championship against Billy Gunn, and The Young Bucks will put their IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championships on the line against Roppongi Vice.

Tomorrow’s show will air live on NJPW World beginning at 8:00 pm EDT.

NJPW US G1 Special Match Card

IWGP US Heavyweight Championship Semi Final 
Tomohiro Ishii vs Zack Sabre Jr.

IWGP US Heavyweight Championship Semi Final
Kenny Omega vs Jay Lethal.

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship
The Young Bucks vs Roppongi Vice.

IWGP US Heavyweight Championship (the winners of the semi final bouts will face off to crown the inaugural IWGP US Heavyweight Champion).

IWGP Intercontinental Championship
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Billy Gunn.

You can join me on Twitter (@AbbeyA) as I live tweet the NJPW US G1 Special (with a bunch of other really fun folks) beginning at 8:00 pm EDT on Sunday, and as always, I’ll have a full recap and review of the event as soon as it’s in the books.

The post NJPW US G1 Special Preview (7/2/17): Time To Crown The New IWGP US Champion appeared first on TopRopePress.com – Wrestling News, WWE News, TNA News, Wrestling Results.

Photo: NJPW

It’s almost that time. This weekend, NJPW hits the West Coast for the NJPW US G1 Specials. These shows will take place in Long Beach, California, on Saturday and Sunday, most of NJPW’s top stars will be there, and with a little bit of finagling, everyone (whether you have AXS or not) should be able to watch both shows live as they happen.

First off, let’s preview the cards.

NJPW US G1 Special Match Card (Saturday, 7/1/17)

Roppongi Vice, Will Ospreay, & The Briscoes vs The Young Bucks, Marty Scurll, Yujiro Takahashi, & Bad Luck Fale.

Titan, Dragon Lee, Volador Jr., & Jushin “Thunder” Liger vs Hiromu Takahashi, BUSHI, EVIL, & SANADA.

IWGP US Heavyweight Championship Quarter Final
Jay Lethal vs Hangman Page.

IWGP US Heavyweight Championship Quarter Final
Juice Robinson vs Zack Sabre Jr.

David Finlay, Jay White, KUSHIDA, & Hiroshi Tanahashi vs So Tanaka, Yohei Komatsu, YOSHITATSU, & Billy Gunn.

IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championship
Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa vs War Machine.

IWGP US Heavyweight Championship Quarter Final
Tomohiro Ishii vs Tetsuya Naito.

IWGP US Heavyweight Championship Quarter Final
Michael Elgin vs Kenny Omega.

IWGP Heavyweight Championship 
Kazuchika Okada vs Cody.

NJPW US G1 Special Match Card (Sunday 7/2/17)

IWGP US Heavyweight Championship Semi Final Matches (the winners from Saturday’s bouts will compete to see who advances to the finals in the first two matches of Sunday’s show).

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship
The Young Bucks vs Roppongi Vice.

IWGP US Heavyweight Championship (the winners of the semi final bouts will face off to crown the inaugural IWGP US Heavyweight Champion).

IWGP Intercontinental Championship
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Billy Gunn.

How To Watch The Shows

There are several ways to watch Saturday’s show, which kicks off at 8:00 pm EDT/5:00 pm PDT.

1. Watch live on AXS with limited commercial interruption (AXS will also have a full day of NJPW programming beginning at 8:00 am EDT on Saturday).
2. Canadian viewers can catch the show live on Fight Network.
3. Non-US viewers can watch live on NJPW World.
4. US viewers who don’t have AXS can watch the show live via Sling TV. They have a 7-day free trial, and AXS is available on both their orange and blue packages. Sling is available on on your computer, tablet or smartphone, and it works with Roku, Apple TV, ChromeCast, Amazon FireTV, & XBox One (this is how I am watching Saturday’s show).

As for Sunday’s show, it will be streaming live on NJPW World beginning at 8:00 pm EDT/5:00 pm PDT.

You can join me on Twitter (@AbbeyA) as I live both night’s of the NJPW US G1 Special (with a bunch of other really fun folks) beginning at 8:00 pm EDT on Saturday, and as always, I’ll have a full recap and review of the event as soon as it’s in the books.

The post NJPW US G1 Special Preview & How To Watch The Shows appeared first on TopRopePress.com – Wrestling News, WWE News, TNA News, Wrestling Results.

Photo: NJPW

NJPW held a presser in Long Beach tonight with all of the details on their upcoming G1 Special shows on July 1st and July 2nd in Long Beach, California. They gave out a ton of details on what will happen during the specials, how they can be seen, the titles that will be determined and defended, and all of the talent that will be in the States on the shows themselves.

NJPW G1 Special Shows Info

• All the tickets for the shows sold out in two hours.
• July 1st and 2nd shows will air live in the US on AXS at 8:00 pm EDT/5:00 pm PST.
• NJPW World will stream the shows live for non-US territories, with VOD available for US subscribers at a later time (this really isn’t good news for US fans/subscribers due to AXS being available in so few US cable markets).
• There will be a 2-day tournament to crown the inaugural IWGP United States Champion (Jay Lethal and Hangman Page are official entrants).
• The IWGP Heavyweight Championship and the IWGP Intercontinental Championship will both be defended during the two day set of shows. I expect that both sets of tag titles, the NEVER titles, and maybe the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title will be added to the shows, as well.
• Stars that will be on the shows in Long Beach:
  • Jushin “Thunder” Liger
  • KUSHIDA
  • David Finlay
  • Juice Robinson
  • Hiroshi Tanahashi
  • The Tempura Boys
  • Jay White
  • Billy Gunn
  • YOSHITATSU
  • Roppongi Vice
  • Will Ospreay
  • Kazuchika Okada
  • Tomohiro Ishii
  • All of Los Ingobernables de Japon (BUSHI, EVIL, SANADA, Hiromu Takahashi, & Tetsuya Naito)
  • Zack Sabre Jr.
  • War Machine
  • Jay Lethal
  • Mark & Jay Briscoe
  • CMLL Stars Volador Jr., Dragon Lee, & Titan
  • Bullet Club (Cody, The Young Bucks, Kenny Omega, Bad Luck Fale, GoD, Marty Scurll, Yujiro Takahashi, Hangman Page)

Cody Rhodes, The Young Bucks, and Kenny Omega were on hand for the presser, and Cody talked about his match with Michael Elgin at Dominion. The Bucks say that they will be walking into the G1 Specials in California as the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions; they are facing current champs Roppongi Vice at Dominion for the titles on June 11th.

Then, there was Kenny Omega. I fully expect him to walk into these US shows as IWGP Heavyweight Champion after beating Kazuchika Okada at Dominion; it’s the only thing that makes sense. Having Omega, a Canadian who has made his name in Japanese wrestling, win the title on US soil makes no sense, and the NJPW fans would probably see it as a slap in the face. But, that’s just my kind-of-educated opinion.

Kenny says that the four men at the presser are the men that will carry NJPW into the future, the only ones that could sell out these shows in two hours. Then they diss YOSHITATSU, which is just fine; he deserves it. Omega says that as soon as he hits the One Winged Angel at Dominion, he will beat Okada for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship and that the fans were cheering for him, not Okada. He says that Okada cannot win this time.

Cody says that what these US shows mean to him is less important than what it means to the fans. He says that that wrestling fans in the US have really no choice but to skew in one direction and NJPW is providing an alternative.

Matt and Nick say that they are proud of NJPW’s growth, and that they can take some of the credit for that, what with the buzz it has now based to what it had when they came in. He says that NJPW is a movement and has given them the right to become stars and make money.

Kenny says that coming back to North America to wrestle after making his name in Japan was really the end goal, to be a contributor to making NJPW a global company. He loves that the fans support them, stay up late to watch them, and want to give back by having live shows at a decent hour. For him, he says this is the purest form of gratitude, being able to give back to the fans due to their star power and success (yes, Kenny was in character, but he has a point). He says they (NJPW) can challenge the world, change the world, and he can’t see them failing.

The post NJPW News: US G1 Special Shows Press Conference News & Notes appeared first on TopRopePress.com – Wrestling News, WWE News, TNA News, Wrestling Results.

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As we saw last night on Ring Of Honor’s War Of The Worlds, officials from both companies came out before the show started and unveiled a new championship that will be decided at the upcoming NJPW G1 Specials in Los Angeles on July 1st and 2nd.

The IWGP United States Championship will be introduced during the shows, and the inaugural champion will be crowned after a two-night round robin tournament. The stars of both NJPW and ROH will compete in the tournament, and ROH’s Jay Lethal has been announced as the first of the participants.

NJPW has also announced that both the IWGP Heavyweight Championship and the IWGP Intercontinental Championship will be defended during the specials. Kenny Omega and Kazuchika Okada will face off on June 11th at Dominion for the IWGP Championship, and Tetsuya Naito will defend his IWGP IC Championship against Hiroshi Tanashi that night, as well. It will be interesting to see what two men arrive in Los Angeles as the company’s top two champions.

NJPW is also currently running a contest via Twitter where one lucky fan can win tickets and signed merchandise for the shows in LA. The contest runs through May 31st, and since all tickets for the event, even the extra ones that NJPW released earlier this week, sold out in hours, this may be the only way for fans to have a chance of attending the shows.

The post NJPW News: Updated Info On July’s G1 Specials In Los Angeles appeared first on TopRopePress.com – Wrestling News, WWE News, TNA News, Wrestling Results.