Photo: NJPW

We are only two weeks and some change from WrestleKingdom 12, and the Road To Tokyo Dome continues tomorrow. We already know that Tana is injured (arthritis and fluid in his knee that he hopes rest will fix enough to have his match with Jay White). Kenny has been bloodied by Jericho. And, Naito is pissed about the wording of the show’s main events.

But, before we get to The Dome, we have to travel down the road to get there first.

NJPW Road To Tokyo Dome Match Card

3rd Match 15 Minutes Limit
Kotetsu Yamamoto Memorial 11th Young Lion Cup Tournament
Syota Umino vs Ren Narita.

3rd Match 15 Minutes Limit
Kotetsu Yamamoto Memorial 11th Young Lion Cup Tournament
Tomoyuki Oka vs Tetsuhiro Yagi.

3rd Match 15 Minutes Limit
Kotetsu Yamamoto Memorial 11th Young Lion Cup Tournament
Hirai Kawato vs Katsuya Kitamura.

Masked Horse (Taguchi), KUSHIDA, Tiger Mask, & Jushin “Thunder” Liger vs TAKA Michinoku, El Desperado, Taichi, & Yoshinobu Kanemaru.

Henare & Togi Makabe vs Toru Yano & Tomohiro Ishii.

Yujiro Takahashi & Bad Luck Fale vs EVIL & SANADA.

Kota Ibushi & TenCozy vs Leo Tonga & GoD.

YOSHI-HASHI & Hirooki Goto vs Takashi Iizuka and Minoru Suzuki.

Roppongi 3K & Kazuchika Okada vs Hiromu Takahashi, BUSHI, & Tetsuya Naito.

You can join me as I live tweet on @njpwworld (@AbbeyA) as the show begins at 4:30 am EST Monday morning. And, as always, we will have a full recap and results as soon as the show is in the books.

The post NJPW Road To Tokyo Dome Preview (12/18/17): The Dome Awaits appeared first on TopRopePress.com – Wrestling News, WWE News, TNA News, Wrestling Results.

Photo: NJPW

We are only two weeks and some change from WrestleKingdom 12, and the Road To Tokyo Dome begins tomorrow. We already know that Tana is injured (arthritis and fluid in his knee that he hopes rest will fix enough to have his match with Jay White). Kenny has been bloodied by Jericho. And, Naito is pissed about the wording of the show’s main events.

But, before we get to The Dome, we have to travel down the road to get there first.

NJPW Road To Tokyo Dome Match Card

Syota Umino vs Tetsuhiro Yagi.

Katsuya Kitamura vs Ren Narita.

3rd Match 15 Minutes Limit
Kotetsu Yamamoto Memorial 11th Young Lion Cup Tournament
Hirai Kawato vs Tomoyuki Oka.

Henare, Tiger Mask, & Jushin “Thunder”Liger vs TAKA Michinoku, El Desperado, & Yoshinobu Kanemaru.

Kota Ibushi & Togi Makabe vs Leo Tonga & Yujiro Takahashi.

Toru Yano, Hirooki Goto, & Tomohiro Ishii vs Taichi, Takashi Iizuka, & Minoru Sukuzi.

Masked Horse (we are guessing Taguchi), KUSHIDA, & Satoshi Kojima vs Roppongi 3K & Rocky Romero.

NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Title
BUSHI, EVIL, & SANADA vs GoD & Bad Luck Fale.

YOSHI-HASHI & Kazuchika Okada vs Hiromu Takahashi & Tetsuya Naito.

You can join me as I live tweet on @njpwworld (@AbbeyA) as the show begins at 4:30 am EST Sunday morning. And, as always, we will have a full recap and results as soon as the show is in the books.

The post NJPW Road To Tokyo Dome Preview (12/17/17): WrestleKingdom 12 Awaits appeared first on TopRopePress.com – Wrestling News, WWE News, TNA News, Wrestling Results.

Photo: NJPW

Hiroshi Tanahashi Injured

NJPW has announced that Hiroshi Tanahashi has been injured. The knee injury will keep Tana off the upcoming Road To The Dome Shows. It is unknown at this time if this injury will have any impact on Tana’s scheduled WrestleKingdom 12 IWP Intercontinental Title match with Jay White.

NJPW World Tag League 2017 Winners

Today, EVIL and SANADA won the 2017 World Tag League, winning a shot at the IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Titles at WrestleKingdom 12 at The Tokyo Dome on January 4th. There’s only one little problem with them winning: they are 2/3 of the current NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Champions.

Well, NJPW has a solution for that problem. On the Road To The Dome show on December 17th in Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, BUSHI, EVIL, and SANADA will put their 6-man titles on the line against Bad Luck Fale, Tama Tonga, and Tanga Loa. And, there’s a good chance that the Bullet Club will walk out of Korakuen the new champions.

WrestleKingdom 12 Presser

About an hour ago, Kenny Omega and Chris Jericho had a mini-pres conference for their upcoming match at WrestleKingdom 12. To say things got intense and ugly is putting it mildly. There were reporters tossed around, furniture thrown around, and general mayhem. You can see the whole presser for yourself in the video below.

The post NJPW WrestleKingdom 12 News: Omega & Jericho; Tanahashi Injured; WTL Winners appeared first on TopRopePress.com – Wrestling News, WWE News, TNA News, Wrestling Results.

Photo: Abdulmalik Ali

More Info On Chris Jericho/Kenny Omega Match

As everyone knows by now, Chris Jericho will be facing Kenny Omega at NJPW’s WrestleKingdom 12 on January 4th at The Tokyo Dome. Jericho appeared via video package during Sunday’s Power Struggle to challenge Omega, and the match was officially announced during Monday’s NJPW WrestleKingdom 12 presser.

We also reported that WWE knew nothing about Jericho’s plans. And, it turns out, he’s been working on this since this summer.

According to reports, Jericho approached Don Callis, one of the English commentators for NJPW, Callis approached Omega with he idea, and they took it to Gedo (NJPW’s head booker) to set the plan in motion. Jericho worked closely with NJPW’s office in New York to finalize the deal, and for now, this is a one-off, one shot match. He’s not currently looking at anything beyond working this one match at WrestleKingdom.

Bram The Latest To Leave Impact Wrestling

Add yet another name to the growing list of talent that is leaving Impact Wrestling. Today, Bram announced that he has parted ways with the promotion.

I've been granted my release from @IMPACTWRESTLING
Thank you to everyone from top to bottom and to you the fans for your support

— BƦλM (@Thomas_Latimer_) November 7, 2017

I can’t say this is a great loss to Impact, especially since Bram has not been used by them since March of this year. He has been keeping busy working in ICW.

This is just the latest in cost cutting measures by the company. And, more than likely, Bram won’t be the last name we see jump ship before the year is out.

The post Yet Another Impact Wrestling Departure; New Information On Chris Jericho vs Kenny Omega At WrestleKingdom appeared first on TopRopePress.com – Wrestling News, WWE News, TNA News, Wrestling Results.

Photo: WWE

More Info On Chris Jericho Working WrestleKingdom 12

As we reported yesterday, Chris Jericho made a rather surprising appearance at NJPW’s Power Struggle (via video) to challenge Kenny Omega to a match at January’s WrestleKingdom 12 show. Omega accepted the challenge, and the match was officially announced this morning during NJPW’s WrestleKingdom presser.

Apparently, WWE knew nothing about Chris Jericho’s plans until word broke of the challenge early Sunday morning. Jericho is not under contract with WWE at this time; he’s said on his podcast that he is working on a per-appearance deal with the promotion. So, there was really no reason for Jericho to give Vince McMahon or anyone in WWE advance knowledge of what was going to happen. This has reportedly been in the works since August.

We’ve also reported that Jericho will be working in conjunction ROH for his 2018 cruise. Jericho said on his show that he had approached WWE about working with them and NXT for the cruise, but they turned him down.

Jericho recently said he approached WWE/HHH about having NXT on his cruise. Was turned down. Says they “don’t play well with others.”

Also noted that he’s financially responsible for the cruise.

Still think he’s working with Vince on the NJPW deal? pic.twitter.com/RWNidMjnzE

— Ryan Satin (@ryansatin) November 5, 2017

So, all of those conspiracy theorists and WWE apologists who were flooding social media yesterday saying that this match would never happen without WWE agreeing to it and Vince giving his permission (and even calling this a talent exchange between the two companies), this should nip that in the bud.

Had the honor to make the official artwork for @IAmJericho vs @KennyOmegamanX match at WK12, hope you guys like it. #livingthedream pic.twitter.com/UDX1OtGzWC

— Abdulmalik Ali (@zxl64) November 5, 2017

Also, check out our feature image for this article that features the incredible artwork for this match from the extremely talented Abdulmalik Ali on Twitter. This is the official artwork for the match, and it’s simply gorgeous.

Nia Jax On Her WWE Absence

Last month, Nia Jax set tongues wagging when she reportedly “walked out” of RAW over issues with the creative direction of her character. Then, stories came out that she was dealing with a back injury. Wherever the truth actually resided, Jax spoke about her absence during a recent interview on the current WWE European Tour.

“Well actually I had live events off for the last couple of weeks because that’s just how it worked out, for cycling and stuff, so I got a little rest from TV because I wasn’t in anything storyline-wise, so I had a little rest there. But yeah, it’s been great. I love what we do, I love the storytelling, especially being such a different character and obviously a different size than everybody, we get to play on that and it’s always cool to see where we can go in the ring.”

The post WWE Didn’t Know About Chris Jericho Working With NJPW; Nia Jax Talks Her Recent Absence appeared first on TopRopePress.com – Wrestling News, WWE News, TNA News, Wrestling Results.

Photo: NJPW

Bunch of NJPW news today. As we reported yesterday, WrestleKingdom 12 is shaping up nicely, with matches coming together during Power Struggle. Earlier today, the WrestleKingdom presser was held to officially announce the top matches for the card, and we have one new one to add to the list.

Cody Rhodes will defend his Ring Of Honor World Heavyweight Championship against Kota Ibushi at The Dome. Yes, this is an odd match to say the least, especially since there is no history between these two. But, I have a feeling this will play into the subtle tensions in the Bullet Club, especially between Cody and Kenny Omega (watch Being The Elite to find out what all of this is about).

NJPW has also announced that it will return to the US for another date in 2018. They will be returning to Long Beach on March 25th for Strong Style Evolved. The show will take place at the Walter Pyramid, a venue that is much bigger than where they held this year’s show. The Pyramid will hold up to 6,900 people, and after the success of last year’s show, NJPW should have no issues selling that sucker out.

And, NJPW World Tag League is set to kick off next weekend, and earlier today, NJPW announced the competitors for the tournament. We are getting some NJPW debuts in Sami Callihan, Chuck Taylor, and Jeff Cobb, and some returns like Henare, who has been out with an injury for most of this year.

NJPW World Tag League 2017 A Block

• SANADA & EVIL
• Bad Luck Fale & Chase Owens
• Hangman Page & Yujiro Takahashi
• Minoru Suzuki & Takashi Iizuka
• Satoshi Kojima & Hiroyoshi Tenzan
• Juice Robinson & Sami Callihan
• Yuji Nagata & Manabu Nakanishi
• Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI

NJPW World Tag League 2017 B Block

• Jeff Cobb & Michael Elgin
• Toru Yano & Tomohiro Ishii
• Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa
• Lance Archer & Davey Boy Smith Jr.
• Trent Barreta & Chuck Taylor
• War Machine
• Katsuya Kitamura & David Finlay
• Togi Makabe & Henare

World Tag League 2017 kicks off on November 18th and will run through December 11th. Most of the shows will be VOD on NJPW World (matches will be uploaded shortly after the live event is over), but the November 18th, November 30th, and December 11th shows will air live on World.

Just like the G1 Climax tournament, the World Tag League is held under a points system, with 2 points for a win, 1 for a draw and 0 for a loss. The winners of the tournament will get a shot at the IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championship at WrestleKingdom 12.

The post NJPW World Tag League Competitors; WrestleKingdom Match Announced; NJPW Returning To Long Beach appeared first on TopRopePress.com – Wrestling News, WWE News, TNA News, Wrestling Results.

Photo: NJPW

Well, if y’all chose to sleep last night and not stay up, you missed a lot. NJPW put on a hell of a show with Power Struggle, and along with it, the card for WrestleKingdom 12 at The Tokyo Dome on January 4th is beginning to come together.

We already know that the main event at The Dome will be Kazuchika Okada and Tetsuya Naito for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. These two met in a multi-man tag at Power Struggle, and they will continue the build for the big show over the next two months.

But, tonight, we got to see most of the top of the WrestleKingdom card take shape.

.@MattJackson13 and @NickJacksonYB want their belts back. #njpst ?

https://t.co/8n90d75Nfk pic.twitter.com/XTIAx3JfGs

— TDE Wrestling (@totaldivaseps) November 5, 2017

After Roppongi 3K won this year’s Super Jr. Tag Team Tournament by defeating Super 69, The Young Bucks came out and challenged the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions. So, there’s our junior tag match for WrestleKingdom. Normally, Gedo likes to make this match a multi-team cluster, but it appears we are getting just two teams fighting for the gold this year.

HAHAHA IDIOT PROOF HIROMU!!!

#njpst #njpwworld pic.twitter.com/zvnwnMdGRg

— Deno (@DeathByNaito) November 5, 2017

However, we will be getting a junior heavyweight cluster, so never fear. Marty Scurll defeated Will Ospreay at Power Struggle to become the new IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion, and as soon as he won the title, KUSHIDA, Willie, and Hiromu Takahashi all came out to challenge him. Marty said he would take on all of them, so the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship match at WrestleKingdom will be a Fatal Four Way.

#NJPW #NJWK12 @IAmJericho pic.twitter.com/kRRpRWzsCq

— LARIATOOOO!!!! (@MrLARIATO) November 5, 2017

Kenny Omega retained his IWGP US Heavyweight Championship tonight, and after his match was over, we all got a big old shock when Chris Jericho showed up on the big screen and challenged Omega to a match at WrestleKingdom 12. It will be The Alpha vs The Omega at The Dome, and it’s not clear right now whether it will be for Kenny’s championship or not. I have a feeling that it will turn into a title match, and this bout will more than likely be the semi-main event for WrestleKingdom 12.

#NJPW #njpst @JayWhiteNZ pic.twitter.com/ZLtvE5Rhqe

— LARIATOOOO!!!! (@MrLARIATO) November 5, 2017

And, we finally found out who Switchblade is. For a couple of months, NJPW has been teasing us with videos about the mysterious figure, and he made himself known at the conclusion of Hiroshi Tanahashi’s successful IWGP Intercontinental Championship defense against Kota Ibushi. Jay White has returned home from his excursion, and the former Young Lion is now a leather-clad badass. He laid Tana out and said that he will take the champions kingdom, and his title, at WrestleKingdom.

Plus, World Tag League kicks off later this month, and the winner of that will face the IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Killer Elite Squad. Minoru Suzuki will have a match for his NEVER Openweight Title, and BUSHI, EVIL, & SANADA will defend their NEVER Openweight 6-Man Titles, as well. So far, WrestleKingdom 12 is shaping up to be pretty damn good.

WrestleKingdom 12 Match Card

IWGP Heavyweight Championship
Kazuchika Okada vs Tetsuya Naito.

IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship
Kenny Omega vs Chris Jericho.

IWGP Intercontinental Championship
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Jay White.

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship
Marty Scurll vs Will Ospreay vs Hiromu Takahashi vs KUSHIDA.

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship
Roppongi 3K vs The Young Bucks.

The post NJPW WrestleKingdom 12 Card Is Coming Together appeared first on TopRopePress.com – Wrestling News, WWE News, TNA News, Wrestling Results.

Photo: NJPW

Talk about shock of shocks. Tonight during NJPW Power Struggle, we got the surprise of a lifetime when, after Kenny Omega successfully defended his IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship against Trent Barreta, Omega’s next challenger made himself known.

#NJPW #njpst https://t.co/4ULitIni5Z pic.twitter.com/66nmHYQxh9

— LARIATOOOO!!!! (@MrLARIATO) November 5, 2017

We were all kind of expecting the mysterious Switchblade to show up, but instead, we got Chris Jericho. I guess the past few weeks of Twitter trolling between these two was actually leading somewhere. The general consensus is that the match would take place on the Jericho Cruise next year, but obviously, these two had bigger plans in mind.

This is a rather interesting turn of events. Chris Jericho is still involved with WWE, and even though he is no longer under contract with the company and works on a per-appearance deal, he still has strong ties with WWE. But, with him appearing at WrestleKingdom 12 for NJPW, one has to assume that he feels this is the best business for him.

As for Omega, the move makes sense. It’s a big match with a big name. And, I am sure that Kenny will beat him soundly. For NJPW, it’s a coup, especially with their wanting to go global. Jericho has been a face of WWE, so this is a good get for them, especially seeing as how Jericho was just on WWE television not too long ago.

The build for this should be more than interesting. I have no clue if NJPW plans for Jericho to make an actual appearance before WrestleKingdom, but they should.

The post Chris Jericho Challenges Kenny Omega To WrestleKingdom 12 Match During Power Struggle appeared first on TopRopePress.com – Wrestling News, WWE News, TNA News, Wrestling Results.

Photo: NJPW

WrestleKingdom 12 is just around the corner, and today, NJPW released all of the information on tickets for the big show and on the travel packages they are offering for the event.

“04 January 2018, where will you be?! “Wrestle Kingdom 12” tickets now on sale! Check out the English info site for info on how to attend the most exciting pro-wrestling event of the year!

“Wrestle Kingdom 12” general admission tickets are now on sale! New Japan Pro-Wrestling’s biggest event of the year is now easier than ever to see live for international fans! We’ve partnered with e-plus to provide ticket purchasing in English for fans.  Purchase here.

And fans can also purchase ticket packages with HIS, with convenient hotel accommodations included with Wrestle Kingdom 12 ticket options. 30 lucky fans will also receive a signed postcard from Kenny Omega! More details here:

WRESTLING KINGDOM 12 -Jan 4,2018- Official Package Arena B
https://www.hisgo.com/us/Contents/Package/DetailPackage.aspx?PkgNo=US1700090

WRESTLING KINGDOM 12 -Jan 4,2018- Official Package 1F STAND

https://www.hisgo.com/us/Contents/Package/DetailPackage.aspx?PkgNo=US1700091

We invite fans across the world to experience pro-wrestling’s foremost spectacle, live at the Tokyo Dome! We will soon open the official English Wrestle Kingdom 12 site!”

We already know that G1 Climax winner Tetsuya Naito will challenge Kazuchika Okada for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship in the main event, and more matches will be determined and announced as the event draws closer.

The post NJPW Announces WrestleKingdom 12 Ticket Information & Travel Packages appeared first on TopRopePress.com – Wrestling News, WWE News, TNA News, Wrestling Results.