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Monday, July 21, 2014

[AJPW][PREVIEW] "Summer Action Series" 7/22/14

All-Japan Pro-Wrestling, "Summer Action Series" continues on July 22 at the Sayama Citizen Exchange Center in Sayama, Saitama, Japan. The card will be as follows:

Takashi Hijikata
Takao Omori
Jun Akiyama (1999 One Night Six Man Tag Team Tournament winner)
vs.
Yutaka Yoshie
Hikaru Sato (DDT Jiyugaoka Six-Person Tag Team champion and DDT Nihonkai Six-Man Tag Team champion) Suwama (former Tenryu Project Six Man Tag Team champion)

Shigehiro Irie (AJPW All Asia Tag Team champion)
Joe Doering (former World Tag Team champion)
vs.
Sushi
Zeus (former NWA Intercontinental Tag Team champion)

Kento Miyahara
vs.
Yoshinobu Kanemaru (former AJPW World Junior Heavyweight champion)

Keisuke Ishii (former DDT Extreme champion)
vs.
KENSO (two-time NJPW Young Lion Cup winner)

Atsushi Aoki (AJPW World Junior Heavyweight champion)
vs.
Soma Takao

Kotaro Suzuki (AJPW Gaora TV championship)
vs
Mitomi Masayuki


NJPW G1 Climax 24

July 21 will be the first day of G1 Climax 24, NJPW's annual summer tournament which will run until August 10. It will be broadcast live from Hokkaido via Ustream iPPV at http://www.ustream.tv/njpw, 3pm start time (2am eastern time in the United States). Below are the blocks for this year:

Block A:
- Hiroshi Tanahashi
- Satoshi Kojima
- Yuji Nagata
- Tomoaki Honma
- Katsuyori Shibata
- Shinsuke Nakamura
- Tomohiro Ishii
- Shelton Benjamin
- Doc Gallows
- Davey Boy Smith Jr.
- Bad Luck Fale

Block B:
- Togi Makabe
- Hirooki Goto
- Tetsuya Naito
- Hiroyoshi Tenzan
- Kazuchika Okada
- Toru Yano
- Minoru Suzuki
- Lance Archer
- AJ Styles
- Yujiro Takahashi
- Karl Anderson

Below are all of the matches that have been scheduled for NJPW G1 Climax 24:

7/21/14 at the Hokkaido Prefectural Sports Center
Block A: Tomohiro Ishii vs. Bad Luck Fale
Block A: Shelton Benjamin vs. Doc Gallows
Block B: Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Karl Anderson
Block A: Satoshi Kojima vs. Yuji Nagata
Block B: Toru Yano vs. Minoru Suzuki
Block B: Tetsuya Naito vs. Yujiro Takahashi
Block B: Togi Makabe vs. Hirooki Goto
Block A: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Tomoaki Honma
Block A: Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Katsuyori Shibata
Block B: Kazuchika Okada vs. AJ Styles

7/23/14 at the Aomori Prefectural Budokan
Block A: Satoshi Kojima vs. Tomohiro Ishii
Block A: Shelton Benjamin vs. Bad Luck Fale
Block B: Hirooki Goto vs. Yujiro Takahashi
Block B: Tetsuya Naito vs. Lance Archer
Block A: Yuji Nagata vs. Tomoaki Honma
Block A: Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Davey Boy Smith Jr.
Block B: Toru Yano vs. AJ Styles
Block B: Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Kazuchika Okada
Block B: Togi Makabe vs. Karl Anderson
Block A: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Doc Gallows

7/25/14 at the Yamagata Sports Center
Block A: Tomoaki Honma vs. Doc Gallows
Block B: Lance Archer vs. Karl Anderson
Block B: Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Yujiro Takahashi
Block A: Tomohiro Ishii vs. Shelton Benjamin
Block B: Tetsuya Naito vs. Toru Yano
Block A: Katsuyori Shibata vs. Davey Boy Smith Jr.
Block A: Yuji Nagata vs. Bad Luck Fale
Block B: Hirooki Goto vs. Minoru Suzuki
Block A: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Satoshi Kojima
Block B: Togi Makabe vs. Kazuchika Okada

7/26/14 at the Akita Prefectural Gymnasium
Block A: Satoshi Kojima vs. Bad Luck Fale
Block A: Shelton Benjamin vs. Davey Boy Smith Jr.
Block B: Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Minoru Suzuki
Block B: Hirooki Goto vs. Toru Yano
Block A: Tomoaki Honma vs. Tomohiro Ishii
Block B: Togi Makabe vs. Lance Archer
Block A: Yuji Nagata vs. Shinsuke Nakamura
Block B: Tetsuya Naito vs. AJ Styles
Block B: Kazuchika Okada vs. Karl Anderson
Block A: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Katsuyori Shibata

7/28/14 at the Sendai Sun Plaza Hall
Block A: Tomohiro Ishii vs. Doc Gallows
Block B: Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Lance Archer
Block A: Satoshi Kojima vs. Davey Boy Smith Jr.
Block B: Minoru Suzuki vs. Yujiro Takahashi
Block B: Toru Yano vs. Karl Anderson
Block A: Katsuyori Shibata vs. Shelton Benjamin
Block B: Hirooki Goto vs. AJ Styles
Block A: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Bad Luck Fale
Block A: Tomoaki Honma vs. Shinsuke Nakamura
Block B: Tetsuya Naito vs. Kazuchika Okada

7/31/14 at Act City Hamamatsu
Block A: Doc Gallows vs. Bad Luck Fale
Block A: Yuji Nagata vs. Davey Boy Smith Jr.
Block B: Togi Makabe vs. Yujiro Takahashi
Block A: Satoshi Kojima vs. Katsuyori Shibata
Block B: Hirooki Goto vs. Karl Anderson
Block B: Minoru Suzuki vs. Lance Archer
Block A: Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Shelton Benjamin
Block B: Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. AJ Styles
Block B: Kazuchika Okada vs. Toru Yano
Block A: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Tomohiro Ishii

8/1/14 at Korakuen Hall
Block A: Satoshi Kojima vs. Shelton Benjamin
Block B: Toru Yano vs. Lance Archer
Block B: Yujiro Takahashi vs. Karl Anderson
Block A: Davey Boy Smith Jr. vs. Doc Gallows
Block B: Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Hirooki Goto
Block A: Tomoaki Honma vs. Bad Luck Fale
Block B: Togi Makabe vs. Tetsuya Naito
Block A: Minoru Suzuki vs. AJ Styles
Block A: Yuji Nagata vs. Katsuyori Shibata
Block A: Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Tomohiro Ishii

8/3/14 at the Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium
Block A: Tomohiro Ishii vs. Davey Boy Smith Jr.
Block B: Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Toru Yano
Block A: Yuji Nagata vs. Shelton Benjamin
Block A: Satoshi Kojima vs. Doc Gallows
Block B: Hirooki Goto vs. Tetsuya Naito
Block B: Lance Archer vs. AJ Styles
Block B: Togi Makabe vs. Minoru Suzuki
Block A: Tomoaki Honma vs. Katsuyori Shibata
Block B: Kazuchika Okada vs. Yujiro Takahashi
Block A: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Shinsuke Nakamura

8/4/14 at the Aichi Prefectural Gymnasium
Block A: Tomoaki Honma vs. Davey Boy Smith Jr.
Block B: Lance Archer vs. Yujiro Takahashi
Block A: Yuji Nagata vs. Doc Gallows
Block B: Togi Makabe vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan
Block B: Tetsuya Naito vs. Minoru Suzuki
Block A: Katsuyori Shibata vs. Bad Luck Fale
Block A: Satoshi Kojima vs. Shinsuke Nakamura
Block B: AJ Styles vs. Karl Anderson
Block A: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Shelton Benjamin
Block B: Hirooki Goto vs. Kazuchika Okada NJPW

8/6/14 at the Takamatsu City Gymnasium
Block A: Satoshi Kojima vs. Tomoaki Honma
Block A: Davey Boy Smith Jr. vs. Bad Luck Fale
Block B: Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Tetsuya Naito
Block B: Karl Anderson vs. Minoru Suzuki
Block B: Togi Makabe vs. Toru Yano
Block B: AJ Styles vs. Yujiro Takahashi
Block B: Kazuchika Okada vs. Lance Archer
Block A: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Yuji Nagata
Block A: Tomohiro Ishii vs. Katsuyori Shibata
Block A: Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Doc Gallows

8/8/14 at the Yokohama Bunka Gymnasium
Block A: Tomoaki Honma vs. Shelton Benjamin
Block A: Yuji Nagata vs. Tomohiro Ishii
Block A: Katsuyori Shibata vs. Doc Gallows
Block A: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Davey Boy Smith Jr.
Block A: Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Bad Luck Fale
Block B: Toru Yano vs. Yujiro Takahashi
Block B: Hirooki Goto vs. Lance Archer
Block B: Tetsuya Naito vs. Karl Anderson
Block B: Kazuchika Okada vs. Minoru Suzuki
Block B: Togi Makabe vs. AJ Styles

8/10/14 at the Seibu Dome
Block A 2nd place vs. Block B 2nd place
FINAL: Block A 1st place vs. Block B 1st place

Tuesday, July 1, 2014

Bullet Club: Taking NJPW to Another Level

This past Sunday, NJPW presented “KIZUNA ROAD 2014" to a sold-out crowd in Tokyo's legendary Korakuen Hall. The main event was Tomohiro Ishii vs. Yujiro Takahashi for the NEVER Openweight Championship, which resulted in Takahashi winning and becoming the new Champion. Not only is this an accomplishment for Takahashi, but it is also an accomplishment for the Bullet Club faction, as they now have control over all of NJPW's heavyweight titles: AJ Styles holds the IWGP Heavyweight Championship, Doc Gallows & Karl Anderson are the IWGP Tag Team Champions, and Bad Luck Fale holds the IWGP Intercontinental Championship.

While NJPW prides itself on sportsmanship, Bullet Club goes against everything that the company stands for, with the faction members interfering in each other's matches, keeping themselves at the top of NJPW. Many long-time NJPW fans say that Bullet Club has sabotaged the company, as they conduct themselves in a manner that NJPW fans are unaccustomed to. While that may be debatable, one thing is certain- Bullet Club is one of the best things that has ever happened to NJPW.

Bullet Club has a great amount of potential, with most of its members being talents who are very familiar to fans even if they are not necessarily very familiar with NJPW. The Bullet Club brand has even expanded into Mexico, where a sub-group (Bullet Club Latinoamerica) proudly represents the faction. With Bullet Club's current high standing in the pro-wrestling industry as a brand, their influence is helping NJPW gain more popularity not only in Japan, but outside of Japan as well. Fans are ordering NJPW iPPVs to see the best known Bullet Club members, which then leads to them being exposed to the Bullet Club members who they are not familiar with, along with the other members of the NJPW roster.

Bullet Club is frequently compared to the legendary NWO, especially since the Bullet Club members do poses and gestures that NWO members used to do. Bullet Club and the NWO are perfect examples of how even though wrestling and puroresu have different styles, they inspire each other- just as the Bullet Club was inspired by WCW's NWO, the NWO was inspired by a UWF invasion of NJPW that took place before the NWO made its debut. And along with the comparisons between Bullet Club and the NWO is the question of whether or not Bullet Club will ultimately have a positive impact financially on NJPW as the NWO did on WCW. The fact is, they already have begun to- Bullet Club Bone Soldier T-shirts are currently among the company's top-selling merchandise items.

With Bullet Club having a lot of momentum right now, the faction members should be utilized to their fullest potentials. Bullet Club already has all of the major titles in NJPW- they should go after the other titles in the company as well. The faction now setting their sights on the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship and IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship would increase the value of these titles in the eyes of fans, which would benefit NJPW. Although Tama Tonga mainly has tag team matches in NJPW, he is talented enough to shine as a singles talent, and would be a good choice as the person to pursue the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship for the faction. The Young Bucks held the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship until they were recently defeated by Time Splitters, so it would make sense for them to once again represent Bullet Club in an attempt to bring the title back to the faction.

Lastly, I think Bullet Club should have its own website, as the NWO did. The NWO website was a place where the faction launched propaganda, drawing attention from both fans who liked and disliked them. The bottom line was that it drew visitors, which benefited WCW as a company. The same can be done for NJPW via a Bullet Club website. It could feature a Bullet Club mission statement, bios of each member, a merchandise page, a news page updating visitors on what the faction is up to, and pro-Bullet Club articles.

Bullet Club does not represent any of the traditional aspects of puroresu, and tradition is highly regarded in Japan. But instead of Bullet Club (and to an extent NJPW) being an alternative to traditional puroresu, what they really are is an aspect of puroresu/NJPW that makes it more interesting than it already was. NJPW has been one of the most successful pro-wrestling companies in Japan for 42 years, and Bullet Club has helped NJPW increase in popularity in the United States. If the faction is utilized to its fullest extent, Bullet Club will benefit NJPW in the long-term as the company's fan base grows and continues to expand into other countries.