News
NJPW, NOAH & All Japan Coming Together For First Event In Seven Years
February 19th, 2019 will be a historic day in Japanese wrestling as it has been announced that New Japan Pro Wrestling, All Japan Pro Wrestling and Pro Wrestling NOAH will come together for Wrestling All-Star Battle.
This will be the first time since the All Together show in February of 2012 and will also feature Big Japan and Wrestle-1. It’s significance is also marked by this year being the 40th Anniversary of the last Wrestling All-Star Battle in 1979, which saw Antonio Inoki (the founder of NJPW) and Giant Baba (the founder of AJPW) tag up together for the last time. According to our very own Hisame, the event will also be commemorating the 20 year anniversary of Baba’s passing:
*UPDATE*
"Wrestling All-Star Battle" featuring New Japan, All Japan, Noah, Big Japan and W-1 will be held on 19th February 2019 at Sumo Hall.
The event will be held to commemorate the 20 year anniversary of Giant Baba's death in January 1999, and the founding of Tokyo Sports.
— Hisame (冰雨Pro-Wrestling Noah in English) (@Hi5ame) October 16, 2018
While the companies have all shared talent when it comes to events such as the G1 Climax or the ongoing Super Jr. Tag League, some believe this could be a step towards the promotions working together even further in the future given the continued growth of Japanese wrestling into the western part of the world, more specifically the United States.
Currently, there are no matches scheduled for Wrestling All-Star Battle.
EA’s Take: This is definitely a step in the right direction if fans want to see a lot more of the company’s working together, no doubt about that. It will be interesting to see how they approach the card, some fans are thinking it could be a lot of multi-man tag matches to get guys on the show. Meanwhile, some others think it could be a case of each promotion getting to put on its own “showcase” match in a sense. That’s definitely what intrigues me, how the politics of it all plays out.
Continue following TheChairshot for all the latest skull smashing opinion, news, reviews and so much more! @theCHAIRSHOTcom on Twitter
Always #UseYourHead
Powered by RedCircle
Let us know what you think on social media @ChairshotMedia and always remember to use the hashtag #UseYourHead!
Did your picks win points?
The AEW Continental Classic is underway, with almost everyone competing. Check in here if you haven’t seen the winners and losers of week 1!
Here are your Gold League standings!
- Jon Moxley: 1-0, 3 points
- Swerve Strickland: 1-0, 3 points
- Jay White: 1-0, 3 points
- Rush: 0-1, 0 points
- Mark Briscoe: 0-1, 0 points.
- Jay Lethal: 0-1, 0 points
Here are your Blue League standings!
- Brody King: 1-0, 3 points
- Claudio Castagnoli: 1-0, 3 points
- Daniel Garcia: 0-1, 0 points
- Eddie Kingston: 0-1, 0 points
- Bryan Danielson: Yet to Compete
- Andrade El Idolo: Yet to Compete
My Thoughts:
Nothing too crazy, nothing too wild, this tournament only just got started. The only disappointing point is that they could not get Bryan “cleared to compete” Saturday night. Not sure how much of that is shoot given the bad eye, but this was kinda the problem of wanting him in the tournament over tons of other choices. Bryan wants to face Okada for WrestleKingdom 18, how is Bryan supposed to do that at his best if he’s also gonna be in a round robin, doing five top level matches in about as many weeks? And it takes away from Andrade being able to do something. Also a little surprised we didn’t even hear from Andrade on Saturday.
Now as we heard on Saturday, round two’s matches are set. Gold League will see Mark Briscoe VS Rush, White VS Swerve, and of course, Moxley VS Lethal. Nice variety there, a couple 0-1 guys facing off, as well as two 1-0 guys, and then 1-0 VS 0-1. No offense to Lethal, but he feels like an 0-2 going up against Moxley. Hard to call the other ones but that’s the fun of it. Meanwhile, Blue League sees Brody VS Claudio in a showdown to be 2-0, then Bryan and Andrade finally jump in, Bryan against Eddie and Andrade against Garcia. Sadly, feels like Eddie and Garcia are going 0-2, no way Tony Khan is booking Bryan and Andrade to lose their first shots.
In fact, that could be half the reason they did wait on those two, that’s almost too good for just a first round opener. But I still would’ve done it, same as NJPW does stuff like that for round robins, which this is all modeled after anyway.
Powered by RedCircle
Let us know what you think on social media @ChairshotMedia and always remember to use the hashtag #UseYourHead!
Tony Khan Reveals the Blue and Gold “Leagues!”
Originally livestreamed, Tony Khan and Tony Schiavone officially announced the twelve total entrants and divided them into the two round robin blocks known as the “Blue League” and “Gold League.” If you don’t feel like sifting through the almost 30 minute video, the groups are:
Blue League
- Bryan Danielson
- Andrade El Idolo
- Brody King
- Claudio Castagnoli
- Daniel Garcia
- Eddie Kingston
Gold League
- Jon Moxley
- Swerve Strickland
- Rush
- Mark Briscoe
- Jay Lethal
- Jay White
Tony Khan also explains the rules for the Continental Classic:
- Every match has a 20 minute time limit
- The winner of each match earns 3 points, losers earn 0, 1 point for a draw
- EVERYONE ELSE is banned from ringside for true 1v1 action
Eddie Kingston also joined the selection special as his “life’s work” is on the line in this tournament, both the ROH World Championship and NJPW Strong Openweight Championship on the line as part of the modern day North American Triple Crown Eddie, Tony Khan, AEW, ROH and NJPW are looking to create together. Gold League competes tonight on Dynamite while Blue League will have their start this Saturday on Collision. Look for more articles like this one to keep up with the Continental Classic standings over the next six weeks of tournament action!
Powered by RedCircle
Let us know what you think on social media @ChairshotMedia and always remember to use the hashtag #UseYourHead!