As always wrestling gives us both great memories and memories we try and forget, but with the amount of moments worth remembering that have happened we are bound to forget some. The same could be said about some talent that were very much underrated during their career or never at the top of a company during a run this unfortunately makes it easier for fans to forget certain talent. These two are very different talent and had two very different careers while they worked in this great business. Sometimes we encounter those that deserve to be remembered and acknowledged. I would like to wish a very big Happy Birthday to all who are celebrating their special day today and especially to the one featured below. Following his departure from the WWE during the "Monday Night Wars" the former Earthquake aka John Tenta would head to Japan. His last match on record was in the summer of July 2003 as a member of the All Japan roster. John would also take a tour of New Japan for a short stay in 1993 and this is one of the reasons that most people don't remember that he had a stay in Japan. To change things up we are including a third person for this day. For those who don't know George "The Cobra" Takano was one of the prominent junior heavyweights during the golden age for the division in New Japan. Two legends and one future legend makes this day in wrestling history complete.
Happy Birthday to George "The Cobra" Takano who turns 61 years old
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As always wrestling gives us both great memories and memories we try and forget, but with the amount of moments worth remembering that have happened we are bound to forget some. The same could be said about some talent that were very much underrated during their career or never at the top of a company during a run this unfortunately makes it easier for fans to forget certain talent. These two are very different talent and had two very different careers while they worked in this great business. Sometimes we encounter those that deserve to be remembered and acknowledged. I would like to wish a very big Happy Birthday to all who are celebrating their special day today and especially to the one featured below.
This past weekend New Japan held their second biggest event of the year called Dominion. Normally New Japan finds a way to tear down the house every year with this event last year we even saw Kenny Omega win the IWGP World Title ending Okada's record setting reign. This year Chris Jericho would challenge for the IWGP World Champion against current champion Kazuchika Okada. Side note hearing that Jon Moxley will be included in G1-Climax this year is surprising, because it really shows just how much things have changed in such a short time. It will be interesting to see Moxley in the ring against Kazuchika Okada, Tomohiro Ishii, Tanahashi, Naito, and various others.
Looking at the card it is difficult to pin down which match was the best match from the event with Will Osprey & Dragon Lee, Tetsuya Naito & Kota Ibushi, and finally Chris Jericho & Kazuchika Okada. In my opinion, this really shows that even after losing The Elite it is still clear that New Japan will be fine in the long run. Now don't get me wrong they were big loses, but the company still has an incredibly deep roster with some of the most talented performers in the world of wrestling right now. Overall Chris Jericho continues to impress every single time he is given the chance to be on the top of the card. It's almost like he's getting better with age instead of slowing down like people normally do as they get older. Also I want to point out that Ibushi & Okada are two of the top baby faces in wrestling and prove that a sympathetic good guy can still be a thing if you really try to make it happen. Either way this was a very good show and a spectacular building block for the next major event on the calendar that being the G1 Climax. The never ending list is coming to a close with us hitting number two on the list finally. One of the best wrestlers in the world is the former leader of the Bullet Club Kenny Omega. To start the year Kenny attempted to recruit Jay White into the Bullet Club it lead to a match between the two for the IWGP United States title. Omega would move into a civil war feud with Cody over leadership in the Bullet Club this would lead to one of the best feuds of the year and some of the best matches. Omega would side with Kota Ibushi in the early days of the war which saw the Golden Lovers against Young Bucks in a top match from 2018.
Omega would shock the wrestling world at Dominion in June when he ended the record setting World Title reign of Kazuchika Okada. Omega and the rest of the The Elite would come back together after Tama Tonga would lead the OG's to turn against the rest of the Club. Soon after Gedo would turn on Okada again shocking wrestling to join up with Jay White and the duo would later join the OG's in the new Bullet Club. For the most part everyone knows at this point just how good Kenny Omega is and doesn't need me to tell them, but if you have any doubts just look back at his performance during the G1 Climax last year and you'll see someone who was in the prime of his career. For about half of the G1 Climax, Kenny was undefeated and would put in show stealing performances nightly really living to being the champion. At this point though things have changed a lot since last year with Kenny now a member of All Elite Wrestling and New Japan still looking to replace those who walked away. It will be difficult for them to fill the voids left by The Elite, but that just means there is something to in New Japan to see who gets into those spots and All Elite Wrestling still is building momentum as they approach their October debut on television. 2019 will be a year like no other for the world of wrestling. I was looking for a match to share with you from the New Japan channel to avoid having to worry about the video being taken down. I don't think I could've asked for a better match to find then a match between two of the top stars in New Japan one of which being the current IWGP Heavyweight Champion. At first this was just going to be focused on one match but instead I got an idea and decided to tie into the upcoming match between Chris Jericho & Kazuchika Okada set for June 9 at Dominion for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. For the first time in recent memory we have seen three different World Champions in NJPW which is also very telling considering we've only just gotten into the six month of the year. With "Ace" back on top he now collides with the wild card of New Japan and the victor of the first AEW main event Chris Jericho. To try and put into words how in demand Jericho is right now it would be insanely difficult as he is someone that you just never know what to expect from him at this point. From one day to another he could change even just minor detail about his character and could be a totally different person. Keep in mind at this point Chris Jericho is 46 years old and still is competing at this high of a level which is insane. Overall this in my opinion is one of those dream matches you didn't know you wanted to see until it was booked and you knew you'd be getting it. After all the years that Jericho was apart of WWE it is insane to think that he will be challenging Kazuchika Okada for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship at one of New Japan's biggest events of the year.
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July 2021
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