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KENTA SHATTERS THE FORBIDDEN DOOR, NJPW OPENS THE ROKU GATE AND LOTS MORE FROM JAPAN

New Japan Pro Wrestling

KENTA knocked down the forbidden door between All Elite Wrestling and New Japan Pro Wrestling by attacking Jon Moxley on Dynamite last night.

Kenny Omega tried to align himself with KENTA after the show, but KENTA said his business was only with Moxley. Omega then implored Tony Khan to book a tag team match with himself and KENTA against Moxley and Lance Archer.

KENTA will challenge Moxley for the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship at New Beginning USA 2021 on February 26.

KENTA earned his IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship challenge rights certificate by winning the New Japan Cup USA over the summer on NJPW STRONG. He made five successful defenses of the certificate against Jeff Cobb, Hiroshi Tanahashi, David Finlay, Brody King and Satoshi Kojima.

Despite winning the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship at Wrestle Kingdom 14 last year, Moxley has only managed two successful defenses of the title (against Juice Robinson and Minoru Suzuki) due to the ongoing global pandemic. He will attempt his third defense against KENTA on February 26.

New Japan Pro Wrestling has also announced a new television deal with Roku which will bring the company to American, Canadian and British airwaves. Premiering on February 11, one-hour episodes will air every Thursday at 5pm.

While the deal with Roku is certainly not bad news, some fans might have expected a bigger network or streaming service with how much speculation has been building since the first mention of an American televison deal at Wrestle Kingdom 15 a month ago.

Any international television deal is a tricky field for a Japanese company due to timezones alone as almost all shows will late at night or early in the morning in other countries. Realistically, New Japan’s American expansion is probably more reliant on being able to run shows with live fans in attendance and bringing Japanese stars to America than any televison deal, although the added exposure from being on Roku should help.

If there is any silver lining to the horrible ongoing pandemic, New Japan has been able to establish an America-based roster of wrestlers on NJPW STRONG which could be used whenever the company is able to run shows.

Various New Japan veterans competed on the Giant Baba memorial show today. The full results were:

• Jinsei Shinzaki, Mitsuya Nagai and Tomoaki Honma def. Alejandro, Andy Wu and Osamu Nishimura
• Atsushi Onita, Great Kojika, Masanobu Fuchi and Shiro Koshinaka def. Masao Inoue, Takao Omori, Tiger Mask II and Tsuyoshi Kikuchi
• BUSHI def. Atsuki Aoyagi
• Yuji Nagata and Yuma Aoyagi def. Hikaru Sato and Minoru Suzuki
• Keiji Mutoh, Satoshi Kojima and SUWAMA def. Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Kaz Hayashi and Masayuki Kono

Real Japan Pro Wrestling

Real Japan Pro Wrestling held a press conference today to announce the full card for its show on March 3 in Korakuen Hall.

The full card is:

• Alejandro and Fuminori Abe vs. Ikuto Hidaka and Super Rider
• UWA Asia Pacific Heavyweight Championship: Hayato Mashita (c) vs. Tatsuhito Takaiwa
• Kazuyuki Fujita and Super Tiger vs. Masayuki Kono and Shogun Okamoto
• Kendo Kashin vs. Masakatsu Funaki

The main event will be the first ever singles match between Kendo Kashin and Masakatsu Funaki.

GLEAT

GLEAT uploaded Soma Watanabe and Takanori Ito in a UWF Rules match on its YouTube channel today.

The next upload will be Ito teaming with Tatsuhito Takaiwa against Minoru Tanaka and Watanabe.

Pro Wrestling FREEDOMS

Pro Wrestling FREEDOMS has announced it will hold its first show of the year in Osaka on April 4.

Dragon Gate

Dragon Gate will begin its Truth Gate 2021 tour in Korakuen Hall tomorrow.

The full card is:

• Bokutimo Dragon, Punch Tominaga and Ryo Saito vs. Don Fujii, Gamma and Ultimo Dragon
• Genki Horiguchi and Kenichiro Arai vs. Keisuke Okuda and Yosuke Santa Maria
• Diamante, HipHop Kikuta and Kaito Ishida and KAZMA SAKAMOTO vs. Jason Lee, Kota Minoura, La Estrella and Shun Skywalker
• BxB Hulk and Eita vs. Masaaki Mochizuki and Takashi Yoshida
• Ben-K, Kagetora and Shuji Kondo vs. Kzy, Susumu Yokosuka and U-T
• Dragon Kid and YAMATO vs. KAI and SB KENTo

Big Japan Pro Wrestling

Big Japan Pro Wrestling will hold a show in Shin-Kiba 1st Ring tomorrow.

The full card is:

• Kazuki Hashimoto and Kota Sekifuda vs. Masaki Morihiro and Takuho Kato
• Brahman Kei, Shigehiro Irie and Yuji Okabayashi vs. Daichi Hashimoto, Fuminori Abe and Takuya Nomura
• Kazumi Kikuta and Yuya Aoki vs. Yasufumi Nakanoue and Yuya Aoki
• Deathmatch: Drew Parker, Hideyoshi Kamitani and Masaya Takahashi vs. Jaki Numazawa, Ryuji Ito and Yuki Ishikawa
• BJW Junior Heavyweight Championship: Isami Kodaka (c) vs. Kosuke Sato
• Deathmatch: Akira Hyodo and Kankuro Hoshino vs. Masashi Takeda and Takumi Tsukamoto

Isami Kodaka will attempt his second defense of the BJW Junior Heavyweight Championship against Kosuke Sato.

Big Japan will announce the full field for this year’s Ikkitousen Deathmatch Survivor tournament at the start of the show. Pro Wrestling FREEDOMS’ Violento Jack has already declared his participation, as well as Big Japan’s Akira Hyodo and Hideyoshi Kamitani.

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