SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...
-NJPW ANNOUNCED on their website that IWGP U.S. Champion Kenny Omega has been pulled from the NJPW events from Sept. 7-Sept. 22. Omega suffered an injury to the lateral meniscus in his left knee. Omega will still appear on the Sept. 24 Destruction in Kobe PPV where he is scheduled to defend the IWGP U.S. Title against Juice Robinson.
Current NJPW Young Lion Leo Tonga will take Omega’s place in all of the tag matches he was scheduled for according to the article posted on NJPW1972.com. Tonga is the son of Haku and has been training as a Young Lion, but he will now make his debut as a member of Bullet Club on the main NJPW roster. Leo, who stands at 6’8 is the tallest member of the NJPW roster. He is the younger brother of Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa.
Omega tweeted regarding the injury saying he will be back for Kobe. “Unfortunately, I’ll have to take a short break,” wrote Omega. “Hold the fort, Leo Tonga. See you in Kobe.”
According to PWTorch sources, the injury is minor and something that Omega has been dealing with for a short period of time. Omega sitting out several NJPW dates is a precautionary measure.
Radican’s Analysis: No further details have been released regarding Omega’s injury officially, but it is good news that he will be back on the Destruction tour in time to defend the IWGP U.S. Title against Juice Robinson on Sept. 24 in Kobe. Omega last wrestled in a tag match at PWG’s BOLA 2017: Night 2 last weekend.
-ROH announced that Kenny Omega has been signed to appear at the Nov. 11 event in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla and the Nov. 12 TV taping in Lakeland, Fla. Omega will also appear at ROH’s show on Oct. 15 in Chicago, Ill.
Radican’s Analysis: It’s not good that ROH hasn’t announced a defense of the IWGP U.S. Championship. ROH COO Joe Koff did a recent interview with usatoday.com and was asked about Omega defending the IWGP U.S. Title on the Oct. 15 event in Chicago.
If you read between the lines, Koff seemed a bit frustrated with the lack of an Omega title defense announced for the show when talking to usatoday.com. “We defend our belts over there,” Koff said. “I would expect they would defend their belt over here. We have a terrific relationship with New Japan. It’s very symbiotic. We wrestle in the same style; we book in the same way. I would think at some point it could be defended here if they’re wrestling on one of our tours. That would be fantastic.”
ROH would really benefit from some high profile NJPW title defenses taking place on their shows. I don’t see many similarities between NJPW and ROH’s booking. NJPW builds up big matches and contender to their titles that people want to see. ROH has struggled building feuds between stars and building challengers for their singles and tag titles outside of the short Hardy Boyz vs. The Young Bucks program earlier this year for the ROH Tag Titles.
-The latest video hying the main event of MLW: One Shot on Oct. 5 in Orlando, Fla. has been released. The video shows Ricochet doing some shopping while Shane Strickland is show taking their upcoming match more seriously and doing some MMA training. The show will be made available on MLW.tv within 72 hours of it being taped on Oct. 5.
You can watch MLW 360 Chapter 3 HERE
Radican’s Analysis: I have enjoyed the MLW 360 videos before. They are starting to lay the groundwork for Ricochet being the bigger name and his arrogance possibly being his downfall when it comes time to face Strickland. Strickland is shown doing some striking and MMA style work on the mat in the gym in the video. 0
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