New Japan Pro Wednesday (4/10) Switchblade Era Ends, Rainmaker Reigns

New Champions Crowned In Manhattan

New Japan Pro-Wrestling cemented its position as an international player on Saturday. In the company’s Madison Square Garden debut, they highlighted their global scale with title matches featuring the cream of their crop. In total, four of NJPW’s titles changed hands the World’s Most Famous Arena™.

After a nostalgia-soaked Honor Rumble, that at one point saw Jushin Liger & Great Muta face-off, NJPW used their Madison Square Garden debut to focus on the present and the future. The first match was the epitome of that showcase. The NEVER Openweight Champion Will Ospreay fell to ROH World Television Jeff Cobb, with Cobb leaving MSG with both belts.

Cobb’s win is a heartening one. He’s a talent that NJPW has been flirting with, showing up around World Tag League time and usually sticking around until Wrestle Kingdom. He’s also been a staple of the company’s North American shows. That he finally holds NJPW gold, is a sign that the company is finally ready to commit to the former-Olympian.

Another foreign talent that has been aching for the spotlight is CMLL’s Dragon Lee, who was holding the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship by the end of the night. Lee defeated Bandido and IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion Taiji Ishimori in a short, breathless threeway match. This is a strong vote of confidence in the Mexican star, who has been a staple of Jr. Heavyweight tournaments. Lee’s feud with former-IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion Hiromu Takahashi have been showstealers, and the title win are his just desserts.

In the only battle featuring solely-Japanese competitors, Kota Ibushi won the IWGP Intercontinental Heavyweight Championship from Tetsuya Naito. While not a gaijin, Ibushi has been an outsider in NJPW for a long time. Spending most of his career as a freelancer, he’d yet to win any heavyweight gold in the company until this past year. The former-Jr. Heavyweght champ seemed doomed to aways be the bridesmaid in the heavyweight division. He now carries the number two championship in the company into the summer, and likely G1 Climax season.

The main event of the evening saw the leader of the New Era, Jay White, fail in his first title defense. As Japan enters a new Imperial Era, Kazuchika Okada once again holds the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. Just when it seemed like Okada was out of records to break, The Rainmaker made history by being the first man to win the IWGP Heavyweight Championship outside of Japan.

The night was momentous for NJPW. With AAA running Madison Square Garden in September, Connecticut’s hold on MSG is slipping. After G1 Supercard the question is not if, but when will NJPW return to The Garden?

A full-review of the show by NJPWed’s Jasmine Olan is at the end of this week’s New Japan Pro Wednesday.

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