Katsuya Kitamura Rumored To Be Retiring
VoicesofWrestling.com is reporting that New Japan Pro Wrestling Young Lion Katsuya Kitamura might be “quietly retiring.” They also reported that this is “head injury related.”
WrestleZone has reached out to New Japan Pro Wrestling for comment.
So here's the deal. Something is up with Katsuya Kitamura. There was a rumor circulating that he was "fired". It appears the language on that may be too strong, as another source put it as "queitly retiring him". This is head injury related, and a real bummer if indeed true. https://t.co/L6SePONlBL
— Voices of Wrestling (@voiceswrestling) April 11, 2018
Zack Sabre Jr. Signs Full-Time With NJPW
Zack Sabre Jr. lost the Evolve World Championship and the RevPro British Heavyweight Championship over WrestleMania weekend. He then confirmed that he has signed a full-time contract with New Japan Pro Wrestling. Sabre says that is where he is putting 100% of his focus at this time.
Heartbroken to have to say goodbye to @zacksabrejr, but we’re unbelievably proud to have had such a great champion and wrestler be part of the WWNLive family. Thanks for everything, Zack. Come back anytime. pic.twitter.com/9aVJi2VKE3
— EVOLVE Wrestling (@WWNEVOLVE) April 7, 2018
Kenny Omega Taunts Roman Reigns On Twitter
Former-WWE Intercontinental Champion Roman Reigns took to Twitter to say “Any Show. Any City. Any Country. Any opponent. I’ll fight.” This prompted a response from former-IWGP Intercontinental Heavyweight Champion Kenny Omega.
Really??
— Kenny Omega (@KennyOmegamanX) April 11, 2018
Lion’s Gate Project 11 Results
Lion’s Gate Project 11 aired on 4/10 and is available to watch on NJPWWorld.com.
- Ren Narita def. Yuya Uemura via submission. (8:16)
- Tomoyuki Oka def. Yota Tsuji via submission. (7:17)
- Gedo & Hiro Saito def. Tiger Mask & Tetsuhiro Yagi via pinfall. (14:59)
- Manabu Nakanishi & Hiroyoshi Tenzan def. Ken45 & MANJIMARU via submission. (13:35)
- Yuji Nagata & Shota Umino vs. Go Asakawa & Ayato Yoshida via pinfall. (12:03)
Daisuke Sekimoto Set For Lion’s Gate Project 12
New Japan Pro Wrestling announced that the next Lion’s Gate event will be held on May 15th. The event will feature Big Japan Wrestling’s Daisuke Sekimoto. Sekimoto is coming off a busy WrestleMania weekend, that saw him on every show from WWN and Kaiju Big Battel alike. Sekimoto will take on Shota Umino.
5/15 Lion’s Gate Project 12, 6am EST
- Yota Tsuji vs. Yuya Uemura
- Manabu Nakanishi vs. Tomoyuki Oka
- Hiro Saito & Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Ren Narita & Tetsuhiro Yagi
- Shota Umino vs. Daisuke Sekimoto
- Yuji Nagata vs. Ayato Yoshida
【5月15日（火）『LION’S GATE』全カード決定！】大日本プロレスの関本大介が電撃参戦！ 海野翔太とシングルマッチで激突！https://t.co/gPZicqQZB6 #njpw #njgate pic.twitter.com/AcUEz7OPtR
— 新日本プロレスリング株式会社 (@njpw1972) April 11, 2018
Team Japan Wins Bronze Medal At World Cup In Iowa
The 2018 Wrestling World Cup was held in Iowa City, IA over the weekend. Noboyushi Arakida from Wrestle Academy, a New Japan-sponsored academy, and Takeshi Yamaguchi were both mentioned by journalist Chris Charlton as being names to watch. Japan’s third place finish was their best showing since 1985. Team USA won this year’s Wrestling World Cup, for the first time in 14 years.
Team Japan took bronze in the men’s freestyle wrestling World Cup in Iowa. Among their members were Tsuyoshi Yamaguchi from Bushiroad and Nobuyoshi Arakida from the New Japan sponsored Wrestle Academy. Japan’s best standing since 1985. Maybe keep an eye out for those names.
— chris charlton (@reasonjp) April 10, 2018
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