After this morning’s Road to POWER Struggle ~SUPER Jr. TAG LEAGUE 2019~ event watchers now know the Super Junior Tag League finals, competitors, after Suzuki-Gun (El Desparado & Yoshinobu Kanemaru) and Roppongi 3k (Sho & Yoh) were victorious and Mega Coaches (Ryusuke Taguchi & Rocky Romero) fell to Volador Jr and Titan.
On Sunday, Suzuki-Gun will try to keep Roppongi 3k for winning their third straight Super Junior Tag League tournament crown. The event also had the final build-up to the Tetsuya Naito and Taichi match for the defacto number one contendership to the IWGP Intercontinental Championship. Along with a clever plot device to build further intrigue for Bullet Club members ‘Switchblade’ Jay White and KENTA’s two title defenses.
Jay White will defend the IWGP Intercontinental Championship against Hirooki Goto, and KENTA will defend the Never Openweight Championship against Tomohiro Ishii. As noted earlier in the week, the Power Struggle event on Sunday sold out several days in advance.
While the full card has yet to be released to the public, the previously announced matches are available to view.
Meltzer Denies Current NJPW/AEW Relationship
On an early Friday morning episode of Wrestling Observer Radio, journalist Dave Meltzer stated an entrance video for Kenny Omega on All Elite Wrestling (AEW) Dynamite this past Wednesday depicting a distorted NJPW lion mark, and a silhouette of Kota Ibushi holding the G1 trophy was not a tease for a relationship between the two hot promotions.
According to Meltzer, feelings of ‘bitterness’ exist on both sides due to business relations going back to January of this year. However, he did mention that it’s likely the two parties will work something out in the long run.
Of note, this news does not mean a partnership between the two promotions isn’t being negotiated behind closed doors. With the continued revenue growth of NJPW combined with the hype surrounding AEW, it would make sense for both parties to work out their differences if they want to further boost their respective brands in key markets.
NJPW wants to become a key part of the wrestling consciousness within North America, which led to the creation of the New Japan Pro Wrestling of America (NJoA) subsidiary. While AEW would love to gain a presence in Japan, one of the largest and prestigious wrestling markets in the world.
Both companies raising their brand recognition in the other’s primary market would lead to increased revenues, fresher products, and would make a great deal of die-hard wrestling fans happy.
The elephant in the room is NJPW’s relationship with original IWGP Conception member, Ring of Honor (ROH). While the two promotions haven’t featured the others’ talent in recent months, some believe the relationship is still in place.
NJPW and an AEW relationship will continue to create heavy speculation until a deal finally materializes between the two parties.
