Today in NJPW History
Wrestling Dontaku is the flavour of the day on May 3rd
Today in New Japan Pro Wrestling history - May 3rd (big up to Pro Fight DB)
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Big Osaka Dome Show in 1997
(photo by マ管)
A big NJPW show went down on this day in 1997 in front of 43,000 fans in the Osaka Dome. The event was NJPW Strong Style Evolution, and it involved a handful of WCW talent thrown into the mix, such as Syxx, Lex Luger, The Giant, The Steiner Brothers, Kevin Nash, and Scott Hall (with Eric Bischoff doing commentary for a match). However, the card was headlined by two NJPW title matches, with the team of Manabu Nakanishi & Satoshi Kojima wresting away the IWGP World Tag Team Titles off of champs Kensuke Sasaki & Riki Choshu, and Shinya Hashimoto successfully defending his IWGP World Heavyweight Championship against Naoya Ogawa.
Three Title Fights at Fukuoka in 1999
The 7,500 in attendance at the Fukuoka International Center in 1999 were in for a treat, as they got to witness three IWGP titles being contested for. First, IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Koji Kanemoto left with his gold after defeating Tatsuhito Takaiwa, tag champs Kensuke Sasaki & Shiro Koshinaka successfully defended against Kazuo Yamazaki & Yuji Nagata, and heavyweight champ Keiji Muto turned away Genichiro Tenryu in the main event.
Americans Invade the Tokyo Dome in 2004
(photo by Dick Thomas Johnson)
A bunch of familiar names to Western wrestling fans descended upon the Tokyo Dome at NJPW Nexess on May 3, 2004. This includes the American Dragon (Daniel Bryan), Josh Barnett fighting Ken Shamrock, and Sean O’Haire (!!) losing to Hiroshi Tanahashi. Tag champs Minoru Suzuki & Yoshihiro Takayama defended against Kazunari Murakami & Masa Chono, and heavyweight champ Bob Sapp beat Shinsuke Nakamura.
Brock Lesnar Defends the Strap
2006 was a weird time for New Japan. Look no further than the main event on this day at NJPW New Japan Cup ‘06 Special - Day 2. It pitted IWGP Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar against Giant Bernard - two guys better known for their WWE runs. In the semi-main in the Fukuoka International Center (attendance: 3,500), Koji Kanemoto became the new IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion, beating Tiger Mask IV.
Wrestling Dontaku Through the Years
May 3rd has been the day that Wrestling Dontaku has historically taken place, so lots of action to report here. In order to keep it rather brief, here’s a quick rundown of the most notable results:
Hulk Hogan over Keiji Mutoh - 1993
Sabu wins the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title off Koji Kanemoto - 1995
Ric Flair beats Hiroshi Hase - 1995
Keiji Mutoh defends IWGP Heavyweight Title against Shinya Hashimoto - 1995
(watch it here) **** match
Yuji Nagata beats Takashi Iizuka in a Dog Collar Chain Death match - 2009
Hiroshi Tanahashi defends heavyweight title against Hirooki Goto - 2009
Jushin Liger wins CMLL Middleweight Title from Negro Casas - 2010
Togi Makabe wins heavyweight title from Shinsuke Nakamura - 2010
Low Ki wins the junior title off of Prince Devitt - 2012
Kazuchika Okada defends heavyweight title against Hirooki Goto - 2012
Okada successfull defends heavyweight title against Minoru Suzuki - 2013
Tomohiro Ishii defends NEVER Openweight title against Tomoaki Honma - 2014
(watch it here) - very good match ****1/2
A.J. Styles wins heavyweight title from Okada - 2014
Hirooki Goto wins the IWGP Intercontinental Title off Shinsuke Nakamura - 2015
(watch it here) ****
KUSHIDA successfully defends junior title against Liger - 2016
(watch it here) ****
Tetsuya Naito defends heavyweight championship against Ishii - 2016
(watch it here - free with English commentary) ****1/2
Kenny Omega defeats Ishii - 2017
(watch it here) ****3/4
Okada defends heavyweight title against Bad Luck Fale - 2017
(watch it here) ****
And BOOOOO Happy Birthday Bullet Club
On this day seven years ago, the evil Bullet Club was formed. Here’s how it went down:
