Wrestler of the Day - 9/20: Hiroshi Tanahashi!

Today’s Wrestler of the Day is one of the most decorated wrestlers in the history of Puroresu, the legendary Hiroshi Tanahashi!

Gotta be honest here, Tanahashi would not be more popular if it had not be for a real-life incident which he was stabbed in the back (LITERALLY) by his TV personality girlfriend he was dating at the time. Before this sudden incident, however, he was one the rise as one of the top young prospects in New Japan Pro Wrestling in his early days. Since the incident (which may have been the best thing that has happened to his career), Tanahashi has went to become one of the most decorated wrestlers in the history of Puroresu in Japan. He has been given the moniker “Once in a Century Talent” due to his numerous classics, championship wins, and title defenses, where he holds the most title defenses with the IWGP Heavyweight title in a single reign, with 11. His more recent classics have been against the likes of Kazuchika Okada, Katsuyori Shibata and Shinsuke Nakamura.

Here’s one of my favorite Tanahashi matches, against Kazuchika Okada!

Hiroshi Tanahashi Vs Kazuchika Okada | NJPW Invasion Attack | 07.04.2013 from 5 Star Wrestling on Vimeo.

Match of the Day - 10/12/2015: Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi!

Short synopsis for each Wrestler and Match of the Day blogs this week.

Today's Match of the Day is Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi, two of New Japan Pro Wrestling's most blockbuster performers. This match took place during this year's annual G1 Climax Tournament, which Tanahashi would ultimately win. This match was also named a 5 Star Match by Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Shinsuke Nakamura in G1... by 4989power310710

Wrestler of the Day - 10/6: Kazuchika Okada!

Today's Wrestler of the Day is one of the top wrestlers in New Japan Pro Wrestling (and the world, really), "The Rainmaker" Kazuchika Okada!

Kazuchika Okada has underwent a transformation over the course of his career. From being a upstart in New Japan Pro Wrestling, to his brief, yet depressing TNA stint as "Okada", to the incredible "Rainmaker" that we know today. In just three short years, Okada has amassed three IWGP Heavyweight Championship reigns, 5 Star Classics, and a massive fan following throughout Japan and the entire wrestling world. Also, it doesn't hurt to have a decorated tag team wrestler in Gedo as your mentor. As a member of the long standing CHAOS faction, not only does he have targets on his back in the form of singles competitors, but he also has targets on his back in the form of another top faction, The Bullet Club, where A.J. Styles stands as one of his biggest adversaries. Okada has also made successful tours throughout the U.S. and Canada, most notably with Ring of Honor through NJPW's working agreement with the company. 

Here's one of his classic encounters against one of the greatest of all-time, Hiroshi Tanahashi!

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Kazuchika Okada - 04/07/13... by prowrestlinghub

The Code of Honor - Ring of Honor Wrestling recap for June 13, 2015

Results courtesy of my good friend, Prince Watercress!

The Decade (BJ Whitmer and Adam Page) are about to face War Machine (Hansen and Raymond Rowe) when Whitmer backs out and substitutes Colby Corino in his place, saying that Steve Corino can't seem to realize how much of a man Colby has become. Raymond Rowe tells Colby he's not ready, but Colby slaps Rowe anyway and immediately gets decimated.When Colby tries to tag Adam Page in, Page leaves him high and dry. War Machine beat The Decade. After the match, Steve Corino and BJ Whitmer almost come to blows.

Cedric Alexander is in the ring. Last year, he was a breakout star. This year, he's do or die, and he has to prove to his family that his wrestling career isn't a waste of time. He needs wins, and for his first one in a while, he calls out the undefeated Moose.

In the most shocking moment so far this year, Cedric Alexander beats Moose to break Moose's undefeated streak and give him his first ever loss in ROH. When Veda Scott gives Moose a foreign object to use against Alexander, Moose is hesitant and doesn't want to use it. Alexander takes the weapon out of his hand and uses it against him behind the referee's back to get the win.

During an Inside ROH recap of the feud between The Addiction (Christopher Daniels and Kazarian) and reDRagon (Bobby Fish and Kyle O'Reilly), Adam Cole shows up to hype The Kingdom (Michael Bennett and Matt Taven) vs. Bullet Club at Best in the World.

Hiroshi Tanahashi and Tetsuya Naito beat ACH and "Reborn" Matt Sydal.

Nigel McGuinness is in the ring for the contract signing between Jay Lethal and Jay Briscoe. McGuinness says that both the TV and World titles are on the line, and that there will be a 60 minute time limit.  He also says it’s the biggest match in ROH history, given what’s on the line in it.  Both men sign the contract before they are allowed to have any final words. Lethal says he wants Briscoe at his best so that he has no excuses when Lethal proves he's the #1 man in ROH, while also namedropping his family. Briscoe tells Lethal that if he loses, he’ll "have to go back to Black Machismo". Lethal pushes the table to the side, and Briscoe and Lethal then stare each other down, with Lethal saying he made the TV title while telling Briscoe the World title made him, to end the show.

ICYMI: NJPW's Wrestle Kingdom 9 from January 4, 2015

Sup, everyone?! This is my first-ever ICYMI (in case you missed it) blog post. I decided to do a post on New Japan Pro Wrestling's Wrestle Kingdom 9. Hope you guys enjoy it! I found parts of the show, so I will divide the results into parts.

Part 1

reDRagon (Kyle O'Reilly & Bobby Fish) (also ROH World Tag Team Champions)(c) defeated The Young Bucks (Matt & Nick Jackson), Time Splitters (KUSHIDA & Alex Shelley) and Forever Hooligans (Rocky Romero & Alex Koslov to retain the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team titles.

Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima & Tomoaki Homa defeated Bullet Club (Jeff Jarrett, Yujiro Takahashi & Bad Luck Fale).

Mikey Nicholls, Naomichi Marufuji, Shane Haste and Toru Yano defeated Suzukigun (Davey Boy Smith, Jr., Lance Archer, Shelton X Benjamin and Takashi Iizuka).

Minoru Suzuki defeated Kazushi Sakuraba.

Togi Makabe defeated Tomohoro Ishii to win the NEVER Openweight title!

Accompanied by The Young Bucks (Matt & Nick Jackson), Kenny Omega defeated Ryusuke Taguchi to win the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship!

Meiyu Tag (Hirooki Goto & Katsuyori Shibata) defeated The Bullet Club (Doc Gallows & Karl Anderson) (w/ Amber O'Neal & Tama Tonga) to win the IWGP Tag Team Championships!

A.J. Styles defeated Tetsuya Naito

A promo featuring the rivalry between Shinsuke Nakamura and Kota Ibushi is shown.

Shinsuke Nakamura defeated Kota Ibushi to retain the IWGP Intercontinental Championship!

Hiroshi Tanahashi defeated Kazuchika Okada to retain the IWGP Heavyweight Championship!

NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 8 Results

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From what I've been reading on my TL on Twitter about this show, this has to be the best Wrestle Kingdom yet! I'll definitely be sure to watch the replay. This PPV spectacle features 6 title matches, 4 title changes and the IWGP Intercontinental Championship match in the main event when the legendary Hiroshi Tanahashi takes on the defending champion, Shinsuke Nakamura.

Wish I could of found some gifs for this one due to the fact that I don't have a video for it, but here are the results:

Dark: 8 Man Tag Team Match:

Bushi, Captain New Japan, Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Tomoaki Honma defeated Jushin Liger, Manabu Nakanishi, Super Strong Machine and Yohei Komatsu in 8:11

Four-way tag team match for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship

The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson) (c) defeated Forever Hooligans (Alex Koslov and Rocky Romero), Suzukigun (Taichi and Taka Michinoku) and Time Splitters (Alex Shelley and Kushida) in 10:35 to retain

 IWGP Tag Team Championship

Bullet Club (Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson) (with Tama Tonga) defeated K.E.S. (Davey Boy Smith, Jr. and Lance Archer) (c) in 10:27 to win the titles

 NWA World Heavyweight Championship

Satoshi Kojima (with Hiroyoshi Tenzan) defeated Rob Conway (c) (with Bruce Tharpe and Jax Dane) in 8:27 to win the titles

Kazushi Sakuraba and Yuji Nagata defeated Daniel Gracie and Rolles Gracie by disqualification in 9:50

The Great Muta and Toru Yano defeated Suzukigun (Minoru Suzuki and Shelton X Benjamin) (with Taichi and Taka Michinoku) in 12:04

King of Destroyer match

Togi Makabe defeated Bad Luck Fale in 15:05

Hirooki Goto defeated Katsuyori Shibata in 15:33

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship

Kota Ibushi defeated Prince Devitt (c) (with Doc Gallows, Karl Anderson, Matt Jackson, Nick Jackson and Tama Tonga) in 16:22 to win the title

IWGP Heavyweight Championship

Kazuchika Okada (c) (with Gedo) defeated Tetsuya Naito in 30:58 to retain

IWGP Intercontinental Championship

Hiroshi Tanahashi defeated Shinsuke Nakamura (c) in the main event to win the title

Extras

The salute for the best wrestlers in the world to tear the roof off the place.

Kota Ibushi after winning the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship from Zombie Devitt (haha)

Satoshi Kojima after winning the NWA World Championship from Rob Conway!

..And here's Hiroshi Tanahashi as the NEW IWGP Intercontinental Champion! This man is seriously the Best. In. The. World.

Well, since I can't actually give you my thoughts on the show since I didn't watch it, but from reading the cards and the tweets, I can truly say that this is an all-star PPV. Can't wait to watch the replay!

2013's PWI 500 List Revealed: John Cena Tops for the 3rd Time

John Cena's the first wrestler to ever top the PWI 500 List 3 times, surpassing Bret Hart, Stone Cold, and Triple H.

Here are the Top 10:

1. John Cena
2. CM Punk
3. Hiroshi Tanahashi
4. Bully Ray
5. Kazuchika Okada
6. Sheamus
7. Jeff Hardy
8. Alberto Del Rio
9. Dolph Ziggler
10. Kevin Steen

You can check out the rest of the list here: http://www.uproxx.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/pwi-500-2013.png

Or, check out this picture enclosed: