title: Wrestle Kingdom 9

text:
Wrestle Kingdom 9 in Tokyo Dome was a professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by the New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) promotion, which took place at the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Japan on January 4, 2015. It was the 24th January 4 Tokyo Dome Show and the first event on the 2015 NJPW schedule. The event featured ten professional wrestling matches and one pre-show match, six of which were for championships.

In the double main event, Shinsuke Nakamura successfully defended the IWGP Intercontinental Championship against Kota Ibushi, and Hiroshi Tanahashi successfully defended the IWGP Heavyweight Championship against Kazuchika Okada. A Tanahashi–Okada heavyweight title match had headlined Wrestle Kingdom 7 two years earlier and was also the main event the following year at Wrestle Kingdom 10. Although the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship was successfully defended, the IWGP Tag Team Championship, IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship and NEVER Openweight Championship changed hands. The appearance of Pro Wrestling Noah wrestlers led to a storyline in which NJPW's Suzuki-gun group began wrestling at Noah events starting the week after Wrestle Kingdom 9.

The event was attended by 36,000 people. Through NJPW's partnership with Global Force Wrestling (GFW), the event was broadcast with English commentary as a GFW event. It was available on PPV television in the United States and Canada, and broadcast worldwide on the Internet via Flipps and NJPW World. Critics issued positive reviews; Philly.com said it featured "good, quality wrestling", while Paste magazine said it presented "some of the most passionate and poignant performance art today". Readers of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter voted Wrestle Kingdom 9 the Best Major Wrestling Show of 2015; they also named the Ibushi–Nakamura match as the 2015 Pro Wrestling Match of the Year.

Production

Background
Wrestle Kingdom has been described as "New Japan's major annual show" and the "equivalent" of WWE's WrestleMania pay-per-view (PPV) event. Wrestle Kingdom 9 in Tokyo Dome was promoted as the "largest wrestling show in the world outside of the United States" and was the 24th January 4 Tokyo Dome Show, although previous events were held under different names.

On August 10, 2014, NJPW made two announcements. Firstly, Wrestle Kingdom 9 would be held at the Tokyo Dome on January 4, 2015. Secondly, NJPW revealed a partnership with Jeff Jarrett's Global Force Wrestling, which it approached about bringing the event to a new market. On November 4, GFW announced that it would present the event live on American pay-per-view television and that it had a PPV market of 125 million homes.

The event was broadcast on American PPV as the first GFW event. The four-hour "GFW Presents New Japan Pro Wrestling's Wrestle Kingdom 9" telecast was available from pay-per-view providers in the United States, including DirecTV, Dish Network, AT&T U-verse, Comcast, Verizon FiOS and all cable systems, and in Canada from Bell ExpressVu, Rogers, Shaw, Sasktel and Telus. The event also aired live on NJPW World, an Internet streaming site introduced by NJPW in early December 2014 which reportedly had 20,000 subscribers worldwide in late January 2015. In Japan, the event also aired on PPV in SKY PerfecTV!'s Sukachan service. In January 2016, Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter stated that Wrestle Kingdom 9 "was the only live pro wrestling PPV event ever broadcast [internationally] from Japan".

The GFW version of the event was streamed worldwide (except in North America and Japan) on the [Fite TV|Flipps]] application for Internet-connected smartphones, tablet computers and smart TVs. On Flipps, the show was available live and on-demand for 30 days after its initial airing.

On November 11, 2014, GFW announced that Jim Ross would be the lead announcer for its version of the event. It was Ross's first professional-wrestling broadcast since his 2013 departure from WWE. Ross attempted to obtain Mike Tenay of Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) for color commentary, but TNA refused. Others considered for the job were John Pollock, Mauro Ranallo and Kevin Nash, before GFW settled on Matt Striker.

Before the event, the GFW broadcasts experienced setbacks. Many cable companies decided not to air the event live, opting instead for a replay of UFC 182, and the stream would not run on three of the four most used devices compatible with Flipps: Chromecast, Xbox 360 and Xbox One. According to Dave Meltzer, NJPW undercut GFW by including the event in the $8.42 monthly price for NJPW World; the GFW broadcast of Wrestle Kingdom 9 alone was $34.95. The NJPW World stream had Japanese commentary only.

AXS TV, which acquired the rights to broadcast Wrestle Kingdom 9 from the TV Asahi Corporation, aired the event in five parts from October 9 to November 6, 2015, to viewers in the United States, Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean. Commentary was provided by Mauro Ranallo and Josh Barnett.

Storylines
Wrestle Kingdom 9 featured ten professional wrestling matches and one pre-show match. It saw professional wrestlers performing as characters in scripted events pre-determined by the hosting promotion, New Japan Pro-Wrestling.

The event was headlined by Hiroshi Tanahashi defending the IWGP Heavyweight Championship against Kazuchika Okada. Tanahashi won the title by defeating A.J. Styles on October 13, 2014, at the NJPW King of Pro-Wrestling event. Okada became the number one contender at Wrestle Kingdom 9 by winning the G1 Climax on August 10, 2014. Over the following months, he defended his position against Karl Anderson and Tetsuya Naito. The Wrestle Kingdom 9 main event was the seventh match between Okada and Tanahashi since February 2012 and their second January 4 Tokyo Dome Show main event after Wrestle Kingdom 7 on January 4, 2013.

Wrestle Kingdom 9's other main event was determined at the November 8, 2014, NJPW Power Struggle show. After Shinsuke Nakamura defended the IWGP Intercontinental Championship against Katsuyori Shibata, Kota Ibushi entered the ring, assaulted Nakamura, and issued a title challenge; Nakamura accepted. This was a turning point in Ibushi's career, since he had recently joined the heavyweight division after gaining weight. A previous singles match between Nakamura and Ibushi during the 2013 G1 Climax was ranked "Best Bout of the Year" by the Tokyo Sports newspaper.

Previous IWGP Heavyweight Champion A.J. Styles (of the Bullet Club group) and fellow top contender Tetsuya Naito were slated to wrestle each other at Wrestle Kingdom 9. During the 2014 G1 Climax (when Styles was IWGP Heavyweight Champion), Naito pinned him in a non-title tournament match but did not have a title shot before Styles lost to Tanahashi. Since Styles did not receive a rematch with Tanahashi, it was theorized by the American media that the Wrestle Kingdom 9 winner would be the top contender.

Another title that was contested at Wrestle Kingdom 9 was the IWGP Tag Team Championship, with Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson defending against Hirooki Goto and Katsuyori Shibata. Goto and Shibata teamed up after a match against each other at the January 4, 2014, NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 8, and the two former high-school classmates named their team "Meiyu Tag" (meiyu means "sworn brothers" in Japanese). In March 2014, they entered the IWGP Tag Team Championship picture by defeating the Bullet Club's IWGP Tag Team Champions Anderson and Gallows in a non-title match at NJPW's 42nd-anniversary event. This led to a title match at the April 6 NJPW Invasion Attack 2014, where Anderson and Gallows retained the title. In December, Goto and Shibata won the 2014 World Tag League tournament, defeating Anderson and Gallows in the final to earn another chance at the title.

Wrestle Kingdom 9 also showcased a rivalry between Toru Yano and the Suzuki-gun group, which had been going on since 2013. In May 2014, Yano's tag team partner Takashi Iizuka joined Suzuki-gun, which led to Yano recruiting Kazushi Sakuraba as his new tag team partner to continue the feud. The rivalry lasted for the rest of the year, resulting in two Wrestle Kingdom 9 matches: one between former mixed martial artists Sakuraba and Suzuki-gun leader Minoru Suzuki, and a tag team match pitting Yano and a "mystery partner" against a Suzuki-gun team. The latter became an eight-man tag team match, with Suzuki-gun represented by Iizuka, Shelton X Benjamin, and the Killer Elite Squad (Davey Boy Smith Jr. and Lance Archer). Yano recruited three partners from the Pro Wrestling Noah promotion: Naomichi Marufuji and TMDK (Mikey Nicholls and Shane Haste).

The Wrestle Kingdom 9 undercard featured several matches involving the Bullet Club, which was led by A.J. Styles. The group dominated NJPW for most of 2014, holding all four of its heavyweight championships during the summer. After the NJPW–GFW partnership was forged, GFW head Jeff Jarrett joined the Bullet Club on August 10. On December 7, during a Bullet Club post-match assault on Tomoaki Honma, NJPW veteran tag team Tencozy (Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Satoshi Kojima) stormed into the ring to the aid of Honma, driving the Bullet Club away. They then joined Honma to challenge the stable to a six-man tag team match at Wrestle Kingdom 9. Bad Luck Fale, Yujiro Takahashi and Jeff Jarrett—making his NJPW ring debut—were scheduled to represent the Bullet Club at the event.

Event

Pre-show
The pre-show featured one match, the New Japan Rumble. Tiger Mask and Yuji Nagata began the match, with new wrestlers entering each minute. Wrestlers worked to eliminate each other, and the last remaining wrestler won. In this match, eliminations could occur via pinfall, submission, disqualification, or being thrown out of the ring over the top rope. The Great Kabuki, Yoshiaki Fujiwara, and Hiro Saito were surprise entrants. Captain New Japan was the first eliminated when Tama Tonga threw him over the top rope. Sho Tanaka and Yohei Komatsu worked together to eliminate Taichi and Tiger Mask. After Tanaka was eliminated by submitting to Manabu Nakanishi's torture rack, Tonga eliminated Nakanishi and Komatsu via pinfall, the latter after a jumping DDT. Yoshi-Hashi threw Tonga over the top rope for the elimination, leaving himself and Nagata in the match. Nagata won the match by slamming Hashi against the mat with a belly-to-back suplex, bridging into a pinfall elimination at 26 minutes and 9 seconds.

Undercard

The first match of the PPV show saw reDRagon (Kyle O'Reilly and Bobby Fish) defending the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship against Forever Hooligans (Alex Koslov and Rocky Romero), Time Splitters (Alex Shelley and Kushida), and the Young Bucks (Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson). Romero performed the Forever Clothesline (multiple corner clotheslines) and double clotheslines on his opponents. A series of dives out of the ring culminated in Kushida diving from the turnbuckles onto his opponents on the floor. Although Time Splitters followed with a neckbreaker-moonsault combination on Nick, the three-count for a pinfall was stopped at two. The Young Bucks started a Superkick Party (multiple superkicks) and continued with a Meltzer Driver (assisted Tombstone piledriver) on Koslov, but the pin was again broken up. ReDRagon took over with a backbreaker and diving knee drop on Shelley, a double arm DDT and wheelbarrow suplex on Matt, and a super falcon arrow by Fish on Nick. The first Chasing the Dragon kick/brainbuster combination attempt was countered by an inside cradle by Koslov for a two count, but the second Chasing the Dragon attempt succeeded; O'Reilly pinned Koslov to retain the title at 13 minutes and 1 second.

In the second match, the Bullet Club's Bad Luck Fale, Jeff Jarrett, and Yujiro Takahashi faced New Japan's Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima, and Tomoaki Honma. Takahashi received a Jarrett guitar shot meant for Honma, a 3D from Tencozy, and a Kokeshi diving headbutt from Honma before Honma pinned him for the victory at 5 minutes and 35 seconds.

The third match saw Suzuki-gun's Davey Boy Smith Jr., Lance Archer, Shelton Benjamin, and Takashi Iizuka opposing Toru Yano and Pro Wrestling Noah representatives Naomichi Marufuji, Mikey Nicholls, and Shane Haste. Smith's powerbomb of Nicholls, Archer's chokeslam of Haste, and Benjamin's super overhead belly-to-belly throw of Marufuji were not enough for the victory; the opposing team overwhelmed Iizuka with a low blow by Yano, a double-team gorilla press slam by TMDK, and a Tiger Uppercut knee lift by Marufuji. This led to Marufuji scoring a pinfall on Iizuka at 5 minutes and 5 seconds.

The fourth match, between Minoru Suzuki and Kazushi Sakuraba, was conducted under UWFi rules; it would end with a knockout, submission, or referee stoppage. During the match, Sakuraba and Suzuki battled onto the entrance ramp, where Sakuraba used a kimura lock to injure Suzuki's arm. When they returned to the ring, Sakuraba targeted Suzuki's injured arm with kicks, stomps, and a cross armbreaker hold. Suzuki withstood the assault, responding with slaps with his good arm and a running kick to Sakuraba's face. Suzuki applied a rear naked choke, making a judo throw while maintaining the choke (Saka Otoshi). Sakuraba fought the hold until he lost consciousness, at which point the referee stopped the match in favour of Suzuki at 9 minutes and 21 seconds. After the match, the wrestlers shook hands and embraced.

Next, Tomohiro Ishii defended the NEVER Openweight Championship against Togi Makabe. Clotheslines, forearms, shoulder blocks, slaps, headbutts, sledgehammers, powerslams, powerbombs, and German suplexes were exchanged. Makabe won the match (and the title) with a running lariat and the King Kong Knee Drop from the top rope, followed by a pinfall at 12 minutes and 23 seconds.

In the sixth match, Ryusuke Taguchi defended the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship against Kenny Omega of the Bullet Club. Distractions by the Bullet Club's Young Bucks allowed Omega to spray Taguchi in the eyes with an aerosol can and broke Taguchi's ankle lock on Omega later in the match. Omega captured the championship after a snap dragon suplex, a bicycle knee strike, and the One Winged Angel (electric chair dropped into a one-handed driver), pinning the champion at 13 minutes and 20 seconds.

The final tag team match of the event, the IWGP Tag Team Championship, pitted the Bullet Club's Karl Anderson and Doc Gallows against challengers Meiyu Tag (Hirooki Goto and Katsuyori Shibata). The champions controlled Goto early in the match, but after Goto tagged in Shibata, all four men battled in the ring. At the end of the match, Anderson was kicked off the ring apron by Shibata; this led to a pinfall on Gallows after a double-team GTS and Shibata's Penalty Kick, giving Meiyu Tag the title after 9 minutes.

The eighth match was between A.J. Styles and Tetsuya Naito. Although Styles twice attempted his signature Styles Clash, Naito countered and Styles then focused on attacking Naito's left leg. Styles later applied the Calf Killer, forcing Naito to grab the rope to break the hold. After another Styles Clash attempt, Naito countered by throwing Styles over the top rope to the floor. When Styles returned to the ring after a 19 count (NJPW employs a 20 count in their matches), Naito attempted a top-rope huracanrana. Styles blocked it, converting it to a Styles Clash from the second rope before pinning Naito for another Bullet Club victory at 14 minutes and 25 seconds.

Main event matches

Wrestle Kingdom 9 featured two main event matches. In the first, Shinsuke Nakamura defended the IWGP Intercontinental Championship against Kota Ibushi. Ibushi ridiculed Nakamura and used several of the champion's moves, including the corner vibration boot, the reverse powerslam, and the Boma Ye knee strike. Nakamura, responding aggressively, kicked out of the latter at one. Nakamura used a variety of knee-based strikes, and Ibushi's attacks included a standing corkscrew moonsault, a roundhouse kick, an elevated sit-out powerbomb, and a double stomp to the chest. Ibushi also jumped on the top rope, grabbing Nakamura on the apron, and German-suplexed him back into the ring for a two count. In the finishing sequence, Ibushi got up immediately after receiving a knee from the second rope to the back of his head; both attempted the Boma Ye, but Nakamura recovered first with the Landslide and then the Boma Ye knee to retain the title at 20 minutes and 12 seconds. After the match, the wrestlers bumped fists.

In the second main event, Hiroshi Tanahashi defended the IWGP Heavyweight Championship against Kazuchika Okada. The challenger controlled the early match with a hanging DDT onto the floor, a  Heavy Rain (Death Valley driver) on the entrance ramp, and the D.I.D. submission. After they battled on the top rope, Tanahashi missed a High Fly Flow but countered Okada's Rainmaker. The momentum shifted to Tanahashi as he performed a dragon screw legwhip and continued attacking Okada's leg. Tanahashi later dove off the top rope and over the guard rail with a High Fly Flow crossbody to Okada on the floor outside of the ring. After Tanahashi tried another High Fly Flow crossbody back in the ring, Okada rolled through for a Tombstone piledriver, which Tanahashi countered with his own Tombstone. Although Tanahashi landed a High Fly Flow to Okada's back and a traditional High Fly Flow frog splash, Okada kicked out at two for a nearfall.

Tanahashi next tried a Rainmaker, which Okada countered with one of his own and scored a nearfall. Although Okada attempted the Rainmaker three more times, Tanahashi countered with a bridging straitjacket German suplex, a bridging dragon suplex, a series of dragon-screw legwhips, and three High Fly Flows. The first was a crossbody while Okada was on the ropes; the second a frog splash to a seated Okada, and the third another frog splash, after which Tanahashi scored a pinfall on Okada to retain the title at 30 minutes and 57 seconds. Okada wept as he left the ring, and Tanahashi shouted that his opponent had a long way to go before becoming the New Japan ace. Tanahashi closed the show, thanking the fans and performing his air guitar routine.

Reception

Wrestle Kingdom 9 drew 36,000 fans to the Tokyo Dome, reportedly (accordingly to Wrestleview.com and the Wrestling Observer Newsletter) the best attendance for a NJPW January 4 Tokyo Dome Show in 13 years. The event reportedly had 12,000 to 15,000 purchases in North America.

Kobe Shimbun "Daily Sports Online" called Tanahashi "Mr. Tokyo Dome" for winning his fifth consecutive Wrestle Kingdom main event in the arena. Jason Namako of Wrestleview.com, who watched the Japanese version of the show via New Japan World, said that the event "proved one thing, puroresu is, beyond a shadow of doubt, indeed ichiban!!" Meanwhile, Aaron Oster of The Baltimore Sun wrote that "Wrestle Kingdom 9 has to be considered a success".

Bob Kapur of Slam! Wrestling wrote that the show was "too good to miss", "even if you're not a Japanese wrestling fan", with the positives being in-ring action, commentary and production levels, and "perhaps the only negative comment were some technical issues" with his Rogers' HD PPV feed failing. James Caldwell of the Pro Wrestling Torch Newsletter also concurred that the show was a "must-see". As well as a "fantastic opening video package running down the card", the NEVER Openweight Championship match received four out of five stars as a "fantastic match taking the Tokyo Dome to the next level." The IWGP Intercontinental Championship match received four-and-a-half stars: "... a big-time match on a big-time stage, and Ibushi looked the part of a big-time player". The IWGP Heavyweight Championship match received five stars, with Caldwell stating, "There's nothing better in the industry than these two on a big stage in a big-time main event. Just the world's best."

According to Garrett Martin of the magazine Paste, Wrestle Kingdom 9 "easily could wind up being the best [wrestling show of the year] when the year is done". He praised Jim Ross, whose "timeless voice cut through the language barrier" for American wrestling fans, and likened his commentary to "reading the first English translation of Homer." Martin commented on the ending of the show, stating that a "broken Kazuchika Okada shambling tearfully back towards the locker room ... made the moment feel real" which displayed that "Okada isn't just a great athlete but a better actor than most who step into the ring, and elevating the entire scripted, choreographed display into something beyond a sport." Martin wrote that New Japan had transcended puroresu and has produced "some of the most passionate and poignant performance art today."

Jason Powell of Pro Wrestling Dot Net predicted that even first-time viewers of New Japan would be "thrilled" watching this event. Although the "first half of the night felt rushed and had too many tag matches", the show still held his "interest from start to finish" and its final three matches were "amazing". Powell described several matches as overtaking each other as the night's best as the event progressed: the "very physical" Ishii–Makabe, then Naito–Styles, then Ibushi–Nakamura. English-language commentators Ross and Striker were endorsed as an overall positive. Lastly, Powell thought the "pay-per-view broadcast is fantastic", but he also said some Pro Wrestling Dot Net readers "reported issues with the Flipps app [broadcast] feed for the show.

In his review, Vaughn Johnson of the Philadelphia Media Network through Philly.com wrote: "Everything that was presented to the worldwide audience was simple and didn't require anyone to know the Japanese language. Good, quality wrestling is a universal language, and I got the message New Japan sent Sunday loud and clear." According to Johnson, some viewers were "exposed to a product for the first time where the outcomes of the matches are still important, as Okada showed by openly crying after his loss to Tanahashi" in a main event, which was "just as much a spectacle as it was a fantastic match athletic exhibition." He wrote that to call the Nakamura–Ibushi match "physical would be a gross understatement ... It was brutal to watch at times" but "one of the best" he had ever seen. Johnson praised the event as "devoid of popcorn matches and silly gimmicks that insult your intelligence", and commentators Ross and Striker for focusing "on the action in the ring and the significance of it instead of cracking jokes and making a million plugs."

According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, although several early matches were "rushed", the final two were candidates for "match of the year". Readers of the publication voted Wrestle Kingdom 9 the Best Major Wrestling Show of 2015; they also named the match between Ibushi and Nakamura the 2015 Pro Wrestling Match of the Year, and the match between Okada and Tanahashi was voted the fourth best of 2015. Dave Meltzer gave commentary for the result in January 2016, describing Wrestle Kingdom 9 as "the blow away show of" 2015 and "the peak show of the rise of New Japan Pro-Wrestling from very low levels for much of the late 00s".

The Nakamura-Ibushi match finished first in the 2015 Voices of Wrestling Match of the Year poll. The Tanahashi-Okada match finished second.

Aftermath

According to commentator Jim Ross, Japanese television producer TV Asahi did not contact the English-language team during the event; he and Striker announced "by our instincts and it seemed to work out pretty well". Ross also said, "Time will tell but if this was my last pro wrestling event, I picked a damn good one on which to go out on."

In the wake of his loss to Hiroshi Tanahashi in the main event, Kazuchika Okada entered a "downward spiral" storyline with three quick losses to Bad Luck Fale. The day after his win over Tetsuya Naito, A.J. Styles emerged as the next challenger for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship by pinning Tanahashi in an eight-man tag team match. Styles then defeated Tanahashi for the championship on February 11 at NJPW The New Beginning in Osaka. Bullet Club captured two more titles in that event, with the Young Bucks winning the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship, and Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson defeating Hirooki Goto and Katsuyori Shibata in a rematch from Wrestle Kingdom 9 to regain the IWGP Tag Team Championship. Okada's slump ended on April 5 at NJPW Invasion Attack 2015, where he defeated Fale, which he followed with a victory over Styles on July 5 at NJPW Dominion 7.5 in Osaka-jo Hall to win the IWGP Heavyweight Championship.

Another rematch from Wrestle Kingdom 9 was scheduled for February 14 at NJPW The New Beginning in Sendai between Togi Makabe and Tomohiro Ishii for the NEVER Openweight Championship. When Makabe was sidelined with influenza, NJPW stripped him of the title and scheduled another match, in which Ishii defeated Tomoaki Honma for the now-vacant title. Ishii and Makabe had their title rematch on April 29, when Makabe regained the NEVER Openweight Championship.

Wrestle Kingdom 9 broke Yuji Nagata's streak of consecutive January 4 Tokyo Dome Show appearances at 21 by being featured on the pre-show instead of the main card. In an interview, Nagata said that he felt slighted and thought about quitting when he was relegated to the pre-show. The day after the event, he was scheduled to challenge Shinsuke Nakamura for the IWGP Intercontinental Championship, returning to the IWGP main-event picture for the first time in years. Although Nagata received his title shot at NJPW The New Beginning in Sendai, he was defeated by Nakamura. Nakamura's Wrestle Kingdom 9 opponent, Kota Ibushi, won the 2015 New Japan Cup tournament on March 15 by defeating Hirooki Goto in the finals, thus earning the right to choose a championship to challenge.  Ibushi picked a match with A.J. Styles for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship (leaving Goto to challenge Nakamura). Ibushi failed in his title challenge on April 5 at NJPW Invasion Attack 2015, and Goto defeated Nakamura on May 3 at NJPW Wrestling Dontaku 2015 to become IWGP Intercontinental Champion.

After Wrestle Kingdom 9, Suzuki-gun declared war on Pro Wrestling Noah because Naomichi Marufuji and TMDK helped Toru Yano. This storyline angle appeared at the January 10 Noah event, when Suzuki-gun attacked Marufuji and TMDK at the end of the show. After the event, the eight Suzuki-gun members began working for Noah, and by March 15, the group established its dominance by winning all four of Noah's championships: Suzuki became the GHC Heavyweight Champion, Killer Elite Squad the GHC Tag Team Champions, Taichi the GHC Junior Heavyweight Champion, and El Desperado and Taka Michinoku the GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions.

A year later, at Wrestle Kingdom 10, Okada defeated Tanahashi to retain the IWGP Heavyweight title; Nakamura beat Styles to retain the IWGP Intercontinental title; Honma and Makabe defeated Anderson and Gallows to capture the IWGP Tag Team title; Kushida beat Kenny Omega to capture the IWGP Junior Heavyweight title; the Young Bucks won a four-way match for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team title; Goto defeated Naito in a non-title match; Shibata defeated Ishii to capture the NEVER Openweight title; while Toru Yano and the Briscoes triumphed over Bad Luck Fale, Tama Tonga, and Yujiro Takahashi to become the inaugural NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Champions.

Results

New Japan Rumble details

Notes

References

External links
Website of New Japan Pro-Wrestling
Website of Global Force Wrestling

2015 in professional wrestling
2015 in Tokyo
Global Force Wrestling
January 4 Tokyo Dome Show
January 2015 events in Japan
Events in Tokyo


title: Wrestle Kingdom 8

text:
Wrestle Kingdom 8 in Tokyo Dome was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by the New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) promotion, which took place at the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Japan on January 4, 2014. It was the 23rd January 4 Tokyo Dome Show and the eighth held under the "Wrestle Kingdom" name. Like the previous year, the event aired worldwide on internet pay-per-view (iPPV). Wrestle Kingdom is traditionally NJPW's biggest event of the year and has been described as their equivalent to WWE's WrestleMania.

The event featured ten matches, six of which were contested for championships. For the first time in twenty years, the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) World Heavyweight Championship was defended during the event with NWA representative Rob Conway defending against Satoshi Kojima. The event was headlined by a double main event; Shinsuke Nakamura defending the IWGP Intercontinental Championship against Hiroshi Tanahashi and Kazuchika Okada defending the IWGP Heavyweight Championship against the winner of the 2013 G1 Climax, Tetsuya Naito. A fan vote decided the order in which the two matches took place during the event; the Heavyweight Championship match went first and the Intercontinental Championship match was the final match of the event. The event also featured outside participation from Wrestle-1 representative Keiji Mutoh, who worked under his Great Muta character. The event also featured appearances by Harley Race, Marty Friedman and Stan Hansen.

Production

Background
In addition to airing on traditional pay-per-view (PPV) in Japan, the event also aired worldwide on internet pay-per-view (iPPV) through Niconico and Ustream.

Storylines

Wrestle Kingdom 8 featured eleven professional wrestling matches that involved different wrestlers from pre-existing scripted feuds and storylines. Wrestlers portrayed villains, heroes, or less distinguishable characters in the scripted events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches.

On August 11, 2013, Tetsuya Naito defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi in the finals to win the 2013 G1 Climax. The following day, Naito was given a contract granting him a shot at the IWGP Heavyweight Championship in the main event of Wrestle Kingdom 8. Despite being a clean cut babyface, Naito was thoroughly disliked by NJPW fans, which led to NJPW changing their course of action, announcing a fan vote to decide whether the match between him and Okada or an IWGP Intercontinental Championship match between Shinsuke Nakamura and Hiroshi Tanahashi would main event Wrestle Kingdom 8. Nakamura and Tanahashi won the vote with Naito and Okada being demoted to the semi-main event.

The event was also set to feature Hirooki Goto's return match against Katsuyori Shibata. Goto had broken his jaw during the previous summer's G1 Climax tournament and made a surprise appearance on December 8 to request Shibata as his opponent in his return match at Wrestle Kingdom 8. The two former high school classmates had faced off three times since May 2013 with two matches ending in draws and Shibata winning once. They were scheduled to wrestle again during the G1 Climax, but Goto had to pull out of the tournament with his injury just prior to the match taking place.

On October 14, 2013, mixed martial artists Daniel Gracie and Rolles Gracie appeared at King of Pro-Wrestling, announcing they would take part in Wrestle Kingdom 8. Later in the event, Kazushi Sakuraba and Yuji Nagata, after their match against each other, accepted the Gracies' challenge for a tag team match at Wrestle Kingdom 8. Sakuraba had previously created a name for himself on the mixed martial arts scene as the "Gracie Hunter".

Event

Wrestle Kingdom 8 was headlined by a "double main event", featuring Kazuchika Okada defending the IWGP Heavyweight Championship against Tetsuya Naito and Shinsuke Nakamura defending the IWGP Intercontinental Championship against Hiroshi Tanahashi. In the first of the main events, Okada made his seventh successful defense of the IWGP Heavyweight Championship against Naito, while the second main event saw Tanahashi defeat Nakamura to become the new IWGP Intercontinental Champion.

The event also saw Kota Ibushi defeat Prince Devitt to become the new IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion. Devitt wrestled the match covered in face and bodypaint, debuting what would later become his signature big match look and part of his "Demon" persona. After the match, Ibushi was approached by an unknown masked man, later identified as El Desperado, who handed him a bouquet of roses. In his return match, Hirooki Goto defeated Katsuyori Shibata, who afterwards helped him backstage.

Other title matches included Satoshi Kojima defeat National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) representative Rob Conway to capture the NWA World Heavyweight Championship in a match that featured an appearance by Harley Race. This marked the first time the NWA title had changed hands in Japan since March 2002. Bullet Club's Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson, the winners of the 2013 World Tag League, defeated the Killer Elite Squad (Davey Boy Smith Jr. and Lance Archer) with help from their stablemate Tama Tonga to become the new IWGP Tag Team Champions, while The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson) successfully defended the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship in a four-way match.

Reception
Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter wrote that "by most normal standards, the show was very good", but felt that it did not match the previous year's show, which he called "among the greatest wrestling events of all-time". He praised the final four matches, giving both of the main events four and a quarter stars out of five, while calling the first half "not good" and the tag team match involving the Gracies "kind of an atrocity". In his review of the show, James Caldwell of Pro Wrestling Torch wrote that "[t]he big matches delivered, the undercard was hit-or-miss, and the event production was top-notch".

Aftermath
Tetsuya Naito used the snub he suffered at Wrestle Kingdom 8 to turn heel and form the Los Ingobernables de Japón stable. When he finally won the IWGP Heavyweight Championship from Okada in April 2016 at Invasion Attack, Naito had managed to turn his career around and was now fully embraced by the NJPW fans. There was another rematch between the two at Wrestle Kingdom 12 on January 4, 2018, with the same result as Okada retained against Naito. 2 years later, in the main event of night 2 of Wrestle Kingdom 14, IWGP Intercontinental Champion Naito defeated IWGP Heavyweight Champion Okada in a Double Gold Dash match for both of the championships.

Results

References

External links
NJPW.co.jp

2014 in professional wrestling
2014 in Tokyo
January 4 Tokyo Dome Show
January 2014 events in Japan
Events in Tokyo


title: Mendez (horse)

text:
Mendez (2 April 1981 – 25 September 1995) was a French Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. He was one of the best colts of his generation in France and produced his best performances over one mile/ 1600 metres on soft ground. As a two-year-old in 1983 he won the Prix des Chênes and was placed in both the Grand Critérium and the William Hill Futurity. In the following year he recorded Group One successes in the Prix Jean Prat and the Prix du Moulin as well as winning the Prix de Fontainebleau and finishing an unlucky third in the Poule d'Essai des Poulains. He was retired from racing and had some success as a breeding stallion in France and Japan.

Background
Mendez was a grey horse bred in France by Scuderia Diamante. He was from the first crop of foals sired by Bellypha one of the highest-rated racehorses of his generation in Europe at both two and three years of age. Mendez's dam, Miss Carina, was the highest-rated filly of her generation in Italy, winning the Premio Dormello in 1977. Both Bellypha and Miss Carina were greys.

The colt was offered for sale as a yearling in 1982 and was bought for ₣1,000,000 by representatives of Philip Niarchos the son of the Greek shipping magnate Stavros Niarchos. He was sent into training with François Boutin and was ridden in most of his races by the American jockey Cash Asmussen.

Racing career

1983: two-year-old season
After finishing unplaced in a race over 1200 metres on his debut, Mendez won a minor race over 1100 metres at Évry in July, winning easily after taking the lead at half way. In September, Mendez was moved up in class and distance and started favourite for the Prix des Chênes over 1600 metres at Longchamp Racecourse. Ridden by Asmussen, he took the lead from the start before accelerating away from his opponents in the straight and winning by two and a half lengths from the filly Ina Seville. In the Group One Grand Critérium over the same course and distance in October, Mendez was ridden by the Scottish jockey Willie Carson as Asmussen opted to ride the stable's other contender Seattle Song. Held up at the back of the eight runner field, Mendez struggled to obtain a clear run in the straight but finished strongly to finish third behind Treizieme and Truculent, beaten one and a half lengths by the winner. Two weeks later, Mendez was sent to England to contest the William Hill Futurity over one mile at Doncaster Racecourse. Ridden by Asmussen, he was made the 11/8 favourite ahead of the Guy Harwood-trained Alphabatim. Asmussen repeated the tactics employed by Carson, holding the colt up at the back of the field in the early stages and encountered similar difficulties obtaining a clear run early in the straight. He moved up to challenge for the lead in the final quarter mile but drifted to left in the closing stages and was beaten half a length by Alphabatim.

1984: three-year-old season
Mendez made his debut as a three-year-old in the Prix de Fontainebleau over 1600 metres at Longchamp in April and won by a neck from Nikos with Siberian Express in third. In the Group One Poule d'Essai des Poulains over the same course and distance he finished third, beaten less than a length by the winner Siberian Express after being obstructed in the straight and appeared to be a somewhat unlucky loser. He was then moved up in distance for the Prix Lupin over 2100 metres at Longchamp in May. He appeared to be travelling easily in the straight but faltered in the closing stages and finished third to Dahar and Cariellor, suggesting that he lacked the necessary stamina for middle-distance competition. Mendez's connections appeared to concur, and rather than contesting the 2400 metre Prix du Jockey Club at Chantilly Racecourse in June he was redirected to the 1800 metre Prix Jean Prat on the same card. He took the lead soon after the start, went clear of the field 400 metres from the finish and won by two and a half lengths from Yashgan.

After a break of two and a half months, Mendez returned in the Group One Prix Jacques Le Marois over 1600 metres at Deauville Racecourse in which he was matched against older horses for the first time. Racing on firm ground he looked outpaced from the start and finished fifth behind the British-trained Lear Fan, with Palace Music second and Siberian Express third. In August, Mendez faced Lear Fan again in the Prix du Moulin at Longchamp a race which attracted Siberian Express and the leading British filly Meis-El-Reem, winner of the Child Stakes and the Prix d'Astarte. In contrast to the conditions at Deauville, the ground at Longchamp was very soft and muddy and Mendez appeared to relish the surface. He raced in fourth and looked unlikely to win when Lear Fan went clear of the field in the straight. Under a strong ride from Asmussen however, he made relentless progress in the closing stages, overtook Lear Fan in the final strides and won by half a length, with Meis-El-Reem a short head away in third. In October, Mendez was brought back in distance for the Prix de la Forêt over 1400 metres but ran poorly and finished unplaced behind Procida.

Assessment
In the official International Classification for 1983, Mendez was given a rating of 76, twelve pounds behind the top-rated two-year-old El Gran Senor. The independent Timeform organisation gave him a rating of 121, ten pounds behind El Gran Senor. Timeform gave Mendez a rating of 128 in 1984, eight pounds behind their leading three-year-old and Horse of the Year El Gran Senor. In their annual Racehorses of 1984, Timeform noted his tendency to fight against his jockeys' attempts to restrain him but described him as "undoubtedly game". In the International Classification he was rated the twelfth-best three-year-old colt in Europe, thirteen pounds behind El Gran Senor.

Stud record
Mendez was retired from racing to become a breeding stallion at the Haras de Fresnay-le-Buffard. In 1987, he was exported to Japan, where his last foal were born in 1996. Mendez died 25 September 1995 in Japan. By far the most important of his offspring was Linamix, who won the Poule d'Essai des Poulains and became a very successful breeding stallion, siring the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe winner Sagamix, and the leading Australian racehorse Manighar. Mendez was a true-breeding (homozygotic) grey, meaning that all of his foals were also grey.

Pedigree

References

1981 racehorse births
1995 racehorse deaths
Racehorses bred in France
Racehorses trained in France
Thoroughbred family 23-b


title: Leipzig–Eilenburg railway

text:
The Leipzig–Eilenburg railway is a two-track, electrified mainline railway in the German state of Saxony, originally built and operated by the Halle-Sorau-Guben Railway Company () as the Eilenburg Railway (Eilenburger Eisenbahn). It runs from Leipzig to Eilenburg and is part of the long-distance connection from Leipzig to Cottbus.

History

The line branches off in Eilenburg from the Halle–Cottbus railway, which was built in 1872. The line runs via Jesewitz and Taucha to Leipzig and is 23.6 km long. On 1 November 1874, the route was opened as a connection to the Leipzig–Dresden railway. In Leipzig, it terminated at the Eilenburger Bahnhof (Eilenburg station), which at that time was on the eastern outskirts of the city.

In 1884, the line, along with rest of the Hall-Sorau-Guben Railway, was nationalised and became part of the Prussian state railways and on 1 April 1920 it was absorbed into Deutsche Reichsbahn. Beginning in 1942, passenger services to Eilenburger Bahnhof were completely abandoned. All trains now operated to Leipzig Hauptbahnhof.

After the Second World War, the line's second track was dismantled. The second track has been restored on the line between Eilenburg and Jesewitz since 1977. The second track was restored between Heiterblick junction and Taucha (b Leipzig) a year later and the section between Taucha and Jesewitz was rebuilt with two tracks in 1980. Due to insufficient bridge clearances on the Leipzig Hbf–Heiterblick section, it is now operated as a single-track. The line was electrified in 1988.

Operations

Currently the line in served by Regional-Express service RE 10 between Leipzig and Cottbus and the S-Bahn line S4 service of the Mitteldeutschland S-Bahn on the Geithain–Borna–Leipzig–Eilenburg–Torgau–Hoyerswerda route. Between Leipzig Hbf and Leipzig-Thekla, the S4 services operate daily at 30-minute intervals.  The RE 10 services, which run every 120 minutes together with the S-Bahn services provide services to Eilenburg at 30-minute intervals each day. The RE 10 services are operated as coupled sets consisting of a four-part and a two-part Bombardier Talent 2 electric railcar. The S4 services are operated with four and three-part Talent 2 sets, both coupled and as single sets. The S4 services replaced the RE 11 and the Regionalbahn RB 115 services.

References

External links

 Line route at OpenRailwayMap

Railway lines in Saxony


title: Duke Grabowski: Mighty Swashbuckler!

text:
Duke Grabowski: Mighty Swashbuckler! is a point-and-click adventure game spinoff of Ghost Pirates of Vooju Island, developed by Venture Moon Industries for Windows, OS X, Linux, and Ouya. In August 2014, a crowdfunding campaign was launched to fund the title, originally envisioned for a modest two-to-four hours of gameplay.  As it neared completion, however, the game found a publisher and additional episodes are planned.  The first episode was released on October 6, 2016.

Gameplay
Duke Grabowski, Mighty Swashbuckler! employs a traditional point-and-click interface, with gameplay consisting of solving inventory and dialogue puzzles.

Plot
The game follows Duke Grabowski, a brutish pirate who must convince his crew that he has what it takes to become a captain.

Development
In 2013, Autumn Moon Entertainment made an unsuccessful attempt to crowdfund, via Kickstarter, A Vampyre Story: Year One.  A key objective of the project was to convert the company's proprietary engine to Adventure Creator, an extension of Unity.

Despite the failure of the Kickstarter, the team, consisting of Bill Tiller, Gene Mocsy and Jeremiah Grant, decided to continue the effort without funding.  Duke Grabowski began as a proof of concept for the new engine, but the team found the character so enjoyable that they decided to expand the tech demo into a complete, albeit small, adventure game.  In August 2014, a Kickstarter was launched with a modest goal of $40,000, which it narrowly achieved.

Despite being developed by the core creative team of Autumn Moon, the game is being released under a new label, Venture Moon Industries.  The three developers formed this company so that they would share ownership of the property, whereas Autumn Moon is owned by Bill Tiller.  Since Duke Grabowski is a spin-off of Ghost Pirates of Vooju Island, Tiller is licensing the IP to Venture Moon through Autumn Moon.

Also contributing to the project are LucasArts adventure veterans Alyssa Clark, Dave Grossman, and Larry Ahern, the latter two making cameo appearances in the game.  The soundtrack will consist of selections from the Ghost Pirates score composed by Pedro Macedo Camacho as well as new music by Jared Emerson-Johnson.

In May 2016, Venture Moon announced that the game had reached an agreement with a publisher, Alliance Digital Media.  The partnership allowed the team to work on the game full-time, and broadened the scope of the project as well - Duke Grabowski was expanded into an episodic series, with the game that was originally crowdfunded serving as a self-contained first episode.

References

External links

2016 video games
Adventure games
Episodic video games
Kickstarter-funded video games
Linux games
MacOS games
Point-and-click adventure games
Video games about pirates
Video games developed in the United States
Windows games
Single-player video games


title: St Peter's Church, Formby

text:
St Peter's Church is in Green Lane, Formby, Sefton, Merseyside, England, and is an active Anglican parish church in the diocese of Liverpool.  It was built in 1746 to replace a chapel on another site that had been destroyed in a storm.  The church built at this time is in Georgian style.  It was extended at the east end in 1873, and this part of the church is in Gothic Revival style.  The church is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II listed building.

History

The church originated as 'The Ancient Chapelry of Formby, St Peter'.  The chapel was part of the parish of St Mary, Walton.  It stood near the sea at the western extremity of the town, but was destroyed by a storm in 1739.  The chapel was replaced by the present church on a site nearer the centre of the town.  This was opened in 1746; it contained box pews, and the pulpit was on the south side of the church, between the windows. In about 1830 the open porch on the west side of the tower was filled in with a staircase leading up to a new west gallery. The church was extended in 1873 when the apse at the east end was replaced by a chancel, a sanctuary, a vestry, and a chapel known as the Formby chapel. The porch was added in 1884 and the roof was replaced in 1900.  In 1935 the north and south galleries were removed, and it is thought that the vestry was extended at the same time.

Architecture

Exterior
St Peter's consists of a three-bay nave with a narrow west tower, which were built in 1746, and a chancel, north vestry, and south chapel, which were added in 1873. The parts built in 1746 are in brick with stone dressings on a stone base, and are in Georgian style; the parts built in 1873 are in stone, and are in Gothic Revival (Neo-Gothic) style. The roofs are slated.  The base of the nave is decorated with roll moulding, at its top is a dentilled brick cornice, on the corners are rusticated quoins, and the gables are coped and topped by ball finials. The windows are round-headed and have apron panels, moulded sills, angle pilasters, and Doric entablatures with triglyph friezes, archivolts, and keystones. They contain intersecting tracery.  The porch is timber-framed and glazed.  At the base of the tower is a porch with angle pilasters, a Doric entablature, and an entrance on the south side.  Its convex west wall contains a round-headed window.  Above this is a round window, and there are quoins on the corners, At the top of the tower is an octagonal bell stage with round-headed louvred bell openings, surmounted by a cupola with a ball finial.  At the west end of the nave are round-headed windows with round windows above.  The chancel has angle buttresses, a three-light east window containing Geometrical tracery, and a cross on the gable.  In the chapel are a three-light east window and a two-light south window.  The extension to the vestry is in the style of the nave.

Interior
Inside the church, the roof has elaborate king post trusses.  The west gallery is carried on slim Doric timber columns, and has an entablature with a dentilled cornice.  In the church is a painted board referring to an enlargement in 1830, royal arms dated 1710, and a chest dated 1740.  There is a two-bay arcade between the chancel and the chapel. The pulpit is in the style of the 17th century, and was moved from St Saviour's Church in Liverpool when it was demolished.  The stained glass in the east window is by Shrigley and Hunt. The first pipe organ was built in 1885 by E. Franklin Lloyd of Liverpool. This was rebuilt and extended in 1949 by Rushworth and Dreaper as a war memorial, and altered in 1970 and again in 1982 by David Wells. This organ was replaced in 2002 by Principal Pipe Organs of York, using reconstituted pipes from the previous organ, together with new pipes. In the cupola is a set of eight tubular bells.  Originally they were rung manually, but since 2010 they are driven electrically.

Appraisal

The church was designated as a Grade II listed building on 19 July 1966. Grade II is the lowest of the three grades of listing and is applied to buildings that are "nationally important and of special interest". Pollard and Pevsner comment in the Buildings of England series that the original architecture of the church and the architecture of the 1873 additions (shown here in the photograph) create a "jarring contrast".
The entry for St Peters Church Formby refers to a sundial located near the porch entrance
The entry quotes this as probably eighteenth century
This is incorrect the sundial originally had a date on it of 1661 so it is seventeenth century not eighteenth
See "Formby Parish Church" by Cannon H P Barsley 1955

Associated features

In the churchyard to the south of the church is a sundial dating probably from the 18th century.  This is in stone and consists of a Tuscan column with a square abacus decorated with cyma moulding.  On the top of the sundial is a metal plate but the gnomon is missing.  The sundial is listed at Grade II.

A cross in the churchyard is a restored version of one initially erected by members of the 12th battalion, King's Liverpool Regiment in September 1916 near Ginchy in northern France. The cross was erected as a memorial to the officers killed during the Battle of the Somme. Attached to the cross is the original metal plaque on which the names of eight officers who had died in the fighting are inscribed. The names include that of the England Test cricketer Kenneth Hutchings.

Present day

St Peter's is an active parish church in the deanery of Sefton, the archdeaconry of Liverpool, and the diocese of Liverpool. It arranges services on Sundays and weekdays. baptisms, weddings and funerals, and runs associated groups and organisations. Music plays an important place in the worship of the church, and a mixed choir sings at the main services.

See also

Listed buildings in Formby

References

Church of England church buildings in Merseyside
Grade II listed churches in Merseyside
Churches completed in 1873
18th-century Church of England church buildings
Gothic Revival church buildings in England
Gothic Revival architecture in Merseyside
Anglican Diocese of Liverpool
Georgian architecture in England
St Peter's Church


title: Toukon Shidou Chapter 1

text:
was a professional wrestling event produced by New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). It took place on January 4 in the Tokyo Dome. Toukon Shidou Chapter 1 was the fifteenth January 4 Tokyo Dome Show held by NJPW. The show drew 31,000 spectators. The main focus of the 11 match show was the IWGP championship defenses in the semi-main event and the main event. In the semi-main event Masahiro Chono and Hiroyoshi Tenzan successfully defended the IWGP Tag Team Championship against Shiro Koshinaka and Takao Omori; while the main event featured Brock Lesnar retaining the IWGP Heavyweight Championship against Shinsuke Nakamura. For only the second time in the history of the January 4 Tokyo Dome Shows, no title changed hands.

Production

Background
The January 4 Tokyo Dome Show is NJPW's biggest annual event and has been called "the largest professional wrestling show in the world outside of the United States" and the "Japanese equivalent to the Super Bowl".

Storylines
Toukon Shidou Chapter 1 featured professional wrestling matches that involved different wrestlers from pre-existing scripted feuds and storylines. Wrestlers portrayed villains, heroes, or less distinguishable characters in scripted events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches.

Results

References

External links
NJPW.co.jp

2006 in professional wrestling
2006 in Tokyo
January 2006 events in Japan
January 4 Tokyo Dome Show


title: Red Line (Lucknow Metro)

text:
The Red Line (Line 1) () of the Lucknow Metro is a metro route of mass rapid transit system in Lucknow. It consists of 21 metro stations from CCS International Airport to  with a total distance of 22.87 km. It is also known as the North-South corridor of Lucknow. The Lucknow metro train consists of four coaches, and they have a maximum speed of 90 km/h. Most of the lines are elevated.

List of stations
Following is a list of stations on this route

See also

References

External links

Lucknow Metro lines
Railway lines opened in 2017
2017 establishments in Uttar Pradesh


title: Fantastic Story in Tokyo Dome

text:
Fantastic Story in Tokyo Dome was a professional wrestling event co-produced by the New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) and World Championship Wrestling (WCW) promotions. The show took place on January 4, 1993 in Tokyo's Tokyo Dome. Officially, the show drew 63,500 spectators and $3,200,000 in ticket sales. This was the second year that the show was co-promoted by the American WCW promotion. The show featured 10 matches, including four matches that featured WCW wrestlers. Fantastic Story featured three title matches, including Jushin Thunder Liger defeating Último Dragón to win the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship. IWGP Heavyweight Champion The Great Muta defeating Masahiro Chono to win the NWA World Heavyweight Championship in a match where the IWGP title was also on the line. Finally the show featured an IWGP Tag Team Championship match between The Hell Raisers (Hawk Warrior and Power Warrior) and The Steiner Brothers (Rick Steiner and Scott Steiner) that ended without a definitive winner. The show was later shown on pay-per-view (PPV) in North America as WCW/New Japan Supershow III.

Production

Background
The January 4 Tokyo Dome Show is NJPW's biggest annual event and has been called "the largest professional wrestling show in the world outside of the United States" and the "Japanese equivalent to the Super Bowl".

Storylines
Fantastic Story in Tokyo Dome featured professional wrestling matches that involved different wrestlers from pre-existing scripted feuds and storylines. Wrestlers portrayed villains, heroes, or less distinguishable characters in scripted events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches.

Results

References

External links
NJPW.co.jp

1993 in professional wrestling
1993 in Tokyo
Fantastic Story in Tokyo Dome
January 1993 events in Asia
World Championship Wrestling shows
Professional wrestling joint shows


title: Battlefield (professional wrestling)

text:
Battlefield was a professional wrestling event produced by New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). It took place on January 4, 1994 in the Tokyo Dome. The show drew 48,000 spectators.

Unlike the previous two years' January 4 events the 1994 show was not a co-promotion with World Championship Wrestling (WCW) although it did feature former WCW wrestlers The Steiner Brothers (Rick and Scott), who were working for WCW's rival, the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), at the time. The show also featured Brutus Beefcake and Hulk Hogan before they began working with WCW, working freelance for NJPW for one night.

The show featured 11 matches in total, including two title matches that saw The Hell Raisers (Hawk and Power Warrior) defeat The Jurassic Powers (Hercules Hernandez and Scott Norton) to win the IWGP Tag Team Championship, while Shinya Hashimoto successfully defended the IWGP Heavyweight Championship against Masahiro Chono. The show also featured a Mask vs. Mask match where Tiger Mask was unmasked and revealed as Koji Kanemoto.

Production

Background
The January 4 Tokyo Dome Show is NJPW's biggest annual event and has been called "the largest professional wrestling show in the world outside of the United States" and the "Japanese equivalent to the Super Bowl".

Storylines
Battlefield featured professional wrestling matches that involved different wrestlers from pre-existing scripted feuds and storylines. Wrestlers portrayed villains, heroes, or less distinguishable characters in scripted events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches.

Results

References

External links
NJPW.co.jp

1994 in professional wrestling
1994 in Tokyo
Battlefield
January 1994 events in Asia


title: Battle 7

text:
Battle 7 was a professional wrestling event produced by New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) that took place on January 4, 1995 in the Tokyo Dome. Battle 7 was the fourth January 4 Tokyo Dome Show held by NJPW. The show drew 52,500 spectators and $4,800,000 in ticket sales.

Besides NJPW wrestlers, the show also featured Sting from World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and former WCW stars The Steiner Brothers (Rick Steiner and Scott Steiner), as well as freelance wrestlers Tiger Jeet Singh and Tiger Jeet Singh, Jr. The show featured a four-man  "Final Countdown BVD" tournament, named after NJPW sponsor BVD.

The 1995 show marked the first time a non-NJPW or WCW title was defended, Shinjiro Otani defending the UWA World Welterweight Championship (originated in the Mexican Universal Wrestling Association) against El Samurai.

Production

Storylines
Battle 7 featured professional wrestling matches that involved different wrestlers from pre-existing scripted feuds and storylines. Wrestlers portrayed villains, heroes, or less distinguishable characters in scripted events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches.

Results

Final Countdown BVD tournament bracket

References

External links
NJPW.co.jp

1995 in professional wrestling
1995 in Tokyo
Battle 7
January 1995 events in Asia


title: Wrestling World 1996

text:
Wrestling World 1996 was a professional wrestling event co-produced by the New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) and UWF International (UWFi) promotions. The event took place on January 4 in the Tokyo Dome. Wrestling World 1996 was the fifth January 4 Tokyo Dome Show held by NJPW. The show drew 54,000 spectators and $5,400,000 in ticket sales. The driving storyline behind the show was an "inter-promotional" rivalry between NJPW and UWFi, which saw wrestlers from the promotions face off in a series of three matches. Hiroshi Hase's retirement match against his former tag team partner Kensuke Sasaki was also part of the card. The main event of the show was IWGP Heavyweight Champion Keiji Mutoh losing the championship to UWFi representative Nobuhiko Takada. The undercard featured an additional title change as Jushin Thunder Liger defeated Koji Kanemoto to win the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship. In total the show consisted of 10 matches.

Production

Background
The January 4 Tokyo Dome Show is NJPW's biggest annual event and has been called "the largest professional wrestling show in the world outside of the United States" and the "Japanese equivalent to the Super Bowl".

Storylines
Wrestling World 1996 featured professional wrestling matches that involved different wrestlers from pre-existing scripted feuds and storylines. Wrestlers portrayed villains, heroes, or less distinguishable characters in scripted events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches.

Results

References

External links
NJPW.co.jp

1996 in professional wrestling
1996 in Tokyo
Wrestling World 1996
January 1996 events in Asia
Professional wrestling joint shows


title: Wrestling World 1997

text:
Wrestling World 1997  was a professional wrestling event co-produced by the New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) and Big Japan Pro Wrestling (BJW) promotions. It took place on January 4, 1997 in the Tokyo Dome. Officially, the show drew 62,500 spectators and $5,000,000 in ticket sales. The show featured 12 matches, including four matches that were promoted jointly with the BJW promotion and presented as a rivalry between the two promotions. The show featured 12 matches in total, including three title matches, two of which saw new champions crowned.

Production

Background
The January 4 Tokyo Dome Show is NJPW's biggest annual event and has been called "the largest professional wrestling show in the world outside of the United States" and the "Japanese equivalent to the Super Bowl".

Storylines
Wrestling World 1997 featured professional wrestling matches that involved different wrestlers from pre-existing scripted feuds and storylines. Wrestlers portrayed villains, heroes, or less distinguishable characters in scripted events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches.

Event

Preliminary matches
The first match of the show was an eight-man tag team match which on one side featured Junji Hirata, Satoshi Kojima, Manabu Nakanishi and Osamu Nishimura going against Takashi Iizuka, Osamu Kido, Yuji Nagata and Kazuo Yamazaki. The contest lasted for 11:21 before Junji Hirata pinned Yuji Nagata after striking him with a lariat. This was the last match Nagata wrestled in Japan before travelling to the United States to work for World Championship Wrestling (WCW) as part of an "educational tour" that a lot of young Japanese wrestlers undertake to learn various styles of wrestling.

The second match of the night featured the debut of a character called "Super Liger", a silver and white version of Jushin Thunder Liger played by Chris Jericho. Super Liger wrestled Koji Kanemoto in what Power Slam Magazine correspondent Rob Butcher called "A super aerial battle". Super Liger won after 11 minutes and 11 seconds of action by using a bridging tiger suplex to pin Kanemoto. NJPW intended to use "Super Liger" character as a storyline enemy of Jushin Thunder Liger, hoping to create a rivalry similar to the Tiger Mask vs. Black Tiger rivalry. However, the character was so poorly received that it was never used again.

In the third match freelancer Jinsei Shinzaki defeated longtime NJPW midcarder Michiyoshi Ohara after using the Nenbutsu powerbomb.

Matches four, five, six and seven featured a "NJPW vs. BJW" premise as wrestlers representing the two companies wrestled against each other. In previous years NJPW had great success promoting "inter-promotional rivalries" against UWF International, only this time they were working with the much smaller BJW. In the first match Shinjiro Otani defeated Yoshihiro Tajiri after a flying heel kick in what was described as the best contest of the NJPW vs. BJW series. Kendo Nagasaki defeated Tatsutoshi Goto to even the score to 1–1. NJPW headliner Masahiro Chono made very short work of BJW wrestler Shoji Nakamaki, defeating him with a Yakuza kick in just over a minute. The final match of the series saw NJPW veteran Masa Saito defeat BJW president Shinya Kojika, who wrestled under the ring name The Great Kojika, to win the series 3 to 1.

Match number eight was billed as a Mixed martial arts match although it was still as predetermined as all the other matches of the night. NJPW founder Antonio Inoki took on karateka Willie Williams in a rematch of a highly publicized match from 1980. In the end Inoki forced Williams to submit to a ground cobra twist after 4:19.

The ninth match of the evening was originally supposed be for nine championships in total, but at the last minute WCW had not allowed Último Dragón to put the WCW World Cruiserweight Championship on the line in the match, Dragón still defended the J-Crown Championship, a championship consisting of eight unified titles. His opponent of the night was Jushin Thunder Liger, the driving force behind NJPW's very successful Light Heavyweight division and multiple time IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship holder, a belt that at the time was part of the J-Crown. Liger and Dragón had previously wrestled at the 1993 January 4 Tokyo Dome show called Fantastic Story in Tokyo Dome. After over 18 minutes of high flying wrestling Liger pinned Dragón following a Steiner Screwdriver to become the fourth J-Crown holder.

The storyline going into the tenth match of the evening was that of the first ever holders of the IWGP Tag Team Championship wanted "one last chance at the title that made them famous" before retirement. Fujinami and Kimura took on Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Masahiro Chono (who had already wrestled that night, albeit in a very short match) for the IWGP Tag Team Championship. While the age of the challengers prevented the match from being a good wrestling match the antics of Tenzan and Chono and the emotion of the challengers "last stand" created a match the crowd in the Tokyo Dome enjoyed. The end came after Tenzan accidentally hit his partner, allowing Fujinami to apply a dragon sleeper on Chono to force him to submit. With this victory Fujinami and Kimura became four-time tag team champions and the 29th overall champions.

The semi-main event of the evening was billed as a "battle of the alter egos" as Keiji Mutoh reverted to his "Great Muta" character and Kensuke Sasaki wrestled as "Power Warrior". While Mutoh and Sasaki tended to wrestle a more scientific style their face painted alter egos tended to brawl more. The match quickly turned into more of a brawl than a wrestling match with both participants using the ringside tables and a steel chair during the match. Power Warrior won after moving out of the way of a Moonsault from Muta allowing him to drive Muta into a table with his Northern Lights bomb for the victory.

Main event
The main event of the show featured the same "last stand" storyline that was used in the tag team title match as NJPW veteran Riki Choshu challenged Shinya Hashimoto for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. In August, 1996 Choshu had surprisingly defeated Hashimoto during the 1996 G1 Climax tournament. Unlike their encounter in 1996 and unlike the tag team championship match the "legend" did not prevail in this match as Hashimoto pinned Choshu after a brainbuster following 18:04 of wrestling.

Results

References

External links
NJPW.co.jp

1997 in professional wrestling
1997 in Tokyo
January 1997 events in Asia
Big Japan Pro Wrestling shows
Wrestling World 1997
Professional wrestling joint shows


title: Pyaar Ka Tarana

text:
Pyar Ka Taraana () is a 1993 Bollywood drama movie. The movie starred Anita Ayoob, Mink Brar, Reema Lagoo and Akshay Anand. The movie was written and directed by famous actor Dev Anand.

Cast
Akshay Anand as Kim
Anita Ayoob as Pinky
Manu Gargi as Gautam
Girija Shankar as Prem
Sushma Seth
Mink Brar as Chanda
Shreeram Lagoo
Reema Lagoo
Sulbha Arya
Rakesh Pandey
Brij Gopal

Soundtrack
M. G. Hashmat wrote all songs.

References

External links

1993 films
1990s Hindi-language films
Films directed by Dev Anand
Films scored by Raamlaxman


title: Final Power Hall in Tokyo Dome

text:
Final Power Hall in Tokyo Dome was a professional wrestling event produced by New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). It took place on January 4, 1998 in the Tokyo Dome. Final Power Hall in Tokyo Dome was the seventh January 4 Tokyo Dome Show held by NJPW. The show drew 55,000 spectators and $6,000,000 in ticket sales. One of the focal points of the show was the retirement of wrestling legend Riki Choshu, who would wrestle five times that night against select opponents in what was billed as the Riki Road Final Message 5, the completion of
a months-long "retirement tour" for Choshu. The show also featured successful defenses of the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship and the IWGP Heavyweight Championship, which made Final Power Hall in Tokyo Dome the first January 4 Tokyo Dome show to not have a single championship change hands. Besides the five Riki Road Final Message 5 matches the show featured eight additional matches.

Production

Background
The January 4 Tokyo Dome Show is NJPW's biggest annual event and has been called "the largest professional wrestling show in the world outside of the United States" and the "Japanese equivalent to the Super Bowl".

Storylines
Final Power Hall in Tokyo Dome featured professional wrestling matches that involved different wrestlers from pre-existing scripted feuds and storylines. Wrestlers portrayed villains, heroes, or less distinguishable characters in scripted events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches.

Results

References

External links
NJPW.co.jp

1998 in professional wrestling
1998 in Tokyo
January 1998 events in Asia
1998


title: Wrestling World 1999

text:
Wrestling World 1999 was a professional wrestling event produced by New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). It took place on January 4, 1999 in the Tokyo Dome. Wrestling World 1999 was the eighth January 4 Tokyo Dome Show held by NJPW. The show drew 52,500 spectators and $5,300,000 in ticket sales. The show featured 10 matches in total including four championship matches, three of which saw the championship change hands.

Production

Background
The January 4 Tokyo Dome Show is NJPW's biggest annual event and has been called "the largest professional wrestling show in the world outside of the United States" and the "Japanese equivalent to the Super Bowl".

Storylines
Wrestling World 1999 featured professional wrestling matches that involved different wrestlers from pre-existing scripted feuds and storylines. Wrestlers portrayed villains, heroes, or less distinguishable characters in scripted events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches.

Results

References

External links
NJPW.co.jp

1999 in professional wrestling
1999 in Tokyo
January 1999 events in Asia
1999


title: Wrestling World 2000

text:
Wrestling World 2000 was a professional wrestling event produced by New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). It took place on January 4, 2000 in the Tokyo Dome. Wrestling World 2000 was the ninth January 4 Tokyo Dome Show held by NJPW. The show drew 53,500 spectators and $5,900,000 in ticket sales. The event saw the return of World Championship Wrestling's Chris Benoit under the ring name Wild Pegasus, reprising the character he played for NJPW in the early to mid-1990s. The show also featured Rick Steiner and Randy Savage, both working as freelancers brought in specifically for the show. The twelve match card saw a successful defense of the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship and the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship as well as Kensuke Sasaki defeating Genichiro Tenryu to win the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. The undercard featured a match between Masahiro Chono defeated Keiji Mutoh bearing a stipulation that the losing wrestler's faction would have to disband. Chono represented Team 2000, while Mutoh represented nWo Japan. Through Mutoh's loss nWo Japan ceased to be. It also featured the retirement match of Kazuo Yamazaki, as he wrestled his student, Yuji Nagata.

Production

Background
The January 4 Tokyo Dome Show is NJPW's biggest annual event and has been called "the largest professional wrestling show in the world outside of the United States" and the "Japanese equivalent to the Super Bowl".

Storylines
Wrestling World 2000 featured professional wrestling matches that involved different wrestlers from pre-existing scripted feuds and storylines. Wrestlers portrayed villains, heroes, or less distinguishable characters in scripted events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches.

Results

References

External links
NJPW.co.jp

2000 in professional wrestling
2000 in Tokyo
January 2000 events in Japan
2000


title: Joca (footballer, born 1996)

text:
Jorge Samuel Figueiredo Fernandes (born 30 January 1996), known as Joca, is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays for Rio Ave F.C. as a midfielder.

Club career

Braga
Born in Braga, Joca had two youth spells with local S.C. Braga, the last one starting at the age of 15. He made his senior debut with their reserves on 9 August 2014, coming on as a 76th-minute substitute in a 1–0 away loss against C.D. Tondela in the Segunda Liga; he went to spend three full seasons with the side, always in that division.

On 11 July 2017, after scoring a career-best 12 goals during the campaign with Braga B, Joca was loaned to Primeira Liga club Tondela. His first game in the competition occurred on 9 September, when he featured one minute in the 2–2 home draw with F.C. Paços de Ferreira.

Rio Ave
On 27 July 2018, Joca signed a three-year contract at Rio Ave F.C. also of the Portuguese top tier. On 30 January 2020, not being part of manager Carlos Carvalhal's plans, he was loaned to Leixões S.C. until June.

References

External links

Portuguese League profile

1996 births
Living people
Footballers from Braga
Portuguese men's footballers
Men's association football midfielders
Primeira Liga players
Liga Portugal 2 players
S.C. Braga B players
C.D. Tondela players
Rio Ave F.C. players
Leixões S.C. players
Portugal men's youth international footballers


title: Wrestling World 2001

text:
Wrestling World 2001 was a professional wrestling event produced by New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). It took place on January 4 in the Tokyo Dome. Wrestling World 2001 was the tenth January 4 Tokyo Dome Show held by NJPW. The show drew 52,000 spectators. The focal point of Wrestling World 2001 was a tournament to crown a new IWGP Heavyweight Champion, which accounted for five of the nine matches on the show. No other championships were defended in 2001, marking the first year that only one title was on the line. The show saw Toshiaki Kawada wrestle twice; Kawada had previously been one of the main event wrestlers of NJPW's biggest rival All Japan Pro Wrestling.

Production

Background
The January 4 Tokyo Dome Show is NJPW's biggest annual event and has been called "the largest professional wrestling show in the world outside of the United States" and the "Japanese equivalent to the Super Bowl".

Storylines
Wrestling World 2001 featured professional wrestling matches that involved different wrestlers from pre-existing scripted feuds and storylines. Wrestlers portrayed villains, heroes, or less distinguishable characters in scripted events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches.

Results

IWGP Heavyweight Championship tournament bracket

References

External links
NJPW.co.jp

2001 in professional wrestling
2001 in Tokyo
January 2001 events in Japan
2001


title: Wrestling World 2002

text:
Wrestling World 2002 was a professional wrestling event produced by New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). It took place on January 4 in the Tokyo Dome. Wrestling World 2002 was the eleventh January 4 Tokyo Dome Show held by NJPW. The show drew 52,000 spectators. The show was the first January 4 Tokyo Dome Show to feature wrestlers from Pro Wrestling Noah, with the main event of the ten match show being a successful defense of the GHC Heavyweight Championship as champion Jun Akiyama defeated NJPW representative Yuji Nagata. The show also featured a successful IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship defense by Kendo Kashin.

Production

Background
The January 4 Tokyo Dome Show is NJPW's biggest annual event and has been called "the largest professional wrestling show in the world outside of the United States" and the "Japanese equivalent to the Super Bowl".

Results

References

External links
NJPW.co.jp

2002 in professional wrestling
2002 in Tokyo
January 2002 events in Japan
2002


title: Wrestling World 2003

text:
Wrestling World 2003 was a professional wrestling event held by New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). The event took place on January 4 in the Tokyo Dome. Wrestling World 2003 was the twelfth January 4 Tokyo Dome Show promoted by NJPW. The show drew 30,000 spectators. The show featured the semi-finals and the finals of the "Young Generation Cup", an NJPW tournament for relative newcomers who have yet to establish themselves as top level wrestlers, which saw Ryushi Yanagisawa defeat Yutaka Yoshie to win the cup. The show featured a total of eleven matches, including a match for the vacant NWF Heavyweight Championship that Yoshihiro Takayama won by defeating Tsuyoshi Kosaka in the finals of a four-man tournament. The main event was a successful defense of the IWGP Heavyweight Championship as champion Yuji Nagata defeated Josh Barnett.

Production

Background
The January 4 Tokyo Dome Show is NJPW's biggest annual event and has been called "the largest professional wrestling show in the world outside of the United States" and the "Japanese equivalent to the Super Bowl".

Storylines
Wrestling World 2003 featured professional wrestling matches that involved different wrestlers from pre-existing scripted feuds and storylines. Wrestlers portrayed villains, heroes, or less distinguishable characters in scripted events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches.

Results

NWF Heavyweight Championship tournament bracket

Young Generation Cup tournament bracket

References

External links
NJPW.co.jp

2003 in professional wrestling
2003 in Tokyo
January 2003 events in Japan
2003


title: Wrestling World 2004

text:
Wrestling World 2004 was a professional wrestling event produced by New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). It took place on January 4 in the Tokyo Dome. Wrestling World 2004 was the thirteenth January 4 Tokyo Dome Show held by NJPW. The show drew 40,000 spectators. Main event of the 15 match show was a unification match between IWGP Heavyweight Champion Shinsuke Nakamura and NWF Heavyweight Champion Yoshihiro Takayama. Nakamura won the match, retiring the NWF Championship after only being active for one year. The undercard saw NJPW mainstay Jushin Thunder Liger defeat Pro Wrestling Noah's Takashi Sugiura to win the GHC Junior Heavyweight Championship, marking the first time a Noah championship changed hands at a January 4 Tokyo Dome Show. Additionally Gedo and Jado successfully defended the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship against Heat and Tiger Mask and Hiroshi Tanahashi retained the IWGP U-30 Openweight Championship against Yutaka Yoshie.

Production

Background
The January 4 Tokyo Dome Show is NJPW's biggest annual event and has been called "the largest professional wrestling show in the world outside of the United States" and the "Japanese equivalent to the Super Bowl".

Storylines
Wrestling World 2004 featured professional wrestling matches that involved different wrestlers from pre-existing scripted feuds and storylines. Wrestlers portrayed villains, heroes, or less distinguishable characters in scripted events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches.

Results

References

External links
NJPW.co.jp

2004
January 2004 events in Japan
2004 in professional wrestling
2004 in Tokyo


title: Toukon Festival: Wrestling World 2005

text:
Toukon Festival: Wrestling World 2005 was a professional wrestling event produced by New Japan Pro-Wrestling. It took place on January 4 in the Tokyo Dome. Toukon Festival: Wrestling World 2005 was the fourteenth January 4 Tokyo Dome Show held by NJPW. Officially, the show drew 46,000 spectators. The undercard of the show featured an eight-man "submissions only" tournament which Ron Waterman won when he forced Yuji Nagata to submit in the finals. The show also saw Tiger Mask defeat Heat to win the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship and in the main event Shinsuke Nakamura defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi to win the IWGP U-30 Openweight Championship. The show also featured a unique "Dog Fight" match between Masahiro Chono, Riki Choshu and Hiroyoshi Tenzan. Chono defeated Chosu in the first match and as a result had to wrestle Tenzan in the next match.

Production

Background
As New Japan Pro Wrestling's January 4 Tokyo Dome event for that year, Toukon Festival: Wrestling World 2005 was a precursor to Wrestle Kingdom, which is NJPW's biggest annual event and has been called "the largest professional wrestling show in the world outside of the United States" and the "Japanese equivalent to the Super Bowl".

Storylines
Wrestling World 2005 in Tokyo Dome featured professional wrestling matches that involved different wrestlers from pre-existing scripted feuds and storylines. Wrestlers portrayed villains, heroes, or less distinguishable characters in scripted events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches.

Results

Submissions Only Tournament bracket

References

2005 in professional wrestling
2005 in Tokyo
Toukon Festival: Wrestling World 2005
January 2005 events in Japan


title: Nat Russo

text:
Natalo A. Russo (born July 31, 1970) is an American fantasy fiction author.  He is best known for his series The Mukhtaar Chronicles.

Russo also authors an award-winning blog for fellow writers, entitled A Writer's Journey, in which he documents his experiences as an independent writer and offers writing tips. Russo maintains an active presence on various social media outlets, including Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and LinkedIn.

Biography
Natalo A. Russo was born in Queens, New York, raised in Prescott, Arizona, and , lives in Austin, Texas.

According to his personal bio, he has held many jobs over the years before becoming an author, including pizza maker, radio DJ, Catholic seminarian, police officer, and software engineer, his current profession. He also holds a degree in Philosophy and a black belt in Tang Soo Do.

Influences

Russo has stated on a number of occasions that his primary writing influence is Raymond E. Feist, author of the Riftwar Saga. Since the mid-1990s, Russo has maintained an online relationship with Feist.

He also credits fellow author and editor Joan Reginaldo, and James Scott Bell, for improving his craft as a writer.

Bibliography

Necromancer Awakening, the first book of The Mukhtaar Chronicles, was published on April 9, 2014.  On August 8, 2014, he released a follow-up prequel to Necromancer Awakening entitled The Road to Dar Rodon.  A direct sequel to Necromancer Awakening, entitled Necromancer Falling, was published on May 29, 2016, in Kindle format.

Novels

The Mukhtaar Chronicles

Novelettes

Tales of the Mukhtaar Lords

References

External links
 "Book Review: Necromancer Awakening by Nat Russo"
 "Nat Russo – WIP interview"
 "Interview with Author Nat Russo"

1970 births
21st-century American male writers
21st-century American novelists
American bloggers
American fantasy writers
American male bloggers
American male novelists
American software engineers
Engineers from New York City
Living people
Novelists from Arizona
Novelists from New York (state)
Novelists from Texas
People from Prescott, Arizona
Writers from Austin, Texas
Writers from Queens, New York


title: Insane Championship Wrestling

text:
Insane Championship Wrestling (ICW) is a professional wrestling promotion based in Glasgow, Scotland, founded by Mark Dallas in 2006. It mixes elements of traditional sports entertainment with hardcore wrestling; thus admittance is restricted to those over 18 years old.

The company began expanding across the UK, and was featured in a Vice Magazine documentary in 2012 and BBC documentary in 2014. It was named UK Promotion of the Year by Fighting Spirit Magazine in 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2018.

ICW formerly aired on cable television station MyChannel across Europe. ICW records and releases the majority of their shows on limited edition DVD as well as producing series of their own YouTube show, ICW Worldwide. In 2015, ICW launched their On Demand service (ICW On Demand), which has become the company's primary source of distribution of content.

On August 13, 2020, it was announced that ICW content would be available on WWE's video on-demand service, WWE Network.

History

2006–2012

Mark Dallas founded the promotion while living with his girlfriend in Glasgow's Red Road Flats in 2006. After attending wrestling training to learn the business from the inside, he ran his first shows at Maryhill Community Centre. Drew Galloway was crowned the company's inaugural Heavyweight Champion on 15 October 2006 after defeating Darkside and Allan Grogan in a three-way match at ICW: Fear & Loathing. Galloway held the title until 22 July 2007 when he was defeated by Darkside. After an almost 2-year hiatus, ICW returned on 9 May 2009 with ICW: Fear & Loathing, however, after another brief hiatus, the company began running shows every other month beginning with ICW: Payback on 28 February 2010.

On 5 June 2010, ICW: Menace 2 Society, a new ICW Heavyweight Champion was crowned for the first time in over three years as BT Gunn won the vacant title in a 4-way match against Wolfgang, Liam Thomson and Johnny Moss. The event also kicked off a tournament for a secondary title, the ICW Zero-G Championship. Another title change occurred on 4 September 2010 at ICW: Dazed and Confused when moments after defeating Red Lightning, BT Gunn was challenged by James Scott who won the match and joined the villainous Gold Label faction.

ICW: Fear & Loathing 3 signaled ICW's first venture into Glasgow City Center with the event taking place at Apollo 23 nightclub on 21 November 2010. The finals of the Zero-G Championship Tournament took place with Noam Dar defeating Andy Wild, Falcon and Rob Cage in a four-way elimination match. The Zero-G Championship was briefly dropped by Dar to Lionheart at ICW: Summerbam on 14 August 2011 before winning the title back at ICW: Fear & Loathing 4 on 23 November.

2012–2023
2012 saw the introduction of a new event on 22 January, Square Go!. This event was headlined by an over-the-top-rope battle royal granting the winner a shot at the ICW Heavyweight Championship at a time of their choosing. ICW's next event, ICW: Smells like Teen Spirit, took place in The Garage venue, in Glasgow; the venue would later host many ICW shows. The beginning of the year saw ICW gain TV exposure through MyChannel, although their tenure on the station was short-lived as they were removed from programming after one of their shows was shown at an inappropriate time.

During the summer, the ICW Tag Team Championship was introduced and, after a series of elimination matches, STI (Dickie Divers & William Grange) defeated The Bucky Boys (Davie Boy & Stevie Boy) for the titles at ICW: Hadouken!.

After the airing of an in-house mockumentary and his prominent role in the Vice documentary, Grado became prominent in the promotion of ICW. At the 2nd Annual Square Go!, Mikey Whiplash secured his opportunity at the Heavyweight Championship while ICW ventured out of Glasgow for the first time with a show at Studio 24 in Edinburgh. In Edinburgh at ICW: Tramspotting, qualifying matches would begin for the new ICW Fierce Females Championship. The Tag Team Championship changed hands for the first time with STI losing their titles to The Bucky Boys in a ladder match at ICW: Get To Da Choppa. At ICW: Reservoir Dogs, ICW announced that they were being filmed as the subject of a BBC documentary.

On 7 February 2015, the ICW Heavyweight Championship was renamed the ICW World Heavyweight Championship following title defenses in England, Denmark and the United States by Drew Galloway. On 27 February 2016, ICW had their first show in Ireland named The Big Elbowski, where Big Damo defeated Chris Renfrew for the ICW World Heavyweight Championship.

On 20 November 2016, ICW ran the Fear & Loathing IX PPV at the SSE Hydro, which was their biggest event to date and featured Kurt Angle, Team 3D, Ricochet, Finn Balor and others.

On 5 November 2017, on a Road to Fear and Loathing X tour show in Cardiff, Triple H and NXT United Kingdom Champion Pete Dunne made a special guest appearance.

Three days later, Lionheart died by suicide, causing the ICW title to be vacated. Stevie Boy defeated Wolfgang for the vacant title at Shug's Hoose Party 6 on 28 July 2019.

2023–present

Leyton Buzzard, who had won the ICW World Heavyweight Championship Fear & Loathing XIV on 20 November 2022, became ICW's first champion to defend the World Championship outside of the UK since 2018. Inspired by Drew Galloway's internationally recognised reign, which spanned multiple countries, Buzzard eventually broke some of Galloway's records for international defences with matches in Italy, Spain, Ireland, Sweden, Germany and Canada.

In January 2023, ICW announced that its deal with WWE had ended and their library would no longer be available through the WWE Network and Peacock. ICW began airing its weekly TV and events through FITE, this began with The 11th Annual Square Go airing as a PPV on 26 February 2023, during which it was announced that ICW would be airing its events via FITE+ going forward. The first major event of this partnership was Get The F Out! on 14 May 2023.

Events
The promotion currently books most of its events in Glasgow with occasional events in Edinburgh. As the company grows, it has expanded to the rest of the UK, having held events in London and Newcastle with shows in Liverpool, Leeds and Birmingham booked in the future as part of a working relationship with O2 Academy venues. ICW runs shows in Glasgow's The Garage and Studio 24 in Edinburgh as well as ABC Glasgow until its closure due to a fire.

As Fear & Loathing got bigger, ICW went on to host events at SEC Centre, and in 2016 held the biggest event in European wrestling since the Dale Martin Wembley Arena shows of the early '80s in Glasgow's OVO Hydro with a claimed over 6000 attendees. Fear & Loathing would be held at the OVO Hydro in the two years following, featuring the likes of Rey Mysterio, Rob Van Dam, Noam Dar & James Storm.

In July 2018 after a recent fire that caused damage to O2 ABC Glasgow, ICW had to reschedule their 2-day summer event Shugs Hoose Party 5 to Glasgow's O2 Academy for the first time ever.

In February 2019, ICW announced the first ever 'King Of Hawners' tournament, taking place on the 26 & 27 May, with 8 trios teams competing in the inaugural tournament.

ICW On Demand
ICW On Demand is a video-on-demand service owned by Insane Championship Wrestling. All major ICW events are uploaded on the service shortly after taking place.

ICW Fight Club is the company's weekly episodic show, with episodes premiering on ICW On Demand on Friday nights.

The service also features matches from the promotion's archives, dating back to 2012. Retrospectives of pre-2012 events, shoot interviews and documentaries are also available.

Championships and accomplishments

Current championships

Other Championships Recognised by ICW

Square Go! Briefcase Holders
In a combination of WWE's Royal Rumble and Money in the Bank matches, the competitors compete in a 30-man over-the-top-rope battle royal, the Square Go!, with the winner earning the Square Go Briefcase.  This gives the holder an opportunity to cash-in the briefcase for an ICW World Heavyweight Championship match at any time of their choosing for up to one year. More recently, the contract holder has also had the option of cashing in the contract for a shot at the ICW Zero-G Championship.

King of Insanity

Queen of Insanity

Other personnel

Hall of Fame

See also
WWE NXT UK

References

External links

Entertainment companies established in 2006
British professional wrestling promotions


title: Flora of the Colorado Desert

text:
Flora of the Colorado Desert, located in Southern California. The Colorado Desert is a sub-region in the Sonoran Desert ecoregion of southwestern North America. It is also known as the Low Desert, in contrast to the higher elevation Mojave Desert or High Desert, to its north.

Plant communities
The desert flora comprises terrestrial plant communities including: creosote bush scrub; alkali sink, desert dry wash, mixed scrub; desert saltbush; sandy soil grasslands; desert dunes. The higher elevation Madrean Sky Islands are dominated by pinyon pine and California juniper (Juniperus californica), with areas of Manzanita and Coulter pine (Pinus coulteri).

More than half of the Colorado Desert's plant species are herbaceous annuals, and appropriately timed winter rains produce abundant early Spring wildflowers. In the southern portion of the region, the additional moisture supplied by summer rainfall fosters the germination of summer annual plants. The summer monsoons also support smoketree, Desert Ironwood, and palo verde trees in desert washes. Hardy perennials and the

Wetland biota
In the Colorado Desert's arid environment, aquatic and wetland habitats are limited in extent but are critically important to wildlife. Runoff from seasonal rains and groundwater emergence flow seasonally in desert bajadas and washes, arroyos, and ephemeral streams, and brine lakes.

Springs and seeps feed oases, freshwater marshes, and a few foothill perennial streams year round.  desert riparian vegetation communities dominated by cottonwood, willow, and non-native tamarisk. Two of the region's most significant aquatic systems are the Salton Sea and the Colorado River.

While most desert wildlife depend on aquatic habitats as water sources, a number of species, such as the arroyo toad, desert pupfish, Yuma rail, and southwestern willow flycatcher, are restricted to these habitats. In some places, summer rains produce short-lived seasonal pools that host uncommon species like Couch's spadefoot toad.

Desert California fan palm oases are rare ecological communities found only in the Colorado Desert. They occur only where permanent water sources are available, such as at springs or along fault lines, where groundwater is forced to the surface by the movement of hard impermeable rock, and can be found in: the canyons of the San Jacinto Mountains, Santa Rosa Mountains, and Little San Bernardino Mountains, and Anza-Borrego Desert State Park; and along the San Andreas Fault in the Coachella Valley. The only palm native to California, Washingtonia filifera (California fan palm), grows in natural groves at the oases.

Evolutionary history
Salton Sink

Environmental factors
Ecotones
Microclimates
North American Monsoons — aka: Mexican monsoons, Southwestern U.S. monsoons, Arizona monsoons.

Vegetation types
Vegetation types and habitats are differentiated by elevation
The higher elevation Madrean Sky Islands support Single-leaf Pinyon pine (Pinus monophylla) and California juniper (Juniperus californica), with areas of Manzanita and Coulter pine (Pinus coulteri).

Desert riparian habitats support Fremont cottonwood (Populus fremontii), willows (Salix species). Introduced Tamarisk trees are an invasive species in these areas.

Flora

Endemic species
Endemic flora species of the Colorado Desert include:
Hesperocallis undulata — Desert lily
Nolina bigelovii — Bigelow's nolina
Peucephyllum schottii —  Desert fir
Salvia greatae — Orocopia sage
Astragalus lentiginosus var. coachellae — Coachella Valley Milkvetch

Species endemic to California habitats, found in the Colorado Desert include:
Astragalus tricarinatus — Triplerib milkvetch
Chorizanthe parryi — Parry's spineflower
Ericameria pinifolia — Pinebush
Leptosyne bigelovii — Bigelow coreopsis
Pholisma sonorae — Sandfood

See also

Natural history of the Colorado Desert
List of flora of the Sonoran Desert Region by common name
Flora of the California desert regions
Flora of the Sonoran Deserts
Fauna of the Colorado Desert

References

F
.Colorado
.Colorado
F


title: Hazinedar

text:
or  (from , ) is a title in Ottoman Empire hierarchy. Depending on the suffix or prefix it had different meanings. The English language translation of the word is a treasurer.

Treasurer

The chief  headed the personnel of the sultan's treasury. s subordinated to the chief  had a title of . Kalfa is Turkish for 'apprentice'.  was the title of the chief eunuch treasurer.

Lord (housemistress) of the sultan's palace and harem

The high  or first  or  was a title for the housemistress of the sultan's palace, the most influential person after the prince. There were other s in the Ottoman hierarchy (the second, third...) who were subordinated to the first , hence referred to as  ('superintendent'). Only the first  could approach the sultan and other nobility, while the second, third and other s served the first .

Note

References

Ottoman titles
Civil servants from the Ottoman Empire