[NJPW News] New Japan announced the full card for the upcoming INVASION ATTACK iPPV for April 7th as well as the lead-in show that will be held on April 5th.
Following his win on March 24th, Kazuchika Okada has once again laid down a claim to another tournament win with the NEW JAPAN CUP, and also the right as the youngest to ever do so (an honor he already held with his victory in the 2012 G1 Climax). Okada has earned himself another title opportunity against the reigning IWGP Heavy Champion in Hiroshi Tanahashi. Of course, Okada already headlined the Tokyo Dome on 1.4 in a losing effort to Tanahashi, though following his win the NJC he appears to have a new found sense of purpose.
The event will be headlined with 2 other title matches with Shinsuke Nakamura looking to defend the IWGP IC against the other half of K.E.S. in Davey Boy Smith Jr. This will mark Nakamura’s 7th defense with the belt as he aims to continue on with his breakthrough reign. First though Nakamura will be going after K.E.S. and their tag team titles as he teams with Tomohiro Ishii on April 5th. Of course this match will be a continuing of the CHAOS vs. Suzuki-gun war.
Following the news of Bruce Tharpe, President of the NWA, stating that he is bringing over a wrestler to compete in NJPW. Satoshi Kojima was the first to challenge the incoming wrestler which has been determined to be the newly crowned NWA Heavyweight Champion, “Iron Man” Rob Conway. Conway has been competing for over 15 years now and is looking to leave his mark in Japan and gain a strong defense as champion in the process.
Yuji Nagata & Hirooki Goto will be joining forces to take on the Laughter7 duo in Kazushi Sakuraba & Katsuyori Shibata. This could potentially be the toughest challenge for Laughter7 yet as there is a lot of history between each man involved. Will Nagata finally be able to pull out a win, with Goto, against the invader team or will Laughter7 once again prove to have fate on their side?
Minoru Suzuki will be looking for revenge against Toru Yano following the 2nd round match of the NEW JAPAN CUP in which Yano walked away with the controversial victory. CHAOS and Suzuki-gun have had nothing but animosity towards each other all throughout this year and “the ultimate invader” Minoru Suzuki will not sit back and let a loss, let alone a “cheap” loss, loom over him. The two will meet in a tag match before the ppv on April 5th, as Suzuki will be teaming with close friend Yoshihiro Takayama as they face the current (NOAH) GHC Tag Champions, Yano and Takashi Iizuka. Takayama of course will be teaming with KENTA in NOAH’s upcoming GLOBAL TAG LEAGUE tournament and will this could become an early look at a possible outcome if KENTA & Takayama managed to win the tag league.
Tomoaki Honma made his surprise return to New Japan in the form of support for Togi Makabe following another attack from Yujiro. The duo use to form G.B.H. (Great Bash Heel) in years prior, but after Honma left NJPW last year Makabe has found himself primarily on his own. No word yet if G.B.H. has truly reformed, but Makabe could really use the aid as they are set to take on Masato Tanaka & Yujiro Takahashi.
Tama Tonga will be defending the CMLL World Tag belts, along with Terrible, against La Mascara & Valiente. NJPW has built a strong relationship with CMLL in the last several years and New Japan is yet again giving a platform for the “lucha libre” style to showcase itself.
Prince Devitt will have a heavy few days in front of him as he will be defending his IWGP Jr. belt against Alex Shelley on 4/5 and then on 4/7 the two will be involved in the IWGP Jr. Tag match. As the reigning champions “TIME SPLITTERS” KUSHIDA & Alex Shelley will defend against “Apollo55” Prince Devitt & Ryusuke Taguchi. Devitt has been on edge over the last month and has been showing plenty of “heel attitude” like tendencies against his opponents. With a huge challenge set before him, will Devitt’s new persona manifest itself over these two shows, or will it prove to have been nothing more than Devitt just looking to blow off some steam.
Below are the event cards for the upcoming shows in April.
New Japan Event Cards for March & April 2013
http://www.puroresuspirit.com/2013/03/03/new-japan-event-cards-for-march-april-2012/
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New Japan Pro Wrestling “Road to INVASION ATTACK”, 4/5/2013 [Fri] 18:30 @ Korakuen Hall in Tokyo
(1) Road to INVASION ATTACK I: Ryusuke Taguchi vs. KUSHIDA
(2) Road to INVASION ATTACK II: Yuji Nagata & Hirooki Goto vs. Manabu Nakanishi & Captain New Japan
(3) Road to INVASION ATTACK III: Togi Makabe, Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima vs. Yujiro Takahashi, YOSHI-HASHI & Jado
(4) Road to INVASION ATTACK IV: Minoru Suzuki & Yoshihiro Takayama vs. Toru Yano & Takashi Iizuka
(5) Road to INVASION ATTACK V: Hiroshi Tanahashi & BUSHI vs. Kazuchika Okada & Gedo
(6) IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship Match: [66th Champion] Prince Devitt vs. [Challenger] Alex Shelley
~ 3rd Defense.
(7) IWGP Tag Championship Match: [61st Champions] “K.E.S.” Lance Archer & Davey Boy Smith Jr. vs. [Challengers] Shinsuke Nakamura & Tomohiro Ishii
~ 4th Defense.
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New Japan Pro Wrestling “INVASION ATTACK”, 4/7/2013 [Sun] 16:00 @ Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo
(1) IWGP Junior Tag Championship Match: [34th Champions] “TIME SPLITTERS” KUSHIDA & Alex Shelley vs. [Challengers] Prince Devitt & Ryusuke Taguchi
~ 3rd Defense.
(2) Special 8 Man Tag Match: Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Manabu Nakanishi, Super Strong Machine & Akebono [Free] vs. Takashi Iizuka, Tomohiro Ishii, YOSHI-HASHI & Bob Sapp
(3) CMLL World Tag Championship Match: [Champions] El Terrible & Tama Tonga vs. [Challengers] La Mascara & Valiente
(4) Special Tag Match: Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma [Free] vs. Masato Tanaka [ZERO1] & Yujiro Takahashi
(5) Special Single Match: Toru Yano [CHAOS] vs. Minoru Suzuki [Suzuki-gun]
(6) Special Tag Match: Yuji Nagata & Hirooki Goto vs. Kazushi Sakuraba & Katsuyori Shibata
(7) Triple Main Event I ~ NWA World Heavyweight Championship Match: [Champion] Rob Conway vs. [Challenger] Satoshi Kojima
(8) Triple Main Event II ~ IWGP Intercontinental Championship Match: [4th Champion] Shinsuke Nakamura vs. [Challenger] Davey Boy Smith Jr.
~ 7th Defense.
(9) Triple Main Event III ~ IWGP Heavyweight Championship Match: [58th Champion] Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. [Challenger] Kazuchika Okada
~ 8th Defense.