Get ready for the second biggest weekend in wrestling!

WWE has two big shows coming this weekend, which I'll talk about in more detail in the next couple days. But they are far from the only promotion running pay-per-view events. Several independent promotions are also running shows over the weekend, including internet pay-per-views and even a streaming special over an indie service akin to WWE. Here's the details on some of the happenings going down.

Ring of Honor isn't quite an independent, but they are running on Friday night. It's also the odd show out as it is the only one not in the northeast area.

• ROH World Title - Jay Lethal vs. Adam Cole: The storyline behind this one is ridiculous. Lethal insisted on a title match because he had his head shaved by the Bullet Club. Why not just demand he get a one on one match with Cole non-title? The whole thing presents Lethal as an idiot, especially since he's likely to drop the title.
• ROH World Television Title - Bobby Fish vs. Mark Briscoe.
• Silas Young vs. Katsuyori Shibata: Shibata makes his United States debut. I look forward to seeing Silas get his face kicked off.
• Toru Yano and Roppongi Vice vs. Yujiro Takahashi & Guerrillas of Destiny: None of these stars make regular appearances for ROH, though Roppongi Vice has made more than the others. It feels strangely inserted, especially with regular Bullet Club members Adam Page and Young Bucks not with a listed match.
• No other matches are listed despite Los Ingobernables De Japon, Michael Elgin, Jay Briscoe, Hiroshi Tanahashi, and tag champs The Addiction all in attendance. Strange to see ROH selling their show on so little, especially when compared to their Japanese partners that give away all planned matches ahead of time. 

The more interesting card on Friday though has to be EVOLVE 66. Gabe Sapolsky's promotion has some of the best wrestling in the world every show and this one brings the independent debut of one Cody Rhodes. And Cody's not facing just some scrub.

Image Credit: WWNLive.com.

• Cody Rhodes vs. Zack Sabre Jr.: Most folks might just be learning about Sabre, but this should push Rhodes' wrestling skills to the test in what I hope will be an epic encounter.
• EVOLVE Title - Timothy Thatcher vs. Matt Riddle.
• Two battles between Cruiserweight Classic talent: Drew Gulak vs. Tony Nese and TJ Perkins vs. Cedric Alexander.
• DUSTIN (a.k.a. Chuck Taylor) vs. Ethan Page
• Catch Point's Tracy Williams and Fred Yehi vs. Jigsaw and Peter Kaasa

The Top 10 Wrestlers of New Japan Pro Wrestling for January 2016

With Wrestle Kingdom 10 in the past, Shinsuke Nakamura's removal as Intercontinental champion and a shake up already in place, the roster of New Japan Pro Wrestling is definitely in flux. But that won't stop me from bringing the second edition of the NJPW Top 10 list for this spot between the January 4th supershow and The New Beginning events in mid-February.

So without any further ado, on to the list!

Nakamura no longer holds this belt, but he's leaving New Japan with a great
sendoff during the CMLL FantasticMania events. Image credit: NJPW.

The NJPW Top 10

As we close out 2015, I continue my look at some of the top wrestlers in various promotions as the year draws to a close. This time around, the focus turns to New Japan as it ramps up for its January 4th Wrestle Kingdom 10 event.

Coming off of the World Tag League, New Japan seems to be firing on all cylinders with amazing talent, great import stars from Ring of Honor and a bevy of talent itching to put on the best matches they can. This is New Japan's Wrestlemania season and even in their smaller events they are really showing that fire in six and eight man tags. 

Image credit: NJPW

Eight is the magic number at Night 11 of the G1 Climax!

Night 11 brought the action back to a single fixed camera format, which only encouraged my decision to skip the preliminaries. I've seen indies with one camera with better presentation than this gives New Japan.

Image credit: NJPW.

In a match that made me shiver not with anticipation but with dread, Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Bad Luck Fale opened the tournament matches. One once-fast, now-plodding worker against one never-fast always-plodding worker does n ot a good match make. Fale hit an ugly splash from the top to stay in contention with 8 points.

Toru Yano got a quick roll up in a five minute match on Katsuyori Shibata to start a theme of the night as he also made it to 8 points. I would guess this was designed to heal Yano's still very messed up eye, but it was a depressing finish for a Shibata match, as they have been a highlight of the tournament.

Weekend brings two more mornings of G1 action

No time to waste as we have a packed weekend report of G1 action!

Image credit: NJPW.

Night 8 started with some preliminaries with little to note outside the return of KUSHIDA to Japan after a US tour that saw him working the first Global Force Wrestling tapings.

Tournament actin kicked off with Yujiro Takahashi and Satoshi Kojima. Kojima beat the holy heck out of Tanahashi for most of the match, but interference by Cody Hall allowed Yujiro to hit a low blow for the win.

Karl Anderson worked super old school against Yuji Nagata, picking him apart before getting the win in one of Nagata's best fights of the tournament.

Michael Elgin took out Tomoaki Honma in a brutal back and forth match. Honma continues to be a top performer in the tournament, but his loveable loser gimmick kept him without points again, as Michael Elgin moves up to four. The show had a bit of delay to get Honma out of the ring. Hopefully this doesn't mean an injury.

Night seven brings clear leaders to the G1 Climax A Block

Image credit: NJPW.

After some solid openers including some great work by young Jay White and David Finlay in the opening, as well as a superb tag match pitting the team of Honma and Elgin against Ishii and YOSHI-HASHI, it is time for some more A Block action in NJPW.

Doc Gallows and Toru Yano started the action out and gave pretty much the showing you would expect from the pair in the ring. While it was far from bad, it was rather generic, but at least Gallows finally scores his first two points. Everyone in A Block is now on the board.

Tenzan took the fall in the second tournament match, continuing a streak of losses. Togi Makabe looked good in the battle, though he seemed to take it a bit easier than usual on the injured veteran.

In a match exactly as brutal with strikes as expected from Katsuyori Shibata and Kota Ibushi, Shibata again picked up the win with his Sleeper into PK combo. This was easily match of the night, just a really good striker versus flyer battle. Shibata has looked amazing during the tournament this year. I suspect we will see him get a push even if he doesn't win the final tournament.

Bad Luck Fale beat Hiroshi Tanahashi. I still can't believe I'm writing those words. And no, it still wasn't a very good match.

AJ Styles finally got his first G1 main event against the equally heelish Tetsuya Naito. The match was incredibly back and forth, with both villains getting some support from the fans. It ended up stronger for the native Naito though and his win came with more than a smattering of cheer. He made sure to attack referee Red Shoes post-match to get his heel heat back

A busy weekend with Night 4 and 5 of the G1 Climax!

I have two shows to cover here, so let's get right into the tournament action.

Image credit: NJPW.

Night 4 kicked off with a brutal battle where Tomohiro Ishii became the first B Block fighter with 4 points when he overcame Yujiro Takahashi. (I blame the poor substitute MAO for his loss.)

Michael Elgin and Satoshi Kojima beat the hell out of each other in a match that shows how good Kojima still is. Elgin took the loss in a true back and forth battle with a great show of respect in the aftermath by both men.

Karl Anderson continued to upset Japanese favorites, this time overcoming Intercontinental champion Hirooki Goto in a brutal match.

New Japan continues a weekend of excellence with Night Three of the G1 Climax!

Things kicked off with the regular prelims, all designed to preview some fights for tomorrow night. I of course forgot to set my alarm, so I missed all but the end of the final battle between the CHAOS unit of Okada, Nakamura and Gedo and the team of Nagata, Honma & Ryusuke Taguchi. It was a pretty solid match and Honma even got a rare win over Gedo.

Image credit: NJPW.

The G1 tournament matches for night three kicked off with Doc Gallows and Kota Ibushi. Gallows worked the match at his pace, landing one big move after another on Ibushi. But much like night one, Ibushi showed a lack of selling for much of the offense against him, but at least it took a flash pin to get the win.

B Block brings some hard-hitting offense in their first night of the G1 Climax

Thursday was the second night for G1 action, but of course here in the States that means waking up at 4:30. Luckily for me and my readers, being up at 4:30 is pretty natural, so here is what happened tonight in part two of the G1 Climax.

The night kicked off with the regular multi-man matches but only the alliance of Katsuyori Shibata and Tetsuya Naito (with Ryusuke Taguchi) offered any real intrigue. Shibata and Naito meet tomorrow night and it was interesting to see each try to get into the other's head while ostensibly working together.

Ouch. Image caption: NJPW.

The tournament matches started off with a brutal blast of punches and kicks as Satoshi Kojima took on Tomohiro Ishii. I went in expecting this to be a solid match with Kojima coming out on top. Instead I got a solid brawl with Ishii hitting a mean brainbuster for the two points. Ishii actually looked better than I usually expect here, so maybe we will get more solid matches in the G1 from him.

Yujiro Takahashi had Mao back at his side for his first tournament match, but the beauty was no help against Hirooki Goto. In a match that featured multiple biting spots and some painful looking bumps, Takahashi just couldn't bring it together for Bullet Club. Goto walked away with a relatively easy win.

The G1 Climax kicks off with two big matches

The one flaw a Round Robin tournament always has is that some of the matches will just not be as good as others. Day one of the G1 Climax showed that with some awkward battles, but it made up for it with a semi- and main event that were well worth viewing right now in replay.

Image credit: NJPW.

After the preliminary multi-man matches, the tournament kicked off with Hiroyoshi Tenzan versus Doc Gallows. I have seen a few negative reviews of this match, but while nothing special by any means it was a good showing by the aging legend and the former Straight Edge Society member. Ultimately Tenzan wins (as he is wont to do a bit too often) to give him the first two points of the tournament.

G1 Climax 2015 Preview - Block A Part 2

Yesterday, I covered the first five competitors in the epic twenty man round robin tournament known as G1 Climax. This is the biggest tournament New Japan holds every year and some of their biggest stars take part. You will see a couple of those huge names in today's rundown.

Bad Luck Fale: The Bullet Club's "Underboss" is a one time Intercontinental champion and a former college rugby star in Japan. The Tongan wrestler made his debut in 2010, but didn't gain much traction in the promotion until he joined the Bullet Club in 2013. Many people consider his title victory over Shinsuke Nakamura last year a huge upset. While his reign was quite lackluster, he seems to only get better every year. He put in a commanding performance last year, but lost his block to Nakamura. This year he's free of Nakamura, but faces some stiff competition in his division, including a stablemate and former IWGP champion.

AJ Styles: The biggest American star in the G1, AJ Styles will have something to prove after losing his IWGP Heavyweight title to Kazuchika Okada. He came within inches of winning Block B last year, tying for first place numerically. But his loss to his perennial rival Okada in the tournament moved the other man to the finals and ultimately to win the tournament. Styles will not have to face Okada in his block this year. He could very well pull out the victory in Block A, but keep in mind no gaijin has ever won the G1 Climax tournament, and only two have made it to the finals of the 25 year old tournament (Rick Rude and Karl Anderson.) Wherever he lands at tournament's end, he should look awesome in battles with Naito, Yano, Makabe and the three remaining men on this list.