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New Japan Pro Wrestling

Tenille Dashwood, Rey Mysterio Make Waves in ROH, NJPW

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WWE alumni Tenille Dashwood – formerly known as Emma – and Rey Mysterio made headlines last night when they appeared at seperate major wrestling events.

Dashwood made her Ring of Honor debut at Honor Reigns Supreme and was announced she would be participating in the promotion’s Women of Honor tournament. The 16-womn tournament will serve as a mechanism to crown its first Women of Honor Champion.

Across the Pacific Ocean, Mysterio appeared at the New Beginning in Osaka event, via video screen, to challenge Jushin Thunder Liger to a match at Strong Style Evolved in March.

ROH announced they were going to pull the trigger on crowning a women’s champion this year. In addition to Dashwood, the other 15 participants in the tournament are Brandi Rhodes, Jessie Brooks, Karen Q, Kelly Klein, Madison Rayne, Mandy Leon, Deonna Purrazzo, Holidead, Sumie Sakai, Jenny Rose, Stacy Shadows, HZK, Hana Kimura, Kagetsu, and Mayu Iwatani.

Dashwood’s first foray on a Ring of Honor broadcast wasn’t limited to just her announcement. Bully Ray forced Dashwood to team with Mandy Leon and the duo went on to defeat Stacy Shadows and Kelly Klein.

With Dashwood no longer under the WWE banner, she has the opportunity to make a name for herself on her own merits in the professional wrestling world. Competing – possibly winning – the Women of Honor title is the first step to really raising her stock.

Ring of Honor has slowly been growing their women’s division and having a championship is the last step in solidifying their division. Having Dashwood win the title may bring it some legitimacy in the eyes of casual fans, but the fact that she’s appearing in Ring of Honor and chasing the championship shows how appealing it is to women wrestlers outside of ROH.

Meanwhile NJPW fans are chomping at the bit to see Mysterio and Liger get in the ring. This won’t be the first time these two legends have squared off – Liger defeated Mysterio at Starrcade 1996.

In their first match, Mysterio was younger and had far less experience. Since that time, the King of Mystery has evolved as a performer and built up a fantastic career that includes a successful run in WWE.

Although it’s been over 20 years since Liger and Mysterio first faced off in the ring and while they’ve crossed paths in different promotions over the years, New Japan will make it a big fight feel. Is this match on the level of Kenny Omega vs. Chris Jericho in terms of hype? Probably not, but wrestling fans who have followed the careers of both competitors will be excited for this contest nontheless. 

Mysterio has been active in 2018, including an appearance in this year’s Royal Rumble. Fans were hoping his participation in the match would lead to him returning full time to the company, especially since negotiations between him and Impact Wrestling ended. He’s said before that he doesn’t want to work a full-time WWE schedule, which means part-time appearances from Mysterio on WWE programming is probably what fans will get for the next year.

Wrestling in New Japan won’t hurt Mysterio’s relationship with WWE despite the perceived rivalry between the two companies.

WWE seems fine with their legends appearing in other promotions for part-time gigs – after all, wrestlers need to make money. If anything, this match could lead to Liger possibly to WWE at some point in the future.

New Japan Pro Wrestling

Mercedes Mone Set to Star in New Film

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Mercedes Mone

Mercedes Mone (aka Sasha Banks0 has been casted in a brand new role, as she will be staring in the upcoming action-thriller film “The Collective” which has already wrapped, according to Deadline.

According to the reported rundown: “In the recently-wrapped film from director Tom DeNucci, a group of righteous assassins called The Collective take aim at a highly sophisticated human trafficking ring backed by a network of untouchable billionaires. With their backs against the wall, The Collective has no choice but to put their most important mission in the hands of rookie assassin, Sam Alexander (Till). What he lacks in experience he makes up for in savvy, grit, and a keen ability to improvise in the most dangerous situations. He is aided on his journey by Hugo (Gibson) and Liam (Johnson), former CIA operatives turned rogue vigilantes. They face off against Daisy (Rose), the cunning general manager of this evil, clandestine organization. Sam must prove to himself, Liam and Hugo that he’s Collective material on this life-or-death, take-no-prisoners mission.”

Mone will play Nikita.

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New Japan Pro Wrestling

Jay White Expected to Depart NJPW

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Jay White

New Japan Pro Wrestling is set to lose another big star as “Switchblade” Jay White’s contract is set to officially expire soon and he is not expected to re-sign with the company, according to Fightful Select.

According to the report: “Switchblade Jay White’s contract is up relatively soon and is expected to leave New Japan Pro Wrestling, per those in the company. Those that we’ve spoken to believe both WWE and All Elite Wrestling are interested in getting the former IWGP World Heavyweight Champion, however, WWE sources seemed confident they would land him,”

With AEW already working with White and featuring him on television, it would appear that they have the edge in securing his services. The same could be said for Impact Wrestling, but they likely would be outbid financially and don’t offer the same kind of visibility as either AEW of WWE.

WWE is looking to stock up NXT again with premier talent, and has already brought in a bunch of big names back to WWE, but would NXT appeal to White in the same way that a run on WWE’s main roster would?

Financially, WWE could have the edge, and perhaps provide White with much bigger exposure.

 

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New Japan Pro Wrestling

Will Ospreay Has Been Contacted by WWE

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Will Ospreay

New Japan Pro Wrestling superstar and current  IWGP United States Heavyweight Champion Will Ospreay has confirmed that he has been contacted by WWE and revealed that it is something that he is considering.

Ospreay also mentioned some of the WWE names he would be interested in facing if he were to find himself in WWE.

“I’ve been approached by them, so I have a lot to think about” he said, according to Tokyo Sports. “I’ve mentioned Seth Rollins‘ name many times… Also, considering my history, it would be a dream to fight Ricochet again. I think that because I think we have become completely different wrestlers than when we fought in the past.”

Ospreay has competed for AEW, Progress Wrestling, Rev Pro, and Ring of Honor throughout his career, among others.

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