Various: Minoru Suzuki Pulled from NJPW Shows, Impact Filed for US PPP Financial Loan, Indies

Jul 11, 2020

Minoru Suzuki Pulled from This Weekend’s NJPW Events as COVID-19 Precaution

New Japan Pro Wrestling announced on Friday that Minoru Suzuki has been pulled from this weekend’s New Japan Cup 2020 Finals and Dominion 2020 events as a health safety precaution.

The company stated that Suzuki developed a fever on Friday and the decision was made to pull him from all of their weekend shows as a precaution. The company also stated that all of Suzuki’s coronavirus testing since July 3rd came back with negative results.

Official press release:

On July 10, Minoru Suzuki developed a fever, and as a cautionary measure, will not be present for the New Japan Cup or Dominion events on July 11 & 12.
Since wrestling on July 3, where Coronavirus antibody and antigen testing all showed negative, Suzuki has had no contact with any other wrestlers.
As a result of Suzuki’s absence, the following change has been made on tonight’s New Japan Cup final card:
5th Match
Ryusuke Taguchi, Yuji Nagata, Kota Ibushi & Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Minoru Suzuki, El Desperado, Taichi & Zack Sabre Junior –>
Ryusuke Taguchi, Yuji Nagata, Kota Ibushi & Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Yoshinobu Kanemaru, El Desperado, Taichi & Zack Sabre Junior
We apologize to fans who were excited to see Minoru Suzuki wrestle, and appreciate your understanding.

Impact Wrestling Filed Financial Loan Request from US Government

Impact Wrestling’s parent company Anthem Sports & Entertainment reportedly filed for a Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan from the United States government on April 5th, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

Dave Meltzer reported that this loan was filed by Anthem’s subsidiary Anthem Wrestling Exhibitions, LLC and was for an amount between $150,000 to $350,000 in order to save 106 jobs within the company.

The Paycheck Protection Program is a U.S. government financial loan program meant to assist small business that have been affected by the coronavirus pandemic. This program provides funds to business in order to help keep their employees on payrolls for a certain length of time.

Misc. Wrestling News & Notes

Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre officials reportedly are currently waiting to be granted permission from the Mexico City government and Mexican Sports Commission in order to resume live events in the city, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

Lucha Libre AAA officials reportedly currently still do not have any plans to resume live events in Mexico for the foreseeable future, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

Ring of Honor reportedly will be debuting a new digital series titled ROH Roundtable within the near future, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Dave Meltzer reported that the debut episode will feature Shane Taylor, Kenny King, Caprice Coleman, Jay Lethal, and Jonathan Gresham as the guest panel discussing racism in professional wrestling and the Black Lives Mater movement.