Various: NJPW Announces Super Jr. Tag League 2023 Schedule, Jonathan Gresham Injury Update, Impact Ratings for Aug. 3 & 17

NJPW Announces Full Schedule for This Year’s Super Junior Tag League

New Japan Pro Wrestling recently announced the full schedule for this year’s Super Junior Tag League, which takes place from October 21st to November 4th in Japan.

It was also announced that the Finals for this year’s tournament will be taking place at their Power Struggle 2023 event on November 4th in Osaka, Japan.

Unlike with last year’s tournament, this year’s tournament will not be held concurrently with this year’s World Tag League tournament.

Official press release:

Tournament schedule for October and November has been decided!

“SUPER Jr. TAG LEAGUE 2023 ~Road to POWER STRUGGLE~” will open in Kumagaya, Saitama on Saturday, October 21st! Saitama, Tokyo, Fukushima, Hokuriku, and the final match will be held at Edion Arena Osaka on November 4th!

The ticket sales schedule for the following 8 tournaments has also been decided.

・October 21 (Sat) Saitama, Kumagaya Municipal Gymnasium
・October 24 (Tue) Tokyo, Korakuen Hall
・October 25 (Wed) Tokyo, Korakuen Hall
・October 26 (Thu) Saitama, Wing ・Hat Kasukabe
・October 31st (Tuesday) Toyama ・Toyama Industrial Exhibition Hall ・Techno Hall West Building
・November 1st (Wednesday) Ishikawa ・Komatsu City Suehiro Gymnasium (Yoshitsune Arena)
・November 2nd (Thursday) Osaka ・Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium, 2nd Stadium (Edion Arena Osaka)
・November 4th (Sat) Osaka, Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium (Edion Arena Osaka)


Jonathan Gresham Injury Status Update

As noted before, Jonathan Gresham has been out of action for Impact Wrestling since earlier this month due to an unknown injury.

A recent episode of the Better Than Broadway podcast featured Gresham as the guest. One of the topics discussed included Gresham confirming that he had suffered a groin sprain injury and explained how his injury happened.

“I’m doing much better. I ended up getting a groin strain. It was my first time having it. I fell out of the ring, probably through the middle rope. I didn’t catch myself. I’m basically supposed to catch myself, spin, and land on the floor. It’s a basic move you learn in the first couple months of training. I just missed it this time. I ended up floating because I didn’t catch myself and I took a back bump on the floor through the middle rope. At first it was, ‘ohh, that hurt.’ I got back in the ring, finished what I was doing. As I got outside, I kept stretching it, and it kept getting worse. I was standing there watching guys work out and as I got up to move, I couldn’t walk. I ended up standing there for 30 minutes thinking, ‘this will go away eventually.’ At the end of training, I let everyone else leave, I tried to walk, and I collapsed. I’m going into week three now. On week four, when there’s no pain, I can probably start stretching again. From everything I’ve been reading and from what my doctor told me, do not stretch at all with a groin strain.”

Transcript h/t: Fightful.com


Impact Ratings for August 3 & 17, 2023

Impact Wrestling drew 98,000 viewers and a 0.01 key demographic rating for their August 3rd episode on AXS TV. This was down compared to their July 27th episode’s 153,000 viewers and a 0.02 rating.

Impact Wrestling drew 117,000 viewers and a 0.02 key demographic rating for their August 17th episode on AXS TV. This was down in viewership but equal in ratings to their August 10th episode’s 120,000 viewers and 0.02 rating.

Source: Wrestlenomics