Various: Tributes to Terry Funk, Takami Ohbari on Importance of Women’s Wrestling for NJPW, Indies

Indie / Misc
Aug 24, 2023

Wrestling World Pays Tribute to the Late Terry Funk

As noted before, legendary wrestler Terry Funk passed away on Wednesday.

WWE, AEW, All Japan Pro Wrestling, NWA, Dory Funk Jr., Ric Flair, and others from around the wrestling industry paid their tribute to the life and wrestling legacy of the late Funk.

NJPW President Takami Ohbari Comments on “We Cannot Stick To Outdated Ideas Of Male Only Wrestling”

Monthly Puroresu held a recent interview with New Japan Pro Wrestling President Takami Ohbari. One of the topics discussed included Ohbari’s thoughts about the growing importance of women’s wrestling in NJPW and the need to change outdated ideas and traditions revolving around male-only professional wrestling in Japan.

“Many traditions in Japanese pro-wrestling derive from professional sumo wrestling. There are no women wrestler in Japanese professional sumo. On the other hand, the ratio of men and women participants in the Olympics is almost 5:5. The world has changed and the speed of change has been exponential. We cannot stick to the outdated ideas of male-only professional wrestling. We often say that professional wrestling is a mirror reflecting the world. All wrestlers and all matches should be appreciated, and any wrestlers should be provided fair opportunities in the ring regardless of gender or anything else. If we can maximize the business value of that, then so much the better.

I think this will be realized in the US first, and then in Japan. In the last few years since STARDOM has become one of Bushiroad’s group companies, I think Japanese pro wrestling fans’ way of thinking is getting closer to a global standard. The first time we had STARDOM wrestlers participate in our Tokyo Dome show, we faced major criticism from fans and our partners in and outside the company. But now, it is taken for granted.”

Misc. Wrestling News & Notes

GLEAT recently announced that KAIRI will be making an appearance for the company at their G PROWRESTLING Ver.60 -MAX VOLTAGE- event on September 20th in Tokyo, Japan.

PROGRESS Wrestling announced that International Exchange of North America (IENA) recently made a significant investment in their company.

House of Glory recently announced that The Vaudevillians (Simon Gotch & Matthew Rehwoldt) will be reuniting as a tag team and make an appearance for the company at their HOG Fallout event on September 15th in New York City, New York.

In a recent interview with the Saturday Night’s Main Event podcast, Sami Callihan gave his thoughts on his choices for a dream match opponent at Impact Wrestling’s upcoming Impact! 1000 show next month. Callihan stated “I have three. Number one, Abyss. Abyss is a guy, one of the biggest influences in my career. I’ve had some great conversations with him in the past. Me and Abyss, Monster’s Ball match in IMPACT Wrestling would have been amazing in any generation. Myself vs. Mick Foley, I know that is one that is probably never going to happen. Third is one of the guys who helped build IMPACT Wrestling, Samoa Joe. That’s a dream match for me and a lot of fans and a match that has eluded me my entire career.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)

Impact recently announced one new match for their Emergence 2023 Fallout Impact! tapings on August 28th in Toronto, Ontario, Canada:

  • Lio Rush vs. Kevin Knight

Game Changer Wrestling recently announced a new match for the card of their Crushed Up event on September 10th in Brooklyn, New York:

  • Rina Yamashita vs. “Speedball” Mike Bailey

New Japan Pro Wrestling recently announced three new matches for the card of their Destruction in Ryogoku 2023 event in Tokyo, Japan:

  • IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship – Lio Rush vs. “Speedball” Mike Bailey vs. Hiromu Takahashi (c)
  • IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship – The Jetsetters (KUSHIDA & Kevin Knight) vs. Bullet Club War Dogs (Clark Connors & Drilla Moloney) (c)
  • Tanga Loa vs. Chase Owens

The National Wrestling Alliance recently announced a new match for the card of their NWA 75 event on August 26-27 in St. Louis, Missouri:

  • NWA World Television Championship – Chris Adonis vs. Thom Latimer (c)

All Japan Pro Wrestling recently announced a new match for the card of their September 8th event in Tokyo, Japan:

  • KAIRI & Saori Ano vs. Unagi Sayaka & Sareee

Major League Wrestling announced a new match for the card of their MLW Fusion taping on September 3rd in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania:

  • Texas Tornado match – Second Gear Crew (1 Called Manders & Matthew Justice) vs. The Calling (Talon & Cannonball)
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