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NJPW: 5 Ways The Landscape of New Japan Shifted With G1 Supercard

By Corey Collins

NAGAOKA,JAPAN - MARCH 23: Kazuchika Okada enters the ring prior to the Semi Final bout during the New Japan Cup of NJPW at Aore Nagaoka on March 23, 2019 in Nagaoka, Japan. (Photo by Etsuo Hara/Getty Images)
NAGAOKA,JAPAN - MARCH 23: Kazuchika Okada enters the ring prior to the Semi Final bout during the New Japan Cup of NJPW at Aore Nagaoka on March 23, 2019 in Nagaoka, Japan. (Photo by Etsuo Hara/Getty Images) /
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The combined G1 Supercard between NJPW and ROH is in the books, and there are ramifications up and down the New Japan roster coming out of the huge show. What will become of the new and former champions after Madison Square Garden?

Until April 6th, 2019, there hadn’t been a non-WWF/WWE show in Madison Square Garden since 1960. With the rapidly changing face of professional wrestling in the past couple of years, it was only a matter of time before another company stepped onto some of professional wrestling’s most sacred ground.

In this case, it was two companies combined for a joint show on the biggest weekend of the year. With matches spanning both Ring of Honor and New Japan Pro Wrestling, G1 Supercard was a show with just as many hits as misses. On the New Japan side of things though, the matches and stories delivered good-to-great every step of the way.

Quality of matches and stories aside, New Japan has now laid out a brave new landscape ahead of a 2019 absent of some of their biggest names, which have departed for All Elite Wrestling. With multiple title changes, redemptions, and setbacks, the course after G1 Supercard is exciting yet unknown for much of the New Japan roster.

Dragon Lee and the Junior Heavyweights

Clocking in as the second-shortest match of G1 Supercard behind the 15-second flash victory of Rush over Dalton Castle, the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title match was as exciting as it was rapid. After dethroning the exiting KUSHIDA at Wrestle Kingdom 13, Taiji Ishimori promised that the Junior Heavyweight division would be reborn.

With just 2 successful defenses under his belt, against Ryusuke Taguchi and Jushin Thunder Liger, Ishimori stepped into MSG with plans to vanquish two of the top luchadores in the game today. On a night where the Bullet Club were defending 3 titles, it would be important to Jay White’s Cutthroat Era to leave holding as much power as they entered.

It’s no secret that the Junior Heavyweight division is hurting for viable challengers and warm bodies. KUSHIDA has now officially signed with NXT, Hiromu Takahashi has been absent from New Japan since suffering a broken neck at the hands of Dragon Lee, Liger is retiring in less than a year, and Taguchi is wrapped up with the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Titles to name a few.

Keeping that in mind, perhaps it was necessary to shake things up with Dragon Lee capturing the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title at G1 Supercard. Lee is no stranger to New Japan or Ishimori while Bandido’s NJPW appearances have come by way of Ring of Honor in the past.

Could this be a preview of things to come with three names locked in for BOSJ 26?

The dethroning of Ishimori by a non-regular roster member highlights the dire state of the entire division, and the need for new Junior Heavyweight blood to flow into the company. Could a Dragon Lee title reign mean an influx of new faces to the company, or are we just biding time until the BOSJ in a division that feels largely forgotten?

Or, have we just been biding time until Hiromu can make his triumphant return? With the title he never lost now around the waist of the man who put him on the shelf, could the story of 2019 be Hiromu running through the Best of the Super Juniors in order to reclaim his spot atop New Japan’s Junior Heavyweights?

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