Global Force Wrestling is a new, up and coming promotion that was established in 2014 by Jeff Jarrett. As of last August, GFW has announced partnerships with Asistencia AsesorÃa y Administración LLC (AAA), New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) and various other international promotions. Hence the name, Global Force.
On January 4, 2015 GFW presented NJPW "Wrestle Kingdom 9" in the Legendary TokyoDome in Japan featuring commentary by Jim Ross and Matt Striker. The event had an attendance of 36,000. WrestleKingdom is the WrestleMania of Japan. In the opening dark match, Yugi Nagata won a 15 man New Japan Rumble when he defeated Capt. New Japan, El Desperado, Japan legend Great Kabuki, Hiro Saito, Jushin Thunder Liger, Manabu Nakanishi, Sho Tanaka, Taichi, Taka Michinoku, Tama Tonga, Tiger Mask, Yohei Komatsu, Yoshi-Hashi, and Yoshiaki Fujiwara.
Next, reDragon (Bobby Fish and Kyle O'Reilly) defeated Forever Hooligans (Alex Koslov and Rocky Romero), Time Splitters (Alex Shelley and Kushida), and The Young Bucks (Matt and Nick Jackson) to retain their IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championships in a Four-Way Tag Team Match. Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima, and Tomoaki Honma defeated The Bullet Club (Bad Luck Fale, Jeff Jarrett, Yujiro Takahashi) in a Six-Man Tag Match.
Mikey Nicholls, Naomichi Marufuji, Shane Haste, and Toru Yano defeated the team of Suzukigun (Davey Boy Smith, Jr., Lance Archer, Shelton X Benjamin and Takashi Iizuka).
Minoru Suzuki defeated Kazuki Sakuraba.
Togi Makabe defeated Tomohiro Ishii.
Kenny Omega (w/Matt and Nick Jackson) defeated Ryusuke Taguchi to become the new IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion.
Meiyu Tag (Hirooki Goto and Katsuyori Shibata) defeated Bullet Club Members Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson to win the IWGP Tag Team Championships.
AJ Styles defeated Tetsuya Naito.
Shinsuke Nakamura defeated Kota Ibushi to retain the IWGP Intercontinental Championship.
In the Main Event, Hiroshi Tanahashi defeated Kazuchika Okada (w/Gedo) to retain the IWGP Heavyweight Championship.
If you are looking for great storytelling, nonstop action, brawls and intense psychology, WrestleKingdom 9 delivered. This was a great first impression for GFW to leave by promoting this event. WK9 has received very high critical acclaim from wrestling analysts all across the world of pro wrestling. If you are an absolute purist, this is the event to see. The event was filled with multi-tag matches, with plenty of legendary faces (Jushin Liger, Great Kabuki, Saito, etc). You also had your fair share of familiar WWE faces such as Davey Boy, Jr. Shelton Benjamin and Doc Gallows. The show was a throwback to the classic 90's wrestling with the Cruiserweights in WCW from all across the world. It also showed what the X Division could have been had it continued. By the way, I never knew IWGP had an Intercontinental Title. The biggest surprise was the English Commentary by JR and Matt Striker. As I said before, WK is to NJPW what WrestleMania is to WWE. For Jarrett's promotion to hold this event, it brings his stock higher. Overall, it is highly recommended and if things stay consistent, GFW could very well put TNA to shame.
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