Various: Hiromu Takahashi’s Injury Status, WWE Network Additions, Indies

Hiromu Takahashi’s Neck Injury to Require Nine to Twelve Months of Recovery

At last month’s New Japan Pro Wrestling G1 Special event in San Francisco, California, Hiromu Takahashi suffered a neck injury during his IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship match against Dragon Lee. The injury occurred after he landed awkwardly from a botched Dragon Driver spot by Lee.

In an update to Hiromu Takahashi’s injury situation, the Wrestling Observer’s Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Newsletter that NJPW’s medical officials currently expect Takahashi to be out of action for at least nine to twelve months due to the severity of his neck injury. The current belief within the company is that he suffered a broken neck although no nerve damage in his neck was discovered based on recent medical tests.

Meltzer also reported that NJPW officials currently expect Takahashi to be able to resume training after six months but due to his risky style of wrestling, they do not have plans to medically clear him for any in-ring action until at least nine months have passed as a precaution.

Newest Additions and Upcoming Content for the WWE Network

WWE announced that the newest season of their WWE Story Time animated series will premiere on the WWE Network following the end of SummerSlam on August 19th.

This week’s addition to the Network’s Hidden Gem series was an Ohio Valley Wrestling event from January 31, 2001. This event was called OVW Christmas Chaos and featured a surprise appearance by Stone Cold Steve Austin. A preview trailer for the new Hidden Gem addition was recently uploaded by the WWE to their official Youtube channel.

WWE also recently added a new batch of classic videos from their Home Video series to the WWE Network. These were two videos on the Ultimate Warrior (1989 & 1992), Demolition (1989), UK Fan Favorites 1993 (1993), Paul Bearer – Hits From the Crypt (1994), Shawn Michaels (1995), and Sunny (1997).

Misc. Wrestling News & Notes

Major League Wrestling announced that the card of their October 4th event in New York City, New York features a MLW World Tag Team Championship match of LA Park & El Hijo de LA Park versus champions Pentagon Jr. & Rey Fenix.

Defy Wrestling announced that the card of their August 10th event in Seattle, Washington features a DEFY 8xGP Championship match of Brian Cage versus champion Shane Strickland and a singles match of Toni Storm versus Nicole Matthews.

All American Wrestling announced that the card of their August 4th event in LaSalle, Illinois features an AAW Heavyweight Championship match of Jeff Cobb versus champion ACH.