Various: WWE’s George Barrios on AEW Competition, NJPW New Beginning Cards, Indies

WWE Co-President George Barrios Comments on If AEW is a Serious Threat to WWE

A recent Citi 2020 Global TMT West Conference event had WWE Co-President George Barrios as the guest. One of the topics discussed included his thoughts on if All Elite Wrestling is a serious competitor to WWE and WWE being “so good at what we do” in regards to wrestling.

“I’m a kid from Queens so everything is a competition and fight. That’s one of the things I love about WWE. My DNA fits within that. We don’t take anything for granted. We are serious like a heart attack around fighting for our unfair share. Having said that, I think it’s fair to say that there’s been other wrestling in the United States and abroad, who we respect people behind it, the talent, and what they do. It can be tough to compete with us because we’re so good at what we do. We’ve built up capabilities and competencies over a long, long time. How to build stars, present the content, and engage fans over multiple platforms. We think we’re hard to compete with. We don’t take anything for granted. If you said to me, existential, do I feel [like they’re a threat]? No. But I love a good fight. We enjoy it.”

Transcript h/t: Fightful.com

NJPW Announces Full Cards for The New Beginning in Sapporo and Osaka 2020 Tour

New Japan Pro Wrestling recently announced the full cards for their The New Beginning in Sapporo and Osaka 2020 events, which takes place on February 1-2 and February 9th in Japan.

February 1st – The New Beginning in Sapporo 2020 Night 1 (Hokkaido, Japan):

1. Yuya Uemura & Tiger Mask vs. El Phantasmo & Taiji Ishimori
2. Toa Henare, Tomoaki Honma, & Togi Makabe vs. Yota Tsuji, Manabu Nakanishi, & Hiroyoshi Tenzan
3. Ryusuke Taguchi, Roppongi 3K (SHO & YOH), & Will Ospreay vs. DOUKI, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, El Desperado, & Zack Sabre Jr.
4. Robbie Eagles & Ryu Lee vs. BUSHI & Hiromu Takahashi
5. SANADA & Tetsuya Naito vs. Jay White & KENTA
6. Jon Moxley & Kazuchika Okada vs. Minoru Suzuki & Taichi
7. Tomohiro Ishii vs. EVIL
8. NEVER Openweight Championship – Shingo Takagi vs. Hirooki Goto (c)

February 2nd – The New Beginning in Sapporo 2020 Night 2 (Hokkaido, Japan):

1. Toa Henare vs. Yota Tsuji
2. Yuya Uemura, Tomoaki Honma, & Togi Makabe vs. Tiger Mask, Manabu Nakanishi, & Hiroyoshi Tenzan
3. Gabriel Kidd vs. El Phantasmo
4. Robbie Eagles, Tomohiro Ishii, & Hirooki Goto vs. BUSHI, EVIL, & Shingo Takagi
5. Ryusuke Taguchi, Roppongi 3K (SHO & YOH), & Jon Moxley vs. DOUKI, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, El Desperado, & Minoru Suzuki
6. Hiromu Takahashi, SANADA, & Tetsuya Naito vs. Taiji Ishimori, Jay White, & KENTA
7. RevPro British Heavyweight Championship – Will Ospreay vs. Zack Sabre Jr. (c)
8. Kazuchika Okada vs. Taichi

February 9th – The New Beginning in Osaka 2020 (Osaka, Japan):

1. Yuji Nagata, Satoshi Kojima, Hiroyoshi Tenzan, & Manabu Nakanishi vs. Ryusuke Taguchi, Toa Henare, Tomoaki Honma, & Togi Makabe
2. IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship – Yoshinobu Kanemaru & El Desperado vs. Roppongi 3K (SHO & YOH) (c)
3. Kota Ibushi, Hiroshi Tanahashi, David Finlay, & Juice Robinson vs. Chase Owens, Yujiro Takahashi, & Guerillas of Destiny (Tanga Loa & Tama Tonga)
4. Will Ospreay & Kazuchika Okada vs. Zack Sabre Jr. & Taichi
5. SANADA vs. Jay White
6. IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship – Ryu Lee vs. Hiromu Takahashi (c)
7. IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship – Minoru Suzuki vs. Jon Moxley (c)
8. IWGP Heavyweight and Intercontinental Championship match – KENTA vs. Tetsuya Naito (c)

Misc. Wrestling News & Notes

Viceland teased on Twitter that Season 2 of their Dark Side of the Ring documentary series will feature an episode based on the 1996 Mass Transit Incident in ECW.

NJPW recently announced that former IWGP Heavyweight Champion Manabu Nakanishi will be retiring from wrestling after their The New Beginning in Osaka 2020 event on February 9th in Osaka and an official retirement ceremony for Nakanishi will be taking place on February 22nd in Tokyo, Japan.

NJPW also announced that they will be holding an official retirement ceremony for longtime referee Tiger Hattori on February 19th in Tokyo, Japan.

Revolution Pro Wrestling announced a new match for the card of their Live At The Cockpit 49 event on February 2nd in London, England:
– Eddie Kingston vs. “Mad King” Dan Magee