Various: Tetsuya Naito on G1 Climax Victory, Deonna Purrazzo on Future Impact Knockout Champions Picks, Indies

Aug 15, 2023

Tetsuya Naito Comments on His NJPW G1 Climax 2023 Tournament Victory

New Japan Pro Wrestling’ official website held a recent interview with Tetsuya Naito. One of the topics discussed included Naito’s thoughts on his recent G1 Climax 2023 tournament victory.

“This is my third win, first in six years. Everybody in this tournament is in it to win it, so I’m obviously happy to win. For me, I’ve always associated the G1 final with the middle of summer and with Ryogoku, so to have that final in Ryogoku, in mid summer, and of course to have the fans cheering as well, to have that big chant of ‘De Ja Pon!’ felt damn great. I think I had a pretty good summer.”

Naito also gave his thoughts about why this year’s victory felt different compared to his prior two G1 Climax tournament victories.

“That’s a thinker… What with my injuries, and my age as well, I didn’t have, don’t have many more chances left. That’s what I had in mind. I didn’t have the luxury of thinking there’s always next year, or the next year, or five years after that. So I had a lot more on the line I think, and more than my other two wins, I felt that I had to win this time.”

Naito also gave his thoughts about his history with Kazuchika Okada in the G1 Climax tournament and his victory over him at this year’s Finals.

“To any NJPW wrestler, the G1 Climax final is such an important stage. I have wrestled a whole bunch of singles matches with Okada. When we were Young Lions, we lived in the same room, so to now meet one another in the final, and for me to beat him? My first two G1 wins are definitely ones that left a strong impression on me, but I think this was even more of an important win and a significant win. A big part of that is the fact that I beat that Okada I used to room with years ago.”

Transcript h/t: Fightful.com

Deonna Purrazzo Comments on Her Choices for Future Impact Knockouts World Champions

A recent episode of the Sunday Night Main Event podcast featured Deonna Purrazzo as the guest. One of the topics discussed included Purrazzo’s thoughts about who she currently views as potential future Impact Knockouts World Champions and Jordynne Grace’s departure from Impact Wrestling.

“If Jordynne Grace comes back, we don’t really know what’s happening, she’s a free agent. Nobody knows what’s next for Jordynne Grace, if she does decide to come back to Impact Wrestling, and whenever that might be, I do think that she’s out for a vengeance. We haven’t seen her since May at Under Siege when I defeated her, and I think that she would definitely be in the running [to be the next Knockouts World Champion] if she was to come back.
If I’m honest, there’s two people that have my biggest vote of confidence to carry on the legacy of the Knockouts Championship. That is KiLynn King, who I think is absolutely phenomenal. We are wrestling [on Thursday’s episode of IMPACT], I was so excited to find out that I’d have a singles match with her because I was so excited when she got signed to IMPACT and then I was like, hell yeah I want to work with her. So I’m really excited for that match coming up, I just think she’s got it all. She’s such a great wrestler, the gear is great, she knows herself and what she’s good at and what she brings to the table. Being in The Coven was a really great way to bring her in and introduce her to the audience and when she breaks away from whatever that is, she’s going to be a force to be reckoned with. Also, Giselle Shaw. I have said this endlessly, I absolutely love wrestling Giselle, I think she’s phenomenal. I think in the last year, she’s really come into herself and really showed the world that she’s more than just a phenomenal athlete. She’s crazy with what she can do in the ring, but she’s really nailed all of the other little things that we have to worry about. She was just announced to be in that four way at Emergence for the Knockouts Tag Team Championships, and I think if her and Savannah were gonna win that, it will really set the tone for the rest of her career and [show people she can be] a kick ass, legendary Knockouts World Champion as well.”

Transcript h/t: Fightful.com

Misc. Wrestling News & Notes

DDT Pro Wrestling announced that Danshoku Dino will be undergoing surgery to repair a fractured nose injury he suffered at their August 6th event in Yamagata, Japan. It was announced that due to his injury and surgery, Dino has been pulled from their upcoming events from August 16-20.

As noted before, Lucha Libre AAA talent El Hijo del Vikingo was involved in a medical incident backstage at this past Saturday’s AAA Triplemania XXXI: Mexico City event in Mexico City, Mexico. PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported that his sources stated that the reason why Vikingo paased out backstage was due to him not feeling well on the day of the event. Vikingo reportedly became too dehydrated and did not eat well that day leading to him passing out after his match for the AAA Mega Championship and requiring medical assistance. Johnson reported that Vikingo was stated to be feeling fine after the incident and is currently not expected to miss any scheduled bookings.

This past Sunday’s TWENTY: Mystery Vortex event for Pro Wrestling Guerilla in Los Angeles, California featured Jon Moxley making his official debut for the company. Moxley competed in a singles match against Titus Alexander.

This past Sunday’s PWG TWENTY: Mystery Vortex event also featured Rodderick Strong making a surprise appearance for the company. Strong competed in a singles match against Michael Oku. This was Strong’s first appearance in PWG since 2016.

New Japan Pro Wrestling averaged around 2,800 tickets sold per event for this year’s recently completed G1 Climax tournament, according to Post Wrestling. John Pollock reported that this was up compared to last year’s average of around 2,400 tickets sold per event. Pollock reported that the final two nights for this year’s tournament drew 6,579 and 8,283 for a total of 14,862, which was up compared to the combined total for the final three nights of last year’s tournament of 12,582.

Following his match at this past Sunday’s G1 Climax 2023 Finals event for NJPW in Tokyo, Japan, Eddie Kingston gave his thoughts in a post-match press conference about getting to compete in a G1 Climax tournament for the first time in his career. Kingston stated “It was an honor and a pleasure to step in a New Japan ring and to wrestle here in Japan. I will never forget any of you, and I will take all the lessons I learned here over to America. My dream has come true. Now, new dream. I appreciate you all. Oh, remember, you reap what you sow.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)

NJPW recently announced that they will be holding this year’s Royal Quest III event on October 14th in London, England.

Impact Wrestling recently announced two new matches for the card of their co-promoted Impact x NJPW Multiverse United 2 event on August 20th in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania:

Pre-show: Impact Digital Media Championship – Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. Kenny King (c)
Pre-show: Joe Hendry, Yuya Uemura, & Heath vs. Master Wato, Rocky Romero, & Ryusuke Taguchi

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