Various: Giulia Makes Surprise Appearance at Monday’s NOAH Event, GCW Owner on Shayna Baszler Competing at Bloodsport X Event, Indies

Apr 2, 2024

Giulia Makes Surprise Appearance at Monday’s NOAH Event & Announced for May 4th NOAH Event

As noted before, Giulia’s contract with Stardom expired at the end of this past March and will be leaving the company.

Monday’s Monday Magic event for Pro Wrestling NOAH in Tokyo, Japan featured Giulia making a surprise appearance. Giulia came out to the ring and stated that she will be competing in a match for NOAH at their Wrestling Magic 2024 event on May 4th in Tokyo.

GIULIA IS HERE IN PRO WRESTLING NOAH!!!@giulia0221g #noah_ghc #MONDAYMAGIC pic.twitter.com/CEM9U2ho3z
— Pro Wrestling NOAH Global (@noahglobal) April 1, 2024

Following her appearance, Giulia stated in a backstage press conference that she has left Stardom and is currently a free agent.

“I’m Giulia, unemployed from today, I quit Stardom yesterday. I came here because I was called. The fact that I’m here means that the wrestling world will become more and more interesting, so please look forward to the future Giulia. Arrivederci, see you soon!”

In regards to Giulia’s appearance at NOAH’s event, the Wrestling Observer’s Dave Meltzer reported that his sources stated that Giulia’s appearance was not something Giulia did on her own and instead of is part of Rossy Ogawa’s current strategy and plans for the upcoming launch of his new promotion.

Brett Lauderdale Comments on WWE’s Shayna Baszler Competing at Bloodsport X Event

As noted before, WWE talent Shayna Baszler will be making an appearance for Game Changer Wrestling at their Josh Barnett’s Bloodsport X event next month in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

A recent episode of the Business of the Business podcast featured Game Changer Wrestling owner Brett Lauderdale as the guest. One of the topics discussed included Lauderdale’s thoughts about the process that led to Baszler’s booking for GCW and Josh Barnett’s upcoming Bloodsport X event.

“There’s much more to it (than Josh Barnett simply asking Shayna Baszler to compete at Bloodsport). Of course he’s wanted to have her as a part of it for years because of their connection but, there’s been discussions between Josh and Bloodsport and WWE for years actually. WWE’s been aware of it and they follow it and for those who have followed Bloodsport and GCW closely, you’ll remember back at the Bloodsport in 2019 in Jersey City, famously, Dean Ambrose and Canyon Ceman and William Regal sat up in the balcony right over the ring for the entire show watching so, they’ve been aware since and following Bloodsport, publicly at least, since all the way back then and I think there’s always been ideas of what could be done and what couldn’t be done and what they’d like to do and what we’d like to do. But, with the powers that be in charge of WWE at the time, those possibilities were a lot less likely but now that we’ve seen some changes at WWE, I think the company as a whole may possibly be more open-minded going forward and this is the start of that so… I mean, yes, it makes sense to think that it was that simple but there’s way more to it and there’s other people involved… There was other people involved and almost more people involved. I’ll just say it like that and I’m excited to see what the future could hold.”

Transcript h/t: PostWrestling.com

Misc. Wrestling News & Notes

As noted before, Stardom founder and head booker Rossy Ogawa was fired by Bushiroad this past February over allegations that he was he was poaching Stardom talent and staff for a new Joshi promotion. The Wrestling Observer’s Dave Meltzer reported that his sources stated Ogawa is currently expected to make an official announcement regarding the launch of his new promotion later this month. Meltzer reported that a lot fewer than expected Stardom talent will be leaving the company for Ogawa’s new promotion.

This past Sunday’s Road to Sakura Genesis 2024 event in Hamamatsu, Japan featured Great-O-Khan defeating Tanga Loa in a Rural Revitalization match to retain his Provisional Pro Wrestling 2024 Championship. Khan defeated Loa Two Rounds to One Round, which involved Loa winning the first round that was a most pinfall attempts score bout and Khan winning the remaining two rounds that were a food eating contest and a Four Corners Strap bout.

DDT Pro Wrestling announced that Hideki Okatani recently suffered a torn ACL injury in his left knee and will be undergoing surgery soon.

As noted before, Katsuhiko Nakajima’s future in All Japan Pro Wrestling is currently in serious doubt following a walk out incident at this past Saturday’s Dream Power Series 2024 event in Tokyo, Japan. Tokyo Sports reported that one AJPW official spoken to stated that the company currently does not have any plans for Nakajima. It was reported that one source spoken to within Pro Wrestling NOAH stated that they currently do not expect Nakajima to return to their company.

Major League Wrestling recently announced that Guerrero Maya Jr. will be making an appearance for the company at their Azteca Lucha event on May 11th in Chicago, Illinois.

MLW and indies talent Jake Crist announced on Twitter that he recently suffered a partial torn right calf injury and worked through the injury for this past Friday’s MLW War Chamber 2024 event in St. Petersburg, Florida. Crist stated “I went to a local medical center early Friday morning and was told I had a partial tear in my right calf. Barely able to walk, I was still able to make War Chamber for @MLW. Nothing was going to stop me from making history in Tampa!!!“

Joey Janela recently announced one new match for the card of Game Changer Wrestling’s Joey Janela’s Spring Break 8 event on April 5th in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: