Various: JR Kratos Suffered Injury & Pulled from Wed. NJPW Event, Court Bauer on Jacob Fatu Allegations, Indies

Jul 5, 2023

JR Kratos Suffered Injury & Pulled from NJPW Strong Independence Day Night 2 Event

New Japan Pro Wrestling announced that they have pulled JR Kratos from the card of today’s NJPW Strong Independence Day Night 2 event due to him recently suffering a head injury.

It was announced that Kratos had suffered a head-related injury during his Six-Man Tag Team match at Tuesday’s Night 1 event and was not medically cleared to compete on today’s Night 2 event as a result. It was also announced that due to his injury, the previously announced singles match of Kratos vs. Oskar Leube match will now be a singles match of Leube vs. a mystery opponent.

Official press release:

JR Kratos absent; Leube to face mystery opponent
Thank you for supporting New Japan Pro-Wrestling.
As a result of a head wound sustained in yesterday’s Independence Day event, JR Kratos, who had been scheduled to wrestle Oskar Leube tonight in Korakuen Hall, has not been cleared to compete.
We apologise to fans who had been looking forward to seeing Kratos wrestle, and appreciate your understanding.
The following change has been made to tonight’s card:
1st match:
Oskar Leube vs JR Kratos –>
Oskar Leube vs X
Leube’s opponent will be revealed when their entrance music plays.

Cory Bauer Comments on MLW Taking the Jacob Fatu’s Charity Event Incident Very Seriously

As noted before, Major League Wrestling talent Jacob Fatu is currently facing allegations of no-showing a charity event this past April and not returning the money that was paid for him for his booking that he failed to uphold.

A recent episode of Fightful’s In The Weeds podcast featured MLW owner Court Bauer as the guest. One of the topics discussed included Bauer stating that MLW is taking the current allegations against Fatu “very seriously.”

“We’re watching it very carefully and we take it very seriously. Fatu books himself on third-party shows, we have no involvement with that, but it is something we’ve had meetings on and we’re watching carefully and we’re continuing to monitor it and learn more about it,” he said. “We work with charities, privately, not for ‘oh, isn’t that great he does that.’ A lot of us probably work with charities, so when you see something like that, how does it make you feel? It’s something we genuinely watch.”

Transcript h/t: Fightful.com

Misc. Wrestling News & Notes

Tuesday’s NJPW Strong Independence Day Night 1 event for New Japan Pro Wrestling in Tokyo, Japan featured two championships change hands. These were Gabe Kidd & Clark Connors defeating Bishamon to be crowned the new NJPW Strong Openweight Champions and Clark Connors & Dan Moloney defeating Catch 2/2 to be crowned the new IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions.

LuchaBlog reported that Lucha Libre AAA’s upcoming Triplemania XXXI: Tijuana event on July 15th in Tijuana, Mexico will air live on HBO MAX alongside other streaming and cable television providers in Mexico.

As noted before, Major League Wrestling’s television deal with REELZ Channel for their MLW Underground series expired this past April due to issues related to REELZ’s recent streaming deal with NBC’s Peacock. PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported that a REELZ rep spoken to stated that talks between the two companies for a potential second season of MLW Underground on the network are still on-going. This rep stated “Talks for season two continue. Fans of Major League Wrestling can still watch past episodes of Underground Wrestling on subscription VOD services including Amazon Channels, Fire TV and Roku.“

Former Impact Wrestling talent Jordynne Grace recently issued a warning on Twitter about an indie wrestling promoter named Sean Cox who had contacted her for a booking. Grace revealed that this person is actually a fake promoter and instead is a creep who is preying on female wrestlers.

Prestige Wrestling recently announced that Killer Kelly will be making an appearance for the company at their Roseland 6 event on September 1st in Portland, Oregon.

Former WCW wrestler Lodi, real name Brad Cain recently announced on Facebook that he had underwent quintuple bypass surgery on June 21st and is currently recovering.

Game Changer Wrestling recently announced that Stardom talent Utami Hayashishita will be making her official debut and appearances for the company at their Clean Up Man event on July 8th in Hartford, Connecticut and Now And Forever event on July 14th event in New York City, New York. It was also announced that Hayashishita will also be making her official debut for Jersey Championship Wrestling at their Big A$$ Extreme Birthday Bash on July 9th in Ridgefield Park, New Jersey.

GCW also recently announced a new match for the card of their Clean Up Man event on July 8th in Hartford:

Utami Hayashishita vs. Billie Starkz

DEFY Wrestling recently announced that WWE Hall of Famer Madusa will be making an appearance for the company at their Spirit WC event on July 28th in Seattle, Washington.

DEFY Wrestling also recently announced two new matches for the card of their all-women’s Spirit WC event on July 28th in Seattle, Washington: