NJPW

New Japan’s founder and possibly one of the most famous and important pro-wrestlers in the world, Antonio Inoki, passed away on October 1st, aged 79.

Inoki co-headlined one of the largest shows in pro wrestling history in Pyongyang, North Korea, where he defeated Ric Flair on the second night of a two-day event to which 190,000 spectators attended.

Inoki was a wrestler who fought Muhammad Ali, a promoter who started and nearly killed his own company, a politician who negotiated the release of Japanese hostages from Iraq in 1990, and someone whose colourful life can hardly be summed up in one or two paragraphs (I heartily recommend Dave Meltzer’s obituary in this week’s Wrestling Observer).

NJPW had invited Inoki as the company’s “Honorary Lifetime Chairman,” which was going to be made public at NJPW’s Declaration of Power event on October 10th.

Monday 10th is Japan’s National Sports Day and Declaration of Power is being held in Ryogoku. It’s not exactly the most exciting card, with Jay White defending the IWP World Heavyweight Championship against Tama Tonga:

AEW

Yet more highschool-esque DRAMA swirling around social media this week, this time featuring Andrade El Idolo and Sammy Guevara hurling insults at each other on Twitter, including Guevara telling El Idolo to “fuck off back to WWE”. It escalated to a physical confrontation on Wednesday after which Andrade was sent home whilst Guevara headlined Dynamite’s third anniversary.

All this garbage is exhausting and the only person to look good during this debacle was Ricky Starks who posted a (now deleted) tweet imploring his co-workers to “shut the fuck up”.

Big shout out to the person representing Partick Thistle in the front row, though:

It was also National Scissoring Day. Hard to believe this is true, though:

WWE

Bray Wyatt again encouraged the Universe to drink their Ovaltine with QR codes appearing on both Smackdown and RAW, with the latest showing the map co-ordinates to the venue for Extreme Rules. Did these teases promoting teases do anything for you? Are you interested in Wyatt’s return?

Talking of Extreme Rules, here is the full card and associated gimmicks for the Premium Live Event on October 13th:

Six-Man Tag Team Good Old Fashioned Donnybrook Match The Brawling Brutes vs. Imperium

“I Quit” Match Edge vs. Finn Bálor

Strap Match Drew McIntyre vs. Karrion Kross

Inside the Fight Pit (With Special Guest Referee Daniel Cormier) Matt Riddle vs. Seth “Freakin” Rollins

Raw Women’s Championship Ladder Match Bianca Belair vs. Bayley

SmackDown Women’s Championship Extreme Rules Match Liv Morgan vs. Ronda Rousey

What’s a “Good Old Fashioned Donnybrook”? An extreme rules match with an “Irish flair” apparently; make of that what you will. Place your bets during which match Wyatt will re-appear; what the world needs is another Wyatt/Rollins feud, so I’m thinking then.

IMPACT

Bound For Glory 2022 is airing tonight, with my LOCAL HERO Joe Hendry reportedly showing up in the Call Your Shot Battle Royal. Brian Myers’ Open Challenge will be free on their YouTube channel for their countdown show:

The rest of the card looks like this:

Impact World Championship Josh Alexander vs. Eddie Edwards

Knockouts Championship Jordynne Grace vs. Masha Slamovich

Impact Tag Titles Matt Taven and Mike Bennett vs. “Motor City Machine Guns” Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin

X Division Championship Mike Bailey vs. Frankie Kazarian

Knockouts Tag Titles Chelsea Green and Deonna Purrazzo vs. Taya Valkyrie and Jessicka

Mickie James vs. Mia Yim

ELSEWHERE

The Stardom 5 Star Grand Prix concluded with Giulia being crowned the winner. It’s not up yet on Stardom World but I can’t wait to watch the whole thing.

It’s Jon Moxley versus Nick Gage, title versus career, on GCW’s Fight Club on Saturday. Busy, busy weekend for big matches outside of AEW!

Finally, Here’s a fun free match from Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling: Yuki Kamifuku vs. Kaya Toribami from the referee’s point of view!