Independent News and Notes: New Japan Coming To America, ROH, CHIKARA and More

This May, New Japan Pro Wrestling is coming to America.

In association with Jersey All Pro Wrestling, NJPW will be bringing their popular brand of puroresu to the East Coast with a triple-shot weekend that kicks off in Rahway, N.J. on May 13. They hit New York City on May 14 and wrap things up in Philadelphia on May 15.

Mike Johnson of PWInsider.com reported that the following matches have been announced for these historic events:

May 13, Rahway, NJ: Jushin “Thunder” Liger and Tiger Mask vs. Homicide and Low Ki.

May 14, New York City: Prince Devitt vs. Low Ki.

May 15, Philadelphia, PA: Rhino vs. Togi Makabe in a street fight.

These three matches alone should be enough to continue the buzz surrounding the first-ever NJPW tour in North America.

The Rottweilers reunite in Rahway to take on Japanese legends Liger and Tiger Mask.

The current IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion, who is regarded as one of the most talented wrestlers in the world today, Prince Devitt, clashes with former WWE “rookie” Low Ki.

Togi Makabe, known as the “Unchained Gorilla,” should match up well with the War Machine, Rhino, in what will likely be a brutal street fight.

In addition, it was announced that NJPW will be introducing a new title on this East Coast tour. The first ever IWGP Intercontinental Champion will be crowned, though no further details have been given as of yet.

Dragon Gate USA is preparing for their big New York City debut, which kicks off a huge weekend of shows from the upstart promotion.

The big news of the week from DGUSA is that the United: NYC show on Friday and the United: Philadelphia show on Saturday will both be available for live streaming on gofightlive.tv.

This last minute announcement might have come a bit too late for some fans who have already spent their weekend wrestling money on that other big PPV on Sunday (the one with 40 competitors this year) but it gives DGUSA a chance to increase their exposure for their first shows of 2011.

More information about the iPPV events and the complete cards for this weekend's action are available at the official Dragon Gate USA web site.

In other gofightlive.tv related news, Ring of Honor announced that their upcoming Wrestlemania weekend shows from Atlanta will both be broadcast live as iPPVs. This is a major move by the promotion, which recently lost its television deal with HDNet.

One can expect that ROH, who will now be holding three iPPV events in two months, will use their final few months of exposure on television to heavily promote these upcoming shows on gofightlive.tv.

ROH held their final HDNet tapings last weekend, capped off by a six-man tag team main event that saw Davey Richards team with the Briscoes to take on Roderick Strong and the Kings of Wrestling.

The match reportedly went for over 30 minutes and will be the final match shown on the HDNet program.

Other notables from the tapings include the Top Prospect tournament matches, featuring some of the up-and-coming talent in ROH including Adam Cole, Kyle O’Reilly and Mike Bennett.

The promotion seemed to focus heavily on some of the newer names on the roster to bring their run on TV to a close, for the time being.

The East Coast Wrestling Association’s Super 8 tournament, which is arguably the most important annual tournament in independent wrestling, will be held outside out the state of Delaware for the first time in its 15-year existence.

The ECWA announced that the tournament, which regularly features the best up-and-coming talent on the independent scene, will take place this year in Voorhees, N.J.

Tomasso Ciampa, who appeared at the most recent Ring of Honor tapings as part of Prince Nana’s new Embassy, has been announced as the first competitor for the 2011 tournament.

He has reached the tournament finals each of the past two years, this year Ciampa looks to finally grab the brass ring and prove he is someone to watch in 2011.

Lastly, CHIKARA held their 2011 season premiere show, “Chaos of the Lost Souls,” last weekend in Philadelphia, PA. Results from the event are up at the official CHIKARA web site.

During the show, a video was shown that seemingly will lead to a new championship being introduced in CHIKARA.

The promotion has never had a singles title, though there is also speculation that the “It’s Time” video will lead to the creation of a Trios Championship. Only time will tell what this will lead to.

The promotion also announced that beginning with the DVD release of this show, they are dropping the price of their releases to $15, which is welcome news for the wallets of many independent wrestling fans.

The upcoming weekend is massive for wrestling fans. Between the WWE's Royal Rumble PPV, Dragon Gate USA's iPPVs and PPV taping and the Wrestlereunion event in Los Angeles featuring ROH and Pro Wrestling Guerrilla cards, there should be plenty to take in.

I'll recap these events and touch on more independent wrestling next week. Until then, enjoy the matches.