July cards featuring Tanahashi vs. Sugiura, plus special show in August

Hiroshi Tanahashi will make his V1 defense of the IWGP Heavyweight Title against NOAH’s Takashi Sugiura on July 20th at the Tsukisamu Alpha Court Dome (formerly the Tsukisamu Green Dome) in the first ever New Japan vs. NOAH match for the IWGP Heavyweight Title. This comes after Sugiura scored a big win over Hirooki Goto in Osaka the other day and is a big match for Sugiura to try and elevate himself up the ladder having become the main presence on the NOAH side in the New Japan vs. NOAH feud of late. Also on the show will be Tiger Mask’s V4 defense of the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title against Super Jr. winner Koji Kanemoto, Tiger finally able to shake off the threat of Black Tiger(s) after eliminating two generations of the persona this year. Cards for all but two of the other shows have also been announced, with some interesting matches, most noticeably the return of Masahiro Chono as a regular in many main events, perhaps hinting that he will return to the G1 Climax this year.
New Japan also announced a special Korakuen Hall show for April 30th called “GET OUT OF MY WAY -JG20FTW-”, a 20th anniversary performance for one of wrestling’s most famous tag teams, Jado & Gedo. Gedo has missed much of the year with a spinal injury so could be back by then.
NJPW, 7/5/09 (SXW)
Tokyo Korakuen Hall
1. Jushin Thunder Liger & AKIRA vs. Milano Collection AT & Taichi
2. Tomoaki Honma vs. Toru Yano
3. Hirooki Goto vs. Kazuchika Okada
4. Manabu Nakanishi & Takao Omori vs. Giant Bernard & Karl Anderson
5. Yuji Nagata vs. Tomohiro Ishii
6. Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Togi Makabe vs. Shinsuke Nakamura & Takashi Iizuka
7. Hiroshi Tanahashi & Tiger Mask vs. Wataru Inoue & Koji Kanemoto
8. IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Title: Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin (c) vs. Ryusuke Taguchi & Prince Devitt
NJPW, 7/10/09 (SXW)
Chiba Port Arena Sub Arena
1. Manabu Nakanishi, Takao Omori & Kazuchika Okada vs. Giant Bernard, Val Venis & Karl Anderson
2. Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Yuji Nagata & Mitsuhide Hirasawa vs. Takashi Iizuka, Tomohiro Ishii & Jado
3. Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma vs. Shinsuke Nakamura & Toru Yano
4. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Hirooki Goto & Tiger Mask vs. Masahiro Chono, Wataru Inoue & Koji Kanemoto
NJPW “~THE STAR FESTIVAL IN MAEBASHI~”, 7/12/09
Green Dome Maebashi Sub Arena
1. Yuji Nagata, Tomoaki Honma & Mitsuhide Hirasawa vs. Shinsuke Nakamura, Tomohiro Ishii & Jado
2. Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Togi Makabe vs. Toru Yano & Takashi Iizuka
3. Manabu Nakanishi, Takao Omori & Yutaka Yoshie vs. Giant Bernard, Val Venis & Karl Anderson
4. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Ryusuke Taguchi & Prince Devitt vs. Masahiro Chono, Milano Collection AT & Taichi
NJPW, 7/14/09
Fukushima City Gymnasium
1. Riki Choshu, Jushin Thunder Liger & Mitsuhide Hirasawa vs. Giant Bernard, Val Venis & Karl Anderson
2. Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Yuji Nagata vs. Takashi Iizuka & Tomohiro Ishii
3. Togi Makabe, Wataru Inoue & Tomoaki Honma vs. Shinsuke Nakamura, Toru Yano & Jado
4. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Hirooki Goto, Ryusuke Taguchi & Prince Devitt vs. Masahiro Chono, Manabu Nakanishi, Milano Collection AT & Taichi
NJPW, 7/15/09
Miyako City Gymnasium Sea Arena
1. Hirooki Goto & Tiger Mask vs. Wataru Inoue & Koji Kanemoto
2. Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Yuji Nagata, Takao Omori & Mitsuhide Hirasawa vs. Takashi Iizuka, Giant Bernard, Karl Anderson & Tomohiro Ishii
3. Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma vs. Shinsuke Nakamura & Toru Yano
4. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Ryusuke Taguchi & Prince Devitt vs. Manabu Nakanishi, Milano Collection AT & Taichi
NJPW, 7/16/09
TONYAMACHI Big Sight
NJPW, 7/18/09
Muroran City Gymnasium
NJPW, 7/20/09 (WPW)
Tsukisamu Alpha Court Dome
1. Riki Choshu, Masahiro Chono & Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Yuji Nagata, Hirooki Goto & Mitsuhide Hirasawa
2. IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title: Tiger Mask (c) vs. Koji Kanemoto
3. IWGP Heavyweight Title: Hiroshi Tanahashi (c) vs. Takashi Sugiura