Oriental Wrestling Entertainment
– OWE’s Wulijimuren, also known as the “Mongolian Warrior,” injured his knee while wrestling in Osaka during OWE’s debut tour of Japan. Unfortunately, from what I have heard, it is an issue with his meniscus. OWE’s COO has advised me that the projected timeline for recovery is approximately six months, but may be less. Regrettably this means he will not be able to work the tournament he was scheduled to participate in to determine which OWE roster members would work at Double or Nothing.
– On May 1st, five people representing AEW will visit Shanghai to meet with OWE: Chris Harrington, Christopher Daniels, Frankie Kazarian, Scorpio Sky, and Jeff Jones. It was mentioned to me that SCU might work one of OWE’s Shanghai Great World shows during their visit.
– OWE’s shows in Japan were viewed as successful by management, with particular emphasis put on how happy they were with how well received their shows were. They were very low on stock immediately after their Korakuen Hall show with their merchandise mostly selling out, if not completely sold out, by the end of the three shows.
– After CIMA’s signing by AEW was announced, rumours about what this means for his status with OWE, and OWE’s status with its investors, began to circulate on Twitter. OWE’s COO Michael Nee has advised me that CIMA’s deal with AEW “Has nothing to do with what he is doing in Japan and China,” and that when he isn’t working for AEW he will always be doing things for OWE in China. Or, to put it succinctly, “Nothing changed.” I also learned that CIMA is really mad at the twitter user spreading these rumours about OWE.
– During my conversation with Michael about CIMA’s status re: AEW he advised me that many other Japanese wrestlers have signed with AEW as well, and that he saw some of them in Japan on his trip. We already know that AEW has signed a number of Japanese talent to their brand, including Michael Nakazawa who worked OWE’s Japanese shows. This may indicate that more Japanese talent announcements’ are in our future, or may simply be who we already know about.
– OWE had a successful performance on a Chinese satellite TV variety show. You can view the footage I’ve seen here.
King of Pro Wrestling
– After a decent stretch of silence, news recently came out from both Shuaijiao, China’s biggest pro wrestling news site, and KOPW themselves, that KOPW have partnered with DGFBA (Dongguan City Fighting Boxing Association,) a boxing promotion in Dongguan, China. This partnership will see a strategic partnership formed between the two promotions to co-promote events under a specific branding called, as best as I can deduce, Baowu Wolf Extreme Boxing Championship, which blends together both styles and has involvement from even the Dongguan Wushu Association in some capacity. Trials for this idea will be held on April 27th and 28th. From this article it appears to be an opening bout of pro wrestling before a night of boxing. If Chinese MMA organization MMC’s experimentation with and support for pro wrestling in China has any bearing on this, there is a strong chance to convert fans off of this course of action.
Middle Kingdom Wrestling
– MKW have announced their next show, Dragon Roar, in Harbin, China and will take place on June 16th. This event will bring Joshi back to China, further cementing the strong presence of Joshi on Chinese pro Wrestling undercards as a fundamental element of the scene, and will expand on their partnership with Japanese indie Pro Wrestling Alive.
World Wrestling Entertainment
– I’ve heard rumours from reliable, credible sources that the WWE will be holding another tryout in Shanghai within the coming months.