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Welcome back to the Sermon on the Mat, your weekly one-stop shop for news from the wider world of wrestling beyond the big cable TV monoliths that get all the coverage.
Indie wrestling is still shut down from the pandemic and everything sucks, but hey, I’m still comin’ at you with all the freebies that I can find!
Plus, a number of streaming services and Twitch channels are offering a constant stream of material for you that’s hard for me to include in the listing, so make sure to check ‘em out—
Coming soon...
NJPW New Japan Cup Finals / Dominion in Osaka-Jo Hall
—New Japan Cup Final (July 11, 4AM Eastern / 1AM Pacfic)—
- Great Bash Heel (Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma) vs. Yota Tsuji & Yuya Uemura
- Gabriel Kidd & Hirooki Goto vs. TenCozy (Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima)
- DOUKI vs. Master Wato
- Bullet Club (Taiji Ishimori & Yujiro Takahashi) vs. Los Ingobernables de Japon (BUSHI & SANADA)
- Hiroshi Tanahashi, Kota Ibushi, Ryusuke Taguchi, & Yuji Nagata vs. Suzuki-gun (El Desperado, Minoru Suzuki, Taichi, & Zack Sabre, Jr.)
- Chaos (SHO, Tomohiro Ishii, & Toru Yano) vs. Los Ingobernables de Japon (Hiromu Takahashi, Shingo Takagi, & Tetsuya Naito)
- EVIL vs. Kazuchika Okada (New Japan Cup 2020 Finals)
—Dominion in Osaka-Jo Hall (July 12, 2AM Eastern / 11PM Pacific)—
- Shingo Takagi (c) vs. SHO (NEVER Openweight Championship)
- Hiroshi Tanahashi & Kota Ibushi (c) vs. Suzuki-gun (Taichi & Zack Sabre, Jr.) (IWGP Tag Team Championship)
- Tetsuya Naito (c) vs. ??? (IWGP Heavyweight / IWGP Intercontinental Championship)
We haven’t featured New Japan here in Sermon’s upcoming cards section for a minute but hey, pickings are kinda slim lately, so here we are. The New Japan Cup final card is your pretty standard tags-heavy NJPW card but features Hirai Kawato returning from excursion as Master Wato as he faces off against DOUKI and the actual finals, so those’ll be fun, and Dominion is already shaping up as a stacked card based just on those three title matches!
Check it out as always, live on NJPW World, folks.
Free matches here!
Delilah Doom & Eli Everfly vs. Harlow O’Hara & Kevin Blackwood
Some intergender tag team action from the folks up at Limitless Wrestling in Maine to kick things off this week, enjoy!
Belmont vs. Kris Statlander
From Beyond Wrestling’s women’s affiliate WWR Pro, we’ve got some killer finger-biting (you’ll see!) action featuring everyone’s favorite alien up against long-time northeast standout Mistress Belmont, check it out!
Nick Gage vs. SLADE
And we slingshot right on over to Beyond where we’ve got some no-DQ action featuring the Ultraviolent King himself, Nick Gage up against SLADE, who I’m not nearly as familiar with, but who, well... just check out the thumbnail, friends. (And hey, the King said trans rights just the other day!)
Gary Jay vs. “Warhorse” Jake Parnell
Glory Pro’s Match of the Week rolls on with this last man standing between two hard-hitting animal type dudes. Barn owl! Warhorse! Don’t miss it!
Isla Dawn vs. Kasey
Some women’s action coming at you from Scotland’s ICW, as Isla Dawn brings her witchy ways to bear against the mononymous Kasey!
Draztick Boy vs. Falcon Fire vs. Lobo Blanco vs. Mascara de Bronce
Courtesy of +LuchaTV and Vanguardia, we’ve got some fiery four-way action for the BMLL Cruiserweight Championship for you, so check it out!
Kazuchika Okada vs. Tetsuya Naito
New Japan’s freebie this week may just be a preview for Dominion, if Okada can get through EVIL and win New Japan Cup! This clash is from Invasion Attack 2016, enjoy!
Best Friends (Chuck Taylor & Trent?) vs. Flip Bros (Air Wolf & Angel Dorado)
From F1RST Wrestling up in Minnesota, we’ve got a generation clash in the tag division for you this week. Flip Bros bring that young high flying dynamite against the best of friends, enjoy!
Jody Threat vs. John Silver
Our first of two intergender matches from Beyond this week pits Canadian Wild Child Threat against the Meat Man, the Raw Dog, John Silver!
Team Sea Stars (Ashley Vox & Delmi Exo) vs. To Infinity and Beyond (Cheech & Colin Delaney)
And right into our second, some hype tag team action between Sea Stars and the ever-underappreciated To Infinity and Beyond, don’t miss it!
Derek Director vs. Ethan Wright
From the AIW archives, we’ve got a dark match featuring a key player in the Production, check it out!
Chico Che, Freelance, & Saruman vs. Eita, El Imposible, & Tomahawk
Last but not least this week, we’ve got some blast from the past trios action courtesy of +LuchaTV and IWRG, featuring Dragon Gate stars Eita and T-Hawk!
As always...
Remember folks, no matter what type of wrestling you like, no matter how down you feel about the state of WWE, Impact, ROH, or any other “big-time” pro wrestling, there’s something out there for you. There’s a pro wrestling product that can hit you in the right spot and make you love wrestling like you thought you’d never be able to love it again. It’s there, I promise. You just gotta reach out and find it, and that, my friends, is what the Sermon on the Mat is all about.