Brock Lesnar's Non-WWE Matches

Brock Lesnar recently announced his retirement after losing to Oba Femi in a Hell in a Cell match at SummerSlam in Minneapolis, Minnesota.  Looking back at Brock's career that began in the year 2000 Brock has almost exclusively competed in a WWE or WWE developmental ring.

I say almost as he left the WWE in 2004 and in that 8 years before he returned in 2012 he did wrestle elsewhere.  In 2004 he attempted a career in Pro Football, and when that didn't pan out he returned to what he knew, and that was pro wrestling.

Lured back to the squared circle Lesnar would debut for New Japan Pro Wrestling on October 8, 2005 in the Tokyo Dome winning the IWGP Heavyweight Championship in a triple threat match defeated Champion Kazuyuki Fajita and Masahiro Chono pinning Chono.

Lesnar would continue to compete for New Japan through the end of 2005 with successful title defenses against Manabu Nakanishi and Yuji Nagata.  In 2006 he main evented the annual January 4th Tokyo Dome show defeating Shinsuke Nakamura and wrestling in 3 more matches for the promotion through May 2006.

Brock was slated to defend the title against Hiroshi Tanahashi in July 2006, however New Japan wanted to cut his money from $50,000 per match to $30,000.  Lesnar would not agree to it so he was stripped of the title and Tanahashi would win a one day tournament On July 17, 2006 to become the champion.

Fast forward a year, Lesnar who was still in possession of the physical IWGP Heavyweight Championship would appear and defend the Championship on Antonio Inoki's debut IGF: Inoki Genome Federation show June 29, 2007.   That night TNA World Champion: Kurt Angle would defeat Lesnar to win the title.

Oddly enough, New Japan Pro Wrestling would officially recognize Lesnar's title as the IWGP 3rd Belt Championship stating he was the title holder from October 8, 2005 until June 29, 2007.  New Japan would then go one to recognize Kurt Angle as the champion.

Kurt would defend the title in TNA at Hard Justice 2007 against Samoa Joe.  He then defeated Yuji Nagata at the 2008 January 4th New Japan Tokyo Dome show, WrestleKingdom II.  Then in February 2008 he would lose the title in a unification match against Shinsuke Nakamura the then current IWGP Heavyweight Champion.   

In his career Brock wrestled 12 matches in Japan, 3 in 2003 during a Smackdown house show tour, and again for the WWE in 2015 defeating Kofi Kingston at The Best in the East live WWE Network special.  His other 8 matches in Japan are the only non-WWE Matches of his career. 

Here are the matches:

October 8, 2005

Toukon Souzou New Chapter, Tokyo Dome

Brock Lesnar defeated IWGP Heavyweight Champion: Kazuyuki Fujita & Masahiro Chono to win the championship

December 10, 2005

Battle Final 2005 Osaka, Japan

IWGP Heavyweight Champion: Brock Lesnar pinned Manabu Nakanishi

December 11, 2005

Battle Final 2005 Nagoya, Aichi, Japan

IWGP Heavyweight Champion: Brock Lesnar pinned Yuji Nagata

January 4, 2006

Toukon Shidou, Tokyo Dome

IWGP Heavyweight Champion: Brock Lesnar pinned Shinsuke Nakamura

February 19, 2006

NJPW Circuit 2006 Acceleration Tokyo, Japan

IWGP Heavyweight Champion: Brock Lesnar & Shinsuke Nakamura defeated Akebono & Riki Choshu

March 19, 2006

NJPW Circuit 2006 Takeoff

IWGP Heavyweight Champion: Brock Lesnar pinned Akebono

May 3, 2006

New Japan Cup 2006 Special Fukuoka, Japan

IWGP Heavyweight Champion: Brock Lesnar pinned Giant Bernard

June 29, 2007

IFG Toukon Bom-Ba-Ye, Tokyo, Japan

Kurt Angle pinned IWGP Third Belt Champion: Brock Lesnar to win the title

Thank you for reading, please leave a comment, check out my other posts, and if you want like my blogs Facebook page.  You can also head over to Amazon and pick up a copy of my book the 2024 Limitless Wrestling Almanac, or any of my other books.

Until Next Time!

Hiroshi Tanahashi Live!

January 4, 2026 marked the end to the career of one of the greatest Japanese professional wrestlers, Hiroshi Tanahashi.  He debuted in October 1999 along with fellow young boys Katsuyori Shibata and Shinsuke Nakamura, dubbed the "New Three Musketeers" by the Japanese wrestling media.  Named after the original Three Musketeers consisting of Keiji Muto, Masahiro Chono, and Shinya Hashimoto.

It's hard to believe Tanahashi was the first of the 3 the retire, Nakamura is in the WWE and Shibata, after a 4 year hiatus to recover from injury, is active in AEW.  He has a fantastic career capturing numerous championships including becoming an 8 time IWGP Heavyweight Champion.

I was lucky enough to see Tanahashi wrestle live 3 time, ironically all in 2019.  The first two times were during WrestleMania weekend in New York City.  The first at the RevPro show pro held at the WrestleCon convention, before the show they did a meet and greet with several New Japan Pro Wrestlers, I met Tanahashi, Shibata, and Ishii.  It was only $30 for a Combo and I got my card signed.

April 5, 2019

Revolution Pro Wrestling Hilton Grand Ballroom Manhattan, NY

British Tag Team Champions: Suzuki-Gun: Minoru Suzuki & British Heavyweight Champion:

Zack Sabre Jr. defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi & Will Ospreay when Sabre pinned Ospreay

Jay, Mikey, and I had front row for the show, and during Tanahashi's entrance he stopped right in front of us and we all played air guitar together, it was a bad ass moment. I have the video clip somewhere and when I find it I will upload it here.

Talk about and all star tag team match!

April 6, 2019

New Japan Pro Wrestling / ROH Madison Square Garden Manhattan, NY

G1 Supercard

British Heavyweight Champion: Zack Sabre Jr with Taka Michinoku defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi by submission

The three of us attended the first non WWF/WWE promoted wrestling event at Madison Square Garden in 60 years.  We had front row balcony and pictures did come out great.  This is one of the most historic wrestling events I have ever been to.

September 27, 2019

NJPW: New Japan Pro Wrestling Memorial Auditorium Lowell, MA

Fighting Spirit Unleashed

IWGP Heavyweight Champion: Kazuchiki Okada, Hiroshi Tanahashi, & Kota Ibushi defeated Los Ingobernables de Japon: Tetsuya Naito, Evil & Sanada when Tanahashi pinned Naito with cobra twist

Mikey, Jay, and I also attended this event together. This tour of shows was the first time that New Japan ran shows in the US that were not co-promoted with Ring of Honor.  Okada was the IWGP Heavyweight champion, but it was Tanahashi who stayed in the ring after the main event to thank the audience and play his air guitar for us. 

I feel very fortunate to have seen Tanahashi wrestle live these three times and to have had the opportunity to meet him in person.  It's important to take advantage of the opportunities when you can. 

Incidentally, his last match was on January 4th against Okada, checking cagematch they have faced each other 249 times in singles and tag team matches. 

Thank you for reading, please leave a comment, check out my other posts, and if you want like my blogs Facebook page.  You can also head over to Amazon and pick up a copy of my book the 2024 Limitless Wrestling Almanac, or any of my other books.

Until next time!

January 4th at the Tokyo Dome

The history Tokyo Dome opened on March 17, 1988 and just over a year later on April 24, 1989 New Japan Pro Wrestling promoted the first wrestling event at the venue.  In 1992 NJPW began what would become an annual tradition as the Dome hosted the first January 4th show entitled Super Warriors in Tokyo Dome and saw IWGP Heavyweight Champion: Riki Choshu defeat Greatest 18 Club Champion: Tatsumi Fujinami to unify the titles.

For the last 33 years New Japan has transformed this annual show into their biggest show of the year.  2007 was the first year that it was called WrestleKingdom and that name has held ever since.

I've often talked about WrestleMania IV being the first time I watched WrestleMania live and I've never missed watching Mania live since then.  Since 2015 I have not missed a live WrestleKingdom or January 4th show.  In 2015, New Japan in a partnership with Jeff Jarrett WrestleKingdom 9 was available on PPV live in the United States.  From 2016 to today I have watched it on New Japan World.

From 2003 to 2014 I would find a bootleg copy of the show on VHS or DVD and later a torrent download.  In 2008 TNA Wrestling released the DVD Global Impact Japan which had 7 completed matches from the WrestleKingdom II that involved the TNA wrestlers. After getting New Japan World I went back and watched all of the January 4th show.

It's rather refreshing knowing that show is going to be held on the same day every year instead of waiting for the shows to be announced.  For instance WrestleMania's date has varied from as early as March 14th in 2004 and as late as April 20th in 2025.

Since 2015 if I am schedule to work I have taken a vacation day so I can watch the event live as it happens.  Spoilers were easier to avoid a decade ago, not so much today.  This year, 2025, January 4th fell on a Saturday, and because at 3am Eastern  Time, pre-show at 2am.  I got up at 2:45am and watched the event live, it was an excellent show overall, was very happy to see Zack Sabre Jr. retain his title in the main event.

I took a nap so I could be rested for Wrestle Dynasty, a joint show between with NJPW, ROH, AEW, CMLL, Stardom, & DDT PRO being represented, also taking place at the Tokyo Dome.  With the time difference, the Wrestle Dynasty Pre-show actually started at 10pm Eastern Time on January 4th! So after watching AEW Collision I switched over to New Japan World.  Wrestle Dynasty was a better show than Wrestle Kingdom this year.

I've long been a fan of New Japan Pro Wrestling their style and presentation and I enjoyed them much more than WWE.  Their partnership with Ring of Honor was the best part of ROH.  I was excited when AEW came along and their eventual partnership was New Japan made them even more appealing.  I like wrestling better that tell their stories in the ring and not with 30 minute talking segments. 

Originally Wrestle Dynasty was supposed to mark New Japan's return to Madison Square Garden on August 22, 2020, but covid killed that.  My buddy Jay & I fully planned on going, but it was cancelled before tickets event went on sale. 

I will always got to New Japan if I have the opportunity.  I do hope to one day be in attendance at the Tokyo Dome on a January 4th.

Thank you for reading, please leave a comment, check out my other posts, and if you want like my blogs Facebook page.  You can also head over to Amazon and pick up a copy of my book the 2024 Limitless Wrestling Almanac, or any of my other books.

Until next time!

The Times I've Seen Zack Sabre Jr. Wrestle Live!

Zack Sabre Jr has been one of my favorite wrestler for over a decade, when I first saw him in Progress and PWG.  As I do when I find a wrestler that I like I look for more matches watching him hone his craft in NOAH, WXW, and indies.  You can even read my blog post from December 2015 about some of his matches: Random Wrestling: Zack Sabre Jr.

I love Zack's style of wrestling and the most unique submission moves I've ever seen.  It's been a pleasure to watch his career grow over the years and although he has captured numerous championships, and I have to admit I did get emotional watching him win the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship.

In this blog we will look at the matches I have seen him compete in live and in living color!!  

January 30, 2016

Limitless Wrestling American Legion Hall         Orono, ME

Zack Sabre Jr. pinned Chris Hero in 24 minutes 10 seconds

I still can't believe this one happened! In the weeks leading to the show Zack Sabre Jr. was announced first. I couldn't believe it, quite frankly that he was coming to an indie show Maine. We've had names in Maine on indies in the past, but before Limitless it wasn't a regular thing. If having Sabre on the show wasn't exciting enough, a couple weeks prior Chris Hero was announced. Randy stated it really was last minute how it all came together.

Then we got the graphic that they were facing off against each other and I just couldn't believe it! We are getting on of the hottest matches in the world, in the middle of small town Maine at an American Legion hall on, what turned out to be, a stormy January night.

At that time they were in the middle of what would turn into an tremendous run of matches in an 18 month period. From June 2015 to January 2017 they faced off in 9 matches singles matches (okay 1 was an elimination triple threat) in Evolve, PWG, WXW, & AAW and every single time they tore it up going hard for 20 plus minutes every time.

At that time I was used to "headliners" coming into Maine and just "getting their shit in" and I had accepted that because that was independent wrestling in Maine. On this night ZSJ & Chris Hero set a standard in Limitless Wrestling that has kept going to today. They gave it their all and put on a caliber of a match that was equal to or even greater than they had done or would do anywhere in the world. After the show I got a photo with both of them, it still ranks as one of the greatest matches that I have ever seen live! You can read my post about this show here: Limitless Wrestling: Under Fire

He signed this card for me at the show, I ordered this card from the UK at the beginning of the month after I learned that he was booked to appear. Released in 2014 by Resurrection Magazine, I feel positive that this is Sabre's rookie card.  Sabre was impressed that I had the card and I told him I ordered it from the UK when he asked where I got it.  He signed it for free because he said I already paid for the card.

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April 4, 2019

WrestleCon Supershow Hilton Grand Ballroom Manhattan, NY

Zack Sabre Jr. submitted Shane Strickland

In 2019 my buddies Jay, Mikey, & I traveled to New York City for WrestleMania weekend. We didn't attend any of the WWE events instead hit all of the independent wrestling that we could. This show was match 1 of 3 that I saw Zack compete this weekend. If you would have told me that April evening that we were seeing two future World Champions squaring off I would not have believed you.

To me the match was just okay, I felt their styles just didn't mesh well. To be frank I thought Zack outclassed Swerve that night. You can read about this show here: Indie Mania 2019 Part 1

I got these cards signed on Thursday April 4th before the Wrestlecon Supershow.  The first card is from the 2016 PWG Battle of Los Angeles set and the second from the 2017 PWG Battle of Los Angeles set.  I have a rule about not getting the backs of the cards signed but we were talking about his trip to Limitless Wrestling and he signed them quickly.  I wasn't going to ask him to sign them again, although I just might if I meet him again. 

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April 5, 2019

Revolution Pro Wrestling Hilton Grand Ballroom Manhattan, NY

British Tag Team Champions: Suzuki-Gun: Minoru Suzuki & British Heavyweight

Champion: Zack Sabre Jr. defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi & Will Ospreay when Sabre pinned Ospreay

What a match!! We had front row for this amazing UK based REVPro show. Look at the 4 competitors in this match! ZSJ, Suzuki, Ospreay, & Tanahashi!! WILD! This match went almost 22 minutes and they laid everything in, stiff strikes, great submission wrestling, practically flawless story telling. Truly amazing match worth the price of the ticket for this match alone on the show. It was the best match of the weekend for me, and considering the number of high quality matches that we took in, that is saying something!

You can read about this show here: Indie Mania 2019 Part 2

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April 6, 2019

New Japan Pro Wrestling / ROH Madison Square Garden         Manhattan, NY

G1 Supercard

British Heavyweight Champion: Zack Sabre Jr with Taka Michinoku defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi by submission

The last show of the weekend for us was also our biggest event of the weekend. For the first time in nearly 60 years a wrestling show happened at Madison Square Garden that was not promoted by a McMahon / WWE saw New Japan and ROH team together for the G1 Supercard. The show was Sold Out and stacked with amazing wrestlers. The ROH portion of the show, for the most part, fell VERY flat for me. The New Japan portion was tremendous.

The 7th match of the Main card saw the RevPRO British Championship successfully defended by Sabre submitting Tanahashi. Thinking back New Japan has a working agreement with RevPRO for years and it's very cool that RevPRO was presented as this historic wrestling card at MSG.

I was in the balcony and couldn't get any great photos, but here is one of the Great Muta and Jushin Thunder Liger in the ring that I took.

You can read about this show here: Indie Mania 2019 Part 3

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April 16, 2023

NJPW: New Japan Pro Wrestling 2300 Arena                 Philadelphia, PA

Collision in Philadelphia

Team Filthy: Tom Lawlor, Royce Isaacs, & Jorel Nelson defeated TMDK: NJPW Television

Champion: Zack Sabre Jr., Shane Haste, & Bad Boy Tito

Much like MSG, the former ECW Arena, now called the 2300 Arena, is a venue that I had to see wrestling at live. I was the prime demographic for ECW and would have LOVED to go to one of their shows, but it was not to be.

I had mentioned to my buddy Mikey that when my wife and Wesley take their annual April Vacation trip to Ocean City, Maryland if there was a big show in the northeast we should go. As luck would have it, NJPW announced Collision in Philadelphia during that weekend!

We were supposed to have front row at this show, however they moved our seats back and put the announcers and commentators directly in front of us on the fan side of the guard rail. It was cool to have NJPW ring announcer Takuro Shibata right there to get this video, but we paid a lot of money for front row and traveling to the ECW Arena for the first time, it was frustrating to not have the front row seats we paid for. When we selected our seats they did not have the announcers list as being here.

Zack competed in a six man tag team match falling short to Team Filthy. It was very cool to see him at the NJPW Television Champion and of course to see him tie his opponents up with his signature style.

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November 8, 2024

NJPW: New Japan Pro Wrestling    Memorial Auditorium                            Lowell, MA

Fighting Spirit Unleashed

Shota Umino & Tomohiro Ishii defeated TMDK: IWGP World Heavyweight Champion: Zack Sabre & Boy Dude Tito when Umino pinned Tito

When this show was announced I wanted more than anything for Sabre to defeated Naito for the World Title and come to Lowell to defend the Championship. Well, most of that came true, he won the title and came to Lowell as Champion, and a few days before the show was announced to be in a tag team match. Slightly disappointing, but I got to see Sabre has champion so it's all good.

I was very excited when they announced a Meet and Greet with Sabre, I had met him before at Limitless and at WrestleCon 2019 but I had to get a photo with him as the Champion.

The meet and greet was awesome, Sabre took his time with to talk to everyone, no one was rushed it was very nice experience. We chatted about him winning the title, his time in Maine with Limitless, which perked right up for talking how much he loved the experience and he remembered very specific details. Then we chatted about the ridiculous cost of tickets.

The show was extremely good, our first time sitting in the balcony here and I would again in a heartbeat! The view was phenomenal the matches were excellent and the crowd was very vocal!

Sabre's match was excellent, it was awesome to see him walk out and be announced as champion. They furthered a lot of stories tonight including the build between Sabre & Umino for WrestleKingdom.

I can't imagine this will be the last time I see Sabre wrestle live, but I guess you never, never, know.

Thank you for reading, please leave a comment, check out my other posts, and if you want like my blogs Facebook page.  You can also head over to Amazon and pick up a copy of my book the 2024 Limitless Wrestling Almanac, or any of my other books.

Until next time!