NJPW has announced they will hold the first-ever ‘Tornado Dog Cage Survival Match’ at an upcoming show on their Burning Spirit tour.
New Japan Pro Wrestling is best known for putting on a mix of hard-hitting matches which see competitors utilising stiff strikes and excruciating submission holds, and high-flying, fast-paced action in the Junior Division.
However, in recent years, the promotion has begun using match types which are more regularly seen on Western wrestling shows, based around weapons such as ladders and Texas Straps, as well as handcuffs and blindfolds.
Many of these matches have taken place in contention for the KOPW Trophy which sees competitors put forward stipulations and the fans vote for which they would like to see used.
Back in February, one of these bouts saw the legendary Minoru Suzuki defending the trophy against the company’s resident mischief-maker, Toru Yano, in a Dog Cage match. The only way to win was for one of the wrestlers to trap the other in a large dog cage at ringside.
In this case, Yano was able to pull off the win by dragging Suzuki into the cage with him and escaping before Suzuki-Gun leader could get out.
Now, the company has announced they will be bringing the dog cage out again, except this time there will be three of them surrounding the ringside area as the NEVER OPENWEIGHT 6-Man Champions, CHAOS’ Hirooki Goto, YOSHI-HASHI, and YOH defend their titles against the villainous House of Torture trio of EVIL, Yujiro Takahashi, and SHO in a Tornado Dog Cage Survival match!
The bout will see all six men being legal at all times while the victory can be picked up by pinfall, submission, or if all their members of one team are locked in the dog cages.
The match came about as the CHAOS team were able to win the titles from HOT with some assistance from Yano, who locked the interfering Dick Togo in a dog cage to stop his involvement in their bout.
Things have since escalated with House of Torture even recently trapping YOH in a toy dog kennel on a recent show. This led to NJPW deciding regular rules weren’t enough for this grudge match and adding the unique stipulations.