Invasion Attack 2015 was a
professional wrestling
Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring o ...
pay-per-view
Pay-per-view (PPV) is a type of pay television or webcast service that enables a viewer to pay to watch individual events via private telecast.
Events can be purchased through a multichannel television platform using their electronic program guid ...
(PPV) event promoted by
New Japan Pro-Wrestling
(NJPW) is a Japanese professional wrestling promotion based in Nakano, Tokyo. Founded on January 13, 1972, by Antonio Inoki, the promotion was sold to Yuke's, who later sold it to Bushiroad in 2012. TV Asahi and Amuse, Inc. own minority shares ...
(NJPW). The event took place on April 5, 2015, in
Tokyo
Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...
at
Ryōgoku Kokugikan
, also known as Ryōgoku Sumo Hall or Kokugikan Arena, is the name bestowed to two different indoor sporting arenas located in Tokyo. The fist ''Ryōgoku Kokugikan'' opened its doors in 1909 and was located on the lands of the Ekōin temple in Ry ...
and featured nine matches, four of which were contested for
championships
In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion.
Championship systems
Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship.
Title match system
In this system ...
.
In addition to airing worldwide through NJPW's internet streaming site,
NJPW World
, also referred to as NJPW World and New Japan World, is a subscription-based video streaming service owned by the Japanese professional wrestling promotion New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). On December 1, 2014, NJPW and its minority owner TV Asahi a ...
,
[ the event also aired in Japan as a regular PPV through SKY PerfecTV!'s Sukachan service. It was the third event under the ]Invasion Attack
Sakura Genesis is an annual professional wrestling event promoted by New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) since 2013.
Held annually at Tokyo's Ryōgoku Kokugikan, the event has been nicknamed . Originally known as Invasion Attack, the event was renamed ...
name.
Production
Background
The event sold out in advance, making it the fastest non- G1 Climax or non-special show to sell out Ryōgoku Kokugikan
, also known as Ryōgoku Sumo Hall or Kokugikan Arena, is the name bestowed to two different indoor sporting arenas located in Tokyo. The fist ''Ryōgoku Kokugikan'' opened its doors in 1909 and was located on the lands of the Ekōin temple in Ry ...
in more than a decade. Dave Meltzer of the ''Wrestling Observer Newsletter
The ''Wrestling Observer Newsletter'' (''WON'') is a newsletter that covers professional wrestling and mixed martial arts.
Founded in print in 1982 by Dave Meltzer, the ''Wrestling Observer'' website merged with Bryan Alvarez's ''Figure Four We ...
'' noted that this spoke volumes as the card was in his mind "not all that loaded" and that none of the "big three" ( Hiroshi Tanahashi, Kazuchika Okada, Shinsuke Nakamura
is a Japanese Professional wrestling, professional wrestler currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the SmackDown (WWE brand), SmackDown WWE brand extension, brand.
Nakamura is known for his time in New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), where ...
) were in the main event. During the event, NJPW experienced technical difficulties with its NJPW World
, also referred to as NJPW World and New Japan World, is a subscription-based video streaming service owned by the Japanese professional wrestling promotion New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). On December 1, 2014, NJPW and its minority owner TV Asahi a ...
streaming site, leading to many paying viewers worldwide unable to view the event live. NJPW issued an apology for the problems. It was later reported that the problem was caused by an "outside hacker".[
]
Storylines
Invasion Attack 2015 featured nine professional wrestling matches
Many types of wrestling matches, sometimes called "concept" or "gimmick matches" in the jargon of the business, are performed in professional wrestling. Some gimmick matches are more common than others and are often used to advance or conclude a ...
that involved different wrestlers from pre-existing scripted feuds and storylines. Wrestlers portrayed villains
A villain (also known as a "black hat" or "bad guy"; the feminine form is villainess) is a stock character, whether based on a historical narrative or one of literary fiction. ''Random House Unabridged Dictionary'' defines such a character as ...
, heroes
Heroes or Héroes may refer to:
* Hero, one who displays courage and self-sacrifice for the greater good
Film
* ''Heroes'' (1977 film), an American drama
* ''Heroes'' (2008 film), an Indian Hindi film
Gaming
* ''Heroes of Might and Magic'' ...
, or less distinguishable characters in the scripted events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches.
Invasion Attack 2015 was main evented by A.J. Styles
Allen Neal Jones (born June 2, 1977), better known by his ring name AJ Styles (also stylized as A.J. Styles), is an American professional wrestler. He is currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the Raw brand. Regarded as one of the best ...
defending the IWGP Heavyweight Championship against Kota Ibushi. This marked Ibushi's first ever shot at the title and the first singles match between him and Styles.[ Ibushi, at that point a former IWGP Junior Heavyweight and ]IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champion
The is a professional wrestling tag team championship owned by the New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) promotion. "IWGP" is the acronym of NJPW's governing body, the . The title was introduced on August 8, 1998, at an NJPW live event. The IWGP Junior ...
, first ventured out of the junior heavyweight division in the summer of 2013, when he took part in the G1 Climax tournament. After signing a contract extension with NJPW in October 2014, it was announced that Ibushi had permanently switched to the heavyweight division. His first big match as a heavyweight wrestler took place on January 4, 2015, at Wrestle Kingdom 9 in Tokyo Dome, where he unsuccessfully challenged Shinsuke Nakamura for the IWGP Intercontinental Championship. Between March 5 and 15, Ibushi took part in the 2015 New Japan Cup __NOTOC__
The New Japan Cup (NJC) is an annual single-elimination professional wrestling tournament held by New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) since 2005. It is considered the second most prominent heavyweight tournament in NJPW, after the G1 Climax wh ...
and, after victories over heavyweight wrestlers Doc Gallows, Toru Yano, Tetsuya Naito and Hirooki Goto, won the tournament for the first time to earn the right to challenge either for the IWGP Heavyweight, IWGP Intercontinental or NEVER Openweight Championship
The is a professional wrestling championship owned by the New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) promotion. NEVER is an acronym of the terms "New Blood", "Evolution", "Valiantly", "Eternal", and "Radical" and was an NJPW-promoted series of events, which ...
. Following his win, Ibushi announced his decision to challenge Bullet Club's A.J. Styles for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. The match was made official the following day.[
Another match at Invasion Attack 2015 continued the storyline rivalry between Bad Luck Fale and Kazuchika Okada,][ which had started at the beginning of the year.][ After suffering yet another loss against Fale in the opening round of the 2015 New Japan Cup, Okada finally managed to pin his rival in a tag team match on March 15, resulting in a singles rematch at Invasion Attack 2015.][ New Japan Cup also re-ignited the rivalry between Hiroshi Tanahashi and Toru Yano, with Yano upsetting Tanahashi in the opening round.][ At Invasion Attack 2015, the two faced off in a tag team match with Yano teaming with his regular tag team partner ]Kazushi Sakuraba
is a Japanese professional wrestler, mixed martial artist and submission wrestler, currently signed to Rizin Fighting Federation and Pro Wrestling Noah, where he was formerly one-half of the former GHC Tag Team Champions with Takashi Sugiura. ...
, while Tanahashi formed a new team with Sakuraba's former partner Katsuyori Shibata.[ The event would also feature a six-man tag team match, where Chaos' Shinsuke Nakamura, ]Tomohiro Ishii
is a Japanese professional wrestler currently signed to New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). He also makes additional appearances for All Elite Wrestling (AEW). He is also known for his work with the independent Fighting World of Japan Pro Wrestling ( ...
and Yoshi-Hashi take on Hirooki Goto, Tetsuya Naito and Togi Makabe, which built up two more future title matches between Nakamura and Goto for the IWGP Intercontinental Championship and between Ishii and Makabe for the NEVER Openweight Championship.
In addition to the IWGP Heavyweight Championship match, the other three title matches at Invasion Attack 2015 also involved the villainous Bullet Club stable
A stable is a building in which livestock, especially horses, are kept. It most commonly means a building that is divided into separate stalls for individual animals and livestock. There are many different types of stables in use today; the ...
.[ First, Bullet Club's The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson) were set to defend the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship against ]Roppongi Vice
Roppongi Vice (sometimes stylized as RPG Vice) is a professional wrestling tag team consisting of Trent Baretta and Rocky Romero who currently compete for All Elite Wrestling (AEW).
They are best known for their work in New Japan Pro-Wrestling (N ...
( Beretta and Rocky Romero).[ Following Romero's ]Forever Hooligans
Forever Hooligans was a professional wrestling tag team consisting of Alex Koslov and Rocky Romero. They are best known for working for New Japan Pro-Wrestling, where they are former two-time IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Champions. They have al ...
partner Alex Koslov
Alex Sherman (born January 21, 1984) is a Moldovans, Moldovan-born retired Professional wrestling, professional wrestler and color commentator, currently working for New Japan Pro-Wrestling under the ring name Alex Koslov.
Koslov has mainly worke ...
stepping away from professional wrestling, Romero announced on March 1 that he was forming a new tag team with Beretta. The team wrestled their first match together for Ring of Honor
Ring of Honor (ROH) is an American professional wrestling promotion based in Jacksonville, Florida. The promotion was founded by Rob Feinstein on February 23, 2002, and was operated by Cary Silkin from 2004 until 2011, when the promotion was so ...
(ROH) on March 13, which was followed by their NJPW debut on March 22 during the "Road to Invasion Attack 2015" tour. This marked Beretta's return to NJPW, having debuted for the promotion during the 2013 Best of the Super Juniors tournament.[ The second title match would see Bullet Club's Kenny Omega defend the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship against Máscara Dorada.][ After signing a NJPW contract at the beginning of the year, Dorada quickly entered the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship picture by challenging Omega on February 11 and then pinning him in a six-man tag team match three days later. This marked Dorada's first ever shot at the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship.][ The third title match would see Bullet Club's Doc Gallows and ]Karl Anderson
Chad Allegra (born January 20, 1980), better known by the ring name Karl Anderson, is an American professional wrestler currently signed to WWE where he performs on the Raw brand. He also makes appearances for New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW), whe ...
defend the IWGP Tag Team Championship against the ROH tag team The Kingdom ( Matt Taven and Michael Bennett).[ On March 1 at ROH's 13th Anniversary Show, Anderson and Gallows were scheduled to wrestle in a three-way non-title tag team match with The Kingdom and The Addiction (]Christopher Daniels
Daniel Christopher Covell (born March 24, 1970), better known by the ring name Christopher Daniels, is an American semi-retired professional wrestler. He is signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW) and is the Head of Talent Relations. He is best kno ...
and Frankie Kazarian), however, when Gallows was unable to make the event due to travel issues, Anderson was left to wrestle alone and was in the end pinned for the win by The Kingdom.[ Upon his return to NJPW, Anderson publicly offered The Kingdom a shot at his and Gallows' IWGP Tag Team Championship anytime, anywhere, while also stating that Bullet Club was going to steal Bennett's valet and real-life wife ]Maria Kanellis
Mary Louis "Maria" Kanellis-Bennett (born February 25, 1982) is an American Professional wrestling, professional wrestler, Manager (professional wrestling), professional wrestling manager, actress, model and former singer, She is best known for h ...
away from him.[ This marked Bennett, Taven and Kanellis' return to NJPW, having worked their first tour with the promotion in late 2014, during the ]2014 World Tag League
__NOTOC__
The is a professional wrestling round-robin tag team tournament held by New Japan Pro-Wrestling as a spin-off of the popular singles tournament, the G1 Climax. It was created in 1991 as the Super Grade Tag League, as a continuation of ...
.
Event
In the first title match of Invasion Attack 2015, Roppongi Vice defeated The Young Bucks to become the new IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions, after less than a month of teaming together.[ Overall, this marked the start of Romero's fifth reign with the title.] In the following match, Kenny Omega defended the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship against Máscara Dorada. As a sign of the junior heavyweight division's solidarity against Bullet Club, Dorada was accompanied to the ring by six junior heavyweight wrestlers, including the injured Bushi. Despite this, Omega won the match, making his second successful defense of the title and afterwards confronted the other junior heavyweight wrestlers.[ Omega then stated that after cleaning up Japanese and Mexican "garbage", he now wanted an American, ]Alex Shelley
Patrick Kenneth Martin (born May 23, 1983) is an American professional wrestler and physical therapy clinician, better known by the ring name, Alex Shelley, makes appearances with Impact Wrestling (formerly known as Total Nonstop Action Wrestl ...
, who then entered the ring for a staredown with Omega. In the third straight title match featuring members of Bullet Club, the stable lost also their other tag team championship as Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson were defeated by ROH's Matt Taven and Michael Bennett with help from Maria Kanellis distracting Anderson.[ In the following match, Hirooki Goto pinned Shinsuke Nakamura to win a six-man tag team match, setting himself up as the next challenger for his IWGP Intercontinental Championship.][ Following the match, Tomohiro Ishii brawled with Togi Makabe, setting up a future NEVER Openweight Championship match between the two.][
]
The semi-main event of the evening featured the culmination of a rivalry between Bullet Club's Bad Luck Fale and Chaos' Kazuchika Okada, which saw Okada emerge victorious with NJPW declaring his recent "slump" over.[ Finally, the main event saw A.J. Styles make the first successful defense of his second IWGP Heavyweight Championship reign by defeating 2015 New Japan Cup winner Kota Ibushi.][ Part of the story of the match involved Kenny Omega, who accompanied Styles to the ring. Prior to joining Bullet Club, Omega was part of a tag team named ]Golden☆Lovers
was the professional wrestling tag team of Kenny Omega and Kota Ibushi. The team was formed in January 2009 in the Japanese DDT Pro-Wrestling promotion, where, over the next five years, they won the KO-D Tag Team Championship on two occasions. T ...
with Ibushi.[ The two held the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship together,][ before amicably breaking up, when Ibushi turned heavyweight.][ In the finish of the match, Omega climbed onto the ring apron and looked like he was going to interfere in the match, but hesitated. Despite not physically interfering in the match, the distraction was enough to jar Ibushi, leading to him jumping directly into Styles' '' Styles Clash'' finishing move to end the match.] Following the match, Omega looked indifferent to his Bullet Club stablemate retaining his title.[ The show ended with Okada attacking Styles and posing with his IWGP Heavyweight Championship belt.][
]
Aftermath
The day after Invasion Attack 2015, NJPW announced that the IWGP Heavyweight Championship match between A.J. Styles and Kazuchika Okada would not be taking place at the following big event, Wrestling Dontaku 2015
Wrestling Dontaku 2015 was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event promoted by New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). The event took place on May 3, 2015, in Fukuoka, Fukuoka at Fukuoka Kokusai Center and featured nine matches, three of which w ...
, as speculated,[ but instead at July's ]Dominion 7.5 in Osaka-jo Hall
Dominion 7.5 in Osaka-jo Hall was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event promoted by New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). The event took place on July 5, 2015, in Osaka, Osaka Prefecture, Osaka, at the Osaka-jō Hall. The event featured ten m ...
, giving the title match a rare three-month build. Instead Wrestling Dontaku 2015 would be main evented by the IWGP Intercontinental Championship match between Shinsuke Nakamura and Hirooki Goto, while Tomohiro Ishii and Togi Makabe's NEVER Openweight Championship match would main event a show on April 29.
Reception
In his review of the event, Dave Meltzer gave the highest rating of four and three quarter stars out of five to the main event match between A.J. Styles and Kota Ibushi, calling it "one of the year's best matches". He also praised both junior heavyweight matches, giving The Young Bucks and Roppongi Vice four stars and Omega and Dorada four and a quarter stars, and the match between Bad Luck Fale and Kazuchika Okada, giving it four stars and writing "Okada has to be one of the best in the world getting this kind of a match out of Fale".
Results
References
External links
The official New Japan Pro-Wrestling website
{{New Japan Pro Wrestling events, Sakura Genesis
2015
File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...
2015 in professional wrestling
April 2015 events in Japan
Professional wrestling in Tokyo