Royal Quest 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 ...

event Event may refer to: Gatherings of people * Ceremony, an event of ritual significance, performed on a special occasion * Convention (meeting), a gathering of individuals engaged in some common interest * Event management, the organization of e ...

produced 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 August 31, 2019 at the

Copper Box Arena The Copper Box Arena is a multi-sport venue built for the 2012 Summer Olympics, located in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in London, England. Previously known as the Handball Arena, it was renamed because, aside from handball, it hosted mo ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

and was streamed live on

FITE TV Fite (stylized as FITE by Triller) is an American digital video streaming service launched on May 20, 2012, that is dedicated to combat sports-related programming (including boxing, mixed martial arts, and professional wrestling). The network dist ...

. It was the first-ever event independently promoted by NJPW in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

. Eight matches were contested at the event. In the main event,

Kazuchika Okada (born November 8, 1987) is a Japanese professional wrestler 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 dramati ...

retained the

IWGP Heavyweight Championship The was a professional wrestling world heavyweight 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 June 12, 1987, in the final of an IWG ...

against

Minoru Suzuki (born June 17, 1968) is a Japanese professional wrestler and former mixed martial artist, currently working for New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) as a freelancer. In NJPW, Suzuki has held the IWGP Intercontinental Championship as well as twice hol ...

Hiroshi Tanahashi is a Japanese professional wrestler. He works primarily for New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). Widely regarded as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time, his accolades in NJPW include a record setting eight reigns as IWGP Heavywei ...

defeated

Zack Sabre Jr. Lucas Eatwell (born 24 July 1987), better known by his ring name Zack Sabre Jr. (Katakana: ザック・セイバーJr, ''Zakku Seibā Jr.''), is an English professional wrestler. He is currently signed to New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). Outsid ...

to win the British Heavyweight Championship,

Kenta Kenta (written: , , , or in katakana) is a masculine Japanese given name. Notable people with the name include: *, Japanese baseball player *, Japanese film director *, Japanese kickboxer *, Japanese professional wrestler *, Japanese profession ...

defeated

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 ( ...

to win the

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 ...

, and the

Guerrillas of Destiny The Guerrillas of Destiny, sometimes shortened to G.O.D., is a professional wrestling tag team and stable which consists of the Tongan-American brothers Tama Tonga, Tanga Loa, Hikuleo and manager Jado. Tama and Tanga originally began wrestling t ...

retained the

IWGP Tag Team Championship The is a professional wrestling world tag team championship owned by the New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) promotion. "IWGP" is the acronym of the NJPW's governing body, the . The title was introduced on December 12, 1985 at an NJPW live event. The ...

against

Aussie Open The Australian Open is a tennis tournament held annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia. The tournament is the first of the four Grand Slam tennis events held each year, preceding the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open. ...

– the winners of

Revolution Pro Wrestling Revolution Pro Wrestling (RevPro/RPW) is a British professional wrestling promotion founded on 26 August 2012 by Andy Quildan after separating from International Pro Wrestling: United Kingdom. Revolution Pro Wrestling currently has partnershi ...

's Road to Royal Quest tournament.

Production

Background

Royal Quest was the first-ever professional wrestling event independently promoted by NJPW in the

. It was the first UK event produced by NJPW after

Strong Style Evolved UK Strong Style Evolved UK was a two-day professional wrestling event promoted by New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), in partnership with Revolution Pro Wrestling (RPW). It took place on June 30 and July 1, 2018 at Planet Ice Milton Keynes in Milton Keyn ...

on June 30 and July 1, 2018 (in partnership with Revolution Pro Wrestling). The event was streamed live on FITE TV and made available for

on demand On-demand or on demand may refer to: Manufacturing * Build-on-demand * Just-in-time manufacturing, a methodology for production * Print on demand, printing technology and business process in which new copies of a document are not printed until an ...

viewing on

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 ...

in September. On July 17,

announced the Road to Royal Quest

tag team Tag team wrestling is a type of professional wrestling in which matches are contested between teams of multiple wrestlers. Tag teams may be made up of wrestlers who normally wrestle in singles competition, but more commonly are made of establish ...

tournament, to be held during the month of August. It would include eight teams, with the winners challenging the

IWGP Tag Team Champions The is a professional wrestling world tag team championship owned by the New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) promotion. "IWGP" is the acronym of the NJPW's governing body, the . The title was introduced on December 12, 1985 at an NJPW live event. The ...

(

Tama Tonga Alipate Aloisio Leone (born October 15, 1982) is a Tongan-American professional wrestler better known by the ring name Tama Tonga (タマ・トンガ　''Tama Tonga''). He is currently signed to New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). He is also known a ...

and

Tanga Loa Tevita Tu'amoeloa Fetaiakimoeata Fifita (born May 7, 1983) is an American professional wrestler, currently working for New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), under the ring name Tanga Loa (タンガ・ロア　''Tanga Roa'') (originally Tanga Roa). Fif ...

) at Royal Quest.

(

Kyle Fletcher Kyle Fletcher (born 24 December 1998) is an Australian professional wrestler currently appearing for New Japan Pro-Wrestling, where he was an inaugural Strong Openweight Tag Team Championship, Strong Openweight Tag Team Champion and Revolution Pro ...

and

Mark Davis Mark Davis may refer to: Entertainers *Mark Davis (talk show host), American radio talk show host * Mark Jonathan Davis (born 1965), American actor/singer and creator of Richard Cheese *Mark Davis, American bassist and founding member for the band ...

) won the tournament, defeating the team of Josh Bodom and

Sha Samuels Shaaheen Hosseinpour (born 27 February 1985) is an English professional wrestler. He is mostly known for his time in WWE where he performed on the NXT UK brand under the ring name Sha Samuels. Professional wrestling career Insane Championship ...

in the final.

Storylines

Royal Quest featured

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 a ...

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 culminate in a wrestling match or series of matches. Minoru Suzuki NEVER Openweight Champion

On June 16, at Kizuna Road, the

G1 Climax 29 The G1 Climax 29 was a professional wrestling tournament promoted by the Japan-based New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). The tournament commenced on July 6 and concluded on August 12, 2019. It is the twenty-ninth edition of G1 Climax, and forty-fifth ...

tournament participants were announced and

was a notable absence. Suzuki ended up being a prominent part in the undercard matches of each G1 Climax 29 show, stating his anger towards the NJPW management in the press conferences. On August 12, the tournament's last night, Suzuki pinned the

IWGP Heavyweight Champion The was a professional wrestling world heavyweight 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 June 12, 1987, in the final of an IWG ...

in a

tag team match 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 ...

(also involving

and

) and challenged him to a championship match. On April 6, at

G1 Supercard G1 Supercard was a professional wrestling supershow co-produced by the American Ring of Honor (ROH) and Japanese New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) promotions. It was the 13th annual Supercard of Honor event and took place on April 6, 2019, at Madis ...

, Zack Sabre Jr. defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi to successfully retain the British Heavyweight Championship. Tanahashi ended up taking a two-month absence due to an injury to his left elbow suffered in the match. When the G1 Climax 29 blocks were announced, Tanahashi and Sabre were drawn in the same block. Their tournament match happened on July 18, the fifth night, where Tanahashi avenged his injury by defeating Sabre. On August 11, Tanahashi would again record a pinfall victory against Sabre – this time in an undercard

eight-man tag team match Much like the singles match, tag team professional wrestling matches can and have taken many forms. Just about any singles or melee match type can be adapted to tag teams; for example, hardcore tag team matches are commonplace. Tag team ladder m ...

– and therefore is challenging the British Heavyweight Champion at Sabre's request. On June 9, at Dominion 6.9 in Osaka-jo Hall,

Katsuyori Shibata is a Japanese professional wrestler, mixed martial artist and professional wrestling trainer. In professional wrestling, he is known for his hard hitting offense. He is currently working for New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). In NJPW, he is a fo ...

came to the ring accompanied by

to announce the latter's inclusion in the G1 Climax 29 tournament at his request. Kenta would finish his block with eight points, failing to advance to the finals and drawing some unfriendly reactions from the Japanese audiences along the way. On August 11,

revealed on

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

that

Bullet Club (stylised as BULLET CLUB), sometimes shortened to BC, is a professional wrestling stable primarily appearing in the Japanese promotion New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). In the United States, the group currently appears on NJPW events run by the c ...

had recruited a new member. This was followed at the tournament's last night, on August 12, when a Bullet Club team of Tama Tonga,

and

Bad Luck Fale Simi Taitoko Fale (born 8 January 1982) is a Tongan-New Zealand professional wrestler and former rugby union player. He currently works for New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) as . In NJPW, he is a three-time NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Champio ...

was scheduled to face

Yoshi-Hashi is a Japanese professional wrestler. He currently works for New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) as Yoshi-Hashi (stylized in all capital letters), where he is a former IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Champion alongside Hirooki Goto. As well as a former ...

and Kenta in a six-man tag team match. Kenta refused to be tagged in and ended up hitting Ishii with the Go 2 Sleep and costing his team the match, officially joining Bullet Club in the process. Shibata would run into the ring to confront Kenta but was attacked instead by the other Bullet Club members. Therefore, Kenta is challenging Ishii for his

at this event.

Event

Royal Quest drew a near sellout crowd at the

with 6,119 paid in attendance. In the U.K. there is no NJPW on television, so all interest was created online or through word of mouth. It was among the highest attended events for any non-televised promotion in the United Kingdom. The event opened with Ryusuke Taguchi, Shota Umino and Ren Narita facing Roppongi 3K (Rocky Romero, Sho and Yoh). Sho won the match for his team with a lungblower, that he calls the Power Breaker, on Ren Narita. Scheduled next was a tag team match between the team of Kota Ibushi and Juice Robinson and a Bullet Club team of Yujiro Takahashi and Hikuleo. Ibushi won the match for his team, performing the Kamigoye on Hikuleo. The third match of the evening was a non-title match between the newly formed team of The Birds of Prey (Will Ospreay and Robbie Eagles) and the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions, Taiji Ishimori and El Phantasmo of the Bullet Club. The Birds of Prey defeated the champions with Red Wing (a Spanish Fly off of the top rope) on Taiji Ishimori. After the match, Ospreay challenged Ishimori and Phantasmo to a future title match. The fourth match saw a confrontation between the ''Los Ingobernables de Japón'' team of Tetsuya Naito and Sanada and the Bullet Club team of Jay White and Chase Owens. Sanada applied the Skull End on Owens to win the match via submission. The teams brawled in the ring after the match, with Naito standing tall after hitting Destino on White and obtaining a visual pinfall ahead of their future IWGP Intercontinental Championship match. The fifth match was the first title match of the evening, as the Guerrillas of Destiny (Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa) faced off against RPW's Road to Royal Quest tournament winners Aussie Open (Kyle Fletcher and Mark Davis) in an IWGP Tag Team Championship match. Tonga and Loa retained their titles after hitting Fletcher with a Super Powerbomb. After that, Tomohiro Ishii was scheduled to defend the NEVER Openweight Championship against the new Bullet Club member Kenta. During the match, his fellow stablemates Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa interfered, hitting a Magic Killer on Ishii. Kenta ended up winning the match and the title after hitting Ishii with his Go 2 Sleep patented move. The co-main event was a British Heavyweight Championship defense, as Zack Sabre Jr. was looking to defend his title against Hiroshi Tanahashi in their fourth match of the calendar year. Tanahashi won the British Heavyweight Championship for the first time, after hitting Sabre with a High Fly Flow. That led to the main event, where Kazuchika Okada was defending his IWGP Heavyweight Championship against the leader of Suzuki-gun, Minoru Suzuki. Okada defeated Suzuki with the Rainmaker after 33:25 minutes. Okada then closed the show with a promo, vowing to keep the title until the next time he returned to London.

Results

References

External links

* {{New Japan Pro Wrestling events 2019 in professional wrestling August 2019 events in the United Kingdom 2019 in London New Japan Pro-Wrestling shows Professional wrestling in England Events in London