Historic X-Over (pronounced: Historic Crossover) was a professional wrestling event co-promoted by New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) and World Wonder Ring Stardom (Stardom). It took place on November 20, 2022, at the Ariake Arena in Tokyo, Japan.

Historic X-Over
Promotional poster featuring various NJPW and Stardom wrestlers.
PromotionNew Japan Pro-Wrestling
World Wonder Ring Stardom
DateNovember 20, 2022
CityTokyo, Japan
VenueAriake Arena
Attendance7,102[1]
Historic X-Over chronology
← Previous
First
Next →
Historic X-Over 2
New Japan Pro-Wrestling event chronology
← Previous
Battle Autumn '22
Next →
World Tag League & Super Jr. Tag League
Wrestle Kingdom 17
World Wonder Ring Stardom event chronology
← Previous
Gold Rush 2022
Next →
Stardom in Showcase vol.3

Production

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Background

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On January 31, 2012, card game company Bushiroad fully acquired New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) from video game developer Yuke's. On October 17, 2019, Bushiroad announced in a press conference that they had also acquired World Wonder Ring Stardom (Stardom) from the company's President Rossy Ogawa, making Stardom the sister promotion of NJPW. Since Wrestle Kingdom 14, NJPW has featured Stardom matches at various NJPW events.

On June 6, 2022, during Bushiroad's 15th anniversary press conference, it was announced that NJPW and Stardom will hold its first shared event on November 20.[2] NJPW President Takami Ohbari, revealed that the event would include at least two mixed tag team matches and that Stardom wrestlers would be featured on NJPW Strong events in the United States.[3]

On July 29, NJPW and Stardom announced the creation of the IWGP Women's Championship, which would be defended at NJPW events in Japan and United States by Stardom wrestlers. The inaugural champion will be crowned at Historic X-Over.[4][5]

Storylines

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Historic X-Over featured eleven professional wrestling matches that result from scripted storylines, where wrestlers portray villains, heroes, or less distinguishable characters in the scripted events that build tension and culminate in a wrestling match or series of matches.[6]

On August 27, 2022, representatives from fives stables would draw straws to determine which four stables out of the five would compete for in the IWGP Women's Championship tournament. The representatives were Giulia from Donna Del Mondo, Mayu Iwatani from Stars, Starlight Kid from Oedo Tai, and Utami Hayashishita from Queen's Quest with Syuri from God's Eye being eliminated due to drawing the shortest straw.[7] With Iwatani, Hayashishita, Himeka from Donna Del Mondo and Momo Watanabe from Oedo Tai being chosen to complete in the on the Japanese side of the tournament, while Jazzy Gabert, Ava White, and Kairi (despite being Japanese) was announced to compete on the foreigner side with Kairi receiving a first round bye.[8][9] On October 2 at Royal Quest II, Gabert defeated White to advanced to the semi-final while Iwatani defeated Watanabe and Hayashishita defeated Himeka on October 22 to advance.[10][11] On October 23, Iwatani and Kairi would defeat Hayashishita and Gabert to advance to the finals at Historic X-Over.[12]

On October 26, during a NJPW World Television Championship tournament match between Toru Yano and Great-O-Khan was the return of The Great Muta return to NJPW, where he cost Great-O-Khan's match by spraying green mist in his face.[13] During backstage comments, Muta expressed his desire to tag with Yano and Kazuchika Okada at Historic X-Over to take on Great-O-Khan and the United Empire with the match being made official shortly after.[14]

On November 5 at Battle Autumn, Will Ospreay successfully defended the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship against Tetsuya Naito in the main event. After the match, Ospreay would lay down an open challenge for the title for Historic X-Over only to have the returning Shota Umino attack Ospreay and his fellow United Empire stable in the ring, accepting Ospreay's open challenge and setting up the title match.[15]

Results

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No.Results[16][17]StipulationsTimes[1]
1PLA Dojo (Alex Coughlin, Clark Connors, Gabriel Kidd and Kevin Knight) defeated Kosei Fujita, Oskar Leube, Ryohei Oiwa and Yuto Nakashima by pinfallEight-man tag team match9:39
2PMirai won by last eliminating Super Strong Stardom Machine15-woman Stardom Rambo23:06
3Chaos (Lio Rush, Tomohiro Ishii, Yoh and Yoshi-Hashi) defeated House of Torture (Dick Togo, Evil, Sho and Yujiro Takahashi) by pinfallEight-man tag team match7:05
4Queen's Quest (AZM, Lady C and Saya Kamitani) defeated Donna Del Mondo (Himeka, Mai Sakurai and Thekla) by pinfallSix-woman tag team match9:20
5Giulia and Zack Sabre Jr. defeated Syuri and Tom Lawlor by pinfallMixed tag team match10:29
6meltear (Tam Nakano and Natsupoi) and Suzuki-gun (Taichi and Yoshinobu Kanemaru) defeated Black Desire (Momo Watanabe and Starlight Kid) and Suzuki-gun (El Desperado and Douki) by pinfallEight-Person mixed tag team match12:01
7Hiroshi Tanahashi and Utami Hayashishita defeated Hirooki Goto and Maika by pinfallMixed tag team match9:36
8United Empire (Aussie Open (Kyle Fletcher and Mark Davis), Catch 2/2 (Francesco Akira and TJP) and Gideon Grey) defeated Los Ingobernables de Japon (Bushi, Hiromu Takahashi, Sanada, Shingo Takagi and Tetsuya Naito) by pinfallTen-man tag team match9:55
9Chaos (Kazuchika Okada and Toru Yano) and The Great Muta defeated United Empire (Great-O-Khan, Jeff Cobb and Aaron Henare) by pinfallSix-man tag team match9:48
10Will Ospreay (c) defeated Shota Umino by pinfallSingles match for the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship23:30
11Kairi defeated Mayu Iwatani by pinfallTournament Final for the inaugural IWGP Women's Championship25:28
(c) – the champion(s) heading into the match
P – the match was broadcast on the pre-show

IWGP Women's Championship tournament

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The inaugural IWGP Women's Champion Kairi
Round 1
Royal Quest II
(October 2)
IWGP Women's Championship Tournament First Round
(October 22)[18]
Semifinals
Goddesses of Stardom Tag League 2022
Night 1
(October 23)
Finals
Historic X-Over
(November 20)
         
Mayu Iwatani Pin
Momo Watanabe 12:32[19]
Mayu Iwatani Pin
Utami Hayashishita 14:51[21]
Utami Hayashishita Pin
Himeka 11:41[19]
Mayu Iwatani 25:28[22]
Kairi Pin
Jazzy Gabert Pin
Ava White 10:34[20]
Jazzy Gabert 12:24[21]
Kairi Pin
Kairi Bye

Stardom Rambo entrances and eliminations

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Draw Entrant Order Eliminated by Elimination(s)
1 Mirai Winner 3
2 Ami Sohrei 11 Saki Kashima 2
3 Saya Iida 1 Natsuko Tora 0
4 Natsuko Tora 6 Hazuki 1
5 Hanan 8 Saki Kashima 1
6 Hina 4 Ruaka 2
7 Rina 7 Hanan 0
8 Hazuki 10 Saki Kashima 1
9 Koguma 9 Saki Kashima 0
10 Momo Kohgo 2 Ami Sourei and Hina 0
11 Waka Tsukiyama 3 Ami Sourei and Hina 0
12 Saki Kashima 13 Mirai 5
13 Ruaka 5 Mirai 1
14 Miyu Amasaki 12 Saki Kashima 0
15 Super Strong Stardom Machine 14 Mirai 0

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b Kreikenbohm, Philip (November 20, 2022). "NJPW/Stardom Historic X-over". cagematch.net. Retrieved November 20, 2022.
  2. ^ Currier, Joseph (June 6, 2022). "NJPW & Stardom to hold first-ever joint event". Wrestling Observer Online. Retrieved August 23, 2022.
  3. ^ "Back in the UK, Boos (and cheers!) in Japan and more as multiple events announced". New Japan Pro-Wrestling. July 7, 2022. Retrieved August 23, 2022.
  4. ^ Renner, Ethan (July 29, 2022). "NJPW & Stardom to hold first-ever joint event". Wrestling Observer Online. Retrieved August 23, 2022.
  5. ^ Lambert, Jeremy (July 30, 2022). "NJPW & STARDOM creating IWGP Women's Championship". Fightful. Retrieved August 23, 2022.
  6. ^ Grabianowski, Ed. "How Pro Wrestling Works". HowStuffWorks, Inc. Discovery Communications. Archived from the original on January 15, 2006. Retrieved August 21, 2017.
  7. ^ Tokyo Sports (August 27, 2022). 【スターダム】IWGP女子出場ユニットがくじ引きで決定 CAとゴッズアイ落選. tokyo-sports.co.jp (in Japanese). Retrieved August 27, 2022.
  8. ^ Yahoo! Japan (October 4, 2022). IWGP女子王座へ火花!岩谷麻優-渡辺桃、林下詩美-ひめか、KAIRI-フィーメル. Yahoo! Japan (in Japanese). Retrieved November 6, 2022.
  9. ^ Lambert, Jeremy (September 23, 2022). "KAIRI Announced For IWGP Women's Title Tournament". Fightful. Retrieved November 6, 2022.
  10. ^ Carey, Ian (October 2, 2022). "NJPW Royal Quest II night two results: Tetsuya Naito vs. Zack Sabre Jr". Wrestling Observer Online. Retrieved November 6, 2022.
  11. ^ 2022年10月22日 『IWGP女子初代王者決定戦~1回戦~』. World Wonder Ring Stardom (in Japanese). October 22, 2022. Retrieved November 6, 2022.
  12. ^ Carey, Ian (October 23, 2022). "IWGP Women's title tournament finals set for NJPW x Stardom Historic X-over". Wrestling Observer Online. Retrieved November 6, 2022.
  13. ^ Lambert, Jeremy (October 26, 2022). "NJPW Battle Autumn Results (10/26): Toru Yano vs. Great-O-Khan, Tomohiro Ishii vs. Ren Narita". Fightful. Retrieved November 6, 2022.
  14. ^ Tessier, Colin (October 26, 2022). "Great Muta And More Announced For NJPW x STARDOM Historic X-Over". Fightful. Retrieved November 6, 2022.
  15. ^ Carey, Ian (November 5, 2022). "NJPW Battle Autumn in Osaka live results: Ospreay vs. Naito US title match". Wrestling Observer Online. Retrieved November 6, 2022.
  16. ^ "2022.11.20 Historic X-Over | New Japan Pro-Wrestling". NJPW. Archived from the original on 2022-11-20. Retrieved 2022-11-20.
  17. ^ "Three Massive Mixed Matches for Historic X-Over!". New Japan Pro-Wrestling. August 23, 2022. Archived from the original on August 23, 2022. Retrieved August 23, 2022.
  18. ^ New Japan Pro Wrestling (August 23, 2022). IWGP女子王座の設立が正式決定! 11.20有明アリーナで棚橋&林下vs後藤&舞華!ローラー&朱里vsザック&ジュリア! タイチ&金丸&たむ&なつぽいvsデスペラード&DOUKI&スターライトキッド&桃!. njpw.co.jp (in Japanese). Archived from the original on February 18, 2023. Retrieved August 23, 2022.
  19. ^ a b Kreikenbohm, Philip (October 22, 2022). "Stardom First IWGP Women's Champion Decision Battle First Round". cagematch.net. Archived from the original on October 24, 2022. Retrieved October 23, 2022.
  20. ^ Kreikenbohm, Philip (October 2, 2022). "NJPW Royal Quest II - Tag 2". cagematch.net. Archived from the original on October 3, 2022. Retrieved October 3, 2022.
  21. ^ a b Kreikenbohm, Philip (October 23, 2022). "Stardom Goddesses Of Stardom Tag League 2022 - Tag 1". cagematch.net. Archived from the original on October 23, 2022. Retrieved October 23, 2022.
  22. ^ Kreikenbohm, Philip (November 20, 2022). "NJPW/Stardom Historic X-over". cagematch.net. Archived from the original on November 20, 2022. Retrieved November 20, 2022.
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