Big Beefy Men in Beefville
Match: ジェフ・コブ (Jeff Cobb) © vs 石井 智宏 (Tomohiro Ishii) (11:47)
Company: New Japan Pro-Wrestling
Year: 2024
Prize: NJPW World TV Championship
Event: NJPW Dominion 6.9n In Osaka-Jo Hall ~ Best Of The Super Junior 31 Final ~
(At the time of writing)
Before I start this edition of my match descriptions or whatever, I would like to address the incident recently that has reached outside the wrestling world. A situation involving pro wrestler Syko Stu (real name Stuart Smith) who was brutally assaulted and nearly beaten to death by Raja Jackson, who is the son of MMA Legend Rampage Jackson, at a KnockX PRO Wrestling event. Luckily, fellow There are many article writers and YouTubers that have talked about it, so I am going to leave two links:
https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-support-sykostus-recovery-journey
This link is for the Go Fund Me that Syko Stu’s wife set up for Syko Stu’s recovery during this time. If you want to donate, you can with the link.
https://youtu.be/-lq0DHvWw8c?si=XFHRr193_keg3uYL
This link is a YouTube video from the Scaling Up Podcast. It featured “The Epic” Douglas Malo, the wrestler who stopped Raja Jackson from essentially trying to kill Syko Stu. This video details more about this incident, so I highly recommend you watch or listen to it.
I wish Syko Stu will have a fast and full recovery. Now let’s get onto today’s article.
The Ramble Time
Now look, I am not one to give into popular sentiment… That’s a lie I do. I mean, I have made many posts during that whole G1 Climax 35 debacle with KONOSUKE TAKESHITA winning. I personally think that Takeshita winning was the wrong choice, but I realised, it’s New Japan Pro-Wrestling and we all know ridiculous choices can happen with that company. Also the crashout Japanese fans had when NJPW posted that picture of Takeshita winning on X/Twitter was a sight to see and AEW gets unfortunately dragged into this even though it wasn't their decision, but whatever.
Speaking of NJPW, Jeff Cobb. I know you might be thinking, why am I talking about Jeff Cobb, who is now in WWE as JC Mateo? Well I have a story for you. On the most recent episode of WWE SmackDown in Dublin, Ireland, The Street Profits (Angelo Dawkins & Montez Ford) faced off against the MFT’s JC Mateo (Jeff Cobb) & Tonga Loa (fka Tanga Loa). The Irish crowd suddenly decided to chant this at JC Mateo:
https://x.com/wrestlepurists/status/1958991350491172931?s=46
Okay, so chanting, “You can’t wrestle” at the former Olympic wrestler and one of the best big men in wrestling in my opinion. This prompted me to make this specific article because of it. So thank you Ireland fans. You give me the motivation I needed to do this article. Also this match is also on YouTube, so there is no excuse to view this after you have completed reading this article.
All Together Origins + The reason for Cobb & Ishii happening
This match does require some important context as you might be wondering why this match between Jeff Cobb and Tomohiro Ishii is happening for the NJPW World TV Championship. This also includes more about a certain event and its history of events, so bear with me. It’s more rambling, but I love rambling so deal with it.
In 2011 (damn, I feel older than my actual age), there was a press conference held in the Nippon Budokan in Tokyo. The people that were in attendance were (and it’s quite the list):
Yukinobu Ebata - President Of Tokyo Sports Magazine
Keiji Muto - All Japan Pro-wrestling President at the time
Suwama (AJPW) - Triple Crown Champion at the time
Naoki Sugabayashi - New Japan Pro-Wrestling President
Hiroshi Tanahashi (NJPW) - IWGP Heavyweight Champion at the time
Akira Taue - Pro Wrestling NOAH President at the time
Takashi Sugiura (NOAH) - GHC Heavyweight Champion at the time
The announcement is that all three promotions would hold a charity event on August 27th of that year. All the donations would go towards helping the people who had been affected by the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami incident. This show would have the name of… All Together. This event was sponsored by Tokyo Sports and there was a song composed by Rock Band Funkist called “All Together” featuring 30 wrestlers from these 3 promotions.
This was broadcasted live on PPV and later on tape delay on Samurai! TV, GAORA TV, NTV G+ and TV Asahi. The show itself had a big donation of 58,273,560 Yen (approx. $730,00 at the time) which was made up of ticket, PPV and merchandise sales to the Japanese Red Cross. In the main event, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Suwama, Go Shiozaki defeated Shinsuke Nakamura, Kenso (fka Kenzo Suzuki) & Takashi Sugiura.
In 2012, the three promotions would have another All Together event. This was titled, “All Together: Moikkai, Hitotsu ni Naro ze”. This also would be another charity event for the people affected by the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami incident. This event would take place in the city of Sendai in the Miyagi Prefecture at the Sendai Sun Plaza Hall. In the main event, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Suwama & Takeshima Morishima would defeat Tetsuya Naito, Seiya Sanada (aka SANADA) & Go Shiozaki.
[11 YEARS LATER]
In 2023, a charity event would take place in Ryogoku Kokugikan (or Ryogoku Sumo Hall) called, All Together: Again. NJPW, AJPW & NOAH would collaborate for this event for the first time in 11 years. This event was positively received and in the main event, Kazuchika Okada, Yuma Aoyagi & Kenoh defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi, Kento Miyahara & Kaito Kiyomiya.
Later that year, the UJPW was founded. United Japan Pro-Wrestling (or UJPW) is an association of several promotions in Japan as a group in order to facilitate the sharing of resources and practice as well as strengthening connections to other sectors. The promotions that are members under the UJPW banner are *checks notes*:
New Japan Pro-Wrestling
All Japan Pro Wrestling
Pro Wrestling NOAH
DDT Pro-Wrestling
Dragongate Japan Pro Wrestling
Wonder World Ring Stardom
Tokyo Joshi Pro-Wrestling
Big Japan Pro Wrestling
GANBARE Pro Wrestling
Kyushu Pro-Wrestling
Pro Wrestling FREEDOMS
Pro-Wrestling Dradition (Supporting)
Pro Wrestling Wave (Supporting)
World Woman Pro-Wresling Diana (Supporting)
UJPW would host an inaugural event for their 1st show as an organisation. This would be called, All Together: United Japan Pro-Wrestling Inauguration & Noto Peninsula Reconstruction Charity Event. This would be a charity event for people who have been affected by the Noto Peninsula which is north of the Sea Of Japan from the coast of Ishikawa Prefecture in central Honshu.
(Zero Thoughts: This was also the second earthquake in back to back years. That is sad on all levels.)
This event would be main evented by Shota Umino, Kaito Kiyomiya & Yuki Ueno facing Yuya Uemura, Konosuke Takeshita & Shun Skywalker. During the show, Tomohiro Ishii teamed with Daisuke Sekimmoto to face NJPW World TV Champion Jeff Cobb & Masa Kitamiya. Ishii would pin Cobb to win the match for him and Sekimoto. Which would lead to here at Dominion and this being a title match.
MATCH TIME
So with that being said, from Osaka-Jo Hall in front of 7,254 fans. In the 5th match on the show, it’s Jeff Cobb defending the NJPW World TV Championship against Tomohiro Ishii. Let’s roll with it.
Seems like tension already started right before the bell rings. When Jeff Cobb entered the ring, he and Ishii were already face to face. So Cobb just chucks the title belt at the referee, and once the bell rings, both of them go straight for shoulder tackles. This is great. Cobb would out shoulder tackle Ishii for the knockdown. Ishii resorts to strikes as he runs off the ropes to build some momentum for a potential lariat. Cobb had other ideas though because as Ishii ducked the drop down and the leapfrog, Cobb surprised him with a high crossbody out of nowhere. I don’t remember that even happening, so I’m surprised it’s done here.
The next thing Mr. Cobb did was that he completely flipped Ishii on his stomach so he could step on his back like he is a surfboard. This was something Cobb did in preview tags, so I did like seeing it here. Cobb would Irish whip him in the corner, only for Ishii to come back with a shoulder tackle which didn’t affect him just yet. So Cobb struck him hard and tried the shoulder tackle again… and Ishii floored him with a shoulder tackle. These are fun times.
Ishii tried to go for the Vertical Drop, but Cobb kept his body weight down. Cobb tried to do his Vertical Drop Suplex, Ishii escaped from it to apply a waist lock and pushed him to the ropes. Cobb finally got to drop Ishii with a shoulder tackle. Once Ishii was on his feet, he kept striking Cobb especially when the Imperial Unit kept encouraging it. Cobb countered his next strike as they had a bit of a dance. When Cobb pushed Ishii to the corner, he immediately ran over and hit a crazy uppercut. Even the referee had to check on him (which is his job).
This wouldn’t be a match from Japanese Pro Wrestling without some friendly little stomps on the head. I love antagonism. Ishii sat up like The Undertaker with so much anger that it was a little funny. Once Cobb starts his strikes on Ishii, nothing phases the Pitbull. Ishii strikes him back and finally hits the Vertical Drop Suplex. When Ishii rebounds from the ropes for the lariat, Cobb blocks that and the attempted counter forearm from Ishii. Cobb Irish whipped him to the ropes as he jumped for the dropkick, but Ishii held on to the ropes so he would rebound back and Cobb landed on his back. Ishii went for the sliding lariat, Cobb ducked as he went for the Superkick. Ishii blocked that to duck under a back elbow and lariat for the waist lock. Cobb did a standing switch into a German Suplex.
When Ishii tried his usual pop up, he couldn’t as his neck was in so much pain. Walker Stewart on commentary said a diabolical line by saying, “right on the back of the no neck for Tomohiro Ishii”. Okay, Walker. We can clearly see the neck. Roderick Strong was correct. Neck Health Awareness should be focused on. Jokes aside, Cobb lifted Ishii to the top turnbuckle and hit a big superplex from the top. This only seemed to have motivated him as Ishii popped up, blocked a lariat attempt and hit a German Suplex on Cobb. When Ishii was in the corner, he kept headbutting the corner pad. In the centre, Ishii ducked under a lariat and hit the backdrop on Cobb. He tried to continue the momentum, but Cobb just grabbed him and gave him the roughest Overhead Belly-To-Belly I’ve seen since that Wrestle Kingdom match with Shingo Takagi. Ishii popped up again and he hit the lariat (even though it didn’t get him down and just rocked him) only for Cobb to fire back with a massive lariat for a two count.
When he picked up Ishii, the Pitbull started doing his rapid fire strikes and Cobb just did Ishii style headbutt. He immediately followed up with a moonsault for a two count. (Zero Thoughts: I will mention, whenever Jeff Cobb does these moonsaults, it always seems out of nowhere without it being unexpected. I know it is 2+2= Potato logic, but I’m sticking to it.) Cobb Irish whipped him to the ropes to set up for the Tour Of The Islands, but Ishii fired back with a Lariat + Enzigiri combination that had Cobb staggering. Cobb was fired up only to be brought down by Ishii for a one count which sent Ishii to the red corner. Ishii got up first and went for the lariat only for Cobb to slam him down with a Uranage and followed up with a Hammer & Sickle.
Ishii kicked out at one as well. Ishii blocked another Superkick and followed up with a strike so impactful that even the user stumbled backwards. Ishii rebounded back from the ropes to hit a sliding lariat on a seated Cobb. Ishii tried the Vertical Drop Brainbuster, so Cobb would try to switch into the F5000, but Ishii escaped. Cobb would surprise Ishii with a dropkick after a flurry from Ishii. Cobb picked up Ishii in a Fireman’s Carry and hit the F5000. When that didn’t work, Cobb tried to do the Rainmaker version of Tour Of The Islands, but Ishii countered that into a strike exchange. Cobb ended that exchange with a Spin Cycle and went for Tour Of The Islands, but Ishii headbutted his way out.
Ishii actually did a hurricanrana on Cobb, which shocked the crowd and made Walker Stewart’s voice crack. Ishii followed up with a lariat so hard that Cobb spun out for a very close two count. Ishii tried to lift him up for the Vertical Drop Brainbuster, and Cobb reversed into the Tour Of The Islands to get the three. Jeff Cobb is still NJPW World TV Champion and what a match it is.
ZERO: ⭐⭐⭐⭐1/2
Post Ramble
I have been watching loads of TV shows that really focus on effects, powers, fighting styles, comedy and epic conclusions. Like hell even parodies that have emphasis on making unserious moments mean something until we strike gold. It makes me watch Pro Wrestling in more of an observant context than anything else. It also makes me want to continue these articles and I do hope that something valuable can be recognised from my work. Time will tell and it would be a great dream as a short-term article writer.
It has been a busy few weeks lately. Especially in wrestling. I am starting to get used to this whole writing business thing, because this article felt like it was easier to do than all of the work that I have done so far. Even though I look like I am about to collapse at every moment's notice as a result of exhaustion and no, I didn’t ask Brett Michelle for a bunch of weed. Anyway, I will try to do more consistent work, especially because this took an unnecessarily long time to do. If you want to read articles by other authors, go to The ClubHouse and don’t worry, we won’t bite. If you want to check more SickosClub content, you can subscribe to the official SickosClub YouTube Channel by searching YouTube.com/@Sickos-Club with many videos & shorts on there. Hope you have a happy day and I love you all consensually. I’ll see you whenever I pop up.