LIGAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH, Plus the Return of DDT4

Liger is comin' back!
Photo Credit: Scott Finkelstein

The third name for the Ring of Honor/New Japan Pro Wrestling set of shows in Toronto and Philadelphia has been announced, and it's a legendary returnee. Jushin "Thunder" Liger will make his return to the crossover game. Last year, he wrestled Adam Cole for the ROH World Championship in a move that drew mixed reviews when it was booked. Liger's not exactly a power-player in NJPW right now, but the man is a veritable legend. He's been around the world a billion times and made history as one of the most innovative wrestlers ever.

He has more cache with American fans than, say, Ryusuke Taguchi or Katsuyori Shibata. He makes sense, even if his everpresence in America makes him a bit of a cop-out. Of course, the key will be seeing against whom he's scheduled. Would another ROH World Championship shot be in the cards? I honestly couldn't say, but seeing Liger take on Jay Briscoe would be a trip. At this point, however, Liger/Mark Briscoe would be the match I'd want to see.

Liger's booking on the NJPW tour of ROH isn't the only big casting news  in the indie wrestling world. DDT4, Pro Wrestling Guerrilla's annual tag team tournament, was announced last night on Twitter for May 22. The tournament was PWG's first card on a given calendar year for the last two years, and I was afraid it wasn't happening this year. But it is, and boy is it.

This year's frame is notable for who was announced as a debut. Dan Barry and Bill Carr, better known as Team Tremendous or Tremendous Investigations, will be flying out west to make their PWG debut. They are the third Combat Zone Wrestling/Beyond Wrestling team to make its way out west, along with Biff Busick and Drew Gulak, and the Beaver Boys of Alex Reynolds and Jon Silver. Of course, both of those teams have been announced, along with the PWG World Tag Team Champions World's Cutest Tag Team (Joey Ryan and Candice LeRae), Monster Mafia (Ethan Page and Josh Alexander), Trevor Lee and Andrew Everett, the Inner City Machine Guns (Ricochet and Rich Swann), and the new team of Love Gun (Matt Sydal and Chris Sabin). The lineup sounds pretty sick, and DDT4 is usually my favorite non-Trios frame of the year.