Author: Casey "Waveflame" Rinaldi

CEO Founder, Director and Promoter Alex Jebailey has been teasing a massive announcement for the annual summer event in Florida, one that would shock the fighting game community to its core — and he finally delivered with the announcement of CEO X NJPW.

This will be a live professional wresting event, featuring the stars of New Japan Pro Wrestling — which has been steadily nurturing and growing its relationship in the United States with the G1 Special in USA, and a return to Long Beach, California set for later this month for the Strong Style Evolved event. But now, the stars of New Japan will be bringing their unique brand of hard-hitting action to Daytona Beach, Florida — the site of CEO 2018 — on Friday, June 29th, to kick off the massive weekend of festivities.

Dubbed “an experience and crossover event the FGC will never forget,” by Alex Jebailey, the TO notes that tickets for “The King of Sports” event will go on sale in April; a special pre-sale and price discount for all CEO 2018 registrants will be available, and “affordable general admission” is promised. The match card will be revealed at a later date. When asked about seating, Jebailey noted that there would be “over 9,000 if needed,” and that those with spectator passes will also be e-mailed about the pre-sale.

“The Cleaner” Kenny Omega — former IWGP Jr. Heavyweight and first-ever United States Champion — has attended the last two CEOs as a special guest, and has already confirmed his attendance on Twitter, exclaiming that this is “The crossover event [he’s] been waiting for!” while extending an invite to WWE’s Xavier Woods to come with him. You can see the tweets below — and get ready, because “They’re Coming!”

My dream is almost a reality. You’re all not ready for this.

— Alex Jebailey (@CEOJebailey) March 8, 2018

An experience and crossover event the #FGC will never forget. #CEO2018 pic.twitter.com/EzScSHwOFS

— Alex Jebailey (@CEOJebailey) March 8, 2018

More info:#CEOxNJPW is a live wrestling event at the Ocean Center on Friday June 29th
– Ticketing available in April!
– Pre-Sale & show discount for #CEO2018 registrants!
– Affordable general admission!
– Show card revealed at a later date! https://t.co/1nyfMcaABd

— Alex Jebailey (@CEOJebailey) March 8, 2018

OVER 9,000 if needed. https://t.co/a7ycgg7ywE

— Alex Jebailey (@CEOJebailey) March 8, 2018

Spectators will also get emailed. https://t.co/2NNkmlCaNr

— Alex Jebailey (@CEOJebailey) March 8, 2018

The crossover event I’ve been waiting for! No better place than #CEO2018 ! Hope to see you all at Daytona Beach. #ChangeTheWorld https://t.co/iciyIRmQLc

— Kenny Omega (@KennyOmegamanX) March 8, 2018

Open invite. He is my FRIEND, after all…. pic.twitter.com/1vwz1F1ruh

— Kenny Omega (@KennyOmegamanX) March 8, 2018

This is certainly a bombshell of an announcement, and promises to be an unforgettable night for fans of fighting games and professional wrestling. Stay tuned to Shoryuken for all of the ticket details and full match card information as it becomes available. It’s gonna be a slobberknocker!

Sources: CEOJebailey (Twitter); KennyOmegamanX (Twitter)

Over the last few months, Dasvergeben has become a well-known leaker in the fighting game community. They have revealed things such as Enchantress and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles rounding out Injustice 2‘s Fighter Pack 3 — days before their reveal at ELEAGUE — as well as Broly, Bardock, Base Goku and Base Vegeta being part the Dragon Ball FighterZ FighterZ Pass, not to mention the very existence of SoulCalibur VI, including that it would be revealed at The Game Awards last December.

Most recently, he claims to have been contacted by a former employee of Bandai Namco Entertainment, who apparently believed they were wrongfully terminated from the company and chose him to be a surrogate for certain information. As with all such leaks and rumors, have a massive pinch of salt handy!

For SoulCalibur VI, the source claims that the game’s final roster will be — as far as they’re aware — 22 characters at launch, with 6 more being DLC; though this info is about 6 weeks old, so it could’ve changed. Specific characters mentioned include Hwang, Talim, Grøh’s adoptive father Friderich, Maxi’s lover Jacker, as well as One Piece‘s Roronoa Zoro serving as a guest character. Three of the six DLC characters this source seemingly knows about are Zasalamel (whom was apparently changed to be a launch character last month, recently revealed alongside Ivy Valentine), Cervantes, and a second female guest character. After speaking with his main SCVI source — who has seemingly been correct about everything so far — Dasvergeben was told the following:

They know about Grøh’s father, which shows they have some info right and 22 characters sounds about right, but I was under the impression it was going to be 24 on launch. I did say Hwang had WAAAAYYY more chance of making it in over Yunseong to you. His SC6 info while I can’t confirm it does sound believable. I would just call it a rumor for now though and not confirmed. I can’t say anything about the guest character either, but I feel like I have seen something about Zoro in relation to this game. I wasn’t told the name of Grøh’s dad yet, even if he was just an adoptive father or not.

Moving on to Dragon Ball FighterZ, a second season of DLC characters has apparently just come out of the planning stages, and this person was translating the paperwork before they got fired, noting that the characters will be released in packs of two — which seems feasible, given that Broly and Bardock were revealed together. The characters will reportedly be:

• Tapion and Gogeta
• Master Roshi and Videl (w/ The Great Saiyaman)
• Raditz and Zarbon (which Dasvergeben discussed being in the works in a previous post)
• Cabba and Kale (w/Caulifla)

He also notes that the original 8 characters from the FighterZ Pass (Broly, Bardock, Base Goku, Base Vegeta, SSGSS Vegito, Merged Zamasu, Cooler, and Android 17), should all be released by July, which would in turn make them all legal for Evo in August. He also notes that Dragon Ball Xenoverse 3 is not currently in development, but that an action-RPG about the original Dragon Ball is in pre-production.

Lastly, Dasvergeben mentions he’s been contacted about a new JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure fighting game, developed by Soft Circle French Bread, the creators of Melty Blood, Dengeki Bunko Fighting Climax and Under Night In-Birth, that “will have 2D visuals much like Dragon Ball FighterZ, and will feature Jotaro Kujo, Young Joseph Joestar, Johnny Joestar, Jolyne Cujoh, Yoshikage Kira and DIO as members of the roster, with a Story Mode and an English dub provided by VIZ Media… though even he finds this info difficult to believe!

For further details — such as a pair of rejected character designs for SCVI, as well as other non-fighting game leaks related to Bandai Namco Entertainment, you can check out the full threads on reddit in the source links.

Sources: reddit (1); (2); (3)

It seems yet another sponsored fighting game player has hit free agency, as following the recent news of Circa Esports dissolving after Evo, Splyce departing from the fighting game community and Punk leaving Panda Global, it was just announced that Dekillsage has officially left Team Critical Reaction.

Previously regarded as one of the biggest Teams in the NetherRealm Studios scene, Team cR has been the former home of the likes of SonicFox, Theo, Whiteboi, Cupcake, Dragon, HoneyBee, and Biohazard, and still currently sponsors Xarakamaka and Wound Cowboy.

A top player in Skullgirls: 2nd Encore, Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, and Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite (and he’s also picked up Dragon Ball FighterZ), Dekillsage’s accomplishments include winning a myriad of Skullgirls tournaments, with his most recent results being a victory at Frosty Faustings XI. In MvC:I, he placed 3rd at NEC 18, won the Go For Broke Winter Championship, got 4th at Frosty Faustings X and 7th at Winter Brawl 12. In DBFZ, he finished 4th at Winter Brawl 12. You can see the announcement below:

As of today, I am no longer a part of @Team_cR. You guys have been amazing to me these past few years and I will always think of you guys as family. Thank you for everything!!!

— dekillsage (@dekillsage) March 5, 2018

We here at Shoryuken would like to wish Dekillsage all the best in his future endeavors, and hope he lands with another team soon.

Source: dekillsage (Twitter)

This past weekend, 20 of the best Tekken 7 players in the United States descended upon the ELEAGUE Arena in Atlanta, Georgia to see which squad could lay claim to the King of Iron Fist title in the ELEAGUE Tekken Team Takedown.

With RB|Anakin, ITS|Cuddle Core, VS|NYCFab, and VS|Pokchop serving as team captains, they each were able to draft four additional players from the remaining pool of 15 fighters, to then battle it out in a single-elimination format — with the additional twist of a resurrection rule, which allowed a defeated player to be revived by the team captain once at any time during the Grand Finals. With Richard Lewis, Rip, Tasty Steve, Sajam, and MarkMan calling the action, it was certainly an epic event.

Results

Tekken 7

1. Team CuddleCore: ITS|CuddleCore (Alisa, Xiaoyu), NCSS|Jimmy J Tran (Bryan), VS|KoDee (Kazuya, Devil Jin), BrawlPro (King, Paul), UYU|KawaiiFaceMiles (Alisa)

2. Team Pokchop: VS|Pokchop (Josie), ITS|Lil Majin (King), Shadow20z (Claudio), WayGamble (Leo), Mateo (Feng)

3. Team Aankin: RB|Anakin (JACK-7, Geese), Circa|JoeyFury (JACK-7), PG|Speedkicks (Hwoarang, Kazumi), VS|SperoGin (Paul), NG-Obscure (Alisa)

3. Team NYCFab: VS|NYCFab (Bob, Feng), UYU|Princess Ling (Xiaoyu), Inkognito (Bryan), Rickstah (Akuma), ITS|Jackie Tran (JACK-7)

Source: ELEAGUE TV

Though neither current iteration of Team Blue’s decade-old BlazBlue series made the official lineup for the upcoming CEO 2018, rest assured that battles for the Azure and the Keystones will be raging in Daytona Beach. The community has officially announced side tournaments for both BlazBlue: Central Fiction and the upcoming BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle will be held at the event. This will give us our first sampling of the wars that will be waged upon the Phantom Field just a few short weeks after the game’s release.

Sign-ups for both events are now live at smash.gg. You can also see an announcement tweet from Bloo below.

#CEO2018 Blazblue Side Tournaments. Featuring Blazblue Cross Tag Battle and Blazblue Central Fiction. Please RThttps://t.co/ZkzbCXQNKF

— Bloo @ FR2018 (@Bloo561) March 1, 2018

Keep in mind that both titles will be played on PlayStation 4. This could serve as much-needed practice for BBTAG players, with Evo on the horizon about a month afterwards. CEO 2018 takes place June 29-July 1st at the Daytona Beach Ocean Center in Daytona Beach, Florida.

Source: Bloo561 (Twitter)

After reporting on the disheartening news that Circa Eports will be ceasing operations following Evo 2018, another sponsor has officially decided to pull out of the fighting game community.

Back in 2017, Ryan “Filipino Champ” Ramirez and Ryan “RyanLV” Romero both signed with the organization as the first members of their fighting game division. During their tenure, Champ would make several top 8s in Street Fighter V, most notably getting 7th at Evo 2017, as well as winning SCR 2017 for Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite and getting 4th at Canada Cup and 9th at Battle for the Stones. Meanwhile, RyanLV went on to become the final Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 Evo Champion, before getting 3rd at Battle for the Stones and 9th at Frosty Faustings X for MvCI.

In tweets posted by both Champ and Splyce’s Vice President Mike McKenna, the two indicated that the parting was mutual, offering nothing but praise for the other. McKenna closed by wishing both Ryans the best in their future endeavors and hopes that they may be able to work together again sometime down the road. RyanLV hasn’t commented on the situation as of this writing.

As of today I am no longer part of @Splyce Gaming
Such an amazing org! Thank you for everything and good luck moving forward

— FChamp Ryan Ramirez (@fchampryan) March 3, 2018

Today we are announcing our departure from the fighting game community. We want to thank @fchampryan and @Ryan_LV for their year with Splyce. For more background, please see Marty's vlog on the decision below. pic.twitter.com/Mj48IIuwuJ

— Splyce (@Splyce) March 2, 2018

We at Shoryuken wish both Filipino Champ and RyanLV the best in all of their future fighting game endeavors.

Sources: fchampryan (Twitter); Splyce (Twitter)

It seems we just can’t escape from Crossing Fate as the release of BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle continues to rapidly approach. The game’s Japanese website was recently updated, confirming that the next Arc Nama stream — which will reveal the three newest fighters who will be entering the Phantom Field in Cross Character Pack 2 — will happen on Friday, March 16th.

After last month’s reveal of BlazBlue’s Platinum The Trinity, Under Night In-Birth’s Orie Ballardiae, and Persona 4 Arena’s Kanji Tatsumi, the pattern of one new fighter from each of the three represented fighting games should continue.

While new BlazBlue and Under Night fighters could be anyone’s guess, the members of the Investigation Team have been revealed in the order in which they each awakened to their Personas, meaning next in line would be “The Scandalous Superstar Idol” Rise Kujikawa, who would mark the roster’s first addition from Persona 4 Arena Ultimax, and BBTAG is using the Junes stage added in that sequel. Though if they’re choosing to stick to characters form the original Arena, we’ll likely be seeing “The Beast in Heat,” Teddie, step into the ring.

The game was also recently announced to be playable at the upcoming Anime Ascention tournament on March 31 – April 1 at the campus of UC Irvine in Irvine, California, so we’ll hopefully have some footage and gameplay impressions emerge in about a month’s time.

Lastly, while a full English dub was already confirmed, many of the voice actors we know and love — such as David Vincent (voice of Jin Kisaragi), Christina Vee (voice of Noel Vermillion and Nu-13), D.C. Douglas (voice of Azrael), and Patrick Seitz (voice of Ragna The Bloodedge) have recently tweeted confirmation that they will be reprising their roles for BBTAG, which is no doubt welcome news to a great many fans.

You can tune into the Arc Nama stream on Friday, March 16th, at the usual time of 8:00 PM JST, (3:00 AM PT) at twitch.tv/arcsystemworks.

I had a wonderful time voicing Noel and Nu in #blazblue #crosstagbattle pic.twitter.com/uFyoxJOCpa

— Cristina Vee (@CristinaVee) February 21, 2018

I'm back as Jin Kisaragi in the upcoming game Blazblue Cross Tag Battle. Bring on the challengers! #Blazblue #JinKisaragi pic.twitter.com/NDj7xSp0iF

— David Vincent (@davidvincentva) February 21, 2018

For those who have been asking about #BlazBlue #CrossTagBattle… pic.twitter.com/57vTGqq6c5

— Patrick Seitz (@Seitz_Unseen) February 19, 2018

Recent #voiceover announcements recap: #blazblue pic.twitter.com/qBzMwoqzIZ

— D.C. Douglas (@DC_Douglas) February 27, 2018

Who would you like to step into the Phantom Field next? Give us your predictions in the comments section below.

BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle will be released in Japan for the PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch and PC on Thursday, May 31st, with a North American release following on the same platforms on Tuesday, June 5th. Details on a European release date have not been revealed.

Sources: blazblue.jp/tag; ChrinstinaVee (Twitter); davidvincentva (Twitter); Seitz_Unseen (Twitter); DC_Douglas (Twitter)