News, results & more from Japanese Pro Wrestling & Sumo
While Dragon Gate has not officially announced this on their website, their English language social media accounts-which are considered official-have announced that Ryu Fuda was injured during Saturday’s event in Okayama. Shoulder. Out indefinitely starting with Thursday’s event. He was to have teamed with Kazuma Kinura to face Naruki Doi & KAGETORA. Kenichiro Arai is the replacement. It’s not yet known how long Fuda may be out.
More as it becomes available
Starodm ran the first half of a NEW BLOOD doubleheader today, the first of 2 events this month for the promotion’s sub-label for younger & less experienced wrestlers.
Today’s event was held at Tokyo Square in Tokyo and can be watched on demand FOR FREE on YouTube.
The paid attendance was not announced but it was a legit advance sellout. For the venue that’s roughly 200-250.
Match 1: Hina beat Kikyo Furusawa by submission.
Match 2: Azusa Inaba beat Yuria Hime & Kiyoka Kokatsu in a 3-way by pinning Home.
Match 3: Tomoka Inaba & Ranna Yagami beat Mase & Moe Hisai (?). Yagani beat Mase Hisai with an armbar.
Match 4: HABAKO & Rian vs. Nanami Hatano & Meilan went to a 15 minute time limit draw.
Match 5: Xena beat Akira Kurogame.
Main Event: New Blood Tag Team. Hampions Aya Sakura & Sayaka Kurara beat Yuna Mizumori & Anne Kanaya to retain the titles. Sakura pinned Kanaya with a German suplex hold. V1 for the champs.
The next event is tomorrow. The event is a legit advance sellout. Live streaming FOR FREE on YouTube will begin at 2 AM PT/5 AM ET.
New Japan finished another tumultuous day for the promotion with the next event on the Road To THE NEW BEGINNING Tour and now impromptu farewell house show series for the departing Hiromu Takahashi. And in not-as-bad news, the announcement that two Young Lions will soon depart for their traditional overseas training excursions.
Today’s event was held at Iwaki City General Gym in Fukushima. There is/was no live or on demand broadcast.
The announced paid attendance was 742.
Match 1: Katsuya Murashima beat Masatora Yasuda.
Match 2: Ryusuke Taguchi & El Desperado beat Shona Kato & Tiger Mask. Desperado beat Kato with Nunero Dos.
Match 3: Kosei Fujita, Hartley Jackson, Ryohei Oiwa & Zack Sabre Jr. beat Tatsuya Matsumoto, Boltin Oleg, YOSHI-HASHI & Hirooki Goto. Jackson pinned Matsumoto after Death Valley Bomb.
Match 4: Master Wato, Yoh, Toru Yano & Aaron Wolf beat Dick Togo, DOUKI, Yujiro Takahashi & Ren Narita. Wato beat Togo with Vendeval.
Match 5: Robbie X, OSKAR (The Grouch) & Yuto Ice (Ice Baby) beat Tomoaki Honma, Yuya Uemura & Shota Umino. OSKAR beat Honma with a nightmare hold.
Match 6: Jacob Austin Young, Francesco Akira, Great-O-Khan & Callum Newman beat Gedo, Taiji Ishimori, Hiromu Takahashi & David Finlay. Khan beat Gedo with Iron Claw.
Main Event: Daiki Nagai, Drilla Moloney & Yota Tsuji beat Zane Jay, HENARE & Jake Lee. Tsuji pinned Jay after Gene Blaster.
The next event is tomorrow at Toyota Crown Arena in Fukushima. There will be no live or on demand broadcast
It’s traditional for New Japan Young Lions (rookies and second-year wrestlers) to head overseas after their first or second year for more training, although that’s not always the case (Kosei Fujita didn’t). Two more are about to embark on that next step of their careers-Katsuya Murashima, who just won the Young Lions Cup, and Shoma Kato are about to leave for their traditional excursions. Murashima will have his pre-departure match at THE NEW BEGINNING on 2/11 in Osaka, which will be Murashima & Kato vs. Togi Makabe & Toru Yano. Murashima’s training destination is undecided. Kato will depart after the CMLL FANTASTICAMANIA 2026 finale on 2/27 at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo with a match TBA, then he will head to Mexico which probably means CMLL.
It’s not known how long they’ll be gone but these training excursions usually last anywhere from a few months to 1-2 years.
The stunning exodus from New Japan continues…word just broke within the past hour that Hiromu Takahashi will be the latest to unexpectedly depart the promotion. No specific reason given beyond “After careful consideration and discussions with NJPW management, Hiromu Takahashi, who has been a long standing member of the NJPW roster, has decided to leave the promotion”. His final event will be THE NEW BEGINNING on 2/11. No word yet on future plans although he did make several appearances in Pro Wrestling NOAH the last few months and obviously this could open the door to a now-Los Tranquilos De Japon reunion with Tetsuya Naito & BUSHI. We shall see but this is another huge blow to the early days of the new Hiroshi Tanahashi regime.
More as it becomes available.
UPDATE: Some more details are emerging from various social media outlets, some offering rumors & speculation as to why he’s leaving: First, the seemingly official reason-contract expiring and not being renewed. Takahashi reportedly says he is leaving on good terms and it’s not due to dissatisfaction with the promotion and even calls it a “super positive departure”. Also claims it has nothing to do with the departures of Tetsuya Naito & EVIL. The emergence of “a new dream” was a deciding factor, and speculation that, given his age (36) with 15 years in the promotion and also being active in TV and other media that it was time to make a move.
A translation of the below post is the primary source for a lot of this, however I do note this account does not appear to be affiliated with New Japan despite the handle suggesting it, so treat it as unofficial:
Additionally, Takahashi will remain part of/involved with independent promotion SUGAMO Pro Wrestling, which is a comedy-themed promotion based in Tokyo. The promotion confirmed this in their own statement. I was not aware of this until seeing a Twitter post just now.
Pro Wrestling NOAH ran Episode 3 of MONDAY MAGIC RISING SUN SEASON today.
Today’s event was held at Shinjuku Face in Tokyo and can be watched on demand on WRESTLE UNIVERSE.
The paid attendance was not announced.
The match card was not announced in advance.
Match 1: AMAKUSA beat Dragon Bane & Atsushi Kotoge in a 3-way by pinning Kotoge.
Match 2: Chase Emery beat Soda Pop (?).
Match 3: Great Sakuya & Alivia Rose beat ZONES & Dream Girl Ellie and Marie Malenko & Sofia Sivan in a 3-way when Sakuya pinned Ellie.
Match 4: Titus Alexander won an 8 man battle royal, last eliminating Archie Cole. Order of elimination: Jacob Crane, Nathan De Wind, Rich Port Ayala (?), Galeno, Iker Navarro, HAYATA, Cole.
Match 5: Naomichi Marufuji, Kenoh & Masakatsu Funaki vs. Daichi Hashimoto, Masaaki Mochizuki & Hikaru Sato went to a 20 minute time limit draw.
Main Event: Kaito Kiyomiya beat Izzy James
The final episode of the season is 2/9.
The next event is Friday at Korakuen Hall to begin the NOAH Jr. Tag League. Live streaming on WRESTLE UNIVERSE will begin at 1:30 AM PT/4:30 AM ET. (If you missed the comment on social media they made changes in that some tournament events were going to be on demand only but all events will now be live)
UPDATE: While not yet officially announced, Mayu Iwatani vs. Great Sakuya for the GHC Women’s Championship may happen on 2/9 if Iwatani gets what she asked for today. (I didn’t know Iwatani won the title from Takumi Iroha because I currently do mot follow Marigold)
UPDATE 2: It’s now official. Also announced for 2/9 is GHC Hardcore Champion Titus Alexander vs. Masato Tanaka for the title.
New Japan continued the Road To THE NEW BEGINNING Tour today with the second half of a Tokyo doubleheader.
Today’s event was held at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo and can be watched on demand on New Japan World. You can also watch the first 2 matches FOR FREE on TouTube.
The announced paid attendance was 1073.
Match 1: Masatora Yasuda, Yuya Uenura & Shota Umino beat Daiki Nagai, OSKAR (The Grouch) & Yuto Ice (Ice Baby). Uemura pinned Nagai after a dragon lariat.
Match 2: Master Wato, Yoh, Toru Yano & Aaron Wolf beat Dick Togo, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, DOUKI & Ren Narita. Wato beat Togo with Vendeval.
Match 3: Jacob Austin Young, Francesco Akira & Callum Newman beat Gedo, Hiromu Takahashi & David Finlay. Akira pinned Takahashi after Crown Fall.
Match 4: Robbie X, Taiji Ishmori, Drilla Moloney & Yota Tsuji beat Zane Jay, Great-O-Khan, HENARE & Jake Lee. Moloney pinned Jay after Drilla Killer.
Match 5: Boltin Oleg beat Hartley Jackson.
Match 6: Zack Sabre Jr. beat YOSHI-HASHI.
Main Event: Hirooki Goto beat Ryohei Oiwa.
The next event is tomorrow at Iwaki City General Gym in Fukushima. There will be no live or on demand broadcast. Unless plans change (maybe for Sunday at Osaka Prefectural Gym 2) the rest of the tour is non-televised events.
The big post-January Tournament happening in sumo this weekend was yesterday’s retirement & haircutting ceremony for former Yokozuna Terunofuji, now stablemaster Isegahama. For those who don’t have access to ABEMA (where it’s available on demand in its entirety until Thursday) or who don’t want to search for short cut-up clips of the event on YouTube (they are there however), the official Isegahama Beya YouTube channel has put together a 35 minute highlight package including the final topknot butting by the former Isegahama (now Miyagino), which you can watch FOR FREE below (note the only subtitles available are Japanese which are auto-generated, you can auto-translate to English but it’ll be hilariously bad at times):
All-Japan kicked off the Excite Series 2026 Tour today in Okinawa.
Today’s event was held at Okinawa Prefectural Budokan in Okinawa and will be available on demand on AJPW.TV at 5 PM PT/8 PM ET. There was no live broadcast.
The announced paid attendance was 2036.
Match 1: Seiki Yoshioka beat Shota Kofuji.
Match 2: Cyrus beat MUSASHI & Aizawa No. 1 in a 3-way by pinning both.
Match 3: Go Shiozaki & Shotaro Ashino beat Ryuki Honda & Rising Hayato. Shiozaki pnined Hayato after Go Lariat.
Match 4: Atsuki Aoyagi beat Shisa Mask.
Match 5: Kento Miyahara, Hideki Suzuki & Dan Tamura beat Jun Saito, Yuma Anzai & Ryo Inoue. Miyahara pinned Inoue with a shutdown suplex hold.
Main Event: All-Japan World Tag Team Champions Ren Ayabe & Talos beat Hokuto Omori & Kumaarashi to retain the titles. Ayabe pinned Omori after Des Roulette. V1 for the champs.
The next event is Saturday at Shin-Kiba 1st Ring in Tokyo. The event is already a legit advance sellout. Live streaming on AJPW.TV will begin Friday at 7 PM PT/10 PM ET.
UPDATE: Next up for Ayabe/Talos: The Odd Couple aka Hideki Suzuki & Suwama. That match will happen on 2/23 at Ota City General Gym in Tokyo.
UPDATE 2: In a post on social media earlier today (2/2), Kumaarashi announced he is leaving the Hokuto Army faction. So that leaves it as Omori and-when they show up-Cyrus and, I think, Takashi. A Kumaarashi-Omori match is now set for Saturday.
New Japan continued the Road To THE NEW BEGINNING Tour today with the first half of a Tokyo doubleheader.
Today’s event was held at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo and can be watched on demand on New Japan World. You can also watch the first 2 matches FOR FREE on YouTube.
The announced paid attendance was 1234.
Match 1: Young Lions Cup Final: Katsuya Murashima beat Shoma Kato to win the tournament. The trophy was presented by President Hiroshi Tanahashi.
Match 2: Gedo, OSKAR (The Grouch) & Yuto Ice (Ice Baby) beat Tiger Mask, Yuya Uemura & Shota Umino. Ice pinned TM 4 after KOB.
Match 3: Kosei Fujita, Hartley Jackson, Ryohei Oiwa & Zack Sabre Jr. beat Ryusuke Taguchi, Boltin Oleg, YOSHI-HASHI & Hirooki Goto. Oiwa beat Taguchi with TM Clutch.
Match 4: Zane Jay, Great-O-Khan & HENARE beat Daiki Nagai, Robbie X & Drilla Moloney. HENARE pinned Jay after a sitdown jumping powerbomb.
Match 5: Master Wato, Yoh, Toru Yano & Aaron Wolf beat Dick Togo, DOUKI, Yujiro Takahashi & Ren Narita. Wato pinned DOUKI with a Tsutentaku German suplex hold.
Match 6: Hiromu Takahashi & David Finlay beat Jacob Austin Young & Callum Newman. Finlay pinned Young after Overkill.
Main Event: Francesco Akira & Jake Lee beat Taiji Ishimori & Yota Tsuji. Akira pinned Ishimori after Crownfall.
The next event is tomorrow. Live streaming on New Japan World will begin at 1:30 AM PT/4:30 AM ET. This may be the last televised/streamed event of the tour.