Tokyo Joshi Pro wraps up the 2024 Futari-wa Princess Max Heart Tournament today with the Finals, which will award a Princess Tag Team Championship shot to the winners. That match will probably happen at GRAND PRINCESS ’24 in March, The Finals will be Rika Tatsumi & Miu Watanabe vs. Suzume & Arisu Endo, with Tatsumi/Watanabe going for their second tournament victory and Suzume/Endo going for their first. This could result in double duty for Watanabe if Daydream prevails-already set for the likely main event at Ryogoku, when she gets her first Princess Of Princess Championship opportunity, she could add tag team gold, and if she wins both she would also become a rare Triple Crown Champion in TJPW (joining only Tatsumi as wrestlers to ever hold all 3 of the promotion’s titles). Suzume & Endo were perhaps denied a proper title opportunity recently due to health issues affecting former champions Nao Kakuta & Hikari Noa, ultimately getting a title shot but losing in a 3-way, so they are no doubt motivated to get a proper second chance. There is also a title match before that, and one I of course will be watching closely as International Princess Champion Yuki Arai makes her first defense against Juria Nagano, who looks to pull an upset and win gold before she walks away from wrestling.
Today’s event will be held at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo and can be watched LIVE on WRESTLE UNIVERSE in Japanese. This may be a Samurai! TV simulcast in Japan. There is a post-event party/gathering planned at another venue that may keep them on a strict clock today, but given only the title match could go longer than 20 minutes plus the main event, which is no time limit, this event probably won’t run more than 2 1/2 hours so those in the west US can still watch and go out on your Friday night.
Today’s lineup (in order):
Shino Suzuki vs. Haru Kazashiro
Yuki Kamifuku, Mahiro Kiryu & Nao Kakuta vs. Raku, Pom Harajuku & Ram Kaichow (666)
Moka Miyamoto vs. Kaya Toribami
Shoko Nakajima & Hyper Misao vs. Wakana Uehara & HIMAWARI
Mizuki vs. Zara Zucker
Miyu Yamashita & Toga vs. Ryo Mizunami & Yuki Aino
International Princess Champion Yuki Arai vs. Juria Nagano for the title
Max Heart Tournament Finals: Rika Tatsumi & Miu Watanabe vs. Suzume & Arisu Endo
Refresh this page occasionally for the latest results.
Updates below will begin at 6 PM PT/9 PM ET. The event is scheduled to begin at 6:30 PM PT/9:30 PM ET with the opening announcements planned to start 8 minutes before the event.
6 PM PT UPDATE: The live stream has begun. We should be going to the venue in about 15 minutes. Updates will resume then.
6:15 PM PT UPDATE: Live updates begin now…
We are LIVE from Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan. Your hosts are Haruo Murata, Kagehiro Osano & Sayoko Mita.
The paid attendance will be announced after the event. As usual it’s the reduced capacity opposite-hard-camera setup and advance sales seemed to be average, so full capacity would probably be around 1100 but as usual for these events I’ll predict it’ll be around 700. (UPDATE: The announced paid attendance was 674)
The matches should begin in about 20 minutes.
During opening announcements, the former Uta got her ring name (didn’t catch it) along with the other trainee, Kira (thankfully she speaks English as well as Japanese) and it was announced they will debut on 3/3 at Shinjuku Face in Tokyo. Then a second Hyper Misao Produced event is announced for 4/19 in Tokyo at Kitazawa Town Hall. Up Up Girls follows.
The matches begin at 6:44 PM PT/9:44 PM ET. Since it’s a Korakuen event that means STREAMERS!
Match 1: Shino Suzuki vs. Haru Kazashiro. 15 minute time limit
Result: Haru Kazashiro beat Shino Suzuki. Excellent last minute-plus as Kazashiro escaped multiple sleeper hold/rear naked chokes and managed to catch Suzuki with a Japanese leg roll clutch hold for 3. I believe this is her first single victory.
Match 2: Yuki Kamifuku, Mahiro Kiryu & Nao Kakuta vs. Raku, Pom Harajuku & Ram Kaichow (666). 20 minute time limit
Result: Yuki Kamifuku, Mahiro Kiryu & Nao Kakuta beat Raku, Pom Harajuku & Ram Kaichow. Kamifuku pinned Harajuku after Fameasser.
Match 3: Moka Miyamoto vs. Kaya Toribami. 15 minute time limit
Result: Kaya Toribami beat Moka Miyamoto
Match 4: Shoko Nakajima & Hyper Misao vs. Wakana Uehara & HIMAWARI. 20 minute time limit
Result: Shoko Nakajima & Hyper Misao beat Wakana Uehara & HIMAWARI. Misao beat HIMAWARI with a chicken wing.
Match 5: Mizuki vs. Zara Zucker. 15 minute time limit
Result: Mizuki beat Zara Zucker
Match 6: Princess Tag Team Champions Ryo Mizunami (Independent/Freelancer) & Yuki Aino vs. Miyu Yamashita & Toga in a NON-TITLE match. 20 minute time limit
Result: Ryo Mizunami & Yuki Aino beat Miyu Yamashita & Toga. Aino beat Toga with Full Nelson of Love & Flame.
Match 7: International Princess Champion Yuki Arai vs. Juria Nagano for the title. 30 minute time limit
Result: International Princess Champion Yuki Arai beat Juria Nagano to retain the title. V1 for Arai. Post-match, Arai with microphone. She thanks the crowd then…next up: Yuki Kamifuku. Guess it’s not enough for her to be Queen Of Asia Champion. That match could happen at GRAND PRINCESS ’24 on 3/31 at Ryogoku Kokugikan.
Quick break for ring maintenance.
Main Event: Max Heart Tournament Finals: Rika Tatsumi & Miu Watanabe vs. Suzume & Arisu Endo. No time limit
Result: Suzume & Arisu Endo beat Rika Tatsumi & Miu Watanabe to win the tournament. Suzume pinned Tatsumi after Ring A Bell. Suzume & Endo win the tournament for the first time (the trophies are almost as big as they are!)and, as a result, get a future shot at Princess Tag Team Champions Yuki Aino & Ryo Mizunami. And right on cue afterwards, the champs came out. Aino wasted no time in making it virtually official for GRAND PRINCESS ’24. Suzume & Endo will be undersized underdogs again, in particular against Mizunami, but they just showed they can do it. Suzume thanked the crowd one more time to end the event.
More on the pending title matches-to-be as it becomes available.
The next event is 2/17 at Duo Cerezo in Niigata. There will be no live broadcast.
UPDATE: It’s now official-the 2 title matches hinted at above have now been confirmed for GRAND PRINCESS ’24 on 3/31 (Arai-Kamifuku and Aino/Mizunami-Suzume/Endo along with Miyu Yamashita vs. Miu Watanabe for the Princess Of Princess Championship).
