On March 6, 1972, the “King Of Sports” was born as Antonio Inoki’s New Japan Pro Wrestling held their first-ever event in Tokyo. Today, on their 53rd Anniversary, the promotion continued the tradition of holding their annual Flag-Raising Anniversary event on the date and at the location where it all began.
Today’s event was held at Ota City General Gym in Tokyo and can be watched on demand OUTSIDE JAPAN ONLY in New Japan World. This event aired as part of WORLD PRO WRESTLING LIVE ’25 exclusively on TV Asahi in Japan.
The announced paid attendance was 3335, a full house/near sellout.
Before the event began, a memorial ceremony and 10 bell salute was held for Gran Hamada & Osamu Nishinura, who both died recently. Nishimura still made a few appearances when his political commitments allowed, usually in All-Japan or DDT. Hamada began bis career in Japan before relocating to Mexico and having great success there-his younger daughter Ayako is still an active wrestler today (Hamada’s older daughter and Ayako’s older sister Xochitl also was a wrestler but appears to be retired now).
Match 1: In an Open Challenge, NJPW WORLD TV Champion El Phantasmo beat TBA, which was revealed at match time to be Master Wato, to retain the title. V3 for Phantasmo.
Match 2: Bad Luck Fale & Chase Owens beat Hartley Jackson & Ryohei Oiwa. Fale pinned Jackson after an elbow drop.
Match 3: Gedo, Taiji Isbimori & SANADA beat TAKA Michinoku, Taichi & Yuya Yemura by DQ. Uemura DQ’d.
Match 4: Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Ren Narita vs. Drilla Moloney & Gabriel Kidd went to a double countout in less than 2 minutes.
Match 5: Hiromu Takahashi, Yota Tsuji, Shingo Takagi & Tetsuya Naito beat Dick Togo, Sho, Yujiro Takahashi & RVIL. Hiromu Takahashi pinned Togo with Maximum The Holding 3rd Form.
Match 6: IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion El Desperado beat Francesco Akira to retain the title. V3 for Desperado.
Main Event: IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Hirooki Goto beat Hiroshi Tanahashi to retain the title. V1 for Goto. Next up: If plans and prior words are kept and honored, Yuji Nagata. But because of what is just ahead though, subject to change.
Next up is the New Japan Cup 2025, the annual spring openweight tournament, starting tomorrow at Korakuen Hall. This is a single-elimination bracket format tournament with the winner getting an IWGP World Heavyweight Championship shot, usually at SAKURA GENESIS in April. Live streaming on New Japan World will begin at 1:30 AM PT/4:30 AM ET. All tournament events will be available live and on demand.
