All-Japan wraps up the Royal Road Tournament today in Tokyo with the Semifinals & Finals as part of a morning matinee (it’s a holiday in Japan). The Final 4 are Kento Miyahara, Daisuke Sekimoto, Ren Ayabe and Ryuki Honda with the first 2 and the last 2 being the Semifinals and the winners moving on to the Finals. The winner likely will get the next shot at Triple Crown Champion Jun Saito.
The event will also feature a memorial ceremony for Taishin Nagao, the rookie who died earlier this month after a 3-plus month hospitalization following injuries suffered in an accident involving one of the promotion’s vehicles at the end of May. He would have turned 22 over the last few days and the wrestlers continue to post tributes & condolences on social media. The promotion announced a flower table for fans in attendance to leave flowers will be set up at all remaining events this year starting today.
Today’s event will be held at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo and can be watched LIVE on AJPW.TV in Japanese. This will also be a live Samurai! TV broadcast in Japan. The event is a legit advance sellout. There are 7 matches scheduled with an intermission after the 4th match (after which the first team in this year’s World’s Strongest Tag League/Real World Tag League will be announced) and 3 matches have no time limit plus a title match opens the show, so I anticipate this will be a longer Korakuen event than usual with a running time of around 3 hours.
Today’s lineup:
All-Asia Tag Team Champions Yuma & Atsuki Aoyagi vs. MUSASHI & Seiki Yoshioka for the titles
Royal Road Semifinals:
Kento Miyagara vs. Daisuke Sekimoto
Ren Ayabe vs. Ryuki Honda
Davey Boy Smith Jr., Naruki Doi, Kuroshio TOKYO Japan & Seigo Tachibana vs. Hokuto Omori, Kumaarashi, Ryo Inoue & Shota Kofuji
Intermission
Hideki Suzuki, Kengo Mashimo & Hikaru Sato vs. Shotaro Ashino, Xyon & Odyssey
Jun Saito, Yuma Anzai & Rising Hayato vs. Suwama, Dan Tamura & Naoya Nomura
Royal Road Finals
Refresh this page occasionally for the latest results.
Updates below will begin at 7:30 PM PT/10:30 PM ET. The live stream is scheduled to begin 10 minutes before the event.
7:20 PM PT UPDATE: The live stream has begun. We should be going to the venue 1 minute before event time.
7:28 PM PT UPDATE: Live updates begin now.
We are LIVE from Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan. Commentary will join in a few minutes (audio is muted at the start).
The paid attendance will be announced after the event. It’s a legit advance sellout and the fans are still coming in, commentary may be taking a few rows away on one side of the bleacher seats but sellout should mean 1450-1500 with the setup. (UPDATE: The announced paid attendance, a legit advance sellout, was 1469)
Audio un-muted. The event begins with the roster coming out for a memorial ceremony for Taishin Nagao. It appears his body may have been cremated as Hideki Suzuki is holding what could be a box with his ashes in the ring alongside Kento Miyahara holding a framed picture of Nagao. A 10 bell salute is held after the announcer’s narrative. The final ceremonial introductory announcement, often done upon a wrestler’s retirement, concludes the ceremony. Commentary joins at the end of the ceremony.
The matches will begin shortly.
The matches begin at 7:41 PM PT/10:41 PM ET. Rei Saito is a guest om commentary alongside Kagehiro Osano, I didn’t catch the host’s name.
Match 1: All-Asia Tag Team Champions Yuma & Atsuki Aoyagi vs. MUSASHI & Seiki Yoshioka for the titles. 1 Hour time limit
Result: MUSASHI & Seiki Yoshioka beat All-Asia Tag Team Champions Yuma & Atsuki Aoyagi to win the titles. MUSASHI & Yoshioka become the 127th All-Asia Tag Team Champions. MUSASHI pinned Atsuki Aoyagi after Niten First Class.
Match 2: Royal Road Semifinals: Kento Miyahara vs. Daisuke Sekimoto. No time limit
Result: Kento Miyaraha beat Daisuke Sekimoto. As a result, Miyahara advances to the Finals.
Match 3: Royal Road Semifinals: Ren Ayabe vs. Ryuki Honda. No time limit
Result: Ryuki Honda beat Ren Ayabe. As a result, Honda advances to the Finals.
This means the main event will be Miyahara vs. Honda.
Match 4: Davey Boy Smith Jr., Naruki Doi (Independent/Freelancer), Kuroshio TOKYO Japan & Seigo Tachibana vs. Hokuto Omori, Kumaarashi, Ryo Inoue & Shota Kofuji. 30 minute time limit
Result: Davey Boy Smith Jr., Naruki Doi, Kuroshio TOKYO Japan & Seigo Tachibana beat Hokuto Omori, Kumaarashi, Ryo Inoue & Shota Kofuji. Doi beat Kofuji with a Boston crab.
Intermission.
The first teams in this year’s World’s Strongest Tag League/Real World Tag League are announced: Hideki Suzuki & Kengo Mashimo, Xyon & Odyssey, Hokuto Omori & Kumaarashi, MUSASHI & Seiki Yoshioka, Kento Miyahara & Davey Boy Smith Jr., Ren Ayabe & Talos. I thought they would announce just one but they did half the teams. The remaining 6 teams entered will be announced on 10/22.
The matches resume at 9:03 PM PT/12:03 AM ET. Hokuto Omori is now the guest on commentary, replacing Rei Saito.
Match 5: Hideki Suzuki, Kengo Mashimo & Hikaru Sato vs. Shotaro Ashino, Xyon & Odyssey. 30 minute time limit
Result: Hideki Suzuki, Kengo Mashimo & Hikaru Sato beat Shotaro Ashino, Xyon & Odyssey. Suzuki pinned Xyon. The ending and post-match happenings left me thinking this could be Xyon’s last match in All-Japan, at least for a while.
Yuma Aoyagi is the guest on commentary for the next match.
Match 6: Jun Saito, Yuma Anzai & Rising Hayato vs. Suwama, Dan Tamura & Naoya Nomura. 30 minute time limit
Result: Jun Saito, Yuma Anzai & Rising Hayato beat Suwama, Dan Tamura & Naoya Nomura. Saito pinned Tamura after a jackhammer.
Main Event: Royal Road Finals: Kento Miyahara vs. Ryuki Honda. No time limit
Result: Kento Miyahara beat Ryuki Honda to win the tournament. As a result, Miyahara will likely get the next Triple Crown shot. As expected I guess, every 3-4 times or so it’s gotta be him.
The next event is 9/23 at Arena Tachikawa Tachihi. Live streaming on AJPW.TV will begin on 9/22 at 10 PM PT/1 AM ET.