Pro Wrestling MOAH kicked off the NOAH Jr. Grand Prix 2 today, a single-elimination bracket format Jr. Heavyweight tournament.
Today’s event was held at Korakuen Ball in Tokyo and can be watched on demand on WRESTLE UNIVERSE.
The announced paid attendance was 1562, a legit sellout plus standing room only.
There were changes made to the card due to Tsunagu Sato being pulled off the event. Concussion. He was to have faced Alpha Wolf in a tournament match. That match was rescheduled for Saturday.
Match 1: NOAH Jr. Grand Prix: YO-HEY beat Shuji Kondo. As a result, YO-HEY advances to the Quarterfinals.
Match 2: Masa Kitamiya, Takashi Sugiura & Tadasuke beat Manabu Soya, Yuki Iino & Hi69. Tadasuke beat Hi69 with an armbar. This was also the first match for Iino as a full-time NOAH member.
Match 3: Luis Mante (Dragon Gate), Naomichi Marufuji, Dragon Bane, Alejandro & Kid Lykos 2 beat Tetsuya Endo, Atsushi Kotoge, Yuto Koyanagi, Hiroto Tsuruya & Hiroya Namiki. Mante pinned Koyanagi after MCK.
Match 4: Kaito Kiyomiya, Yoshiki Inamura & Daiki Odashima beat OZAWA, Alpha Wolf & Jun Masaoka. Inamura pinned Masaoka after Musou.
Match 5: NOAH Jr. Grand Prix: Sydney Akeem beat Kid Lykos 1. As a result, Akeem advances to the Quarterfinals.
Match 6: NOAH Jr. Grand Prix: BUSHI beat Kai Fujimura. As a result, BUSHI advances to the Quarterfinals and this probably guarantees a GHC Junior Heavyweight Championship match against Fujimura for the eventual tournament winner.
Main Event: GHC Heavyweight Champion Tetsuya Naito beat Kenoh to retain the title. V2 for Naito. Next up: Kiyomiya or Inamura. That match will happen on 12/31 at Yokohama Buntai in Yokohama with the challenger being determined on 12/6 with a 1 Hour Iron Man Match.
The next event is Saturday at Umeda Stellar Hall in Osaka. Live streaming on WRESTLE UNIVERSE will begin at midnight PT/3 AM ET.