All-Japan wrapped up the World’s Strongest/Real World Tag League today with the Finals.
Today’s event was held at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo and can be watched on demand on AJPW.TV. This will be a taped Samurai! TV broadcast in Japan at a later date.
The announced paid attendance was 1307.
Match 1: Atauki Aoyagi, Rising Hayato, Ryo Inoue & Shota Kofuji beat MUSASHI, Seiki Yoshioka, Hikaru Sato & Seigo Tachibana. Aoyagi pinned Tachibana after a firebird splash.
Match 2: Hokuto Omori & Kumaarashi beat Takashi & Kuroshio TOKYO Japan. Omori pinned Kuroshio.
Match 3: Daisuke Sekimoto Return Match: Shotaro Ashino & Go Shiozaki beat Dan Tamura & Daisuke Sekimoto. Shiozaki pinned Tamura after Go Lariat.
Match 4: Madoka Kikuta, Yoshiki Kato & ISHIN (Dragon Gate) beat Jun Saito, Yuma Anzai & Naruki Doi (Independent/Freelancer). Kato pinned Doi after Cadere Luna.
Match 5: Kento Miyahara, Ryuki Honda & Hideki Suzuki beat Davey Boy Smith Jr., Kengo Mashino & Naoya Nomura. Miyahara pinned Smith. Some partnership that was!
Main Event: Tag League Finals: Ren Ayabe & Talos beat Xyon & Odyssey to win the tournament. Ayabe pinned Xyon after Des Roulette. As a result, Ayabe & Talos will likely get a rematch for the All-Japan World Tag Team Championship in the future.
The next event is the year-ending New Year’s Eve event on 12/31 at Yoyogi National Stadium Gym 2. Live streaming on AJPW.TV will begin on 12/30 at 9 PM PT/midnight ET. This will be either a live or taped GAORA SPORTS broadcast in Japan.
In other news, it was announced that Cyrus would return to the promotion on 12/31 for his first appearance in about a year. Also, announced for 1/3 is All-Japan World Junior Heavyweight Champion Atsuki Aoyagi vs. KURAMA for the title. The challenger is a masked wrestler from Mexico who is a freelancer but competes regularly in Michinoku Pro, often teaming with KUUKAI (who recently made some appearances in New Japan). Also, in post-match comments today Ashino & Sekimoto agreed to a GAORA TV Championship match, which has not been officially announced yet. Likewise, MUSASHI hinted at an All-Asia Tag Team Championship match against part of the Dragon Gate trio. (A post on Yoshiki Kato’s social media later suggested it would be Kato & ISHIN) Anzai later stated backstage that if he wins the Triple Crown on 12/31, he wants to first defend against Kikuta, who is the current Open The Dream Gate Champion in Dragon Gate, so some double title potential there. Anzai hit the ring after Miyahara’s match and got a shutdown suplex hold for his efforts.