All-Japan runs the second half of their year-opening New Year doubleheader today in Tokyo. There are 2 title matches today, one of which was further hyped yesterday and that’s the main event, where Atsuki Aoyagi defends the All-Japan World Junior Heavyweight Championship against KURAMA, the latest masked independent outsider to step up to take a big-time shot. The second semifinal sees the just-returned Daisuke Sekimoto challenge Shotaro Ashino in a potential hoss fight for the GAORA TV Championship.
There has been a last-minute change to the originally annoucned card for today: After they were announced as part of the upcoming Zennichi Jr. Festival tag team tournament, Naruki Doi & Kota Sekifuda have been added to the first match, which originally was a 6-man tag match. It’s now an 8-man tag.
Today’s event will be held at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo and can be watched LIVE on AJPW.TV in Japanese. There are just 6 matches today with the intermission coming at the halfway point, so even though there are 2 title matches I expect the running time to be about the same as yesterday, in the range of 2 1/2-3 hours.
Today’s lineup:
Yuko Miyamoto, Fuminori Abe, Seigo Tachibana & Kota Sekifuda vs. Rising Hayato, Dan Tamura, Shota Kofuji & Naruki Doi
Hokuto Omori, Kumaarashi & Cyrus vs. MUSASHI, Seiki Yoshioka & Ryo Inoue
Hideki Suzuki, Kengo Mashimo & Hikaru Sato vs. Xyon, Odyssey & Go Shiozaki
Intermission
Ren Ayabe, Talos & Yuma Anzai vs. Kento Miyahara, Jun Saito & Ryuki Honda
GAORA TV Champion Shotaro Ashino vs. Daisuke Sekimoto for the title
All-Japan World Junior Heavyweight Champion Atsuki Aoyagi vs. KURAMA for the title
Refresh this page occasionally for the latest results.
Updates below will begin at 6:30 PM PT/9:30 PM ET. The live stream is scheduled to begin shortly before the event.
6:26 PM PT UPDATE: Live updates begin now.
We are LIVE from Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan. Commentary will start in a few minutes.
The paid attendance will be announced after the event. Advance sales looked to be on par with yesterday and the crowd is still filing in but looks a little less than yesterday so far. Yesterday wound up doing 1270 so I’ll guess close to that today, roughly 1250. (UPDATE: The announced paid attendance was 1205)
Opening announcements start with the announcement of today’s opening match change and a preview of the title matches. Rei Saito is then brought out and the next Triple Crown challenger for Kento Miyahara is announced-Talos. That match will happen on 1/25 at Makuhari Messe in Chiba.
The matches begin at 6:35 PM PT/9:35 PM ET. Your hosts are Shocichi Nakamoto & Rei Saito.
Match 1: Yuko Miyamoto, Fuminori Abe, Seigo Tachibana & Kota Sekifuda vs. Rising Hayato, Dan Tamura, Shota Kofuji & Naruki Doi. 30 minute time limit
Result: Yuko Miyamoto, Fuminori Abe, Seigo Tachibana & Kota Sekifuda beat Rising Hayato, Dan Tamura, Shota Kofuji & Naruki Doi. Tachibana pinned Kofuji after Yankee Hammer.
Match 2: Hokuto Omori, Kumaarashi & Cyrus vs. MUSASHI, Seiki Yoshioka & Ryo Inoue. 30 minute time limit
Result: Hokuto Omori, Kumaarashi & Curys beat MUSASHI, Seiki Yoshioka & Ryo Inoue. Cyrus pinned Inoue after a diving body splash. Afterwards, MUSASHI & Yoshioka continued fighting each other outside the ring.
Match 3: Hideki Suzuki, Kengo Mashimo & Hikaru Sato vs. Xyon, Odyssey & Go Shiozaki. 30 minute time limit
Result: Xyon, Odyssey & Go Shiozaki beat Hideki Suzuki, Kengo Mashimo & Hikaru Sato. Xyon pinned Sato after a diving headbutt.
Rei Saito returns to the ring. He announced what I’m guessing (and hoping) is his return date. And it’s already official via All-Japan’s website…February 23 at Ota City General Gym. DOOM!!!
Intermission.
The 3 major Tokyo events for Febtruary & May at Ota City General Gym and 12/31/26 at Yoyogi National Stadium Gym 2 are announced (5/17 is the Champions Carnival Final then 8/29 is the second big date) followed by the 1/11 card.
The matches resume at 7:40 PM PT/10:40 PM ET.
Match 4: Ren Ayabe, Talos & Yuma Anzai vs. Kento Miyahara, Jun Saito & Ryuki Honda. 30 minute time limit
Result: Ren Ayabe, Talos & Yuma Anzai beat Kento Miyahara, Jun Saito & Ryuki Honda. Talos pinned Honda after a double chokeslam. Afterwards, Talos laid out Miyahara in the ring.
Match 5: GAORA TV Champion Shotaro Ashino vs. Daisuke Sekimoto for the title. 1 Hour time limit
Result: Daisuke Sekimoto beat GAORA TV Champion Shotaro Ashino to win the title. Sekimoto becomes the 32nd GAORA TV Champion.
Main Event: All-Japan World Junior Heavyweight Champion Atsuki Aoyagi vs. KURAMA for the title. 1 Hour time limit
Result: All-Japan World Junior Heavyweight Champion Atsuki Aoyagi beat KURAMA to retain the title. V4 for Aoyagi. Next up: Tachibana. (UPDATE: No official date set yet but possibly 1/25)
The next event is 1/11 at Shinjuku Face. Live streaming on AJPW.TV will begin at 1:30 AM PT/4:30 AM ET.
It was also announced that all events this month will be live on AJPW.TV with on demand afterwards.
UPDATE: After unmasking voluntarily during the match, KURAMA was revealed to be Yasutaka Yano. Tokyo Sports reports he was fired by Pro Wrestling NOAH after being charged with forced obscenity with a woman in Sendai in 2023, possibly the equivalent of sexual battery in the US. A settlement was reached and he was not charged. He resumed bis wrestling career last year in Mexico as KURAMA.
UPDATE 2: This was the last match for Odyssey in the promotion for now. He is returning to the US. They made it sound like he will be back soon, so this could be visa-related, a common thing for foreigners in Japan.