All-Japan is scheduled to run the second half of their New Year doubleheader today, amidst what has become a very difficult start to 2024 in Japan with the major earthquake off the western coast and now a tragic and deadly plane collision at Haneda Airport in Tokyo that killed 5 Japan Coast Guard service members (thankfully the roughly 380 aboard the passenger jet involved survived and got off before it caught fire). I join those all over the world in sending condolences and support to those in Japan affected by these disasters.
The event today is currently on as planned but refunds will be offered for those with tickets who cannot travel to the event from affected areas (the earthquake was centered in Ishikawa Prefecture, northwest of Tokyo and northeast of Osaka). The headliner is Katsuhiko Nakajima defending the Triple Crown against Charlie Dempsey, who is getting this chance mainly as a favor from WWE towards William Regal as Dempsey is his real-life son and very few people are more respected in pro wrestling than Regal, who I can listen to talk about wresting for all eternity (he is a walking encyclopedia when it comes to the sport). As for what may happen, let’s just say, as always in wrestling, you never know.
Today’s event will be held at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo and can be watched LIVE on AJPW.TV, presumably in Japanese. Yesterday’s event went shorter than I predicted and with one fewer match today, and just one title match, I anticipate this event having a running time of around 2 1/2 hours.
Today’s lineup:
Dan Tamura, Rising Hayato, Black Menso-re & Ryo Inoue vs. Hikaru Sato, Naruki Doi, Koji Iwamoto & Fuminori Abe
Kuroshio TOKYO Japan & Seigo Tachibana vs. Minoru Suzuki & Hokuto Omori
Yuma & Atsuki Aoyagi vs. Ryuki Honda & Yuma Anzai
Actress Girls Provided Match
Shotaro Ashino & Ren Ayabe vs. Jun & Rei Saito
Suwama & Hideki Suzuki vs. Kento Miyahara & Davey Boy Smith Jr.
All-Japan Triple Crown Champion Katsuhiko Nakajima vs. Charlie Dempsey for the Triple Crown
Refresh this page occasionally for the latest results.
Updates below will begin at 6:30 PM PT/9:30 PM ET.
6:28 PM PT UPDATE: Live updates begin now.
We are LIVE from Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan. We come in during pre-event announcements. Commentary will start shortly. It sounds like this is another Samurai! TV simulcast in Japan.
The paid attendance will be announced after the event. Already a super full house so potentially a sellout. Easy 1300. (UPDATE: The announced paid attendance was 1331, a super full house/very near sellout)
Muted a moment for opening music.
The matches begin at 6:33 PM PT/9:33 PM ET. I didn’t see the advertised Actress Girls match in the opening lineup video so we’ll see what happens.
Match 1: Dan Tamura, Rising Hayato, Black Menso-re & Ryo Inoue vs. Hikaru Sato, Naruki Doi (Independent/Freelancer), Koji Iwamoto & Fuminori Abe. 30 minute time limit
Result: HIkaru Sato, Naruki Doi, Koji Iwamoto & Fuminori Abe beat Dan Tamura, Rising Hayato, Black Menso-re & Ryo Inoue. Iwamoto pinned Inoue. Iwamoto was/is angling for the next shot at the All-Japan World Junior Heavyweight Championship held by Tamura. We’ll see what happens.
Match 2: Kuroshio TOKYO Japan & Seigo Tachibana vs. Minoru Suzuki & Hokuto Omori. 30 minute time limit
Result: Minoru Suzuki & Holluto Omori beat Kuroshio TOKYO Japan & Seigo Tachibana. Suzuki pinned Tachibana after a Gotch-style piledriver. Largely a comedy match, the first 5 minutes or so were them brawling all throughout the crowd.
Match 3: Yuma & Atsuki Aoyagi vs. Ryuki Honda & Yuma Anzai. 30 minute time limit
Result: Ryuki Honda & Yuma Anzai beat Yuma & Atsuki Aoyagi. Honda pinned Atsuki Aoyagi after Final Vent.
Actress Girls performance.
Match 4; Actress Girls Provided Match: Chika Goto & Koki (?) vs. Natsuki & Miku Aono. Unknown time limit
Result: Chika Goto & Koki beat Natsuki & Miku Aono. Koki pinned Natsuki. Some of these girls were in their debut match here.
Video revealing the 1/14 card. It will include NEW GAORA TV Champion Black Menso-re vs. Seigo Tachibana for the title, All-Japan World Tag Team Champions Jun & Rei Saito vs. Katsuhiko Nakajima & Hokuto Omori for the titles (this is the challengers’ reward for winning the 2023 Real World Tag League) and a Masanobu Fuchi 50th Anniversary & 70th Birthday Match-Masanobu Fuchi vs. the winner of an 8 man battle royal before that. Then on 1/27 at Esforta Arena Hachioji in Tokyo, AEW & DDT’s Konosuke Takeshita makes his AJPW debut teaming with Hideki Okatani vs. Yuma & Atsuki Aoyagi.
Match 5: Shotaro Ashino & Ren Ayabe vs. Jun & Rei Saito. 30 minute time limit
Result: Jun & Rei Saito beat Shotaro Ashino & Ren Ayabe. Rei Saito pinned Ayabe after a divng body press.
Match 6: Suwama & Hideki Suzuki (Pro Wrestling NOAH) vs. Kento Miyahara & Davey Boy Smith Jr.. 30 minute time limit
Result: Kento Miyahara & Davey Boy Smith Jr. beat Suwama & Hideki Suzuki. Miyahara pinned Suwama with a rollup after reversing Last Ride.
Main Event: All-Japan Triple Crown Champion Katsuhiko Nakajima vs. Charlie Dempsey for the Triple Crown. 1 Hour time limit
Result: All-Japan Triple Crown Champion Katsuhiko Nakajima beat Charlie Dempsey to retain the Triple Crown. V2 for Nakajima. Next up: Possibly Shotaro Ashino, who still has never gotten the title match he earned for winning the Champions Carnival last year. He lost that opportunity due to injury. After the challenge is issued, Nakajima leaves first in an odd spot, leaving Ashino to finish the post-match promo. I’ve been waiting for Ashino to hopefully get his chance since he just came back and now it seems it’ll be sooner rather than later. Only question is when.
The next event is 1/14. Live streaming on AJPW.TV will begin on 1/13 at 6:30 PM PT/9:30 PM ET. Live results are scheduled. The promotion is also sponsoring/co-promoting a Sayaka Unagi Produced event Sunday but that event will not be broadcast, at least not on AJPW.TV.
