All-Japan begins their july schedule today with a second straight major event, this time the focus is on the Aoyagi brothers. Atsuki Aoyagi is currently the All-Japan World Jr. Heavyweight Champion and he’ll look to keep that title while brother Yuma Aoyagi is next to challenge New Japan stalwart Yuji Nagata and try to reclaim the Triple Crown today. The smaller Aoyagi defends against GLEAT star El Lindaman, part of a large contingent of GLEAT participation today.
There also have been some last minute changes to the event due to Shuji Ishikawa and Oji Shiiba being off the event due to injuries. A couple of early matches were changed, most notably adding Tomoaki Honma participation from New Japan as a replacement for Ishikawa. Ryo Kawamura is the other injury replacement, filling in for Shiiba.
Today’s event will be held at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo and can be watched LIVE on AJPW.TV. Since it’s Korakuen and may be a TV simulcast on Japan (either Samurai! TV or GAORA, probably the former) there should be Japanese commentary. With 2 title matches among the 7 matches and based on time limits I would expect this event to have a total running time of between 2 1/2-3 hours but it wouldn’t go more than 4 hours.
Today’s lineup:
Soma Watanabe, Rising Hayato & Ryo Inoue vs. Hikaru Sato, Dan Tamura & Ryo Kawamura
Yoshitatsu & Black Menso-re vs. Kotaro Suzuki & Hartley Jackson
Hokuto Omori & Naoki Tanisaki vs. Ryuki Honda & Masao Hanabata
Suwama, Satoshi Kojima, Kaz Hayashi & Minoru Tanaka vs. Jun & Rei Saito, Toshizo & KONO
Kento Miyahara & T-Hawk vs. Tomoaki Honma & Ren Ayabe
All-Japan World Jr. Heavyweight Champion Atsuki Aoyagi vs. El Lindaman for the title
All-Japan Triple Crown Champion Yuji Nagata vs. Yuma Aoyagi for the Triple Crown
Refresh this page occasionally for the latest results.
Updates below will begin at 7:30 PM PT/10:30 PM ET.
7:25 PM PT UPDATE: Live updates begin now…
We are LIVE from Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan. As usual the audio is muted for a moment at the start before we go to the opening video.
The paid attendance should be announced after the event. They didn’t announce attendance for their last event and their website has been somewhat broken the last couple days so we’ll see. From what I saw when we went back at the start it looked like a good crowd with some empty bleachers on either side opposite hard camera. Could be near or around 1000. (UPDATE: The announced paid attendance was 1047)
The event begins with today’s lineup video. When we return commentary comes online, we have Japanese commentary.
The matches begin at 7:32 PM PT.
Match 1: Soma Watanabe, Rising Hayato & Ryo Inoue vs. Hikaru Sato, Dan Tamura & Ryo Kawamura. 15 minute time limit
Result: Soma Watanabe, Rising Hayato & Ryo Inoue beat Hikaru Sato, Dan Tamura & Ryo Kawamura. Inoue beat Tamura.
Match 2: Yoshitatsu & Black Menso-re vs. Kotaro Suzuki & Hartley Jackson. 20 minute time limit
Result: Kotaro Suzuki & Hartley Jackson beat Yoshitatsu & Black Menso-re. Suzuki pinned Menso-re after a tiger driver.
Match 3: Hokuto Omori & Naoki Tanisaki vs. Ryuki Honda & Masao Hanabata. 20 minute time limit
Result: Hokuto Omori & Naoki Tanisaki beat Ryuki Honda & Masao Hanabata. Omori pinned Honda. Honda was apparently legit knocked unconscious.early on and they rushed to finish He was carried out on a stretcher and did not appear to be moving. More on this as it becomes available.
Match 4: Suwama, Satoshi Kojima, Kaz Hayashi & Minoru Tanaka vs. Jun & Rei Saito, Toshizo & KONO. 30 minute time limit
Result: Jun & Rei Saito, Toshizo & KONO beat Suwama, Satoshi Kojima, Kaz Hayashi & MInoru Tanaka. Jun Saito pinned Suwama after a chokeslam.
Matches for upcoming events in July and August as well as upcoming events are announced. Among the highlights: 7/23 will have All-Japan World Tag Team Champions Kento Miyahara & Yuma Aoyagi vs. Minoru Suzuki & Hokuto Omori for the titles. And on 8/27…Saki Akai (DDT) participation!
Match 5: Kento Miyahara & T-Hawk vs. Tomoaki Honma & Ren Ayabe. 30 minute time limit
Result: Kento Miyahara & T-Hawk beat Tomoaki Honma & Ren Ayabe. Miyahara pinned Ayabe.
Match 6: All-Japan World Jr. Heavyweight Champion Atsuki Aoyagi vs. El Lindaman for the title. 1 Hour time limit
Result: El Lindaman beat All-Japan World Jr. Heavyweight Champion Atsuki Aoyagi to win the title. Lindaman becomes the 66th All-Japan World Jr. Heavyweight Champion. Next up: Possibly Ryo Inoue, who stormed out to issue the challenge.
Main Event: All-Japan Triple Crown Champion Yuji Nagata (New Japan) vs. Yuma Aoyagi for the Triple Crown. 1 Hour time limit
Result: Yuma Aoyagi beat All-Japan Triple Crown Champion Yuji Nagata to win the Triple Crown. Aoyagi becomes the 70th All-Japan Triple Crown Champion. Next up: Unless Shotaro Ashino comes back anytime soon, potentially Hokuto Omori as he came out to issue the challenge. Afterwards, a funny spot as Aoyagi was not exactly Kento Miyahara when it came to handling the 3 belts he now holds as the Triple Crown and All-Japan World Heavyweight Tag Team Champion after he ends Nagata’s impressive nearly 5-month reign as the oldest 55 years old champion.
The next event is 7/8 at Yokohama Radiant Hall in Yokohama. Live streaming on AJPW.TV will begin at 1 AM PT/4 AM ET.
