All-Japan wraps up the Giant Series 2023 today with a major event in Tokyo, headlined by 2 title matches. In the first match, Hikaru Sato will try to bring the World Junior Heavyweight Championship back to All-Japan when he faces GLEAT star and current champion El Lindaman for the title. In the main event, Ryuki Honda will try to become the youngest Triple Crown Champion in history when he faces champion Yuma Aoyagi. DDT and Minoru Suzuki participation highlight the undercard along with Hideki Suzuki from Pro Wrestling NOAH making an appearance.
Today’s event will be held at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo and can be watched LIVE on AJPW.TV in Japanese. It will probably be a TV simulcast in Japan on either Samurai! TV or GAORA Sports. Based on the lineup and title matches I anticipate this event having a total runtime of 2 1/2-3 hours so fans will have plenty of time to get to Ryogoku Kokugikan for the penultimate day of sumo, at least for the key top tier bouts.
Today’s lineup (in order):
Yoshitatsu & Osamu Nishinura vs. Black Menso-re & Ren Ayabe
T-Hawk, Kaz Hayashi & Jack Cartwheel vs. Toshizo, Jun & Rei Saito
Shuji Ishikawa & Yuma Anzai vs. Hideki Suzuki & Koji Iwamoto
Kento Miyahara, Rising Hayato & Atsuki Aoyagi vs. Minoru Suzuki, Naruki Doi & Hokuto Omori
Suwama, Dan Tamura & Ryo Inoue vs. Yukio Naya, Yuya Koroku & Rukiya
All-Japan World Junior Heavyweight Champion El Lindaman vs. Hikaru Sato for the title
All-Japan Triple Crown Champion Yuma Aoyagi vs. Ryuki Honda 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.
7:29 PM PT UPDATE: Live updates begin now…
We are LIVE from Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan. Normally they start muted during opening announcements but not this time. After these finish we go muted for a moment.
The paid attendance will be announced after the event. Crowd still filing in but it looks like maybe 70% full from what we can see so far, so I’m guessing it’ll be around 900. (UPDATE: The announced paid attendance was 1161)
The matches will begin shortly.
The matches begin at 7:35 PM PT. There doesn’t seem to be the usual TV simulcast in Japan but there is Japanese commentary. There is also a notable difference in volume levels when they switch between the hard camera and ringside handheld video camera views (the latter being much lower).
Match 1: Yoshitatsu & Osamu Nishinura vs. Black Menso-re & Ren Ayabe. 20 minute time limit
Result: Yoshitatsu & Osamu Nishimura beat Black Menso-re & Ren Ayabe. Nishimura pinned Yoshitatsu with a backslide.
Match 2: T-Hawk (GLEAT), Kaz Hayashi (GLEAT) & Jack Cartwheel vs. Toshizo, Jun & Rei Saito. 20 minute time limit
Result: T-Hawk, Kaz Hayashi & Jack Cartwheel beat Toshizo, Jun & Rei Saito. Cartwheel pinned Toshizo after a top rope cartwheel. That’s a huge win for the US indy guy who I saw make his AEW debut earlier this year in person.
Match 3: Shuji Ishikawa & Yuma Anzai vs. Hideki Suzuki (Pro Wrestling NOAH) & Koji Iwamoto. 20 minute time limit
Result: Time Limit Draw
Match 4: Kento Miyahara, Rising Hayato & Atsuki Aoyagi vs. Minoru Suzuki, Naruki Doi & Hokuto Omori. 30 minute time limit
Result: Minoru Suzuki, Naruki Doi & Hokuto Omori beat Kento Miyahara, Rising Hayato & Atsuki Aoyagi. Omori pinned Aoyagi. Afterwards, Omori kept Miyahara from leaving and seemingly taunted him in the ring, but his attempt at embarrassing Miyahara led to Omori getting a low blow.
Upcoming event and match announcements include the Jr. Battle Of Glory 2023 for November. Participants: Atsuki Aoyagi, Rising Hayato, Dan Tamura, Hikaru Sato, Fuminori Abe, Naruki Doi, Koki Iwamoto and Ryo Inoue. That tournament starts on 11/12 and ends on 12/6, it will be a round-robin tournament. They also will hold their year-ending event on 12/31 in Tokyo, I think it’ll be at Yoyogi National Stadium Gym 2. Also a title match for 10/9: All-Japan World Tag Team Champions Kento Miyahara & Yuma Aoyagi vs. Jun & Rei Saito for the titles.
Match 5: Suwama, Dan Tamura & Ryo Inoue vs. Yukio Naya, Yuya Koroku & Rukiya. 30 minute time limit
Result: Suwama, Dan Tamura & Ryo Inoue beat Yukio Naya, Yuya Koroku & Rukiya. Tamura pinned Rukiya.
Match 6: All-Japan World Junior Heavyweight Champion El Lindaman (GLEAT) vs. Hikaru Sato for the title. 1 Hour time limit
Result: All-Japan World Junior Heavyweight Champion El Lindaman beat Hikaru Sato to retain the title. V3 for Lindaman. Next up: If Lindaman has his way, Naruki Doi. We shall see.
Main Event: All-Japan Triple Crown Champion Yuma Aoyagi vs. Ryuki Honda for the Triple Crown. 1 Hour time limit
Result: All-Japan Triple Crown Champion Yuma Aoyagi beat Ryuki Honda to retain the Triple Crown. V4 for Aoyagi. Next up…forget being his partner and fellow All-Japan World Tag Team Champion, Kento Miyahara wants the Triple Crown back! Aoyagi apparently accepts, we’ll see what happens. After Miyahara mic drops and heads off, Aoyagi finishes his post-match promo to end the show.
The next event is NEW AGE CHRONICLE-Z ~JUMP OVER~ on 10/5 at Shin-Kiba 1st Ring in Tokyo. The event features only wrestlers with less than 10 years experience and is based on an idea from Rising Hayato. Broadcast plans TBA. (Update: 10/5 is now a legit advance sellout)
