All-Japan wraps up their year-opening tour today with the final event of the month, a major event with 3 title matches scheduled and more. Among the highlights is the return of Shotaro Ashino, who has been out a couple months due to injuries suffered during the World’s Strongest Tag League last year. He will return alongside GOA partner Ryuki Honda. The title matches begin with GAORA TV Champion Toshizo defending against Minoru Tanaka, followed by All-Japan World Jr. Heavyweight Champion Atsuki Aoyagi defending against Kaz Hayashi. Finally, the main event will be All-Japan World Tag Team Champions Kento Miyahara & Takuya Nomura defending against Yuma Aoyagi & Naoya Nomura. It could be quite a day for the Aoyagi brothers if both can leave with championships.
Today’s event will be held at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo and can be watched LIVE on AJPW.TV. As it’s a Korakuen event and a weekend matinee I expect there will be Japanese commentary. I don’t expect this event to run too long given they probably want to be done before the last portion of the Grand Sumo Tournament final day gets underway among other things-I’m guessing the total running time will be around 2 1/2 hours so if you’re planning to watch the Pro Wrestling NOAH major event or New Japan event afterwards, you’ll have time to get set up for those.
Today’s lineup (in order):
Black Menso-re & Kotaro Suzuki vs. Rising Hayato & Oji Shiiba
Ryo Inoue & Yuma Anzai vs. Naruki Doi & Hokuto Omori
GAORA TV Champion Toshizo vs. Minoru Tanaka for the title
Shotaro Ashino Return Match: Shotaro Ashino, Ryuki Honda & Masao Hanabata vs. Yuji Nagata, Dan Tamura & Hikaru Sato
Suwama, KONO, Jun & Rei Saito vs. Shuji Ishikawa, Takao Omori, Yoshitatsu & Ren Ayabe
All-Japan World Jr. Heavyweight Champion Atsuki Aoyagi vs. Kaz Hayashi for the title
All-Japan World Tag Team Champions Kento Miyahara & Takuya Nomura vs. Yuma Aoyagi & Naoya Nomura for the titles
Refresh this page occasionally for the latest results.
Updates below will begin at 9:30 PM ET/6:30 PM PT.
9:30 PM ET UPDATE: Live updates start below now…
We are LIVE from Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan. As usual the audio is muted as we join the live feed.
The paid attendance will be announced after the event but it’s reduced capacity for allowing vocal cheering. Looks like around 550. There is Japanese commentary, they don’t show names.
Before the live broadcast began, Kento Miyahara & Yuma Anzai received their 2022 Tokyo Sports Year-End Awards. Miyahara won MVP and Anzai won Rookie of the Year.
The matches begin at 9:35 PM ET/6:35 PM PT.
Match 1: Black Menso-re & Kotaro Suzuki vs. Rising Hayato & Oji Shiiba. 10 minute time limit
Result: Black Menso-re & Kotaro Suzuki beat Rising Hayato & Oji Shiiba. Suzuki pinned Hayato after Blue Destiny.
Match 2: Ryo Inoue & Yuma Anzai vs. Naruki Doi & Hokuto Omori. 15 minute time limit
Result: Naruki Doi & Hokuto Omori beat Ryo Inoue & Yuma Anzai. Doi pinned Inoue after Bakatare Sliding Kick.
Match 3: GAORA TV Champion Toshizo vs. Minoru Tanaka for the title. 1 Hour time limit
Result: Minoru Tanaka beat GAORA TV Champion Toshizo to win the title. Tanaka becomes the 23rd GAORA TV Champion.
Match 4: Shotaro Ashino Return Match: Shotaro Ashino, Ryuki Honda & Masao Hanabata vs. Yuji Nagata, Dan Tamura & Hikaru Sato. 30 minute time limit
Result: Yuji Nagata, Dan Tamura & Hikaru Sato beat Shotaro Ashino, Ryuki Honda & Masao Hanabata. Nagata beat Honda with Nagata Lock 54 (I think that’s what it is now. Changes every year to match his age, haha).
Quick break to announce matches for upcoming events and major events later this year, including the annual Champions Carnival in April and early May.
Match 5: Suwama, KONO, Jun & Rei Saito vs. Shuji Ishikawa, Takao Omori, Yoshitatsu & Ren Ayabe. 30 minute time limit
Result: Suwama, KONO, Jun & Rei Saito beat Shuji Ishikawa, Takao Omori, Yoshitatsu & Ren Ayabe. Suwama pinned Ishikawa after a backdrop.
Match 6: All-Japan World Jr. Heavyweight Champion Atsuki Aoyagi vs. Kaz Hayashi for the title. 1 Hour time limit
Result: All-Japan World Jr. Heavyweight Champion Atsuki Aoyagi beat Kaz Hayashi to retain the title. V4 for Aoyagi. Next up: Potentially Kotaro Suzuki, who hit the ring to make the next challenge.
Main Event: All-Japan World Tag Team Champions Kento Miyahara & Takuya Nomura vs. Yuma Aoyagi & Naoya Nomura for the titles. 1 Hour time limit
Result: Yuma Aoyagi & Naoya Nomura beat All-Japan World Tag Team Champions Kento Miyahara & Takuya Nomura to win the titles. Aoyagi & Naoya Nomura become the 94th All-Japan World Tag Team Champions. Aoyagi pinned Miyahara. The last 10+ minutes of this match were INCREDIBLE. That outcome is also significant for Aoyagi because if he can do it again next time out, he could win the Triple Crown from Miyahara as well.
The next event is 2/4 at Esforta Arena Hachioji in Tokyo. Broadcast plans TBA. We should know when AJPW.TV announces the monthly broadcast schedule for February at the end of the month.
UPDATE: The announced paid attendance was 504.
UPDATE 2: 2/4 will be a live broadcast on AJPW.TV. As for the other February events, the 2/15 & 2/27 events will also be live while 2/26 will be available on demand the following day.
