News, results & more from Japanese Pro Wrestling & Sumo
And the injury/illness bug continues to be relentless this year so far in Japan, ugh…Stardom’s English Twitter just announced that Utami Hayashishita is now off this weekend’s PPVs. The always-vague poor physical condition. Stardom’s official website confirms this with translation calling it “ill health”. She was to have been in an 8-woman tag match tomorrow. AZM is the replacement. Sunday changes TBA. Status beyond that is uncertain.
More as it becomes acailable.
New Japan ran Day 3 of the New Japan Cup today, beginning the second half of Round q.
Today’s event was held at Ainesse Yamanashi in Yamanashi and can be watched on demand on New Japan World.
The announced paid attendance was 696.
Match 1: Ryusuke Taguchi, Tomohiro Ishii, YOSHI-HASHI & Hirooki Goto beat Gedo, Chase Owens, KENTA & David Finlay. Goto pinned Gedo after Shoto.
Match 2: Mikey Nicholls & Zack Sabre Jr. beat Tomoaki Honma & El Phantasmo. Nicholls pinned Honma after Mikey Bomb.
Match 3: Yoh, El Desperado & Shota Umino beat Dick Togo, Jack Perry & EVIL. Yoh pinned Togo after Direct Drive. H.O.T. pulled what I am now calling the “Sho Switcheroo” last-second here, again replacing Sho in the match with Perry.
Match 4: DOUKI, Taichi & SANADA beat Yosjinobu Kanemaru, Yujiro Takahashi & Ren Narita. SANADA beat Takahashi with Skull End.
Match 5: Francesco Akira, TJP, Great-O-Khan & Jeff Cobb beat BUSHI, Hiromu Takahashi, Yota Tsuji & Tetsuya Naito. Cobb pinned BUSHI after Tour of the Islands.
New Japan Cup:
Match 6: Hikuleo beat Boltin Oleg.
Match 7: Gabriel Kidd beat Callum Newman.
Main Event: Shingo Takagi beat Yuya Uenura.
As a result, Hikuleo will face EVIL in Round 2 and Kidd will face Takagi.
Day 4 is tomorrow at Baycom Gym in Hyogo. Live streaming on New Japan World will begin TONIGHT at 11 PM PT/2 AM ET.
Here are the quick results for tomorrow’s TAPED AEW Collision in Duluth, GA (SPOILERS!):
Continue reading “AEW Collision 3/9/24 Results (SPOILERS!)”New Japan officially began the New Japan Cup tour today with Day 2 of the tournament.
Today’s event was held at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo and can be watched on demand on New Japan World FOR FREE! (Mobile/tablet/TV users will need to download the New Japan World app to watch, it is a free download and a paid subscription is not required to use the app or access free content. PC users can watch via a web browser) This was an ABEMA simulcast in Japan.
The announced paid attendance was 1324.
Match 1: Boltin Oleg, YOSHI-HASHI & Hirooki Goto beat Jado, El Phantasmo & Hikuleo. Goto pinned Jado after Shoto.
Match 2: Mikey Nicholls & Zack Sabre Jr. beat Toru Yano & Togi Makabe. Nicholls pinned Makabe after a sliding lariat.
Match 3: Callum Newman, Francesco Akira & Jeff Cobb beat Taiji Ishimori, Gabriel Kidd & KENTA. Cobb pinned Ishimori after Tour of the Islands.
Match 4: Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Ren Narita, EVIL & Jack Perry beat Yoh, El Desperado, Tomoaki Honma & Shota Umino. Narita pinned Honma after Double Cross. This was to have had Sho as part of the match but he weaseled his way out last-second in favor of Perry.
Match 5: BUSHI, Hiromu Takahashi, Yota Tsuji, Shingo Takagi & Tetsuya Naito beat TAKA Michinoku, DOUKI, Taichi, Yuya Uemura & SANADA. Tsuji pinned TAKA after Gene Blaster. For those curious about Uemura sans hair, it’s now a short buzz cut painted in a shade of red.
New Japan Cup:
Match 6: Chase Owens beat Tomohiro Ishii.
Match 7: Tanga Loa beat Great-O-Khan.
Main Event: David Finlay beat TJP.
As a result, Owens will face Goto in Round 2 and Loa will face Finlay. The other left side matches will be SANADA vs. YOSHI-HASHI and Perry vs. Yano.
The next event is tomorrow at Aimesse Yamanashi in Yamanashi. Live streaming on New Japan World will begin at 1:30 AM PT/4:30 AM ET. This is the last event before the spring time change in the US, meaning events after (and including on the east coast) Sunday will start 1 hour later again.
In other news, the promotion announced this year’s installment of my favorite annual event, Best Of The Super Junior. The 31st installment of the prestigious Junior Heavyweight showcase will be in its usual May spot on the schedule, with the following schedule:
5/11-Yoha S Arena, Chiba
5/13-Korakuen
5/15-Legion Plaza Joetsu, Niigata
5/16-G Messe Gunma, Gunma
5/18-Esforta Arena Hachioji, Tokyo
5/19-Aichi Prefectural Gym, Nagoya
5/21-Atelier Himeji, Hyogo
5/22-Osaka Prefectural Gym B (2?), Osaka
5/26-Yoyogi National Stadium Gym 2, Tokyo
5/28-Kira Messe Numazu, SHizuoka
5/20-Korakuen
5/31-Korakuen
6/2-Korakuen (Semifinals)
6/9-Osaka-jo Hall, Osaka (Finals) (DOMINION)
The Finals this year will be at the annual June Osaka blowout event, DOMINION. Participants TBA at a later date.
Here are the quick results for tomorrow’s ARW Rampage in Duluth, GA (SPOILERS!):
Continue reading “AEW Rampage 3/8/24 Results (SPOILERS!)”For their WrestleMania week event in April in the US as part of independent wrestling extravaganza “The Collective”, DDT has just announced a major single match for the 4/4 event in Philadelphia, PA: Yuki Ueno vs. Mike Bailey. At this time it is slated to be a NON-TITLE match with regards to the KO-D Openweight Championship but we’ll see what happens when Ueno defends against HARASHIMA later this month.
The event will be held at Penns Landing Caterers Auditorium in Philadelphia and tickets are still available but not many are left. It will be a live broadcast only on TrillerTV (fka FITE) via TrillerTV+, the channel’s premium subscription service which is available for $7.99/month or $79.99/year. The live broadcast will begin at 8 PM ET/5 PM PT. It will be available on demand on WRESTLE UNIVERSE at a later date
Here are the quick results from tonight’s AEW Dynamite in Duluth, GA:
Swerve Strickland comes out. After he finishes talking about Revolution and what’s next, namely still winning the AEW World Championship, Samoa Joe comes out. They tease another match right now before Undisputed Kingdom comes out. Adam Cole talks and eventually says Mike Bennett & Matt Taven vs. Strickland & Joe will happen next week. Then Tony Schiavone says, per Tony Khan, it’ll happen RIGHT NOW. Which led to…
Match 1: Samoa Joe & Swerve Strickland vs. Mike Bennett & Matt Taven
Result: Samoa Joe & Swerve Strickland ebat Mike Bennett & Matt Taven. Strickland pinned Taven after Swerve Stomp. Afterwards, Wardlow came out and Joe choked out Strickland as they stared down. Wardlow’s guaranteed title shot he earned at Revolution will come next week.
Hook interview immediately interrupted by Chris Jericho. Jericho puts Hook over before Hook heads to the ring.
Match 2: FTW Champion Hook vs. Brian Cage for the title
Result: FTW Champion Hook beat Brian Cage by submission to retain the title.
(I had to stop watching for a while at this point due to a personal issue that came up)
Match 3: Killswitch beat Matt Menard. Squash. Afterwards, Adam Copeland returned and chased off Christian Cage. Their 3rd AEW TNT Championship match is on 3/20 in Toronto and it’s an I Quit match. Adam Page also is suspended indefinitely from The Elite and Kenny Omega is out of the group.
The Young Bucks make their “Huge Announcement” promised earlier…Kazuchika Okada, formerly with New Japan, is now part of AEW AND The Elite.
Match 4: Riho beat Kris Statlander.
Darby Allin promo. He knows he may not survive his climbing Mt. Everest later this month so this might be his goodbye next week. Jay White interrupts and they put over their match next week.
House OF Black promo. Mark Briscoe then responds. Apparently he’s going to face ALL THREE OF THEM later this week in a street fight.
Main Event: Will Ospreay beat Kyle Fletcher. Bryn Danielson came out and stared down Ospreay in the ring as they cut away.
DDT continued the Judgment 2024 Tour today with an event in Tokyo.
Today’s event was held at Shinjuku Face in Tokyo and can be watched on demand on WRESTLE UNIVERSE.
The announced paid attendance was 303, a full house/near sellout.
There were late changes to the card due to Yukio Naya & Rukiya being off the event. Flu. They missed last weekend due to fever.
Match 1: To-y &Yuni beat Chris Brookes & Illusion. To-y pinned Illusion after Kojima Impact.
Match 2: Makoto Oishi & Shishamo Power beat Yoshitatsu & Antonio Honda. Power pinned Honda after Shishamo Of Yamada. Post-match, Oishi turned on Power and this led to what seems like a comedy match to happen on 4/14.
Match 3: Kazuki Hirata 14th Anniversary Match-in a match where each wrestler’s comedy gimmick could not be used, Kazuki Hirata beat Danshoku Dieno by DQ. That meant no “sodomy” by Dieno and no dancing by Hirata. Dieno DQ’d for sodomy.
Match 4: Jun Akiyama, Kazusada Higuchi & Takao Soma beat Daisuke Sasaki, KANON & MJ Paul. Higuchi pinned Paul with a Brain Claw press.
Match 5: Ryuki Honda, Yuma Anzai & Ryo Inoue (All-Japan) beat Tetsuya Endo, Yuki Iino & Tomomitsu Matsunaga. Honda pinned Matsunaga after Final Vent.
Main Event: Yuki Ueno, MAO & Shunma Katsumata beat HARASHIMA, Takeshi Masada & Hideki Okatani by ref stoppage (TKO). Ueno beat HARASHIMA with a blackout sleeper hold.
The next event is Sunday at Osaka Azalea Taisho in Osaka. There will be no live broadcast.
Dragon Gate kicked off the 2024 Rey De Parejas today, a tag tram tournament that was on hiatus the last couple years due to the pandemic
Today’s event was held at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo and can be watched on demand on DRAGONGATE NETWORK.
The announced paid attendance was 1324, likely a legit sellout.
Match 1: Masaaki Mochizuki beat Ryu Fuda.
Match 2: Shun Skywalker & ISHIN beat Daiki Yanagiuchi & Ryoya Tanaka. ISHIN pinned Yanagiuchi after Junshu.
Match 3: BxB Hulk, Takashi Yoshida, Kagetora & Punch Tominaga beat Kzy, BIGBOSS Shimizu, Strong Machine J & U-T. Tominaga pinned U-T.
Rey de Parejas:
Match 4: Block B-YAMATO & Susumu Mochizuki beat Madoka Kikuta & Dragon Dia. YAMATO pinned Kikuta.
Match 5: Block A-Shuji Kondo & Toru Owashi (DDT) vs. KAI & Gianni Valetta went to a double countout.
Match 6: Block A-Naruki Doi (Independent/Freelancer) & Dragon Kid beat Kota Minoura & Ben-K. Doi pinned Minoura.
Main Event: Block B-Jason Lee & JACKY “FUNKY” KAMEI beat Luis Mante & Hyo. KAMEI pinned Mante after “JACKY” Knife.
The next event is Saturday at Atelier Himeji in Hyogo. There will be no live or on demand broadcast. In fact, there are no more broadcasts (live or on demand) scheduled until 3/30. Only that event and the finals on 4/10 will be watchable outside of being there.
March 6 is “Flag Raising Day” for New Japan, the date on which the promotion held their very first event in 1972. As they normally do today, they held their annual Anniversary Event to celebrate, today returning to where it all began-the site of that inaugural event. The event also kicked off the 2024 New Japan Cup Tournament.
Today’s event was held at Ota City General Gym in Tokyo and can be watched on demand on New Japan World.
The announced paid attendance was 3008.
Match 1: Great-O-Khan & Jeff Cobb beat Tomoaki Honma & Yanga Loa. Cobb pinned Honma after Tour of the Islands.
Match 2: Mikey Nicholls & Zack Sabre Jr. beat El Phantasmo & Hikuleo. Nicholls pinned Phantasmo.
Match 3: Boltin Oleg, El Desperado, Tomohiro Ishii & Hirooki Goto beat BUSHI, Hiromu Takahashi, Yota Tsuji & Shingo Takagi. Desperado pinned BUSHI after El Es Claro.
Match 4: Callum Newman, Francesco Akira & TJP beat Gedo, Gabriel Kidd & David Finlay. Akira pinned Gedo after 2/2.
Match 5: DOUKI, Yuya Uemura, Taichi & SANADA beat Dock Togo, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Ren Narita & EVIL. Uemura pinned Togo with a Kannuki suplex hold.
Match 6: New Japan Cup: Toru Yano beat Yujiro Takahashi by countout.
Match 7: New Japan Cup: YOSHI-HASHI beat KENTA.
Match 8: New Japan Cup: Jack Perry beat Shota Umino. Afterwards, Perry joined House Of Torture.
Main Event: Tetsuya Naito beat Sho. This was the traditional NON-TITLE match between the IWGP World Heavyweight Champion and IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion.
The next event is tomorrow at Korakuen Hall. Live streaming on New Japan World will begin at 1:30 AM PT/4:30 AM ET and you can watch live & on demand FOR FREE! This will be an ABEMA simulcast in Japan.