News, results & more from Japanese Pro Wrestling & Sumo
DDT has provided an update on the status of injured wrestler Kazuma Sumi, who missed the 2/23 & 2/25 events with a left knee injury-it’s not worst case and doesn’t sound too bad following further examination. Partially torn MCL. Expected to be out 2-3 weeks and is currently scheduled to return on 3/17.
More as it becomes available.
While no further details as to why are known, All Elite Wrestling has POSTPONED their scheduled 4/10/24 event in Winnipeg, Canada for a live Dynamite broadcast and Rampage taping. The new date is 5/1.
More as it becomes available.
https://www.allelitewrestling.com/post/winnipeg-live-event-rescheduled-to-may-1st
All-Japan announced 2 title matches today for upcoming events:
First, next up to get a shot at the Triple Crown is Yuma Anzai. He will face Triple Crown Champion Katsuhiko Nakajima for the Triple Crown on 3/30 at Ota City General Gym on Tokyo.
Before that, NEW All-Japan World Tag Team Champions Suwama & Hideki Suzuki will defend the titles against an equally odd couple-Shotaro Ashino & Kuroshio TOKYO Japan. That match will happen on 3/9 (3/8 US time as it’s a morning start in Japan) at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, which is the next event.
Dragon Gate taped the second episode of PRIME ZONE PLUS today, the new revival of their old PRIME ZONE TV series.
Today’s event was held at Kobe Lapis Hall in Kobe and cam be watched on demand on DRAGONGATE NETWORK.
The paid attendance has not yet bern announced. (UPDATE: The announced paid attendance was 75)
Match 1: Hyo beat ISHIN by DQ. Shun Skywalker interference.
Match 2: Takashi Yoshida & Problem Dragon beat BIGBOSS Shimizu & Shachihoko BOY. Yoshida beat BOY with Iron Claw.
Main Event: Hyo won a 16 man battle royal, last eliminating Kota Minoura. As a result, Hyo will he appointed GM of PRINE ZONE starting with the next episode.
The next PRIME ZONE PLUS will be on 3/28.
The next event is THE GATE OF NOSTALGIA 2024 Saturday at Osaka Prefectural Gym 2 in Osaka. This is a special standalone event featuring returning former wrestlers and some current wrestlers reviving their old personas for a day (Cyber Kong! Jimmys! More!). Live streaming on DRAGONGATE NETWORK will begin at 1 AM PT/4 AM ET.
Stardom has announced another injury coming out of this past weekend’s events, but it’s a minor one-Lady C suffered an injury at one of the events. Cut. Out 1-2 weeks. She is now off the promotion’s 3/2 & 3/3 events but is expected back on 3/9 per the Stardom English Twitter account.
This could be fun down the road…Tokyo Joshi Pro has announced that another Japanese idol, this time a former J-Pop idol, is trying her hand at wrestling. Ami Yumoto, 26, is a former member of the record-setting all-girl group AKB48 (it really does have 48 members…which also spawned numerous spinoffs including SKE48, which includes current International Princess Champion Yuki Arai) who released one single as a member. She has also been an actress since leaving AKB48 and now is mostly active on stage and has a background in dance & acrobatics. She will debut at GRAND PRINCESS ’24 on 3/31 against Nao Kakuta. Interestingly, they performed on stage together in December and that seems to have led to this. And guess who happened to be a co-star in Yumoto’s prior TV work that was wrestling themed? Arai. AKB48 vs. SKE48…I’d love to see that! But don’t count on much more from Yumoto for a while after her debut-due to other commitments she probably won’t wrestle again until summer if at all.
Tokyo Sports is reporting that, in a perhaps expected but still huge blow to Stardom and Bushiroad if true, Giulia is leaving the promotion at the end of March. What’s less certain is where she will go-she has been rumored to be following former Stardom head Rossy Ogawa to his pending new promotion, but the rumor mills have also heavily linked her to WWE, suggesting the Japanese-Italian born in England is a very high priority. What this also perhaps leaves in limbo is the New Japan STRONG Women’s Championship which Giulia has has a stronghold on since July. Does it follow her to her next stop? If it’s WWE almost certainly not. The internet fanbase will also be screaming for her to go to All Elite Wrestling which is a possibility despite AEW being ridiculed for what is viewed as poor use of a very loaded women’s division.
Do keep in mind that Tokyo Sports borders on tabloid/dirt sheet in reliability and they’re maybe more flamboyant/out there compared to other mainstream sources like Weekly Pro & Nikkan Sports. But should you wish to decipher this yourself, below is the link (in Japanese):
UPDATE: Related rumors have Giulia following Ogawa to his new promotion to help get it started then going to WWE. That would maybe put her in WWE by this fall. All wait and see
With another major event and tour now in the books, it’s time for a big New Japan news dump to get ready for what’s next:
The entire New Japan Cup field has been unveiled. Traditionally a single-elimination bracket format tournament, that is again the case, this year with a field of 28 (down slightly from the last couple years). That means 4 will get a free pass to Round 2, and those 4 are prior Cup winners (SANADA, Hirooki Goto, EVIL and Zack Sabre Jr.). This is also an openweight tournament meaning Junior Heavyweights are entered as well. Not entered are the current IWGP Champions-World Heavyweight Champion Tetsuya Naito, Junior Heavyweight Champion Sho, and Global Champion Nic Nemeth. Also not in it this year is Hiroshi Tanahashi, possibly due to injury. SANADA is the defending tournament champion. NEVER Openweight Champion EVIL is in the field though. Also note the inclusion of (former?) All Elite Wrestling member Jack Perry, who hasn’t been seen in AEW since a backstage incident at their England event in August. He & Shota Umino have traded comments on the socials lately following Perry attacking Umino at Battle In The Valley in the US in January, and that’s led to a Round 1 match.
This year’s tournament begins on 3/6 and ends on 3/20, with every event available live and on demand on New Japan World. Below is a look at the entire bracket:
The winner will face Naito for the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship at SAKURA GENESIS on 4/6 at Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo, so if SANADA goes all the way we could very well get a trilogy match following Tokyo Dome and this past weekend, both won by Naito. In first looking at the bracket, scratch Boltin Oleg as the Young Lion entrant and Callum Newman has he’s mainly been a jobber for United Empire, otherwise everyone at least has a chance.
Besides Naito vs. the Cup winner, Nemeth-Tanahashi for the IWGP Global Championship is also set for SAKURA GENESIS. Tanahashi is expected to be back from injury by then, which is a sprained ankle suffered on Day 1 of THE NEW BEGINNING in SAPPORO. In fact, right now it sounds like he’ll be out less than 2 weeks based on below.
Finally, the full card has been announced for the traditional Anniversary Event on 3/6 at Ota City General Gym in Tokyo, returning to the venue where it all began-the site of New Japan’s very first event on March 6, 1972. Here’s the full lineup announced today:
Tomoaki Honma & Tanga Loa vs. Great-O-Khan & Jeff Cobb
Hikuleo & El Phantasmo vs. Mikey Nicholls & Zack Sabre Jr.
El Desperado, Tomohiro Ishii, Hirooki Goto & Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. BUSHI, Yota Tsuji, Shingo Takagi & Hiromu Takahashi
Callum Newman, Francesco Akira 7& TJP vs. Gedo, Favid Finlay & Gabriel Kidd
Yuya Uemura, Taichi, DOUKI & SANADA vs. Dick Togo, Ren Narita, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & EVIL (the new-look Uemura following losing his hair last weekend)
New Japan Cup Round 1:
Toru Yano vs. Yujiro Takahashi
YOSHI-HASHI vs. KENTA
Shota Umino vs. Jack Perry
Champion vs. Champion Anniversary Match: IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Tetsuya Naito vs. IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Sho in a NON-TITLE match. This is an Anniversary Event tradition that was paused after 2020 due to the pandemic, but returns this year
GLEAT held their latest signature event, GLEAT Ver. 9, this past Friday in Osaka.
Friday’s event was held at Osaka Prefectural Gym 2 in Osaka and should be available on demand on YouTube at a later date. There was no live broadcast.
The announced paid attendance was 456..
Match 1: Kotaro Suzuki & Keiichi Sato beat Takanori Ito & Fire Katsumi. Suzuki pinned Katsumi after Blue Destiny.
Match 2: Yuya Susumu & Yusuke Kodama beat MICHIKO & JD Lee. Kodama pinned Lee.
Match 3: In a Fight Without Justice aka Deathmatch/No DQ match, So Daimonji beat Issei Onitsuka. Afterwards, Takanori Ito asked for a match against Daimonji. Accepted, but only on the condition of there being matches in both Tokyo and Osaka. That match will happen on both 3/13 and 3/16.
Match 4: Lidet UWF Bout-Minoru Tanaka beat Takafuni Ito by TKO.
Match 5: Tetsuya Izuchi & Seiichi Ikemoto beat Kaito Ishida & Hartley Jackson. Izuchi beat Jackson with an arm triangle.
Match 6: Soma Watanabe beat TAKUMA.
Match 7: Jun Saito, Yuma Aoyagi & Seigo Tachibana (All-Japan) beat Kaz Hayashi, CIMA & Jun Tonsho. Saito pinned Tonsho. After the match, Saito announced that, due to the current Rei Saito injury, the G INFINITY Championship they held is now VACANT. That means the scheduled 3/13 defense against Kaz Hayashi & CIMA is now off. A tournament will be announced soon to crown new champions.
Match 8: El Lindaman beat Kuroshio TOKYO Japan.
Match 9: T-Hawk, Takehiro Yamamura Seiki Yoshioka & Junjie beat Ryuichi Kawakami, KAZMA SAKAMOTO, Check Shimatani & Quiet Storm. Yoshioka pinned Shimatani after Crash Driver.
Main Event: G-REX Champion Hayato Tamura beat SBK to retain the title. V3 for Tamura. Next up: Minoru Tanaka. That match will happen on 3/13.
The next event is GLEAT Ver. 10 on 3/13 at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo. Broadcast plans TBA but since it’s at Korakuen it probably will be live on YouTube, if so the live broadcast would begin at 2:30 AM PT/5:30 AM ET.
It’s that exciting time of the even-numbered month again: The Japan Sumo Association has announced the Banzuke (rankings) for the March 2024 Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka. Here’s the full rankings for the top 2 tiers and other notes (it should be cautioned that the rankings were actually determined shortly after the January tournament so they do not take into account recent events such as Hokuseiho’s forced retirement last week, the Banzuke is not announced to the public and wrestlers until 2 weeks before the next tournament-only promotions from Makushita, the 3rd highest division, to Juryo, the second highest, are announced early as well as Ozeki promotions):
Continue reading “Sumo-March 2024 Banzuke Announced (Updated)”