News, results & more from Japanese Pro Wrestling & Sumo
While I haven’t seen an official announcement yet, my YouTube subscriptions today reveal that GLEAT will stream tomorrow’s (2/2/24) G PROWRESTLING Ver. 69 event LIVE FOR FREE on YouTube. Bookmark and set a reminder for the video below and come back tomorrow at 1:30 AM PT/4:30 AM ET to watch live. It also will be available on demand after the live broadcast concludes.
Video courtesy of the GLEAT Official YouTube Channel.
Here are the quick results for tomorrow’s AEW Rampage in New Orleans, LA (SPOILERS!):
Continue reading “AEW Rampage 2/2/24 Results (SPOILERS!)”Here are the quick results from tonight’s AEW Dynamite in New Orleans, LA:
Match 1: Jon Moxley vs. Jeff Hardy
Result: Jon Moxley beat Jeff Hardy by ref stoppage (technical submission). 3-4 wrestlers from Mexico’s CMLL promotion are ringside in the crowd and post-match, Moxley taunted them (he also did so during the match) and they hit the ring for a beatdown until Matt Menard, Christopher Daniels and others made the save.
Match 2: Adam Page (with MUSTACHE!) vs. Toa Liona
Result: Adam Page beat Toa Liona
Match 3: Wardlow vs. Komander (last-second add to show during opening match)
Result: Wardlow beat Komander
Ricky Starks/Big Bill & Sting/Darby Allin sitdown interview.
Match 4: Chris Jericho vs. Kyle Fletcher
Result: Chris Jericho beat Kyle Fletcher
Match 5; Deonna Purrazzo vs. Taya Valkyrie. Toni Storm on commentary
Result: Deonna Purrazzo beat Taya Valkyrie by submission
Darby Allin interviewed backstage, interrupted immediately by The Young Bucks.
Main Event: Swerve Strickland vs. Adam Page’s choice, which as expected from his promos last week is Rob Van Dam. Page appeared on video before the bell to tell Strickland it’s a hardcore match. Samoa Joe on commentary
Result: Swerve Strickland beat Rob Van Dam. Afterwards, Tony Khan made Strickland-Adam Page 3 for next week and the winner faces Samoa Joe for the AEW World Championship at Revolution.
It was another Dynamite that happened. Nothing terrible but nothing I cared for. Straight-down-the-middle average. I did miss Jericho-Fletcher due to a personal issue that I had to tend to.
Next week: The return of the TONY KHAN HUGE ANNOUNCEMENT! Cue some potential Kazuchika Okada speculation.
UPDATE: The Rankings were announced after the show ended on the socials. Check them out below:
Now that the January 2024 Grand Sumo Tournament is in the books and the post-tournament rankings & extraordinary council meeting have been held, here is the final wrap-up for the tournament:
Continue reading “Sumo-January 2024 Tournament Final Standings & Rankings Notes”In a breaking news post on parent DDT’s website, Ganbare Pro has announced that Shota, Yoshiko Hasegawa & Riara will be leaving the promotion at the end of March. All will remain active as freelancers. Their final Ganbare matches will be on 3/28. Shota is the most experiences of the trio at 5 years while Hasegawa has a couple years and Riara is a rookie, the ladies have been featured in Ganbare Joshi.
More as it becomes available.
UPDATE: Just after this was posted, I learned the promotion also announced that after 3/28, it will separate from CyberFight Corporation and operate as an independent promotion. That likely means no more WRESTLE UNIVERSE connections for ticket presales or event broadcasts. Ken Ohka will oversee the operations of the promotion. Also, effective tomorrow (2/1) Shinichiro Tominaga will join the promotion as a member and be part of 2 promotions, along with Yumehuto Imanari who has affiliated himself with Ibushi Pro Wresting since leaving DDT.
The promotion’s first independent events will be 4/27 at Kitazawa Town Hall in Tokyo, 5/18 at Shin-Kiba 1st Ring, 6/2 and 7/15 at Takashimadaira Community Center. Notably gone it seems if their annual Golden Week event in early May at Korakuen Hall, which had been their biggest event of the year.
Here are the quick results from the 1/26/24 episode of TNA Xplosion, marking the return of the former TV series:
This episode was taped in Las Vegas, NV as part of the 1/14 TV tapings. You can watch the full episode below and on YouTube FOR FREE (new episodes will premiere Fridays on TNA+, then will be available Tuesdays on YouTube for all viewers-Insider or Ultimate Insider subscription not required to watch):
Your hosts are Thom Hannifan & Gia Miller.
Match 1: Rhino beat Shera.
Top 5 Trending Topics of the Week segment in honor of the late Don West.
Highlight package of Josh Alexander vs. Rich Swann from No Surrender 2023.
Gia Miller segment, this week she interviews Ace Austin (longer-form interview).
Replay of Nic Nemeth promo from Impact, where he laid out Steve Maclin at the end.
Match 2: Joe Hendry beat Rich Swann. Swann may have injured his knee during the match.
The episode ran about 40 minutes total, about 50-50 split between the 2 matches and the other segments time-wise.
As expected, the Japan Sumo Association has just announced that, following an extraordinary meeting today (1/31 Japan time), Kotonowaka has been promoted to Ozeki following a 13-2 January tournament that saw the Sekiwake lose in a playoff for the championship to Yokozuna Terunofuji but win the Technique Prize. Kotonowaka had 33 wins in his last 3 tournaments, considered an unofficial benchmark for promotion consideration. He is expected to also change his shikona, or ring name, to Kotozakura, the ring name of his Yokozuna grandfather. This will make 4 Ozeki, the second highest tanking in sumo, for the March tournament in Osaka.
UPDATE: In other news, some other promotions were also confirmed. There will be no Shin-Juryo rikishi in March 2024 but 4 will be Sai-Juryo and return to the second tier (and get their salary back): Former Sekiwake and newly crowned Makushita Champion Wakatakakage (as expected), Tsushimanada, Kitaharima and Hakuoho. Kiraharima was last in Juryo in September 2020, and the 37-year-old undoubtedly hopes to get one more chance in the top tier before his career is over. He made it in July 2016, coming in at Maegashira 15 for one tournament but demoted after going 6-9/ Tsushimanada returns to Juryo for the first time since July (his highest career rank is J9), while Hakuoko is back up after one tournament demoted from Juryo after missing 2 tournaments due to injury following an 11-4 top tier debut in July. Expect him back in Makuuchi in no time, probably in July if all goes well.
Dragon Gate wrapped up the New Year Gate 2024 Tour today with a Hyo hometown event.
Today’s event was held at Loisir Hotel Toyohashi in Aichi. There is/was no live or on demand broadcast.
The paid attendance has not yet been announced.
Match 1: Kzy, BIGBOSS Shimizu & U-T beat Madoka Kikuta, Dragon Dia & Ryoya Tanaka. Shimizu pinned Tanaka after Power BOSS.
Match 2: Gianni Valetta & Yoshiki Kato beat Dragon Kid & Daiki Yanagiuchi. Valetta pinned Yanagiuchi after a King Kong kneedrop.
Match 3: Punch Tominaga beat Jason Lee.
Match 4: JACKY “FUNKY” KAMEI & Ho Ho Lun beat YAMATO & Problem Dragon. Lun pinned Dragon with Ho Roll.
Match 5: Masaaki Mochizuki, Susumu Mochizuki & Yasushi Kanda vs. Kota Minoura, Ben-K & BxB Hulk went to a double countout.
Main Event: Hyo & Luis Mante beat Shun Skywalker & ISHIN. Hyo pinned ISHIM after Samson Driver.
The next event is Saturday at Tajimi City Industrial Culture Center in Gifu. Broadcast plans TBA.
On a related note, I am considering subscribing to DRAGONGATE NETWORK in the next couple days and, if I do, there will be live results for some upcoming events possibly starting with Sunday’s MEMORIAL GATE 2024 in Wakayama event (if there are live results, they would begin Saturday at 10 PM PT). (May be tough to manage as there’s a Pro Wrestling NOAH event live at the same time. Need WRESTLE UNIVERSE to get an Apple TV app!)
The end of January is typically when New Japan wrestlers’ contracts expire (after Tokyo Dome and New Year’s Dash), and the promotion has lost 3 major names already this month but they have locked up one..according to translation of social media posts from a Tokyo Sports reporter, Hiromu Takahashi has signed a new contract with New Japan. Terms not disclosed but unless he gets injured he’ll be in Chicago for New Japan’s next US event in April.
And after a short break the body count across Japan further rises as injuries continue to pile up. GLEAT does sometimes make the bad puns easy for me, as in this case as they announced the latest casualty is Check Shimatani. Left arm and left side. Out indefinitely but translation noted “severe pain” so it probably will be a while, however this is pending further examination by doctors. He is off the 2/2 event and, while they were not mentioned specifically, it appears corresponding card changes have already been made.
More as it becomes available.