Author: Admin

Pro Wrestling NOAH 1/8/23 Results (Second Event)

The second half of NOAH’s doubleheader today, REBOOT 2023, consisted of the Semifinals and Finals of the Scramble Shuffle Tag Team Tournament, with other matches not announced in advance and matchups only revealed when entrances began.

Today’s event was held at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo and can be watched on demand on WRESTLE UNIVERSE in Japanese.

The announced paid attendance was 570. Vocal cheering was allowed. This was lower than the early event number but they were also running right after the opening day of the January 2022 Grand Sumo Tournament wrapped up.

Match 1: Shuhei Taniguchi beat Taishi Ozawa.

Match 2: Scramble Shuffle Tag Team Tournament Semifinals: Katsuhiko Nakajima & Seiki Yoshioka beat Manabu Soya & Atsushi Kotoge. Nakajima pinned Kotoge after Vertical Spike. As a result, Nakajima & Yoshioka advance to the Finals.

Match 3: Scramble Shuffle Tag Team Tournament Semifinals: Satoshi Kojima & Shuji Kondo beat Masakatsu Funaki & YO-HEY. Kojima pinned YO-HEY after Western Lariat. As a result, Kojima & Kondo advance to the Finals.

Match 4: Dante Leon beat Yasutaka Yano.

Match 5: Masa Kitamiya & Daiki Inaba beat Takashi Sugiura & Timothy Thatcher by ref stoppage. Kitamiya beat Sugiura with a head cutting Prison Lock. (Which probably means it included Kitamiya’s devastating headbutts)

Match 6: AMAKUSA & Ninja Mack beat Tadasuke & Hi69. AMAKUSA pinned Tadasuke after Firebird Splash.

Match 7: Kenoh & Hajime Ohara beat Masato Tanaka (ZERO1) & Shoki Kitamura. Kenoh pinned Kitamura after PFS.

Match 8: Naomichi Marufuji, Junta Miyawaki & Alejandro beat Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr., Yoshinari Ogawa & Eita. Miyawaki pinned Eita.

Match 9: Jake Lee & Jack Morris beat Kaito Kiyomiya & Yoshiki Inamura. Morris pinned Kiyomiya after a Tiger driver. Significant as will be noted later below.

Main Event: Scramble Shuffle Tag Team Tournament Finals: Katsuhiko Nakajima & Seiki Yoshioka beat Satoshi Kojima & Shuji Kondo to win the tournament. Nakajima pinned Kojima after Vertical Spike.

The next event is tomorrow at Yokohama Radiant Hall in Yokohama, beginning the 2023 portion of the never-ending SUNNY VOYAGE Tour. Live streaming on WRESTLE UNIVERSE will begin at 12:30 AM PT/3:30 AM ET.

Now the significance of earlier-Morris has earned a GHC Heavyweight Championship match against Kiyomiya because of what happened. That match will happen on 2/12 at GREAT VOYAGE 2023 in OSAKA at Osaka Prefectural Gym. Also announced for 2/12 is GHC Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Takashi Sugiura & Satoshi Kojima vs. Masa Kitamiya & Daiki Inaba for the titles.

The full card for the Great Muta Final Event on 1/22 at Yokohama Arena has also been announced:
Atsushi Kotoge & Seiki Yoshioka vs. Hajime Ohara & Hi69
Saori Anou & Jungle Kyona vs. Sumire Natsu & Maya Yukihi
Masaaki Mochizuki vs. Timothy Thatcher
Yoshinari Ogawa, Eita & NOSAWA Rongai vs. Junta Miyawaki, Alejandro & Yasutaku Yano
Jake Lee, Jack Morris & Anthony Greene vs. Masa Kitamiya, Daiki Inaba & Yoshiki Inamura
Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Hideki Suzuki in a GHC Martial Arts Rules Match
AMAKUSA, Ultimo Dragon & Ninja Mack vs. YO-HEY, Kzy & Dante Leon
Kaito Kiyomiya, Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr., Takashi Sugiura & Satoshi Kojima vs. Kenoh, Katsuhiko Nakajima, Masakatsu Funaki & Manabu Soya
The Great Muta, Darby Allin (All Elite Wrestling) & Sting vs. Hakushi, AKIRA & Naomichi Marufuji
The event will be an ABEMA-exclusive broadcast in Japan, but will be available outside Japan in English only on WRESTLE UNIVERSE for subscribers and also is available now for pre-order as a PPV on FITE for $19.99.

Dragon Gate 1/7/23 Results

Beginning this site’s expanded coverage of the promotion, Dragon Gate Pro Wrestling began their 2023 today with the opening event of the Open The New Year Gate 2023 Tour.

Today’s event was held at Osaka Prefectural Gym 2 in Osaka and can be watched on demand on DRAGONGATE NETWORK.

The announced paid attendance was 500. Vocal cheering was allowed meaning reduced capacity.

Match 1; Don Fujii, Kaito Nagano, Naruki Doi & Yoshiki Kato beat Masaaki Mochizuki, Susumu Mochizuki, Mochizuki Jr. & Yasushi Kanda. Kato pinned Mochizuki Jr. after Bloodfall.

Match 2: Eita beat Ryu Fuda by submission.

Match 3: Ultimo Dragon, Jason Lee & Strong Machine J beat Genki Horiguchi, Punch Tominaga & Ho Ho Lun. J pinned Tominaga after Demon Windfall.

Match 4: Kzy & BIGBOSS Shimizu beat Ichikawa & Shachihoko BOY. Shimizu beat Ichikawa with a giant swing.

Match 5: KAI, BxB Hulk & ISHIN beat Dragon Kid, Takashi Yoshida & Problem Dragon. ISHIN pinned Dragon after Capital Punishment.

Match 6: Minorita & Dragon Dia beat H-Y-O & JACKY “FUNKY” KAMEI. Minorita pinned H-Y-O after Minoritanic.

Main Event: Madoka Kikuta & Diamante beat Yuki Yoshioka & Kota Minoura. Kikuta pinned Minoura after a high-speed piledriver.

The next event is tomorrow at Kyoto KBS Hall in Kyoto. Live streaming on DRAGONGATE NETWORK will begin at midnight PT/3 AM ET.

Pro Wrestling NOAH “NEW SUNRISE” 2023 Results (1/8/23)

With their New Year’s Day blowout spectacular behind them and another crossover event with New Japan coming up, Pro Wrestling NOAH kicks off their 2023 today with a special doubleheader featuring a one-day scramble tag team tournament. Spread out between both events, the tournament is interesting in that teams are made up of one NOAH roster member and one Kongo member. While we won’t get Kaito Kiyomiya & Kenoh together aa a team, every pairing is something…Kenoh & AMAKUSA, the former Haoh who took Hi69’s old ring name and his hair before being banished from NOAH and returning under a mask and new identity, is intriguing. The first half main event will see the NOAH debut of Jake Lee, who showed up just hours after he left All-Japan Pro Wrestling when his contract there ended (he chose not to re-sign) and will face Yoshiki Inamura in his NOAH debut.

Today’s events will be held at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo and both can be watched LIVE on WRESTLE UNIVERSE. If there is commentary it will be Japanese only. You can also watch the first 3 matches of both events FOR FREE on YouTube. Based on the start times for both events they will be on a strict time limit, at least for the first event. I expect the first half to run 2 1/2-3 hours based on the number of matches. Note also that live results will only be posted for the first event and not the second, which is a 1 AM start for me.

Today’s lineup:
Masa Kitamiya & Daiki Inaba vs. Yasutaku Yano & Taishi Ozawa
Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr. & Timothy Thatcher vs. Mohammed Yone & Akitoshi Saito
Masaaki Mochizuki vs. Jack Morris
Yoshinari Ogawa & Eita vs. Junta Miyawaki & Alejandro
Scramble Shuffle Tag Team Tournament:
Naomichi Marufuji & Hi69 vs. Katsuhiko Nakajima & Seiki Yoshioka
Masakatsu Funaki & YO-HEY vs. Takashi Sugiura & Hajime Ohara
Kaito Kiyomiya & Tadasuke vs. Manabu Soya & Atsushi Kotoge
Satoshi Kojima & Shuji Kondo vs. Kenoh & AMAKUSA
Ninja Mack vs. Dante Leon
Yoshiki Inamura vs. Jake Lee

Refresh this page occasionally for the latest results.

Updates below will begin at 9:45 PM ET/6:45 PM PT.

9:45 PM ET UPDATE: Live streaming has started. We should go to the venue in the next 10-15 minutes.

9:50 PM ET UPDATE: Live updates begin now…
We are LIVE from Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan. There is Japanese commentary, I didn’t catch their names.

The paid attendance will be announced after the event. Vocal cheering is allowed so it’s reduced capacity. At the start of the matches it looked close to full so I’m estimating 650-700.
POST-EVENT UPDATE: The announced paid attendance was 622.

The matches should begin in 10-15 minutes.

We have that annoying-looking English announcer G-man welcoming us at the top of the hour. Dude looks like he’s had too much plastic surgery. The opening video follows.

The matches begin at 10:05 PM ET. Note that all tournament matches will have no time limit.

Match 1: Masa Kitamiya & Daiki Inaba vs. Yasutaku Yano & Taishi Ozawa. 20 minute time limit
Result: Masa Kitamiya & Daiki Inaba beat Yasutaku Yano & Taishi Ozawa. Inaba beat Ozawa with an armlock.

Match 2: Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr. & Timothy Thatcher vs. Mohammed Yone & Akitoshi Saito. 20 minute time limit
Result: Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr. & Timothy Thatcher beat Mohammed Yone & Akitoshi Saito. Thatcher beat Saito with a Fujiwara armbar.

Match 3: Masaaki Mochizuki vs. Jack Morris. 30 minute time limit
Result: Jack Morris beat Masaaki Mochizuki.

The YouTube broadcast ends here.

Match 4: Yoshinari Ogawa & Eita vs. Junta Miyawaki & Alejandro. 30 minute time limit
Result: Junta Miyawaki & Alejandro beat Yoshinari Ogawa & Eita. Miyawaki pinned Ogawa with a rollup after an Eita dropkick attempt towards Miyawaki backfired and hit Ogawa instead. Afterwards, Miyawaki with microphone. As I was thinking might happen, challenge issued for the GHC Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Championship held by Ogawa & Eita. Ogawa left the ring before this and there were tensions with Eita. It sounds like Eita accepted the challenge. More as it becomes available.

Upcoming major events were announced, new additions are 4.16 in Sendai for ABEMA PRESENTS GREEN JOURNEY 2023 in Sendai and 5/4 at Ryogoku Kokugikan. On 2/12 at GREAT VOYAGE 2023 in Osaka Mexican sensation Dralistico makes his NOAH debut. After this the March & April schedule was announced on Twitter:
3/9-Korakuen Hall; 3/19-Yokohama Budokan (GREAT VOYAGE 2022 in YOKOHAMA); 4/8-Osaka ATC Hall; 4/9-Takaoka Ecole, Toyama; 4/16-Xebio Arena Sendai (GREEN JOURNEY 2023 in SENDAI); 5/22-Act City Hamamatsu, Shizuoka; 4/23-Kyoto KBS Hall, Kyoto; 4/29-Korakuen Hall.

Akitoshi Saito joins commentary.

Match 5: Scramble Shuffle Tag Team Tournament Quarterfinals: Naomichi Marufuji & Hi69 vs. Katsuhiko Nakajima & Seiki Yoshioka. No time limit
Result; Katsuhiko Nakajima & Seiki Yoshioka beat Naomichi Marufuji & Hi69. Yoshioka pinned Hi69. As a result, Nakajima & Yoshioka advance to the Semifinals at the second event later today.

Match 6: Scramble Shuffle Tag Team Tournament Quarterfinals: Masakatsu Funaki & YO-HEY vs. Takashi Sugiura & Hajime Ohara. No time limit
Result: Masakatsu Funaki & YO-HEY beat Takashi Sugiura & Hajime Ohara. YO-HEY pinned Ohara after a jumping double knee strike. As a result, Funaki & YO-HEY advance to the Semifinals.

Match 7: Ninja Mack vs. Dante Leon. 30 minute time limit
Result: Ninja Mack beat Dante Leon. Almost didn’t happen as Leon entered first but Mack ambushed him immediately and they went at it with weapons outside the ring for a couple minutes before it officially began. Leon unmasked Mack late but it turned out Mack had a second mask on underneath.

Match 8: Scramble Shuffle Tag Team Tournament Quarterfinals: Kaito Kiyomiya & Tadasuke vs. Manabu Soya & Atsushi Kotoge. No time limit
Result: Manabu Soya & Atsushi Kotoge beat Kaito Kiyomiya & Tadasuke. Kotoge pinned Tadasuke after a moonsault. As a result, Soya & Kotoge advance to the Semifinals.

Match 9: Scramble Shuffle Tag Team Tournament Quarterfinals: Satoshi Kojima & Shuji Kondo vs. Kenoh & AMAKUSA. No tlme limit
Result: Satoshi Kojima & Shuji Kondo beat Kenoh & AMAKUSA. Kondo beat AMAKUSA with a modified Figure 4.

Main Event: Yoshiki Inamura vs. Jake Lee. 1 Hour time limit. Lee came out to his previous All-Japan entrance theme.
Result: Jake Lee beat Yoshiki Inamura

The next event is later today. Live streaming on WRESTLE UNIVERSE will begin at 12:45 AM PT/3:45 AM ET.

DEVELOPING: NJPW STRONG Ending Today?

This is just a rumor right now, but a post today on New Japan icon Hiroshi Tanahashi’s Japanese blog suggests the NJPW STRONG program is ending. This follows a Twitter post from NJPW President Takami Ohbari that STRONG “will be rebuilt next year”, meaning this year. Tanahashi indicates the final STRONG tapings are the one happening today. There are rumors elsewhere this could all be ties to AEW & Ring Of Honor owner Tony Khan’s plans for a reboot of ROH’s weekly TV show, which finished its prior 10-year syndication & FITE run last year and for now is expected to be on the rebooted HonorClub platform, now a streaming service for ROH past events and TV, available on the US only for $9.99/month.

This is all just a rumor right now but it does bear watching, moreso since New Japan and AEW have a working relationship.

More as it becomes available.

DEVELOPING: 2023 New Japan Cup Announced

On their Japanese website, New Japan announced the 2023 New Japan Cup Tournament, to take place in its traditional March timeframe. The tournament, a singles event with a single-elimination format, will begin on 3/5 at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo and tun 11 events, concluding on 3/21 at Aore Nagaoka in Niigata. Advance ticket sales for fan club members begin Friday.

More as it becomes available. Also, the promotion’s annual Anniversary Event will be held on 3/6 at Ota City General Gym in Tokyo, the date of what will be the promotion’s 51st Anniversary.

1/8/2023-1/14/2023 Events Schedule (Updated 1/10/23)

Here is the current events schedule for 1/8/2023-1/14/2023, which is subject to change (all times PT):
1/8:
Midnight-Dragon Gate Pro Wrestling Open The New Year Gate 2023 Tour, Kyoto KBS Hall, Kyoto, Japan. Live on DRAGONGATE NETWORK
Midnight-GLEAT “GLEAT Ver. 5”, Osaka Prefectural Gym 2, Osaka, Japan. No live broadcast
1 AM-Pro Wrestling NOAH REBOOT 2023, Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan. Live on WRESTLE UNIVERSE

1/9:
Midnight-Dragon Gate Pro Wrestling Open The New Year Gate 2023 Tour, Tamanori Gym, Mie, Japan. No live broadcast
12:30 AM-Pro Wrestling NOAH SUNNY VOYAGE 2023 Tour, Yokohama Radiant Hall, Yokohama, Japan. Live on WRESTLE UNIVERSE

1/11:
1:30 AM-Dragon Gate Pro Wrestling Open The New Year Gate 2023 Tour, Korakuen Hall. Live on DRAGONGATE NETWORK
1:30 AM-All-Japan Pro Wrestling “New Year Giant Series 223”, Hodogaya Public Hall, Yokohama, Japan. Live on AJPW.TV
5 PM-All Elite Wrestling “AEW Dynamite”, Los Angeles, CA. Live on TBS in US and FITE elsewhere

1/12:
1:30 AM-Dragon Gate Pro Wrestling Open The New Year Gate 2023 Tour, Korakuen Hall. Live on DRAGONGATE NETWORK

1/13:
1 AM-DDT Pro Wrestling Sanshiro Takagi Birthday Event, Shinjuku Face, Tokyo, Japan. Live on WRESTLE UNIVERSE
7 PM-All Elite Wrestling “AEW Rampage”. TAPED on TNT in US and FITE elsewhere

1/14:
1 AM-Dragon Gate Pro Wrestling Open The New Year Gate 2023 Tour, Act City Hamamatsu, Shizuoka, Japan. No live broadcast
1:30 AM-DDT Pro Wrestling “Sweet Dreams 2023 Tour in Sendai”, Miyagino Ward Cultural Center, Sendai, Japan. No live broadcast
8 PM-All-Japan Pro Wrestling “New Year Giant Series 2023”, 2AW Square, Chiba, Japan. No live broadcast
9 PM-Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling Futari-Wa Max Heart Princess Tournament 3, Otemachi Mitsui Hall, Tokyo, Japan. Live on WRESTLE UNIVERSE. LIVE RESULTS SCHEDULED
11 PM-Pro Wrestling NOAH SUNNY VOYAGE 2023 Tour, Fujisan Messe, Shizuoka, Japan. No live broadcast

1/10 UPDATE: Added 1/11 & 1/14 All-Japan events which were inadvertently omitted.

Tokyo Joshi Pro 1/7/23 Results

Tokyo Joshi Pro continued the CITY CIRCUIT series from last year today, which is normally when they visit a wrestler’s hometown for an event. Today it was their first visit to Kobe since last summer.

Today’s event was held at Kobe Art Center in Kobe and will be available on demand on WRESTLE UNVIERSE at a later date (probably Tuesday or Wednesday). There was no live broadcast.

The announced paid attendance was 237, a full house/near sellout.

Match 1; Nao Kakuta beat HIMAWARI.

Match 2: Yuki Kamifuku beat Kaya Toribami.

Match 3: Yuki Aino & Raku beat Maki Itoh & Hikari Noa. Raku pinned Noa after Doctor Yellow.

Match 4: Shoko Nakajima & Hyper Misao beat Yuka Sakazaki & Mahiro Kiryu. Nakajima pinned Kiryu with a Northern Lights suplex hold.

Match 5: Max The Impaler, Heidi Howitzer & Trish Adora beat Rika Tatsumi, Miu Watanabe & Pom Harajuku. Max pinned Harajuku after Master Blaster. After being carried to the back by the winners, Harajuku’s whereabouts are in question and her life should be feared for. (That’s meant to be comedy of course)

Main Event: Suzume & Arisu Endo beat Mizuki & Moka Miyamoto. Suzume pinned Miyamoto after Ring A Bell. In the post-main event winners’ promo, Suzume & Endo aka Dejimon declared they would win the upcoming Futari-wa Princess Max Heart Tag Team Tournament. What ends up higher-their win total or number of different Endo hair colors for their matches?

The next event is tomorrow at Okayama Convention Center in Okayama. This is their first event there in a year and is a Yuki Aino hometown event so she gets the main event spot. There will be no live broadcast.

DDT 1/7/23 Results

DDT welcomed back longtime deathmatch icon (and controversy magnet) Atsushi Onita today for an event featuring his signature exploding current deathmatch, but there was a lot on the line in the match-Onita’s trademark to the match name against DDT executives’ positions in the company.

Today’s event was held at Tsurumi Fruit & Vegetable Market in Kanagawa and will be available on demand on WRESTLE UNIVERSE at a later date (probably Tuesday). There was no live broadcast.

The announced paid attendance was 234, a super full house/very near sellout.

The show opened with the first-ever electric current explosion mirror split.

Match 1: Yukio Naya beat Takeshi Masada.

Match 2: Danshoku Dieno & Yuki Iino beat Hideki Okatani & Kazuma Sumi. Iino beat Sumi.

Match 3: HARASHIMA, Saori Anou & Yusuke Okada beat Kazuki Hirata, Saki Akai & Gota Ihashi. Anou pinned Ihashi after an Akai high kick and a medulla oblong slash.

Match 4: In a Chain Deathmatch, Chris Brookes beat Demonio Uno by ref stoppage (TKO-technical submission).

Match 5: Yuki Ueno & MAO beat Tetsuya Endo & Yuya Koroku. Ueno pinned Koroku after Stretch Bomb.

Match 6: Daisuke Sasaki & KANON beat Kazusada Higuchi & Yuki Ishida. KANON beat Ishida with a cobra twist.

Main Event: In a New Year Air Time Bomb & Electric Blast Deathmatch, with a time bomb suspended above the ring that would explode after 10 minutes had passed, Atsushi Onita, Shunma Katsumata & Toui Kojima beat Sanshiro Takagi, Akito & Takao Soma.Onita pinned Soma after an electric blast bat full swing. The stip was that if Onita’s team lost, he lost the “exploding current” trademark to DDT, but if Onita’s team won whoever scored the winning pinfall/submission took the loser’s position in the company. As a result, Onita becomes the store manager of DDT’s Dropkick bar/restaurant, a position previously held by Soma. Exploding current cocktail has a nice ring to it, don’t you think? Afterwards, HARASHIMA & Kazuki Hirata came out to make a challenge for a current bombing match on 3/19 (a potential return date to the venue) and Onita declared the launch of “Dramatic Dream Onita”. Never know what will happen with “Mr. Liar” though.

The next event is Friday at Shinjuku Face in Tokyo, a special event to celebrate Sanshiro Takagi’s birthday. Those who purchase special Takagi seats for, in tribute to his “346” number associated with him-34,600 yen-get an all-you-can-drink meal with Takagi at Dropkick afterwards (and with Onita now manager this could be a lot of fun), a special ringside seat during Takagi’s match (which is Takagi & Fuminori Abe vs. Chris Brookes & Takeshi Masada), a commemorative photo with Takagi in the ring and more. There’s also a 3-way DDT Universal Title match on the card. Live streaming on WRESTLE UNIVERSE will begin at 1:30 AM PT/4:30 AM ET.
(Correction: The original post said there would be no live broadcast for the 1/13 event. It will stream live on WRESTLE UNIVERSE)

1/21 New Japan-NOAH Card Announced

At a press conference earlier today, New Japan and Pro Wrestling NOAH announced the card for the WRESTLE KINGDOM in YOKOHAMA crossover event on 1/21 at Yokohama Arena. All matches will be New Japan vs. NOAH matches, in particular 5 single matches consisting of LIJ vs. Kongo. The event will air live as a PPV on New Japan World (New Japan’s English website says no subscription requires) and will be available on demand to all subscribers 1 week later (1/28). On the NOAH side, it will be a PPV on ABEMA for around $26-27 US but may be available only in Japan. No word yet on when/if it may be available on WRESTLE UNIVERSE but at the earliest it would likely be 1 week after the event.

The full card:
Kosei Fujita & Ryohei Oiwa vs. Taishi Ozawa & Yasutaka Yano
Oskar Leube & Tomohiro Ishii vs. Masa Kitamiya & Daiki Inaba
Talashi Sugiura, Satoshi Kojima, Hiroshi Tanahashi & Toru Yano vs. Gedo, El Phantasmo, KENTA & Baomichi Marufuji
El Desperado vs. YO-HEY
Master Wato, Ryusuke Taguchi & Tiger Mask vs. Alejandro, Junta Miyawaki & AMAKUSA
Kazuchika Okada & Togi Makabe vs. Kaito Kiyomiya & Yoshiki Inamura
BUSHI vs. Tadasuke
Hiromu Takahashi vs. Hajime Ohara
SANADA vs. Manabu Soya
Shingo Takagi vs. Katsuhiko Nakajima
Tetsuya Naito vs. Kenoh

The first 2 matches are listed as pre-show matches. The event is scheduled to begin at midnight PT/3 AM ET but may start earlier for the pre-show.

You can watch the presser below (from New Japan’s YouTube channel, also available on NOAH’s YouTube):

Verified by MonsterInsights