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Pro Wrestling NOAH 9/3/22 Results & News

Pro Wrestling NOAH wrapped up the N-1 VICTORY 2022 Tournament today with a major event, which would determine who gets the next GHC Heavyweight Championship opportunity. The Great Muta also would make his final Osaka appearance among other big matches.

Today’s event was held at Osaka Prefectural Gym in Osaka and can be watched on demand on WRESTLE UNIVERSE in Japanese and English. YOu can also watch the first 2 matches FOR FREE on YouTube for a limited time.

The announced paid attendance was 2988, a full house/near sellout. A very badly needed strong number. Between capacity limits (Osaka has been among the strictest with limits during the pandemic) and the setup today, that likely was close to a legit sellout.

Match 1: Hajime Ohara beat Super Crazy.

Match 2: Jack Morris & Daiki Inaba beat Anthony Greene & Stallion Rogers. Morris pinned Rogers after a tiger driver.

Match 3: Atsushi Kotoge, YO-HEY & Seiki Yoshioka beat HAYATA, Yuya Susumu & Kai Fujimura. Kotoge pinned Susumu after Kill Switch.

Match 4: Masakatsu Funaki, Katsuhiko Nakajima & SHuji Kondo beat Masa Kitamiya, Mohammed Yone & Alejandro. Nakajima pinned Yone after Vertical Spike.

Match 6: Takashi Sugiura & Satoshi Kojima beat SHuhei Taniguchi & Yoshiki Inamura. Kojima pinned Inamura after a Western lariat.

Match 7: Dragon Bane beat Alpha Wolf.

Match 8: Kazuyuki Fujita, Kendo Ka Shin, Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr. & Timothy Thatcher beat Naomichi Marufuji, Go SHiozaki, Masato Tanaka & Masaaki Mochizuki. Thatcher beat Shiozaki with a Fujiwara armbar.

Match 9: GHC Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Yoshinari Ogawa & Chris Ridgeway beat Eita & Kotaro Suzuki to retain the titles. Ridgeway beat Suzuki with Ridgeway Clutch 2. V1 for the champs.

Match 10: The Great Muta (Keiji Muto), Great-O-Khan (New Japan Pro Wrestling) & NOSAWA Rongai beat Kenoh, Manabu Soya & Tadasuke. Khan pinned Tadasuke after Eliminator.

Main Event; N-1 VICTORY 2022 Finals: Kaito Kiyomiya beat Hideki Suzuki to win the tournament. As a result, Kiyomiya will get the next shot at GHC Heavyweight Champion Kenoh. That match will happen on 9/25 at Aichi Prefectural Gym.

The next event is 9/15 at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo. This is scheduled to be an ABEMA live broadcast in Japan ONLY, and will be available on demand on WRESTLE UNIVERSE at a later time/date. (UPDATE: WRESTLE UNVIERSE will have a live broadcast in English)

As usual with a major NOAH event, lots of post-event news:
Injury Report: Daisuke Harada, who was tentatively scheduled to return to action today, did not and remains out indefinitely due to a neck injury.
Shiozaki was injured during his match, likely at or near the end. Unspecified but appeared to be left arm/elbow/shoulder based on his reaction after the finish, he was clutching what appeared to be his elbow or bicep area and clearly looked in pain. Out indefinitely with more details to come.
THe second match of the Keiji Muto 5 Match Retirement Series was revealed today: On 9/25 it will be Muto & Kazuyuki Fujita vs. Masakatsu Funaki & Katsuhiko Nakajima.
Daishi/Daiji/Taishi (not sure of his exact first name from translation) Ozawa, the first new NOAH wrestler since Yasutaka Yano 2 years ago, will make his Debut on 9/15. Ozawa, 25, is from Shizuoka City, Shizuoka Prefecture and has been training at the NOAH Dojo for just over one year. He became a pro wrestling fan after watching on TV as a child and began gymnastics in high school, citing Mexican wrestler Mistico as inspiration. His Debut Match will be against Yoshiki Inamura. The promotion has launched a special support campaign for Ozawa’s debut-fans and sponsors in Japan can go to NOAH’s online shop and, for 30,000 yen (around $225 US) can submit a support message to Ozawa and it will be published during the opening of the 9/15 event and on NOAH’s official Teitter account, and at a later date an autographed portrait and program will be sent. This promotion starts today in Japan and runs through 9/10. Special Project Sponsor The Reeve (one of NOAH’s main sponsors) has already posted a support message from Representative Director Kazuhiro Sato.
GHC National Champion Masakatsu Funaki vs. Masa Kitamiya for the title has been announced for 9/30 in Niigata.

New Japan 9/2/22 Results

New Japan began the BURNING SPIRIT tour today, their September tour with a throwback title continuing the year-long 50th Anniversary celebration.

Today’s event was held at Yokohama Budokan in Yokohama and can be watched on demand on New Japan World in Japanese. English should be available soon. You can also watch the first 2 matches FOR FREE on the New Japan World YouTube channel for a limited time.

The announced paid attendance was 1421.

Match 1: The DKC beat Kosei Fujita.

Match 2: Dick Togo, Sho, Yujiro Takahashi & EVIL beat Ryohei Oiwa, Yoh, YOSHI-HASHI & Hirooki Goto. Takahashi pinned Oiwa after Pimp Juice.

Match 3: Jado, Master Wato & Ryusuke Taguchi beat Gideon Gray, Francisco Akira & TJP. Wato pinned Gray after No. 9. Gray was making his New Japan debut as the newest member of United Empire.

Match 4: Aaron Henare, Great-O-Khan & Jeff Cobb beat Gedo, Chase Owens & Bad Luck Fale. Henare beat Gedo with Ultima.

Match 5: Hikuleo, KENTA & Taiji Ishimori beat Tomoaki Honma, Togi Makabe & KUSHIDA. Hikuleo pinned Honma after a chokeslam.

Match 6: Yoshinobu Kanemaru, El Desperado, Taichi & Zack Sabre Jr. beat BUSHI, SANADA, Hiromu Takahashi & Tetsuya Naito. Desperado pinned BUSHI after El Es Clero.

Main Event: Bad Dude Tito, Shane Haste & Jonah beat Toru Yano, Hiroshi Tanahashi & Kazuchika Okada. Jonah pinned Yano after Torpedo.

The next event is tomorrow at Nagoya Congress Center in Nagoya. There will be no live broadcast and no on demand video available. The next broadcast is Monday at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, which will be available FOR FREE!

DEVELOPING: TJPW’s Noa Fails In EVE Title Match

Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling star Hikari Noa is on her first international excursion, appearing earlier today in England’s Pro Wrestling EVE promotion as she attempted to win the International Princess Championship back from current champion Alex Windsor. Unfortunately for the TJPW faithful, Noa failed as Windsor won in just under 15 minutes to retain the title. V1 for Windsor.
Noa will miss Saturday’s TJPW event because of being at this event, but is expected back for Sunday. No word on when/if Windsor may be back to defend the title. Also, EVE announced earlier this summer that Hyper Misao will be headed there for an appearance in November, so TJPW stars headed to England for EVE and vice cersa could become a regular thing in the future.
The event can be watched on demand on the Pro Wrestling EVE YouTube channel, but the portion of the event with the match is behind a paywall. It probably will cost at least $10 to watch.

All-Japan News: September AJPW.TV Broadcast Plans

All-Japan has announced the AJPW.TV broadcast schedule for September, not including their weekly “Battle Library” series of classic matches replayed on Thursdays. The service costs 900 yen per month (about $6.56 US at this time). Here is the live/on demand event achedule for September:
9/10 (Mima City Park Udatsu Arena, Tokushima)-On Demand beginning the following day
9/11 (Yonago Industrial Gym Sub Arena)-LIVE at midnight PT/3 AM ET
9/15 (Hodogayo Public Hall)-LIVE at 2:30 AM PT/5:30 AM ET
9/18 (All-Japan 50th Anniversary Event, Nippon Budokan)-On Demand beginning on 9/22 at 3 AM PT/6 AM ET. LIVE ONLY IN JAPAN on TV Asahi
9/19 (Korakuen Hall)-LIVE on 9/18 at 7:30 PM PT/10:30 PM ET. POTENTIAL 9/18 SPOILERS!

Also, if you were not able to watch earlier this year, the joint Korakuen Hall 60th Anniversary/New Japan 50th Anniversary/All-Japan 50th Anniversary crossover event is now available on demand on AJPW.TV. Lots of muted audio because it’s an All-Japan broadcast and, since it’s on their service, the video is not necessarily HD quality like New Japan World offers (remember All-Japan’s service is subpar quality compared to New Japan World and WRESTLE UNIVERSE)

AEW Dynamite 8/31/22 Results

Here are the quick results from last night’s AEW Dynamite in Chicago:
Jon Moxley opens with an open contract for the main event at All Out. Later in the show, CM Punk signs to make the rematch official.

Bryan Danielson beat Jake Hager. JAS post-match beatdown until Wheeler Yuta & Claudio Castagnoli made the save, then Daniel Garcia kept Jericho from using a chair.

W. Morrissey returns and unofficially squashes The Wingmen. He then seems to align with Stokely Hathaway.

Toni Storm & Hikaru Shida beat Britt Baker & Jamie Hayter. Shida pinned Baker.

Miro promo, joined by Darby Allin & Sting. This sets up those three vs. House Of Black at All Out.

FTR & Wardlow beat 3 jobbers. Squash.

Dark Order reveals 10 is out of Friday’s Trios Tournament match. Evil Uno is to be the replacement but after refusing to be bought out by Andrade El Idolo he is beaten down. Adam Page is the eventual replacement.

Wheeler Yuta beat Dante Martin, Rey Fenix & Rush in a 4-way by pinning Martin.

AEW Trios Tournament: The Elite beat United Empire (New Japan Pro Wrestling). Kenny Omega pinned Kyle Fletcher after One Winged Angel. A+ match.

Next week: All Out Fallout plus ROH Pure Champion Wheeler Yuta vs. Daniel Garcia for the title (again).

Friday on a LIVE Rampage: Ricky Starks vs. QT Marshall, Ortiz & Ruby Soho vs. Sammy Guevara & Tay Melo (again), Dark Order & Adam Page vs. Best Friends in the Trios Tournament, Mark Henry interviews Jade Cargill & Athena, The Acclaimed Speak and Keith Lee & Swerve Strickland Speak.

Announced for the FREE All Out Pre-show Sunday: AEW All-Atlantic Champion Pac vs. Kip Sabian for the title, FTW Champion Hook vs. Angelo Parker for the title and Eddie Kingston vs. Tomohiro Ishii.

Other news:
The Kingston-Guevara outside-ring feud may be over. They reportedly made up yesterday.
Bobby Fish may be done with AEW soon. His contract is up in October and likely won’t be renewed. He may be headed back to WWE.

DEVELOPING: Joe Doering Battling Cancer Recurrence

Former All-Japan Pro Wrestling mainstay and current Impact Wrestling star Joe Doering, who beat brain cancer several years ago and made a successful comeback after that, is dealing with a return of the brain cancer and will be stepping away from wrestling. Impact was informed of this at last weekend’s TV tapings by Doering and made a subsequent announcement that surgery is forthcoming. There is no timetable for a potential return.
Doering, 40, is a former 4-time All-Japan World Heavyweight Tag Team Champion, a 2-time Triple Crown Champion (the first non-Japanese born champion), a 2-time Impact Tag Team Champion and a former European Wrestling Association World Heavyweight Champion. I join Impact Wrestling and others in sending best wishes and prayers to Joe Doering, he’s beaten this once and I am confident he can beat it again.

DDT News & Updates for Nagoya-9/4/22

DDT & Tokyo Joshi Pro are running a doubleheader in Nagoya this Sunday, September 4 with mid-major shows for both. Here is a rundown of the steady stream of news coming out for each event:
First, TJPW…for the second time in the past year, all-girl J-Pop megagroup SKE48, which Yuki Arai is a member of, will have a live mini-concert during Sunday’s event. Arai will perform along with “teammates” (group members) Natsuki Kamata, Haruka Kumazaki, Nao Fukushi & Yoshiko Matsumoto. And while she is not performing, fellow teammate Marika Tani will be a guest on commentary for both the TJPW and DDT events. The performance will be part of the live broadcast on WRESTLE UNIVERSE, and you can watch on demand too but only for one month, so don’t miss it! Then after the performance Arai and Saki Akai defend the Princess Tag Team Championship against Yuki Kamifuku & Mahiro Kiryu. Arai has taken tough losses to both Kamifuku & Kiryu recently so here’s hoping her teammates can provide enough of a boost to lift AA Eye Candy to a win over the so-called Allies Of The Orient aka Special KK. (They come up with weird names for teams-take Hikari Noa & Nao Kakuta, who are known as Free WiFi)
Here is the full card for Sunday:
Yuki Aino vs. Nao Kakuta & Neko Haruna in a 3-way
Hikari Noa vs. Moka Miyamoto
Maki Itoh vs. Arisu Endo
Shoko Nakajima & Hyper Misao vs. Miyu Yamashita & Raku
Yuka Sakazaki, Mizuki & Pom Harajuku vs. Rika Tatsumi, Miu Watanabe & Suzume
Princess Tag Team Champions Yuki Arai & Saki Akai vs. Yuki Kamifuku & Mahiro Kiryu for the titles
The event will stream LIVE on WRESTLE UNIVERSE beginning Saturday at 11:30 PM ET/8:30 PM PT. LIVE RESULTS will be posted here.

DDT runs shortly after TJPW. As noted above, Marika Tani will be a guest on commentary for this event as well.
Because it’s DDT, the previously announced Electric Current Explosion Death Match will now have weapons including an electrified barbed wire bat, block toy bat (a favorite of The37KAMINA), mine board and, now of all things, the first ever electrified explosive current bazooka. Yes, explosive current bazooka. Drop the $6.56 US for a month of WRESTLE UNIVERSE or get the new subscriber 2-week free trial for this level of ridiculousness…and Atsushi Onita too, although you never know with “Mr. Liar”. And also to hear Marika Tani likely squealing like crazy on commentary.
The full card for Sunday:
Yusuke Okada vs. Takeshi Masada
Yuki Iino & Danshoku Dieno vs. Antonio Honda & Kazuki Hirata
Akito & Shinya Ishida vs. MAO & Yuki Ishida
Tetsuya Endo, Jun Akiyama & Yuya Koroku vs. Yuki Ueno & Makoto Oishi
Chris Brookes vs. Asuka (Veny)
KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Champions Daisuke Sasaki, MJ Pawl & KANON vs. Yukio Sakaguchi, Saki Akai & Hideki Okatani for the titles
KO-D Tag Team Champions Kazusada Higuchi & Naomi Yoshimura vs. HARASHIMA & Toru Owashi for the titles
Atsushi Onita, Shinya Aoki & Yukio Naya vs. Konosuke Takeshita, Shunma Katsumata & Youi Kojima in a Bunkhouse Scramble Current Blast Death Match
The event will stream live on WRESTLE UNIVERSE Sunday at 1:30 AM PT/4:30 AM ET. So if you’re pulling an all-nighter to watch both events live there will be about a 2 hour break between the events.

All-Japan 50th Anniversary Card Announced

All-Japan has announced the full card for their 50th Anniversary Event on 9/18 at Nippon Budokan. All of the Big 3 will be there as New Japan will have both Yuji Nagata & Tiger Mask there, and former All-Japan star Manabu Soya, now with Pro Wrestling NOAH, will return to where he began his career. Even All Elite Wrestling & Impact Wrestling in the US will have a presence. The legendary Stan Hansen will also be in attendance as a special guest.

The full card for the event, which is subject ot change (match order TBA):
Yuma Anzai Debut Match: Yuma Anzai vs. Yuji Nagata
Rising Hayato & Ryo Inoue vs. Yusuke Kodama & Oji Shiiba
Black Menso-re, Izanagi, Andy Wu & SUSHI vs. TAJIRI, ATM, Yoshitatsu & Mitsuya Nagai
All-Japan 50th Anniversary Match: Masanobu Fuchi, Atsushi Onita & Shiro Koshinaka vs. The Great Kojika, Yoshiaki Yatsu & Masao Inoue. Kyohei Wada will be referee, Fumito Kihara the special ring announcer
Shuji Ishikawa, Kohei Sato & Ren Ayabe vs. Jun & Rei Saito & Cyrus
Hokuto Omori vs. Minoru Suzuki
Yuma Aoyagi vs. Christopher Daniels
Jake Lee vs. Joe Doering
All-Asia Tag Team Champions after 9/10 GLEAT event (Minoru & toshizo or Soma Watanabe & Yu Iizuka) vs. Hikaru Sato & Dan Tamura for the titles
All-Japan World Jr. Heavyweight Champion Tiger Mask 4 vs. Atsuki Aoyagi for the title
All-Japan World Tag Team Champions Shotaro Ashino & Ryuki Honda vs. Takao Omori & Manabu Soya for the titles
All-Japan Triple Crown Champion Suwama vs. Kento Miyahara for the Triple Crown. Stan Hansen will be a special witness

THe event will begin on 9/18 at 12:30 AM PT/3:30 AM ET. Broadcast plans for AJPW.TV should be announced in the next few days, but it likely will air on regular TV in Japan.

New Japan News: First IWGP Women’s Title Tournament Match Set

On their Japanese website, New Japan has announced the first match of the upcoming IWGP Women’s Championship Tournament: It will be Alpha Female vs. (slight guess on name from translation) Arbor White. Female is a former World Of Stardom Champion, which is the top singles title in Stardom.

The match will be on 10/2 at Royal Quest 2 in London, England.

Sumo-September 2022 Banzuke Announced

The Nihon Sumo Kyokai has announced the full Banzuke (Rankings) for the September 2022 Grand Sumo Tournament in Tokyo. A full list of the top 2 tiers will come later today, but here are some of the big early points of note:
First, the hottest topic perhaps…Despite a second straight losing tournament, Mitakeumi stays at Ozeki and presumably remains in Kadoban status. Mitakeumi was 2-6 in July before being forced to withdraw due to a coronavirus outbreak in his beya (stable). That means the equivalent of 2-13, which for a Kadoban Ozeki normally means demotion. Shodai & Takakeisho are out of Kadoban again and there is perhaps a chance of Yokozuna consideration for Takakeisho if he can win the tournament with at least 13 wins.
July Champion Ichinojo, coming off his first tournament championship, moves up to Komosubi from Maegashira 2.
Hoshoryu is promoted to Sekiwake for the first time, joining holdovers Wakatakakage & Daieisho at the 3rd-highest rank. Wakatakakage, the March Champion, just missed potential Ozeki promotion by one or two wins in July.
Kiribayama returns to Komosubi along with Ichinojo and Abi.
Midorifuji is the big mover up, leaping all the way up to Maegashira 1. July Juryo Champion Ryuden is finally back in the top tier as expected, coming in at Maegashira 12.
Demotions to Juryo include Shinanoumi to Juryo 1 after a disastrous 1-14 July, Chiyomaru to J1, and Daiamami to J8. Only 16 Maegashira ranks because Sanyaku additions took two bottom spots away. Elsewhere in Juryo, Kinbozan becomes what is believed to be the first rikishi from Kazakhstan to reach the top two tiers, debuting at Juryo 12 and needing just 6 tournaments to get there.
Amidst rumors it might spell the end of his career, longtime top-tier stalwart Kaisei was demoted to Makushita 1 and, in breaking news, has now retired. The Brazilian ranked as high as Sekiwake and won 1 championship in Juryo. He will now become Oyakata Tomozuna and go through training to become a mentor and perhaps eventually a stablemaster, following in the path of Yokozuna Hakuho, who became Oyakata Magaki after retiring last year.
Former Ozeki Asanoyama, who went a perfect 7-0 and won the Sandanme tournament in his return in July, takes a rocket flight up from Sandanme 22 to Makushita 15. Another 7-0 performance could get him back to Juryo in November. Ishiura, formerly in the top tier but out the last 2 tournaments due to injury, drops to Makushita 10. July Makushita Champion Yoshii makes the usual big leap up and just missed reaching Juryo, he’ll try to get there next time from Makushita 3.

The September Tournament runs from 9/11-9/25 at Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo.

UPDATE 1: There is also a name change to report-Kanno, who is making his Juryo debut at Juryo 14, will now be known as Tochimusashi. There have been two other renamings in the Sandanme and one in the Jonidan.

UPDATE 2: Here is the September Banzuke for the top 2 tiers;
Makuuchi (top tier):
Yokozuna-Terunofuji
Ozaki-Mitakeumi (Kadoban), Shodai, Takakeisho
Sekiwake-Wakatakakage, Daieisho, Hoshuryu
Komosubi-Abi, Ichinojo (July Tournament Champion), Kiribayama
Maegashira 1-Tobizaru, Midorifuji
Maegashira 2-Kotonowaka, Meisei
Maegashira 3-Tamawashi, Ura
Maegashira 4-Nishigiki, Takayasu
Maegashira 5-Takarafuji, Sadanoumi
Maegashira 6-Wakamotoharu, Endo
Maegashira 7-Aoiyama, Onosho
Maegashira 8-Tochinoshin, Hokutofuji
Maegashira 9-Myogiryu, Kotoeko
Maegashira 10-Nishikifuji, Takanosho
Maegashira 11-Kotoshoho, Chiyotairyu
Maegashira 12-Okinoumi, Ryuden (July Juryo Champion)
Maegashira 13-Ichiyamamoto, Oho
Maegashira 14-Chiyoshoma, Yutakayama
Maegashira 15-Terutsuyoshi, Tsurugisho
Maegashira 16-Mitoryu, Hiradoumi

Juryo (2nd tier):
Juryo 1-SHimanoumi, Chiyomaru
Juryo 2-Chiyonokuni, AzUmaryu
Juryo 3-Atamifuji, Tohakuryu
Juryo 4-Kagayaki, Bushozan
Juryo 5-Hidenoumi, Asanowaka
Juryo 6-Akua, Churanoumi
Juryo 7-Kotokuzan, Enho
Juryo 8-Daiamami, Daishoho
Juryo 9-Hokuseiho, Kaisho
Juryo 10-Shimazuumi, Tokushoryu
Juryo 11-Chiyosakae, Kitanowaka
Juryo 12-Gonoyama, Kinbozan
Juryo 13-Oshoma, Tochimaru
Juryo 14-Tochimusashi (name change-formerly Kanno), Takakento
Notable Makushita: Kaisei (Makushita 1-RETIRED), Yoshii (July Makushita Champion-Makushita 3), Asanoyama (July Sandanme Champion-Makushita 15)
Once again there are only 90 ranks in the Sandanme instead of 100. There are 107 ranks in the Jonidan (and many now at least get mug shots/profile pics on the banzuke!), and 19 ranks in the Jonokuchi with an odd number of inexperienced or debuting wrestlers.

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