News, results & more from Japanese Pro Wrestling & Sumo
A major shakeup in Dragon Gate today as the Pro Wrestling NOAH team of Kenoh & Shuji Kondo beat Kzy & BIGBOSS Shimizu by TKO to win the Open The Twin Gate Championship. Kenoh & Kondo become the 62nd Open The Twin Gate Champions. More gold for Kongo.
Full results will be posted when available. The event can be watched on demand on DRAGONGATE NETWORK.
Nikkan Sports reports the spring Sumo Apprentice/New Entrant Exams were held yesterday, with a reported 33 prospective rikishi participating in the hopes of becoming sumo wrestlers (one additional scheduled participant was absent). The exam mainly consists of a comprehensive physical/medical examination and questionnaire (NHK World Japan once briefly detailed the process in its “Sumopedia” series of behind-the-scenes shorts that air alongside the Grand Sumo Highlights program during tournaments). From articles published so far by Nikkan Sports today, at least 3 have passed and will be part of introductory ceremonies during the May Tournament in Tokyo. Two are twin brothers from Miyagi Prefecture and appear to have chosen the shikona (ring names) Tatenoumi and Tatenomori, respectively. Both are 18 and stand about 6 feet tall. The third one is the son of an active horse racing jockey in Japan and began sumo in elementary school. He is 15 and has chosen the shikona Daibasho in reference to bis father and his own upbringing but also to be different from the more common (and currently taken) Daieisho.
The 34 scheduled examinees is among the smallest for spring due to declining birthrates in Japan, but also is expected to have the most participation this year because it coincides with school graduation season. The earliest they could debut in terms of actual tournament matches will be the July Tournament in Nagoya.
GLEAT has now posted the full video of Sunday’s G PROWRESTLING event on their YouTube channel. Click below to watch:
New Japan continued the Road to SAKURA GENESIS Tour today with a non-televised house show.
Today’s event was held at Twin Messe Shizuoka North Building in Shizuoka. There was no live broadcast and there is no on demand video available.
The announced paid attendance was 559.
Match 1: Toru Yano & Tonohiro Ishii beat Oskar Leube & Yuto Nakashima. Ishii pinned Nakashima.
Match 2: Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Ren Narita, El Desperado & Minoru Suzuki beat Dick Togo, Sho, Yujiro Takahashi & EVIL. Narita pinned Togo with a blizzard suplex hold.
Match 3: Aaron Henare & Great-O-Khan beat BUSHI & Shingo Takagi. Khan beat BUSHI with Subaru Sheep Killer.
Match 4: Hiromu Takahashi & Tetsuya Naito beat Gedo & El Phantasmo. Takahashi pinned Gedo after Hero Mirror Special.
Match 5: Jeff Cobb & Aussie Open beat Tomoaki Honma, YOSHI-HASHI & Hirooki Goto. Cobb pinned Honma after Your of the Islands.
Match 6: Ryohei Oiwa, Ryusuke Taguchi & Shota Umino beat Kosei Fujita, Robbie Eagles & Zack Sabre Jr. Umino pinned Fujita with La Magistral.
Main Event: TAKA Michinoku, DOUKI, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Taichi & Zack Sabre Jr. beat Master Wato, Yoh, Tiger Mask, Hiroshi Tanahashi & Kazuchika Okada. Taichi pinned Wato after Tonsho Cross Phoenix.
The tour-ender is Thursday at Tokorozawa Civic Gym in Saitama. There will be no live or on demand broadcast.
In other news, Yuji Nagata announced his annual produced “Blue Justice 12” event will be held on 6/18 at Sakura Municipal Gym in Chiba. He also announced on Twitter that the annual Togane Arena event in Chiba will be held this fall.
New Japan ran the halfway point event of the Road to SAKURA GENESIS Tour today with the last televised event of the tour.
Today’s event was held at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo and can be watched on demand on New Japan World.
The announced paid attendance was 902.
Match 1: Aaron Henare & Great-O-Khan beat Oskar Leube & Tomohiro Ishii. Khan beat Leube with Subaru Sheep Killer.
Match 2: Master Wato, Yoh & Tiger Mask beat TAKA Michinoku, DOUKI & Yoshinobu Kanemaru. Wato beat TAKA with Vendeval.
Match 3: Ryusuke Taguchi, Toru Yano & Shota Umino beat Gedo, Taiji Ishimori & El Phantasmo. Taguchi beat Gedo with Oh My & Gar Ankle.
Match 4: Jeff Cobb & Aussie Open beat Tomoaki Honma, YOSHI-HASHI & Hirooki Goto. Mark Davis pinned Honma after Corealis.
Match 5: Hiromu Takahashi, Shingo Takagi & Tetsuya Naito beat Kosei Fujita, Robbie Eagles & Zack Sabre Jr. Naito pinned Fujita.
Match 6: Hiroshi Tanahashi & Kazuchika Okada beat Taichi & SANADA. Tanahashi beat Taichi with Samson Clutch.
Main Event: In a No Countouts Match, NEVER 6-Man Tag Team Champions Ren Narita, El Desperado & Minoru Suzuki beat Sho, Yujiro Takahashi & EVIL to retain the titles. Desperado pinned Sho after Pinche Loco. V1 for the champs. The match was changed just before the event to be no countouts. The champs undoubtedly sent the crowd home very happy as House Of Torture was vanquished again.
The next event is tomorrow at Twin Messe Shizuoka North Hall in Shizuoka. There will be no live or on demand broadcast.
GLEAT ran their latest G PROWRESTLING event today, heading to Okinawa for the final house show before their next big event in a couple weeks.
Today’s event was held at Naha City Bunka Tembusu Hall in Okinawa and should be available on demand on YouTube at a later date. There was no live broadcast.
The announced paid attendance was 115, a legit sellout.
Match 1: Soma Watanabe & Tetsuya Izuchi beat Takanori Ito & Yusuke Kodama. Watanabe pinned Kodama after a dropkick.
Match 2: Michiko Miyagi beat Akane Fujita by submission.
Match 3: El Lindaman beat Yu Iizuka.
Match 4: T-Hawk beat Issei Onitsuka by submission.
Match 5: Tetsuya Izuchi (yes, he competed in two matches today) & Jun Tonsho beat Kaz Hayashi & Minoru Tanaka. Tonsho pinned Hayashi with Tornado Clutch.
Main Event: Hayato Tamura, Check Shimatani & KAZMA SAKAMOTO beat Kaito Ishida, Kotaro Suzuki & Hartley Jackson. Shimatani pinned Jackson with a jackknife.
The next event is 4/12 at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo with the Lidet UWF Championship Tournament Semifinals, Michiko Miyagi fighting to stay in GLEAT (she must beat Sayaka Unagi or she must leave the promotion), a G INFINITY Championship match and G REX Champion Kaito Ishida defending the title against T-Hawk plus more. Broadcast plans TBA but I anticipate a live broadcast on YouTube.
4/3 UPDATE: The full video of this event will be available on YouTube tomorrow (4/4) beginning at 5 AM PT/8 AM ET.
Dragon Gate continued the Gate Of Passion 2023 Tour today with a Madoka Kikuta hometown event.
Today’s event was held at Kanazawa Ryutsu Kaikan in Ishikawa. There was no live broadcast.
The announced paid attendance was 310.
Match 1: Kzy, Jason Lee & Ho Ho Lun beat Shun Skywalker, H-Y-O & ISHIN. Lee pinned H-Y-O after Maximum Driver.
Match 2: KAI beat Genki Horiguchi.
Match 3: Don Fujii & Kagetora beat Susumu Mochizuki & Mochizuki Jr. Kagetora pinned Jr.
Match 4: BIGBOSS Shimizu & JACKY “FUNKY” KAMEI” beat Dragon Kid & Takashi Yoshida. KAMEI pinned Yoshida after JACKY Knife.
Main Event: Kota Minoura, BxB Hulk, Ben-K & Mnorita beat YAMATO, Madoka Kikuta, Yuki Yoshioka & Dragon Dia. Minoura pinned Dia after R-301.
The next event is “Historic Legend-Rei-ZERO-” Tuesday at Shinjuku Face in Tokyo. Live streaming on DRAGONGATE NETWORK will begin at 2:30 AM PT/5:30 AM ET.
New Japan continued the Road to SAKURA GENESIS Tour today with an event headlined by a KOPW 2023 Title match. Breaking from tradition, there was no fan vote on a stip, instead it was an Ultimate Triad Match, where one man had to get a pinfall, submission AND KO in the match to win.
Today’s event was held at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo and can be watched on demand on New Japan World.
The announced paid attendance was 1298, a super full house/very near sellout. (It sounds like Korakuen is keeping capacity reduced by designating some seating as social distanced with no vocal cheering allowed)
Match 1: Tomoaki Honma & Togi Makabe beat Oskar Leube & Yuto Nakashima. Makabe pinned Nakashima after a King Kong kneedrop.
Match 2: BUSHI, Hiromu Takahashi & Tetsuya Naito beat Gedo, Taiji Ishimori & El Phantasmo. BUSHI pinned Gedo after MX.
Match 3: Ryohei Oiwa, Ren Narita, El Despero & Minoru Suzuki vs. Dick Togo, Sho, Yujiro Takahashi & EVIL went to a double countout. Afterwards, Narita demanded a final match between both sides with no countouts. (That could be tomorrow)
Match 4: Great-O-Khan & Aussie Open beat Toru Yano, YOSHI-HASHI & Hirooki Goto. Kyle Fletcher pinned Yano after Corealis.
Match 5: Boltin Oleg Debut Match: Kosei Fujita, Robbie Eagles & Zack Sabre Jr. beat Boltin Oleg, Ryusuke Taguchi & Shota Umino. Sabre beat Oleg with an armbar.
A video played announcing JET SETTERS-the team name for Kevin Knight & KUSHIDA-challenging IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Francesco Akira & TJP for the titles in Japan.
Match 6: TAKA Michinoku, DOUKI, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Taichi & SANADA beat Master Wato, Yoh, Tiger Mask, Tomohiro Ishii & Kazuchika Okada. Kanemaru pinned TM 4 after a moonsault press.
Main Event: In an Ultimate Triad Match, where one must get a 3 count pinfall, submission and KO (10 count down) to win, KOPW 2023 Champion Shingo Takagi beat Aaron Henare to retain the title. No post-match promo from Takagi in a break from custom (in Japan, the main event winners just about always cut a post-match promo to end events).
The next event is tomorrow. The main event will be a NEVER 6-Man Tag Team Championship match between champions Ren Narita, El Desperado & MInoru Suzuki and Sho, Yujiro Takahashi & EVIL. Live streaming on New Japan World will begin at 2:30 AM PT/5:30 AM ET. This will be a Samurai! TV broadcast. This is the final televised event of the tour (no live or on demand broadcast for the final two events).
Dragon Gate kicked off their April tour, The Gate Of Passion 2023, today with the first event of the month.
Today’s event was held at Kyoto KBS Hall in Kyoto and can be watched on demand on DRAGONGATE NETWORK.
The announced paid attendance was 326.
Match 1: YAMATO, Dragon Kid, BxB Hulk & Ben-K beat Genki Horiguchi, Susumu Mochizuki, Kagetora & Takashi Yoshida. Ben-K pinned Horiguchi.
Match 2: ISHIN beat Daiki Yanagiuchi.
Match 3: KAI beat BIGBOSS Shimizu.
Match 4: Minorita & Kaito Nagano beat Ryu Fuda & Mochizuki Jr. Minorita pinned Fuda after Minoritanic.
Match 5: Kzy, Jason Lee & JACKY “FUNKY” KAMEI beat Naruki Doi, Yuki Yoshioka & Dragon Dia. Lee pinned Dia.
Main Event: Kota Minoura & Madoka Kikuta beat Shun Skywalker & H-Y-O. Kikuta pinned H-Y-O after Neko Soul.
The next event is tomorrow at Kanazawa Ryutsu Kaikan in Ishikawa, which is a Madoka Kikuta hometown event. There will be no live broadcast.
Here is the current events schedule for 4/2/23-4/8/23, which is subject to change (all times PT):
4/2:
1 AM-Dragon Gate Pro Wrestling The Gate Of Passion 2023 Tour, Kanazawa Ryutsu Kaikan, Ishikawa, Japan. No live broadcast
2:30 AM-New Japan Pro Wrestling Road to SAKURA GENESIS Tour, Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan. Live on New Japan World
4/3:
2:30 AM-New Japan Pro Wrestling Road to SAKURA GENESIS Tour, Korakuen Hall. Live on New Japan World
4/4:
2:30 AM-New Japan Pro Wrestling Road to SAKURA GENESIS Tour, Twin Messe Shizuoka North Hall, Shizuoka, Japan. No live or on demand broadcast
2:30 AM-Dragon Gate Pro Wrestling “Heroic Legend-Rei-ZERO-“, Shinjuku Face, Tokyo, Japan. Live on DRAGONGATE NETWORK
4/5:
2:30 AM-Dragon Gate Pro Wrestling The Gate Of Passion 2023 Tour, Korakuen Hall. Live on DRAGONGATE NETWORK
5 PM-All Elite Wrestling “AEW Dynamite”, Long Island, NY. Live on TBS in US and FITE elsewhere
4/6:
2:30 AM-New Japan Pro Wrestling Road to SAKURA GENESIS Tour, Tokorozawa Citizen Gym, Saitama, Japan. No live or on demand broadcast
5 PM-Impact Wrestling “Impact Wrestling”, Windsor, Ontario, Canada. TAPED on AXS TV
4/7:
7 PM-All Elite Wrestling “AEW Rampage”, Kingston, RI. LIVE on TNT in US and FITE elsewhere
8 PM-All Elite Wrestling “Battle Of The Belts 6”, Kingston, RI. LIVE on TNT in US and FITE elsewhere
8:30 PM-Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling, Ryogoku KFC Hall, Tokyo, Japan. Live on WRESTLE UNIVERSE. LIVE RESULTS SCHEDULED
4/8:
Midnight-Pro Wrestling NOAH SUNNY VOYAGE 2023 Tour, Osaka ATC Hall Floor B2, Osaka, Japan. No live broadcast
1 AM-New Japan Pro Wrestling SAKURA GENESIS, Ryogoku Kokugikan, Tokyo, Japan. Live on New Japan World outside Japan only. Live on TV Asahi in Japan
2 AM-Dragon Gate Pro Wrestling The Gate Of Passion 2023 Tour, Kobe Sambo Hall, Kobe, Japan. Live on DRAGONGATE NETWORK
2:30 AM-All-Japan Pro Wrestling Champions Carnival 2023 Tournament, Korakuen Hall. Live on AJPW.TV
7:10 PM-DDT Pro Wrestling “April Fool 2023”, Korakuen Hall. Live on WRESTLE UNIVERSE. LIVE RESULTS SCHEDULED
11 PM-Dragon Gate Pro Wrestling The Gate Of Passion 2023 Tour, Kobe Sambo Hall. Live on DRAGONGATE NETWORK
4/6 UPDATE: Updated time for AEW Battle Of The Belts 6 on 4/7 and added inadvertently omitted Dragon Gate event for 4/8.
4/7 UPDATE: Updates start time for 4/8 DDT event as a pre-show dark match is scheduled, moving the planned start time from 7:30 PM PT to 7:10 PM PT.