News, results & more from Japanese Pro Wrestling & Sumo
Here are the quick results from tonight’s AEW Rampage:
Jon Moxley beat Dante Martin by submission.
Gunn Club & Max Caster beat Bear Country & Leon Ruff. Caster pinned Ruff after Mic Drop. Squash.
AEW TBS Champion Jade Cargill beat Willow Nightingale to retain the title.
Darby Allin beat Bobby Fish. Sting returned after the match.
At a press conference held by Pro Wrestling NOAH today for their major 7/16 main event, Keiji Muto announced the plans for his retirement series he revealed at CyberFight Festival ’22. The Living Legend will compete in just 5 more matches before bringing the curtain down on an incredible 40-year career in the ring, which will include one final appearance as his legendary alter-ego The Great Muta. It has been dubbed “Keiji Muto FINAL COUNTDOWN SERIES” and the schedule is currently as follows:
7/16-Muto vs. Kaito Kiyomiya
9/25 (Aichi Prefectural Gym)-TBA
10/30 (Ariake Arena, Tokyo)-TBA
1/22/23 (Yokohama Arena, Yokohama)-GREAT MUTA FINAL “BYE-BYE”, TBA
TBA-KEIJI MUTO GRAND FINAL-PRO WRESTLING “LAST” LOVE – HOLD OUT -, Location TBA
The 7/16 event is an ABEMA exclusive live broadcast but WRESTLE UNIVERSE will have an exclusive live broadcast in English beginning at 3 AM ET/midnight PT.
New Japan kicked off the New Japan Road tour today, which in recent years was known as KIZUNA ROAD, a reference to one of the many card games that owner Bushiroad Corporation has published in Japan. The name change is a likely return to original names as part of the ongoing 50th Anniversary Celebration. SANADA continues his return from injury after coming back at DOMINION this past weekend.
Today’s event was held at Tochigi Cultural Center in Tochigi and was a non-televised event. The event will not be available on demand on New Japan World.
The announced paid attendance was 421.
Match 1: TAKA Michinoku beat Ryohei Oiwa by submission.
Match 2: Tiger Mask & Tomoaki Honma beat Kosei Fujita & Clark Connors. Honma pinned Fujita after Kokeshi.
Match 3: Minoru Suzuki & Yoshinobu Kanemaru beat Yuto Nakashima & Tomohiro Ishii. Suzuki pinned Nakashima after a Gotch-style piledriver.
Match 4: Yoh, Toru Yano, YOSHI-HASHI & Hirooki Goto beat Dick Togo, Sho, Yujiro Takahashi & EVIL. Yoh pinned Togo after Direct Drive.
Match 5: Aaron Henare, Francesco Akira & TJP beat Jado, Ryusuke Taguchi & Master Wato. Henare pinned Jado after Ultima.
Match 6: BUSHI & Hiromu Takahashi beat Gedo & Taiji Ishimori. Takahashi pinned Gedo after D.
Main Event: SANADA, Shingo Takagi & Tetsuya Naito beat Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Togi Makabe & Kazuchika Okada. SANADA pinned Tenzan with O’Connor Bridge.
For those wondering about notable names missing, many of them appeared in All Elite Wrestling in the US last night to help promote the Forbidden Door PPV on 6/26.
The next event is Saturday at Esforta Arena Hachioji in Tokyo. Live streaming on New Japan World will begin at 2 AM PT/5 AM ET.
In other news, the September tour, “Burning Spirit”, has been announced. The current schedule is as follows:
9/2-Yokohama Budokan, Yokohama
9/3-Nagoya Congress Center, Nagoya
9/5-Korakuen Hall, Tokyo
9/6-Korakuen Hall
9/7-Lily Arena MITO, Ibaraki
9/9-Fujisan Messe, Shizuoka
9/10-G Messe Gunma, Gunma
9/11-Togane Arena, Chiba
9/13-Towa Pharmaceutical Dome Sub-Arena, Osaka
9/15-Kirin Beverage Shunan Sports Center, Yamaguchi
9/17-Ichiki Kushikino City General Gym, Kagoshima
9/18-Beppu Beacon Plaza, Oita
9/20-Acros Fukuoka, Fukuoka
9/21-Grand Messe Kumamoto, Kumamoto
9/23-Takamatsu City General Gymnasium Stadium 1, Kagawa
9/25-Kobe World Hall, Kobe (likely a major event)
DDT ran their monthly DDT FREE event today (on the weekly schedule post I incorrectly said it was yesterday, DDT’s website is kinda wacky with event date/time listings), which kicked off their annual KING OF DDT Tournament. This year’s tournament takes on much greater significance because with KO-D Openweight Champion Tetsuya Endo out and forced to vacate the title because of a concussion suffered at CyberFight Festival ’22, the tournament winner also becomes the new champion.
Today’s event was held at Shinjuku Face in Tokyo and can be watched on demand on WRESTLE UNIVERSE.
The announced attendance was 444. All tickets were free and this was billed as a legit sellout. In reality this was extremely close to legit full capacity for the venue, maybe 6 short of 100% (normal capacity for wrestling at the venue is 450, maybe 500).
Before the matches began, Makoto Oishi announced he will return at the 7/24 event. He has been out for a year due to injuries.
Dark Match: Masa Takanashi & Toui Kojima vs. Yusuke Okada & Yuya Koroku went to a 10 minute time limit draw. Takanashi was to have faced Endo in the tournament but got a free pass to the Quarterfinals due to Endo being out, and this match was added to the event as a result.
All main show matches were KING OF DDT Tournament matches, no time limit.
Match 1: HARASHIMA beat Hideki Okatani.
Match 2: Naomi Yoshimura beat Chris Brookes.
Match 3: Yuki Ueno beat KANON.
Match 4: Daisuke Sasaki beat Yuji Hino.
Match 5: Yuki Iino beat MAO.
Match 6: Jun Akiyama beat Yukio Sakaguchi.
Main Event: Kazusada Higuchi beat Yukio Naya.
The next event is Sunday at Korakuen Hall with the Quarterfinals and more non-tournament matches. The Quarterfinals will be Takanashi-Higuchi, Akiyama-Iino, Sasaki-Ueno and HARASHIMA-Yoshimura. After that, the Semifinals will be determined by lottery. Live streaming on WRESTLE UNIVERSE will begin Sunday at 2:30 AM PT/5:30 AM ET.
Here are the quick results from tonight’s AEW Dynamite (5/16/22)-this contains SPOILERS if you haven’t watched yet!
Chris Jericho beat Ortiz in a Hair vs. Hair Match. As a result< Ortiz loses his hair.
Will Ospreay beat Dax Harwood.
In a 20-on-1 Handicap Match, Wardlow beat all 20 of Smart Mark Sterling’s Plaintiffs.
AEW All-Atlantic Tournament: Miro beat Ethan Page. As a result, Miro advances to face Pac.
Toni Storm beat Britt Baker.
In a Ladder Match, The Young Bucks beat AEW World Tag Team Champions Jurassic Express to become THE NEW AEW WORLD TAG TEAM CHAMPIONS! They also are now the first 2-time champions. Afterwards, Christian Cage turned on Jungle Boy to end the show.
Here are the updated AEW Rankings for 6/15/22 going into this week’s Dynamite & Rampage:
More CyberFight Festival fallout-the KO-D Openweight Championship is now VACANT. Previous champion Tetsuya Endo has vacated the title due to injury-he suffered a concussion Sunday and is out indefinitely. The winner of the KING OF DDT Tournament, which starts tomorrow, will become the new champion. Endo’s first opponent, Masa Takanashi, will get a win by forfeit and advance to the next round
It’s a very special New Japan Free Match Monday as today, on the 13th anniversary of his tragic death, the legacy of the legendary Mitsuharu Misawa, the founder of Pro Wrestling NOAH and one of the top stars of puroresu before that, is remembered by New Japan in this match against Masahiro Chono from 5/2/2002 at the Tokyo Dome.
Mitsuharu Misawa, ALWAYS IN OUR HEARTS!
BREAKING: AEW star Jeff Hardy has been arrested yet again. Felony DUI, a third drug- or alcohol-related DUI offense within 10 years, driving with a suspended, canceled or revoked license and violation of restrictions placed on a driver’s license. Those non-DUI charges are misdemeanors. Hardy should appear before a judge in Florida tomorrow. This could change Dynamite plans this week because The Hardys are scheduled to face AEW Tag Team Champions Jurassic Express and The Young Bucks in a 3-way ladder match for the titles.
More as it becomes available.
6/14 UPDATE: Jeff Hardy has now been suspended without pay by AEW. He must complete rehab before he can return. He was released from jail on $3500 bond.
New Japan today holds DOMINION, their annual June Osaka blowout event, which takes on more significance this year as it also will help set up the Forbidden Door PPV with All Elite Wrestling in 2 weeks-in addition to 5 title matches, an Interim AEW World Championship opportunity at Forbidden Door is on the line for Hiroshi Tanahashi and Hirooki Goto. In the main event, Kazuchika Okada looks to continue his impressive reign as IWGP World Heavyweight Champion, but his next challenger is his toughest yet-Jay White, who is 3-1 against Okada in singles matches. Will Rainmaker go into Chicago as champion or will Switchblade back up his claim that it is “Still My Era”?
A last-minute change to the card was announced earlier today as IWGP US Heavyweight Champion Juice Robinson has been STRIPPED of the title because he will miss this event after previously agreeing to defend the title. Robinson is claiming appendicitis will prevent him from competing. He was to have defended against SANADA & Will Ospreay in a 3-way. Robinson proposed their now-singles match be to determine the next challenger to the title, but NJPW instead has made it so the SANADA-Ospreay winner becomes the new champion.
Today’s event will be held at Osaka-jo Hall in Osaka, Jpaan and can be watched LIVE on New Japan World in Japanese and English.
Today’s lineup:
Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Master Wato & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Aaron Henare, Francesco Akira & TJP
Hiromu Takahashi, Tetsuya Naito & BUSHI vs. Taiji Ishimori, Ace Austin & El Phantasmo
Toru Yano vs. Doc Gallows
NEVER 6-Man Tag Team Champions Sho, Yujiro Takahashi & EVIL vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Zack Sabre Jr. & El Desperado for the titles
IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Chase Owens & Bad Luck Fale vs. Jeff Cobb & Great-O-Khan for the titles
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Hirooki Goto. The winner will face Jon Mosley for the Interim AEW World Championship at Forbidden Door
KOPW 2022 Trophy Holder Shingo Takagi vs. Taichi in a 10 Minute Unlimited Falls Match for the trophy. Whoever gets the most cumulative counts (in seconds) on pinfalls in 10 minutes wins. No 3 count pinfalls, submissions, countouts or DQs
NEVER Openweight Champion Tama Tonga vs. Karl Anderson for the title
SANADA vs. Will Ospreay for the vacant IWGP US Heavyweight Championship
IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada vs. Jay White for the title
Refresh occasionally for the latest results.
Updates below will begin at 1 AM ET/10 PM PT.
9:45 PM PT UPDATE: The stream started early for some pre-match entertainment, so…
We are LIVE from Osaka-jo Hall in Osaka, Japan. Some pre-event annoucnements are being made. This went for about 5 minutes before we cut away, back into pre-show mode.
The matches will begin just after 10 PM PT/1 AM ET.
This broadcast is part of WORLD PRO WRESTLING LIVE on TV Asahi in Japan. We have the major-event English announcer along with the usual Japanese announcers. Jushin Thunder Liger is our guest on Japanese commentary.
The announced paid attendance was 6068. If capacity limits were still in place (Osaka has been stricter than other places during the pandemic), this suggests 50% maximum, in which case this would have been possibly a full house/near-sellout and in the 85-90% full range.
Match 1: Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Master Wato & Ryusuke Taguchi (with Manabu Nakanishi, former IWGP Heavyweight Champion) vs. Aaron Henare, Francesco Akira & TJP. 20 minute itme limit
Result: Aaron Henare, Francesco Akira & TJP beat Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Master Wato & Ryusuke Taguchi. Henare beat Tenzan with a rear neck lock.
Match 2: Hiromu Takahashi, Tetsuya Naito & BUSHI vs. Taiji Ishimori, Ace Austin & El Phantasmo. 20 minute time limit
Result: Taiji Ishimori, Ace Austin & El Phantasmo beat Hiromu Takahashi, Tetsuya Naito & BUSHI. Phantasmo pinned BUSHI after CR 2.
Match 3: Toru Yano vs. Doc Gallows. 30 minute time limit
Result: Toru Yano beat Doc Gallows
Match 4: NEVER 6-Man Tag Team Champions Sho, Yujiro Takahashi & EVIL vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Zack Sabre Jr. & El Desperado for the titles. 1 Hour time limit
Result: NEER 6-Man Tag Team Champions Sho, Yujiro Takahashi & EVIL beat Zack Sabre Jr., Yoshinobu Kanemaru & El Desperado to retain the titles. Sho pinned Desperado after Shock Arrow. V4 for the champs.
Match 5: IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Chase Owens & Bad Luck Fale vs. Jeff Cobb & Great-O-Khan for the titles. 1 Hour time limit
Result: Jeff Cobb & Great-O-Khan beat IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Chase Owens & Bad Luck Fale to win the titles. Cobb & Khan become the 95th IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Champions. Cobb pinned Owens after Tour of the Islands. Afterwards, Rocky Romero made the mistake of a sneak attack on the new champs and got obliterated.
It is announced that the G1 CLIMAX 32 Tournament will have a total of 28 participants. And it’s time to meet them! They are…Kazuchika Okada (3-time winner and defending champion), Tama Tonga, Hiroshi Tanahashi (3-time champion, 21st straight participation), Tom Lawlor, Jonah, YOSHI-HASHI, HIrooki Goto (2008 champion), Toru Yano, Tomohiro Ishii, Jeff Cobb, Great-O-Khan, Will Ospreay, Aaron Henare, Shingo Takagi, SANADA, Tetsuya Naito (2-time champion), Jay White, EVIL, KENTA, Yujiro Takahashi, Bad Luck Fale, Chase Owens, Juice Robinson, Taichi, Zack Sabre Jr., Lance Archer (All Elite Wrestling), David Finlay, El Phantasmo. They will be divided into 4 blocks of 7. The Finals will be on 8/17 & 8/18 at Nippon budokan in Tokyo.
Intermission. Updates will resume in a few minutes (as of 11:35 PM PT).
11:39 PM PT…And we’re back!
Match 6: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Hirooki Goto. The winner will face Jon Moxley for the Interim AEW World Championship at Forbidden Door on 6/26. 1 Hour time limit
Result: Hiroshi Tanahashi beat Hirooki Goto. As a result, Tanahashi will face Jon Moxley for the Interim AEW World Championship at Forbidden Door
Match 7: KOPW 2022 Trophy Holder Shingo Takagi vs. Taichi (with Miho Abe) in a 10 Minute Unlimited Falls Match for the trophy. Whoever gets the most cumulative counts (in seconds) on pinfalls in 10 minutes wins. No 3 count pinfalls, submissions, countouts or DQs
Result: KOPW 2022 holder SHingo Takagi beat Taichi 11-10 to retain the trophy.
Match 8: NEVER Openweight Champion Tama Tonga vs. Karl Anderson for the title. 1 Hour time limit
Result: Karl Anderson beat NEVER Openweight Champion Tama Tonga to win the title. Anderson becomes the 37th NEVER Openweight Champion.
Match 9: SANADA vs. Will Ospreay for the vacant IWGP US Heavyweight Championship. 1 Hour time limit
Result: Will Ospreay beat SANADA to win the vacant IWGP US Heavyweight Championship. Ospreay becomes the 16th IWGP US Heavyweight Champion. But Juice Robinson still has the title belt and they had no replacement.
Hiroshi Tanahashi joins Japanese commentary for the final match.
Main Event: IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada vs. Jay White for the title. 1 Hour time limit
Result: Jay White beat IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada to win the title. White becomes the 5th IWGP World Heavyweight Champion. And the biggest loser in all of this is one Adam Page. He wanted Okada for the title at Forbidden Door. Now it’s not happening. Adam Cole will be gloating about it on AEW Dynamite next week.
The next event is the New Japan Road (formerly Kizuna Road) Tour opener Thursday at Tochigi Cultural Center in Tochigi. It will not be televised and on demand video will not be available. The next broadcast is Saturday at Esforta Arena Hachioji in Tokyo. Live streaming on New Japan World will begin at 2 AM PT/5 AM ET. Also, a FREE broadcast is coming up on 6/20 at Korakuen Hall.