Author: Admin

Remembering Mitsuharu Misawa

Today, June 13, is the 16th Anniversary of one of the darkest days in Japanese pro wrestling-the death of legendary wrestler Mitsuharu Misawa. The longtime All-Japan icon who sent shockwaves throughout the industry when he left in 2000 to form Pro Wrestling NOAH died after suffering a medical emergency during a tag team match after taking a Sickle Of Death, the finishing move of longtime wrestler Akitoshi Saito who just retired this past year. Misawa was only 47 at the time and would have turned 53 on Wednesday (June 18).

As they do at this time every year, NOAH has paid tribute to their founder with a special post on social media as well as various events & tributes throughout the month of June, which is always Mitsuharu Misawa Memorial Month in the promotion. They also posted the below Twitter post today:

MITSUHARU MISAWA, ALWAYS AND FOREVER IN OUR HEARTS!!!

Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling “Sayuri Namba’s Dream Come True Special” LIVE Results (6/14/25)

The day almost every Tokyo Joshi Pro fan, myself included, has been dreading for the last few months is fast approaching-in just over a week we have to say goodbye to beloved MC/ring announcer Sayuri Namba as she is leaving the promotion to pursue a career outside wrestling (she intends to relocate to Canada, and hopefully to the US at some point-to become a language teacher). Today is a celebration of her 7+ years and everything she has done to help with the incredible growth of TJPW, especially post-pandemic as it has begun expanding worldwide including the US. She isn’t completely closing the door on her ring announcer career though so it’s always possible we see her somewhere else, maybe in the US. As for today, Namba will even reprise her prior part-time role as a ring card girl for combat sports during a special round system match between Kazuki Hirata & Ryuichi Sekine, plus the roster members not in matches today-Miu Watanabe, Raku, Pom Harajuku, Arisu Endo & Yuki Arai-will take turns acting as ring announcers and wearing Namba’s older outfits from earlier in her career. The main event will see Namba in the corner of Mizuki & Suzume as they face TBA & TBA, which were revealed a short time ago to be RIKADEVIL & YUKIDEVIL with TORIDEVIL seconding them…that almost certainly means RIka Tatsumi & Yuki Aino with Kaya Toribami as a new faction called BABYDEVIL and they even get their own merchandise for sale today! Also present for at least one match will be Yuki Ishii, TJPW’s reporter for Japanese wrestling magazine Weekly Pro.

Today’s event will be held at Shin-Kiba 1st Ring in Tokyo and can be watched LIVE on WRESTLE UNIVERSE. The event is a legit advance sellout. There will likely be no commentary. Although some of the matches will have different rules from the others it probably will still be around a standard house show length of around 2 hours.

Today’s lineup:
Yoshiko Hasegawa vs. Ren Konatsu
Moka Miyamoto & Ivy Steele vs. Shino Suzuki & HIMAWARI
Shoko Nakajima & Chika Nanase vs. Mahiro Kiryu & Toga
Round System Special Match: Kazuki Hirata (DDT) vs. Ryuichi Sekine. Sayuri Namba will be ring card girl
LEONA (Dradition) vs. Antonio Honda (DDT). Sayuri Namba will be ring announcer for this match. Weekly Pro correspondent Yuki Ishii will be match reporter
Mizuki & Suzume with Sayuri Namba vs. RIKADEVIL & YUKIDEVIL with KAYADEVIL. Stremaers/paper tape throwing is allowed for this match

Refresh this page occasionally for the latest results.

Updates below will begin at 7:30 PM PT/10:30 PM ET. The broadcast is scheduled to begin 15 minutes before the event.

7:15 PM PT UPDATE: The live stream has begun. We should be going to the venue in 10-15 minutes.

7:30 PM PT UPDATE; Live updates begin now.

We are LIVE from Shin-Kiba 1st Ring in Tokyo, Japan. There is no commentary.

The paid attendance will be announced after the event. It’s a legit advance sellout so it depends on the setup-the venue’s full capacity is 600 but post-pandemic they’ve usually limited it to around 350 so we’ll see afterwards. (UPDATE: The announced paid attendance-a legit advance sellout-was 284)

Sayuri Namba comes out in a new outfit for the opening announcements.

No Up Up Girls today so Namba does the start call before the match rundown. Different order from what was announced earlier (above). LEONA-Honda is moved from Semifinal to Match 2. Match 3 is the Semifinal aka Match 5.

The matches begin at 7:40 PM PT/10:40 PM ET. For the first match Arisu Endo is the special ring announcer.

Match 1: Yoshiko Hasegawa vs. Ren Konatsu. 15 minute time limit
Result: Yoshiko Hasegawa beat Ren Konatsu by submission

As noted above Sayuri Namba is the ring announcer for the next match, her only one today. Weekly Pro correspondent Yuki Ishii will be match reporter
Match 2: LEONA (Dradition) vs. Antonio Honda (DDT). 15 minute time limit
Result: LEONA beat Antonio Honda by submission. Afterwards, LEONA with microphone to put Namba over. This leads to Namba coming in the ring for a comedy segment between them.

For the third match Raku is the special ring announcer.
Match 3: Moka Miyamoto & Ivy Steele vs. Shino Suzuki & HIMAWARI. 20 minute time limit
Result: Moka Miyamoto & Ivy Steele beat Shino Suzuki & HIMAWARI. Miyamoto beat Suzuki with Rahsomon.

For the fourth match Pom Harajuku is the special ring announcer.
Match 4: Round System Special Match: Kazuki Hirata (DDT) vs. Ryuichi Sekine. Sayuri Namba will be ring card girl
Result: Hideki Sekine beat Kazuki Hirata by submission in seconds. Namba was immediately EN FUEGO. She was not going to have her special event ruined like this! Which led to…
Match 4 (again): Round System Special Match: Kazuki Hirata (DDT) vs. Ryuichi Sekine. Sayuri Namba will be ring card girl
Result: Hideki Sekine beat Kazuki Hirata by submission in round 3 while Namba did the Hirata shades dancing. Every bit the ridiculous comedy match it was meant to be. This was just too much fun.

For the fifth match, much to my delight of course, Yuki Arai is the special ring announcer. That means since she’s the last one to get her turn it will be Miu Watanabe for the main event.
Match 5: Shoko Nakajima & Chika Nanase vs. Mahiro Kiryu & Toga. 20 minute time limit
Result: Mahiro Kiryu & Toga beat Shoko Nakajima & Chika Nanase. Kiryu pinned Nanase.

Since she’s last to get her turn, for the main event Miu Watanabe is the special ring announcer.
Main Event: Mizuki & Suzume with Sayuri Namba vs. RIKADEVIL & YUKIDEVIL with KAYADEVIL. 20 minute time limit. Streamers allowed so Namba got drowned in them. The DEVILS are indeed Rika Tatsumi & Yuki Aino with Kaya Toribami being goth punks and their own version of the H.A.T.E. faction in Stardom.
Result: Mizuki & Suzume beat RIKADEVIL & YUKIDEVIL. Mizuki pinned YUKIDEVIL with Cutie Special after Namba interfered (she got beaten down quite a bit in this match). Afterwards, everyone gathered in the ring for the final commemorative group photo with Namba to end the show.

While this isn’t the final chance we’ll have to see and hear Namba in TJPW (two events left next weekend, the first one isn’t live on WRESTLE UNIVERSE but her final event is) this was a very enjoyable send-off and hopefully Namba’s dream did come true today. We love her and will miss her very much. But hopefully we will see her again someday, somewhere, maybe even in TJPW again. The door will always be open.

The next event is 6/21 at Kose Sports Park Gym in Yamanashi. There will be no live broadcast.

All-Japan News: Junior Heavyweight Tournament Announced

All-Japan has announced a second tournament for the upcoming summer schedule in addition to the Royal Road Tournament: This is a currently unnamed tournament only for Junior Heavyweights that was first proposed by Atsuki Aoyagi at the 4/23 event. Said tournament’s schedule was revealed today:
7/17-Korakuen Hall, Tokyo
7/20-Volfert Toyama, Toyama
7/21-Osaka Prefectural Gym 2, Osaka
7/24-Shin-Kiba 1st Ring, Tokyo
7/26-Shin-Kiba 1st Ring
8/3-Ota City General Gym, Tokyo (Finals)

Further details & participants TBA.

More as it becomes available

DDT 6/12/25 Results

DDT ran their third D GENERATIONS event today, part of the new series focused on the promotion’s younger wrestlers.

Today’s event was held at Ueno Park Outdoor Stage in Tokyo and will be available on demand on WRESTLE UNIVERSE Sunday. There was no live broadcast.

The paid attendance was not announced.

Match 1: Ryoma Tsukamoto beat Yuki Ishida.

Match 2: To-y beat Mikiya Sasaki.

Match 3: Mubetatsu Nakamura (Ganbare Pro) beat Yuni.

Match 4: Daichi Sato vs. Takao Soma went to a 15 minute time limit draw.

Match 5: Keisuke Ishii beat Yuya Koroku.

Main Event: Takeshi Masada & Kazuma Sumi beat Shigehiro Irie (GLEAT) & Shota (Independent/Freelancer). Masada pinned Shota.

The next event is Sunday at Niigata City Higashi-ku Plaza in Niigata with DDT Extreme Champion Super Sasadango Machine vs. To-y for the title. The event is a legit advance sellout. There will be no love broadcast. On demand Tuesday night/Wednesday morning.

Injury Report: Stardom Star Surgery

According to Stardom’s official English language Twitter account, Maika posted on her Instagram account that she recently had surgery for an apparent elbow injury. Out indefinitely. No further details provided as to the injury or how long she will be out. Also nothing on Stardom’s official website ye about this.

More as it becomes available.

DDT 6/11/25 Results

DDT ran their latest now-regular Beer Garden Pro Wrestling event today.

Today’s event was held at Ueno Park Outdoor Stage in Tokyo and will be available on demand on WRESTLE UNIVERSE Saturday. There was no live broadcast.

The paid attendance was not announced

Match 1: HARASHIMA & Yuya Koroku beat Hideki Okatano & MJ Paul. HARASHIMA pinned Paul after Magic Knife.

Match 2: In a Rainy Season Death Match, where the only allowed weapons were umbrellas, Daisuke Sasaki & Illusion beat Yuni & Kazuma Sumi. Illusion pinned Yuni after a swanton bomb on an umbrella. (June through early July is considered rainy season in Japan where it constantly rains, sometimes heavy/a lot. That doesn’t mean it does not rain at other times of course)

Match 3: In a match where the first wrestler to be placed into the ring loses, Kazusada Higuchi, Naomi Yoshimura & Yuki Ishida beat Chris Brookes, Takeshi Masada & Kotaro Suzuki (GLEAT) when Masada was placed into the ring.

Match 4: In a handicap match with special rules, Kazuki Hirata & Antonio Honda beat KANON in 43 seconds. The rule was if KANON laughed at any point he lost, but if not he won. He laughed and lost. Which led to…
Match 4 (again): In a handicap match with special rules, Kazuki Hirata & Antonio Honda beat KANON by TKO. KANON started with 5 points and lost 1 point each time he laughed. If KANON survived with a point for 10 minutes or scored a pinfall or submission he won. He cane up 8 seconds short on points.

Match 5: Jun Akiyama & Shinya Aoki beat MAO & Danshoku Dieno. Akiyama pinned Dieno.

Main Event: Akito Nishigaki (Akito), Yukio Naya & De Katsumata Daichi (Daichi Sato) beat Yuki Ueno, Shunma Katsumata & Yo-y. Akito pinned Katsumata.

The next event is D-GENERATIONS 3 tomorrow. There will be no live broadcast. On demand Sunday.

News: Special Venue Anniversary Event Upcoming

According to a report from Japanese news site Puroresu Today which I them confirmed confirmed via the venue’s website, Shinjuku Face in Tokyo is holding a special pro wrestling event on 7/31 to celebrate the venue’s 20th Anniversary. The venue, used for both theater performances and combat sports events (martial arts and pro wrestling), The event will feature participation and cooperation in production from several promotions including New Japan, All-Japan and DDT. And it looks like WWE is letting Shinsuke Nakamura return to Japan to take part too.

The full card was announced today and is scheduled to feature 5 matches with participation from at least 6 promotions including women’s promotion OZ Academy. The main event will feature New Japan, All-Japan & DDT together as New Japan’s Hiromu Takahashi teams with DDT’s Chris Brookes to face All-Japan’s Atsuki Aoyagi & DDT’s Yuki Ueno. The card is as follows:
Daisuke Sasaki, Illusion & Hideki Okatani vs. Toru Owashi, Kazuki Hirata & Makoto Oishi
Minoru Suzuki & Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Jun Akiyama & Taita (?) Kobashi
Mayumi Ozaki, HARASHIMA & Yukio Naya vs. Sakura Hirota, Antonio Honda & Takeshi Masada (with Sanshiro Takagi)
Kuroshio TOKYO Japan vs. MAO
Hiromu Takahashi & Chris Brookes vs. Atsuki Aoyagi & Yuki Ueno

Tickets are now on sale. It’s not known if there will be any live or on demand broadcast but hopefully matches will show up on one or more of New Japan World, AHPW.TV or WRESTLE UNIVERSE given participation. But with CyberFight Corporation listed as a co-producer of the event the most likely hope seems to be WRESTLE UNIVERSE.

After previously being a live event venue called Liquid Room from 1994-2004, it closed in 2004 then was renovated and re-opened as Shinjuku Face on July 29, 2005 and is an event hall on Floor 7 of the Humax Pavilion in the Shinjuku area of Tokyo. The venue’s listed capacity for martial arts events including pro wrestling is 511 (but typical max capacity for wrestling is 500) and 471 for theater/performing arts. It hosts both major promotions and independent promotions. The event will come just 2 days after the official 20th anniversary of the venue’s opening. You can find out more about the venue at its official website (in Japanese), shinjuku-face.com.

Injury Report: Cursed Neko (Updated)

Tokyo Joshi Pro has provided an update on Neko Haruna, who recently returned from a major injury but has gone down again with another injury suffered this past weekend…the news is not good again. Right knee ACL rupture & femur tibia bone contusion. Out long-term again. With surgery & rehab her 2025 is over and a 2026 return is best-case. She will appear at a hometown event TJPW is holding on 6/21 at Oze Sports Park Gym in Yamanashi as the surgery will be after that date. Because she was part of the Tokyo Princess Cup Qualifier Tournament and now can’t compete, Pom Harajuku will win their preliminary round match by forfeit and advance to the next round.

UPDATE: In related injury news, Kira Summer & Hyper Misao will return on 6/21 but Yuki Arai & Mifu Ashida are now off that event. Scheduling conflicts. This means the Summer-Walana Uehara Tokyo Princess Cup Qualifier Tournament match that was postponed should be rescheduled for an upcoming event.

New Japan/DDT 6/9/25 Results

New Japan & DDT came together today for a weird one-match event between Toru Yano & Super Sasadango Machine, billed as a one-sided competition which of course was more than just one match and primarily a comedy event.

Today’s event was held at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo and can be watched on demand as a PPV on New Japan World and WRESTLE UNIVERSE in Japanese. The PPV costs $18.99 US on New Japan World and 2500 Japanese yen (around $17.25) on WRESTLE UNIVERSE and will be available until 6/30. You can also watch a pre-show FOR FREE on YouTube.

The paid attendance was not announced. But looking at a photo from Tokyo Joshi Pro ring announcer Sayuri Namba, who apparently was in the crowd, it may have been a legit sellout and probably was around 1500.

The event began with the introduction of PPV managers, commentary, referees and special guests from both sides among others. Naturally it wasn’t all nice & friendly. Which led to…
Match 1: In an Exhibition Match, Daiki Nagai vs. Kazuma Sumi went to a 3 minute time limit draw. Which led to…
Extra Time: Daiki Nagai vs. Kazuma Sumi went to a 5 minute time limit draw.

An “Information Corner” segment with Yoh & Antonio Honda was held.

Machine gave one of his comedy PowerPoint presentations and the match was suddenly changed to be for the DDT Extreme Championship held by Machine.

Match 2: Hiroshi Tanahashi, Toru Yano & Yoh beat Super Sasadango Machine, Akito & Antonio Honda. Tanahashi pinned Machine after High Fly Flow.

Both sides kept fighting afterwards until the head of the World Pro Wrestling Federation appeared to send “peacekeepers”. Which led to…
Match 3: Hiroshi Tanahashi, Toru Yano, Yoh, Super Sasadango Machine, Akito & Antonio Honda beat Sanshiro Takagi, HARASHIMA, Toru Owashi, Shuji Ishikawa, Ken Ohka & MAO. Yoh pinned Takagi with a dragon suplex hold.

Main Event: DDT Extreme Champion Super Sasadango Machine vs. Toru Yano went to a double countout. As a result, Machine retains the title. V1 for Machine. They somehow managed to go-seriously-over 2 hours. And all’s well that ends well.

For New Japan, the next event is DOMINION, the annual June blowout event, Sunday at Osaka-jo Hall in Osaka. Live streaming on New Japan World OUTSIDE JAPAN ONLY will begin at midnight PT/3 AM ET. This is a live & exclusive TV Asahi broadcast in Japan.

For DDT, the next event is Wednesday at Ueno Park Outdoor Stage. There will be no live broadcast.

Dragon Gate 6/8/25 Results

As noted earlier, Dragon Gate ran a weekend doubleheader in Saitama-below are the results from the second event.

Today’s event was held at Espowaru Isanuma in Saitama. There is/was no live or on demand broadcast.

The announced paid attendance was 277.

Match 1: Yuki Yoshioka, Dragon Dia & Ryoya Tanaka beat Kzy, Flamita & U-T. Dia pinned U-T.

Match 2; Ben-K & JACKY KAMEI beat Ultimo Dragon & Punch Tominaga. Ben-K pinned Tominaga after Sode-Tsuki.

Match 3: Kota Minoura & Homare beat Hyo & Riiita. Minoura pinned Riiita after Last Ride.

Match 4: Jason Lee beat Strong Machine J by DQ. Deadly weapon use.

Match 5: Shun Skywalker & Yoshiki Kato beat Luis Mante & Bendito. Skywalker pinned Bendito after a moonsault double knee drop.

Main Event: YAMATO, Dragon Kid & Susumu Yokosuka beat Kota Minoura, KAI & ISHIN. Kid pinned KAI after Susbaru.

The next event is tomorrow at Miyagi Sun Festa in Sendai. There will be no live or on demand broadcast.