Category: Uncategorized

New Japan 12/2/23 Results

New Japan ran Day 10 of the World Tag League today, with Day 5 of Block B.

Today’s event was held at Osaka Prefectural Gym 2 in Osaka and can be watched on demand on New Japan World.

The announced paid attendance was 952, a legit sellout.

Pre-show Match: DOUKI beat Shoma Kato.

Match 1: Toru Yano & Tomohiro Ishii beat Oskar Leube & Yuto Nakashima. Ishii pinned Nakashima after a sliding lariat.

Match 2: Boltin Oleg, Toa Liona & Bishop Kaun beat Callum Newman, HENARE & Great-O-Khan. Kaun pinned Newman after Fall From Heaven.

Match 3: Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Sho, Yujiro Takahashi & EVIL beat Gedo, Taiji Ishimori, Gabriel Kidd & Alex Coughlin. Sho pinned Gedo.

Match 4; Master Wato, Ren Narita & Shota Umino beat Kosei Fujita, Shane Haste & Mikey Nicholls. Umino pinned Fujita after Blaze Blade.

World Tag League:
Match 5: El Phantasmo & Hikuleo beat Jack Bonza & Bad Luck Fale. Hikuleo pinned Bonza after Super Thunder Kiss 86.
Match 6: Yuya Uemura & Taichi beat Soberano Jr. & Atlantis Jr. Uemura pinned Atlantis.
Match 7: Minoru Suzuki & Yuji Nagata beat Alex Zayne & Lance Archer. Nagata pinned Zayne with a backdrop hold.
Main Event: YOSHI-HASHI & Hirooki Goto beat Zandokan Jr. & Yota Tsuji. YOSHI-HASHI pinned Zandokan after Shoto.

Despite their post-match proclamation of breaking the champions’ jinx and 3-peating, Bishamon’s chances are still on life support after today. The top 2 advance to the Semifinals and they are 3 points out of 2nd with just 2 matches left. But they’ve got Nagata/Suzuki who are out and finally got a win today and Uemura/Taichi left and the latter may very well be for a top 2 spot after Archer/Zayne took their first loss today. Fale/Bonza are now OUT and Tsuji/Zandokan are on life support with their only hope being an absolute must-win coming against Archer/Zayne to have any tiebreaker hopes.

The next event is tomorrow at Arcrea Hiimeji in Hyogo with Day 6 (the penultimate day) of Block A. Live streaming on New Japan World will begin at midnight PT/3 AM ET.

For the week ahead, the Tag League Semifinals (top 2 in each block) will be Friday in Kagoshima and the Finals will be 12/10 in Kumamoto (for those on the US west coast, this is a Saturday night start on 12/9).

Pro Wrestling NOAH 12/2/23 Results

Pro Wrestling NOAH ran their first major event of the month, NOAH THE BEST, today as the promotion builds to a big end of the year and start of 2024.

Today’s event was held at Yokohama Budokan in Yokohama and can be watched on demand on WRESTLE UNIVERSE in Japanese and English. The live broadcast was English only due to the usual ABEMA exclusives in Japan. You can also watch the first 3 matches FOR FREE on YouTube.

The announced paid attendance was 1156.

Match 1: LEONA (Dradition) & Kai Fujimura beat Taishi Ozawa & Yu Owada. LEONA beat Owada with a figure 4.

Match 2: Ninja Mack, Alejandro & Extreme Tiger beat Super Crazy, Terry Yaki & Alpha Zoe (?). Alejandro pinned Yaki after Empty Bullet.

Match 3: Masa Kitamiya & Daiki Inaba beat Vinny Massaro & Stallion Rogers. Kitamiya beat Rogers with Prison Lock. Massaro is an American independent wrestler who trained and competed in NOAH some 15+ years ago and was making a return to the promotion.

Match 4: HAYATA & Eita beat Atsushi Kotoge & Hi69. Eita pinned Kotoge after a dropkick.

Match 5: Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr., Kaito Kiyomiya & Ryohei Oiwa beat Saxon Huxley, Timothy Thatcher & Shuhei Taniguchi. Wagner Jr. pinned Taniguchi after Wagner Driver.

Match 6: GHC National Champion Jack Morris beat Hajime Ohara to retain the title. V1 for Morris.

Match 7: Jake Lee, Anthony Greene, LJ Cleary, YO-HEY & Tadasuke beat Naomichi Marufuji, Takashi Sugiura, Go Shiozaki, Shuji Kondo & Junta Miyawaki. YO-HEY pinned Miyawaki after a dropkick.

Main Event: Manabu Soya & Tatsumi Fujinami (Dradition) beat Kenoh & Jinsei Shinzaki (Michinoku Pro). Soya beat Kenoh with a dragon sleeper.

Major post-event news/fallout:
After the event, in backstage comments Kitamiya demanded a match against New Japan ironman Tomohiro Ishii. HOSS FIGHT ALERT!!! Please let that happen soon!
The 1/2 main event was set by a surprise appearance by Kota Ibushi, who recently signed with All Elite Wrestling (but it’s a limited deal of sorts and Ibushi won’t be full-time in AEW, he’ll have a lot of freedom to continue working in Japan as he pleases, which was very important to him). It will be Ibushi vs. Marufuji at Ariake Arena in Tokyo.

The next event is 12/10 at Kira Messe Numazu in Shizuoka. There will be no live broadcast.

All-Japan Pro Wrestling 12/2/23 Results

All-Japan continues the Real World Tag League today as that tournament and the Jr. Battle Of Glory head down the home stretch. The Jr. Battle gets the real spotlight as they are the main event but there are 4 Tag League matches as Katsuhiko Nakajima & Hokuto Omori try to potentially secure a Finals spot via a top 2 finish. For the Jr. Battle, it’s wide open but Fuminori Abe has the top spot to lose right now although everyone is separated by just 2 points.

The promotion has also announced Rei Saito is off this event. DDT participation today in Tokyo. DDT also announced Jun Saito participation for their 1/3/24 event so the crossover between the promotions will continue for now, which has mostly involved the Saito Bros and Hideki Okatani & Yukio Sakaguchi (and Saki Akai before she retired). Also both promotions have been battling over the All-Asia Tag Team Championship that usually is contested for in All-Japan

Today’s event will be held at Item Ehime in Ehime and can be watched LIVE on AJPW.TV. It’s not yet known if there will be any commentary. Because Jr. Battle Of Glory matches have only a 10 minute time limit the event won’t run long, if every match went the distance it would go 3 hours tops if there is no intermission, so I anticipate it will wind up going just over 2 hours.

Today’s lineup (in order):
Jr. Battle Of Glory: Ryo Inoue vs. Koji Iwamoto
Jr. Battle Of Glory: Hikaru Sato vs. Fuminori Abe
Atsuki Aoyagi & Imabari Towel Mascaras vs. Jun Saito & KOSHI
Suwama & Dan Tamura vs. Black Menso-re & Carbell Ito
Real World Tag League:
Shuji Ishikawa & Ren Ayabe vs. Kuroshio TOKYO Japan & Seigo Tachibana
Katsuhiko Nakajima & Hokuto Omori vs. Yukio Sakaguchi & Hideki Okatani
Ryuki Honda & Yuma Anzai vs. Hayato Tamura & Galeno Del Mal
Kento Miyahara & Yuma Aoyagi vs. Cyrus & Ryan Danielson
Jr. Battle Of Glory: Rising Hayato vs. Naruki Doi

Refresh this page occasionally for the latest results.

Updates below will begin at 9 PM PT/midnight ET.

9 PM PT UPDATE: Live updates begin now…

We are LIVE from Item Ehime in Ehime, Japan. There is no commentary. Just hard-camera view today.

The paid attendance will be announced after the event. It’s a small venue and looks set up for maybe 500 tops but isn’t a sellout. Looks like it’ll maybe be around 300. (Update: The announced paid attendance was 520)

The matches begin almost right away, when we joined they were doing the match card rundown. (Note: Quite a bit of muting in entrances and post-match because of audio/music rights for non-All-Japan wrestlers, or at least because they’re outside of Tokyo? Jun Saito’s music was muted and it never is at Korakuen Hall or other Tokyo venues. Actually they wound up muting just about everyone’s music except the regular All-Japan guys who use original themes and not licensed songs)

Match 1: Jr. Battle Of Glory: Ryo Inoue vs. Koji Iwamoto. 10 minute time limit
Result: Koji Iwamoto beat Ryo Inoue

Match 2: Jr. Battle Of Glory: Hikaru Sato vs. Fuminori Abe. 10 minute time limit
Result: Hikaru Sato beat Fuminori Abe by submission

Match 3: Atsuki Aoyagi & Imabari Towel Mascaras vs. Jun Saito & KOSHI. 15 minute time limit
Result: Jun Saito & KOSHI beat Atsuko Aoyagi & Imabari Towel Mascaras. Saito pinned Mascaras.

Match 4: Suwama & Dan Tamura vs. Black Menso-re & Carbell Ito. 15 minute time limit. Before the match (and before Suwama/Tamura entered), Ito & Menso-re were given goody bags and threw them into the crowd as Mariah Carey’s “All I Want For Christmas Is You” played.
Result: Suwama & Dan Tamura beat Black Menso-re & Carbell Ito. Tamura pinned Menso-re.

Match 5: Real World Tag League: Shuji Ishikawa & Ren Ayabe vs. Kuroshio TOKYO Japan & Seigo Tachibana. 30 minute time limit
Result: Kuroshio TOKYO Japan & Seigo Tachibana beat Shuji Ishikawa & Ren Ayabe. Kuroshio pinned Ayabe.

Match 6: Real World Tag League: Katsuhiko Nakajima & Hokuto Omori vs. Yukio Sakaguchi & Hideki Okatani. 30 minute time limit
Result: Yukio Sakaguchi & Hideki Okatani beat Katsuhiko Nakajima & Hokuto Omori. Sakaguchi pinned Omori.

Match 7: Ryuki Honda & Yuma Anzai vs. Hayato Tamura & Galeno Del Mal. 30 minute time limit
Result: Ryuki Honda & Yuma Anzai beat Hayato Tamura & Galeno Del Mal. Honda pinned Del Mal.

Match 8: Kento Miyahara & Yuma Aoyagi vs. Cyrus & Ryan Danielson. 30 minute time limit
Result: Cyrus & Ryan Danielson beat Kento Miyahara & Yuma Anzai. Cyrus pinned Miyahara.

Main Event: Jr. Battle Of Glory: Rising Hayato vs. Naruki Doi. 10 minute time limit
Result: Rising Hayato beat Naruki Doi. Just beat the time limit

This event wound up going almost 3 hours, but the amount of muted audio made for ridiculously bad presentation. Not used to this from All-Japan but I also usually can only watch weekend Korakuen Hall events live too.

The next event is Sunday at Osaka Prefectural Gym 2 in Osaka. Live streaming on AJPW.TV will begin at midnight PT/3 AM ET. They also announced earlier today that all December events will be broadcast live.

Injury Report: All-Japan Osaka Sunday Change

All-Japan has announced a late change for this Sunday in Osaka: Tatsuya Matsufusa, who was to participate in the event, is now off, Flu. He was to have teamed with Hikaru Sato & The Bodyguard to face Rising Hayato, Izanagi & Black Menso-re. Aran Sano (Osaka Pro) is the replacement.

New Japan 12/1/23 Results

New Japan ran Day 9 of the World Tag League today, with Day 5 of Block A.

Today’s event was held at Wakayama Prefectural Gym in Wakayama and can be watched on demand on New Japan World.

The announced paid attendance was 625.

Pre-show Match: Yuto Nakashima beat Shoma Kato.

Match 1: Taiji Ishimori, Jack Bonza & Bad Luck Fale beat Jado, El Phantasmo & Hikuleo. Bonza pinned Jado.

Match 2: DOUKI, Yuya Yemura & Taichi beat Tiger Mask, Soberano Jr. & Atlantis Jr. Uemura pinned TM 4 with a Kannuki suplex hold.

Match 3: Master Wato, Minoru Suzuki & Yuji Nagata beat Ryusuke Taguchi, Alex Zayne & Lance Archer. Wato beat Taguchi with Vendeval.

Match 4: Boltin Oleg, Yoh, YOSHI-HASHI & Hirooki Goto beat BUSHI, Zandokan Jr., Yota Tsuji & Shingo Takagi. Yoh pinned BUSHI after Direct Drive.

World Tag League:
Match 5: Yujiro Takahashi & EVIL beat Toa Liona & Bishop Kaun. EVIL pinned Kaun after EVIL.
Match 6: Shane Haste & Mikey Nicholls beat Ryohei Oiwa & Kaito Kiyomiya. Haste pinned Oiwa after Tank Buster.
Match 7: Gabriel Kidd & Alex Coughlin beat HENARE & Great-O-Khan. Kidd pinned HENARE after a hijack piledriver.
Main Event: Toru Yano & Tomohiro Ishio beat Ren Narita & Shota Umino. Ishii pinned Umino after a vertical drop braonbuseter.
Haste/Nicholls now lead at 4-1, 8 points with 2 matches to go, still wide open.

The next event is tomorrow at Osaka Prefectural Gym 2 in Osaka with Day 5 of Block B. Live streaming on New Japan World will begin at 1 AM PT/4 AM ET. Remember of you are a new subscriber to New Japan World you now pay $9.99/month, or possibly $12.99 if you subscribe through App Store/Google Play and not directly through New Japan. If you are under the existing subscriber model and paying the new rate of 1299 yen, this month’s cost is $8.84, up about $2 from before but still better than $9.99 (the dollar has gotten worse for us this month-WRESTLE UNIVERSE and AJPW.TV both went up about 11 cents from $6 to $6.11).

Tokyo Joshi Pro 12/1/23 Results

Tokyo Joshi Pro celebrated their 10th Anniversary today with an event highlighting how far they have cone from humble beginnings as part of a DDT event to a growing spinoff that continues its worldwide expansion, even as it prepares to say goodbye to original member Yuka Sakazaki next week.

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

The announced paid attendance was 714.

At the start they announced the 12/14 USA event will be a PPV.

Match 1: Kaya Toribami, Toga & Runa Okubo beat Juria Nagano, Shino Suzuki & Haru Kazashiro. Toga pinned Kazashiro after Rock Bottom.

Match 2: In a Random Official Weapons Rules Match, Yuki Aino & Raku beat Hyper Misao & Mahiro Kiryu. Aino pinned Kiryu after Venus DDT.

At this point it was announced they would be part of The Collective with a 4/5 event in Philadelphia, PA. There also will be an Aquarium Wrestling PPV later this month.

Match 3: NextGen Tournament Finals: Wakana Uehara beat HIMAWARI by submission to win the tournament.

Match 4: Queen Of Asia Champion Yuki Kamifuku beat VIVA VAN to retain the title. V1 for Kamifuku.

Match 5: Princess Tag Team Champions Hikari Noa & Nao Kakuta beat Max The Impaler & Pom Harajuku to retain the titles. Kakuta pinned Harajuku after Shiden Kai. V2 for the champs.

Main Event: In a 3 Falls Match, Miyu Yamashita, Shoko Nakajima, Yuka Sakazaki, Rika Tatsumi & Mizuki beat Miu Watanabe, Yuki Arai, Moka Miyamoto, Suzume & Arisu Endo 2-1. Fall 1: Endo pinned Nakajima. Fall 2: Sakazaki pinned Miyamoto after Magical Merry-Go-Round. Fall 3: Yamashita pinned Watanabe after Skull Kick.

The next event is the official 10th Anniversary event Wednesday at Kitazawa Town Hall in Tokyo, the exact date of the promotion’s 10th Anniversary at the location of their very first event. It will be headlined by Sakazaki’s final TJPW match, where she will face Yamashita & Nakajima in a 3-way. While plans may change, at this time there will be no live broadcast.

BREAKING: NOAH Wrestler Leaving Promotion

Following up on his plans to take a step back from Pro Wrestling NOAH, the promotion has announced that Seiki Yoshioka is leaving the promotion at the end of December. He is terminating his contract because it would be difficult for him to compete full-time as he takes on a new career challenge. No word yet on that exactly that means.

More as it becomes available.

Injury Report: Good & Bad AEW Updates (Updated)

From the socials and news sites comes a mixed bag of injury new from AEW:
First the good-Serena Deeb, who has been out of action since October 2022, announced on Instagram today she has finally been cleared to return effective today. She also explained her absence. Seizures. See her video below:

So glad to see her back, she was being a very effective heel in AEW.

On the bad side, Bandido, who has been out about 6 months so far, will not be back anytime soon. Wrist. Had surgery before but is not recovering as well as hoped for and will need more surgery. He seemed set to return anytime now, but no longer.

UPDATE: Bandido posted an update on the socials, he was given 3 options for treatment and 2 involve surgery. The third appears to involve PRP injections. Another news site rumor is that this setback means he’ll probably be out at least another 6 months.

In other news, Sammy Guevara reportedly has been cleared to return already (concussion) but remained out due to his wife Tay Melo about to give birth to their first child, which happened earlier this week. Guevara could now be back anytime.

All-Japan News: February Schedule, Another Old-Timer Anniversary

Some All-Japan news:
The February 2024 schedule has been announced. The Excite Series 2024 will consist of 4 events as follows (all dates/start times are JST):
2/20-Korakuen Hall, Tokyo
2/23-Okayama Convention Center, Okayama
2/24-Acros Fukuoka, Fukuoka
2/25-Kyoto KBS Hall, Kyoto
Broadcast plans for AJPW.TV will be announced at the end of January. I expect Korakuen will be live, any that are not live broadcasts will be available on demand the next day or later that day in the US. Note that if 2/23 & 2/24 air live they will start the night before in the US (8 PM PT & 9 PM PT respectively).

On the heels of fellow septuagenerian and Golden Anniversary celebrant Tatsumi Fujinami (who retired but really didn’t retire last year, he is still gping in his Dradition promotion and occadional matches elsewhere including New Japan), All-Japan will hold a 70th Burthday & 50th Anniversary event for Masanobu Fuchi in January. It will be on 1/14-his 70th birthday-at Korakuen Hall. His debut was on April 22, 1974. Let’s see if they bring in his first opponent for that, although that would mean Atsushi Onita so…