A stunning last-second Opening Day development in the July Grand Sumo Tournament-new Ozeki Kirishima has WITHDRAWN from the tournament. Right rib contusion. Out indefinitely but possibly 3 weeks, which if true means he will miss the entire tournament and go right into kadoban status in September before he even has a match at the second highest ranking. Disastrous for the Japan Sumo Association as both Ozeki are now out. There is a chance Kirishima may return but it’s wait and see. As a result, Nishikigi will get a free win today.
Category: Uncategorized
Dragon Gate 7/8/23 Results (2 Events)
Dragon Gate ran 2 separate events today, continuing the KING OF GATE Tournament and also running the second “Heroic Legend Rei-Zero” event.
First, the KING OF GATE event:
Today’s event was held at Act City Hamamatsu in Shizuoka. There is/was no live or on demand broadcast.
The announced paid attendance was 304.
Match 1: Shun SKywalker, KAI, ISHIN & H-Y-O beat Kzy, U-T, Don Fujii & Ho Ho Lun. ISHIN pinned Lun after a small leg chokeslam.
Match 2: KING OF GATE Tournament Round 1: Shuji Kondo beat Genki Horiguchi.
Match 3: KING OF GATE Tournament Round 1: Dragon Kid beat Kagetora.
Match 4: Kota Minoura, BxB Hulk & Ben-K beat Ultimo Dragon, BIGBOSS Shimizu & Ichikawa. Ben-K pinned Ichikawa after countering La Magistral.
Match 5: YAMATO, Madoka Kikuta & Yuki Yoshioka beat Susumu Mochizuki, Yasushi Kanda & Punch Tominaga. Yoshioka pinned Tominaga after Flashbang.
Main Event: KING OF GATE Tournament Round 1: Dragon Dia beat Jason Lee.
Second, Heroic Legend Rei-Zero 2:
Today’s event was held at Shinjuku Face in Tokyo and can be watched on demand on DRAGONGATE NETWORK.
The announced paid attendance was 353.
Match 1: YAMATO & Masaaki Mochizuki beat Munenori Sawa & Fuminori Abe. YAMATO pinned Abe after Omniescent & Omnipotent Frankensteiner.
Match 2: Hikaru Sato, Takefuim Ito & Ryo Kawamura beat Ben-K, Minorita & Punch Tominaga by ref stoppage (TKO). Kawamura beat Tominaga. Strikes.
Match 3: TBA, revealed to be Kikutaro, beat Ichikawa for the vacant Open The Owarai Gate Championship and won the audience decision after the match for the title. Kikutaro becomes the 32nd Open The Owarai Gate Champion.
Match 4: Madoka Kikuta & Yuki Yoshioka beat MUSASHI & Nohashiro (?) (Michinoku Pro). Kikuta pinned Nohashiro after a rolling lariat.
Match 5: BIGBOSS Shimizu, Mochizuki Jr. & Daiki Yanagiuchi beat Masa Kitamiya, Kai Fujimura & Taishi Ozawa (Pro Wrestling NOAH). Shimizu pinned Ozawa after BIGBOSS Press. I believe this is Yanagiuchi’s first career win.
Main Event: Open The Twin Gate Champions Susumu Mochizuki & Yasushi Kanda beat Takuya Sugawara & Masato Tanaka (ZERO1) to retain the titles. Kanda pinned Sugawara after Candy Magic. V2 for the champs.
The next event is tomorrow at Osaka Prefectural Gym 2 in Osaka. Live streaming on DRAGONGATE NETWORK will begin at 2 AM PT/5 AM ET.
7/9/23-7/15/23 Events Schedule
Here is the current events schedule for 7/9/23-7/15/23, which is subject to change (all times PT):
In addition to what is listed below, the July 2022 Grand Sumo Tournament in Nagoya, Japan will take place each day starting at approx. 5 PM PT Live broadcasts on ABEMA and NHK World Premium.
7/9:
Midnight-Pro Wrestling NOAH SUNNY VOYAGE 2023 Tour, Tama Mirai Messe, Tokyo, Japan. Live on WRESTLE UNIVERSE
2 AM-Dragon Gate Pro Wrestling KING OF GATE 2023, Osaka Prefectural Gym 2, Osaka, Japan. Live on DRAGONGATE NETWORK
7/12:
2 AM-Stardom “Stardom North Tour 2023”, Asahikawa Local Industry Promotion Center (Roadside Station Asahikawa) Large Exhibition Hall, Hokkaido, Japan. No live broadcast
5 PM-All Elite Wrestling “AEW Dynamite”, Saskatoon, Canada. Live on TBS in US and FITE elsewhere
7/13:
2 AM-Stardom “Stardom North Tour 2023”, Tomakomai City General Gym, Hokkaido, Japan. No live broadcast
5 PM-Impact Wrestling “Impact Wrestling”, Atlanta, GA. TAPED on AXS TV. TAPED on YouTube at 5:30 PM. TAPED on Impact+ at 7 PM
7/14:
2:30 AM-Dragon Gate Pro Wrestling KING OF GATE 2023, Robashi Sports Center, Nagoya, Japan. No live or on demand broadcast
7 PM-All Elite Wrestling “AEW Rampage”. TAPED on TNT in US and FITE elsewhere
8:30 PM-Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling “Tokyo Princess Cup 2023”, Ryogoku KFC Hall, Tokyo, Japan. Live on WRESTLE UNIVERSE. LIVE RESULTS SCHEDULED
10 PM-DDT Pro Wrestling “Road to PETER PAN in AOMORI”, Aomori Hamanasu Hall, Aomori, Japan. No live broadcast
7/15:
1 AM-New Japan Pro Wrestling G1 CLIMAX 2023 Tournament, Hokkaido Prefectural Sports Center Hokkai Kitayell, Hokkaido, Japan. Live on New Japan World
2 AM-Dragon Gate Pro Wrestling KING OF GATE 2023, Kyoto KBS Hall, Kyoto, Japan. Live on DRAGONGATE NETWORK
2:30 AM-Pro Wrestling NOAH One Night Dream 2023, Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan. Live on WRESTLE UNIVERSE in English only
5 PM-Impact Wrestling “Slammiversary”, Windsor, Canada. Live on PPV and FITE
5 PM-All Elite Wrestling “AEW Collision”, Calgary, Canada. Live on TNT in US and FITE elsewhere
8:30 PM-Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling “Tokyo Princess Cup 2023”, Ryogoku KFC Hall. Live on WRESTLE UNIVERSE. LIVE RESULTS SCHEDULED
10 PM-New Japan Pro Wrestling G1 CLIMAX 2023 Tournament, Hokkaido Prefectural Sports Center Hokkai Kitayell. Live on New Japan World. LIVE RESULTS TENTATIVELY SCHEDULED
11 PM-DDT Pro Wrestling “Gorgeous Matsuno 60th Birthday/20th Anniversary Event”, Fukushima Toyota Crown Arena (Fukushima National Sports Memorial Gymnasium) Sub Arena. Fukushima, Japan. No live broadcast
AEW Collision 7/8/23 Results
Here are the quick results from tonight’s AEW Collision in Regina, Canada:
Updates will begin at 8 PM ET/5 PM PT.
CM Punk-Samoa Joe promo before opening video.
CM Punk promo. Collision opening theme plays at start and end instead of his entrance music.
Match 1: Owen Hart Cup Men’s Semifinals: Powerhouse Hobbs vs. Ricky Starks
Result: Ricky Starks beat Powerhouse Hobbs. As a result, Starks advances to the Finals next week.
Miro promo.
The WIllow Nightingale-Athena Owen Hart Cup Women’s Semifinals match tonight is now off. Nightingale is not medically cleared after this week’s New Japan events. The match will now happen next Friday on Rampage.
Match 2: Julia Hart vs. Bambi Hall
Result: Julia Hart beat Bambi Hall by submission. Squash.
Commentary announces Battle Of The Belts 7 will be LIVE next week immediately after Collision, so it’ll be a 3 hour broadcast.
Malakai Black promo.
Andrade El Idolo responds to the Black promo.
Match 3: AEW Tag Team Champions FTR vs. Juice Robinson & Jay White in a NON-TITLE match. It’s the usual Eliminator stip, meaning Robinson/White get a title shot if they win, but this time if they lose, no more chances as long as FTR are champs.
Result: Jay White & Juice Robinson beat FTR. As a result, White & Robinson get a future rematch for the titles.
Next week on BOTB 7: AEW TNT Champion Luchasaurus vs. Shawn Spears for the title
FTR interviewed backstage, interrupted immediately by White & Robinson. At White’s demand, the rematch for the titles will be next week and it will be a 2 of 3 Falls match.
Match 4: Scorpio Sky vs. Action Andretti
Result: Scorpio Sky beat Action Andretti
Main Event: Owen Hart Cup Men’s Semifinals: CM Punk vs. Samoa Joe
Result: CM Punk beat Samoa Joe. As a result, Punk advances to the Finals next week and will face Starks. Afterwards, Joe offered a handshake which Punk accepted, but Joe turned it into Coqina Clutch and choked Punk out before leaving as FTR came out. Starks then came out for a staredown from the ramp before slowly walking away to wrap things up.
End Show.
It was a fine show overall, slightly above average. Collision is still establishing its identity and this was only week 4, but they need to get rid of hard commercial breaks. They hardly do them during matches on Dynamite anymore and it gets annoying. Last-minute changes and postponing matches like Athena-Nightingale does not help either.
Next week: Both Owen Hart Cup Finals (Punk-Starks, Ruby Soho/Skye Blue-Athena/Nightingale) and FTR-White/Robinson in a 2/3 Falls match for the AEW Tag Team Championship. BOTB 7 airs immediately afterwards.
BREAKING: Top Impact Star Off Slammiversary Event (Updated 7/10)
Impact Wrestling just announced a change to the upcoming Slammiversary PPV on 7/15: Steve Maclin is now off. Undisclosed injury. It happened during last week’s Australia events when he got his Impact World Championship rematch against now-champion Alex Shelley, who beat Maclin for the title at Against All Odds. Possibly a hip/groin/leg issue based on reports of what happened during the match. Yes, Maclin was on this week’s Impact Wrestling but that was taped prior to the Australia events.
Maclin was to have teamed with Bully Ray at Slammiversary to face PCO & Scott D’Amore. A replacement will be announced Monday on SiriusXM’s “Busted Open” radio show.
More as it becomes available.
7/10 UPDATE: Bully Ray’s new partner, the replacement for Maclin, is Deaner. PCO is now off after being set on fire on last week’s Impact. Replacement TBA.
DDT 7/8/23 Results
DDT ran a special outdoor mini-event today with free admission for fans outside Shiraishi Castle in Miyagi. Apparently the weather cooperated enough to keep it outdoors (had it rained they would have moved it to a nearby indoor location).
Today’s event was held at Shiraishi Castle Honmaru Square in MIyagi and should be available on demand on WRESTLE UNIVERSE at a later date. There was no live broadcast.
Because this was a free event and there was no paid attendance, the attendance was not announced.
Match 1: Daisuke Sasaki & KANON beat Hideki Okatani & Kazuma Sumi. KANON beat Sumi with a crucifix cobra twist.
Match 2: Kazuki Hirata, Yuki Iino & Danshoku Dieno beat Yuki Ueno, Toi Kojima & Gorgeous Matsuno. Hirata pinned Kojima.
Match 3: Tetsuya Endo, Yusuke Okada & Yuya Koroku beat HARASHIMA, Yukio Sakaguchi & Antonio Honda. Endo pinned Honda after Burning Star Press.
The next event is 7/15 at Aomori Hanamasu Hall in Aomori. There will be no live broadcast.
Tokyo Joshi Pro 7/8/23 Results
SUMMER SUN PRINCESS ’23, Tokyo Joshi Pro’s annual summer blowout event, is now in the books.
Today’s event was held at Ota City General Gym in Tokyo and can be watched on demand on WRESTLE UNIVERSE in Japanese. Japanese voice actress Rika Matsumoto, part of the case of the Japanese version of the iconic “Pokemon” anime (I believe she voiced Brock), was a special guest on commentary. You can also watch a pre-show public signing ceremony that began one hour before the event and the first match FOR FREE on YouTube.
The announced paid attendance was 1222. While probably only about half or close to half capacity depending on the layout, they actually sold out of all but the cheapest seats so this was still a strong number.
Match 1: Juria Nagano Return Match: Suzume & Arisu Endo beat Moka Miyamoto & Juria Nagano. Endo beat Nagano with a camel clutch. This was Nagano’s first match in roughly 6 months (she was out due to a broken finger).
Match 2: Mahiro Kiryu, Neko Haruna, HIMAWARI & Shino Suzuki beat Kaya Toribami, Toga, Haru Kazashiro & Runa Okubo. HIMAWARI beat Kazashiro with a single leg Boston Crab. This was Haruna’s first match in roughly 2 months due to injury.
Match 3: Ryo Mizunami (Independent/Freelancer) & Nao Kakuta beat Yuki Kamifuku & Asuka (Veny). Kakuta pinned Kamifuku after Shiden Kai.
Match 4: DEFY Women’s Champion Vertvixen beat Hikari Noa to retain the title. V6 for Vertvixen.
Match 5: Shoko Nakajima & Hyper Misao beat Max The Impaler & Pom Harajuku and Aja Kong (OZ Academy) & Raku in a 3-way when Nakajima pinned Harajuku. Probably not a popular result with the outside-Japan internet fanbase who absolutely loves Wasteland Pom Party.
Match 6: Nyla Rose (All Elite Wrestling) beat Miu Watanabe. And yes, it appears Watanabe managed to EPIC GIANT SWING Rose during the match! This originally was to have been Rose vs. Yuka Sakazaki but plans had to be changed due to a Sakazaki injury.
Match 7: Pro Wrestling EVE Champion Miyu Yamashita beat Sawyer Wreck to retain the title. V7 for Yamashita. This match was held under Spirit Of EVE Rules, which meant no countouts and failure to display sufficient fighting spirit at the referee’s discretion meant a wrestler would be DQ’d.
Match 8: Saki-sama (Saki Akai) & May Saint-Michel (Mei Suruga) beat Yuki Arai & Wakana Uehara. Saki-sama pinned Uehara after Academy Awards. This is the first-and perhaps will be the only-time that Saki & Arai, former Princess Tag Team Champions, will face each other as opponents due to Saki retiring later this year, but we’ll see.
Match 9: International Princess Champion Rika Tatsumi beat Yuki Aino to retain the title. V4 for Tatsumi.
Main Event: Princess Of Princess Champion Mizuki beat Maki Itoh to retain the title. V3 for Mizuki. Once again Itoh is denied the one prize that has eluded her to this date in TJPW. Admittedly the only outcome that would’ve satisfied me here would have been a draw but I guess UNHAPPY UNHAPPY is the lesser of two evils. Next up: Almost certainly the Tokyo Princess Cup winner unless it’s Mizuki. Tentatively put that match down for WRESTLE PRINCESS 4 on 10/8 at Tama Mirai Messe in Tokyo.
The next event is the Tokyo Princess Cup Tournament, the promotion’s annual singles tournament, a single-elimination format with 16 participants this year, beginning Saturday at Ryogoku KFC Hall in Tokyo. The first round will be held over 3 straight days of events there. Live streaming on WRESTLE UNIVERSE will begin Friday at 8:30 PM PT/11:30 PM ET. Live results are scheduled.
The promotion has also announced a Summer Athletic Park Match PPV event will be held on 7/27 at Lake Sagami Pleasure Forest in Tokyo. 18 wrestlers are scheduled to participate including Yuki Arai & ring announcer Sayuri Namba, Yuka Sakazaki is listed as participating but should be considered questionable due to injury. Everyone will be divided into 2 teams for a best-of-5 Street Pro Wrestling Showdown with a special prize for the winning team. This will be available only as a PPV on WRESTLE UNIVERSE with a separate purchase required. The PPV can be pre-ordered now for 2800 yen (around $19) for paying subscribers and 3500 yen (around $25) for non-subscribers. The PPV will be available to buy until 8/2 at 4 AM PT/7 AM ET and can then be watched on demand until 10/30 at 10 AM PT/1 PM ET. On or after 11/1 it may be available to all WRESTLE UNIVERSE paying subscribers. There will be Japanese commentary for this event. Special support ticket packages with specific wrestler goods/rewards are also available for purchase but this may be Japan-only.
DEVELOPING: Last-Minute NOAH 7/9 Change
Pro Wrestling NOAH has just announced a last-minute change to their 7/9 event: Atsushi Kotoge is now off. Fever. He was to have faced Hi69. Taishi Ozawa is the replacement. No mention of any potential coronavirus tests done so for now it appears Kotoge will hopefully only miss this event as there is nearly a week until the next event after this.
More as it becomes available.
FREE VIDEO: NJPW Academy Spring 2023 Showcase
Earlier this year New Japan hosted the first Academy Showcase event for a live crowd at the LA Dojo in Los Angeles, CA. While there was no broadcast before, New Japan has now made the event available FOR FREE on YouTube. You can watch the full event below (it runs just over 2 hours and has English commentary), video courtesy of the New Japan Official English YouTube Channel:
Injury Report: You Da Bad Wheeler?
Wheeler Yuta main evented this week’s Dynamite against Kenny Omega and is expected to be in Blood & Guts in 2 weeks. However, with 2 planned participants already out (Bryan Danielson is injured, Eddie Kingston will be in Japan until at least mid-August) there is concern about Yuta due to an apparent injury suffered Wednesday. Hamstring. Early reports are it’s not major (not a full tear) and the feeling is he’ll be back in time for 7/19, but he should be considered questionable right now. Jon Moxley might want to keep a certain Shota…or Shooter…on speed dial.
More as it becomes available.