News, results & more from Japanese Pro Wrestling & Sumo
Tokyo Joshi Pro has announced a last minute change to today’s event card because Raku is now off. The ever-vague poor physical condition. She was to have faced Hyper Misao & HIMAWARI in a 3-way. It’s now just Misao vs. HIMAWARI.
The event also will now start with a public contract signing for the Princess Of Princess Championship Match between Mizuki & Nao Kakuta on 4/15. The event begins tonight at 11:30 PM ET/8:30 PM PT and streams live on WRESTLE UNIVERSE.
Here are the quick results from tonight’s TAPED Impact Wrestling in Windsor, Ontario Canada:
This episode was taped the day after Sacrifice and was the fallout episode from the PPV.
Pre-show YouTube Match: Heath & Rhino beat Champagne Singh & Shera.
Motor CIty Machine Guns beat TMDK. Chris Sabin pinned Shane Haste. Afterwards, MCMG challenge Ace Austin & Chris Bey to Ultimate X at Rebellion, possibly for the Impact Tag Team Championship.
Match 2: Mike Bailey vs. Jonathan Gresham went to a no contest. Trey Miguel interference. This was to have been for a shot at Miguel and the X Division Championship at Rebellion. As a result, Santino Marella announced that because of Miguel’s interference, he’ll have to defend against both Bailey & Gresham in a 3-way at Rebellion.
Match 3: Jody Threat Impact Debut Match: Jody Threat beat Tara Rising. Squash.
Match 4: Tommy Dreamer, Yuya Uemura & Darren McCarty beat Bully Ray & The Good Hands. McCarty pinned Skyler after a stunner.
Match 5: Eddie Edwards beat PCO. Alisha Edwards interference set it up.
Josh Alexander officially gave up the Impact World Championship due to injury. Steve Maclin & KUSHIDA got involved leading to a brawl with KUSHIDA getting the better of Maclin.
Next week: The go-home show for Rebellion. Gisele Shaw vs. Tasha Steelz, Taylor Wilde vs. Jessicka, Sami Callihan & Angels vs. Joe Hendry & Dirty Dango, Kenny King vs. Frankie Kazarian for the advantage in Hardcore War at Rebellion, and the final decision on Mickie James’ status for Rebellion.
Added to Rebellion: Santino Marella, Joe Hendry & Dirty Dango vs. The Design, Knockouts Tag Team Champions The Coven (KiLynn King & Taylor Wilde) vs. Death Dollz (Jessicka & Rosemary) and Impact X Division Champion Trey Miguel vs. Mike Bailey & Jonathan Gresham in a 3-way for the title.
Below are the quick results for tonight’s episode of Ring Of Honor TV from Long Island, NY, which was taped yesterday after AEW Dynamite. Be advised this will contain SPOILERS! (The episode premieres later today on HonorClub, which is available in the US for $9.99/month)
Continue reading “Ring Of Honor TV 4/6/23 Results (SPOILERS!)”New Japan wrapped up the Road to SAKURA GENESIS Tour today with the final build to Saturday’s annual April blowout event.
Today’s event was held at Tokorozawa Civic Gym in Saitama. There was no live broadcast and there is no on demand broadcast.
The announced paid attendance was 711.
Match 1: Ryusuke Taguchi, Ren Narita, El Desperado & Minoru Suzuki beat Dick Togo, Sho, Yujiro Takahashi & EVIL. Narita pinned Togo with a blizzard suplex hold.
Match 2: Taiji Ishimori & El Phantasmo beat BUSHI & Shingo Takagi. Phantasmo pinned BUSHI after a combined moonsault press.
Match 3: Shota Umino beat Ryohei Oiwa.
Match 4: Zack Sabre Jr. beat Oskar Leube by submission.
Match 5: Aaron Henare, Great-O-Khan, Jeff Cobb & Aussie Open beat Tomoaki Honma, Toru Yano, Tomohiro Ishii, YOSHI-HASHI & Hirooki Goto. Henare pinned Hinma after Streets Of Rage.
Match 6: Hiromu Takahashi & Tetsuya Naito beat Kosei Fujita & Robbie Eagles. Naito pinned Fujita.
Main Event: In an Elimination Match, TAKA Michinoku DOUKI, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Taichi & SANADA beat Madter Wato, Yoh, Tiger Mask, Hiroshi Tanahashi & Kazuchika Okada. SANADA was the only winning team member left.
The next event is SAKURA GENESIS Saturday at Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo. Live streaming on New Japan World outside Japan only will begin at 1 AM PT/4 AM ET. The live broadcast will be only on TV Asahi in Japan (New Japan World will have on demand only). A special press conference and public event with championship match contract signings and more will be held tomorrow. It is open to the public but some events require paid tickets.
Dragon Gate continued The Gate Of Passion 2023 Tour today with an event in Tokyo.
Today’s event was held at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo and can be watched on demand on DRAGONGATE NETWORK.
The announced paid attendance was 1087.
Match 1: BxB Hulk, Ben-K & Minorita beat Kzy, BIGBOSS Shimizu & Jason Lee. Minorita pinned Lee after a Ben-K spear.
Match 2: Kenichiro Arai & Punch Tominaga beat Genki Horiguchi & Takashi Yoshida. Arai beat Horiguchi with a full nelson clutch.
Match 3: Ultimo Dragon, Dragon Kid & Ichikawa beat Shun Skywalker, Diamante & H-Y-O by DQ. Diamante DQ’d. Mask removal. This was to have been a tag team match but Diamante & Dragon were late additions to make it a 6-man tag.
Match 4: KAI & ISHIN beat Shuji Kondo & Kagetora. KAI pinned Kagetora after Meteor Impact.
Match 5: Don Fujii, Eita & Naruki Doi beat YAMATO, Kaito Nagano & Daiki Yanagiuchi. Doi beat Yanagiuchi with a camel clutch.
Match 6: Strong Machine J & JACKY “FUNKY” KAMEI beat Yuki Yoshioka & Dragon Dia. KAMEI pinned Dia after JACKY Knife.
Match 7: Susumu Mochizuki & Yasushi Kanda vs. Masaaki Mochizuki & Mochizuki Jr. went to a double countout.
Main Event: Madoka Kikuta beat Kota Minoura. As a result, Kikuta will face Open The Dream Gate Champion Shun Skywalker for the title at DEAD OR ALIVE 2023 on 5/5 at Aichi Prefectural Gym in Nagoya.
The next event is Saturday at Kobe Sambo Hall in Kobe. Live streaming on DRAGONGATE NETWORK will begin at 2 AM PT/5 AM ET.
Here are the quick results from tonight’s AEW Dynamite in Long Island, NY:
Before the show, it was announced that Nigel McGuinness signed with AEW as a commentator. This later led into Tony Khan’s “very important announcement”, which is the long-awaited England debut event will happen in late August at Wembley Stadium in London.
Ricky Starks vs. Juice Robinson never happened. Jay White showed up and laid out Starks. It was later announced on social media that White has signed with AEW.
AEW Trios Champions House Of Black beat Best Friends & Orange Cassidy to retain the titles. BuddY Matthews pinned Chuck Taylor.
AEW Women’s Champion Jamie Hayter beat Riho to retain the title.
MJF Day featured footage of MJF getting the key to Long Island, NY, a full band, speeches from a politician, MJF singing and more until the expected bad end, which came in the form of Jungle Boy disguised as a band member (and looking a lot like The Blade) to set up a fight broken up when Sammy Guevara came out for his match.
Sammy Gueveara beat Komander.
FTW Champion Hook beat Ethan Page to retain the title. Squash. Matt Hardy inadvertently helped Hook win.
Blackpool Combat Club beat 3 jobbers. We didn’t get names before it ended. Wheeler Yuta beat one of them. Squash. Afterwards, Bryan Danielson called out Adam Page and that set up the 4 on 1 BCC beatdown.
FTR beat AEW Tag Team Champions Gunn Club to become THE NEW AEW TAG TEAM CHAMPIONS! If FTR didn’t win the titles they would’ve had to leave AEW, which seemingly confirms they have signed new contracts with AEW.
Fine show but the McGuinness announcement essentially was a spoiler for the huge announcement. Unless you’re an England-based fan it was underwhelming.
Rampage is LIVE Friday followed immediately by Battle Of The Belts 6. Announced for BOTB 6: AEW International Champion Orange Cassidy vs. Dralistico for the title, AEW TBS Champion Jade Cargill vs. Billie Starkz for the title and ROH Tag Team Champions Lucha Bros vs. QT Marshall & Powerhouse Hobbs for the titles.
A new YouTube video from the “Chris Sumo” channel, who is a reliable English-language source with connections in the Japan Sumo Association, reveals some early injury news and notes for the May Tournament, good and bad.
The Good: Yokozuna Terunofuji will be back. He is on the current April tour to get daily reps in and it sounds like his knees are constantly improving and he’a good to go. It was hinted that he may have retired already if he wasn’t the sole yokozuna but there seems to be none of the customary retirement pressures on yokozuna following consistent poor performance or, in this case, extended absences due to injuries.
The Bad: Wakatakakage and Onosho are likely out of the May Tournament. Both withdrew in March due to injuries (Wakatakakage on Day 14, one win short of keeping his Sekiwake ranking, which would now be gone anyway with missing May). Onosho is reportedly out 2 months with knee issues so he has a chance to participate, but an ACL injury will cost Wakatakakage 3 months and definitely his year-plus spot in Sanyaku. Onosho could be demoted to Juryo is he misses May, finishing the equivalent of 4-11 (4-5-6) in March at Maegashira 4 which means demotion. It sounds like Daieisho will definitely return to Sekiwake now in May. Hoshoryu and Kiribayama will both have chances at Ozeki promotion after May but likely just one could make it as they will probably need to win the tournament. If Kiribayama wins again he’ll meet the primary criteria for Ozeki promotion, which is win consecutive tournaments at Sekiwake.
Dragon Gate ran a special event dubbed “Historic Legend-Rei-ZERO-” or roughly Legend Of Valor, yesterday as part of the current tour with a lot of outside participation.
Yesterday’s event was held at Shinjuku Face in Tokyo and can be watched on demand on DRAGONGATE NETWORK.
The announced paid attendance was 469, a super full house/very near sellout. A screenshot posted on Twitter made it look like the venue was legit full, which would’ve been up to 500.
Match 1: Hikaru Sato & Ryo Kawamura beat YAMATO & Punch Tominaga. Kawamura pinned Tominaga after a middle kick.
Match 2: Kikutaro beat Kuishinbo Kamen (Osaka Pro) & Ichikawa in a 3-way by pinning Ichikawa.
Match 3: Takashi Sasaki & Jun Kasai (Freedoms) beat Susumu Mochizuki & Yasushi Kanda. Kasai pinned Kanda after a vertical drop reverse tiger driver.
Match 4: Masato Tanaka & Takiya Sugawara (ZERO1) beat Don Fujii & Madoka Kikuta. Tanaka pinned Kikuta after Sliding D.
Match 5: Fujita “Jr” Hayato, Jinsei Shinzaki (Michinoku Pro) & Strong Machine J beat Masaaki Mochizuki, Mochizuki Jr. & LEONA (Dradition). Hayato pinned Jr. after K.I.D.
Main Event: Kenoh (Pro Wrestling NOAH) & Shuji Kondo beat Open The Twin Gate Champions Kzy & BIGBOSS Shimizu by TKO to win the titles. Kenoh & Kondo become the 62nd Open The Twin Gate Champions. Kenoh beat Shimizu with a high kick.
The next event was earlier today at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo and can be watched on demand on DRAGONGATE NETWORK.
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.