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BREAKING: New Japan Card Changes For 12/22 (Updated)

New Japan has just announced last-minute changes for today’s (12/22) event because Oskar Leube is now off. Fever. Coronavirus test was negative but as a cautionary measure he is out. He was to have faced Jeff Cobb. Tomoaki Honma is the replacement, although Honma was to have teamed with Ren Narita to face Zack Sabre Jr. & Taichi. Jado is the replacement for Honma.

UPDATE: Leube is now off 12/23 as well. He was to have teamed with Yuto Nakashima to face Sho & Yujiro Takahashi. Jado is the replacement.

New Japan News: First Names For 2023 US Return, PPV Plans

New Japan has announced that Jay White & Kazuchika Okada are the first confirmed names for Battle In The Valley, the first US event of 2023, on 2/18 in San Jose, CA, making it very likely the IWGP World Heavyweight Champion after Tokyo Dome will be there. It was also confirmed that the event will be a live PPV in English on FITE for $19.99. The event likely will be a PPV on New Japan World in Japanese for around the same cost.

DDT 12/21/22 Results

DDT held a special Danshoku Dieno 20th Anniversary event today, also commemorating the pending release of his new autobiography book. Although best known as the leader of those deplorable Pheromons, Dieno is also a groundbreaking wrestler in that he is believed to be the first pro wrestler to come out as openly gay, The promotion immediately threw its full support behind Dieno and that has not changed despite GM Imabayashi’s “war” with Pheromons.

Today’s event was held at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo and will be available on demand on WRESTLE UNIVERSE at a later date (expected to be Saturday). There was no live broadcast.

The announced paid attendance was 537. Vocal cheering was allowed.

Dieno also brought his pet dog, Haku, an 11-month-old rescued dog, to the event. All fans attending received a copy of Dieno’s book.

Match 1: In a Loser Purchase Handicap Death Match, Akito, Toru Owashi, Kazuki Hirata, Antonio Honda & Hiroshi Yamato beat Sanshiro Takagi. As a result, Takagi had to pay for 47 copies of his own book.

Match 2: Anarco Montagna & Hideki Okatani beat Takeshi Masada & Kazuma Sumi. Montagna pinned Sumi after Shooting Punk Press.

Match 3: Saki Akai won an 8-person King Of Pantyhose Battle Royal, last eliminating Makoto Oishi & Yusuke Okada. All participants wore pantyhose over their heads. As a result, Akai was crowned “King Of Pantyhose”. Or perhaps it should be Queen in her case.

Match 4: Chris Brookes, Masa Takanashi & Ken Ohka beat Yuki Ueno, MAO & Toui Konima. Takanashi pinned MAO after HOD.

Match 5: Naruki Doi beat Shunma Katsumata.

Match 6: Tetsuya Endo, Jun Akiyama & DJ Nira beat Kazusada Higuchi, Yuki Ishida & Tanomusaku Toba. Endo pinned Ishida after a rotating torture rack bomb.

Match 7: Yuki Iino beat Yumehito Imanari.

Main Event: Danshoku Dieno 20th Anniversary Match: Haku beat Danshoku Dieno & Muscle Sakai. This was supposed to be Dieno vs. Sakai, but it’s DDT after all. A shocking announcement afterwards-GM Imabayashi was going to leave DDT at the end of the year but apparently will stay on for one more year as a business consignment.

The next event is NEVER MIND 2022 on 12/29 at Tokyo Dome City Hall. If fans find the event boring, refunds will be provided unless they paid for the most expensive seats (which cost nearly $4000 US). And with a LiLiCo anal explosion opening, how can it be boring? Live streaming on WRESTLE UNIVERSE will begin at 2:30 AM ET/11:30 PM PT. Japanese commentary guests will be SKE48 member Marika Tani, singer Maon Kurosaki and Kenta Kobashi. English commentary will also be available.

All-Japan 12/21/22 Results

All-Japan ran the first of their special Christmas week events, wrapping up the year on a slightly more festive tone. It also marked the beginning of a trio of departures as Izanagi had his last match in the promotion today, with TAJIRI and Jake Lee also leaving at the end of the month.

Today’s event was held at Shin-Kiba 1st Ring in Tokyo and can be watched on demand on AJPW.TV. The promotion made a last-minute decision yesterday to make it a free broadcast, but creating a provisional AJPW.TV account is required (but a paid subscription is not).

The announced paid attendance was 286.

Match 1: Dan Tamura & Masao Inoue beat Ryuki Honda & Masao Hanabata. Tamura pinned Hanabata after Death Valley Bomb.

Match 2: Takao Omori beat Suwama by DQ. Deadly weapon use.

Match 3: Jun & Rei Saito beat Yoshitatsu & TAJIRI. Rei pinned Yoshitatsu.

Match 4: Izanagi Final All-Japan Match: Izanagi vs. Black Menso-re went to a Double KO.

Match 5: Atsuki Aoyagi & Hokuto Omori beat Rising Hayato & Ryo Inoue. Aoyagi pinned Inoue after Firebird Splash.

Match 6: Shuji Ishikawa beat Yuma Anzai.

Main Event: Kento Miyahara & Yuma Aoyagi vs. Jake Lee & Naoya Nomura went to a 30 minute time limit draw.

The next event is Sunday at Korakuen Hall. Live streaming on AJPW.TV will begin Saturday at 9:30 PM ET/6:30 PM PT. (I had tentatively planned to do live results but that probably will not happen due to schedule conflicts)

DEVELOPING: TJPW Star Out of 12/24

DDT just announced on Twitter and their website that, although it’s not because of her stage schedule this time, Nao Kakuta is now out of yet another event as she is off Saturday’s year-ending Tokyo Joshi Pro event. Coronavirus. She was to have faced Yuki Kamifuku. No replacement named yet.

FREE VIDEO: G PROWRESTLING Ver. 41 (12/18/2022)

As they usually do when an event is not a PPV, GLEAT has posted the full video of the latest G PROWRESTLING event on YouTube (if events do not stream live on the service, they are usually made available on demand within 3 days. PPVs and GLEAT events usually are not made available until 3-6 months later). You can watch the full video from Sunday’s event below:

Tokyo Gurentai Produced 12/20/22 Results

Pro Wrestling NOAH hosted a Tokyo Gurentai Produced event today, billed as the final event together for the legendary heel faction that has spread across Japanese wrestling for parts of 3 decades as leader NOSAWA Rongai will be retiring in February. The card was a showcase for independent wrestlers and also brought back past Gurentai members including New Japan’s Dick Togo.

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

The announced paid attendance was 750, a legit advance sellout. Vocal cheering was allowed.

Match 1: Hideki Monma, Daisuke Nakamura, Taison Maeguchi & Kai Takuya beat Ikuto Hidaka, 2, SUSHI & Takatoshi Matsumoto. Momna pinned 2. Hidaka was a replacement for Hikaru Sato (injury).

Match 2: Maya Yukihi & Miyuki Watase beat Rina Yamashita & Sumire Natsu. Yukihi pinned Natsu after TSULALA.

Match 3: Eita beat Kotaro Suzuki.

Match 4: Ninja Mack beat The Reeve Mask & Dante Leon in a 3-way by pinning Mask. Unknown who Mask really was but the colors on the profile picture had me thinking maybe Atsushi Kotoge.

Match 5: Naomichi Marufuji, Masaaki Mochizuki & Akito beat BxB Hulk, Hokuto Omori & Yoshitomo Shimohigashi. Akito beat Shimohigashi with a Figure 4.

Main Event: Kenoh, Katsuhiko Nakajima, Manabu Soya, Tadasuke, Hajime Ohara & Hi69 beat NOSAWA Rongai, MAZADA, FUJITA, TAKEMURA, KIKUZAWA & Dick Togo. Kenoh pinned NOSAWA after PFS. Afterwards, NOSAWA’s retirement match was announced-NOSAWA & MAZADA vs. Gedo & Taiji Ishimori. That will happen at the Keiji Muto Retirement Event on 2/21 at Tokyo Dome.

The next event is the promotion’s final event of the year, which is also the last N INNOVATION event of the year, on Friday at Shinjuku Face. Live streaming on WRESTLE UNIVERSE will begin at 1:30 AM PT/4:30 AM ET.

New Japan TakaTaichi 12/19/22 PPV Partial Results

New Japan held the last TAKA Michinoku & Taichi produced independent event of the year today, commemorating a combined 50 years in wresting between the two (most of which is TAKA with a good 30 years but This would also be the last such event because the Suzuki-gun faction will disband soon under orders from Minoru Suzuki. Taichi has at least 15-20 years himself). Although separate from New Japan, the promotion handled a lot of advertising and buildup for the event.

Today’s event was held at Yoyogi National Stadium Gym 2 in Tokyo and can be watched on demand as a standalone PPV on New Japan World. An additional purchase is requires to watch until it is removed from behind the paywall, which is expected to be in March 2023.

The announced paid attendance was 1258.

Matches 1-3 results are not yet available (not posted).

Match 4: In a No DQ match, DOUKI & Minoru Suzuki beat Jun Kasai (Freedoms) & Tomoaki Honma by ref stoppage. Suzuki beat Honma with a sleeper hold.

Match 5: Lance Archer & El Desperado beat MJ Pawl & Daisuke Sasaki (DDT) by DQ. Sasaki DQ’d. Chair use.

Match 6: In a 10 Million Yen Bounty 3 Falls Match, where countering/kicking out of Nameless Hiromu Roll or Michinoku Driver 2 would claim the bounty (or steal it away), Hiromu Takahashi beat TAKA Michinokiu 2-0. In the end, Takahashi kept the bounty after TAKA won it but Hiromu then won it back.

Main Event: In a Takagi-Style Lumberjack Last Man Standing Death Match, where the only way to win was a 10 count down after a pinfall, KOPW 2022 Trophy holder Shingo Takagi beat Taichi to retain the trophy. Unless something is added last-second to this week, and that’s incredibly unlikely because of how the matches and stip voting work, Takagi will end 2022 with the trophy and it will be done away with ahead of the 2023 trophy determination matches beginning at Tokyo Dome.

Pro Wrestling NOAH 12/19/22 Results

Pro Wresting NOAH wrapped up the 2022 portion of the never-ending STAR NAVIGATION Tour with the final build to the New Year’s Day blowout event.

Today’s event was held at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo and can now be watched on demand on WRESTLE UNIVERSE in Japanese. The live broadcast was only on ABEMA in Japan.

The announced paid attendance was 551. Vocal cheering was allowed so with the resulting limits in place that was just under 80% capacity.

Match 1: Mohammed Yone & Akitoshi Saito beat Shuhei Taniguchi & Taishi Ozawa. Yone pinned Ozawa after Kinniku Muscle Buster.

Match 2: Eita beat Hajime Ohara.

Match 3: Yoshinari Ogawa & Yasutaku Yano vs. Tadasuke & Hi69 went to a No Contest. Eita interference.

Match 4: YO-HEY beat Seiki Yoshioka.

Match 5: Takashi Sugiura, Kazuyuki Fujita & Hideki Suzuki beat Masa Kitamiya, Daiki Inaba & Yoshiki Inamura. Suzuki beat Inamura with a double wrist lock.

Match 6: Jack Morris beat Katsuhiko Nakajima.

Match 7: Kenoh, Manabu Soya & Shuji Kondo beat Kaito Kiyomiya, Masato Tanaka & Atsushi Kotoge by ref stoppage. Kenoh beat Kiyomiya with a sleeper hold.

Match 8: AMAKUSA & Ninja Mack beat Dante Leon & Alejandro. AMAKUSA pinned Leon.

Main Event: Naomichi Marufuji beat Satoshi Kojima.

The next event is a Tokyo Gurentai Produced “TOKYO DREAM FINAL ~LAST FESTIVAL-” independent event tomorrow. Live streaming on WRESTLE UNIVERSE will begin at 1:30 AM PT/4:30 AM ET.