Category: Uncategorized

TJPW News: Injury Forces Wrestler Off 2/11 Event

In announcing the full card for the Korakuen Hall event on 2/11 (the Futari-wa Princess Max Heart Tournament Finals), Tokyo Joshi Pro also announced a forced change of plans-Juria Nagano, who was scheduled to participate, is now off. Hand injury suffered in her match with Moka Miyamoto against Miyu Yamashita & Maki Itoh. Out indefinitely but to be off this event means at least 2 weeks. They have about 6 weeks until GRAND PRINCESS ’23, which she has been announced for, so hopefully it’s not serious and she will be back in time for that.

More as it becomes available.

BREAKING: Kota Ibushi Comeback (Updated x2)

He’s back…Game Changer Wrestling has announced on Twitter that Kota Ibushi will return to action at GCW Collective 2023 as part of events on 3/30 & 3/31. Both events will stream live on FITE as part of FITE+, a subscription package available for $4.99/month or $49.99/year (and if you go annual, each year they give you enough credits to watch up to $24 worth of PPV content FOR FREE). It’s not known what this means for his status in Japan as his New Japan contract has presumably expired and he had been out since October 2021 due to injury and personal issues.

More as it becomes available.

UPDATE: There are reports Ibushi’s New Japan contract expired today (yesterday Japan time). Also, the original post has been corrected to reflect that the injury occurred in October 2021, not August 2021.

UPDATE 2: New Japan has announced on their Japanese website that Ibushi has left the promotion, confirming his contract expired today (yesterday Japan time).

New Japan 1/31/23 Results (Updated)

New Japan continued the Road to THE NEW BEGINNING Tour today with the last event of the month.

There were last-second changes to the event as Yoh was a late removal from the card. Fever. Coronavirus rapid test was negative. Status beyond today is uncertain. The main event also saw BUSHI removed as a result.

Today’s event was held at Akita Furusato Village Dome Theater in Akita. There was no live broadcast and no on demand video will be available.

The announced paid attendance was 659.

Match 1: Great-O-Khan beat Yuto Nakashima by submission.

Match 2: Tiger Mask & Tomoaki Homna beat Oskar Leube & Hiroyoshi Tenzan. Honma pinned Leube after Kokeshi.

Match 3: Taiji Ishimori & El Phantasmo beat Jado & Master Wato. Phantasmo pinned Jado after Sudden Death.

Match 4: Toru Yano & Hiroshi Tanahashi beat Gedo & KENTA by DQ. Gedo DQ’d.

Match 5: Kosei Fujita, Shane Haste, Mikey Nicholls & Zack Sabre Jr. beat Ryohei Oiwa, YOSHI-HASHI, Hirooki Goto & Tomohiro Ishii. Nicholla pinned Oiwa after a siding lariat.

Match 6: Francesco Akira, TJP, Aaron Henare & Will Ospreay beat TAKA Michinoku, DOUKI, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Taichi. Ospreay pinned TAKA after Hidden Blade.

Main Event: Hiromu Takahashi, SANADA, Shingo Takagi & Tetsuya Naito beat Ryusuke Taguchi, Shota Umino, Togi Makabe & Kazuchika Okada. Takagi pinned Makabe after Last of the Dragon.

The next event is tomorrow at Aomori Budokan in Aomori. There will be no live or on demand broadcast.

UPDATE: Yoh is now off tomorrow as well. Precautionary due to fever. BUSHI is now off again as well to change their match from a 10-man tag to 8-man.

DEVELOPING: TJPW Adds New GRAND PRINCESS ’23 Match

A short time ago on Twitter and DDT’s website, Tokyo Joshi Pro announced a new match for GRAND PRINCESS ’23 on 3/18 at Ariake Arena…and this one more than blew my mind as Yuki Arai will be in, literally and figuratively, her biggest single match yet against…AJA KONG! The Hall Of Famer and living legend of Japanese women’s wrestling! This is the second official match for the event.

Video: Jay Briscoe Funeral Service (1/29/23)

The school district where the children of Jay Briscoe went to school live-streamed the funeral service yesterday on YouTube. If you want to see the video you can do so at the link below:

https://www.youtube.com/live/EoJ1bmB3IcM?feature=share

New Japan 1/30/23 Results

New Japan continues the Road to THE NEW BEGINNING tour today with another non-televised house show. Coming amidst reports that, following government loosening of coronavirus guidelines, Bushiroad may be returning to full capacity for all NJPW & Stardom events.

Today’s event was held at Iwate Prefectural Gym in Iwate. There was no live broadcast and no on demand video will be available.

The announced paid attendance was 1150.

Match 1: Aaron Henare beat Ryohei Oiwa.

Match 2: Tiger Mask & Togi Makabe beat Yuto Nakashima & Hiroyoshi Tenzan. Makbe pinned Nakashima after a King Kong kneedrop.

Match 3: Jado & Master Wato beat Gedo & Taiji Ishimori. Wato pinned Gedo after RPP.

Match 4: El Phantasmo & KENTA beat Tomoaki Honma & Hiroshi Tanahashi. Phantasmo pinned Honma after Sudden Death.

Match 5: Kosei Fujita, Shane Haste, Mikey Nicholls & Zack Sabre Jr. beat Oskar Leube, YOSHI-HASHI, Tomohiro Ishii & Hirooki Goto. Nicholls pinned Leube after a sliding lariat.

Match 6: Francesco Akira, TJP, Great-O-Khan & Will Ospreay beat TAKA Michinoku, DOUKI, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Taichi. Ospreay pinned TAKA after Hidden Blade.

Main Event: BUSHI, Hiromu Takahashi, SANADA, Shingo Takagi & Tetsuya Naito beat Yoh, Ryusuke Taguchi, Shota Umino, Toru Yano & Kazuchika Okada. Takagi pinned Taguchi after MADE IN JAPAN.

The next event is tomorrow at Akita Furusato Village Dome Theater in Akita. There will be no live or on demand broadcast.

Tokyo Joshi Pro 1/30/23 Results (PPV)

Tokyo Joshi Pro held a special 10th Anniversary event today dubbed “Beyond the origin, to the future”, a one-day tournament following the format of the promotion’s very first event. 19 of the roster’s members participated as the rest were unavailable for various reasons (Yuka Sakazaki & Yuki Kamifuku are on international excursions, Wakana Uehara had scheduling issues and Juria Nagano & Yuki Arai were not scheduled to participate). Every match was held on floor mats and not a ring, there was a 5 minute time limit and only 2 count pinfalls. Time limit draws used rock-paper-scissors games as tiebreakers except the Finals, which would continue with no time limit and 1 count pinfalls.

Today’s event was held at Twin Box Akihabara in Tokyo (the venue that hosted the inaugural event) and can be watched on demand as a PPV on WRESTLE UNIVERSE until February 6. After that it hopefully will be available for all subscribers.

This was a closed venue event with no fans in attendance. All matches were tournament matches.

Round 1:
Match 1: Moka Miyamoto beat HIMAWARI.

Match 2: Suzume beat Kaya Toribami.

Match 3: Hyper Misao vs. Miu Watanabe went to a 5 minute time limit draw. Misao wins tiebreaker.

Round 2:
Match 4: Rika Tatsumi beat Pom Harajuku.

Match 5: Hikari Noa beat Moka Miyamoto.

Match 6: Mahiro Kiryu vs. Maki Itoh went to a 5 minute time limit draw. Kiryu wins tiebreaker.

Match 7: Neko Haruna beat Yuki Aino.

Match 8: Nao Kakuta beat Arisu Endo.

Match 9: Miyu Yamashita vs. Raku went to a 5 minute time limit draw. Yamashita wins tiebreaker.

Match 10: Shoko Nakajima beat Suzume.

Match 11: Mizuki beat Hyper Misao.

Quarterfinals:
Match 12: Rika Tatsumi beat Hikari Noa.

Match 13: Mahiro Kiryu beat Miyu Yamashita.

Match 14: Shoko Nakajima beat Neko Haruna.

Match 15: Nao Kakuta beat Mizuki.

Semifinals:
Match 16: Rika Tatsumi beat Mahiro Kiryu by submission.

Match 17: Shoko Nakajima beat Nao Kakuta.

Finals: Rika Tatsumi vs. Shoko Nakajima went to a 5 minute time limit draw. Which led to…
Continuation (1 Count, no time limit): Rika Tatsumi beat Shoko Nakajima to win the tournament.

Afterwards, Tatsumi did the show-ending promo then, as is their post-major event custom, all the participants gathered for a group photo. You can see it on the results page of DDT’s website.

The next event is Saturday at Osaka Azalea Taisho in Osaka for a CITY CIRCUIT event. There will be no live broadcast.

DEVELOPING: New Japan Re-Brands US Events, TV Show (Updated)

New Japan has announced a rebranding/repackaging of their US product for 2023 amidst rumors of the end of NJPW STRONG…they may have been greatly exaggerated. Going forward, all New Japan US events will be held under the NJPW STRONG label, to include PPVs, which as live events will become known as “STRONG LIVE” starting with Battle In The Valley on 2/18. Then in March the weekly show will become known as “STRONG On Demand” and will feature all the PPV matches over 4 weeks of episodes, 2 or 3 matches per week. This will continue with the WrestleCon weekend event in March and the Washington DC and Philadelphia events in April.

So to summarize, live PPVs in the US will continue but they will now also be called STRONG LIVE and will later be available on the weekly TV show spread out over 4 weeks’ worth of shows a few weeks later. The weekly shows will continue to be available every weekend on New Japan World and presumably FITE. Live events will continue to be available on FITE in English and as PPVs on New Japan World in Japanese. But no more monthly TV tapings like they had been doing since the brand launched in 2020.

UPDATE: On New Japan’s Japanese website, they confirmed the April events will be available as live PPVs. STRONG On Demand also will continue to be available on FITE.

Dragon Gate 1/29/23 Results

Dragon Gate wrapped up the Open The New Year Gate 2023 Tour today with their final event of the month.

Today’s event was held at Heartful Mikumo Sports Culture Center in Mie and may be available on demand on DRAGONGATE NETWORK. There was no live broadcast.

The announced paid attendance was 305.

Match 1: Kota Minoura & Minorita beat Jason Lee & Punch Tominaga. Minorita pinned Tominaga after Minoritanic.

Match 2: Yasushi Kanda & Mochizuki Jr. beat Kagetora & Ho Ho Lun. Kanda pinned Kagetora after Candy Magic.

Match 3: Ultimo Dragon, Dragon Kid & Eita beat Kzy, BIGBOSS Shimizu & JACKY ‘FUNKY” KAMEI. Kid pinned KAMEI after Christo.

Match 4: Ben-K & BxB Hulk beat Susumu Mochizuki & Takashi Yoshida. Hulk pinned Yoshida after a spear.

Main Event: Yuki Yoshioka, Dragon Dia & Madoka Kikuta beat Shun Skywalker, KAI & H-Y-O. Kikuta pinned H-Y-O after a rolling lariat.

The next event is the Rey De Parejas 2023 Tournament opener Friday at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo. Live streaming on DRAGONGATE NETWORK will begin at 1:15 AM PT/4:15 AM ET.

Tokyo Joshi Pro 1/29/23 Results

Tokyo Joshi Pro continued the Futari-wa Princess Max Heart Tournament today with the Semifinals.

Today’s event was held at Kasukabe Fureai Cube in Saitama and can be watched on demand on WRESTLE UNIVERSE.

The announced paid attendance was 251, a full house/near sellout.

Match 1: Mahiro Kiryu beat HIAMWARI.

Match 2: Mizuki beat Wakana Uehara by submission.

Match 3: Raku beat Yuki Aino & Neko Haruna in a 3-way by pinning Haruna.

Match 4: Yuki Arai, Suzume & Arisu Endo beat Hikari Noa, Nao Kakuta & Kaya Toribami. Suzume pinned Toribami after Ring A Bell.

Futari-wa Princess Max Heart Tournament Semifinals:
Match 5: Miyu Yamashita & Maki Itoh beat Moka Miyamoto & Juria Nagano. Itoh beat Nagano with Itoh Punish.
Main Event: Shoko Nakajima & Hyper Misao beat Rika Tatsumi & Miu Watanabe. Nakajima pinned Tatsumi after a diving senton.
As a result, the Finals will be Yamashita/Itoh vs. Nakajima/Misao. That will happen on 2/11.

The next event is “Beyond the origin, to the future” tomorrow at Twin Box Akihabara in Tokyo, the promotion’s 10th Anniversary event. It will be a one-day single-elimination tournament, matches will not be in a ring but on small mats with no ropes, 5 minute time limits and only 1 or 2-count pinfalls. The entire roster will participate with the following exceptions: Yuka Sakazaki (in the US for All Elite Wrestling), Yuki Kamifuku (in Singapore for events), Yuki Arai (not scheduled to participate) and Wakana Uehara (scheduling conflicts), so 19 total. This will be a closed event with no fans in attendance and will be available as a PPV on WRESTLE UNIVERSE for around $27 for non-subscribers and around $20 for monthly subscribers (a 20% discount for subscribers). You must order the PPV via the website version of the service and not the mobile app, then you can use the app to watch. The live broadcast will begin at 3 AM PT/6 AM ET. It’s not known when the replay will be available on demand for all subscribers.