New Japan ran their annual Anjo event today despite certain wrestlers this was a hometown event for being gone from the promotion.
Today’s event was held at Tosho Arena Anjo in Aichi and can be watched on demand on New Japan World. You can also watch the first 2 matches FOR FREE on YouTube.
The announced paid attendance was 1483.
There were last-minute changes to the card due to Kosei Fujita being pulled off the event. The always vague poor health.
Match 1: Katsuya Murashima beat Tatsuya Matsumoto.
Match 2: Masatora Yasida & Taichi beat Zane Jay & Shoma Kato. Taichi pinned Jay after Dangerous Backdrop.
Match 2: Jacob Austin Young, Callum Newman & Great-O-Khan beat Tiger Mask, Tomoaki Honma & Boltin Oleg. Newman pinned Honma after Fireball.
Match 4: Gedo, Taiji Ishimori & Shingo Takagi beat Sho, DOUKI & Yujiro Takahashi. Ishimori pinned Sho after Bloody Cross.
Match 5: Ryusuke Taguchi, Shota Umino & Yuya Uemura beat Daiki Nagai, OSKAR (The Grouch) & Yota Tsuji. Uemuta beat Nagai with a chicken wing.
Match 6: El Desperado, YOSHI-HASHI & Hirooki Goto beat Hartley Jackson, Ryohei Oiwa & Zack Sabre Jr. Goto pinned Jackson after Shoto.
Match 7: NEVER 6-Man Tag Team Champions Master Wato, Yoh & Toru Yano beat Dick Togo, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & EVIL to retain the titles. Wato beat Togo with Vendeval. V2 for the champs.
Main Event: Hiroshi Tanahashi beat Yuto Ice (Ice Baby). Afterwards, the opponent for Tanahashi’s retirement match at Tokyo Dome was revealed…RAINMAKER!!! Back in his hometown today, it’s Kauzchika Okada! (There were a lot of online rumors on US news sites that it was probably going to be Shinsuke Nakamura. But there was less than zero chance of that happening just because Nakamura currently is in WWE and New Japan has a working partnership with WWE rival All Elite Wrestling, where Okada is. WWE has a working partnership with Pro Wrestling NOAH. So I knew it was all but going to be Okada because of that)
The next event is “Superhuman Taiji Ishimori Is Reckless Once Again” Wednesday at Shinjuku Face in Tokyo. Live streaming on New Japan World as a PPV will begin at 1:40 AM PT/4:40 AM ET. The PPV is available for pre-order for $21.99 US.
UPDATE: Following up on the Okada appearance, Tanahashi will hold a Tokyo Dome press conference at midnight PT/3 AM ET tonight. You will be able to watch it live and on demand FOR FREE on New Japan World and presumably YouTube.