BREAKING: 4/30 NOAH Main Event Off (Updated)

Pro Wrestling NOAH announced a short time ago that Saturday’s MAJESTIC 2022 main event is off for now. GHC Heavyweight Champion Kazuyuki Fujita, who was to have defended against Go Shiozaki, has tested positive for the coronavirus. Replacement details TBA.

Updates to come…

UPDATE: The GHC Heavyweight Championship is now VACANT. Fujita has vacated the title. Determination match between Go Shiozaki & TBA on Saturday to crown a new champion will be the replacement. TBA will be announced Friday but Yahoo News Japan reports Kaito Kiyomiya wants to be the TBA even though he’s already in another match.

DEVELOPING: DDT 5/1 Card Change

DDT has just announced a change to the card for 5/1 (Sunday) at Yokohama Budokan: Gorgeous Matsuno is now off due to family circumstances. He was to have teamed with Sanshiro Takagi, Yoshiaki Yatsu, Akito & Kazuki Hirata to face KO-D 10-Man Tag Team Champions Poison Sawada JULIE, Takashi Sasaki, GENTARO, MIKAMI & Tanomusaku Toba for the titles. Gota Ihashi is the replacement and the match is still for the titles.

Tokyo Joshi Pro Upcoming Cards Updates

Tokyo Joshi Pro has announced the full cards for this week’s events and an update for 5/5 at Osaka Prefectural Gym #2:

First, 5/5-the second official match is Saki Akai & Yuki Kamifuku vs. Miu Watanabe & Miyu Yamashita. The first official match (previously announced) is Yuki Arai, Suzume, Moka Miyamoto & Arisu Endo vs. all the current champions at the time (Maki Itoh is set, meaning there likely will be no International Princess Championship match on 5/3). Those other 3, and the rest of the card, will be announced after the 5/3 event.
The full cards for this week’s events, both at Ryogoku KFC Hall (and unless she tests positive for the coronavirus, Shoko Nakajima will be back for both):
4/29 (Friday):
Miu Watanabe vs. Neko Haruna
Yuki Aino vs. Kaya Toribami
Hikari Noa & Nao Kakuta vs. Rika Tatsumi & Arisu Endo
Miyu Yamashita vs. Moka Miyamoto
Shoko Nakajima & Pom Harajuku vs. Hyper Misao & Suzume
Yuka Sakazaki, Mizuki & Raku vs. Maki Itoh, Yuki Kamifuku & Mahiro Kiryu

4/30 (Saturday):
Yuki Aino vs. Arisu Endo
Suzume vs. Kaya Toribami
Maki Itoh vs. Moka Miyamoto
Rika Tatsumi vs. Raku & Neko Haruna in a 3-way
Miyu Yamashita & Miu Watanabe vs. Yuki Kamifuku & Mahiro Kiryu
Shoko Nakajima, Yuka Sakazaki & Mizuki vs. Hyper Misao, Nao Kakuta & Hikari Noa
Pom Harajuku will miss Saturday due to family circumstances.

Both events will be brodcast LIVE on WRESTLE UNIVERSE beginning Thursday and Friday at 11 PM ET/8 PM PT.

Ganbare Pro Wrestling 4/26/22 Results

DDT sub-brand Ganbare Pro Wrestling ran a mini-event today dubbed “Chubby Women’s Pro Wrestling 3-Waist Side Story”, a comedy event centered largely around Ganbare’s top female star, Yuna Manase, who is not who I would call chubby although, by Japanese women’s wrestling standards she is bigger than most wrestlers (she would be closer to average size in the US). The featured match was Manase facing DDT wrestler Yumehito Imanari, hopefully without the rest of his dastardly Pheromons.

Today’s event was held at Saitama Wrestle Fighting Hall (aka the Ice Ribbon School) in Saitama and should be available on demand on WRESTLE UNIVERSE at a later date.

The announced paid attendance was 50, a full house. Under normal circumstances the venue’s capacity is maybe 125 so it’s probably capped at around 60-65 (it’s a very small venue).

Match 1: In a Special Pochalibre Match-American Drag Queen vs. Fighting Illustrator From The Philippines, Yappy beat Beauty Suzuki.

Match 2: Maika Ozaki vs. YuuRI went to a no contest. First match participants interference. Which led to…

Match 2a: Maika Ozaki & Mappy beat YuuRI & Beauty Suzuki. Yappy pinned Suzuki after Chalk. Skull. Slam.

(This was originally to have been Moeka Haruhi vs. Maika Ozaki, but Haruhi was a last-minute removal due to a positive coronavirus test. YuuRI was the replacement)

Main Event: Yumehito Imanari (DDT) beat Yuna Manase.

The next event is “LOVE PHANTOM 2022” on 5/3 at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo. It will be headlined by Spirit of Ganbare World Openweight Champion Tatsuhito Takaiwa vs. Imanari for the title. There will be other DDT & Tokyo Joshi Pro participation as well. Live broadcast on WRESTLE UNIVERSE will begin on 5/3 at 2:30 AM PT/5:30 AM ET.

New Japan 4/25/22 Results

New Japan continued the Golden Fight Series today with the laat televised event of the tour. It was more loaded with a title match and a KOPW 2022 Trophy main event, maybe the first such match (thankfully) not featuring Toru Yano.

Today’s event was held at Hiroshima Sun Plaza in Hiroshima and can be watched on demand on New Japan World in Japanese.

The announced paid attendance was 1118.

Match 1: Tomoaki Honma & Togi Makabe beat Yuto Nakashima & Tiger Mask. Honma pinned Nakashima after Kokeshi.

Match 2: Zack Sabre Jr., DOUKI & Yoshinobu Kanemaru beat Ryohei Oiwa, Master Wato & Ryusuke Taguchi. Sabre pinned Oiwa.

Match 3: Gedo & Taiji Ishimori beat TAKA Michinoku & El Desperado. Ishimori pinned Gedo after Bloody Cross.

Match 4: Chase Owens & Bad Luck Fale beat YOSHI-HASHI & Hirooki Goto. Owens pinned YOSHI-HASHI after Rocket Launcher Elbow.

Match 5: BUSHI, Hiromu Takahashi & Tetsuya Naito beat Yoh, Toru Yano & Kazuchika Okada. Naito pinned Yano.

Match 6: NEVER 6-Man Tag Team Champions Sho, Yujiro Takahashi & EVIL beat Hiroshi Tanahashi, Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa to retain the titles. Takahashi pinned Loa after Big Juice. V3 for the champs.

Main Event: In a 30 Count Falls match, where the first wrestler to accumulate a cumulative total of 30 counts on pinfall attempts, Shingo Takagi beat KOPW 2022 Trophy holder Taichi to win the trophy.

The next event is Wednesday at Hiroshima Big Rose. None of the remaining tour events will be televised or available on demand.

The next scheduled broadcast is WRESTLING DONTAKU ’22 Sunday at Fukuoka PayPay Dome in Fukuoka. Live streaming on New Japan World in Japanese and English will begin Sunday at 1 AM PT/4 AM ET.

Grand Sumo-May 2022 Banzuke

It’s that exciting time again for Grand Sumo fans-we are now less than 2 weeks away from the next tournament and thus the new Banzuke for May 2022 has just been announced.

Among the highlights:
Few changes at the top of Makuuchi (top tier), no Kadoban Ozeki this time. March champion Wakatakakage & Abi remain at Sekiwake. Hoshoryu remains at Komusubi and is joined by Daieisho, the January 2021 champion. March runner-up Takayasu makes a big move up from Maegashira 7 to Maegashira 1 as he tries to get back to Sekiwake, and is joined by Ichinojo. Kotonowaka also continues his big climb up, now at Maegashira 2 after a 2nd straight 11-4 performance
On the down side, the biggest drop was Meisei, who seemed to struggle with lingering injuries and had a terrible March, going 1-14 and finishing dead last. He plunges from Maegashira 1 to Maegashira 13. Ura also saw his rocket run out of steam as despite a late rally of sorts, he still falls from Maegashira 1 to Maegashira 6. Ishiura missed most of the tournament due to injury and fell all the way down to Maegashira 16.
Newcomers/returns include Oho, back for a second try in the top tier at Maegashira 14, a personal best. Midorifuji returns to top tier after spending the last year at Juryo, coming in at Maegasira 16. And finally, for the first time in over 2 years Azumaryu is back in the top tier, coming back at Maegashira 15 after being in Juryo since July 2020.
In the Juryo (second tier), March champion Ryuden, coming off his second championship in 3 tournaments (and nearly 3 straight, he won Makushita in November and lost in January on the final day), is one good performance away from returning to the top tier and will be a Juryo 3, so 9-10 wins should have him back up top in July. Chiyomaru is a Juryo 1 after demotion from the top tier along with Hidenoumi, up from a Juryo 2. Akua was demoted from the top tier as well and will be a Juryo 4. After a winning performance, everyone’s favorite underdog, Enho, moves up to Juryo 7 as he tries to put on more weight and climb back up to the top tier (he is the smallest rikishi at just over 220 pounds/100 kg). Former Sekiwake Kaisei continues a slow slide down the ranks as he falls down to Juryo 9. It’s been 5 straight losing tournaments fror the huge Brazilian wrestler, who also missed 3 matches in January due to injury.
In the Makushita (third tier), March champion Kinbozan, originally from Kazakhstan, goes for his 3rd championship in just his 4h career tournament. He made a big leap from Makishuta 34 to Makushita 4 and will likely be a Juryo Man in July with a winning record. He’s won 8 straight matches overall and has just 2 losses to date. Chiyonoumi, trying to make it back to Juryo after a year down, is a Makushita 1 along with Nishikawa, the January champion who beat Ryuden on the final day to win the title but struggled to just a 4-3 record in March. Popular elder statesman Akiseyama, trying to climb back to the top tier after a steep drop due to coronavirus outbreaks, is up to Makushita 8 this time. Also watch Shishi, a Makushita 7 who will again be a huge sentimental favorite and receive loud ovations from the crowd because he is from Ukraine. There will be one Makushita pre-tournament dropout as former Ozeki Asanoyama serves what should be the final tournament of his 1-year (6 tournament) suspension for breaking coronavirus safety protocols and not being truthful about it. He is a Makushita 42 so if he comes back in July he’ll start his climb back to the top from the Sandanme, the 3rd lowest division.
In addition to the usual 200 in the Sandanme, the no-firm-limit Jonidan division will have roughly 224 participants this time, while the bottom tier Jonokuchi division has 44 entrants.

The May 2022 Tournament runs from 5/8-5/22 at Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo. Fans outside Japan can watch the entire tournament in English on NHK World Premium, available through participating cable/satellite providers. You can also watch the daily highlights program with all top tier matches on NHK World Japan, available on participating cable providers plus online and via smartphone and smart TV apps. The online and app versions are 100% FREE to watch with no login or account required and no viewing restrictions. You’ll also be able to find streams/replays on YouTube and the official Nihon Sumo Kyokai mobile app (remember that to watch more than one video a day on the app you have to subscribe to their premium membership, which is about $5 a month).

New Japan Pro Wrestling 4/24/22 Results

New Japan continued the Golden Fight Series Tour today as the second week begins with the final build for tomorrow’s last televised event.

Today’s event was held at Kochi Prefectural Gym in Kochi. There was no live broadcast and on demand video will not be available.

The announced paid attendance was 787.

Natch 1: Tiger Mask beat Yuto Nakashima by submission.

Match 2: Tomoaki Honma & Togi Makabe beat Kosei Fujita & Toru Yano. Honma pinned Fujita after Kokeshi.

Match 3: Mater Wato & Ryusuke Taguchi beat TAKA Michinoku & El Desperado. Wato beat TAKA with Vendeval.

Match 4: Yoh, Kazuchika Okada, YOSHI-HASHI & Hirooki Goto beat Gedo, Taiji Ishimori, Chase Owens & Bad Luck Fale. Okada beat Gedo with Money Clip.

Match 5: Dick Togo, Sho, Yujiro Takahashi & EVIL beat Jado, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa. Sho pinned Jado.

Main Event: In an Elimination Match, BUSHI, Hiromu Takahashi, Tetsuya Naito & Shingo Takagi beat DOUKI, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Zack Sabre Jr. & Taichi. Naito was the only winner left, last eliminating Sabre.

The next event is tomorrow at Hiroshima Sun Plaza in Hiroshima. Live broadcast on New Japan World in Japanese will begin at 2 AM PT/5 AM ET.

Pro Wrestling NOAH: New Stips For 4/29 Matches

Pro Wrestling NOAH has announced new stipulations for two matches that are part of N INNOVATION on 4/29:
The match of Dragon Bane vs. Alpha Wolf & Ninja Mack in a 3-way is now an elimination match, meaning instead of one fall it only ends when the other two wrestlers have been beaten.

The match of Haoh vs. Nioh in a Loser Ring Deprivation Match, where the loser also loses their current ring name, now will also be a Hair vs. Hair Match. The loser also will lose their hair.

Friday’s event begins at 4 AM ET/1 AM PT and will be broadcast LIVE and on demand in English on WRESTLE UNIVERSE. (This is an ABEMA exclusive broadcast in Japan)

DDT 4/24/22 Results

DDT wrapped up the MAX BUMP 2022 Tour with the final event before their blowout event next weekend in Yokohama.

Today’s event was held at Kobe Art Center in Kobe and should be available on demand on WRESTLE UNIVERSE at a later date. There was no live broadcast.

The announced paid attendance was 139.

Match 1: Chris Brookes beat Yuya Takashika by submission.

Match 2: Daisuke Sasaki & MJ Pawl beat Akito & Toui Kojima. Pawl pinned Kojima after Death Valley Bomb.

Match 3: Yuji Hino & Yukio Naya beat Yukio Sakaguchi & Yuki Ishida. Naya pinned Ishida after a big boot.

Match 4: Danshoku Dieno, Yuki Iino & Antonio Honda beat Genki Horiguchi (Dragon Gate), Toru Owashi & Kazuki Hirata. Iino pinned Hirata after a lariat. This went just 22 seconds. Which led to…
Impromptu Match: Genki Horiguchi, Toru Owashi & Kazuki Hirata beat Danshoku Dieno, Yuki Iino & Antonio Honda. Horiguchi beat Honda with Backslide From NSFW.

Match 5: HARASHIMA & Naomi Yoshimura beat Kazusada Higuchi & Hideki Okatani. Yoshimura pinned Okatani with a throwaway powerbomb.

Main Event: Tetsuya Endo, Jun Akiyama & Yusuke Okada beat Yuku Ueno, MAO & Shunma Katsumata. Endo pinned Katsumata after Burning Star Press.

The next event is MEGA MAX BUMP 2022 on 5/1 at Yokohama Budokan in Yokohama. This is believed to be the first time DDT has run the venue. They plan to have full capacity. The full card:
Dark Matches:
KANON vs. Yuya Takashika
Toru Owashi & Naomi Yoshimura vs. Antonio Honda & Yuki Ishida
Main Show:
Shinya Aoki vs. Toui Kojima
Saki Akai & Hideki Okatani vs. Maya Yukihi & Shunma Katsumata
Daisuke Sasaki, MJ Pawl & TBA vs. Yuji Hino, Yukio Naya & Takao Soma
Danshoku Dieno, Yuki Iino & Yumehito Imanari vs. Hisaya Imabayashi (General Manager of DDT), AKIRA & Muscle Sakai
HARASHIMA & Hikaru Sato vs. Kazusada Higuchi & Yukio Sakaguchi
KO-D 10-Man Tag Team Champions Poison Sawada JULIE, Takashi Sasaki, GENTARO, MIKAMI & Tanomusaku Toba vs. Sanshiro Takagi, Yoshiaki Yatsu, Akito, Kazuki Hirata & Gorgeous Matsuno for the titles
KO-D Tag Team Champions Chris Brookes & Masa Takanashi vs. Jun Akiyama & Yusuke Okada for the titles
DDT Universal Champion MAO vs. Asuka (Veny) for the title
KO-D Openweight Champion Tetsuya Endo vs. Yuki Ueno for the title
Kenta Kobashi will be a special guest on Japanese commentary and observer for the main event
Megu Taniguchi, a current member of J-Pop all-girl megagroup AKB48, will be a special guest on Japanese commentary

Live broadcast on WRESTLE UNIVERSE will begin Sunday at 12:30 AM ET/Saturday at 9:30 PM PT and will be available in Japanese and English. English commentary lineup should be announced later this week.

Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling 4/24/22 Results

Tokyo Joshi Pro continues their Spring ’22 house show tour with the first event of a very busy week-3 events are scheduled over the next 6 days leading into their big Golden Week doubleheader the following week (Golden Week is a week-long holiday in Japan and is full of major events). One notable name who will not be present today is Shoko Nakajima-she was in England today for a match in Pro Wrestling EVE, one of the top women’s promotions in Europe. Her status for next week’s events will depend on current coronavirus re-entry protocols for Japanese citizens-if the mandatory isolation/quarantine period is longer than 3 days, she is probably out of both events but should be good for May unless she gets the virus.
Today’s event will be held at Ryogoku KFC Hall in Tokyo and can be watched LIVE on WRESTLE UNIVERSE. There will be no commentary. If you’re going to stay up late to watch, lots of single matches will make this a fast event-I anticipate the total running time being just under 2 hours (post-show update: Total event runtime was just 100 minutes).
Today’s lineup (match order TBA):
Yuki Aino vs. Mahiro Kiryu
Rika Tatsumi vs. Kaya Toribami
Hyper Misao vs. Raku
Yuki Kamifuku & Neko Haruna vs. Suzume & Arisu Endo
Miyu Yamashita & Maki Itoh vs. Miu Watanabe & Pom Harajuku
Yuka Sakazaki, Mizuki & Yuki Arai vs. Hikaru Noa, Nao Kakuta & Moka Miyamoto
Updates below will begin at 11 PM ET/8 PM PT.
10:56 PM ET: Live stream has started.
We are LIVE from Ryogoku KFC Hall in Tokyo, Japan.
The matches should begin in about 20 minutes.
The matches begin at 11:15 PM ET.
Match 1: Yuki Aino vs. Mahiro Kiryu. 15 minute time limit
Result: Yuki Aino beat Mahiro Kiryu.
 Match 2: Rika Tatsumi vs. Kaya Toribami. 15 minute time limit
Result: Rika Tatsumi beat Kaya Toribami by submission.
Match 3: Yuki Kamifuku & Neko Haruna vs. Suzume & Arisu Endo. 20 minute time limit
Result: Suzume & Arisu Endo beat Yuki Kamifuku & Neko Haruna. Suzume pinned Haruna after Ring A Bell.
Match 4: Hyper Misao vs. Raku. 15 minute time limit
Result: Hyper Misao beat Raku by submission.
Match 5: Miyu Yamashita & Maki Itoh vs. Miu Watanabe & Pom Harajuku. 20 minute time limit
Result: Miyu Yamashita & Maki Itoh beat Miu Watanabe & Pom Harajuku. Itoh beat Harajuku with Iroh Perish.
Main Event: Yuka Sakazaki, Mizuki & Yuki Arai vs. Hikaru Noa, Nao Kakuta & Moka Miyamoto. 20 minute time limit
Result: Hikari Noa, Nao Kakuta & Moka Miyamoto beat Yuka Sakazaki, Miizuki & Yuki Arai. Noa pinned Mizuki with a bridge after whipping Mizuki into an exposed corner where Kakuta removed the turnbuckle padding.
This will be updated tomorrow with attendance. They may claim a legit sellout but opposite hard camera there were a couple empty seats.
The next event is Friday (4/29). Live broadcast on WRESTLE UNIVERSE will begin Thursday (4/28) at 11 PM ET/8 PM PT.
Post-Show UPDATE: The announced paid attendance was 205, a legit sellout, but probably was a little less in actuality.
Also, according to WRESTLE UNIVERSE the 5/3 major event at Korakuen Hall will have English commentary as well as Japanese.
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