DDT Pro Wrestling KING OF DDT Quarterfinals Results (5/7/23)

DDT continues the KING OF DDT 2023 Tournament today with the Quarterfinals. 24 hours after narrowing the field from 16 down to 8, including some major upsets (Hideki Okatani pulled off a shocker against double champion Shunma Katsumata), it will be narrowed down to 4 after today. The Quarterfinals make up the second half of today’s event, with Okatani vs. Kazusada Higuchi as the main event. The Semifinals will be determined by random draw after the event, so it’s not necessarily going to be what the brackets online suggest. There will be 4 non-tournament matches first including a pre-show dark match.

Today’s event will be held at Shinjuku Face in Tokyo and can be watched LIVE on WRESTLE UNIVERSE. There will likely be no commentary. It may also be a hard camera-only view due to venue size limitations. I was way over on my running time prediction yesterday as I guessed it would go 2 1/2 hours and it only went about 1 hour 45 minutes. Not counting the pre-show match I anticipate another 2 hour event today, so if you need a Saturday Night Live replacement due to the writers’ strike this should suffice. Note the pre-show match is scheduled to start 22 minutes before event time. Odd, I know, but it’s DDT after all.

Today’s lineup (in order):
Pre-Show Match: Yuni & Yuki Ishida vs. Yuya Koroku & Kazuma Sumi

Main Show:
Yuki Iino & Danshoku Dieno vs. Akito & Antonio Honda
Daisuke Sasaki, MJ Paul & KANON vs. Shunma Katsumata, Toui Kojima & Takeshi Masada
Yuji Hino, Tetsuya Endo, Yukio Sakaguchi & Yusuke Okada vs. HARASHIMA, Naruki Doi, Toru Owashi & Kazuki Hirata
KING OF DDT Quarterfinals:
Kotaro Suzuki vs. Yuki Ueno
Jun Akiyama vs. MAO
Sanshiro Takagi vs. Chris Brookes
Kazusada Higuchi vs. Hideki Okatani

Refresh this page occasionally for the latest results.

Updates below will begin at 7:30 PM PT/10:30 PM ET. The Pre-Show Match is scheduled to begin at 7:38 PM PT/10:38 PM ET.

7:20 PM PT UPDATE: Stream start time has been moved up 5 minutes to 7:25 PM PT/10:25 PM PT. Updates will begin shortly.

7:25 PM PT UPDATE: Stream has launched. We should be going to the venue in about 10 minutes.

7:38 PM PT UPDATE: Live updates start now…
We are LIVE from Shinjuku Face in Tokyo, Japan. There is no commentary. Hard camera view only again.

The paid attendance will be announced after the event. The crowd is still filing in as there’s 20 minutes until scheduled start time. Yesterday did roughly 235 so that suggests another crowd in the 225-250 range. (At start time it looks similar to yesterday so probably around 225 again)

The pre-show match starts a couple minutes later than planned at 7:40 PM PT.

Pre-show Match: Yuni & Yuki Ishida vs. Yuya Koroku & Kazuma Sumi. 15 minute time limit
Result :Yuni & Yuki Ishida beat Yuya Koroku & Kazuma Sumi. Ishida pinned Sumi after a palm strike.

Updates will resume at 8 PM PT or when main show matches begin.

The main show matches begin at 8 PM PT/11 PM ET.

Match 1: Yuki Iino & Danshoku Dieno vs. Akito & Antonio Honda. 30 minute time limit A ton of pre-match comedy stuff with Iino trying to be “Sexy” again but apparently he still has to be “NOT SEXY!”
Reslut: Yuki Iino & Danshoku Dieno beat Akito & Antonio Honda. Iino beat Honda with a sleeper hold. Nonstop ridiculous Pheromones comedy match. Kept everyone laughing the whole way through.

Match 2: Daisuke Sasaki, MJ Paul & KANON vs. Shunma Katsumata, Toui Kojima & Takeshi Masada. 30 minute time limit
Result: Daisuke Sasaki, MJ Paul & KANON beat Shunma Katsumata, Toui Kojima & Takeshi Masada. KANON pinned Kojima after Sleepy Hollow.

Match 3: Yuji Hino, Tetsuya Endo, Yukio Sakaguchi & Yusuke Okada vs. HARASHIMA, Naruki Doi, Toru Owashi & Kazuki Hirata. 30 minute time limit
Result: Yuji Hino, Tetsuya Endo, Yukio Sakaguchi & Yusuke Okada beat HARASHIMA, Naruki Doi, Toru Owashi & Kazuki Hirata. Sakaguchi pinned Hirata after PK following an Endo Torture Rack Bomb during Hirata’s comedy dancing with HARASHIMA. Hilarious ending.

Match 4: KING OF DDT Quarterfinals: Kotaro Suzuki vs. Yuki Ueno. No time limit
Result: Yuki Ueno beat Kotaro Suzuki. As a result, Ueno advances to the Semifinals.

Match 5: KING OF DDT Quarterfinals: Jun Akiyama vs. MAO. No time limit
Result: Jun Akiyama beat MAO. As a result, Akiyama advances to the Semifinals.

Match 6: KING OF DDT Quarterfinals: Sanshiro Takagi vs. Chris Brookes. No time limit
Result: Chris Brookes beat Sanshiro Takagi. As a result, Brookes advances to the Semifinals. Largely hardcore comedy outside the ring.

Quick break for ring cleaning.

Main Event: KING OF DDT Quarterfinals: Kazusada Higuchi vs. Hideki Okatani. No time limit
Result: Kazusada Higuchi beat Hideki Okatani. As a result, Higuchi advances to the Semifinals.

GM Imabayashi returns tot he ring to announce the Semifinal pairings, which are by a random draw once all 4 participants return to the ring. Colored balls will determine the matches. Higuchi draws first…red. Akiyama second…blue. Brookes third…blue. That means Ueno, who was last, got red. So the Semifinals are Higuchi vs. Ueno and Akiyama vs. Brookes. The Semifinals and Finals will be on 5/21 at Korakuen Hall.

The next event is 5/14 at TKP Garden City Chiba in Chiba for an ONLY WE/Yuji Hino 20th Anniversary Event. There will be no live broadcast.

Post-show note: The announced paid attendance was 206.

5/7/23-5/13/23 Events Schedule (Updated 5/11)

Here is the current events schedule for 5/7/23-5/13/23, which is subject to change (all times PT):
5/7:
Midnight-All-Japan Pro Wrestling Champions Carnival 2023 Finals, Ota City General Gym, Tokyo, Japan. Live on AJPW.TV
Midnight-Dragon Gate Pro Wrestling Hopeful Gate 2023 Tour, Yokkaichi Kusunoki Ryokuchi Gymnasium, Mie, Japan. No live broadcast

5/10:
5 PM-All Elite Wrestling “AEW Dynamite”, Detroit, MI. Live on TBS in US and FITE elsewhere

5/11:
2:30 AM-Dragon Gate Pro Wrestling Hopeful Gate 2023 Tour, Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan. Live on DRAGONGATE NETWORK
5 PM-Impact Wrestling “Impact Wrestling”, Chicago, IL. TAPED on AXS TV. TAPED on YouTube at 5:30 PM

5/12:
2:30 AM-New Japan Pro Wrestling Best Of The Super Junior 30 Tournament, Korakuen Hall. Live on New Japan World and ABEMA. FREE BROADCAST
4 PM-All Elite Wrestling “House Rules Tour”, Corbin, KY. No live or on demand broadcast
9 PM-Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling, Act City Hamamatsu, Shizuoka, Japan. No live broadcast

5/13:
Midnight-All-Japan Pro Wrestling Super Power Series 2023, Volfert Toyama, Toyama, Japan. No live broadcast
1 AM-New Japan Pro Wrestling Best Of The Super Junior 30 Tournament, Nagano Prefectural Budokan, Nagano, Japan. Live on New Japan World
2 AM-Dragon Gate Pro Wrestling Hopeful Gate 2023 Tour, Kariya City Industrial Promotion Center Aioi Hall, Aichi, Japan. No live broadcast
4 PM-All Elite Wrestling “House Rules Tour”, Salem, VA. No live or on demand broadcast
10 PM-GLEAT “G PROWRESTLING Ver. 52”, Sapporo E-One Arena, Hokkaido, Japan. Broadcast plans TBA
7 PM-All Elite Wrestling “AEW Rampage”. TAPED on TNT in US and FITE elsewhere. SPECIAL BROADCAST TIME.
TBA-Sumo-May 2023 Grand Sumo Tournament Opening Day, Ryogoku Kokugikan, Tokyo, Japan. Live on ABEMA and NHK World Premium (Expected to start late afternoon PT)

5/10 UPDATE: New Japan has announced the 5/12 event will now be available FOR FREE on New Japan World and ABEMA.

5/11 UPDATE: Added broadcast time for 5/13 AEW Rampage and also noted that there will be no live broadcast for 5/13 All-Japan event (it will be available on demand later that day or next day).

Ganbare Pro 5/6/23 Results

Ganbare Pro was back in action today with a house show only 24 hours after their Golden Week blowout event, with the first Spirit Of Ganbare World Tag Team Championship match the headliner.

Today’s event was held at Takashimadaira Community Center in Tokyo and will be available on demand on WRESTLE UNIVERSE at a later date. There was no live broadcast.

The announced paid attendance was 68.

Before the matches began, clarification from yesterday’s event: Although he made the next challenge, Isami Kodaka WILL NOT get the next Spirit Of Ganbare World Openweight Championship shot right away. He’ll have to earn it by beating Sotatsu Nakamura on 5/28 with the winner getting the next shot.

Match 1: Hong Kong Domestic Policewoman beat Hong Kong International Policeman and Itabashi Dangerous Policeman in a 3-way by pinning Itabashi Dangerous Policeman. Comedy match of course.

Match 2: Moeka Haruhi & HARUKAZE beat YuuRI & Reala. Haruhi pinned Reala after a diving foot stomp.

Match 3: In an Elimination Match (over the top rope rules in effect), Mizuki Watase, Ken Ohka, Keisuke Ishii & Shinichiro Tominaga beat Tatsuhiro Takaiwa, Yumehito Imanari, Takao Soma & Sotatsu Nakamura. Order of elimination (all by over the top rope), Takaiwa by Ohka, Soma by Tominaga, Watase & Nakamura together, Imanari by Ishii. Ohka/Ishii/Tominaga win.

Match 4: Shuichiro Katsumura beat Takuya Wada.

Main Event: Spirit Of Ganbare World Tag Team Champions Hikaru Sato & Tyson Maeguchi beat Dan The Dad & Cody Lang to retain the titles. Maeguchi pinned Lang after a buzzsaw kick. V1 for the champs.

The next event is 5/28 for the monthly tripleheader at Oji Basement MON*STAR in Tokyo. This time there is a Yumehito Imanari produced event along with the normal event and wrestlers group-produced event. There will be no live broadcasts.

GLEAT 5/6/23 Results

GLEAT returned to Tokyo today for the latest G PROWRESTLING event, the 51st as they draw closer to their major summer event on July 1 (the GLEAT 2nd Anniversary event).

Today’s event was held at Shinjuku Face in Tokyo and can be watched on demand on YouTube. You can also watch below FOR FREE (since they were back in Tokyo it was a free live broadcast, video courtesy of the GLEAT Official YouTube Channel. Skip ahead to 15:45 in the video below to get to the beginning of the event):

The announced paid attendance was 319.

Match 1: Takanori Ito & Masato Kamino beat Kaz Hayashi & Issei Onitsuka. Ito pinned Onitsuka with a German suplex hold.

Match 2: Sayaka Unagi beat Yukari Hosokawa by submission.

Match 3: Yusuke Kodama beat Jun Tonsho & Shinsuya (?) in a 3-way by beating Tonsho.

Match 4: Jun & Rei Saito (All-Japan Pro Wrestling) beat Minoru Tanaka & Yu Iizuka. Rei Saito pinned Iizuka after Drill-A-Hole Piledriver.

Match 5: T-Hawk & El Lindaman vs. Tetsuya Izuchi & Soma Watanabe went to a 20 minute time limit draw.

Main Event: In an Elimination Match, Ryichi Kawakami, Hayato Tamura, Check Shimatani, KAZMA SAKAMOTO & Quiet Storm beat Kaito Ishida, Kotaro Suzuki, Yutani, Hartley Jackson & MAZADA. Order of elimination: Suzuki, Storm, Jackson, KAZMA, Kawakami, MAZADA, Tamura, Yutani, Ishida. Bulk Orchestra wins with Shimatani the only man left.

The next event is 5/14 at Sapporo E-One Stadium in Hokkaido with T-Hawk vs. Check Shimatani for the G-REX Championship. The rest of the card is TBA. Broadcast plans TBA (if not live streamed then it should be available on demand on YouTube a few days later).

DDT Pro Wrestling KING OF DDT 2023 Round 1 Results (5/6/23)

DDT kicks off the annual KONG OF DDT 2023 Tournament today, a single-elimination bracket-style singles tournament to determine the strongest wrestler in DDT. This year’s tournament has 16 participants (not everyone who wanted in got in, at least according to Saki Akai on her Twitter-she wanted in but got left out) and all will be in action today as the entire Round 1 makes up today’s event. Yuki Ueno vs. Naruki Doi will be the main event but on paper the highlight match seems to be Match 5, which is Jun Akiyama vs. Tetsuya Endo in an all-Burning affair, and all winners move on to tomorrow’s Quarterfinals. Kazusada Higuchi is the defensing tournament winner.

Today’s event will be held at Shinjuku Face on Tokyo and can be watched LIVE on WRESTLE UNIVERSE. It’s not known if there will be any commentary. All the matches have no time limit so it’s hard to predict how long the event will run, my guess will be about 2 1/2 hours.

Today’s lineup (in order, all matches are KING OF DDT Round 1 matches):
Yusuke Okada vs. Kazusada Higuchi
Shunma Katsumata vs. Hideki Okatani
Sanshiro Takagi vs. Yukio Sakaguchi
HARASHIMA vs. Chris Brookes
Jun Akiyama vs. Tetsuya Endo
MAO vs. Takeshi Masada
Kotaro Suzuki vs. KANON
Yuki Ueno vs. Naruki Doi

Refresh this page occasionally for the latest results.

Updates below will begin at 8 PM PT/11 PM ET.

7:55 PM PT UPDATE: Live updates begin now.

We are LIVE from Shinjuku Face in Tokyo, Japan. There is no commentary.

The paid attendance will be announced after the event. Not a sellout although the super seats and counter seats sold out, I’m guessing based on opening shots and crowd noise it’ll be in the 250-300 range.

The matches will begin shortly.

The matches begin at 8 PM PT. All matches are KING OF DDT Round 1 matches. No time limit. Looks like hard camera views only today.

Match 1: Yusuke Okada vs. Kazusada Higuchi
Result: Kazusada Higuchi beat Yusuke Okada by ref stoppage (KO-headbutt). As a result, Higuchi advances to the Quarterfinals and will face the Shunma Katsumata-Hideki Okatani winner.

Match 2: Shunma Katsumata vs. Hideki Okatani
Result: Hideki Okatani beat Shunma Katsumata. As a result, Okatani advances to the Quarterfinals and will face Kazusada HIguchi. This was mostly an outside the ring brawl scattering the crowd all over the place.

Match 3: Sanshiro Takagi vs. Yukio Sakaguchi
Result: Sanshiro Takagi beat Yukio Sakaguchi. Very short match (under 4 minutes). As a result, Takagi advances to the Quarterfinals and will face the HARASHIMA-Chris Brookes winner.

Match 4: HARASHIMA vs. Chris Brookes
Result: Chris Brookes beat HARASHIMA. As a result, Brookes advances to the Quarterfinals and will face Sanshiro Takagi.

Match 5: Jun Akiyama vs. Tetsuya Endo
Result: Jun Akiyama beat Tetsuya Endo. As a result, Akiyama advances to the Quarterfinals and will face the MAO-Takeshi Masada winner.

Match 6: MAO vs. Takeshi Masada
Result: MAO beat Takeshi Masada. As a result, MAO advances to the Quarterfinals and will face Jun Akiyama.

Match 7: Kotaro Suzuki vs. KANON
Result: Kotaro Suzuki beat KANON. As a result, Suzuki advances to the Quarterfinals and will face the Yuki Ueno-Naruki Doi winner.

Main Event: Yuki Ueno vs. Naruki Doi
Result: Yuki Ueno beat Naruki Doi. As a result, Ueno advances to teh Quarterfinals and will face Kotaro Suzuki.

Much faster event than I expected, the matches went just 1 hour 45 minutes total.

The Quarterfinals are tomorrow. Live streaming on WRESTLE UNVIERSE will begin at 8 PM PT/11 PM ET with live results posted here.

Dragon Gate 5/5/23 Results (Updated)

DEAD OR ALIVE 2023, Dragon Gate’s annual Golden Week blowout event today, is now in the books

Today’s event was held at Aichi Prefectural Gym in Nagoya and can be watched on demand on DRAGONGATE NETWORK and vis PPV on SkyPerfecTV in Japan (for the next week).

The paid attendance has not yet been announced as these are quick results via the Dragon Gate Official Twitter.

Match 1: U-T Return Match: Kagetora & Kaito Nagano beat U-T & JACKY “FUNKY” KAMEI. Kagetora pinned U-T.

Match 2: Masaaki Mochizuki, Susumu Mochizuki, Yasushi Kanda & Punch Tominaga beat Don Fujii, Takashi Yoshida, Problem Dragon & Minorita. Kanda pinned Dragon after a diving elbow drop.

Match 3: Open The Brave Gate Champion Jason Lee beat Dragon Dia to retain the title. V1 for Lee.

Match 4: Ultimo Dragon & Naruki Doi beat Diamante & H-Y-O. Dragon pinned H-Y-O with La Magistral.

Match 5: Open The Triangle Gate Champions Kota Minoura, Ben-K & BxB Hulk beat Kzy, BIGBOSS Shimizu & Strong Machine J to retain the titles. Minoura pinned J after Engranahe. V3 for the champs.

Match 6: Naomichi Marufuji (Pro Wresting NOAH) & Dragon Kid beat YAMATO & Yuki Yoshioka. Marufuji pinned Yoshioka. Which led to…
Impromptu Match: Naomichi Marufuji beat Ichikawa by TKO.

Match 7: Open The Twin Gate Champions Kenoh (Pro Wrestling NOAH) & Shiji Kondo beat KAI & ISHIN to retain the titles. Kenoh pinned ISHIN after PFS. V1 for the champs.

Main Event: Madoka Kikuta beat Open The Dream Gate Champion Shun Skywalker to win the title. Kikuta becomes the 37th Open The Dream Gate Champion.

The next event is tomorrow at Tsushima Cultural Center in Aichi. There will be no live broadcast.

UPDATE: The announced paid attendance was 2710.

New Japan News: Full 5/21 Card Announced

New Japan announced the full card for their next US event, Resurgence, today. The event is scheduled for 5/21 in Long Beach, CA.

The full card is as follows (in order):
Pre-show:
The DKC vs. Bateman
Alex Coughlin vs. Christopher Daniels
Main Show:
STRONG Women’s Championship Tournament: Mercedes Mone vs. Stephanie Vaquer
STRONG Women’s Championship Tournament: Momo Kohgo vs. Willow Nightingale
Bad Dude Tito & Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Barbaro Cavernario & Virus
Fred Rosser vs. Juice Robinson in a Street Fight
STRONG Openweight Chanpion Hikuleo vs. KENTA for the title
Rocky Romero, Tomohiro Ishii & Kazuchika Okada vs. Shota Umino, Jon Moxley & Wheeler Yuta
IWGP US Championship #1 Contender Tournament: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Will Ospreay
STRONG Women’s Championship Tournament Finals for the title

The article noted Robinson’s indefinite suspension from NJPW following his actions at Capital Collision was lifted at Rosser’s request.

One word of caution for those planning to buy the PPV: It will only be available on New Japan World this time with a separate purchase required if you are a subscriber (no subscription is required for purchase). No FITE. It will be available on demand without additional purchases for subscribers at a later date.

Ganbare Pro 5/5/23 Results

Ganbare Pro ran their annual Golden Week blowout event, LOVE PHANTOM 2023, today.

Today’s event was held at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo and can be watched on demand on WRESTLE UNIVERSE in Japanese. Yuna Manase, who is out most of the rest of the year due to injury, was a special guest on commentary.

The announced paid attendance was 489. The bleacher seats on 3 sides of the venue were not used so capacity was greatly reduced, so while it sounds low for Korakuen it was a good number for the layout.

Match 1: Ken Ohka, Shinichiro Tomonaga & Sotatsu Nakamura beat Isami Kodaka, Minoru Fujita & Daiki Shimomura. Nakamura pinned Kodaka.

Match 2: Reala Debut Match: YuuRI beat Reala.

Match 3: Shuichiro Katsumura & Morka Haruhi beat Hartley Jackson & HARUKAZE. Haruhi pinned HARUKAZE after a diving foot stomp. This was supposed to be Haruhi’s final match for now as she is taking a hiatus from wrestling to become a living kidney donor for her sister. Haruhi intends to return to wrestling after fully recovering. (Her final match may now be tomorrow)

Match 4: Nao Kakuta (Tokyo Joshi Pro) beat Yoshiko Hasegawa.

Match 5: Dan The Dad & Cody Lang beat Shota & Takao Soma. Dan pinned Shota after Your Granded.

Match 6: Spirit Of Ganbare World Tag Team Championship Tournament Finals: Hikaru Sato & Tyson Maeguchi beat Tatsuhito Takaiwa & Yumehito Imanari to won the tournament and the titles and become the inaugural Spirit Of Ganbare World Tag Team Champions. Maeguchi pinned Takaiwa after a buzzsaw kick. And the first defense is already set as they have challengers: Dan The Dad & Cody Lang. that match will happen tomorrow.

Main Event: Spirit Of Ganbare World Openweight Champion Mizuki Watase beat Keisuke Ishii to retain the title. V4 for Watase.

The next event is tomorrow at Takashimadaira Community Center in Tokyo. There will be no live broadcast.

Dragon Gate 5/4/23 Results

Dragon Gate tan the second half of a Kyoto doubleheader today, the final event before their annual Golden Week blowout event tomorrow.

Today’s event was held at Kyoto KBS Hall in Kyoto and can be watched on demand on DRAGONGATE NETWORK.

The paid attendance has not yet been announced as these are quick results via the Dragon Gate official Twitter. UPDATE: The announced paid attendance was 333.

Match 1: YAMATO & Susumu Mochizuki beat Don Fujii & Genki Horiguchi. Mochizuki pinned Horiguchi after Yokosuka Cutter.

Match 2: Yuki Yoshioka beat Minorita.

Match 3: Ultimo Dragon, Takashi Yoshida, Dragon Dia & Ho Ho Lun beat Shun Skywalker, KAI, Diamante & ISHIN by DQ. Diamante DQ’d. Mask ripping (on Dragon).

Match 4: In a Lumberjack Match, Madoka Kikuta beat H-Y-O.

Main Event: Kzy, BIGBOSS Shimizu & Jason Lee beat Kota Minoura, BxB Hulk & Ben-K. Shimizu pinned Ben-K after a shot put slam.

The next event is DEAD OR ALIVE 2023 tomorrow at Aichi Prefectural Gym in Nagoya. Live streaming on DRAGONGATE NETWORK will begin at midnight PT/3 AM ET.

Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling “YES! WONDERLAND” Results (5/5/23)

Tokyo Joshi Pro holds their annual Golden Week blowout event today, one of their most important events of the year (right up there with GRAND PRINCESS and WRESTLE PRINCESS in scale). Usually there would be 3 title matches at such an event but because TJPW has a double champion there are just 2 (I wouldn’t have minded making Mizuki defend two titles on one day, but then again I don’t like her and want her to lose) so it’s just the singles titles with Mizuki defending the Princess Of Princess Chmpionship against foreigner Sawyer Wreck in the main event. The co-main has International Princess Champion Rika Tatsumi defending against Suzume, who steps up for the biggest match of her career so far. Other highlights of the event include a Yuki Arai 2nd Anniversary Match, as the SKE48 member teams with, oddly enough, Maki Itoh (whi does not like Arai at all) against Yuka Sakazaki & Shoko Nakajima. Juria Nagano, who is out of action due to injury, will be a special guest on commentary today.

Today’s event will be held at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo and can be watched LIVE on WRESTLE UNIVERSE in Japanese and English. You can also watch the first 2 matches FOR FREE on YouTube. The Japanese commentary tram will be Haruo Murata, Kagehiro Osano, Sayoko Mita & Juria Nagano. The English commentary team will be Chris Brookes (DDT) & Drew Parker. The opening announcements will begin 5 minutes before event time and they’ve already announced on Twitter to expect the main event beginning 2 hours in so I anticipate the event’s royal running time being about 2 1/2 hours. They also have a post-event party set at Ryogoku KFC Hall after the event. (They are on a strict clock today because there is a Ganbare Pro event a few hours after this one)

Today’s lineup (in order):
HIMAWARI vs. Shino Suzuki
Hyper Misao, Haru Kazashiro & Runa Okubo vs. Raku, Pom Harajuku & Neko Haruna
Yuki Kamifuku & Wakana Uehara vs. Mahiro Kiryu & Toga
Ryo Mizunami, Moka Miyamoto & Kaya Toribami vs. Hikari Noa, Nao Kakuta & Yuki Aino
Miu Watanabe vs. Arisu Endo
Yuki Arai & Maki Itoh vs. Yuka Sakazaki & Shoko Nakajima
International Princess Champion Rika Tatsumi vs. Suzume for the title
Princess Of Princess Champion Mizuki vs. Sawyer Wreck for the title

Refresh this page occasionally for the latest results.

Updates below will begin at 7 PM PT/10 PM ET. The matches should begin around 7:45 PM PT with the opening announcements at 7:25 PM PT. The YouTube broadcast will begin at 7:15 PM PT/10:15 PM ET and will go through the end of Match 2.

7 PM PT UPDATE: The live stream has begun. We should be going to the venue in about 15 minutes. Updates will resume at that time.

7:15 PM PT UPDATE: Live updates begin now…
We are LIVE from Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan. Your hosts are Haruo Murata, Kagehiro Osano, Sayoko Mita & Juria Nagano. Your English hosts are Chris Brookes & Drew Parker.

The paid attendance will be announced after the event. This is the first time they have been able to run Korakuen at full capacity post-pandemic although the seating behind Japanese commentary is curtained off (English commentary is elsewhere) but hopefully it will be better than what would otherwise likely be 550-650. Full capacity would probably be around 1100. Fans were still filing in just before start time but early crowd shots look good in terms of filling seats so hopefully it will wind up being close to 1000 with a minimum of 800 (probably on the lower end as the opposite-hard camera bleacher seats on the left and right sides are curtained off because of commentary positioning. Once the event got going the venue looked almost full. Not a sellout but a good crowd). Also, fans are finally allowed to hang support banners in the venue again and throw paper tape/streamers at Korakuen events going forward. Streamers will be on a case-by-case basis for events elsewhere for now, primarily at the venue’s discretion.

The opening announcements will begin in 10 minutes. I anticipate the matches beginning in about 30 minutes.

Opening announcements/introduction begin on time at 7:25 PM PT. They announce the card for the Hyper Misao Produced 5/25 event at Kitazawa Town Hall in Tokyo and it includes…YOSHIHIKO! The DDT legend will face Shoko Nakajima in a MUST-SEE MATCH! Other matches set are Arisu Endo & Rika Tatsumi vs. Mahiro Kiryu & Yuki Aino and what looks like a 6-way with Miu Watanabe, Raku, Yuki Kamifuku, Suzume, Moka Miyamoto & HIMAWARI. Also announced was several wrestler hometown events: Shoko Nakajima on 8/5, Yuki Arai on 9/10 at Kyoto KBS Hall, Rika Tatsumi on 9/16, Arisu Endo on 10/20. They’re also headed back to Sendai on 10/21 for the first time in over 4 years. More details on these tomorrow in post-event updates once I get English translations.

The matches begin at 7:48 PM PT.

Match 1: HIMAWARI vs. Shino Suzuki. 15 minute time limit
Result: HIMAWARI beat Shino Suzuki by submission

Match 2: Hyper Misao, Haru Kazashiro & Runa Okubo vs. Raku, Pom Harajuku & Neko Haruna. Kazashiro & Okubo are also wearing Misao masks. 20 minute time limit
Result: Hyper Misao, Haru KAzashiro & Runa Okubo beat Raku, Pom Harajuku & Neko Haruna. Misao pinned Harajuku after I Am A Hero.

The YouTube broadcast ends here.

Match 3: Yuki Kamifuku & Wakana Uehara vs. Mahiro Kiryu & Toga. 20 minute time limit
Result: Yuki Kamifuku & Wakana Uehara beat Mahiro Kiryu & Toga. Kamifuku pinned Toga after Fameasser.

Match 4: Ryo Mizunami (Independent/Freelancer), Moka Miyamoto & Kaya Toribami vs. Hikari Noa, Nao Kakuta & Yuki Aino. 20 minute time limit
Result: Ryo Mizunami, Moka Miyamoto & Kaya Toribami beat HIkari Noa, Nao Kakuta & Yuki Aino. Mizunami pinned Aino.

Match 5: Miu Watanabe vs. Arisu Endo. 15 minute time limit
Result: Miu Watanabe beat Arisu Endo

Match 6: Yuki Arai 2nd Anniversary Match: Yuki Arai & Maki Itoh vs. Yuka Sakazaki & Shoko Nakajima. 20 minute time limit. Itoh did her entrance song in English today and again was wearing her belt that said “FUCK”. Really. But hey, it’s Japan so it’s cool.
Result: Yuka Sakazaki & Shoko Nakajima beat Yuki Arai & Maki Itoh. Sakazaki pinned Arai after Magical Merry-Go-Round. UNHAPPY UNHAPPY.

Match 7: International Princess Champion Rika Tatsumi vs. Suzume for the title. 30 minute time limit
Result: International Princess Champion Rika Tatsumi beat Suzume to retain the title. V3 for Tatsumi.

Main Event: Princess Of Princess Champion Mizuki vs. Sawyer Wreck for the title. 30 minute time limit
Result: Princess Of Princess Champion Mizuki beat Sawyer Wreck to retain the title. V2 for Mizuki. UNHAPPY UNHAPPY. Next up: OH SNAP…Maki Itoh. That’s even worse. But then again, if she can’t beat Miyu Yamashita for the title, why not try and beat someone else who has it? (By the way, Yamashita is back in England today to defend her Pro Wrestling EVE Championship, today’s challenger is Millie McKenzie. Her international schedule currently has her away from TJPW for at least another month, with mid-June the earliest possible return date at this time) We’ll maybe find out tomorrow when this could happen but my first thought is Summer Sun Princess ’23 in July, the next major event. Updates to come.

The next event is 5/13 at Act City Hamamatsu in Shizuoka to resume the Spring 2023 house show tour. There will be no live broadcast.

Post-show note: The announced paid attendance was 774. It also appears Mizuki-Itoh will indeed happen at Summer Sun Princess ’23 on 7/8 at Ota City General Gym in Tokyo.