Dragon Gate 3/10/23 Results

Dragon Gate made their debut in Singapore yesterday with the first half of a doubleheader featuring some of the roster facing some of the top talent Singapore has to offer.

Yesterday’s event was held at Singapore Eurasian Community House in Singapore. There was no live broadcast.

The announced paid attendance was 220, a super full house/very near sellout.

Match 1: Aiden Rex, Big Dave & The Eurasian Dragon beat Yuki Yoshioka, Madoka Kikuta & Ho Ho Lun. Dave pinned Lun after Gold Driver.

Match 2: Erfie & Ahmad Arif beat Julian & Showtime. Arif pinned Julian. Completely guessing on names based on translation.

Match 3: Crypto Bro LK beat Brother By (?).

Match 4: Susumu Mochizuki beat DJ KAL.

Match 5: Andruew Tang beat BIGBOSS Shimizu.

Main Event: YAMATO & Dragon Kid beat Dr. Gore & Da Butcherman. YAMATO pinned Gore after Gallaria.

The second event was earlier today. Results will be posted when available. There was no live broadcast. The next event for the current tour was also earlier today at Atelier Himeji in Hyogo. Results will be posted when available. There was no live broadcast.

The next upcoming event is tomorrow at Kozakan Sports Park Bingo in Hiroshima. There will be no live broadcast.

AEW Rampage 3/10/23 Results & “Live” Recap

I held off on posting last night’s AEW Rampage results because I wanted to watch and compare the TV presentation to the live experience I had as I was at Wednesday’s event & taping in Sacramento, CA. So here’s what happened…

TV:
Sammy Guevara beat Action Andretti.

The Acclaimed beat 2 jobbers. Squash.

Mark Briscoe announced a Reach For The Sky Ladder Match on 3/31 for the Ring Of Honor Tag Team Championship at their next PPV. Mark holds half the title, his late brother Jay Briscoe held the other half. The first team in the match was announced and it’s Lucha Bros.

Konosuke Takeshita beat Preston Vance.

Riho beat Nyla Rose.

Live experience:
Rampage taping began about 20 minutes after Dynamite went off the air (had to change the ring skirts, graphics, etc.). We also got entrances for Jim Ross and Chris Jericho (again) for commentary. Second Judas Sing Along of the night! The Acclaimed squash was taped first. Quick squash against two guys working their second matches of the night (you’ll also see them on this Monday’s Dark Elevation on YouTube, which was taped before Dynamite began). Afterwards, they hung around and posed for fans with signs at ringside. They are ridiculously stupid over.

The Mark Briscoe segment happened. I was excited to see him in person as I’ve been a longtime big fan of The Briscoes. Big pop of course for yet another Lucha Bros appearance (they were also on Dark Elevation). I was almost right in front of the stage and pyro all night. When those flames shoot out, when you’re that close YOU FEEL THE HEAT!

Riho-Rose was next. Great match that made for a solid TV main event and they got a lot of well-deserved time. Everyone loves Riho, she’s the perennial underdog because of her size (not even 100 pounds) but her personality and fighting spirit makes her very easy to root for (and she has 17 years experience despite only being 25…yes, that means she debuted in Japan at age 8. EIGHT!). This was a rematch between the first 2 AEW Women’s Champions-Riho beat Rose to become the first champion and Rose later returned the favor. No Vickie Guerrero amidst rumors she might be done with AEW (contract is about up), Marina Shafir seconded Rose. After the Paige/Saraya/Storm beatdown (TV ended here) they left and flipped off the fans in the process. My section in particular, haha.

An advertised Jungle Boy promo and all other promos/video packages and the Mark Henry main event intro were not shown to the live crowd so I first saw them on TV. That was perhaps the biggest difference between TV and being at the taping.

Takeshita-Vance was taped next. Another solid affair. Takeshita may not be as over as he should be due to fans maybe not being aware of his years in DDT in Japan, but he is gaining more fans with his performances and professed love of Cinnabon. Jose interference didn’t keep Takeshita from winning and Vance got good heel heat too.

The opening theme and pyro went off after Guevara & Andretti made their entrances to start the TV broadcast (entrances were streamed on YouTube). This was our live crowd main event. Another good match that ended sour for the live crowd when Daniel Garcia interfered and hid to help Guevara win. After the TV portion cut away, Chris Jericho left commentary to join Guevara & Garcia in the ring for the live crowd show-ending promo. It did not send the crowd home happy of course, but we still sent LE DEMO GOD CHAMPION off with one final Judas Sing Along. That ended the event. From start to finish the whole thing went about 4 1/2 hours (we did start 15 minutes earlier than advertised).

While TV editing and commercials obviously took away from the live experience, it was a quite good Rampage overall with what I felt were 3 solid single matches. Outside of The Acclaimed squash it’s all worth watching. Of course haters and the WWE chapter of the IWC are gonna hate, but it’s much better being able to see it live and in person because you’ll get stuff TV won’t, and it’s different presentation depending on where you’re seated. If you ever have a chance to get to a Dynamite/Rampage combo or a live Rampage, do so. Then go back and watch on TV and compare the experiences.

New Japan 3/11/23 Results

New Japan began Round 2 of the New Japan Cup today with the first 2 matches, which would set up the first of the Quarterfinals beginning next week.

Today’s event was held at Aichi Prefectural Gym in Nagoya and can be watched on demand on New Japan World. This was a Samurai! TV broadcast in Japan.

The announced paid attendance was 2190.

Match 1: Aaron Henare, Great-O-Khan & Jeff Cobb beat Oskar Leube, Toru Yano & Tama Tonga. Henare pinned Leube after Rampage.

Match 2: El Phantasmo & David Finlay ebat Kosei Fujita & Zack Sabre Jr. Finlay pinned Fujita after Blue Thunder Bomb.

Match 3: Dick Togo, Sho, Yujiro Takahashi & EVIL beat TAKA Michinoku, DOUKI, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Taichi. Sho pinned TAKA after a cross arm piledriver.

Match 4: Lio Rush, Yoh & Tomohiro Ishii beat BUSHI, Hiromu Takahashi & Shingo Takagi. Rush pinned BUSHI after Final Hour.

Match 5: Aussie Open & Will Ospreay beat Tomoaki Honma, YOSHI-HASHI & Hirooki Goto. Mark Davis pinned Honma after Corealis.

Match 6: Hiroshi Tanahashi & Kazuchika Okada beat Ren Narita & Shota Umino. Okada pinned Narita after Rainmaker.

Match 7: New Japan Cup Round 2: Tetsuya Naito beat Chase Owens.

Main Event: New Japan Cup Round 2: SANADA beat KENTA. As a result, the first quarterfinal will be Naito vs. SANADA. All LIJ, guaranteeing they’ll be in the Semifinals. The question of course is who…we’ll find out on Friday.

The next event is tomorrow at Shiga Prefecture Cultural Industry Community House Event Hall in Shiga. Tomorrow’s Quarterfinals are Tonga vs. Henare and Goto vs. Kyle Fletcher, which could set up the first of potentially two all-United Empire Quarterfinals. Live streaming on New Japan World will begin at midnight PT/3 AM ET, however the start time in the ET and CT time zones is subject to change because of the time change tomorrow at 2 AM local time (set clocks forward 1 hour).

Ring Of Honor 3/9/23 Results

Here are the quick results from the 3/9/23 episode of Ring Of Honor TV from Orlando, FL:

ROH TV Champion Samoa Joe beat Tony Deppen to retain the title.

Dalton Castle & The Boys beat Marcus Cross, Cody Chhun & Guillermo Rosas.

Rush & Dralistico beat Angelico & Serpentico.

Trish Adora beat Billie Starkz.

Ari Daivari & Slim J beat Jake Crist & Man Stout.

ROH Pure Champion Wheeler Yuta beat Timothy Thatcher by submission to retain the title. Cheating by getting away with an unseen closed fist punch first (in Pure Rules matches one such punch is a warning. A second after that is a DQ).

Aussie Open beat Tracy Williams & Rhett Titus.

Eddie Kinggston beat Ben Dejo. Squash.

ROH Women’s Champion Athena beat Willow Nightingale to retain the title.

The episode can be watched on demand on HonorClub, which costs $9.99/month.

New Japan 3/10/23 Results

New Japan ran Day 3 of the New Japan Cup today, finishing up Round 1 and filling out the 16 participants in Round 2.

Today’s event was held at Ainesse Yamanashi in Yamanashi and can be watched on demand on New Japan World.

The announced paid attendance was 710.

Match 1: Sho & Yujiro Takahashi beat Kosei Fujita & Zack Sabre Jr. Sho pinned Fujita after a cross arm piledriver.

Match 2: Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Taichi beat Dick Togo & EVIL. Kanemaru pinned Togo with a rollup.

Match 3: El Phantasmo, Chase Owens, KENTA & David Finlay beat Ryusuke Taguchi, Ren Narita, El Desperado & Minoru Suzuki. Finlay pinned Taguchi after Trash Panda.

Match 4: Great-O-Khan, Jeff Cobb, Mark Davis & Will Ospreay beat Tomoaki Honma, Toru Yano, Tomohiro Ishii & Hirooki Goto. Cobb pinned Honma after Tour of the Islands.

Match 5: Lio Rush, Yoh, Shota Umino & Tama Tonga beat BUSHI, Hiromu Takahashi, SANADA & Tetsuya Naito. Umino beat BUSHI with STF.

Match 6: New Japan Cup Round 1: Kyle Fletcher beat YOSHI-HASHI. As a result, Fletcher advances to Round 2 and will face Hirooki Goto.

Main Event: New Japan Cup Round 1: Aaron Henare beat Shingo Takagi. As a result, Henare advances to Round 2 and will face Tama Tonga. UPSET ALERT!!! Could Henare be this year’s David Finlay?

Round 2 of the Cup is now set. Interesting statistic: 12 of the 16 cumulatively represent one of Bullet Club, LIJ or United Empire. And half of that is just United Empire as all 6 members are in Round 2. But all can’t advance further as Mark Davis faces Will Ospreay next. The winner then could get Cobb in the Quarterfinals.

Round 2 begins tomorrow at Aichi Prefectural Gym in Nagoya with Tetsuya Naito vs. Chase Owens and SANADA vs. KENTA. The winners meet in the Quarterfinals so it could be all Bullet Club of all LIJ. Or Bullet Club vs. LIJ again! Live streaming on New Japan World will begin at 3 AM ET/midnight PT.

In other news, the next round of TAMASHII events has been announced for 4/14-4/16 in Australia. 4/14 will be the debut event in Adelaide, 4/15 will be the Sydney return, 4/16 will be the Melbourne return. Additionally, a 5/21 US event, RESURGENCE, has been announced for Long Beach, CA. That will be a STRONG LIVE event and should be a PPV on FITE.

US Fans: Reminder Regarding Weekend Time Change

For US fans except in Arizona, this is a reminder that the spring time change happens this weekend, so we have to set clocks forward 1 hour Sunday (3/12) at 2 AM local time. This will affect start times for Japan events on Sunday so if you’re watching live events starting prior to 2 AM local time, including Day 1 of the March Grand Sumo Tournament (in East & Central time zones that should be during the top tier matches) don’t forget to set clocks forward during the events. Events with a 2 AM local time start will instead begin at 3 AM. This means Japan time will now be 13-16 hours ahead of the continental US until mid-November.

DDT News: Wrestler Absence This Weekend

DDT has announced pending changes for this weekend’s events because Toui Kojima is now off the scheduled events. Fever. He will miss a The37KAMIINA talk show event tomorrow and the Saitama outdoor event Sunday. He was scheduled to be part of a Yuki Iino Produced Pheromone Rumble match. No specific replacement named. Yuki Ueno also will miss the event, which is a scheduled absence due to other performing arts activities.

Sumo-Early March Tournament Withdrawals (Updated x2)

Yesterday was the deadline for sumo wrestlers to commit to the March 2023 Grand Sumo Tournament-today was the day those who weren’t committed already would have to withdraw from the tournament. Only one has, unfortunately it confirmed a YouTube report I saw from a somewhat reliable source (who has connections within the Nihon Sumo Kyokai that it was Yokozuna Terunofuji. Still not quite 100% after double knee surgery-he could have competed but it was decided he was not at a level to compete for and. More impirtantly, win the championship. Almost certainly will be back in May. This perhaps removes a big remaining obstacle to Ozeki Takakeisho earning promotion to Yokozuna. But he almost certainly must win the tournament first and there may be growing pressure on the Yokozuna Deliberation Council to promote another Yokozuna of Terunofuji can’t return in May.

UPDATE: As is custom the Friday before a tournament begins, the first 2 days’ matches for the top tier were announced today, and the withdrawal means former Ozeki Asanoyama, at Juryo 1 this time after winning the January Juryo Championship, will be in the top tier for Day 1. As for Takakeisho, his Yokozuna quest begins with Tobizaru on Day 1 and Tamawashi on Day 2.

UPDATE 2: In a new YouTube video from the source about Terunofuji, they spoke to stablemaster Isegahama who all but confirmed Terunofuji will return in May. Official reasons for out in March are osteoarthritis (knees) & diabetes. He had been looking much better deapite minor setbacks but the lower body and initial charge weren’t there. So barring another setback he will return in Tokyo. Also, new chief judge Sadogatake (replacing Isegahama) commented that if Takakeisho wins the tournament he certainly will be in Yokozuna conversations. That would be 2 straight championships if the Ozeki wins Osaka. (Last year’s Osaka tournament was won by Wakatakakage, who was and still is at Sekiwake as he has repeatedly come just short of the minimum wins needed for Ozeki consideration)

Impact Wrestling 3/9/23 Results

Here are the quick results from tonight’s TAPED Impact Wrestling from Las Vegas, NV:

The pre-show YouTube match was Raj Singh & Shera vs. Rich Swann & Frankie Kazarian.

Bully Ray comes out to open. He called out Tommy Dreamer about a Busted Open match Bully says will never happen. Santino Marella comes out. He calls him Bobby Ray and the crowd starts chanting. Santino then makes the match official for Sacrifice because Tommy will be cleared and there. Bhupinder Gujjar them comes out. He speaks foreign (Hindi?) first. Santino “translates” and makes Gujjar-Bully for right now. The crowd loves Bobby Ray. Which led to…

Match 1: Bhupinder Gujjar beat Bully Ray by DQ. Low blow. Tommy Dreamer tried to make the save but Masha Slamovich came out to assist Bully, which brought Mickie James out. She hit Bully with a Singapore Cane and went after Slamovich but Bully recovered and went for a chokeslam on Mickie with a chain but Tommy recovered and made the save with a chair.

PCO promo.

Josh Alexander recruits Rich Swann to be on his team in a 6-man tag at Sacrifice, then Steve Maclin wants in. But Alexander already chose Frankie Kazarian, who walks in. They’ll face Time Machine.

Match 2: Rhino beat Sami Callihan.

Trey Miguel tries to talk to Santino about Sacrifice and gets himself a mystery opponent for the PPV. And then, assuming he remains champion, he will be in an upcoming 6-way for the X Division Championship. That match will be on 3/30 at the Impact/New Japan crossover PPV.

Match 3: Jordynne Grace beat Alex Gracia. Squash.

Moose confronts Joe Hendry backstage. Immediate ambush from behind and beatdown by Moose & Brian Myers.

Bullet Club with KENTA walks through backstage including a brief challenge-in-passing from Shane Haste before talking to Alexander/Swann/Kazarian. Kazarian proposes a 6-man tag for next week.

Match 4: KUSHIDA beat Jonathan Gresham by submission.

Killer Kelly promo. She calls out Taylor WIlde. Wilde played games with tarot cards, leading to KiLynn King sneaking in and attacking Wilde from behind with a chair and laying her out.

Backstage Death Dollz surround King. Wilde soon joins in as Death Dollz continue taunting them.

Eddie Edwards out in the dark in the desert looking for PCO. Cinematic fight begins between them. PCO lays out Edwards and drags him by an arm through the desert and begins to bury Edwards alive. Until a car suddenly zooms in and hits PCO. We don’t see the driver as Edwards gets in and they escape. To Be Continued?

Added to 3/30: KENTA vs. Minoru Suzuki.

Deonna Prurazzo joins commentary.

Main Event: Impact Knockouts Champion Mickie James beat Gisele Shaw to retain the title. This pretty much guarantees James vs. Grace for the title at Sacrifice on 3/24.

Next week: Jonathan Gresham & Mike Bailey vs. Decay, Steve Maclin vs. Heath, Impact Knockouts Tag Team Champions Deah Dollz vs. Taylor Wilde & KiLynn King for the titles and Bullet Club vs. Alexander/Kazarian/Swann.

Impact also announced Under Siege, their May PPV, will be on 5/26 in London, Ontario, Canada with the fallout TV tapings on 5/27. Tickets go on sale tomorrow. This will be an Impact+/YouTube Ultimate Insider/FITE live event (included with paid subscription for first two, $9.99 on FITE).

AEW Dynamite LIVE Recap for 3/8/23 (SPOILERS!)

As noted previously, I was at ringside for last night’s (3/8/23) AEW Dynamite in Sacramento, CA. As promised, here is my live in-person recap of the event (will contain SPOILERS for Rampage! I’ll cut those off below):

I arrived 40 minutes before doors opened and was near the front of the security lines to get in. A few hundred fans were already there, that grew to probably in the thousands by opening time. Like most of California, Golden 1 Center doesn’t let you bring much more than yourself in. A lot of people couldn’t bring their signs in due to size limits of 11×17″ or slightly bigger than a sheet of legal size paper. Bags had to be checked in at a valet of they were bigger than an average size men’s wallet. That caused a lot of issues for fans. When doors opened I went straight to a merchandise table and got a souvenir event t-shirt, putting it on under my “Busted Open” hoodie. Good for layering. After using the restrooms I made my way to my seat at ringside, my back was to the entrance area with the ring to my right. Could not see the floor around the ring due to barricades. No comment on food/beverages/prices because I didn’t have anything (had a big lunch at a nice burger place just down the block from my office. I work just over a mile from the venue so getting there and leaving was quite easy. Leaving was easier than arriving, my light rail stop heading there was about a 2 block walk away)

The venue was not sold out. To my right was the hard camera section that was mostly tarped off. I would estimate about 85% full at peak. Some fans left before and during the Rampage taping. More arrived throughout the first hour.

The event began 75 minutes before broadcast with the taping for this Monday’s Dark Elevation episode on YouTube. I could see the heads of Paul “Big Show” Wight and Matt Menard at the commentary desk from my ringside seat. Dasha Gonzalez was the ring announcer. They taped 7 matches, first bringing out the unknown talent then the main roster stars got their entrances. A treat for me was that first up was Emi Sakura from Japan. We also got ROH Women’s Champion Athena, Brian Cage and Jake Hager (I LIKE THAT HAT!) plus more. The main event there was Peter Avalon & Ryan Nemeth vs. Lucha Bros. Most of the matches except the main were glorified squashes. I really like Dasha, she’s a great announcer and backstage personality.

That went about an hour then we had a short break before Dynamite went live. Justin Roberts did his entrance and got us warmed up, then out came Tony Khan for his introduction. After that…WE ARE LIVE!!! Opening match was Orange Cassidy vs. Jay Lethal for the AEW All-Atlantic Championship (afterwards renamed International Championship). I don’t like Cassidy and Best Friends but nobody at ringside for either side (refs kept Jeff Jarrett, Sonjay Dutt & Satnam Singh in the back). It was a surprisingly good opener. Cassidy won but Jarrett followed with a post-match guitar shot to set up a title match next week in Canada.

Renee Forever Young (Paquette) interviewed Powerhouse Hobbs backstage. Like everyone else, we love Renee and having her there live.

Ricky Starks promo. Another guy I don’t like. A bit of a pop for Juice Robinson laying him out. Several Bullet Club fans in my seating area.

Tony Schiavone interviewed Wardlow backstage. Saw this on big screen above the entrance ramp behind me.

Renee came out to a great reaction to interview Ruby Soho. Buried everyone before they brought out Slye Blue for their match. Blue is not ready for Dynamite/Rampage even as a mostly jobber. She does not look comfortable enough with the veterans. As Soho, Saraya & Toni Storm left they flipped us off as some of us tried to return the favor, maybe risking getting tossed out. Only live!

Renee interviewed Adam Page backstage. Most of us knew very well already that Renee is married to Jon Moxley so we keep waiting for Page to hit on her. Page still had quite the bruising and redness around his eyes from his PPV match.

FTR came out to a big pop and got a great reaction throughout and after their interview with Schiavone. Nothing but respect for Top Guys.

Renee interviewed Jade Cargill backstage as FTR left. Didn’t get audio and was only shown on big screens high above the ring. Will have to watch this on TV (I DVR’d the show but will not have a chance to watch until this weekend).

JAS came out for their trios match. Of course we did the Judas sing-along! They faced Top Flight & AR Fox in a solid trios match. JAS promo afterwards led to The Elite coming out…AND House Of Black after a video promo. Despite the lights going out I could see them running to/from the ramp. Now I know how they do it! (My seating was in front of the curtain to backstage where the losers go)

Tony Khan announcement backstage about the All-Atlantic Championship. We did not see or hear this.

Bryn Danielson video promo. This got a huge reaction when he suggested he was done.

BCC came out for their match. Jon Moxley came through the crowd but not my area, I couldn’t see him due to my position. Claudio Castagnoli & Wheeler Yuta were with him. They won then further beat down Dark Order until evil Uno made the save, then Adam Page came out and we started the Let Them Fight! chants as refs broke it all up. Expected but fun.

The Acclaimed interviewed backstage. They got pops of the night. I hate them.

Main Event started backstage as it was changed to Falls Count Anywhere for the TNT Title. Their hardcore stuff got huge reactions and then they came to the ring through the entrance behind me! We popped HUGE! The match was a solid boss fight although our pop for Hobbs winning was slightly muted by QT Marshall interfering to help Hobbs win. After the cameras went off, Hobbs cut a full heel promo burying Sacramento and we booed them out of the building.

Click below for Rampage recap (SPOILERS!).

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