New Japan 11/1/22 Results

New Japan continued the BURNING AUTUMN ’22 Tour today with a house show, making their first visit to Echizen City.

Today’s event was held at Aisin Sports Arena on Fukui. There was no live broadcast and no on demand video will be available.

The announced paid attendance was 604.

Match 1: DOUKI beat Yuto Nakashima by submission.

Match 2: Tomoaki Honma & Togi Makabe beat Kosei Fujita & Alex Zayne. Makabe pinned Fujita.

Match 3: Ren Narita beat Ryohei Oiwa by submission.

Match 4: David Finlay, Toru Yano & Hiroshi Tanahashi beat Gideon Gray, Great-O-Khan & Jeff Cobb. Finlay pinned Gray after Trash Panda.

Match 5: Taichi & Zack Sabre Jr. beat Dick Togo & EVIL. Taichi beat Togo with Taichi-type Gedo Clutch.

Match 6: Jado, Master Wato & Hikuleo beat Gedo, Taiji Ishimori & KENTA. Wato beat Gedo with Vendeval.

Match 7: Hiromu Takahashi & SANADA beat Yoshinobu Kanemaru & El Desperado. SANADA beat Kanemaru with Skull End.

Main Event: Titan, BUSHI & Tetsuya Naito beat Francesco Akira, TJP & Aaron Henare. Naito pinned Henare after Destino.

The next event is tomorrow at Yoshitsune Arena in Ishikawa. There will be no live or on demand broadcast.

DDT 11/1/22 Results

DDT began the D KING Grand Prix today, a round-robin format tournament to determine who will get to face KO-D Openweight Champion Kazusada Higuchi for the title at the year-assuming of course Higuchi doesn’t win the tournament. (He’s defending the title regardless but this could complicate determining the next challenger)

Today’s event was held at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo and can be watched on demand on WRESTLE UNIVERSE.

The announced paid attendance was 411.

Pre-show Match: Danshoku Dieno, Yuki Iino & Koju Takeda vs. Toru Owashi, Makoto Oishi & Kazuki Hirata (with Akito) went to a no contest. GM Imabayashi stoppage. The comedy storyline here is Akito is now in charge of subjugating those despicable Pheromons. It didn’t start well.

During the opening announcements, DDT announced a business partnership with Sun Music Production Co. Ltd. to expand entertainment opportunities for wrestlers (much like what is common in New Japan Pro Wrestling and Pro Wrestling NOAH among others, where their wrestlers frequently appear on TV and radio in Japan. New Japan also has a weekly podcast in Japanese featuring Hiroshi Tanahashi, which can also be listened to on YouTube)

Match 1: Yusuke Okada, Hideki Okatani & Yuki Ishida beat Shunma Katsumata, Toui Kojima & Kazuma Sumi. Ishida pinned Sumi after a spinebuster.

Match 2: Joey Janela & Yukio Sakaguchi vs. Daisuke Sasaki & MJ Pawl went to a no contest. Out of control.

Match 3: D KING Grand Prix Block A: RSP (Rickey Shane Page) beat Naomi Yoshimura.

Match 4: D KING Grand Prix Block B: MAO beat Chris Brookes by countout.

Match 5: Jun Akiyama Produced Match-Jun Akiyama & HARASHIMA beat Yuya Koroku & Takeshi Masada. Akiyama pinned Masada after Exploder.

Match 6: D KING Grand Prix Block B: Yuji Hino beat Yukio Naya.

Match 7: D KING Grand Prix Block B: Kazusada Higuchi beat KANON.

Main Event: D KING Grand Prix Block A: Tetsuya Endo beat Yuki Ueno.

The next event is Thursday at Yokohama Radiant Hall in Yokohama. Live streaming on WRESTLE UNIVERSE will begin at 12:30 AM PT/3:30 AM ET.

TJPW Reveals TBA for 11/27 Title Match

Tokyo Joshi Pro today revealed the TBA from outside Japan that would be making their first visit there to face Princess Of Princess Champion Yuka Sakazaki for the title on 11/27, and if you were expecting a notable name you are going to be very disappointed…TBA is Billie Starkz. She is based in Kentucky, has been competing for 4 years and is an honors student who competes in the indies and beat Maki Itoh earlier this year. And she’s only 17. Anyway, there is the match.

TJPW Tag Tournament to Return in 2023

Tokyo Joshi Pro has announced the Futari-wa Princess Max Heart Tournament, a tag team tournament, will return for a third edition in early 2023. The schedule will be as follows:
1/15-Otemachi Mitsui Hall, Tokyo
1/19-Shinjuku Face, Tokyo
1/29-Kasukabe Fureai Cube, Saitama (Semifinals)
2/11-Korakuen Hall, Tokyo (Finals)

This is a single-elimination tournament. Participating teams TBA. Rika Tatsumi & Miu Watanabe won the 2nd tournament earlier this year.

DEVELOPING: New Japan 11/5 Title Match Off (Updated)

Updating the ongoing drama between New Japan and NEVER Openweight Champion Karl Anderson around the scheduled 11/5 title match in Osaka, the match is now off. The promotion claims it has still not received a response from Anderson so the match has bern cancelled. He was to have defended the title against Hikuleo. In fallout from recent live events, Hikuleo will now face Yujiro Takahashi on 11/5 in a NON-TITLE match.

Despite rumors this could happen, Anderson has not yet been stripped of the title. He is missing the event due to claiming he will instead be at a WWE event in Saudi Arabia that day.

More as it becomes available.

UPDATE: In related news, New Japan has added IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Champions FTR vs. Great-O-Khan & Jeff Cobb for the titles to 11/5.

Sumo-November 2022 Banzuke Announced (Updated)

It’s the even-month moment sumo fans have been waiting for: The Nihon Sumo Kyokai (Japan Sumo Association) has announced the Banzuke (Rankings) for the November 2022 Grand Sumo Tournament. Below are the rankings for the top 2 tiers (Makuuchi & Juryo) and notable lower rankings:
Makuuchi (Top Tier):
Yokozuna-Terunofuji
Ozeki-Shodai (K), Takakeisho
Sekiwake-Mitakeumi, Wakatakakage, Hoshoryo
Komusubi-Tamawashi (September Tournament Champion), Kiribayama, Tobizaru, Daieisho
Maegashira 1-Takayasu, Kotonowaka
Maegashira 2-Meisei, Ichinojo
Maegashira 3-Ura, Midorifuji
Maegashira 4-Wakamotoharu, Sadanoumi
Maegashira 5-Hokutofuji, Nishikifuji
Maegashira 6-Nishikigi, Ryuden
Maegashira 7-Endo, Myogiryu
Maegashira 8-Takarafuji, Tochinoshin
Maegashira 9-Takanosho, Abi
Maegashira 10-Aoiyama, Chiyoshoma
Maegashira 11-Onosho, Kotoshoho
Maegashira 12-Kotoeko, Chiyotairyu
Maegashira 13-Okinoumi, Oho
Maegashira 14-Ichiyamamoto, Azumaryu
Maegashira 15-Kagayaki, Atamifuji
Maegashira 16-Terutsuyoshi, Hiradoumi
Of note: As has almost always been the case since reaching the second-highest ranking, Shodai is yet again in Kadoban status, meaning he must win at least 8 matches or he will be demoted. Mitakeumi was demoted from Ozeki but can earn promotion back up if he can win at least 10 matches. Takakeisho has won at least 10 matches in 2 straight tournaments, including a runner-up finish in July, but probably can’t get into Yokozuna consideration unless he wins the tournament with at least 13 wins. Wakatakakage needs at least 11 wins for potential Ozeki consideration, best-case would be a championship. Tamawashi, the September champion, jumped up to Komusubi. Runner-up Takayasu moved back up to Maegashira 1, alongside Kotonowaka who just missed Sanyaku based on the numbers. July champion Ichinojo struggled in September and falls back to Maegashira 2 alongside Meisei, who is steadily moving back up after dropping from Sekiwake to the bottom of the top tier. Abi, who missed the September tournament due to injuries, dropped all the way to Maegashira 9. At the bottom, Atamifuji will make his top-tier debut in November at Maegashira 15, needing just 11 tournaments and less than 2 years to get there (he’s had only one losing tournament in his career, 7-8 in March when he made his Juryo debut). Terutsuyoshi managed to hand on for one more tournament in the top tier, so fans won’t have to show up earlier for his epic salt throws.

Juryo:
Juryo 1-Tohakuryu, Chiyomaru
Juryo 2-Churanoumi, Bushozan
Juryo 3-Tsurugisho, Mitoryu
Juryo 4-Hiradoumi, Yutakayama
Juryo 5-Akua, Chiyonokuni
Juryo 6-Hokuseiho, Kitanowaka
Juryo 7-Tochimusashi (September Tournament Champion), Kinbozan
Juryo 8-Shimanoumi, Kotokuzan
Juryo 9-Daiamami, Daishoho
Juryo 10-Chiyosakae, Kaisho
Juryo 11-Enho, Takakento
Juryo 12-Tokushoryu, Oshoma
Juryo 13-Shimazuumi, Roga
Juryo 14-Tsushimanada, Gonoyama
Of note: September Champion Tochimusashi & runner-up Kinbozan both settle in at Juryo 7. Tochimusashi could’ve moved up higher but after clinching the title before his Day 13 match he lost his last 2 matches. Russian rikishi Roga will be making his Juryo debut at Juryo 13. Shimanoumi, coming off another tough tournament with only 4 wins (although much better than the only one-win July), fell further from Juryo 1 down to Juryo 9. At Juryo 1, Tohakuryu has a chance to make his top-tier debut in January with a winning record, while Chiyomaru will be looking to return to the top tier. Finally, after a losing July tournament fan favorite Enho is at Juryo 11. Finally, an interesting side note-Juryo 9 sees two wrestlers from the same beya (stable). Normally those ranked wrestlers would face each other on the first day but that will not happen as the only way stablemates can face each other in a tournament is should it be needed to decide the championship.
Lower tier notes:
Asanoyama Watch-the former Ozeki moved up to Makushita 4 from Makushita 15 after a 6-1 September tournament. A 5 win or better tournament should get him to Juryo in January.
September Makushita Champion Daiseiryu leaped up from Makushita 38 to Makushita 3. Kawazoe, the human slinky who made an incredible first impression in his debut loss to Asanoyama, managed a winning record in his debut tournament and moves up 2 spots to Makushita 13. If former top tier mainstay Ishiura is able to return this tournament after being out most of this year due to injury, he would do so at Makushita 50. September Sandanme Champion Oshoumi makes his Makushita return with a massive move up to Makushita 54. He was demoted from Makushita 21 to Jonidan after withdrawing in January for an 0-7 equivalent then missed the following 2 tournaments.
Only 90 rankings in the Sandamne once again instead of the traditional 100, Notable at Sandanme 43 is Takahashi, the September Jonidan Champion. The Jonidan will be a little leaner this time around with 102 ranks, down a bit from recently, September Jonokuchi Champion Otani will be at Jonidan 14. Finally, the bottom Jonokuchi will have 16 ranks with 32 total wrestlers. One notable name at the bottom is Kyokutaisei, who has been as high as Maegashira 6-he has not had a winning tournament since July 2021and has missed some or all of the last 5 tournaments (absent the last 3). He will be at Jonokuchi 5 and can’t really go any lower.

The November Tournament is scheduled for 11/13-11/27 at Fukuoka Convention Center in Fukuoka.

UPDATE: Here are some of the notable ranking notes/topics from the Nihon Sumo Kyokai:
Mitakeumi is the first Ozeki to be demoted since September 2021 (Asanoyama was demoted after the second tournament of a one year suspension for violating coronavirus protocols and dishonesty when questioned about it).
Tamawashi is the 3rd-oldest rikishi ever to be ranked in Sanyaku at just a few days short of 38. He is at Komusubi, just below his highest career ranking of Sekiwake. The iron man of sumo has only missed 2 days in his career, both in July when his entire beya was forced to withdraw due to coronavirus protocols (if one member of a stable got the virus, the entire stable had to withdraw).
Tobizaru makes his Sanyaku debut in November. In terms of number of career tournaments from Debut to Sanyaku, Tobizaru is the second-slowest to reach Komusubi at 46 tournamnets (just under 8 years).
The last time 3 Sekiwake and 4 Komusubi made up Sanyaku in a tournament was all the way back in 1974. The last time there was a 7 wrestler Sanyaku Tournament was November 1992.
Making it to the top tier in just his 12th tournament, Atamifuji has tied for 8th-fastest to reach Makuuchi for the first time in his career.
Roga is the 6th rikishi from Russia to reach Juryo. The last one was Amuru in 2012.
Tsushimanada is the 5th-slowest rikishi to reach Juryo following his debut, including those who began their careers during their student years (high school-some rikishi debut as young as 15-16), taking 38 tournaments (just over 6 years) to reach the second tier.

DDT 10/30/22 Results

DDT held a Hiroshi Yamato 15th Anniversary event today, featuring the former All-Japan wrestler who has made occasional appearances in DDT over the last few years while also working as a freelancer.

Today’s event was held at Kimitsu City Shuto Junior High School Gym in Chiba and will be available on demand on WRESTLE UNIVERSE at a later date. There was no live broadcast.

The announced paid attendance was 291, a legit sellout.

Match 1: Hideki Okatani beat Takeshi Masada.

Match 2: Danshoku Dieno & Yuki Iino vs. Nao Sano (?) & Kazuki Hirata went to a double countout.

Match 3: Chris Brookes & Yuya Koroku beat Kuishinbo Kamen & Makoto Oishi. Brookes pinned Kamen after a big boot in just 7 seconds. Which led to…
Match 3 (Take 2): Chris Brookes & Yuya Koroku beat Kuishinbo Kamen & Makoto Oishi. Brookes pinned Kamen after Praying Mantis Bomb.

Match 4: SAKI & Shunma Katsumata beat Saki Akai & Antonio Honda. Katsumata pinned Honda after Totonoe Splash.

Match 5: Daisuke Sasaki, MJ Pawl & KANON beat Yuki Ueno, MAO & Toui Kojima. KANON pinned Kojima after Sleepy Hollow.

Match 6: HARASHIMA & Yukio Sakaguchi beat Yuji Hino & Yusuke Okada. HARASHIMA pinned Okada after Blue Sword.

Main Event: Hiroshi Yamato 15th Anniversary match: Hiroshi Yamato, Jun Akiyama & Yukio Naya beat Kazusada Higuchi, Naomi Yoshimura & Yuki Ishida. Yamato pinned Ishida after Northern Lights Bomb.

The next event is the D KING Grand Prix 2022 Tournament beginning Tuesday at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo. Live streaming on WRESTLE UNIVERSE will begin at 2:30 AM PT/5:30 AM ET.

New Japan 10/30/22 Results

New Japan continued the BURNING AUTUMN ’22 Tour today with an event featuring the final Quarterfinals of the NJPW WORLD TV Title Tournament. The Semifinals would be set today ahead of the tour-ender on 11/5, where we’ll find out who will face off to become the first champion at Tokyo Dome in January.

Today’s event was held at Makuhari Messe Industrial Exhibition Hall 1 in Chiba and can be watched on demand on New Japan World.

The announced paid attendance was 493.

Match 1: DOUKI beat Kosei Fujita by submission.

Match 2: Great-O-Khan & Jeff Cobb beat Ryohei Oiwa & Yuto Nakashima. Khan pinned Oiwa after Imperial Drop. Afterwards, Khan & Cobb called out IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Champions FTR, who are to be at the 11/5 tour-ender to defend the titles (FTR beat the United Empire duo to win the titles).

Match 3: Master Wato & Hikuleo beat Dick Togo & EVIL. Hikuleo pinned Togo after a chokeslam.

Match 4: Alex Zayne, Tiger Mask & David Finlay beat TAKA Michinoku, Taichi & Zack Sabre Jr. Finlay pinned TAKA after Trash Panda.

Match 5: Yoshinobu Kanemaru & El Desperado beat Gedo & Taiji Ishimori. Kanemaru beat Gedo with a Figure 4.

Match 6: Titan, BUSHI, Hiromu Takahashi & Tetsuya Naito beat Gideon Gray, Francesco Akira, TJP & Aaton Henare. Takahashi pinned Gray.

Match 7: NJPW WORLD TV Title Tournament Quarterfinals: Ren Narita beat Toru Yano.

Main Event: NJPW WORLD TV Title Tournament Quarterfinals: SANADA beat KENTA. As a result, SANADA will face Narita in the Semifinals. The other Semifinal is EVIL vs. Zack Sabre Jr.

The next event is Tuesday at Echizen City AW-I Sports Arena in Fukui. There will be no live or on demand broadcast.

Pro Wrestling NOAH 10/30/22 Results

Pro Wrestling NOAH continued the Keiji Muto Retirement Road series today with what possibly was the first pro wrestling event to be held at Tokyo’s new Ariake Arena venue, constructed for the 2020 (delayed to 2021) Summer Olympics in Japan. This marks the halfway point in Muto’s originally planned 5 match retirement series, today’s match was a crossover match with New Japan Pro Wrestling as Muto was opposite perhaps the G.O.A.T. of New Japan, the one & only Hiroshi Tanahashi.

Today’s event was held at Ariake Arena in Tokyo and can be watched on demand on WRESTLE UNIVERSE in Japanese and English. The live broadcast earlier was only in English due to being an ABEMA exclusive.

The announced paid attendance was 3739. Because vocal cheering was allowed, that meant 50% capacity (the venue’s normal max capacity will be 12,000). Between that and the layout, this was roughly 75-80% full, a good debut number for the venue.

Pre-Show Dark Match: Kai Fujimura beat Taishi Ozawa.

Main Show:
Before the first match, Go Shiozaki came out to address the crowd. He was wearing a t-shirt that read “I AM NOAH COMEBACK COMMING SOON”. Yes, it was misspelled. Shiozaki is out due to injury. He led the crowd in shouts of “I AM NOAH! WE ARE NOAH!”
Match 1: Manabu Soya, Shuji Kondo & Hajime Ohara beat Shuhei Taniguchi, Alejandro & Extreme Tiger. Kondo pinned Alejandro after a King Kong lariat.

Match 2: Jack Morris & Dante Leon beat Daiki Inaba & YO-HEY. Morris pinned YO-HEY after Inferno.

Match 3: Yoshinari Ogawa, Chris Ridgeway & Yasutaka Yano beat NOSAWA Rongai, Eita & Super Crazy by DQ. Eita DQ’d. NOSAWA weapon use.

Match 4: Hideki Suzuki & Dr. Wagner Jr. beat Takashi Sugiura 7 Masa Kitamiya. Wagner pinned Kitamiya after Wagner Driver.

Before the next match began, a recorded video played…O…M…G…January 1, Nippon Budokan…The Great Muta vs….SHINSUKE NAKAMURA!!! He’s coming home to Japan! (Nakamura has spent the last decade-plus in WWE since leaving New Japan) This will be an ABEMA live broadcast so hopefully in English on WRESTLE UNIVERSE.

Match 5: GHC Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Atsushi Kotoge & Seiki Yoshioka beat Tadasuke & Hi69 to retain the titles. Kotoge pinned Hi69. V1 for the champs. Afterwards, Shuji Kondo & Hajime Ohara hit the ring to make the next challenge and start a Kongo beatdown of the champs until a mysterious masked man ran in to make the save and clean house. The mystery man then unmasked himself…Haoh! Tadasuke was en fuego because Haoh was expelled from NOAH after losing their last match against each other. But Haoh seems to be back and will now be known as AMAKUSA.

Match 6: Ninja Mack beat GHC Jr. Heavyweight Champion HAYATA by ref stoppage (injury) to win the title. Mack becomes the 50th GHC Jr. Heavyweight Champion. HAYATA could not continue due to an elbow injury. Never how you want a title match (or any match) to end. The injury occurred just before the 10 minute mark when Mack went for a sequence starting with multple backflips after bouncing off the ropes following a running start, then with HAYATA on the apron Mack backflipped over the ropes into a powerbomb to the floor. The ref checked on HAYATA then began the 20 count. At 5 the ref checked again on HAYATA and stopped it. HAYATA was already clutching his left elbow and wrist area. It might have landed on the hard floor just past where the mats around the ring ended.

Match 7: In a GHC Martial Arts Rules Match, GHC National Champion Masakatsu Funaki beat Kazushi Sakuraba by ref stoppage (submission) to retain the title.V6 for Funaki. The rules made this a very short match, just 199 seconds.

Match 8: GHC Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Takashi Sugiura & Satoshi Kojima beat Kenoh & Katsuhiko Nakajima to retain the titles. Kojima pinned Nakajima after Western Lariat. V1 for the champs.

Match 9: Keiji Muto Retirement Series-PRO WRESTLING LOVE FOREVER 3 ~TRIUMPH~: Keiji Muto, Naomichi Marufuji & Yoshiki Inamura beat Hiroshi Tanahashi, Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma (New Japan Pro Wrestling). Marufuji pinned Honma after Shiranui.

Main Event: GHC Heavyweight Champion Kaito Kiyomiya beat Kazuyuki Fujita to retain the title. V1 for Kiyomiya. And fulfillment as he avenged his only N-1 VICTORY 2022 loss.

Regarding HAYATA, it was announced after the event he was scheduled to be on the 11/10 event and is now off. The event will feature 5 matches, all GHC title matches. Thus here is who is next up for all the champions at that event (in match order):
Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team (Kotoge/YO-HEY): Kondo & Hajime Ohara
Jr. Heavyweight (Mack): Leon
Heavyweight Tag (Sugiura/Kojima): Mohammed Yone & Akitoshi Saito
National (Funaki): Wagner Jr.
Heavyweight (Kiyomiya): Timothy Thatcher
This event will be live on WRESTLE UNIVERSE.
More on the HAYATA injury when/if it becomes available. The earlier announcement means he is out at least 2 weeks. There are only 4 events scheduled in November with December’s schedule TBA beyond a special Tokyo Gurentai produced standalone event on 12/20.

The next event is Thursday at Kira Messe Numazu in Shizuoka, which likely will end the SUNNY VOYAGE 2022 Tour. This will be aired on demand on WRESTLE UNIVERSE at a later date, which probably will be 11/6 or 11/7 (there will be no live broadcast).