DEVELOPING: NJPW STRONG Ending Today?

This is just a rumor right now, but a post today on New Japan icon Hiroshi Tanahashi’s Japanese blog suggests the NJPW STRONG program is ending. This follows a Twitter post from NJPW President Takami Ohbari that STRONG “will be rebuilt next year”, meaning this year. Tanahashi indicates the final STRONG tapings are the one happening today. There are rumors elsewhere this could all be ties to AEW & Ring Of Honor owner Tony Khan’s plans for a reboot of ROH’s weekly TV show, which finished its prior 10-year syndication & FITE run last year and for now is expected to be on the rebooted HonorClub platform, now a streaming service for ROH past events and TV, available on the US only for $9.99/month.

This is all just a rumor right now but it does bear watching, moreso since New Japan and AEW have a working relationship.

More as it becomes available.

DEVELOPING: 2023 New Japan Cup Announced

On their Japanese website, New Japan announced the 2023 New Japan Cup Tournament, to take place in its traditional March timeframe. The tournament, a singles event with a single-elimination format, will begin on 3/5 at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo and tun 11 events, concluding on 3/21 at Aore Nagaoka in Niigata. Advance ticket sales for fan club members begin Friday.

More as it becomes available. Also, the promotion’s annual Anniversary Event will be held on 3/6 at Ota City General Gym in Tokyo, the date of what will be the promotion’s 51st Anniversary.

1/8/2023-1/14/2023 Events Schedule (Updated 1/10/23)

Here is the current events schedule for 1/8/2023-1/14/2023, which is subject to change (all times PT):
1/8:
Midnight-Dragon Gate Pro Wrestling Open The New Year Gate 2023 Tour, Kyoto KBS Hall, Kyoto, Japan. Live on DRAGONGATE NETWORK
Midnight-GLEAT “GLEAT Ver. 5”, Osaka Prefectural Gym 2, Osaka, Japan. No live broadcast
1 AM-Pro Wrestling NOAH REBOOT 2023, Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan. Live on WRESTLE UNIVERSE

1/9:
Midnight-Dragon Gate Pro Wrestling Open The New Year Gate 2023 Tour, Tamanori Gym, Mie, Japan. No live broadcast
12:30 AM-Pro Wrestling NOAH SUNNY VOYAGE 2023 Tour, Yokohama Radiant Hall, Yokohama, Japan. Live on WRESTLE UNIVERSE

1/11:
1:30 AM-Dragon Gate Pro Wrestling Open The New Year Gate 2023 Tour, Korakuen Hall. Live on DRAGONGATE NETWORK
1:30 AM-All-Japan Pro Wrestling “New Year Giant Series 223”, Hodogaya Public Hall, Yokohama, Japan. Live on AJPW.TV
5 PM-All Elite Wrestling “AEW Dynamite”, Los Angeles, CA. Live on TBS in US and FITE elsewhere

1/12:
1:30 AM-Dragon Gate Pro Wrestling Open The New Year Gate 2023 Tour, Korakuen Hall. Live on DRAGONGATE NETWORK

1/13:
1 AM-DDT Pro Wrestling Sanshiro Takagi Birthday Event, Shinjuku Face, Tokyo, Japan. Live on WRESTLE UNIVERSE
7 PM-All Elite Wrestling “AEW Rampage”. TAPED on TNT in US and FITE elsewhere

1/14:
1 AM-Dragon Gate Pro Wrestling Open The New Year Gate 2023 Tour, Act City Hamamatsu, Shizuoka, Japan. No live broadcast
1:30 AM-DDT Pro Wrestling “Sweet Dreams 2023 Tour in Sendai”, Miyagino Ward Cultural Center, Sendai, Japan. No live broadcast
8 PM-All-Japan Pro Wrestling “New Year Giant Series 2023”, 2AW Square, Chiba, Japan. No live broadcast
9 PM-Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling Futari-Wa Max Heart Princess Tournament 3, Otemachi Mitsui Hall, Tokyo, Japan. Live on WRESTLE UNIVERSE. LIVE RESULTS SCHEDULED
11 PM-Pro Wrestling NOAH SUNNY VOYAGE 2023 Tour, Fujisan Messe, Shizuoka, Japan. No live broadcast

1/10 UPDATE: Added 1/11 & 1/14 All-Japan events which were inadvertently omitted.

Tokyo Joshi Pro 1/7/23 Results

Tokyo Joshi Pro continued the CITY CIRCUIT series from last year today, which is normally when they visit a wrestler’s hometown for an event. Today it was their first visit to Kobe since last summer.

Today’s event was held at Kobe Art Center in Kobe and will be available on demand on WRESTLE UNVIERSE at a later date (probably Tuesday or Wednesday). There was no live broadcast.

The announced paid attendance was 237, a full house/near sellout.

Match 1; Nao Kakuta beat HIMAWARI.

Match 2: Yuki Kamifuku beat Kaya Toribami.

Match 3: Yuki Aino & Raku beat Maki Itoh & Hikari Noa. Raku pinned Noa after Doctor Yellow.

Match 4: Shoko Nakajima & Hyper Misao beat Yuka Sakazaki & Mahiro Kiryu. Nakajima pinned Kiryu with a Northern Lights suplex hold.

Match 5: Max The Impaler, Heidi Howitzer & Trish Adora beat Rika Tatsumi, Miu Watanabe & Pom Harajuku. Max pinned Harajuku after Master Blaster. After being carried to the back by the winners, Harajuku’s whereabouts are in question and her life should be feared for. (That’s meant to be comedy of course)

Main Event: Suzume & Arisu Endo beat Mizuki & Moka Miyamoto. Suzume pinned Miyamoto after Ring A Bell. In the post-main event winners’ promo, Suzume & Endo aka Dejimon declared they would win the upcoming Futari-wa Princess Max Heart Tag Team Tournament. What ends up higher-their win total or number of different Endo hair colors for their matches?

The next event is tomorrow at Okayama Convention Center in Okayama. This is their first event there in a year and is a Yuki Aino hometown event so she gets the main event spot. There will be no live broadcast.

DDT 1/7/23 Results

DDT welcomed back longtime deathmatch icon (and controversy magnet) Atsushi Onita today for an event featuring his signature exploding current deathmatch, but there was a lot on the line in the match-Onita’s trademark to the match name against DDT executives’ positions in the company.

Today’s event was held at Tsurumi Fruit & Vegetable Market in Kanagawa and will be available on demand on WRESTLE UNIVERSE at a later date (probably Tuesday). There was no live broadcast.

The announced paid attendance was 234, a super full house/very near sellout.

The show opened with the first-ever electric current explosion mirror split.

Match 1: Yukio Naya beat Takeshi Masada.

Match 2: Danshoku Dieno & Yuki Iino beat Hideki Okatani & Kazuma Sumi. Iino beat Sumi.

Match 3: HARASHIMA, Saori Anou & Yusuke Okada beat Kazuki Hirata, Saki Akai & Gota Ihashi. Anou pinned Ihashi after an Akai high kick and a medulla oblong slash.

Match 4: In a Chain Deathmatch, Chris Brookes beat Demonio Uno by ref stoppage (TKO-technical submission).

Match 5: Yuki Ueno & MAO beat Tetsuya Endo & Yuya Koroku. Ueno pinned Koroku after Stretch Bomb.

Match 6: Daisuke Sasaki & KANON beat Kazusada Higuchi & Yuki Ishida. KANON beat Ishida with a cobra twist.

Main Event: In a New Year Air Time Bomb & Electric Blast Deathmatch, with a time bomb suspended above the ring that would explode after 10 minutes had passed, Atsushi Onita, Shunma Katsumata & Toui Kojima beat Sanshiro Takagi, Akito & Takao Soma.Onita pinned Soma after an electric blast bat full swing. The stip was that if Onita’s team lost, he lost the “exploding current” trademark to DDT, but if Onita’s team won whoever scored the winning pinfall/submission took the loser’s position in the company. As a result, Onita becomes the store manager of DDT’s Dropkick bar/restaurant, a position previously held by Soma. Exploding current cocktail has a nice ring to it, don’t you think? Afterwards, HARASHIMA & Kazuki Hirata came out to make a challenge for a current bombing match on 3/19 (a potential return date to the venue) and Onita declared the launch of “Dramatic Dream Onita”. Never know what will happen with “Mr. Liar” though.

The next event is Friday at Shinjuku Face in Tokyo, a special event to celebrate Sanshiro Takagi’s birthday. Those who purchase special Takagi seats for, in tribute to his “346” number associated with him-34,600 yen-get an all-you-can-drink meal with Takagi at Dropkick afterwards (and with Onita now manager this could be a lot of fun), a special ringside seat during Takagi’s match (which is Takagi & Fuminori Abe vs. Chris Brookes & Takeshi Masada), a commemorative photo with Takagi in the ring and more. There’s also a 3-way DDT Universal Title match on the card. Live streaming on WRESTLE UNIVERSE will begin at 1:30 AM PT/4:30 AM ET.
(Correction: The original post said there would be no live broadcast for the 1/13 event. It will stream live on WRESTLE UNIVERSE)

AEW Rampage/Battle Of The Belts 5 Results (1/6/23) (SPOILERS!)

Here are the quick results from tonight’s LIVE AEW Rampage & Battle Of The Belts 5 special from Portland, OR (SPOILERS for west feed viewers!)

Continue reading “AEW Rampage/Battle Of The Belts 5 Results (1/6/23) (SPOILERS!)”

1/21 New Japan-NOAH Card Announced

At a press conference earlier today, New Japan and Pro Wrestling NOAH announced the card for the WRESTLE KINGDOM in YOKOHAMA crossover event on 1/21 at Yokohama Arena. All matches will be New Japan vs. NOAH matches, in particular 5 single matches consisting of LIJ vs. Kongo. The event will air live as a PPV on New Japan World (New Japan’s English website says no subscription requires) and will be available on demand to all subscribers 1 week later (1/28). On the NOAH side, it will be a PPV on ABEMA for around $26-27 US but may be available only in Japan. No word yet on when/if it may be available on WRESTLE UNIVERSE but at the earliest it would likely be 1 week after the event.

The full card:
Kosei Fujita & Ryohei Oiwa vs. Taishi Ozawa & Yasutaka Yano
Oskar Leube & Tomohiro Ishii vs. Masa Kitamiya & Daiki Inaba
Talashi Sugiura, Satoshi Kojima, Hiroshi Tanahashi & Toru Yano vs. Gedo, El Phantasmo, KENTA & Baomichi Marufuji
El Desperado vs. YO-HEY
Master Wato, Ryusuke Taguchi & Tiger Mask vs. Alejandro, Junta Miyawaki & AMAKUSA
Kazuchika Okada & Togi Makabe vs. Kaito Kiyomiya & Yoshiki Inamura
BUSHI vs. Tadasuke
Hiromu Takahashi vs. Hajime Ohara
SANADA vs. Manabu Soya
Shingo Takagi vs. Katsuhiko Nakajima
Tetsuya Naito vs. Kenoh

The first 2 matches are listed as pre-show matches. The event is scheduled to begin at midnight PT/3 AM ET but may start earlier for the pre-show.

You can watch the presser below (from New Japan’s YouTube channel, also available on NOAH’s YouTube):

DEVELOPING: Another TJPW Injury

A few minutes ago Tokyo Josbi Pro announced more injury news and it’s more significant: Miyu Yamashita’s scheduled trip to England this weekend to defend the Pro Wrestling EVE Championship is now off. Concussion. According to a loose translation of the Twitter post in Japanese. Yamashita had a headache after yesterday’s event, where she lost to Yuka Sakazaki for the Princess Of Princess Championship in the main event, and was hospitalized, where a subsequent MRI revealed a mild concussion with no abnormalities. Out indefinitely. The EVE matches probably will be rescheduled at a later date. She would have missed this weekend’s TJPW events anyway because of the trip.

More as it becomes available.

Ganbare Pro 1/5/23 Results

Ganbare Pro Wresting kicked off their 2023 today with a big event headlined by a Spirit of Ganbare World Openweight Championship match and the beginning of their efforts to expand their women’s division.

Today’s event was held at Itabashi Green Hall 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 127, a legit sellout. No word on of vocal cheering was allowed as this was just over half of what DDT drew earlier in the day.

During the opening announcements, they introduced the Spirit of Ganbare World Tag Team Championship and announced two Korakuen Hall events for this year: 5/5 and 12/27. More on the tag team titles as it becomes available.

Match 1: Young Ganbare Cup: Yumehito Imanari beat Sotetsu Nakamura.

Match 2: Riko Kawabata beat YuuRI.

Match 3: Yoong Ganbare Cup: Kentaro Hachisu beat Yuki Kanzaki.

Match 4: Moeka Haruhi & HARUKAZE beat Yuna Manase & Yoshiko Hasegawa. Haruhi pinned Hasegawa after Haruichiban.

Match 5: In an Elimination Match, Ken Ohka, Shigehiro Irie, Shota & Shinichiro Tominaga beat Shuichiro Katsumura, Keisuke Isbii, Takao Soma & Hartley Jackson. Tominaga was the only person left., last eliminatinf Jackson.

Main Event: Spirit Of Ganbare World Openweight Champion Mizuki Watase beat Taison Maeguchi by TKO (elbow strike) to retain the title. V1 for Watase.

The next event is a tripleheader on 1/28 at Oji Basement MON*STAR in Tokyo, first is a regular event, second is a Shuichiro Katsumura Produced event, third is a Gambare Players Association Event. At this time broadcast plans are TBA for all events.

DDT 1/5/23 Results

DDT ran a special “All Seats 3000 yen” house show today, a morning matinee spotlighting the promotion’s younger talent. All the seats were a discounted 3000 yen, a monthly special that was replaced in 2022 by the DDT FREE events with free admission and tickets distributed via lottery.

Today’s event was held at Itabashi Green Hall in Tokyo and will be available on demand on WRESTLE UNIVERSE at a later date (expected to be Saturday). There was no live broadcast.

The announced paid attendance was 234, a legit advance sellout.

Match 1: HARASHIMA & Antonio Honda beat Yuki Iino & Danshoku Dieno. Honda pinned Dieno after a diving fist drop.

Match 2: Daisuke Sasaki & KANON beat Toru Owashi & Kazuki Hirata and Yukio Naya & Yusuke Okada in a 3-way when Sasaki beat Hirata.

Match 3: Yuki Ueno & Yuya Koroku beat Makoto Oishi & Illusion. Ueno pinned Illusion after a dropkick.

Match 4: Tetsuya Endo beat Hideki Okatani.

Match 5: MAO & Shunma Katsumata beat Toui Kojima & Kazuma Sumi. Katsumata pinned Kojima after Super Double Miracle Ecstasy.

Match 6: Chris Brookes beat Takeshi Masada.

Main Event: Kazusada Higuchi beat Yuki Ishida.

Konosuke Takeshita appeared at the end and announced he is returning to the US tomorrow (he is headed back to All Elite Wrestling starting tomorrow) but wanted one more match before he left. Which led to…
Impromptu Match: Konosuke Takeshita vs. Yuki Ueno went to a 10 minute time limit draw.

The next event is Saturday at Tsurumi Fruit & Vegetable Market in Kanagawa, headlined by a New Year’s Air Time Bomb & Electric Current Blast Bat Deathmatch featuring Atsushi Onita (a 6-man tag match). A time bomb will be placed above the ring and explode after 10 minutes. If Onita’s team loses, he loses the trademark rights to “exploding current” and they are transferred to DDT. But if Onita’s team wins, the winning member (Onita, Shunma Katsumata or Toui Kojima) will assume the corporate role within DDT of the loser (President if Sanshiro Takagi takes the loss, Vice President if it’s Akito, Store Manager if it’s Takao Soma). It is trending towards a legit sellout. Unfortunately for the rest of us, there will be no live broadcast.