WRESTLE MAGIC, Pro Wrestling NOAH’s Golden Week blowout event, is in the books.
Today’s event was held at Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo and can be watched on demand on WRESTLE UNIVERSE as a PPV. You have until 4 AM PT/7 AM ET on 5/12 to purchase the replay. It costs 3800 Japanese yen (around $25 US), but qualifying UNIVERSE members-those who kept their subscription through March’s price increase-can get it for 2800 yen (around $19 US). You can also watch the first match FOR FREE on YouTube.
The announced paid attendance was 3512. They ran a greatly reduced capacity setup-the venue’s capacity is nearly 15,000 for sumo but I imagine between the setup and using the lower level box seats at about 1/3 capacity (2 per box instead of the usual 4-6) that probably reduced the setup to around 6000-7000.
Note that half the card’s 12 matches were not announced ahead of time. That was basically all the non-title matches except for the women’s match.
Match 1: Shuji Ishikawa beat GHC Hardcore Champion Ninja Mack to win the title. Ishikawa becomes the 12th GHC Hardcore Champion. NOAH recognizes him as the 3rd because they do not recognize the title’s prior lineage before it was re-activated this past year.
Match 2: Titus Alexander & Starboy Charlie beat Ryohei Oiwa & Daiki Inaba. Charlie pinned Inaba after a 450 splash.
Match 3: Masa Kitamiya beat Takashi Sugiura.
Match 4: AKIRA (Independent/Freelancer), HAYATA & Eita beat Jun Kumano, Junta Miyawaki & Yu Owada. AKIRA pinned Owada after a moonsault press.
Match 5: GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions YO-HEY & Tadasuke beat Shuji Kondo & “brother” YASSHI and Dragon Bane & Alpha Wolf in a 3-way elimination match to retain the titles. YO-HEY eliminated YASSHI then Wolf. V6 for the champs.
Match 6: Kenoh beat YAMATO (Dragon Gate).
Match 7: In a GHC Martial Arts Rules match, Ulka Sasaki & Kazushi Sakuraba beat Hikaru Sato (All-Japan) & Shuhei Taniguchi by TKO. Sasaki beat Taniguchi.
Match 8: Giulia, Utami Hayashishita, MIRAI & Mai Sakurai beat Nagisa Nozaki, Great Sakuya, Miyuki Takase & Takumi Iroha. Giulia pinned Nozaki after Northern Lights Bomb. The winners are all part of former Stardom boss Rossy Ogawa’s new Marigold promotion, which for at least the first few months will have their events streamed live on WRESTLE UNIVERSE.
Match 9: Jake Lee & TAJIRI (Independent/Freelancer) beat Naomichi Marufuji & Hajime Ohara. TAJIRI pinned Ohara after Buzzsaw Kick.
Match 10: GHC Junior Heavyweight Champion Daga beat Alejandro to retain the title. V6 for Daga.
Match 11: GHC Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Jack Morris & Anthony Greene beat TBA & TBA, revealed at match time to be Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima (New Japan), to retain the titles. Morris pinned Kojima after Shooting Star Press. V8 for the champs. Another open challenge.
Main Event: Kaito Kiyomiya beat GHC Heavyweight Champion Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr. to win the title. Kiyomiya becomes the 45th GHC Heavyweight Champion.
The next event is ALL TOGETHER, the return of the joint promotional charity fundraiser event, this time for Noto Peninsula earthquake recovery efforts, Monday at Nippon Budokan in Tokyo. This installment will feature New Japan, Pro Wrestling NOAH and DDT Pro Wrestling as well as a Stardom match. Live streaming worldwide will be only on ABEMA as a PPV beginning at 12:30 AM PT/3:30 AM ET. As far as when it may be available on demand on New Japan World & WRESTLE UNIVERSE, it probably would be at least 2 weeks afterwards as the PPV viewing window is until 5/19.
As for NOAH itself, the next regular event is 5/18 at Yokohama Radiant Hall in Yokohama. Live streaming on WRESTLE UNIVERSE will begin at 12:30 AM PT/3:30 AM ET.
UPDATE: Shortly after this was posted, the usual post-major event news/fallout began dropping:
2 matches have been announced for 5/22 at Korakuen Hall: Kenoh vs. Minoru Suzuki & Ulka Sasaki vs. Hikaru Sato.
MONDAY MAGIC will return for Season 3 this fall. Dates TBA.
The N-1 VICTORY Tournament will return later this year. The schedule was announced:
8/4-Yokohama Budokan, Yokohama
8/9, 8/10, 8/11-Korakuen Hall
8/12-Culttz Kawasaki, Kanagawa
8/17-Tama Mirai Messe, Tokyo
8/18-Sendai Pit, Sendai
8/25-Nagoya International Conference Center, Nagoya
9/1-Osaka Prefectural Gym, Osaka (Finals)
Further details TBA.
