Today is a date with DEATHTINY…for the last time as Pro Wrestling NOAH hosts the retirement event for 30-year-plus veteran Akitoshi Saito in his homwtown. The respected veteran has been in NOAH full-time since 2009 but has competed there since the beginning through the best and worst of times…he was in the ring when the death of NOAH founder and Japanese icon Mitsuharu Misawa happened (after taking Saito’s finisher Misawa suffered a medical emergency and was left paralyzed, he died soon after) but carried on and honored Misawa’s memory, and today he’ll participate in one final match against current NOAH icon Naomichi Marufuji. Surprisingly it’s probably not the main event-that may be a GHC Heavyweight Championship match as Kaito Kiyomiya defends the title against Takashi Sugiura. Both the GHC Junior Heavyweight and Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championships will be defended too, but this event is all about mid-50-something (actually 59) Saito and his farewell to a career that began way back in 1990.
Today’s event will be held at Aichi Prefectural Gym in Nagoya and can be watched LIVE on WRESTLE UNIVERSE in English. This is a live ABEMA exclusive broadcast in Japan so the UNIVERSE version will be edited/clipped, but the full version should be available on demand after the event. You will also be able to watch the first 2 matches FOR FREE on YouTube. I’m gonna try to make it through the whole event as I expect it to be blowout level with a running time of close to 4 hours.
Today’s lineup:
Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr., Galeno Del Mal & Alpha Wolf vs. Junta Miyawaki, Yu Owada & Daiki Odashima
Mohammed Yone, Shuhei Taniguchi, AMAKUSA & Hitoshi Kumano vs. Anthony Greene, LJ Cleary, Eita & Harutoki
Kenoh, Alejandro & Kai Fujimura vs. Go Shiozaki, Atsushi Kotoge & Hajime Ohara
Ulka Sasaki vs. Jack Morris
Manabu Soya & Kazuyuki Fujita vs. Masa Kitamiya & Shuji Kondo
GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions YO-HEY & HAYATA vs. Tadasuke & Yuto Kikuchi for the titles
GHC Junior Heavyweight Champion Daga vs. Dragon Bane for the title
Akitoshi Saito Retirement Match: Akitoshi Saito vs. Naomichi Marufuji
GHC Heavyweight Champion Kaito Kiyomiya vs. Takashi Sugiura for the title
Refresh this page occasionally for the latest results.
Updates below will begin at 10 PM PT/1 AM ET. The WRESTLE UNIVERSE stream is scheduled to begin at 9:45 PM PT/12:45 AM ET and the YouTube broadcast is scheduled to begin at 9:50 PM PT/12:50 AM ET.
9:45 PM PT UPDATE: The WRESTLE UNIVERSE stream has begun. We should be going to the venue in about 15 minutes.
9:50 PM PT UPDATE: The YouTube broadcast is now live. It is a simulcast of the ABEMA broadcast and is in Japanese.
10 PM PT UPDATE: Live updates begin now.
We are LIVE from Aichi Prefectural Gym in Nagoya, Japan. English commentary will start in a few minutes.
The paid attendance will be announced after the event. Setup is for maybe 60-65% capacity (the venue’s full capacity, primarily for sumo, is 7500) but from the early shot the trend of what appears to be not good big event crowds outside Korakuen Hall is going to continue. I see a lot of empty sears especially on the lower level. Admittedly hoping for at least 2000 but that could be a stretch, just too much happening in west Japan with the New Japan/Stardom Crossover event in Osaka and the Grand Sumo Tournament in Fukuoka. (UPDATE: The announced paid attendance was 1788)
The matches begin at 10:05 PM PT/1:05 AM ET. Your hosts are Stewart (BANG!) Fulton & Mark Pickering.
Match 1: Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr., Galeno Del Mal & Alpha Wolf vs. Junta Miyawaki, Yu Owada & Daiki Odashima. 15 minute time limit
Reslut: Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr., Galeno Del Mal & Alpha Wolf beat Junta Miyawaki, Yu Owada & Daiki Odashima. Wagner Jr. pinned Owada after a sitout powerbomb.
Match 2: Mohammed Yone, Shuhei Taniguchi, AMAKUSA & Hitoshi Kumano vs. Anthony Greene, LJ Cleary, Eita & Harutoki. 20 minute time limit
Reslut: Anthony Greene, LJ Cleary, Eita & Harutoki beat Mohammed Yone, Shuhei Taniguchi, AMAKUSA & Hitoshi Kumano. Eita beat Taniguchi with a modified armbar.
The YouTube broadcast ends here.
Match 3: Kenoh, Alejandro & Kai Fujimura vs. Go Shiozaki, Atsushi Kotoge & Hajime Ohara. 20 minute time limit
Result: Go Shiozaki, Atsushi Kotoge & Hajime Ohara beat Kenoh, Alejandro & Kai Fujimura. Shiozaki pinned Alejandro after Go Lariat.
Match 4: Ulka Sasaki vs. Jack Morris. 30 minute time limit
Result: Ulka Sasaki beat Jack Morris
Match 5: Manabu Soya & Kazuyuki Fujita vs. Masa Kitamiya & Shuji Kondo. 30 minute time limit
Result: Masa Kitamiya & Shuji Kondo beat Manabu Soya & Kazuyuki Fujita. Kitamiya pinned Soya after Saito Suplex. Afterwards, everyone continued to go at it.
Intermission. The first half of the event went really fast, just 65 minutes for 5 matches. Updates will resume in a few minutes.
The matches resume at 11:20 PM PT/2:20 AM ET (15 minute intermission).
Match 6: GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions YO-HEY & HAYATA vs. Tadasuke & Yuto Kikuchi for the titles. 1 Hour time limit
Result: GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions HAYATA & YO-HEY beat Tadasuke & Yuto Kikuchi to retain the titles. HAYATA pinned Kikuchi after 403 Impact. V4 for the champs.
Junta Miyawaki joins Japanese commentary for the next match.
Match 7: GHC Junior Heavyweight Champion Daga vs. Dragon Bane for the title. 1 Hour time limit
Result: GHC Junior Heavyweight Champion Daga beat Dragon Bane to retain the title. V1 for Daga. Next up: Eita. If what he says holds true, that match will happen on 1/1 at Nippon Budokan in Tokyo. (UPDATE: It’s now official)
Match 8: Akitoshi Saito Retirement Match: Akitoshi Saito vs. Naomichi Marufuji. 1 Hour time limit
Result: Naomichi Marufuji beat Akitoshi Saito. It went 15 minutes.
Retirement ceremony for Saito. Short but powerful with the final call coming as he walked back to the top of the entrance ramp.
Main Event: GHC Heavyweight Champion Kaito Kiyomiya vs. Takashi Sugiura for the title. 1 Hour time limit
Result: GHC Heavyweight Champino Kaito Kiyomiya beat Takashi Sugiura to retain the title. V6 for Kiyomiya. Kiyomiya had ALL REBELLION join him for the show-ending promo, but at the end Taishi Ozawa turned on Kiyomiya and laid him out with his crutch as Team 2000X hit the ring for the heel beatdown. Ozawa has officially defected and turned heel. A shocking ending.
The next event is MONDAY MAGIC Season 3 Episode 4 Monday at Shinjuku Face in Tokyo. Live streaming on WRESTLE UNIVERSE will begin at 2 AM PT/5 AM ET.
UPDATE: Right before the WRESTLE UNIVERSE live stream ended, Sugiura post-match backstage comments with Marufuji were interrupted by Wagner Jr. & Del Mal, who made a GHC Heavyweight Tag Team Championship challenge. That match will happen on 11/30 at the second event of a doubleheader at Club eX in Shinagawa Prince Hotel in Tokyo.
