News, results & more from Japanese Pro Wrestling & Sumo
All-Japan has provided another brief update on the condition of rookie Taishin Nagao, who has been hospitalized since being hit by the promotion’s transport bus on 5/31. The latest update does not sound good…according to translation, he is in the emergency intensive care unit under “unpredictable circumstances due to traumatic shock caused by abdomen compression”. No further details were provided but it sounds extremely worrying.
More as it becomes available.
Lots of All-Japan news to start what essentially is a month-long break for the promotion after yesterday (most of the roster is not on the 6/24 event so the next official event is 7/17):
First the impending absence-Yuma Anzai is now off all events from July 1 until the end of August. Unspecified reasons. However, based on post-match comments from yesterday’s event, it could be in part because ELPIDA disbanded after their win yesterday. Ren Ayabe announced he was leaving the group and fellow members Rising Hayato & Ryuki Honda followed suit. Ayabe said he wanted to go solo to further challenge himself. Anzai then said he would be absent for a while. It does not appear to be injury-related, and he may even compete in other promotions during the next 2 months. Tentative return scheduled for September.
Several big matches are set for July coming out of yesterday, starting on 7/21 at Osaka Prefectural Gym 2 in Osaka-next up for Triple Crown Champion Jun Saito: Ryuki Honda. After that will be the winner of a match that day between Yuma Aoyagi & Davey Boy Smith Jr. to determine the next challenger. That later title match date is TBA. Before that, on 7/20 at Volfert Toyama in Toyama will be All-Japan AJPW.TV 6-Man Tag Team Champions Hokuto Omori, Kunaarashi & Takashi vs. TBA. TBA & TBA for the titles, revealed only as Toyama Black Ramen Man 1/2/3. At the tour-opener on 7/17 at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Omori will team with Talos to face All-Japan World Tag Team Champions Kento Miyahara & Yuma Aoyagi for the titles.
All-Japan wrapped up the Super Power Series today with a major event in Tokyo.
Today’s event was held at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo and can be watched on demand on AJPW.TV. This was also a Samurai! TV broadcast in Japan.
The announced paid attendance was 1196.
Match 1: Rei Saito, Atsuki Aoyagi & Takuya Nomura beat MUSASHI, Davey Boy Smith Jr. & Shota Oto. Saito beat Oto.
Match 2: Hikaru Sato, Kengo Mashimo (Independent/Freelancer), Yuko Miyamoto, Funinori Abe & Seigo Tachibana beat Suwama, Shotaro Ashino, Dan Tamura, Ryo Inoue & Xyon. Mashimo beat Inoue with a kneebar.
Match 3: Rising Hayato, Yuma Anzai, Ryuki Honda & Ren Ayabe beat Hokuto Omori, Kumaarashi, Takashi (Dragon Gate) & Talos. Ayabe pinned Kumaarashi after Des Roulette.
Match 4: All-Japan World Junior Heavyweight Champion Seiki Yoshioka beat Naruki Doi to retain the title. V2 for Yoshioka.
Match 5: All-Japan World Tag Team Champions Kento Miyahara & Yuma Aoyagi beat Madoka Kikuta & KAI to retain the titles. Miyahara pinned KAI with a shutdown suplex hold. V2 for the champs.
Main Event: All-Japan Triple Crown Champion Jun Saito beat Hideki Suzuki to retain the Triple Crown. V5 for Saito.
The next event is “Baka Era vs. Hokuto Army” Tuesday at Shin-Kiba 1st Ring. Live streaming on AJPW.TV will begin at 2:30 AM PT/5:30 AM ET.
In other news, the announced upcoming Junior Heavyweight Tournament was revealed today as Zennichi Jr. Festival 2025 it will have 10 participants in 2 blocks in a round-robin format. The participants are as follows:
Block A-Rising Hayato, Ryo Inoue, Hikaru Sato, Seigo Tachibana, Seiki Yoshioka
Block B-MUSASHI, Dan Tamura, Atsuki Aoyagi, Fuminori Abe, Naruki Doi
All matches will be held under PWF Rules, meaning 1 fall, 30 minute time limit. The Finals will be no time limit. 2 points for win, 1 point for time limit draw, 0 poinys for loss, double countout, double DQ or no contest. The winner of each block will advance to the Finals with tiebreakers if needed being head-to-head result. If 3 or more tie, it will be determined after all matches.
The tournament will start on 7/17 and end on 8/3, covering 6 events during that time.
All-Japan continued the Super Power Series 2025 today in Kyoto.
Today’s event was held at Kyoto KBS Hall in Kyoto and will be available on demand on AJPW.TV tonight. There was no live broadcast.
The announced paid attendance was 457.
Match 1: Fuminori Abe & Seigo Tachibana beat Dan Tamura & Ryo Inoue. Abe beat Inoue.
Match 2: Ryuki Honda & Ren Ayabe beat Shotaro Ashino & Xyon. Honda pinned Ashino after Final Vent.
Match 3: Hokuto Omori, Kumaarashi & Talos beat Kento Miyahara, MUSASHI & Davey Boy Smith Jr. Talos pinned MUSASHI.
Match 4: Takashi beat GAORA TV Champion Yuko Miyamoto to win the title. Takashi becomes the 29th GAORA TV Champion.
Match 5: Hideki Suzuki, Hikaru Sato & Seiki Yoshioka beat Jun & Rei Saito & Naruki Doi. Suzuki beat Jun Saito with a sleeper hold. The champ won one yesterday, now the challenger has to get his win.
Main Event: Yuma & Atsuki Aoyagi beat All-Asia Tag Team Champions Rising Hayato & Yuma Anzai to win the titles. The Aoyagis become the 126th All-Asia Tag Team Champions. Atsuki Aoyagi pinned Hayato after a firebird splash.
The tour-ender is Wednesday at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo. Live streaming on AJPW.TV will begin at 2:30 AM PT/5:30 AM ET. This is also scheduled to be a Samurai! TV broadcast in Japan.
All-Japan resumed the Super Power Series 2025 after a nearly 2 week break.
Today’s event was held at Juroku Plaza in Gifu and will be available on demand on AJPW.TV at 6 PM PT/9 PM ET. There was no live broadcast.
The announced paid attendance was 518.
Match 1: Shotaro Ashino & Xyon beat Hiroki Murase & Lowther. Xyon pinned Lowther after a diving headbutt. The losers are wrestlers from a local independent promotion.
Match 2: Dan Tamura beat Seigo Tachibana.
Match 3: Fuminori Abe beat Ryo Inoue.
Match 4: All-Japan AJPW.TV 6-Man Tag Team Champions Hokuto Omori, Kumaarashi & Takashi beat Talos, Jack Kennedy & Aizawa No. 1 to retain the titles. Omori pinned 1 after Hokuto Army Special. V1 for the champs.
Match 5: Rising Hayato, Yuma Anzai, Ren Ayabe & Ryuki Honda beat Kento Miyahara, Atsuki Aoyagi, MUSASHI & Davey Boy Smith Jr. Ayabe pinned MUSASHI after Des Roulette.
Main Event: Jun & Rei Saito & Naruki Doi (Independent/Freelancer) beat Hideki Suzuki, Yuma Aoyagi & Seiki Yoshioka. Jun Saito pinned Suzuki after a jackhammer.
The next event is tomorrow at Kyoto KBS Hall in Kyoto with 2 more title matches scheduled. There will be no live broadcast. On demand should be later in the day.
All-Japan has announced a second tournament for the upcoming summer schedule in addition to the Royal Road Tournament: This is a currently unnamed tournament only for Junior Heavyweights that was first proposed by Atsuki Aoyagi at the 4/23 event. Said tournament’s schedule was revealed today:
7/17-Korakuen Hall, Tokyo
7/20-Volfert Toyama, Toyama
7/21-Osaka Prefectural Gym 2, Osaka
7/24-Shin-Kiba 1st Ring, Tokyo
7/26-Shin-Kiba 1st Ring
8/3-Ota City General Gym, Tokyo (Finals)
Further details & participants TBA.
More as it becomes available
According to a report from Japanese news site Puroresu Today which I them confirmed confirmed via the venue’s website, Shinjuku Face in Tokyo is holding a special pro wrestling event on 7/31 to celebrate the venue’s 20th Anniversary. The venue, used for both theater performances and combat sports events (martial arts and pro wrestling), The event will feature participation and cooperation in production from several promotions including New Japan, All-Japan and DDT. And it looks like WWE is letting Shinsuke Nakamura return to Japan to take part too.
The full card was announced today and is scheduled to feature 5 matches with participation from at least 6 promotions including women’s promotion OZ Academy. The main event will feature New Japan, All-Japan & DDT together as New Japan’s Hiromu Takahashi teams with DDT’s Chris Brookes to face All-Japan’s Atsuki Aoyagi & DDT’s Yuki Ueno. The card is as follows:
Daisuke Sasaki, Illusion & Hideki Okatani vs. Toru Owashi, Kazuki Hirata & Makoto Oishi
Minoru Suzuki & Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Jun Akiyama & Taita (?) Kobashi
Mayumi Ozaki, HARASHIMA & Yukio Naya vs. Sakura Hirota, Antonio Honda & Takeshi Masada (with Sanshiro Takagi)
Kuroshio TOKYO Japan vs. MAO
Hiromu Takahashi & Chris Brookes vs. Atsuki Aoyagi & Yuki Ueno
Tickets are now on sale. It’s not known if there will be any live or on demand broadcast but hopefully matches will show up on one or more of New Japan World, AHPW.TV or WRESTLE UNIVERSE given participation. But with CyberFight Corporation listed as a co-producer of the event the most likely hope seems to be WRESTLE UNIVERSE.
After previously being a live event venue called Liquid Room from 1994-2004, it closed in 2004 then was renovated and re-opened as Shinjuku Face on July 29, 2005 and is an event hall on Floor 7 of the Humax Pavilion in the Shinjuku area of Tokyo. The venue’s listed capacity for martial arts events including pro wrestling is 511 (but typical max capacity for wrestling is 500) and 471 for theater/performing arts. It hosts both major promotions and independent promotions. The event will come just 2 days after the official 20th anniversary of the venue’s opening. You can find out more about the venue at its official website (in Japanese), shinjuku-face.com.
All-Japan has reported today on an incident that happened on 5/31 that was not event or match-related: Taishin Nagao was reportedly hit by a bus, presumably one used by the promotion, and was hospitalized immediately where he is being treated for unspecified injuries. Out indefinitely as a result. No further details were provided on his condition but the promotion has apologized to fans, stakeholders and others for any concern this caused.
More as it becomes available.
All-Japan today announced the 2025 Royal Road Tournament, the 12th installment of the event which is a single-elimination openweight tournament. The schedule announced is as follows:
Round 1:
8/24-Korakuen Hall, Tokyo
8/30-Kybubuju Messe Large Exhibition Hall, Shimane
8/31-Kobe Sambo Hall, Kobe
Quarterfinals:
9/3-Shin-Kiba 1st Ring, Tokyo
9/6-Light Cube Utsunomiya, Tochigi
Semifinals/Finals: 9/15-Korakuen Hall
Participants and matches TBA in the future.
More as it becomes available.
All-Japan kicks off their June tour, the Super Power Series 2025, today with a major event in Sendai. 3 title matches headline the event starting with an All-Japan World junior Heavyweight Championship match as new champion Seiki Yoshioka defends for the first time against Dan Tamura. The second title match sees All-Japan World Tag Team Champions Kento Miyahara & Yuma Aoyagi, the landmark 100th champions, make their first defense against Shotaro Ashino & Xyon. Finally, in the main event, it’s a brotherly affair as Jun Saito defends the Triple Crown against his brother Rei Saito, this year’s Champions Carnival winner. Two things for sure-I’ll be happy no matter how this match ends and afterwards, it will be all about DOOM!!!
There has been a last-minute change to the card because Taishin Nagao is now off the event. Unspecified injury. He was to have faced Hideki Suzuki. Takashi, the former Takashi Yoshida who is now using just his first name as announced recently by home promotion Dragon Gate, is the replacement.
Today’s event will be held at Sendai Sun Plaza in Sendai and can be watched LIVE on AJPW.TV in Japanese. It will also be taped for broadcast on GAORA SPORTS in Japan at a later date. There will be an intermission before the title matches (the last 3) so it’s going to be a long event, based on the later TV broadcast schedules I’d anticipate it running about 3 1/2 hours so I may not make it all the way through. And you never know because of that Kuroshio TOKYO Japan guy being on the card with his unpredictable entrance antics.
Today’s lineup:
Hideki Suzuki vs. Takashi (Takashi Yoshida)
Davey Boy Smith Jr. & Kuroshio TOKYO Japan vs. Jack Kennedy & Aizawa No. 1
MUSASHI, Rising Hayato & Ryo Inoue vs. Atsuki Aoyagi, Fuminori Abe & Seigo Tachibana
Yuma Anzai, Ryuki Honda & Ren Ayabe vs. Hokuto Omori, Kumaarashi & TBA (only being called XXL)
Intermission
All-Japan World Junior Heavyweight Champion Seiki Yoshioka vs. Dan Tamura for the title
All-Japan World Tag Team Champions Kento Miyahara & Yuma Aoyagi vs. Shotaro Ashino & Xyon for the titles
All-Japan Triple Crown Champion Jun Saito vs. Rei Saito for the Triple Crown
Refresh this page occasionally for the latest results.
Updates below will begin at 10 PM PT/1 AM ET. The live stream is scheduled to begin 5 minutes before the event.
9:57 PM PT UPDATE: Live updates begin now.
We are LIVE from Sendai Sun Plaza in Sendai, Japan. Commentary will begin later.
The paid attendance will be announced after the event. Advance tickets sales were strong and a legit sellout is possible, the venue’s listed capacity is just over 2700 but looks a setup closer to 2500 and that will be my prediction. (UPDATE: The announced paid attendance was 2239)
Opening announcements begin the broadcast.
The matches begin at 10:07 PM PT/1:07 AM ET. Commentary starts now. Not sure who the host is but Kagehiro Osano is also on commentary.
Match 1: Hideki Suzuki vs. Takashi (Takashi Yoshida). 15 minute time limit
Result: Hideki Suzuki beat Takashi by submission. Largely a comedy match including brawling through the building at one point, leaving us thinking maybe it got thrown out.
Match 2: Davey Boy Smith Jr. & Kuroshio TOKYO Japan vs. Jack Kennedy & Aizawa No. 1. 20 minute time limit
Result: Davey Boy Smith Jr. & Kuroshio TOKYO Japan beat Jack Kennedy & Aizawa No. 1. Smith pinned 1 after Bulldog Bomb.
Match 3: MUSASHI, Rising Hayato & Ryo Inoue vs. Atsuki Aoyagi, Fuminori Abe & Seigo Tachibana. 30 minute time limit
Result: Atsuki Aoyagi, Fuminori Abe & Seigo Tachibana beat MUSASHI, Rising Hayato & Ryo Inoue. Aoyagi pinned Inoue after Firebird Splash.
Match 4: Yuma Anzai, Ryuki Honda & Ren Ayabe vs. Hokuto Omori, Kumaarashi & TBA (only being called XXL). 30 minute time limit. After everyone else enters, Omori reveals XXL is, well, XXL. Big man foreigner (tall, maybe legit 7 feet). I think they call him Taros.
Result: Hokuto Omori, Kumaarashi & Taros beat Yuma Anzai, Ryuki Honda & Ren Ayabe. Taros pinned Ayabe after a chokeslam.
Intermission.
The matches resume at 11:47 PM PT. Longer than usual intermission (20 minutes). The Sendai return date is 10/13 at Nikko Arena. (Kakuda City General Gym in Miyagi, it will be a Saito Brothers hometown event)
Match 5: All-Japan World Junior Heavyweight Champion Seiki Yoshioka vs. Dan Tamura for the title. 1 Hour time limit
Result: All-Japan World Junior Heavyweight Champion Seiki Yoshioka beat Dan Tamura to retain the title. V1 for Yoshioka. (UPDATE: Next up: If Yoshioka gets his wish, either Naruki Doi or possibly Tamura again. Most likely Doi)
Match 6: All-Japan World Tag Team Champions Kento Miyahara & Yuma Aoyagi vs. Shotaro Ashino & Xyon for the titles. 1 Hour time limit
Result: All-Japan World Tag Team Champions Kento Miyahara & Yuma Aoyagi beat Shotaro Ashino & Xyon to retain the titles. Miyahara pinned Xyon with a shutdown suplex hold. V1 for the champs. (UPDATE: Next up: Madoka Kikuta and TBA, at least that’s what Aoyagi wants. Miyahara said that match will happen on 6/18 at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo).
Main Event: All-Japan Triple Crown Champion Jun Saito vs. Rei Saito for the Triple Crown. 1 Hour time limit
Result: All-Japan Triple Crown Champion Jun Saito beat Rei Saito to retain the Triple Crown. V4 for Jun Saito. Next up: Hideki Suzuki.
The next event is 6/14 at Juroku Plaza in Gifu. There will be no live broadcast. On demand later that day.
UPDATE 2: More post-event news:
The new Hokuto army member’s name is Talos according to a more accurate translation (not Taros as I thought). And because Hokuto Omori is so obsessed with keeping the titles, Talos will team with Omori & Aizawa No. 1 for an All-Japan AJPW.TV 6-Man Tag Team Championship match on 6/14 against champions Omori, Kumaarashi & Takashi. Inter-faction warfare!
As far as the other title matches above, the All-Japan World Tag Team Championship match is now official for 6/18. TBA teaming with Madoka Kikuta will be KAI. Also set for 6/18 is Jun Saito-Hideki Suzuki fro the Triple Crown and Yoshioka vs. Naruki Doi for the All-Japan World Junior Heavyweight Championship. Other matches TBA.