Tag: all-japan

All-Japan returned to action after a 2 week break for their New Year Fan Appreciation Day event today.

Today’s event was held at Shinjuku Face in Tokyo and can be watched on demand on AJPW.TV.

The announced paid attendance was 510, a legit advance sellout. Actually overflow because the venue’s normal full capacity is 500.

Match 1: Shotaro Ashino, Dan Tamura & Ryo Inoue beat Hideki Suzuki, Yuko Miyamoto & Hikaru Sato. Ashino beat Miyamoto with an ankle lock.

Match 2: Yuma Anzai & Ren Ayabe beat Rising Hayato & Ryuki Honda. Anzai pinned Hayato after Gimlet.

Match 3: MUSASHI, Seriki Yoshioka & Seigo Tachibana beat Hokuto Omori, Aizawa No. 1 & Naruki Doi. MUSASHI pinned Aizawa after Two Heaven First Class.

Match 4: Jun Saito & Yuma Aoyagi beat Rei Saito & Atsuki Aoyagi. Yuma Aoyagi pinned Atsuki Aoyagi after The Fool.

Main Event: Kento Miyahara beat Taishin Nagao.

The next event is 1/26 at Makuhari Messe International Exhibition Center Hall 4 in Chiba. Live streaming on AJPW.TV will begin at midnight PT/3 AM ET. This event will also be broadcast on GAORA SPORTS in Japan at a later date.

All-Japan runs the second half of their year-opening New Year Wars doubleheader today in Tokyo. There is one title match today which is the main event, as following Hideki Suzuki officially joining All-Japan yesterday after previously being a freelancer, he teams with Daisuke Sekimoto to challenge Jun & Rei Saito for the All-Japan World Tag Team Championship. We’ll see how Suzuki fares outside of his popular and entertaining “odd couple” pairing with frenemy Suwama, who now is taking a step back and only competing part-time as he starts winding his in-ring career down (and also focuses more on his Evolution women’s promotion). Beyond that, it’s another faction warfare-heavy card plus a Junior Heavyweight spotlight opener.

Today’s event will be held at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo and can be watched LIVE on AJPW.TV in Japanese. This will also be a Samurai! TV broadcast in Japan. There are only 6 matches today plus the halfway point intermission so I don’t see this event running as long as yesterday’s, probably will be just over 2 1/2 hours.

Today’s lineup:
Rising Hayato, Atsuki Aoyagi, MUSASHI, Dan Tamura & Taishin Nagao vs. Naruki Doi, Seiki Yoshioka, Hikaru Sato, Yuko Miyamoto & Seigo Tachibana
Ryuki Honda & Ren Ayabe vs. Hartley Jackson & Jack Kennedy
Yuma Aoyagi vs. Fuminori Abe
Intermission
Kento Miyahara, Davey Boy Smith Jr. & Ryo Inoue vs. Hokuto Omori, Kumaarashi & Cyrus
Shotaro Ashino vs. Yuma Anzai
All-Japan World Tag Team Champions Jun & Rei Saito vs. Daisuke Sekimoto & Hideki Suzuki for the titles

Refresh this page occasionally for the latest results.

Updates below will begin at 6:30 PM PT/9:30 PM ET.

6:30 PM PT UPDATE: Live updates begin now.

We are LIVE from Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan. Commentary will join in a few minutes.

The paid attendance will be announced after the event. Looks very similar to yesterday, not a legit sellout as I see empty seats but not many. Probably will be around 1300 again. (UPDATE: The announced paid attendance was 1339, they didn’t call it a near-sellout even though it probably was at least 90% full)

The matches will begin shortly.

The matches begin at 6:35 PM PT/9:35 PM PT. Solo commentary right now.

Match 1: Rising Hayato, Atsuki Aoyagi, MUSASHI, Dan Tamura & Taishin Nagao vs. Naruki Doi, Seiki Yoshioka, Hikaru Sato, Yuko Miyamoto & Seigo Tachibana. 30 minute time limit
Result: Rising Hayato, Atsuki Aoyagi, MUSASHI, Dan Tamura & Taishin Nagao beat Naruki Doi, Seiki Yoshioka, Hikaru Sato, Yuko Miyamoto & Seigo Tachibana. MUSASHI pinned Doi. Afterwards, MUSASHI with microphone. As I figured might be the case given the result, challenge issued for the All-Japan World Junior Heavyweight Championship. We’ll see what happens.

Rising Hayato joins commentary for the next match.

Match 2: Ryuki Honda & Ren Ayabe vs. Hartley Jackson & Jack Kennedy. 30 minute time limit
Result: Ryuki Honda & Ren Ayabe beat Hartley Jackson & Jack Kennedy. Ayabe pinned Kennedy after Ballistic.

Atsuki Aoyagi replaces Rising Hayato on commentary for the next match.

Match 3: Yuma Aoyagi vs. Fuminori Abe. 30 minute time limit
Result: Yuma Aoyagi beat Fuminori Abe

Intermission. Updates will resume after the break.

The matches resume at 7:45 PM PT/10:45 PM ET.

Before they do, some upcoming event announcements beginning with the 2025 Champions Carnival schedule. It will be at least 12 events starting on 4/9 at Korakuen and ending on 5/18 at Ota City General Gym in Tokyo. (What was announced is not the full tournament schedule, more dates are TBA). Other big events coming up: 6/1 at Sendai Sun Plaza in Sendai, 8/3 in Tokyo at Ota City General Gym, 8/10 in Nagano at Matsumoto City Gym, and 12/31 in Tokyo for the annual year-ender at Yoyogi National Stadium Gym 2. On 2/9 there will be a Kumaarashi & Shotaro Ashino 10th Anniversary Match…they’ll face each other.

Yuma Aoyagi joins commentary for the next match.

Match 4: Kento Miyahara, Davey Boy Smith Jr. & Ryo Inoue vs. Hokuto Omori, Kumaarashi & Cyrus. 30 minute time limit
Result: Kento Miyahara, Davey Boy Smith Jr. & Ryo Inoue beat Hokuto Omori, Kumaarashi & Cyrus. Miyahara pinned Omori with a shutdown suplex hold.

Match 5: Shotaro Ashino vs. Yuma Anzai. 30 minute time limit
Result: Yuma Anzai beat Shotaro Ashino

Quick break for ring cleaning.

Kento Miyahara joins commentary for the final match.

Main Event: All-Japan World Tag Team Champions Jun & Rei Saito vs. Daisuke Sekimoto & Hideki Suzuki for the titles. 1 Hour time limit
Result: All-Japan World Tag Team Champions Jun & Rei Saito beat Daisuke Sekimoto & Hideki Suzuki to retain the titles. Rei Saito pinned Suzuki after (a sloppy-looking) BBQ Bomb. V7 for the Saitos/champs. Next up: An oddly head-bandaged Anzai came out…alone. Sounds like he was going to challenge with Rising Hayato as his partner. Which could mean…DOUBLE TITLE? Also for the All-Asia Tag Team Championship? Naturally Jun responded with an emphatic finish of DOOM! That would be something, it could mean that-if Naruki Doi counts-the Saitos could soon hold all the titles in All-Japan outside of the AJPW.TV 6-Man Tag Team Championship and GAORA TV Championship. They finished the promo with a rousing “All-Japan DOOM!” to end the show.

The next event is “New Year Fan Thanksgiving Day” on 1/18 at Shinjuku Face. The event is already a legit advance sellout. Live streaming on AJPW.TV will begin at 1:30 AM PT/4:30 AM ET. (It’s worth nothing that all the events the rest of this month will be live broadcasts on the service, with 1/26 also scheduled to be a GAORA SPORTS broadcast)

All-Japan begins their 2025 campaign today with the first half of their New Year’s opening doubleheader in Tokyo, New Year’s Wars 2025. Faction warfare is a focus of today’s event along with 2 title matches-an All-Japan 6-Man Tag Team Championship match and a GAORA TV Championship match-and the main event will feature the traditional New Year’s Battle Royal. All of today’s participants and perhaps more will compete so just about everyone will be pulling some double duty to get the year started.

Today’s event will be held at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo and can be watched LIVE on AJPW.TV, presumably in Japanese. There will be an intermission after the 4th match of 7. The main event being a battle royal makes it hard to predict how long the event will run but with the break and 2 title matches my guess will be close to 3 hours.

Today’s lineup:
Taishin Nagao vs. Suwama
Shotaro Ashino, Atsuki Aoyagi & Ryo Inoue vs. MUSASHI, Seiki Yoshioka & Seigo Tachibana
Hartley jackson & Jack Kennedy vs. Kento Miyahara & Davey Boy Smith Jr.
All-Japan AJPW.TV 6-Man Tag Team Champions Hokuto Omori, Kumaarashi & Cyrus vs. Yuma Aoyagi, Fuminori Abe & Hikaru Sato for the titles
Intermission
GAORA TV Champion Yuko Miyamoto vs. Dan Tamura for the title
Rising Hayato, Yuma Anzai, Ryuki Honda & Ren Ayabe vs. Jun & Rei Saito, Naruki Doi & Senor Saito
New Year Battle Royal (all wrestlers participate)

Refresh this page occasionally for the latest results.

Updates below will begin at 6:30 PM PT/9:30 PM ET. The live stream is scheduled to begin 10 minutes prior to the event and go to the venue 1 minute prior to the event.

6:20 PM PT UPDATE: The live stream has begun. We should be going to the venue in 10 minutes.

6:30 PM PT UPDATE: Live updates begin now.

We are LIVE from Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan. Commentary should join shortly.

The paid attendance will be announced after the event. It’s still holiday time in Japan and while advance sales were good, walk-up ticket sales seem to be strong as the venue looks at least 90% full. They’ll probably claim a legit sellout while the setup suggests an actual number closer to 1300. (UPDATE: The announced paid attendance was 1235)

The roster comes out to the ring to open the event for the year-opening greeting, delivered by Kento Miyahara. But when Miyahara mentions MUSASHI, instead Hideki Suzuki comes out in a full suit. Suzuki with microphone. (Right before this we hear from commentary). Suzuki keeps it short and sweet-apparently he has joined All-Japan. He previously had been a freelancer. (Update: Miyahara named MUSASHI the new Vice President of the Players’ Association. It’s also official-Suzuki has joined All-Japan)

The matches begin at 6:45 PM PT/9:45 PM ET.

Match 1: Taishin Nagao vs. Suwama. 20 minute time limit
Result: Suwama beat Taishin Nagao

Match 2: Shotaro Ashino, Atsuki Aoyagi & Ryo Inoue vs. MUSASHI, Seiki Yoshioka & Seigo Tachibana. 20 minute time limit
Result: MUSASHI, Seiki Yoshioka & Seigo Tachibana beat Shotaro Ashino, Atsuki Aoyagi & Ryo Inoue. MUSASHI pinned Inoue after Exploder.

Match 3: Hartley Jackson & Jack Kennedy vs. Kento Miyahara & Davey Boy Smith Jr.. 30 minute time limit
Reslut: Kento Miyahara & Davey Boy Smith Jr. beat Hartley Jackson & Jack Kennedy. Smith pinned Jackson after Bulldog Bomb.

Match 4: All-Japan AJPW.TV 6-Man Tag Team Champions Hokuto Omori, Kumaarashi & Cyrus vs. Yuma Aoyagi, Fuminori Abe & Hikaru Sato for the titles. 1 Hour time limit
Result: Yuma Aoyagi, Fuminori Abe & Hikaru Sato beat All-Japan AJPW.TV 6-Man Tag Team Champions Hokuto Omori, Kumaarashi & Cyrus to win the titles. Aoyagi, Abe & Sato become the 10th All-Japan AJPW.TV 6-Man Tag Team Champions. Aoyagi pinned Omori after THE FOOL. Afterwards, Omori feigned congratulating Aoyagi but low blowed him before leaving.

Intermission.

The matches resume at 8 PM PT/11 PM ET.

Match 5: GAORA TV Champion Yuko Miyamoto vs. Dan Tamura for the title. 1 Hour time limit
Result: GAORA TV Champion Yuko Miyamoto beat Dan Tamura to retain the title. V1 for Miyamoto.

Match 6: Rising Hayato, Yuma Anzai, Ryuki Honda & Ren Ayabe vs. Jun & Rei Saito, Naruki Doi & Senor Saito. 30 minute time limit
Result: Rising Hayato, Yuma Anzai, Ryuki Honda & Ren Ayabe beat Jun & Rei Saito, Naruki Doi & Senor Saito. Anzai pinned Senor Saito after Gimlet.

Quick break before the main event.

Main Event: New Year Battle Royal. Eliminations by pinfall, submission, KO or over the top rope. Everyone starts in the ring at the same time
Result: Atsuki Aoyagi won, last eliminating Ryuki Honda. The last 3 were Aoyagi, Honda and Hideki Suzuki, who even “eliminated” a referee! Aoyagi promo followed to end the event.

The next event is tomorrow. Live streaming on AJPW.TV will begin at 6:30 PM PT/9:30 PM ET. This is also scheduled to be a Samurai! TV broadcast.

All-Japan wraps up 2024 today with their year-end New Year’s Eve major event in Tokyo. It’s more of a celebratory/variety event to wrap up their 50th Anniversary year but there also are 2 title matches plus the return of Atsuki Aoyagi from a long absence due to injury. In the first title match, All-Asia Tag Team Champions Rising Hayato & Yuma Anzai defend the titles against Kento Miyahara & Ryo Inoue, while in the main event Davey Boy Smith Jr. makes his first defense of the Triple Crown against Jun Saito, who looks to cap quite a year for the Saitos, as despite Rei Saito missing time due to injury which forced them to vacate the tag team titles they held at the time it’s clear Jun & Rei Saito are the team to beat in All-Japan, and maybe all of Japan, as long as they stay healthy. Forget they didn’t debut until their mid-30s in 2023, the former sumo wrestlers clearly have become THE TEAM.

There was one late change made to the card after the final announcements: The planned 10-man battle royal is now an 11-man battle royal with the “emergency addition” of Ultimo Dragon to the match.

Today’s event will be held at Yoyogi National Stadium Gym 2 in Tokyo and can be watched LIVE on AJPW.TV in Japanese. This will also be a live Samurai! TV broadcast in Japan. There will be an intermission just past the halfway point so the event will run a little longer than anticipated-I’m hoping not too long because I’m staying up later than usual to do this as I have to physically go to work early tomorrow so I’m hoping it doesn’t run as long as I predict it will go, which is about 3 hours (also may be affected by this being an early afternoon weekday event in Japan).

Today’s lineup:
MUSASHI, Seiki Yoshioka & Taishin Nagao vs. Yuko Miyamoto, Seigo Tachibana & Fuminori Abe
11 Man Battle Royal. Staggered entry (every minute after the first 2), eliminations by pinfall, submission, KO and over the top rope. Participants: Suwama, Hideki Suzuki, Hikaru Sato, Shotaro Ashino, Kumaarashi, Aizawa No. 1, Hartley Jackson, Kunagoro Hokkai, Kuroshio TOKYO Japan, Minoru Suzuki, Ultimo Dragon
Dan Tamura vs. Daisuke Sekimoto
Rei Saito, Naruki Doi & Senor Saito vs. Hokuto Omori, Cyrus & Jack Kennedy
Intermission
Atsuki Aoyagi Return Match: Yuma & Atsuki Aoyagi vs. Ryuki Honda & Ren Ayabe
All-Asia Tag Team Champions Rising Hayato & Yuma Anzai vs. Kento Miyahara & Ryo Inoue for the titles
All-Japan Triple Crown Champion Davey Boy Smith Jr. vs. Jun Saito for the Triple Crown

Refresh this page occasionally for the latest results.

Updates below will begin at 9 PM PT/midnight ET. The live stream is scheduled to begin 10 minutes prior to the event and go to the venue 1 minute before the event.

8:50 PM PT UPDATE: The live stream has started. We should be going to the venue in 10 minutes.

9 PM PT UPDATE: Live updates begin now.

We are LIVE from Yoyogi National Stadium Gym 2 in Tokyo, Japan. Audio is muted when we begin.

The paid attendance will be announced after the event. Advance ticket sales were good and most if not all the lower level seats are sold out, upper level is a mixed bag. I think the full capacity for wrestling is around 3500, my initial prediction will be around 2500. (UPDATE: The announced paid attendance was 2503. Nailed it!)

The matches should begin in a few minutes after the opening video. Commentary will also join at that point.

The matches begin at 9:06 PM PT/12:06 AM ET. Your hosts are an unannounced commentator (didn’t hear his name) and Kagehiro Osano.

Match 1: MUSASHI, Seiki Yoshioka & Taishin Nagao vs. Yuko Miyamoto (666), Seigo Tachibana & Fuminori Abe. 30 minute time limit
Result: Yuko Miyamoto, Seigo Tachibana & Fuminori Abe beat MUSASHI, Seiki Yoshioka & Taishin Nagao. Abe beat Nagao.

MUSASHI is now a guest on commentary.

Match 2: 11 Man Battle Royal. Staggered entry (every minute after the first 2), eliminations by pinfall, submission, KO and over the top rope. Participants: Suwama, Hideki Suzuki, Hikaru Sato, Shotaro Ashino, Kumaarashi, Aizawa No. 1, Hartley Jackson, Kunagoro Hokkai, Kuroshio TOKYO Japan, Minoru Suzuki, Ultimo Dragon. No time limit
Order of entry: Suwama, Hideki Suzuki, Hikaru Sato, Shotaro Ashino, Aizawa No. 1, Kumaarashi, Hartley Jackson, Kumagoro Hokkai, Kuroshio TOKYO Japan (the match may be over before he ever gets done with his entrance!), Minoru Suzuki, Ultimo Dragon.
Order of elimination: Aizawa by Dragon (pinfall), Dragon by everyone (pinfall), Jackson by everyone (over the top rope), Hokkai by everyone (pinfall), Ashino & Kumaarashi by everyone (pinfall), Kuroshio by everyone (submission), Sato by Minoru Suzuki (submission), Hideki Suzuki by Minoru Suzuki (pinfall), Minoru Suzuki by Suwama (over the top rope).
Result: Suwama won. Suzuki grabbed a nearby guardrail and took his frustration out on Taishin Nagao afterwards.

Match 3: Dan Tamura vs. Daisuke Sekimoto (Big Japan). 30 minute time limit
Result: Daisuke Sekimoto beat Dan Tamura

After the entrances for the next match, Kumaarashi joins commentary.

Match 4: Rei Saito, Naruki Doi & Senor Saito vs. Hokuto Omori, Cyrus & Jack Kennedy. 30 minute time limit
Reslut: Hokuto Omori, Cyrus & Jack Kennedy beat Rei Saito, Naruki Doi & Senor Saito. Omori pinned Senor Saito after a frog splash. However, based on apparent fan support which apparently made this like an Open The Owarai Gate Championship match in Dragon Gate, where fan support determines the real winners, the Saitos & Doi were declared the winners.

Intermission. A moment after it begins we go to backstage comments from the Saitos & Doi after the last match. This is then followed by Omori Army backstage comments.

The matches resume at 10:45 PM PT/1:45 AM ET.

Match 5: Atsuki Aoyagi Return Match: Yuma & Atsuki Aoyagi vs. Ryuki Honda & Ren Ayabe. 30 minute time limit
Result: Ryuki Honda & Ren Ayabe beat Yuma & Atsuki Aoyagi. Honda pinned Atsuki Aoyagi after Final Vent.

Match 6: All-Asia Tag Team Champions Rising Hayato & Yuma Anzai vs. Kento Miyahara & Ryo Inoue for the titles. 1 Hour time limit
Result: All-Asia Tag Team Champions Rising Hayato & Yuma Anzai beat Kento Miyahara & Ryo Inoue to retain the titles. Anzai pinned Inoue after Gimlet. V2 for the champs.

Main Event: All-Japan Triple Crown Champion Davey Boy Smith Jr. vs. Jun Saito for the Triple Crown. 1 Hour time limit
Result: Jun Saito beat All-Japan Triple Crown Champion Davey Boy Smith Jr. to win the Triple Crown. Jun Saito becomes the 75th All-Japan Triple Crown Champion. UPSET ALERT!!! What an end to 2024. The Saitos are now in almost total control of All-Japan, although maybe not for long as they do have an All-Japan World Tag Team Championship defense later this week. But until then…DOOM!!!

The next event, the first of 2025, is Thursday at Korakuen Hall. Live streaming on AJPW.TV will begin Wednesday at 6:30 PM PT/9:30 PM ET.

UPDATE: There was an Actress Girls segment and match held before AJPW.TV went live…
Pre-show match: Marino Saihara & Natsuki beat Akuto & Riko Fukunaga. Natsuki pinned Fukunaga after Midnight Sun.

Also, at Thursday’s event new trainees/wrestlers will be introduced to the crowd.
Friday’s event at Korakuen (Thursday at 6:30 PM PT/9:30 PM ET, also live on AJPW.TV) will also be a Samurai! TV broadcast in Japan.

In a brief statement on their website, All-Japan has announced trainee Sakito Terada has been released by the promotion, stating only that his contract was terminated by mutual agreement. He never got to debut as his first match was postponed due to a concussion. No further details were released.

All-Japan ran a standalone event today in Chiba.

Today’s event was held at AQUASTUDIO in Chiba and will be available on demand on AJPW.TV at 5 PM PT/8 PM ET. There was no live broadcast.

The announced paid attendance was 442.

Match 1: Hideki Suzuki beat Taishin Nagao.

Match 2: Hokuto Omori & Kumaarashi beat Yuma Aoyagi & Seigo Tachibana. Omori pinned Tachibana.

Match 4: Cyrus beat Fuminori Abe.

Match 4: Suwama, Ryuji Hijikata & Andy Wu beat MUSASHI, HiroshI Yamato & Seiki Yoshioka. Suwama pinned MUSASHI after a backdrop.

Match 5: Jun & Rei Saito beat Shotaro Ashino & Dan Tamura. Jun Saito pinned Tamura after Psycho Break.

Main Event: Yuma Anzai, Ryuki Honda & Ren Ayabe beat Kento Miyahara, Davey Boy Smith Jr. & Ryo Inoue. Anzai pinned Inoue after Gimlet.

The next event is The Reeve Presents “Zennichi New Year’s Eve 2024”, the final event of the year, on 12/31 at Yoyogi National Stadium Gym 2 in Tokyo. Live streaming on AJPW.TV will begin on 12/30 at 9 PM PT/midnight ET. This will also be a Samurai! TV broadcast in Japan.

Some All-Japan news with the World’s Strongest Tag League in the books:

The Davey Boy Smith Jr.-Jun Saito Triple Crown match expected for 12/31 is now official. 12/31 will also have All-Asia Tag Team Champions MUSASHI & Seiki Yoshioka vs. Kento Miyahara & Ryo Inoue for the titles. With regards to the tag league, the Saitos winning marked the first time in All-Japan history the All-Japan World Tag Team Champions going into the tournament won it.

A press conference was also held today regarding a personnel change-Suwama, who had been Senior Managing Executive Officer of All-Japan Pro Wrestling (as his full real name, Kohei Suwama), will step down from the position and become Non-Executive Director (basically a pert-time position) effective January 1, 2025 and also become the president of Evolution Pro Wrestling. He will remain a member of All-Japan but his participation will be cut back to 1-2 events per month. Suwama, now 48, has been with All-Japan for over 20 years since debuting in 2003 at 27 so this is taking a small step back but it sounds like Evolution & All-Japan have formed a good working relationship and will continue to work together (Evolution is a women’s promotion). Over the past year or so he’s mostly been part of a comedy team of sorts with Hideki Suzuki, who splits his time between All-Japan, Pro Wrestling NOAH and working as a freelancer (and posting cat photos on the socials). The press conference can be watched on YouTube.

Evolution’s next event is Saturday and will have Dan Tamura participation.

All-Japan wraps up the World’s Strongest Tag League today with the Semifinals and Finals. The Semifinals will lead off the event as Block A & B winners face the opposite block runners-up. First up will be Block B winners Kento Miyahara & Davey Boy Smith Jr. vs. Block A runners-up Rising Hayato & Yuma Anzai. The second Semifinal will be Block A winners and sole unbeatens so far Jun & Rei Saito vs. Block B runners-up Ryuki Honda & Ren Ayabe. The winners will meet in the Finals in the main event and the eventual champions will get a potential rematch with the Saitos for the All-Japan World Tag Team Championship. Unless, of course, the Saitos win as they are the current champions. There will also be a GAORA TV Championship match before the main event.

Today’s event will be held at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo and can be watched LIVE on AJPW.TV in Japanese. Atsuki Aoyagi, who is currently out due to injury, will be a special guest on commentary. It will also be available at a later date (12/19) on GAORA SPORTS in Japan. The event is a legit advance sellout including standing room. There will be an intermission after the 4th match. The GAORA SPORTS broadcast is scheduled for a total of 3 1/2 hours so whether or not that includes intermission and other happenings is hard to day, but with 3 matches being no time limit I think it’s safe to predict the running time will be close to 3 hours, so if you plan to watch today’s New Japan event live you may need to split-screen at the beginning of that.

Today’s lineup:
World’s Strongest Tag League Semifinals:
Kento Miyahara & Davey Boy Smith Jr. vs. Rising Hayato & Yuma Anzai
Jun & Rei Saito vs. Ryuki Honda & Ren Ayabe
Ryo Inoue, Daisuke Sekimoto & Kengo Mashimo vs. Shotaro Ashino, Dan Tamura & Taishin Nagao
Makoto Oishi, Mike D. Vecchio & Senor Saito vs. MUSASHI, Seiki Yoshioka & Kuroshio TOKYO Japan
Intermission
Hokuro Omori, Kumaarashi, Cyrus, Hartley Jackson & Jack Kennedy vs. Suwama, Yuma Aoyagi, Hideki Suzuki, Fuminori Abe & Hikaru Sato
GAORA TV Champion Seigo Tachibana vs. Yuko Miyamoto for the title
World’s Strongest Tag League Finals

Refresh this page occasionally for the latest results.

Updates below will begin at 6:30 PM PT/9:30 PM ET.

6:25 PM PT UPDATE: Live updates begin now.

We are LIVE from Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan. Commentary will begin when the matches do with our host whose name I will hopefully catch, along with Kagehiro Osano and special guest Atsuki Aoyagi.

The paid attendance will be announced after the event. It’s a legit advance sellout including standing room so the actual number will depend on the setup but 1500+ is virtually guaranteed. (UPDATE: The announced paid attendance, a legit advance sellout, was 1517)

The matches should begin in 10-15 minutes.

The matches begin at 6:33 PM PT/9:33 PM ET.

Match 1: World’s Strongest Tag League Semifinals: Kento Miyahara & Davey Boy Smith Jr. vs. Rising Hayato & Yuma Anzai. No time limit
Result: Kento Miyahara & Davey Boy Smith Jr. beat Rising Hayato & Yuma Anzai. Miyahara pinned Anzai with a shurdown suplex hold. As a result, Miyahara & Smith advance to the Finals, where they will face the winners of the next match in the main event.

Match 2: World’s Strongest Tag League Semifinals: Jun & Rei Saito (now clean-shaven, no more goatee) vs. Ryuki Honda & Ren Ayabe. No time limit
Result: Jun & Rei Saito beat Ryuki Honda & Ren Ayabe. .Rei Saito pinned Ayabe after BBQ Bomb. As a result, the Saitos advance to the Finals and will face Miyahara & Smith in the main event.

Match 3: Ryo Inoue, Daisuke Sekimoto & Kengo Mashimo vs. Shotaro Ashino, Dan Tamura & Taishin Nagao. 30 minute time limit
Result: Ryo Inoue, Daisuke Sekimoto & Kengo Mashimo beat Shotaro Ashino, Dan Tamura & Taishin Nagao. Sekimoto beat Nagao with a Boston crab.

Match 4: Makoto Oishi, Mike D. Vecchio & Senor Saito vs. MUSASHI, Seiki Yoshioka & Kuroshio TOKYO Japan. 30 minute time limit
Result: :Makoto Oishi, Mike D. Vecchio & Senor Saito beat MUSASHI, Seiki Yoshioka & Kuroshio TOKYO Japan. Vecchio pinned MUSASHI after a moonsault press. This may be Vecchio’s last appearance for now with the tour over and he got a great ovation from the crowd to wrap up his All-Japan debut.

After a brief video, Atsuki Aoyagi leaves commentary to hit the ring for the announcement-he will return to action on 12/31. And did some flips & cartwheels to show he apparently is 100% healthy again. He then returned to commentary.

Intermission. Updates will resume after the break.

The matches resume at 7:50 PM PT/10:50 PM ET.

Announced for 12/31 is Dan Tamura vs. Daisuke Sekimoto (corrected, not Taishin Nagao) then announced for 1/2 is Nagao vs. Suwama and a battle royal. On 1/3 is Yuma Anzai vs. Shotaro Ashino.

Match 5: Hokuro Omori, Kumaarashi, Cyrus, Hartley Jackson & Jack Kennedy vs. Suwama, Yuma Aoyagi, Hideki Suzuki, Fuminori Abe & Hikaru Sato. 30 minute time limit. And apparently Daisuke Sekimoto is one of the “ring boys” for this match…
Result: Suwama, Yuma Aoyagi, Hideki Suzuki, Fuminori Abe & Hikaru Sato beat Hokuro Omori, Kumaarashi, Cyrus, Hartley Jackson & Jack Kennedy. Aoyagi beat Kumaarashi with a modified guillotine choke. Afterwards, Aoyagi with microphone. Challenge issued for the All-Japan 6-Man Tag Team Championship with Abe & Sato as his partners. Accepted by Omori as Suzuki & Suwama left doing their usual odd couple bickering. Then more comedy as the challengers-to-be stole the belts before taking off.

Match 6: GAORA TV Champion Seigo Tachibana vs. Yuko Miyamoto for the title. 1 Hour time limit
Result: Yuko Miyamoto beat GAORA TV Champion Seigo Tachibana to win the title. Miyamoto becomes the 28th GAORA TV Champion.

Main Event: World’s Strongest Tag League Finals: Kento Miyahara & Davey Boy Smith Jr. vs. Jun & Rei Saito. No time limit
Result: Jun & Rei Saito beat Kento Miyahara & Davey Boy Smith Jr. to win the tournament. Jun Saito pinned Miyahara after a chokeslam. A perfect run for the Saitos as they didn’t lose a single match. Since this means no All-Japan World Tag Team Championship shot for the winners as the Saitos hold the belt, Jun Saito instead called Smith back out to issue a Triple Crown challenge. Accepted for 1/31. Afterwards, the Saitos finished their in-ring celebration to end the show. (Correction: 12/31 if it happens as mentioned, not 1/31)

The next event is 12/15 at AQUASTUDIO in Chiba. There will be no live broadcast.

All-Japan finished up the preliminary round of the World’s Strongest Tag League today in Tokyo.

Today’s event was held at Shin-Kiba 1st Ring in Tokyo and can be watched on demand on AJPW.TV. You can also watch the first 3 matches FOR FREE on YouTube

The announced paid attendance was 339, a legit advance sellout.

Match 1: Jun & Rei Saito beat Seigo Tachibana & Taishin Nagao by ref stoppage. Rei Saito beat Nagao with a bearhug.

Match 2: Ryuki Honda & Ren Ayabe beat Yuma Aoyagi & Ryo Inoue. Honda pinned Inoue after Final Vent.

World’s Strongest Tag League:
Match 3: Block A: MUSASHI & Seiki Yoshioka beat Dhotaro Ashino & Dan Tamura. MUSASHI pinned Tamura after Top Of The Second Class.
Match 4: Block B: Hikru Sato & Yuko Miyamoto beat Suwama & Hideki Suzuki by countout. Suwama counted out.
Match 5: Block A: Makoto Oishi & Mike D. Vecchip beat Hokuto Onori & Kumaarashi. Oishi pinned Onori.
Match 6: Block A: Rising Hayato & Yuma Anzai beat Daisuke Sekimoto & Kengo Mashimo. Anzai pinned Mashimo after Gimlet.
Main Event: Block B: Kento Miyahara & Davey Boy Smith Jr. beat Cyrus & Hartley Jackson. Smith pinned Jackson after Bulldog Bomb.
As a result, the Saitos win Block A and Hayato/Anzai finish 2nd, Smith/Miyahara win Block B and Honda/Ayabe finish 2nd. Those 4 teams advance to the Semifinals.

Final Standings:
Block A:
1-Saitos, 6-0, 12 pts
2-Hayato/Anzai, 4-2, 8 pts
3-Sekimoto/Mashimo, 3-2-1, 7 pts
4-Omori/Kunaarashi, 3-3, 6 pts
5-Omori/D’Vecchio, 2-4, 4 pts
6-MUsashi/Yoshioka, 1-4-1, 2 pts
7-Ashino/Tamura, 1-5, 2 pts

Block B:
1-Miyahara/Smith, 5-1, 10 pts
2-Honda/Ayabe, 4-2, 8 pts
3-Suwama/Suzuki, 3-3, 6 pts
4-Aoyagi/Abe, 3-3, 6 pts
5-Cyrus/Jackson, 3-3, 6 pts
6-Sato/Miyamoto, 2-4, 4 pts
7-Kuroshio TOKYO Japan/Tachibana, 1-5, 2 pts

The Semifinals and Finals are Sunday at Korakuen Ball in Tokyo. The event is a legit advance sellout with only standing room tickets available. Live streaming on AJPW.TV will begin Saturday at 6:30 PM PT/9:30 PM ET. This will also be a GAORA TV broadcast in Japan.