All-Japan announced today that Takao Omori will be leaving the promotion after the next event on 12/31. Contract expiring and will not be renewed. This was Omori’s second stint in All-Japan, which began at the start of 2012 and he also served as a director until 2014. No word yet on future plans for the 54-year-old Omori, who has been active for over 31 years.
Tag: all-japan pro wrestling
All-Japan News: WWE Wrestler Challenging For Triple Crown
In a story getting a lot of attention because it breaks from their tradition of just about never working with other promotions, WWE is sending a wrestler to All-Japan to start 2024, specifically NXT wrestler Charlie Dempsey who will challenge for the All-Japan Triple Crown on 1/3. Who is champion at that time will be determined on 12/31 when Katsuhiko Nakajima defends against Kento Miyahara.
This is actually the second time this year WWE has allowed a wrestler to go to Japan, the first was for Pro Wrestling NOAH’s 1/1 event when Shinsuke Nakamura was allowed to go back for a special match against Keiji Muto. It seems that William Regal, who returned to WWE Earlier this year after a couple years with All Elite Wrestling, played a part in making this happen…and he revealed for the first time in this announcement that Dempsey is his real-life son, so the pedigree should definitely be there. Dempsey will also participate in All-Japan’s 1/1 event..
All-Japan 12/21/23 Results
All-Japan ran NEW AGE CHRONICLE Z 2 today, the second Rising Hayato-produced event designed for Junior Heavyweights and wrestlers with less than 10 years experience.
Today’s event was held at Shin-Kina 1st Ring in Tokyo and can be watched on demand on AJPW.TV.
The announced paid attendance was 335, a legit sellout.
Match 1: Takuya Nomura & Fuminori Abe beat Ryo Inoue & Issei Onitsuka. Nomura pinned Inoue.
Match 2: Yuki Ishikawa & Ren Ayabe beat Hokuto Omori & Takahiro Katori. Ayabe pinned Kotori after Last Shooting.
Match 3: Jun Tonsho, Soma Watanabe & ? beat Seigo Tachibana, Takanori Ito & Takuro Nito (?). ? pinned Tachibana after a divojg senton.
Match 4; Dan Tamura & Hayato Tamura beat Ayato Yoshida & Kazunasa Yoshida and Koki Iwasaki & ? In a 3-way when Hayato Tamura pinned Koki Iwasaki.
Match 5: Jun & Rei Saito beat Yuma & Atsuki Aoyagi. Jun Saito pinned Atsuki Aoyagi after Paycho Break.
Main Event: Ryuki Honda & Yuma Anzai beat Rising Hayato & Imabari Towel Mascaras. Anzai pinned Mascaras with a German suplex hold.
A 3rd event in the series will be held on 2/8.
The next event is the year-ending blowout event 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.
All-Japan News: Popular Foreign Star Returning
In a post on his official Instagram earlier today, Davey Boy Smith Jr., the son of the late WWF Hall Of Famer The British Bulldog, announced he will be returning to All-Japan on 12/31 for the first time in several years. He was planned to be part of the 2020 Champions Carnival Tournament but the pandemic derailed those plans, then his father’s WWE HOF induction was postponed to 0221, and more recently he had emergency surgery for appendicitis and diverticulitis. But Smith has fully recovered and is excited to return on 12/31 for a 6-man tag.
Check out the full Instagram post below:
News: United Japan Pro Wrestling Industry Group Formed
Just after Mitsuharu Misawa formed Pro Wrestling NOAH in 2000, he would spearhead the creation of an alliance to attempt to better facilitate cooperation between Japanese promotions. Today a new such alliance was formed to modernize those efforts-the United Japan Pro Wrestling Industry Group.
The initial membership will consist of the following promotions: New Japan Pro Wrestling, All-Japan Pro Wrestling, Pro Wrestling NOAH, Dragon Gate Pro Wrestling, Big Japan Pro Wrestling, DDT Pro Wrestling and its affiliated sub-brands (Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling & Ganbare Pro Wrestling) and Stardom. Seiji Sakaguchi is the founding chairman with the executive offices based at New Japan Pro Wrestling HQ and New Japan Chairman Naoki Sugabayashi serving as executive chief.
The biggest thing for fans to get excited about here is a joint event scheduled for 5/6/24 at Nippon Budokan in Tokyo under the United Japan Pro Wrestling banner. More details forthcoming.
New Japan’s English website has posted a press release with much more about this new alliance, read the full statement here:
DEVELOPING: Tokyo Sports Awards Winners Announced
The Japanese newspaper/website Tokyo Sports announced the winners of their annual Year-End Awards, which are a very big deal in Japanese pro wrestling. The promotions have begun congratulating their winners, for convenience here is a full list of the major winners courtesy of Samurai! TV and New Japan World personality:commentator Miki Motoi:
The award winners:
MVP-Tetsuya Naito (New Japan)
Match Of The Year-The Great Muta vs. Shinsuke Nakamura (NOAH, 1/1)
Tag Team-Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI (New Japan)
Outstanding Performance: Hiromu Takahashi (New Japan)
Fighting Spirit-Kenoh (NOAH)
Technique-Yuma Aoyagi (All-Japan)
Rookie Of The Year-Jun & Rei Saito (All-Japan)
Women’s MVP-Tam Nakano (Stardom)
News: Major TV Crossover Event in Early 2024
According to news items from both All-Japan and Pro Wrestling NOAH, both promotions are set to participate in a special February 2024 event to commemorate the 70th Anniversary of Japanese TV station Nippon TV (NTV), which at one time or another was a broadcast partner for both (I remember NOAH events in the early days airing on NTV’s G+ network). The event, called (loosely translated from Japanese) “70 Years of Pro Wrestling Broadcast THE Nippon TV Pro Wrestling”, will be held on 2/9 at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo. Tickets are now on sale ranging from around $60 US up to around $650 (Correction: Earlier versions of this post said $6500, which was incorrect as that’s around 1 million yen where these tickets actually are 100,000 yen) for front row VIP seats that come with commemorative goods, a special photo opportunity and more. All-Japan has announced Masanobu Fuchi will appear at the event while NOAH Vice President Naomichi Marufuji issued a statement about the event but didn’t do any name drops.
The event will be broadcast on Japanese TV but it’s not yet known if it will be live or taped, and at this time it’s not known when/if it may be available on AJPW.TV and/or WRESTLE UNIVERSE. Check out a promo graphic for the event below:
All-Japan 12/6/23 Results
All-Japan wrapped up the Real World Tag League today with the final day of matches.
Today’s event was held at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo and can be watched on demand on AJPW.TV.
The announced paid attendance was 1443, almost certainly a legit sellout.
Match 1: Hikaru Sato, Koji Iwamoto & Fuminori Abe beat Atsuki Aoyagi, Rising Hayato & Ryo Inoue. Abe pinned Inoue.
Match 2; GAORA TV Champion Minoru Tanaka beat Takao Omori, Yoshitatsu & Black Menso-re in a 4-way by beating Menso-re to retain the title. V3 for Tanaka.
Match 3: Real World Tag League: Kuroshio TOKYO japan & Seigo Tachibana beat Yukio Sakaguchi & Hideki Okatani. Kiroshio pinned Okatani. Both mathematically eliminated.
Match 4: Real World Tag League: Hayato Tamura & Galeno Del Mal beat Cyrus & Ryan Davidson. Tamura pinned Davidson after a lariat. Cyrus/Davidson mathematically eliminated.
Match 5: Jr. Battle Of Glory Finals: Dan Tamura beat Naruki Doi to win the tournament.
Match 6: Real World Tag League: Shuji Ishikawa & Ren Ayabe beat Suwama & Hideki Suzuki. Ishikawa pinned Suwama after Fire Thunder. Ishikawa/Atabe mathematically eliminated.
Match 7: Real World Tag League: Ryuki Honda & Yuma Anzai beat Jun & Rei Saito. Anzai pinned Rei Saito with a German suplex hold. Honda/Anzai mathematically eliminated.
Main Event: Real World Tag League: Katsuhiko Nakajima & Hokuto Omori beat Kento Miyahara & Yuma Aoyagi to win the tournament. Omori pinned Aoyagi after Mushin Ichiban. Nakajima/Omori finish 6-3, 12 points. Saitos, Suwama/Suzuki and Tamura/De Mal finish 5-4, 10 points. This probably means Nakajima/Omori vs. Saitos for the All-Japan World Tag Team Chhampionship at some point, but not this year as Nakajima has a Triple Crown defense upcoming against Miyahara.
The next event is NEW AGE CHRONICLE-Z 2, the second Rosing Hayato Produced event following on the success of the first one earlier this year featuring younger and less-experienced wrestlers. On 12/21 at Shin-Kiba 1st Ring. Live streaming on AJPW.TV will begin at 1:30 AM PT/4:30 AM ET.
All-Japan 12/3/23 Results
All-Japan ran the penultimate day of the Real World Tag league today and also wrapped up the Jr. Battle Of Glory prelims.
Today’s event was held at Osaka Prefectural Gym 2 in Osaka and can be watched on demand on AJPW.TV.
The announced paid attendance was 914.
Real World Tag League:
Match 1: Ryuki Honda & Yuma Anzai beat Yukio Sakaguchi & Hideki Okatani. Honda pinned Okatani after Final Vent.
Match 2: Kuroshio TOKYO Japan & Seigo Tachibana beat Cyrus & Ryan Davidson (I’ve been unknowingly calling him Danielson all along. Curse my bad eyesight). Kuroshio pinned Davidson.
Match 3: Hikaru Sato, The Bodyguard & Aran Sano (Osaka Pro) beat Rising Hayato, Izanagi & Black Menso-re. Bodyguard pinned Menso-re after Rising Dragon. Sano was a late replacement here for the absent Tatsuya Matsufasa (flu).
Real World Tag League:
Match 4: Hayato Tamura & Galeno Del Mal beat Katsuhiko Nakajima & Hokuto Omori. Del Mal pinned Omori after Galeno Special.
Jr. Battle Of Glory:
Match 5: Atsuki Aoyagi beat Fuminori Abe.
Match 6: Dan Tamura beat Ryo Inoue.
Match 7: Naruki Doi beat Koji Iwamoto.
As a result, the Finals (top 2 in standings) will be Tamura vs. Doi. Both finish 3-2-2, 8 points. Abe had the lead going into the final day at 7 points but misses out.
Real World Tag League:
Match 8: Jun & Rei Saito beat Shuji Ishikawa & Ren Ayabe by ref stoppage. Jun Saito beat Ayabe with Psycho Dream.
Main Event: Suwama & Hideki Suzuki beat Kento Miyahara & Yuma Aoyagi. Suwama pinned Aoyagi after Last Ride.
With one day left and the top 2 advancing to the Finals, 7 teams still have a chance. Nakajima/Omori, Suwama/Suzuki & The Saitos are now tied at 5-3, 10 points, but Nakajima/Omori have lost 3 straight. We may need tiebreakers.
The next event is Wednesday at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo with the final Tag League matches, the Finals, the Jr. Battle Of Glory Finals and a GAORA TV Championship match. Live streaming on AJPW.TV will begin at 1:30 AM PT/4:30 AM ET.
All-Japan Pro Wrestling 12/2/23 Results
All-Japan continues the Real World Tag League today as that tournament and the Jr. Battle Of Glory head down the home stretch. The Jr. Battle gets the real spotlight as they are the main event but there are 4 Tag League matches as Katsuhiko Nakajima & Hokuto Omori try to potentially secure a Finals spot via a top 2 finish. For the Jr. Battle, it’s wide open but Fuminori Abe has the top spot to lose right now although everyone is separated by just 2 points.
The promotion has also announced Rei Saito is off this event. DDT participation today in Tokyo. DDT also announced Jun Saito participation for their 1/3/24 event so the crossover between the promotions will continue for now, which has mostly involved the Saito Bros and Hideki Okatani & Yukio Sakaguchi (and Saki Akai before she retired). Also both promotions have been battling over the All-Asia Tag Team Championship that usually is contested for in All-Japan
Today’s event will be held at Item Ehime in Ehime and can be watched LIVE on AJPW.TV. It’s not yet known if there will be any commentary. Because Jr. Battle Of Glory matches have only a 10 minute time limit the event won’t run long, if every match went the distance it would go 3 hours tops if there is no intermission, so I anticipate it will wind up going just over 2 hours.
Today’s lineup (in order):
Jr. Battle Of Glory: Ryo Inoue vs. Koji Iwamoto
Jr. Battle Of Glory: Hikaru Sato vs. Fuminori Abe
Atsuki Aoyagi & Imabari Towel Mascaras vs. Jun Saito & KOSHI
Suwama & Dan Tamura vs. Black Menso-re & Carbell Ito
Real World Tag League:
Shuji Ishikawa & Ren Ayabe vs. Kuroshio TOKYO Japan & Seigo Tachibana
Katsuhiko Nakajima & Hokuto Omori vs. Yukio Sakaguchi & Hideki Okatani
Ryuki Honda & Yuma Anzai vs. Hayato Tamura & Galeno Del Mal
Kento Miyahara & Yuma Aoyagi vs. Cyrus & Ryan Danielson
Jr. Battle Of Glory: Rising Hayato vs. Naruki Doi
Refresh this page occasionally for the latest results.
Updates below will begin at 9 PM PT/midnight ET.
9 PM PT UPDATE: Live updates begin now…
We are LIVE from Item Ehime in Ehime, Japan. There is no commentary. Just hard-camera view today.
The paid attendance will be announced after the event. It’s a small venue and looks set up for maybe 500 tops but isn’t a sellout. Looks like it’ll maybe be around 300. (Update: The announced paid attendance was 520)
The matches begin almost right away, when we joined they were doing the match card rundown. (Note: Quite a bit of muting in entrances and post-match because of audio/music rights for non-All-Japan wrestlers, or at least because they’re outside of Tokyo? Jun Saito’s music was muted and it never is at Korakuen Hall or other Tokyo venues. Actually they wound up muting just about everyone’s music except the regular All-Japan guys who use original themes and not licensed songs)
Match 1: Jr. Battle Of Glory: Ryo Inoue vs. Koji Iwamoto. 10 minute time limit
Result: Koji Iwamoto beat Ryo Inoue
Match 2: Jr. Battle Of Glory: Hikaru Sato vs. Fuminori Abe. 10 minute time limit
Result: Hikaru Sato beat Fuminori Abe by submission
Match 3: Atsuki Aoyagi & Imabari Towel Mascaras vs. Jun Saito & KOSHI. 15 minute time limit
Result: Jun Saito & KOSHI beat Atsuko Aoyagi & Imabari Towel Mascaras. Saito pinned Mascaras.
Match 4: Suwama & Dan Tamura vs. Black Menso-re & Carbell Ito. 15 minute time limit. Before the match (and before Suwama/Tamura entered), Ito & Menso-re were given goody bags and threw them into the crowd as Mariah Carey’s “All I Want For Christmas Is You” played.
Result: Suwama & Dan Tamura beat Black Menso-re & Carbell Ito. Tamura pinned Menso-re.
Match 5: Real World Tag League: Shuji Ishikawa & Ren Ayabe vs. Kuroshio TOKYO Japan & Seigo Tachibana. 30 minute time limit
Result: Kuroshio TOKYO Japan & Seigo Tachibana beat Shuji Ishikawa & Ren Ayabe. Kuroshio pinned Ayabe.
Match 6: Real World Tag League: Katsuhiko Nakajima & Hokuto Omori vs. Yukio Sakaguchi & Hideki Okatani. 30 minute time limit
Result: Yukio Sakaguchi & Hideki Okatani beat Katsuhiko Nakajima & Hokuto Omori. Sakaguchi pinned Omori.
Match 7: Ryuki Honda & Yuma Anzai vs. Hayato Tamura & Galeno Del Mal. 30 minute time limit
Result: Ryuki Honda & Yuma Anzai beat Hayato Tamura & Galeno Del Mal. Honda pinned Del Mal.
Match 8: Kento Miyahara & Yuma Aoyagi vs. Cyrus & Ryan Danielson. 30 minute time limit
Result: Cyrus & Ryan Danielson beat Kento Miyahara & Yuma Anzai. Cyrus pinned Miyahara.
Main Event: Jr. Battle Of Glory: Rising Hayato vs. Naruki Doi. 10 minute time limit
Result: Rising Hayato beat Naruki Doi. Just beat the time limit
This event wound up going almost 3 hours, but the amount of muted audio made for ridiculously bad presentation. Not used to this from All-Japan but I also usually can only watch weekend Korakuen Hall events live too.
The next event is Sunday at Osaka Prefectural Gym 2 in Osaka. Live streaming on AJPW.TV will begin at midnight PT/3 AM ET. They also announced earlier today that all December events will be broadcast live.
