All-Japan wraps up the 51st Anniversary Series today with a major event headlined by 2 title matches. In the first one, the All-Japan and KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Champions Yukio Sakaguchi, Saki Akai & Hideki Okatani return to defend the All-Japan titles against the mixed trio of Suwama, Mayumi Ozaki & Maya Yukihi. Then in the main event it’s a rematch between Kento Miyahara & Yuma Aoyagi for the Triple Crown, coming shortly after they lost the All-Japan World Tag Team Championship. They are clearly the top two stars in the promotion right now but who is going to come out on top?
Today’s event will be held at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo and can be watched LIVE on AJPW.TV in Japanese. It’s not yet known if this will be a TV simulcast in Japan. I have a feeling the main event will be epic and potentially a marathon (over 30 minutes) so I’m predicting the event’s total running time will be in the range of 2 1/2-3 hours, but no more than 4 hours tops based on time limits.
Today’s lineup:
Takao Omori & Yoshitatsu vs. Atsuki Aoyagi & Rising Hayato
Dan Tamura vs. Shinya Aoki
Shuji Ishikawa, Ren Ayabe & Black Menso-re vs. Sanshiro Takagi, HARASHIMA & Yukio Naya (DDT)
Minoru Suzuki, Naruki Doi & Hokuto Omori vs. Hideki Suzuki (Pro Wrestling NOAH), Koji Iwamoto & Ryo Inoue
All-Japan 6-Man Tag Team Champions Yukio Sakaguchi, Saki Akai & HIdeki Okatani (DDT) vs. Suwama, Mayumi Ozaki (OZ Academy) & Maya Yukihi (Independent/Freelancer) for the titles
All-Japan 51st Anniversary Match: Ryuki Honda & Yuma Anzai vs. Jun & Rei Saito
All-Japan Triple Crown Champion Yuma Aoyagi vs. Kento Miyahara for the Triple Crown
Refresh this page occasionally for the latest results.
Updates below will begin at 7:30 PM PT/10:30 PM ET.
7:20 PM PT UPDATE: Live updates begin now…
We are LIVE from Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan. We’re in pre-show mode so no commentary yet.
The paid attendance will be announced after the event. The crowd is still filing in and advance ticket sales looked good, so I’m thinking it’ll be in the 1200-1250 range, which would be anywhere from 80-95% full. (UPDATE: The announced paid attendance was 1370, a super full house/very near sellout)
The matches will begin in about 15 minutes. At 7:25 PM PT the entire roster comes out for pre-event activities. Notably not getting in the ring and not wearing All-Japan jackets: Jun & Rei Saito. This is most likely related to the promotion’s 51st Anniversary. Suprisingly no muted audio between this and the opening video.
The matches begin at 7:35 PM PT. Looks like it’s perhaps a Samurai! TV broadcast in Japan based on the match rundown presentation and onscreen graphics. There was a typo in the match rundown graphics, Rising Hayato’s kanji (all English caps) was misspelled as “HYATO”.(Late show update: It’s Samurai! TV. Durign main event intros I saw Kagehiro Osano on commentary at ringside, he usually does commentary on their simulcasts for WRESTLE UNIVERSE)
Match 1: Takao Omori & Yoshitatsu vs. Atsuki Aoyagi & Rising Hayato. 15 minute time limit
Result: Atsuki Aoyagi & Rising Hayato beat Takao Omori & Yoshitatsu. Hayato pinned Yoshitatsu with a jackknife after an Aoyagi dropkick.
Match 2: Dan Tamura vs. Shinya Aoki. 15 minute time limit
Result: Time Limit Draw. This was a grappling/submission wrestling exhibition clinic
Match 3: Shuji Ishikawa, Ren Ayabe & Black Menso-re vs. Sanshiro Takagi, HARASHIMA & Yukio Naya (DDT). 20 minute time limit
Result; Sanshiro Takagi, HARASHIMA & Yukio Naya beat Shuji Ishikawa, Ren Ayabe & Black Menso-re. Takagi pinned Menso-re after a sitout powerbomb. Comedy match at times because of Takagi and his super bicycle riding through the reserved seats. Afterwardh, Jun & Rei Saito came out and brawled witH Naya & HARASHIMA into the backstage area.
Match 4: Minoru Suzuki, Naruki Doi & Hokuto Omori vs. Hideki Suzuki (Pro Wrestling NOAH), Koji Iwamoto & Ryo Inoue. 20 minute time limit
Result: Minoru Suzuki, Naruki Doi & Hokuto Omori beat Hideki Suzuki, Koji Iwamoto & Ryo Inoue. Suzuki pinned Inoue after a Gotch-style piledriver.
The Real World Tag League is announced for November & December, along with the 10 teams entered. 9 of them anyway, one is TBA. DDT participation will continue with Yukio Skaaguchi & Hideki Okatani as well. The tournament runs from 11/12-12/6.
Match 5: All-Japan 6-Man Tag Team Champions Yukio Sakaguchi, Saki Akai & HIdeki Okatani (DDT) vs. Suwama, Mayumi Ozaki (OZ Academy) & Maya Yukihi (Independent/Freelancer) for the titles. 1 Hour time limit
Result: Suwama, Mayumi Ozaki & Maya Yukihi beat All-Japan 6-Man Tag Team Champions Yukio Sakaguchi, Saki Akai & Hideki Okatani by ref stoppage to win the titles. Suwama, Ozaki & Yukihi become the 7th All-Japan 6-Man Tag Team Champions. Suwama beat Akai with a sleeper hold. I’m not totally surprised this happened because Akai is retiring next month and this is probably her final appearance in All-Japan.
Match 6: All-Japan 51st Anniversary Match: Ryuki Honda & Yuma Anzai vs. Jun & Rei Saito. 30 minute time limit
Result: Jun & Rei Saito beat Ryuki Honda & Yuma Anzai. Rei Saito pinned Anzai after a Jun Saito lariat off the top rope (Doomsday Device).
A brief (less than 1 minute) countdown leads into the promo video for the main event.
Main Event: All-Japan Triple Crown Champion Yuma Aoyagi vs. Kento Miyahara for the Triple Crown. 1 Hour time limit. They did extra special versions of entrances with additional promo video for both. Very big-match feel and hype.
Result: All-Japan Triple Crown Champion Yuma Aoyagi beat Kento Miyahara to retain the Triple Crown. V5 for Aoyagi. They went just short of 30 minutes. Right after it ended a sudden shriek from the crowd…Katsuhiko Nakajima!!! He has flowers and…NAILS MIYAHARA WITH THEM! A clue as to what is to come after next Saturday when Nakajima finishes up with Pro Wrestling NOAH? Unless that was also a clue as to what is next, because of the Real World Tag League Aoyagi may very well be Triple Crown Champion going into 2024. On his way out, Aoyagi took a victory lap around and high-fived fans in the front row, picking up what was left of the flowers and giving them to a female fan. It was mainly the plastic wrap…but still, that’s quite a souvenir given what happened to end the show.
The next event is 10/31 at Imakanemachi General Gymnasium Aikubu in Hokkaido, kicking off a week-long series in northern Japan. There will be no live broadcast. It will be available on demand on AJPW.TV later that day (US time).