News, results & more from Japanese Pro Wrestling & Sumo
It really isn’t…GLEAT has announced unfortunate circumstances that have taken Takanori Ito out of action again. Unspecified injuries suffered in a traffic accident. Out indefinitely pending further information but it means he is now off this week’s Lidet UWF event. Changes are forthcoming to that event.
More as it becomes available.
Updating a prior post, GLEAT has completed its investigation into suspected breach of contract by Issei Onitsuka and announced punishments today. It sounds quite severe based on translation-one year house arrest (presumably suspension), fined an undisclosed amount and dismissed as fan club president, plus he is stripped of the G INFINITY and G-RUSH Championships (for the former, that means Takehiro Yamamura is stripped too). Onitsuka accepted the punishments and has opted to retire but still must pay the fine. Plans for the titles will be announced later.
More as it becomes available.
GLEAT ran their 4th Anniversary event Tuesday in Tokyo, held on the date the promotion held their debut event in 2022.
Tuesday’s event was held at City Hall & Gallery Gotanda in Tokyo and can be watched on demand on YouTube with a paid channel membership ($8.99/month outside Japan).
The announced paid attendance was 340, a legit sellout. A lot less than what they had been doing each year when they held the event previously at Tokyo Dome City Hall.
Match 1: El Lindaman, Takanori Ito & Minoru Tanaka beat Soma Watanabe, Junjie & JD Lee. Lindaman pinned Lee with a German suplex hold.
Match 2: G-RUSH Champion Issei Onitsuka beat Brass Knuckles JUN to retain the title.V2 for Onitsuka.
Match 3: Kotaro Suzuki & Quiet Storm beat Rock Iwasaki & Keiichi Sato. Storm pinned Sato after 53cm Arm Lariat.
Match 4: Mason Madden, Mansoor, Baliyan Akki & Mei Suruga beat Ryo Aitaka, MICHIKO, T-Hawk & KAZMA SAKAMOTO. Suruga pinned MICHIKO. Afterwards, Shuji Ishikawa appeared which set up a match for 7/24.
Match 5: CIMA & Alberto El Patron (formerly Alberto Del Rio) beat Ryuichi Kawakami & Chris Weiss. Patron pinned Kawakami.
Match 6: G INFINITY Champions Takehiro Yamamura & Issei Onitsuka beat Tetsuya Izuchi & So Daimonji to retain the titles. Onitsuka pinned Izuchi after Soul Shooting Star Press. V2 for the champs. And for Onitsuka this day-2 title matches, 2 successful defenses. Impressive.
Main Event: Katsuhiko Nakajima beat G-REX Champion Kaito Ishida to win the title. Nakajima becomes the 7th G-REX Champion. Now a double champion in GLEAT as he also holds the Lidet UWF Championship.
The next event is 7/13 at Umeda Stellar Hall in Osaka. Broadcast plans TBA.
UPDATE: On 7/4 the promotion announced Onitsuka has been INDEFINITELY SUSPENDED. Suspected breach of contract. Will be out until the investigation is completed but it’s going to be a few weeks. The 7/13 card will be changed as a result and he is also suspended from fan club activities (he may be the chairman). Regarding the G INFINITY and G-RUSH Championships he holds, statuses TBA.
More as it becomes available.
GLEAT ran 2 events over the weekend, first their latest G PROWRESTLING event followed by a non-televised house show.
Saturday’s event was held at Ogimachi Museum Cube CUBE01 in Osaka and may be available on demand on YouTube at a later date for paying channel members ($8.99/month outside Japan).
The announced paid attendance was 158.
Match 1: CIMA, KAZMA SAKAMOTO & Gamma beat Ryo Aitaka, MICHIKO & Seiichi Ikemoto. SAKAMOTO pinned MICHIKO after Transrave.
Match 2: In a G-RUSH match, Issei Onitsuka beat T-Hawk, Soma Watanabe & Minoru Tanaka in 4-way by pinning T-Hawk. As a result, Onitsuka gets a G-RUSH Championship match later in the event.
Match 3: Ryuichi Kawakami, Chris Weiss & Rock Iwasaki beat Tkaehiro Yamamura, Junjie & JD Lee. Kawakami pinned Lee after Thunderfire Bomb.
Match K: katsuhiko Nakajima & Seiki Yoshioka beat Tetsuya Izuchi & Kotaro Suzuki. Nakajima pinned Suzuki after Northern Lights Bomb.
Match 5: In a G-RUSH Match, Issei Onitsuka beat G-RUSH Champion El Lindaman to win the title. Onitsuka becomes the 2nd G-RUSH Champion.
Main Event: G-REX Champion Kaito Ishida beat Quiet Storm to retain the title.V2 for Ishida. Afterwards, Storm announced he was leaving GLEAT. Ishida tried to recruit Storm into Black Generation International but he declined. The Anti-GLE Monsters tried to recruit Storm too but Storm instead laid out Kawakami before leaving.
Yesterday’s event was held at Kyoto Hulic Hall in Kyoto. There likely will be no on demand broadcast.
The announced paid attendance was 90.
Match 1: Minoru Tanaka & KAZMA SAKAMOTO beat JD Lee & Seiki Yoshioka. SAKAMOTO pinned Yoshioka after Transrave.
Match 2: El Lindaman beat MICHIKO.
Match 3: T-Hawk & Ryo Aitaka beat Issei Onitsuka & Quiet Storm. T-Hawk pinned Onitsuka with a tornado clutch.
Match 4: In a Falls Count Anywhere Street Fight, Katsuhiko Nakajima beat Ryuichi Kawakami by ref stoppage (hanging on rope with a chain).
Main Event: Kaito Ishida, Tetsuya Izuchi & Kotaro Suzuki beat Soma Watanabe, Takehiro Yamamura & Junjie and Nobuhiko Oshima, Chris Weiss & Rock Iwasaki in a 3-way elimination match (team eliminated when one member loses). Junjie first beat Oshima then Izuchi beat Watanabe.
The next event is Saturday at Shinagawa City Hall & Gallery Gotanda in Tokyo. Broadcast plans TBA.
Maybe he uses them as bis name suggests but I can’t verify because GLEAT event videos are now paywalled on YouTube (and admittedly I unsubscribed rather than pay $9/month for them when in Japanese currency it’s much less but no choice for me in the US), regardless Brass Knuckles JUN is the latest injury casualty in the promotion. Unspecified bone bruise. Out indefinitely but based on now being out of an upcoming tournament starting on 4/26 it will be at least 2 weeks. Changes to cards and the tournament are TBA (it’s a 16-man single elimination tournament).
GLEAT ran their 5th Lidet UWF standalone event yesterday, featuring their spinoff version of Akira Maeda’s old UWF promotion.
Yesterday’s event was held at Shin-Kiba 1st Ring in Tokyo and will be available on demand on YouTube at a later date, but only for paid subscribers (900 Japanese yen/month in Japan, $8.99 US outside Japan).
The announced paid attendance was 173.
All matches were Lidet UWF Bouts. 15 minute time limits for single matches, 20 minutes for double matches (tag team). No pinfalls, win only by submisison, KO/TKO, ref stoppage or lose all points (start with 5 points, one point lost for each rope break, down recovery or foul). If tied on points at the time limit, match is a Draw.
Match 1: Soma Watanabe beat Tetsuya Izuchi by KO.
Match 2: Kotaro Suzuki beat Tyson Maeguchi by submission.
Match 3: Hikaru Machida & Yasu Kubota beat Minoru Tanaka & Ryo Aitaka. Kubota beat Tanaka with a dragon sleeper.
Match 4: Tatsumi Nakano beat Issei Onitsuka by KO.
Match 5: Minoru Suzuki beat El Lindaman by TKO.
Main Event: Lidet UWF Champion Katsuhiko Nakajima beat Simon Gotch by submission to retain the title.. V4 for Nakajima.
No word on when the next such event may be.
The next event is Sunday at Umeda Stellar Hall in Osaka for the next G PROWRESTLING event. There will be no live broadcast. On demand will be paywalled on YouTube.
It seems like GLEAT often has injuries to report after major events recently and today was no exception coming out of their big event this past weekend-Takanori Ito is now out after emergency surgery for an injury. Elbow. Out indefinitely and off the upcoming Lidet UWF Ver. 5 event. Replacement TBA. It’s not yet known how long Ito will be out.
GLEAT ran their latest signature event, GLEAT Ver. 16, today in Tokyo.
Today’s event was held at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo and can be watched on demand on YouTube but requires a paid membership to their channel, which costs $8.99/month outside Japan.
The announced paid attendance was 640.
Match 1: Hartley Jackson & Kotaro Suzuki beat Parker Boudreaux & CIMA. Suzuki pinned CIMA.
Match 2: MICHIKO, Ryo Aitaka & Ryuji Hijikata beat Yuna Manase, JD Lee & Jay Lanrod. Aitaka pinned Lanrod after Love End Bomb.
Match 3: Tetsuya Izuchi & So Daimonji beat Minoru Tanaka & Seiki Yoshioka. Izuchi pinned Tanaka after Kill Zone.
Match 4: In a G-RUSH Rules Match, El Lindaman beat Lio Rush to become the inaugural G-RUSH World Champion. How fitting such a title match has a wrestler named Rush in it.
Match 5: In a Disbandment Contra Exile Match, Ryuichi Kawakami, Brass Knuckles JUN, Chris Weiss & Rock Iwasaki beat KAZMA SAKAMOTO, Quiet Storm, Takanori Ito & Issei Onitsuka. Kawakami pinned SAKAMOTO after Thunder Fire Bomb. As a result, Bulk Orchestra and Yanzuya Union both must disband.
Match 6: Katsuhiko Nakajima beat T-Hawk.
Match 7: G INFINITY Champions SBK & TAKUMA beat Soma Watanabe & Junjie to retain the titles. TAKUMA pinned Junjie after a 630 splash. V1 for the champs.
Main Event: G-REX Champion Kaito Ishida beat Takehiro Yamamura to retain the title. V1 for Ishida.
The next event is Lidet UWF Ver. 5 on 3/9 at Shin-Kiba 1st Ring with Lidet UWF Champion Katsuhiko Nakajima vs. Simon Gotch for the title. All matches will be under Lidet UWF Rules. Broadcast plans TBA.
GLEAT ran a special crossover event with DDT today in Osaka.
Today’s event was held at Umeda Stellar Hall in Osaka and will be available on demand on YouTube at a later date, but for paying channel members only (outside Japan it costs $8.99/month). There was no live broadcast.
The announced paid attendance was 329, a legit sellout.
There were several late changes to the card due to the absences of Yuki Iino (injury), Yuki Ishida (illness) & Yuki Ueno (medical concerns).
Match 1: Takanori Ito & Takao Soma beat Issei Onitsuka & Tomomitsu Matsunaga. Ito pinned Matsunaga with a German suplex hold.
Match 2: JD Lee & To-y beat Train MICHI Man (MICHIKO) & Danshoku Dieno. Lee pinned Man after a shooting star press.
Match 3: In a G-RUSH Rules match (7 minute time limit, 2 count falls, only 2 rope breaks allowed, 7 count rules), El Lindaman beat Illusion.
Match 4: KANON beat Junjie.
Match 5: Kaito Ishida beat Keigo Nakamura.
Match 6: T-Hawk & Takeshi Masada beat Daisuke Sasaki & Ryo Aitaka. Masada pinned Aitaka.
Match 7: Ryuichi Kawakami, Yukio Naya & Parker Boudreaux beat HARASHIMA, CIMA & KAZMA SAKAMOTO. Kawakami pinned SAKAMOTO after a lariat.
Match 8: Kotaro Suzuki & Tetsuya Izuchi beat Katsuhiko Nakajima & Jay Ramrod (?). Izuhi pinned Ramrod after Kill Zone.
Match 9: Takehiro Yamamura, MAO & Yuya Koroku beat SBK, TAKUMA & Kazuma Sumi. Yamamura pinned Sumi after Super Super Kick.
Main Event: Chris Brookes beat Soma Watanabe.
The next event is GLEAT HAWK SHOW tomorrow at Granship Shizuoka Exchange Hall in Shizuoka. There will be no live broadcast.
GLEAT ran their latest G PROWRESTLING event yesterday in Nagoya.
Yesterday’s event was held at Nagoya Diamond Hall in Nagoya and should be available on demand on YouTube at a later date. There was no live broadcast. Note that to watch it on demand you now will have to get a paid subscription to their YT channel, which currently costs $8.99/month. Otherwise you probably will only be able to watch content uploaded prior to the 12/30/24 event.
The announced paid attendance was 351. I don’t know if this is accurate because it also incorrectly lists Shinjuku Face in Tokyo as the venue.
Match 1: El Lindaman, CIMA & Gamma beat Takanori Ito, Issei Onitsuka & Tomoaki Honma (New Japan). Lindaman beat Onitsuka with an avalanche armbar.
Match 2: Kaito Ishida, Tetsuya Izuchi, Kotaro Suzuki & So Daimonji beat Takehiro Yamamura, Joe Landau, MICHIKO & Chris Ridgeway. Ishida pinned Yamamura with a half tiger suplex hold.
Match 3: T-Hawk & Ryo Aitaka beat Chris Weiss & Brass Knuckles JUN. T-Hawk pinned JUN with Samson Clutch.
Match 4: Ryuichi Kawakami & Rock Iwasaki beat Hayato Tamura & KAZMA SAKAMOTO. Kawakami pinned Tamura after Thunder Fire Bomb.
Match 5: NOBU SAN, SBK & TAKUMA beat Soma Watanabe, Junjie & JD Lee. SBK pinned Lee after SB Shooter.
Main Event: Lidet UWF Single Bout: Lidet UWF Champion Katsuhiko Nakajima beat Minoru Tanaka by TKO to retain the title. V3 for Nakajima. Next up: Possibly Lindaman.
The next event is 2/3 at Sayama City Civic Exchange Center in Saitama. There will be no live broadcast.
In other news, Hayato Tamura is now taking an indefinite hiatus from the promotion. This appears to be due to unspecified medical issues. It’s not yet known how long he may be out.