Tag: New Japan Pro Wrestling

New Japan/DDT 6/9/25 Results

New Japan & DDT came together today for a weird one-match event between Toru Yano & Super Sasadango Machine, billed as a one-sided competition which of course was more than just one match and primarily a comedy event.

Today’s event was held at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo and can be watched on demand as a PPV on New Japan World and WRESTLE UNIVERSE in Japanese. The PPV costs $18.99 US on New Japan World and 2500 Japanese yen (around $17.25) on WRESTLE UNIVERSE and will be available until 6/30. You can also watch a pre-show FOR FREE on YouTube.

The paid attendance was not announced. But looking at a photo from Tokyo Joshi Pro ring announcer Sayuri Namba, who apparently was in the crowd, it may have been a legit sellout and probably was around 1500.

The event began with the introduction of PPV managers, commentary, referees and special guests from both sides among others. Naturally it wasn’t all nice & friendly. Which led to…
Match 1: In an Exhibition Match, Daiki Nagai vs. Kazuma Sumi went to a 3 minute time limit draw. Which led to…
Extra Time: Daiki Nagai vs. Kazuma Sumi went to a 5 minute time limit draw.

An “Information Corner” segment with Yoh & Antonio Honda was held.

Machine gave one of his comedy PowerPoint presentations and the match was suddenly changed to be for the DDT Extreme Championship held by Machine.

Match 2: Hiroshi Tanahashi, Toru Yano & Yoh beat Super Sasadango Machine, Akito & Antonio Honda. Tanahashi pinned Machine after High Fly Flow.

Both sides kept fighting afterwards until the head of the World Pro Wrestling Federation appeared to send “peacekeepers”. Which led to…
Match 3: Hiroshi Tanahashi, Toru Yano, Yoh, Super Sasadango Machine, Akito & Antonio Honda beat Sanshiro Takagi, HARASHIMA, Toru Owashi, Shuji Ishikawa, Ken Ohka & MAO. Yoh pinned Takagi with a dragon suplex hold.

Main Event: DDT Extreme Champion Super Sasadango Machine vs. Toru Yano went to a double countout. As a result, Machine retains the title. V1 for Machine. They somehow managed to go-seriously-over 2 hours. And all’s well that ends well.

For New Japan, the next event is DOMINION, the annual June blowout event, Sunday at Osaka-jo Hall in Osaka. Live streaming on New Japan World OUTSIDE JAPAN ONLY will begin at midnight PT/3 AM ET. This is a live & exclusive TV Asahi broadcast in Japan.

For DDT, the next event is Wednesday at Ueno Park Outdoor Stage. There will be no live broadcast.

New Japan News: Tokyo Dome 2026 Event Official

Amidst a flood of New Japan news items yesterday was this item which I missed until just now-start making holiday travel plans because WRESTLE KINGDOM 20, the biggest annual event in Japanese pro wrestling and maybe biggest in the world after WWE WrestleMania, has been officially announced. It will be held on its traditional date of January 4 (a Sunday) at the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo. Already set for the event is Hiroshi Tanahashi’s retirement but everything else is TBA.

More details including ticket information will be announced closer to the event.

New Japan 6/1/25 Results (Updated 6/2/25 x4)

New Japan wrapped up the Best Of The Super Junior 32 Tournament today with the Finals.

Today’s event was held at Ota City General Gym in Tokyo and can be watched on demand on New Japan World.

The announced paid attendance was 3044.

Pre-show match: Robbie X beat Shoma Kato.

Match 1: Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Sho, Yujiro Takahashi, Ren Narita & SANADA beat Kevin Knight, KUSHIDA, Master Wato, Boltin Oleg & Toru Yano. Kanemaru beat Wato with a figure 4.

Match 2: Francesco Akira, Callum Newman & Great-O-Khan beat Tomoaki Honma, YOSHI-HASHI & Taichi. Khan pinned Honma after a wrist clutch Eliminator.

Match 3: Nick Wayne, MAO, El Phantasmo & Shota Umino beat Robbie Eagles, Hartley Jackson, Ryohei Oiwa & Zack Sabre Jr. Phantasmo pinned Jackson after CR2.

Match 4: Titan & Yota Tsuji beat Clark Connors & Taiji Ishimori. Tsuji pinned Connors after Gene Blaster.

Match 5: EVIL beat Gedo by submission. Borderline glorified squash.

Match 6: Ninja Mack, Dragon Dia & Hiroshi Tanahashi beat TAKA Michinoku, El Desperado & Yuya Uemura. Tanahashi pinned TAKA after High Fly Flow. Afterwards, Jun Kasai appeared and challenged Desperado to a match on 6/24.

Match 7: Hiromu Takahashi & Shingo Takagi beat Ryusuke Taguchi & Hirooki Goto. Takagi pinned Taguchi after Burning Dragon.

Main Event: Best Of The Super Junior Finals: Kosei Fujita beat Yoh to win the tournament. Fujita becomes the youngest BOSJ winner in history. As a result, Fujita also gets an IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship shot in the near future.

The next event is DOMINION, the annual June blowout event, on 6/15 at Osaka-jo Hall in Osaka. Live streaming on New Japan World OUTSIDE JAPAN ONLY will begin at midnight PT/3 AM ET. This will be a live & exclusive TV Asahi broadcast in Japan.

Also coming up before then is a New Japan/DDT crossover event focused on a Toru Yano vs. Super Sasadango Machine match on 6/9 at Korakuen Hall. That event will be a live PPV on both New Japan World and WRESTLE UNIVERSE for 2500 Japanese yen (around $17 US) beginning at 3 AM PT/6 AM ET.

6/2/25 UPDATE: At today’s customary post-tournament presser, it was confirmed the title match between Desperado & Fujita will not happen at DOMINION. There is a chance of it happening on 6/24 at Korakuen Hall at an El Desperado Produced event although Desperado wants to defend the title against Jun Sakai that day. That is not yet official so officially the date is TBA. I’m thinking either 7/4 at Tokyo Budokan (Nippon Budokan?) or 7/6 at Korakuen.

Also announced today by Stardom were upcoming IWGP Women’s Championship matches: Syuri will make her first title defense Friday (6/6/25) vs. Alex Windsor at a Pro Wrestling EVE event in England. You may be able to watch that match on YouTube although it will likely be paywalled. Whoever comes out as champion will defend in Stardom on 6/21/25 at Yoyogi National Stadium Gym 2 vs. Sareee. That will, while not yet announced, almost definitely be a PPV on Stardom World.

UPDATE 2: DDT has now announced Fujita will make his first appearance in the promotion on their 7/13 event. He will be in a tag match with TBA, billed as his “friend”, as his partner.

UPDATE 3: It’s now official-El Desperado vs. Jun Kasai on 6/24 will be for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship.

UPDATE 4: Following up on Update 2 above, said “friend” teaming with Fujita on 7/13 in DDT is Takeshi Masada. They will face To-y & Yuya Koroku.

New Japan 5/29/25 Results

New Japan ran the penultimate event of Best Of The Super Junior today, finishing up Block B.

Today’s event was held at Region Plaza Joetsu in Niigata and can be watched on demand on New Japan World.

The paid attendance has not been announced.

Match 1: Dragon Dia, Ninja Mack & KUSHIDA beat Daiki Nagai, Masatora Yasuda & Shoma Kato. KUSHIDA beat Yasuda with a hoverboard lock.

Match 2: Yujiro Takahashi, Ren Narita & Yoshinobu Kanemaru beat Katsuya Murashima, Toru Yano & Master Wato. Narita beat Murashima with a knee lock.

Match 3: Yota Tsuji & Hiromu Takahashi beat Jacob Austin Young & Francesco Akira. Tsuji pinned Young after Gene Blaster.

Match 4: Hartley Jackson, Ryohei Oiwa & Kosei Fujita beat Gedo, Robbie X & Clark Connors. Fujita pinned Gedo with Neshin Special.

Beat Of The Super Junior Block B:
Match 5: Kevin Knight beat Ryusuke Taguchi.
Match 6: Titan beat Nick Wayne.
Match 7: MAO beat Sho.
Match 8: El Desperado beat Robbie Eagles by submission.
Main Event: Yoh beat Taiji Ishimori. As a result, Yoh wins Block B on tiebreakers (he beat both MAO and Desperado) and advances to the Finals to face Fujita.

The Final is Sunday at Ota City General Gym in Tokyo. Live streaming on New Japan World will begin at 2:30 AM PT/5:30 AM ET.

New Japan 5/27/25 Results (Updated)

New Japan continued the Best Of The Super Junior today with the final day of Block A., which would determine who advanced to the Finals. (I previously stated the top 2 in each block would make the Finals. That was incorrect as I found out today only the winner of each block advances this year)

Today’s event was held at Kira Messe Numazu in Shizuoka and can be watched on demand on New Japan World.

The announced paid attendance was 668.

Match 1: Yota Tsuji & Titan beat Daiki Nagai & Nick Wayne. Tsuji pinned Nagai after Gene Blaster.

Match 2: Yujiro Takahashi & Sho beat Shoma Kato & MAO. Takahashi pinned Kato after Pimp Juice.

Match 3: Toru Yano & El Desperado beat Hartley Jackson & Robbie Eagles. Yano pinned Jackson.

Match 4: Tiger Mask & Yoh beat Gedo & Taiji Ishimori. Yoh beat Gedo with Anaconda Vice.

Best Of The Super Junior Block A:
Match 5: Ninja Mack beat Dragon Dia.
Match 6: Francesco Akira beat KUSHIDA.
Match 7: Yoshinobu Kanemaru beat Master Wato by submission.
Match 8: Kosei Fujita beat Clark Connors.
Main Event: Robbie X beat Hiromu Takahashi. As a result, Fujita wins Block A on tiebreakers and advances to the Finals. It was a 5-way tie but he beat everyone in the tie.

The final day of Block B, with a potentially similar tiebreaker scenario, is Thursday at Region Plaza Joetsu in Niigata. Live streaming on New Japan World will begin at 2:30 AM PT/5:30 AM ET.

UPDATE: In post-event comments via New Japan’s English website, Robbie X announced he wants to be the first challenger to Fujita if he wins the BOSJ and, subsequently, the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship. We’ll see. When the winner gets the title shot is TBA but I’m thinking DOMINION on 6/15.

BREAKING: New Japan TAMASHII Gets First Titles

In a news post a short tome ago, New Japan announced the first title for its TAMASHII sub-brand based in and focused on Australia, New Zealand and the Oceania region. The TAMASHII Tag Team Championship will be first awarded at the next event on 7/4 in Mangere, New Zealand via a one-night tournament to crown inaugural champions. Participants TBA but the event poster suggests at least a 4-team tournament.

More as it becomes available.

New Japan 5/25/25 Results

New Japan continued the Best Of The Super Junior today in Nagoya.

Today’s event was held at Port Messe Nagoya Exhibition Hall 2 in Nagoya and can be watched on demand on New Japan World. This also aired on an unknown TV channel in Japan.

The announced paid attendance was 1404.

All matches were Best Of The Super Junior matches, 30 minute time limit.

Match 1: Block B: Robbie Eagles beat Ryusuke Taguchi.
Match 2: Block A: KUSHIDA beat Yoshinobu Kanemaru.
Match 3: Block B: Yoh beat Titan.
Match 4: Block A: Dragon Dia beat Robbie X.
Match 5: Block B: MAO beat Nick Wayne.
Match 6: Block A: Ninja Mack beat Kosei Fujita.
Match 7: Block B: Sho beat Taiji Ishimori.
Match 8: Block A: Clark Connors beat Francesco Akira by DQ. Chair use.
Match 9: Block B: El Desperado beat Kevin Knight.
Main Event: Block A: Hiromu Takahashi beat Master Wato.

Standings:
Block A:
1-Takahashi, 5-3, 10 pts
2-Wato, 5-3, 10 pts
3-Connors, 5-3, 10 pts
4-Fujita, 4-4, 8 pts
5-KUSHIDA, 4-4, 8 pts (OUT)
6-Akira, 4-4, 8 pts (OUT)
7-Dia, 4-4, 8 pts (OUT)
8-Mack, 3-5, 6 pts (OUT)
9-X, 3-5, 6 pts (OUT)
10-Kanemaru, 3-5, 6 pts (OUT)

Block B:
1-Yoh, 5-3, 10 pts
2-Desperado, 5-3, 10 pts
3-MAO, 5-3, 10 pts
4-Sho, 4-4, 8 pts
5-Wayne, 4-4, 8 pts (OUT)
6-Eagles, 4-4, 8 pts (OUT)
7-Ishimori, 4-4, 8 pts (OUT)
8-Taguchi, 3-5, 6 pts (OUT)
9-Knight, 3-5, 6 pts (OUT)
10-Titan, 3-5, 6 pts (OUT)
The top 2 in each block advance to the Finals. In Block A, a spot is Takahashi’s to lose-he just has to win his final match (X) to advance. Connors has the advantage among the rest, only needing to beat Fujita to advance on tiebreakers. Wato must win (Kanemaru) and needs Fujita to beat Connors to advance. Fujita must beat Connors and Takahashi & Wato must lose to advance on tiebreakers. Everyone else is out due to tiebreakers. In Block B, Yoh advances with a win in his last match (Ishimori), and Desperado will advance with a win (Eagles). MAO must win (Sho) and Yoh and/or Desperado must lose to advance because MAO loses tiebreaker to both. Sho must beat MAO and Yoh must lose and Desperado must win or draw to advance on tiebreakers (Sho beat MAO and Yoh but lost to Desperado). Everyone else is out.

The final day of Block A is Tuesday at Kira Messe Numazu in Shizuoka. Live streaming on New Japan World will begin at 2:30 AM PT/5:30 AM ET.

New Japan 5/24/25 Results

New Japan continued the Best Of The Super Junior today in Hyogo.

Today’s event was held at Atelier Himeji in Hyogo and can be watched on demand on New Japan World.

The announced paid attendance was 1136.

All matches were Best Of The Super Junior matches, 30 minute time limit.

Match 1: Block A: Clark Connors beat Ninja Mack.
Match 2: Block B: Sho beat Titan.
Match 3: Block A: Francesco Akira beat Robbie X.
Match 4: Block B: MAO beat Robbie Eagles.
Match 5: Block A: Kosei Fujita beat Dragon Dia.
Match 6: Block B: Taiji Ishimori beat Kevin Knight.
Match 7: Block A: Hiromu Takahashi beat Yoshinobu Kanemaru.
Match 8: Block B: Yoh beat Nick Wayne.
Match 9: Block A: Master Wato beat KUSHIDA.
Main Event: Block B: El Desperado beat Ryusuke Taguchi.

Standings:
Block A:
1-Wato, 5-2, 10 pts
2-Takahashi, 4-3, 8 pts
3-Fujita, 4-3, 8 pts
4-Akira, 4-3, 8 pts
5-Connors, 4-3, 8 pts
6-X, 3-4, 6 pts
7-Kanemaru, 3-4, 6 pts
8-Dia, 3-4, 6 pts
9-KUSHIDA, 3-4, 6 pts
10-Mack, 2-5, 4 pts (OUT)

Block B:
1-MAO, 4-3, 8 pts
2-Yoh, 4-3, 8 pts
3-Ishimori, 4-3, 8 pts
4-Desperado, 4-3, 8 pts
5-Wayne, 4-3, 8 pts
6-Taguchi, 3-4, 6 pts
7-Knight, 3-4, 6 pts
8-Eagles, 3-4, 6 pts
9-Titan, 3-4, 6 pts
10-Sho, 3-4, 6 pts

The top 2 in each block advance to the Semifinals. Mack is the first official elimination, out of Block A because of tiebreakers. Everyone else is still alive with only Wato not in a tie for first as he now leads Block A.

The next event is tomorrow at Port Messe Nagoya Exhibition Hall 2 in Nagoya. Live streaming on New Japan World will begin at 1 AM PT/4 AM ET. This will also be broadcast on another channel/service I’m not familiar with in Japan.

News: A Clue To Future Destino?

He may no longer be with New Japan, but in a social media post in Japanese and Spanish today Tetsuya Naito possibly dropped a hint about his future plans. He mentioned an event with fellow ex-NJPW and LIJ member BUSHI on 6/22 somewhere in Tokyo, the title of which translates to “A Beginning”. This picture posted is the clue:

A separate Twitter account seemingly promoting the event and followed by Naito indicates it’s a talk show event at Tokyo Bay Washington Hotel Iris Hall in Tokyo, with tickets going on sale on 6/1 for 7110 Japanese yen (about $49 US). The account also posted a pic of Naito and a seemingly unmasked BUSHI that was taken outside Fukuoka International Center in Fukuoka, their backs to the camera, seemingly taken 2 weeks ago (where they made their last NJPW appearances at WRESTLING DONTAKU 2025). The account, on Twitter at Jun_22_2025, promises more announcements about this event so it may be worth watching for clues along with Naito’s account. It also follows BUSHI’s account, BUSHI posts regularly and noted he had vocal cord surgery after leaving New Japan. His profile says his DMs are open for bookings & inquiries. This also may be connected to the other acc it follows, a “secret” online shop that may be in on the project as well as having an association with Alex Zayne, who makes occasional appearances in NJPW.

More as it becomes available.

New Japan 5/22/25 Results

New Japan continued the Best Of The Super Junior today with Block B.

Today’s event was held at Osaka Prefectural Gym 2 in Osaka and can be watched on demand on New Japan World. This was a Samurai! TV broadcast in Japan.

The announced paid attendance was 967.

Match 1: Hartley Jackson & Kosei Fujita beat Shoma Kato & Dragon Dia. Jackson pinned Kato after Death Valley Bomb.

Match 2: Jacob Austin Young & Francesco Akira beat Gedo & Robbie X. Akira beat Gedo with a ground tarantula.

Match 3: Yota Tsuji & Hiromu Takagashi beat Yujiro Takahashi & Yoshinobu Kanemaru. Tsuji pinned Takahashi after Gene Blaster.

Match 4: Toru Yano, Hiroshi Tanahashi & Master Wato beat Katsuya Murashima, Yuya Uemura & KUSHIDA. Yano pinned Murashima after Demon Slayer.

Best Of The Super Junior Block B:
Match 5: MAO beat Ryusuke Taguchi.
Match 6: Kevin Knight beat Sho.
Match 7: Robbie Eagles beat Titan by submission.
Match 8: Taiji Ishimori beat Nick Wayne.
Main Event: Yoh beat El Desperado by submission.
Standings-wise, Wayne still leads the block at 4-2, 8 points, with everyone else at 3-3, 6 points except Sho who is 2-4, 6 points. The top 2 advance to the Semifinals.

The next event is Sunday at Atelier Himeji in Hypgo with both blocks and no non-tournament matches. Live streaming on New Japan World will begin at 1 AM PT/4 AM ET