Tag: New Japan

New Japan finished up the Road To SAKURA GENESIS Tour today with an event dubbed “Jr. Genesis”.

Today’s event was held at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo and can be watched on demand on New Japan World.

The announced paid attendance was 1490, a legit sellout.

Match 1: Yuya Koroku & MAO (DDT) beat Katsuya Murashima & Ninja Mack. MAO pinned Murashima after Iai Kick. Afterwards, MAO hinted at a potential May return to New Japan.

Match 2: Hiroshi Tanahashi beat Ryusuke Taguchi.

Match 3: Jacob Austin Young, Callum Newman & Jeff Cobb beat BUSHI, Hiromu Takahashi & Tetsuya Naito. Cobb pinned BUSHI after Your of the Islands.

Match 4: Shingo Takagi & Yota Tsuhi beat Dick Togo & EVIL. Takagi pinned Togo after HOLD YOUR LAST CHANCE.

Match 5: Master Wato, Yoh, YOSHI-HASHI & Hirooki Goto beat Gedo, Drilla Mooney, Gabriel Kidd & David Finlay. Wato beat Gedo with Vendeval.

Match 6: IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Kosei Fujita & Robbie Eagles beat Robbie X & Taiji Ishimori to retain the titles. Eagles pinned X after Hyperion. V2 for the champs. Next up: Wato & Yoh. When is TBA.

Main Event: In a hardcore match, IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion El Desperado beat Clark Connors to retain the title. V4 for Desperado. Next up: Templario. The masked Mexican has apparently aligned himself with United Empire now. When is TBA. For this and the tag title match though, based on the current schedule I’m thinking they may happen at WRESTLING DONTAKU on 5/3 & 5/4.

The next event is SAKURA GENESIS, the annual spring blowout event, tomorrow at Ryogoku Kokugikan. Live streaming on New Japan World OUTSIDE JAPAN ONLY will begin at 1 AM PT/4 AM ET with a pre-show match scheduled to begin at 12:30 AM PT/3:30 AM ET. This will be an exclusive TV Asahi broadcast in Japan.

New Japan continued the Road To SAKURA GENESIS Tour today in Yamanashi.

Today’s event was held at Aimesse Yamanashi in Yamanashi and can be watched on demand on New Japan World. Originally it was to be non-televised but since this may be Hiroshi Tanahashi’s last match there before retirement, plans changed and it was streamed live.

The announced paid attendance was 850.

Match 1: Tiger Mask, Yoh, Master Wato, Tomoaki Honma & Togi Makabe beat Katsuya Murashima, Ninja Mack, Boltin Oleg, Toru Yano & Hiroyoshi Tenzan. Yoh beat Murashima with Anaconda Vice

Match 2: Drilla Moloney & SANADA beat TAKA Michinoku & Yuya Uenura. Moloney pinned TAKA after Drilla Killer.

Match 3: Gabriel Kidd, Robbie X & Taiji Ishimori beat Hartley Jackson (Independent/Freelancer), Kosei Fujita & Robbie Eagles. Kidd pinned Jackson after Drill-A-Hole Piledriver.

Match 4: BUSHI, Hiromu Takahashi & Tetsuya Naito beat Jacob Austin Young, Francesco Akira & Callum Newman. Takahashi pinned Young with Maximum The Holding 3rd Form.

Match 5: Yota Tsuji beat Yoshinobu Kanemaru by DQ. EVIL low blow.

Match 6: El Desperado, YOSHI-HASHI & Hirooki Goto beat Clark Connors, Gedo & David Finlay. Desperado beat Gedo with Numero Dos.

Main Event: Shingo Takagi beat Hiroshi Tanahashi.

The tour-ender is Friday at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, which has now been dubbed “Jr. Genesis” with an IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship and IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship match. Live streaming on New Japan World will begin at 2:30 AM PT/5:30 AM ET.

First things first, this is from Tokyo Sports so proverbial salt grains…but they dropped a major New Japan bombshell RUMOR earlier today…Tetsuya Naito may be leaving the promotion soon. He actually has been a freelancer since the end of January when his contract expired and he hasn’t signed a new one. To an extent Naito confirmed the story and indicated a potential contract dispute, perhaps over the number of matches worked annually. He will be 43 later this year and his injury history (knees in particular, much like Hiroshi Tanahashi) is well-known. Negotiations seem to be ongoing on a new contract, which given he’s also coming up on 20 years with New Japan may be his last. He is half of the current IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Champions with Hiromu Takahashi with a title defense this weekend at SAKURA GENESIS, so what happens there could be a clue to his future.

Original story at the link below (in Japanese):
https://t.co/odbVunBqcj

4/3/25 UPDATE: In a social media post, Naito confirmed the story is accurate.

While he is generally only a part-timer in New Japan, it was announced on social media that Kevin Knight has been signed by All Elite Wrestling as of last night. Knight usually teams with KUSHIDA when he appears on New Japan and is a 2-time IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champion who also has competed in many other promotions. Of course this doesn’t close the door to New Japan although now the question is whether or not we may see him in Best Of The Super Junior this year. We’ll find out at or after SAKURA GENESIS I guess.

4/8/25 UPDATE: Knight clarified on social media today that he remains signed with New Japan as well as AEW. So he apparently has multiple deals in place with multiple promotions much like Konosuke Takeshita does.

New Japan continued the Road To SAKURA GENESIS Tour today with an event in Shizuoka.

Today’s event was held at Act City Hamamatsu in Shizuoka. There is/was no live or on demand broadcast.

The announced paid attendance was 920.

Match 1: Katsuya Murashima, Ninja Mack, Boltin Oleg & Hiroshi Tanahashi beat Daiki Nagai, Tiger Mask, Tomoaki Honma & Togi Makabe. Mack pinned Nagai after Ninja Splash.

Match 2: Yujiro Takahashi & Ren Narita beat Toru Yano & Hiroyoshi Tenzan. Narita pinned Tenzan.

Match 3: Drilla Moloney & SANADA beat TAKA Michinoku & Yuya Uemura. Moloney pinned TAKA after Drilla Killer.

Match 4: Gabriel Kidd, Robbie X & Taiji Ishimori beat Hartley Jackson (Independent/Freelancer), Kosei Fujita & Robbie Eagles. Kidd pinned Jackson after Drill-A-Hole Piledriver.

Match 5: BUSHI, Hiromu Takahashi & Tetsuya Naito beat Jacob Austin Young, Francesco Akira & Callum Newman. Naito pinned Young after Pluma Blanca.

Match 6: Shingo Takagi & Yota Tsuji beat Dick Togo & EVIL. Takagi pinned Togo after a sliding Pumping Bomber.

Main Event: El Desperado, YOSHI-HASHI & Hirooki Goto beat Clark Connors, Gedo & David Finlay. YOSHI-HASHI pinned Gedo after Shoto.

The next event is Wednesday at Aimesse Yamanashi in Yamanashi. Although New Japan’s Japanese website says there will be no live or on demand broadcast, plans changed after a main event of Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Shingo Takagi was announced, so live streaming on New Japan World will begin at 2:30 AM PT/5:30 AM ET.

New Japan began the Road To SAKURA GENESIS Tour today, a quick week-long sprint to the early April blowout event.

Today’s event was held at Takaoka Techno Dome in Toyama. There is/was no live or on demand broadcast.

The announced paid attendance was 868.

Match 1: Katsuya Murashima, Ninja Mack, Yotu Yano & Hiroyoshi Tenzan beat Daiki Nagai, Tiger Mask, Tomoaki Honma & Togi Makabe. Mack pinned Nagai after Shuriken Kick.

Match 2: Boltin Oleg & Hiroshi Tanahashi beat TAKA Michinoku & Yuya Uemura. Oleg pinned TAKA after Kamikaze.

Match 3: Yujiro Takahashi & Ren Narita beat Drilla Moloney & Gabriel Kidd by DQ. Moloney DQ’d.

Match 4: SANADA, Robbie X & Taiji Ishimori beat Hartley Jackson (Independent/Freelancer), Kosei Fujita & Robbie Eagles. SANADA pinned Jackson after Deadfall.

Match 5: BUSHI, Hiromu Takahashi & Tetsuya Naito beat Jacob Austin Young, Francesco Akira & Callum Newman. Takahashi pinned Young after Maximum The Holding 3rd Form.

Match 6: Shingo Takagi & Yota Tsuji beat Dick Togo & EVIL. Takagi pinned Togo after HOLD YOUR LAST CHANCE.

Main Event: El Desperado, YOSHI-HASHI & Hirooki Goto beat Clark Connors, Gedo & David Finlay. Goto pinned Gedo after Unfit.

The next event is tomorrow at Act City Hamamatsu in Shizuoka. There will be no live or on demand broadcast.

Additionally, according to New Japan World’s website, it has been decided the Windy City Riot event in Chicago, IL on 4/11 will be a PPV. It is available for pre-order for $19.99. At this time it is not listed on the TrillerTV/FITE schedule.