Tag: New Japan

New Japan just announced a major change to Saturday’s CMLL FANTASTICAMANIA USA event: Stephanie Vaquer is now off. Personal reasons. She is no longer part of CMLL or NJPW per a statement from CMLL. As a result, the CMLL Women’s World Championship is now VACANT. Vaquer was to have defended the title against Lluvia. Lluvia will now face Willow Nightingale & Viva Van in a 3-way for the vacant title.

UPDATE: While not official, Mexico-based website RECORD reports (in Spanish) Vaquer has signed-or is about to sign-a multi-year deal-with WWE. Having to leave New Japan is confirmation she’s not headed to All Elite Wrestling. Said WWE deal reportedly started to come together after the Forbidden Door event.

UPDATE 2: It’s now official. WWE Hall Of Famer Shawn Michaels, who now oversees the NXT brand, posted a “welcome” post to Vaquer on Twitter at around 2:30 PM PT/5:30 PM ET, indicating she’s headed to NXT. So she is WWE-bound.

New Japan wrapped up the NEW JAPAN SOUL 2024 Tour today with a big event in Tokyo.

Today’s event was held at Tokyo Budokan in Tokyo (not the same as Nippon Budokan as I just discovered) and can be watched on demand on New Japan World.

The announced paid attendance was 2423.

Match 1: Kosei Fujita & Zack Sabre Jr. beat Gedo & KENTA. Fujita pinned Gedo after Abandon Hope.

Match 2: Francesco Akira, Great-O-Khan & TJP beat TAKA Michinoku, Yuya Uemura & SANADA. Akira pinned TAKA after Fireball.

Match 3: Ryusuke Taguchi Return Match: Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Sho, Ren Narita, Yujiro Takahashi & EVIL beat Ryusuke Taguchi, Tiger Mask, Tomoaki Honma, Yuji Nagata & Hiroshi Tanahashi. EVIL pinned Honma after EVIL.

Match 4: G1 CLIMAX 34 Contender Tournament A Block Finals: Callum Newman beat YOSHI-HASHI to win the tournament. As a result, Newman is in the tournament in A Block. UPSET ALERT!!! Although this all but means he’ll be the jobber and lose most if not all his matches.

Match 5: G1 CLIMAX 34 Contender Tournament B Block Finals: Boltin Oleg beat Taichi to win the tournament. As a result, Oleg is in the tournament in B Block. See above.

Match 6: BUSHI, Shingo Takagi & Tetsuya Naito vs. Titan, Hiromu Takahashi & Yota Tsuji went to a 30 minute time limit draw.

Main Event: DOUKI beat IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion El Desperado to win the title. DOUKI becomes the 97th IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion.

The next event is CMLL FANTASTICAMANIA USA on 7/13 at Mt. Pleasant High School in San Jose, CA. Live streaming on New Japan World in Japanese & English as a PPV ($19.99 US, 2999 Japanese yen in Japan) will begin at 5:30 PM PT/8:30 PM ET. Tickets are still available and run $30-$200.

After not announcing anything before regarding broadcast plans for the CMLL FANTASTICAMANIA USA event on 7/13/24, New Japan announced broadcast plans overnight: It will be a PPV on New Japan World available worldwide in Japanese and English. The event, to be held in San Jose, CA, will be available for $19.99 worldwide and 2990 Japanese yen in Japan only (just under $20 US), which includes the live broadcast starting at 5:30 PM PT/8:30 PM ET and on demand replays until 8/31/2024 (subject to change). An NJPW WORLD account is required to purchase the PPV (free to create) but a monthly viewing subscription is not required. There probably will be live resluts here as I intend to wait until the event gets closer to purchase.

After a nearly 2 week break for the Forbidden Door PPV, New Japan resumed the NEW JAPAN SOUL 2024 Tour today with the penultimate event of the tour.

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 1225.

Match 1: TAKA Michinoku, Yuya Uemura, DOUKI & SANADA beat Tomoaki Honma, Togi Makabe, Yuji Nagata & El Desperado. Uemura pinned Honma after a diving crossbody.

Match 2: Titan, Hiromu Takahashi & Yota Tsuji beat Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Sho & Ren Narita by DQ. Narita DQ’d. Which led to…

Match 3: BUSHI, Titan, Hiromu Takahashi, Yota Tsuji, Shingo Takagi & Tetsuya Naito beat Dick Togo, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Sho, Ren Narita, Yujiro Takahashi & EVIL. BUSHI pinned Togo after Fable.

Match 4: G1 CLIMAX Contender Tournament B Block: Boltin Oleg beat Hiroshi Tanahashi. As a result, Oleg advances to the Finals. UPSET ALERT!!!

Match 5: G1 CLIMAX Contender Tournament A Block: Callum Newman beat KENTA. As a result, Newman advances to the Finals. UPSET ALERT!!!

Match 6: G1 CLIMAX Contender Tournament B Block: Taichi beat TJP. As a result, Taichi advances to the Finals and will face Oleg.

Main Event: G1 CLIMAX Contender Tournament A Block: YOSHI-HASHI beat Tomohiro Ishii. As a result, YOSHI-HASHI advances to the Finals and will face Newman. So either the veterans are getting in or there will be massive upsets and the young guys will probably wind up being the jobbers in their G1 debuts.

The tour-ender is Friday at Nippon Budokan in Tokyo. Most of the card is still TBA outside of Oleg-Taichi, Newman-YOSHI-HASHI, IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion El Desperado vs. DOUKI for the title and a 6-man match featuring LIJ facing each other. Ryusuke Taguchi will also return from injury. Live streaming on New Japan World will begin at 2 AM PT/5 AM ET.

New Japan continued the NEW JAPAN SOUL 2024 Tour today in Ibaraki.

Today’s event was held at Kamisu Disaster Prevention Arena in Ibaraki and can be watched on demand on New Japan World. This was a Smaurai! TV broadcast in Japan.

The announced paid attendance was 770.

Match 1: Yuya Uemura & DOUKI beat Shoma Kato & El Desperado. Uemura pinned Kato with a Kannuki suplex hold.

Match 2: Tomoaki Honma & Tomohiro Ishii beat Katsuya Murashima & Hiroshi Tanahashi. Ishii pinned Murashima.

Match 3: Francesco Akira, Great-O-Khan & Jeff Cobb beat TAKA Michinoku, Taichi & SANADA. Akira pinned TAKA after Fireball.

Match 4: HENARE & Callum Newman beat Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Yujiro Takahashi. HENARE pinned Kanemaru after Streets Of Rage.

Match 5: Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI beat Gedo & Chase Owens. Goto pinned Gedo after Shoto.

Match 6: G1 CLIMAX Contestant Tournament Block B: Boltin Oleg beat Toru Yano. As a result, Oleg advances to the Semifinals and will face Hiroshi Tanahashi.

Match 7: G1 CLIMAX Contestant Tournament Block B: TJP beat Satoshi Kojima. As a result, TJP adcances to the Semifinals and will face Taichi.

Main Event: Titan, BUSHI, Yota Tsuji & Tetsuya Naito beat Dick Togo, Sho, Ren Narita & EVIL. Naito pinned Togo after Destino.

The next event is the joint All Elite Wretling-New Japan “Forbidden Door” event on 6/30 at UBS Arena in Elmont, NY. This event will be a live PPV via cable/satellite providers in the US, Bleacher Report, TrillerTV/Fite in select countries including the US, and New Japan World as a PPV in Japan. The current tour will resume on 7/3 at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo.

New Japan continued the NEW JAPAN SOUL 2024 Tour today with an event in Fukushima.

Today’s event was held at Toyota Crown Arena in Fukushima and can be watched on demand on New Japan World.

The announced paid attendance was 1071.

Match 1: Masatora Yasuda vs. Daiki Nagai went to a 10 minute time limit draw. Had their first names wrong before from translations.

Match 2: Francesco Akira & Great-O-Khan beat Katsuya Murashima & Shoma Kato. Akira pinned Murashima after Fireball.

Match 3: HENARE, Jeff Cobb & TJP beat Tomoaki Honma, Tomohiro Ishii & Satoshi Kojima. HENARE pinned Honma after Streets Of Rage.

Match 4: Boltin Oleg, El Desperado, Toru Yano, Hirooki Goto & Hiroshi Tanahashi beat TAKA Michinoku, DOUKI, Yuya Uemura, Taichi & SANADA. Oleg pinned TAKA after Kamikaze.

Match 5: G1 CLIMAX A Block Contestant Tournament: Callum Newman beat Yujiro Takahashi. As a result, Newman advances to the Semifinals and will face KENTA. That match will be o 7/3.

Match 6: G1 CLIMAX A Block Contestant Tournament: YOSHI-HASHI beat Chase Owens. As a result, YOSHI-HASHI advances to the Semifinals and will face Tomohiro Ishii. That match will be on 7/3.

Main Event: Titan, BUSHI, Yota Tsuji & Tetsuya Naito beat Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Sho, Ren Narita & EVIL. Naito pinned Kanemaru after Destino. Today is/was also Naito’s birthday so so a celebration was held-post match, and it’s reported his mother was in attendance too.

The next event is tomorrow at Kamisu Disaster Preparation Arena in Ibaraki. Live streaming on New Japan World will begin TONIGHT at 11 PM PT/2 AM ET. This will be a Samurai! TV broadcast in Japan.

New Japan began the NEW JAPAN SOUL 2024 tour today, finishing up a packed long weekend of events in Hokkaido.

Today’s event was held at Hokkaido Prefectural Sports Center Hokkai Kita Yell in Hokkaido and can be watched on demand on New Japan World.

The announced paid attendance was 2370.

Pre-show match: Yutora Yasuda & Hiroki Nagai Debut Match: Yutora Yasuda vs. Hiroki Nagai went to a 10 minute time limit draw. Two new Young Lions making their official debut here.

Match 1: Callum Newman, Francesco Akira, Great-O-Khan, Jeff Cobb & TJP beat Katsuya Murashima, Shoma Kato, Tomoaki Honma, Tomohiro Ishii & Satoshi Kojima. Akira pinned Kato after Fireball.

Match 2: DOUKI & Taichi beat Yoshinoby Kanemaru & Ren Narita. DOUKI pinned Kanemaru with Jorge Rivera Special.

Match 3: YOSHI-HASHI & Hirooki Goto beat Dick Togo & EVIL. Goto pinned Togo after Shoto.

Match 4: Titan & Tetsuya Naito beat TAKA Michinoku & Yuya Uemura. Titan pinned TAKA after a swan dive foot stomp.

Match 5: Boltin Oleg, Toru Yano & Hiroshi Tanahashi beat NEVER 6-Man Tag Team Champions BUSHI, Hiromu Takahashi & Yota Tsuji to win the titles. Oleg, Yano & Tanahashi bevome the 29th NEVER 6-Man Tag Team Champions. Oleg pinned BUSHI after Kamikaze. Immediate rematch meant the new champs never had a chance. That and apparently the new regime means, to my dismay, keeping these titles on Yano, ugh.

Match 6: IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Drilla Moloney & Clark Connors beat Kosei Fujita & Robbie Eagles to retain the titles. Connors pinned Fujita after Full Cip. V3 for the champs.

Match 7: HENARE beat NEVER Openweight Champion Shingo Takagi to win the title. HENARE becomes the 45th NEVER Openweight Champion. ALso immediate rematch, the first time went to a Double KO.

Match 8: IWGP Global Champion David Finlay beat SANADA to retain the title. V1 for Finlay.

Main Event: In a Steel Cage Match, El Desperado beat IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Sho to win the title. Desperado becomes the 96th IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion. Next up: If Desperado gets his way, DOUKI.

During the event, the field for this year’s G1 CLIMAX Tournament were announced. It will be 20 over 2 blocks this year. The lineups:
Block A: Tetsuya Naito, Shota Umino, Shingo Takagi, SANADA, Great-O-Khan, Zack Sabre Jr., Gabriel Kidd, EVIL, Jake Lee, TBA
Block B: Hirooki Goto, El Phantasmo, Yota Tsuji, Yuya Uemura, Jeff Cobb, HENARE, David FInlay, Ren Narita, Konosuke Takeshita, TBA
The TBA in each block will be the winner of a qualifying tournament, which has 6 possible entrants for each block. Block A has Tomohiro Ishii, YOSHI-HASHI, Callum Newman, KENTA, Chase Owens and Yujiro Takahashi. Block B has Hiroshi Tanahashi, Toru Yano, Boltin Oleg, Taichi, Satoshi Kojima & TJP. Block A seems wide open with everyone except Newman having a real chance. Block B would be a shocker if Tanahashi doesn’t advance, but the only other one with a real chance to me is Taichi.
The tournaments start soon and will end on 7/5.

The next event is Tuesday at Aomori Budokan in Aomori. There will be no live or on demand broadcast. After this and Wednesday’s event, it’s all live & on demand on New Japan World until at least the end of the G1 CLIMAX. Also, according to New Japan’s Japanese website there will be a Shingo Takagi 20th Anniversary event on 9/7 at Aimesse Yamanashi in Yamanashi.

New Japan held an El Desperado Produced event today, DESPE INVITACIONAL, the lineup of which was as mysterious as the masked men himself.

Today’s event was held at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo and can be watched on demand on New Japan World as a PPV for $22.99 US. You can also watch the pre-show match FOR FREE on YouTube.

The announced paid attendance was 1506, a legit sellout.

No matches or participants were announced in advance.

Pre-show match: Kyoko Inoue, Toru Yano & Hiroshi Tanahashi beat DASH Chisako, Isami Kodaka & Yuko Miyamoto. Tanahashi pinned Kodaka after High Fly Flow.

PPV:
Match 1: Starlight Kid & Dragon Kid beat Mima Shimoda & El Desperado. Starlight Kid beat Shimoda with Black Tiger Leg Murder.

Match 2: In a Lucha Rules match, Eita, Daisuke Sasaki & DOUKI beat Violent Jacques in a 4-way when all 3 simultaneously pinned Jacques.

Match 3: In a hardcore match, Hiromu Takahashi & Jun Kasai beat Yakayuki Ueki & Minoru Suzuki. Takahashi pinned Ueki after Pearl Harbor Splash.

Match 4: In a hardcore match, El Phantasmo vs. Chris Brookes, MAO & Seiji Takeda in a 4-way went to a 20 minute time limit draw.

Match 5: Zack Sabre Jr. beat Hikaru Sato.

Main Event: Dick Togo & Gedo beat Danshoku Dieno & El Desperado. Gedo pinned Dieno with Gedo Clutch. Afterwards, Desperado closed the show by saying “it was super fun!” Also, as a result of today, Desperado vs. Brookes has been added to the 7/21 DDT event at Ryogoku Kokugikan.

The next event is ALL TOGETHER in SAPPORO, a fundraiser event for Nito Peninsula earthquake recovery efforts, Saturday at Hokkaido Prefectural Sports Center Hokkai Kita Yell in Hokkaido. The live broadcast will be a PPV only on ABEMA beginning at 1 AM PT/4 AM ET. It will hopefully be available on demand on New Japan World and/or WRESTLE UNIVERSE at a later date.

UPDATE: Following up on DOMINION, Desperado gets his IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship match vs. Sho in a steel cage match Sunday.