HISTORIC X-OVER, the first joint New Japan & Stardom event, is now in the books. The two promotions, both owned by Bushiroad Corporation, put on a dream card today although it was tempered somewhat by the rules not allowing true intergender matches-in the mixed tag matches the men could only wrestle against the men and the women against the women-when one team tagged out, the other side had to do the same, so nothing like we see in DDT (with Saki Akai matches) and on the US independent scene.
Today’s event was held at Ariake Arena in Tokyo and currently can be watched on demand as a PPV on New Japan World in English (additional purchase required). It will be a PPV only replay for the next week. It will be available on demand without additional purchase to all New Japan World subscribers at a later date. There was also a 1 hour pre-show that, for now, can be watched FOR FREE on YouTube.
The announced paid attendance was 7102. No vocal cheering allowed. Depending on the layout, this probably was just short of 80% capacity (the venue’s normal capacity is 12,000 but I’m guessing the setup cut it down closer to 9000).
Pre-show Match 1: Oskar Leube Debut Match: Gabriel Kidd, Clark Connors, Kevin Knight & Alex Coughlin beat Oskar Leube, Kosei Fujita, Ryohei Oiwa & Yuto Nakashima. Coughlin pinned Leube after DPD. Leube is a new Young Lion from Europe (I don’t remember which country but I want to say Germany) who has been trained/mentored by Yuji Nagata.
Pre-show Match 2: MIRAI won a 15-woman Stardom Battle Royal, last eliminating Super Strong Stardom Machine.
PPV:
Match 1: Lio Rush, Yoh, YOSHI-HASHI & Tomohiso Ishii beat Dick Togo, Sho, Yujiro Takahashi & EVIL. Rush pinned Togo after 3K.
Match 2; Saya Kamitani, Lady C & AZM Beat Himeka, Thekla & Mai Sakurai. Kamitani pinned Sakurai after Firebird Splash.
Match 3: Giulia & Zack Sabre Jr. beat Syuri & Tom Lawlor. Sabre beat Lawlor with a European Clutch.
Match 4: Natsupoi, Tam Nakano, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Taichi beat Momo Watanabe, Starlight Kid, El Desperado & DOUKI. Taichi pinned DOUKI after Black Mephisto.
Match 5: Utami Hayashishita & Hiroshi Tanahashi beat Maika & Hirooki Goto. Hayashishita pinned Maika after Hijack Bomb.
Match 6: Gideon Gray, Francesco Akira, TJP & Aussie Open beat BUSHI, Hiromu Takahashi, SANADA, Shingo Takagi & Tetsuya Naito. Kyle Fletcher pinned BUSHI after Corealis.
Match 7: The Great Muta Final New Japan Match: The Great Muta (Keiji Muto), Kazuchika Okada & Toru Yano beat Great-O-Khan, Jeff Cobb & Aaron Henare. Okada pinned Henare after Rainmaker.
Match 8: IWGP US Heavyweight Champion Will Ospreay beat Shota Umino to retain the title. V4 for Ospreay. Next up: Possibly Kenny Omega, who issued a recorded challenge for Tokyo Dome on 1/4. That’s a big if because 1/4 is a Wednesday next year and All Elite Wrestling will be making their Seattle, WA debut that night. When asked about Tokyo Dome last night at the post-PPV media scrum, AEW President/Owner Tony Khan indicated he wanted most, if not all the AEW roster present for this event. So either he OK’d this or Omega, an Executive Vice-President of AEW, is already getting himself back into potential hot water just hours after returning from an indefinite suspension following AEW’s prior PPV in September (a reported post-PPV altercation backstage involving The Young Bucks, who also returned last night, and CM Punk, who is not expected to return to AEW).
Main Event: IWGP Women’s Championship Tournament Finals: KAIRI (Independent/Freelancer) beat Mayu Iwatani to win the tournament and the title and become the inaugural IWGP Women’s Champion. KAIRI is Kairi Hojo, who began her career in Stardom before leaving in the 2010s for WWE, where she became Kairi Sane, then returned to Japan after being released and changed her name back to just her first name. The first challenger: Tam Nakano. That will happen on 1/4 at Tokyo Dome.
Next up is the World Tag League and Super Jr. Tag League 2022, beginning tomorrow at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo. The tournaments will alternate dates through most of the tour, with the Super Jr. Tag League starting first then the World Tag League following on Tuesday. Live streaming on New Japan World will begin at 1:30 AM PT/4:30 AM ET, and even better, you can watch tomorrow’s event FOR FREE! Also, every remaining New Japan event this year will be live on New Japan World.
