Tag: New Japan

New Japan 10/15/22 Results

New Japan continued the BURNING AUTUMN ’22 tour today with the second half of the opening doubleheader. The first round of the NJPW World TV Title Tournament continued today.

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

The paid attendance has not yet been announced.

Match 1: TAKA Michinoku & Taichi beat Gedo & KENTA. Taichi beat Gedo with Taichi Gedo Clutch.

Match 2: Toru Yano, Tomohiro Ishii & Hirooki Goto beat Ren Narita, Tonoaki Honma & Togi Makabe. Goto pinned Honma after GTR.

Match 3: Alex Zayne, Master Wato, Tiger Mask & David Finlay beat DOUKI, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, El Desperado & Zack Sabre Jr. Finlay pinned DOUKI after Trash Panda.

Match 4: Sho & Yujiro Takahashi beat Jado & Hikuleo. Takahashi pinned Jado after Pimp Juice.

Match 5: Titan, BUSHI, SANADA & Tetsuya Naito beat Gideon Gray, Francesco Akira, TJP & Great-O-Khan. Titan pinned Gray after Angel Immortal.

Match 6: Hiromu Takahashi & Shingo Takagi beat Taiji Ishimori & El Phantasmo by DQ. Phantasmo DQ’d. Ref assault. Phantasmo then broke the KOPW 2022 Trophy again.

Match 7: NJPW World TV Title Tournament: EVIL beat Aaron Henare.

Main Event: NJPW World TV Title Tournament: YOSHI-HASHI beat Jeff Cobb. As a result, YOSHI-HASHI will face EVIL in Round 2. That match will happen on 10/27.

The next event is tomorrow at Aore Nagaoka in Niigata. Vocal cheering will be allowed and the event is a legit advance sellout. Live streaming on New Japan World will begin at 1 AM PT/4 AM ET.

Obituary: Former New Japan Wrestler Dies

Tokyo Sports is reporting that Katsuya Kitamura, a former wrestler in New Japan from 2016-2019, died Wednesday in Japan. He was 36. The cause of death is unknown at this time, but reports are Kitamura felt unwell and called an ambulance, then his condition suddenly deteriorated.

After winning 3 consecutive Greco-Roman Wresting Championships in Japan in the 96kg (about 211 pounds) weight class, Kitamura joined New Japan in 2017 and won that year’s Young Lions Cup Tournament. But he suffered a concussion during an event in March 2018 and retired on January 31, 2019 following an injury in training. He became a bodybuilder and made his MMA debut in November at a RIZIN event in Japan, losing to Bobby Ologun by second round submission. Kitamura was also an active YouTuber and last posted to his channel on Sunday.

No official statement from New Japan yet but I would expect one in the next few days. We pray for Kitamura’s peace in the other world. RIP and God Bless.

New Japan 10/14/22 Results

New Japan kicked off the BATTLE AUTUMN ’22 Tour today, likely to be the last non-tournament series of the year that begins a heavy focus on Tokyo Dome on 1/4. Today also began the NJPW World TV Title Tournament, with the winner being crowned on 1/4.

Today’s event was held at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo and can be watched on demand on New Japan World in Japanese FOR FREE! No signup or login required! English should be available in a few days. The event also streamed for free on ABEMA.

The announced paid attendance was 608.

Match 1: Ryohei Oiwa & Ren Narita beat Yuto Nakashima & Tomohiro Ishii. Narita beat Nakashima with a Figure 4.

Match 2: Rocky Romero, Master Wato, Tomoaki Honma & Togi Makabe beat TAKA Michinoku, DOUKI, El Desperado & Taichi. Wato beat TAKA with Vendeval.

Match 3: Dick Togo, Sho, Yujiro Takahashi & EVIL beat Jado, Ryusuke Taguchi, Hikuleo & Hiroyoshi Tenzan. Takahashi pinned Jado after Pimp Juice.

Match 4: YOSHI-HASHI, Toru Yano & Hirooki Goto beat Aaron Henare, Great-O-Khan & Jeff Cobb. Yano pinned Henare.

Match 5: Titan, BUSHI & Tetsuya Naito beat Gideon Gray, Francesco Akira & TJP. Titan pinned Gray after Angel Immortal.

Match 6: Taiji Ishimori, El Phantasmo & KENTA beat Hiromu Takahashi, SANADA & Shingo Takagi by DQ. Takagi DQ’d. Chair use on Phantasmo.

NJPW World TV Title Tournament (15 minute time limit):
Match 7: David Finlay beat Yoshinobu Kanemaru.
Main Event: Zack Sabre Jr. beat Alex Zayne by submission. With 5 seconds left.

The next event is tomorrow. Live streaming on New Japan World will begin at 2:40 AM PT/5:30 AM ET.

New Japan 10/10/22 Results (Updated x3)

New Japan ran their fall blowout event today, dubbed “Declaration Of Power” this year today, although the mood was somber as this was the first event held (excluding the England doubleheader) since the death of New Japan founder & Hall of Fame wrester Antonio Inoki, who was going to be named Honorary Lifetime Chairman today.

Today’s event was held at Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo and can be watched on demand on New Japan World in Japanese & English.

The announced paid attendance was 4059. This event aired as part of WORLD PRO WRESTLING LIVE 2022 on TV Asahi. Jushin Thunder Liger is the guest on Japanese commentary.

Before the event began, Oleg Boltin joined the promotion, introduced by Yuji Nagata. A 10 Bell Salute was then held for Antonio Inoki.

Match 1: Ren Narita Return Home Match: Ren Narita, Robbie Eagles & David Finlay beat DOUKI, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & El Desperado. Narita pinned DOUKI with a front suplex hold.

Match 2: Taichi & Zack Sabre Jr. beat Bad Dude Tito & Shane Haste. Sabre beat Tito with European Clutch.

Match 3: Ryusuke Taguchi, Hikuleo & Hiroshi Tanahashi beat Sho, Yujiro Takahashi & EVIL. Taguchi pinned Sho.

Match 4: Great-O-Khan & Jeff Cobb beat YOSHI-HASHI & Hirooki Goto. Cobb pinned YOSHI-HASHI after Tour of the Islands.

Match 5: BUSHI, Hiromu Takahashi, SANADA & Tetsuya Naito beat Francesco Akira, TJP, Aaron Henare & Will Ospreay. BUSHI pinned Akira after MX. After the match, Titan (CMLL) appeared to join LIJ after interfering late in the match.

During intermission, a new title was introduced-the New Japan World TV Championship. Determination tournament forthcoming to crown inaugural champion.

Match 6: Master Wato beat Taiji Ishimori.

Match 7: In a Who’s Your Daddy Match, where the loser had to call the winner Daddy on microphone, KOPW 2022 Trophy Holder Shingo Takagi beat El Phantasmo to retain the trophy. But the trophy was destroyed afterwards.

Match 8: Kazuchika Okada beat Jonah.

Main Event: IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Jay White beat Tama Tonga to retain the title. V2 for White. Next up: Unless plans unexpectedly change, Okada at Tokyo Dome on 1/4/23.

The next event is the Battle Autumn ’22 Tour beginning Friday at Korakuen Hall. Live streaming on New Japan World will begin Friday at 2:30 AM PT/5:30 AM ET and this event will be available FOR FREE!

UPDATE: Instead of making the Inoki announcement today, they announced that the 1/4/23 event will be held in honor & memory of Inoki.

UPDATE 2: Regarding the NJPW TV Championship, it was created to celebrate the promotion’s partnership with TV Asahi, their primary broadcast partner in Japan, and New Japan World. A tournament to crown the inaugural champion will start Friday and will conclude on 1/4/23.

UPDATE 3: A 1/4/23 Press Conference will be held tomorrow and will be streamed FOR FREE on YouTube LIVE TONIGHT at 11 PM PT/2 AM ET on the New Japan World YouTube channel (only in Japanese).

BREAKING: New Japan 10/10 Card Changes Coming (Updated)

New Japan has just announced a pending change to their major Monday event at Ryogoku Kokugikan-once again KUSHIDA is out. Still recovering from hand, foot and mouth disease and will not be cleared. He was to have faced IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion Taiji Ishimori in a NON-TITLE match. Card changes TBA before the event.

More as it becomes available.

UPDATE: The changes have been announced. Ishimori will now face Master Wato in a NON-TITLE match and, because Wato was scheduled to be in the 3rd match, which was an 8-man tag, that match is now Hiroshi Tanahashi, Hikuleo & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Sho, Yujiro Takahashi & EVIL. Dick Togo is now off.

New Japan 10/2/22 Results (Updated)

New Japan ran the second half of ROYAL QUEST 2 today, wrapping up their return to England for the first time since 2019.

Today’s event was held at Crystal Palace National Sports Center in London, England and will be available on demand on New Japan World at a later date. There was no live broadcast.

The paid attendance has not yet been announced. It has since been revealed that yesterday’s paid attendance was 2137, a legit sellout. As of last week tickets may still have been available for today so I again will predict roughly 2000 for today.

Match 1: DOUKI & El Desperado beat Robbie X & Michael Oku. DOUKI pinned X after El Es Ciero.

Match 2: Hiromu Takahashi & SANADA beat Luke Jacobs & Ethan Allen. SANADA beat Allen with Skull End.

Match 3: IWGP Women’s Championship Tournament: Jazzy Gabert beat Ava White (Alpha Female).

Match 4: Gideon Gray, Aussie Open, Great-O-Khan & Will Ospreay beat Ricky Knight Jr., Gabriel Kidd, SHota Umino & FTR. Khan pinned ? after Eliminator.

Match 5: Hikuleo, Hiroshi Tanahashi & Tama Tonga beat Doc Gallows, Karl Anderson & Jay White. Tonga pinned Gallows after Gun Stun.

Match 6: Kazuchika Okada beat Bad Dude Tito.

Match 7: Tomohiro Ishii beat TBA, who turned out to be Yota Tsuji. This was to have been Ishii vs. Jonah, but Jonah missed the weekend’s events due to travel issues.

Main Event: Tetsuya Naito beat Zack Sabre Jr.

The next event is DECLARATION OF POWER on 10/10 at Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo. The current card so far:
KUSHIDA vs. Taiji Ishimori
Kazuchika Okada vs. Jonah
Ren Narita Return Home Match: Ren Narita vs. TBA
KOPW 2022 Trophy Holder Shingo Takagi vs. El Phantasmo in a Who’s Your Daddy Match for the title. Normal rules but the loser must call the winner their daddy after the match
IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Jay White vs. Tama Tonga for the title
Live streaming on New Japan World will begin on 10/10 at 1 AM PT/4 AM ET.

UPDATE: Based on New Japan’s English recap, and combined with the Day 1 report on the Japanese recap, the announced paid attendance for Day 2 was 1966. That’s about 98% normal capacity for the venue so just a few short of a sellout.

New Japan 10/1/22 Results (Updated)

New Japan returned to England for the first time since 2019 today with the first half of ROYAL QUEST 2, a doubleheader featuring talent from Japan, the US and of course Europe and in particular England.

Today’s event was held at Crystal Palace National Sports Center in London, England and will be available on demand on New Japan World at a later date. There was no live broadcast.

The paid attendance has not been announced, but it was a legit advance sellout. Based on the venue’s capacity and layout, I would estimate it being approximately 2000.

Match 1: Gabriel Kidd Return Match: Gabriel Kidd beat Dan Maloney.

Match 2: Michael Oku & Ricky Knight Jr. beat Gideon Gray & Great-O-Khan. Knight pinned Gray after Good Knight Driver.

Match 3: Alex Windsor & Ava White (Alpha Female) beat Kanji & Jazzy Gilbert. Windsor pinned Kanji after GTF.

Match 4: Hiromu Takahashi, SANADA & Tetsiuya Naito beat DOUKI, El Desperado & Zack Sabre Jr. Naito pinned DOUKI after Destino.

Match 5: Tomohiro Ishii & Kazuchika Okada beat Zak Knight & Bad Dude Tito. Ishii pinned Knight after a vertical drop brainbuster. Zak Knight was a last-minute replacement for Jonah, who is off this weekend’s events due to travel issues caused by Hurricane Ian’s impacts to the southeast US.

Match 6: Jado, Hikuleo, Hiroshi Tanahashi & Tama Tonga beat Gedo, Doc Gallows, Karl Anderson & Jay White. Tanahashi pinned Gedo after High Fly Flow.

Match 7: Will Ospreay beat Shota Umino by ref stoppage.

Main Event: IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Champions FTR beat Aussie Open to retain the titles. Dax Harwood pinned Kyle Fletcher after Big Rig. V1 for the champs. This match went just a moment short of 32 minutes.

The second event is tomorrow at 11:30 AM ET/8:30 AM PT. There is no live broadcast. It will be available on demand on New Japan World at a later date.

In other news, and while you’re waiting, New Japan World has assembled a special collection of Antonio Inoki videos and matches in honor of their late founder and the Hall of Fame legend who died yesterday at age 79. Look for the banner link on New Japan World’s front page-a number of matches can be watched FOR FREE without a subscription (paid subscribers have access to all the matches in the collection).

UPDATE: The announced paid attendance was 2137.

BREAKING: Jonah Off New Japan Weekend Events

New Japan has announced last-minute changes to this weekend’s ROYAL QUEST 2 events because Jonah is now off both events. Travel issues due to Hurricane Ian impacts in the US. For today’s event he was to have teamed with Bad Dude Tito to face Kazuchika Okada & Tomohiro Ishii. Zak Knight is the replacement. For tomorrow he was to have faced Ishii. Replacement TBA.

More as it becomes available. Remember there is no live broadcast for both events.

BREAKING: Antonio Inoki Dead at 79 (Updated x4)

Very sad breaking news to report…Antonio Inoki (real name Kanji Inoki), wrestling Hall of Famer and the founder of New Japan Pro Wrestling, has died according to Yahoo! Sports Japan. He was 79. Inoki reportedly died at his home. The cause of death is not yet known.

Besides being a Hall Of Fame wrestler and the founder/longtime owner of New Japan, he also became the first pro wrestler to serve in the Japanese Diet (the nation’s parliament/legislative body).

There has been no statement or confirmation from New Japan yet, I would expect something in the next couple hours.

More as it becomes available.

UPDATE: New Japan has posted an obituary on their Japanese website. It lists the cause of death as transthyretin amyloidosis, which may also be known as ATTR-CM. It’s a fairly uncommon condition among Japanese that starts with the liver producing faulty TTR proteins that build up in the heart, and can eventually lead to heart failure. His last appearances in the promotion were video messages at Tokyo Dome on January 4 and at the 50th Anniversary Event on March 6.

Below is a link to New Japan’s post:
https://www.njpw.co.jp/381541

UPDATE 2: New Japan has now posted the obituary in English on their English website (njpw1972.com).
All-Japan Pro Wrestling has posted about Inoki’s death on their website and announced they will hold a memorial ceremony before their event tomorrow (10/2).
Many wrestlers and executives around the world are posting tributes to Inoki on Twitter, including WWE CEO Paul “Triple H” Levesque, AEW owner/CEO Tony Khan, Impact Wrestling and the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) among others.

UPDATE 3: Unfortunately Inoki’s death spoiled big plans for New Japan’s 10/10 event. On 10/4 the promotion revealed that, on 9/1, Inoki was offered and accepted the title of Honorary Lifetime Chairman of New Japan Pro Wrestling. The announcement was going to be made on 10/10, at which time the information would have been made public (10/10 is also a national holiday in Japan, National Sports Day). Unfortunately that will not happen now. However, according to the statement on New Japan’s English website, “in accordance with Mr. Inoki’s wishes, all of us at New Japan Pro Wrestling will continue to move forward and lead the professional wrestling world to the utmost of our abilities”. This statement has also been posted on New Japan’s official Japanese website.
On a separate note, if you are a SiriusXM subscriber and your subscription includes Channel 156, “Fight Nation”, go back and listen to the replay of the 10/3/22 episode of “Busted Open” as hosts Dave LaGreca, Bully Ray & Mark Henry spent the entire show remembering Inoki including guest appearances by former WCW manager Sonny Ono, former wrestler-turned-historian B. Brian Blair and Eric Bischoff, all shared great memories of Inoki. The replay will be available for the next 2 weeks on the SiriusXM app and website.

UPDATE 4: On 10/5/22, New Japan announced the 10/10 event will open with a Ceremonial 10 Bell Salute for Inoki. I would expect this to be included on the live and on demand broadcasts on New Japan World.

BREAKING: LIMITED TIME-Watch NJPW Capital Collision FOR FREE!

Did you miss New Japan’s Capital Collision PPV from Washington, DC earlier this year? Want to watch it again? For a limited time, you’re in luck as New Japan is making the entire PPV broadcast available on YouTube FOR FREE! It also is available on New Japan World for free. But only for a limited time…you only have 1 MONTH-until 5 PM PT/8 PM ET on 10/26-to watch before it goes behind paywalls again on FITE and New Japan World. After the free viewing period, New Japan World subscribers can access the PPV as part of a monthly subscription, which currently is around $7.25-7.50 US per month.

Click below to watch the PPV FOR FREE on YouTube, note that it will not be available until the premiere begins TONIGHT (9/26) at 8 PM ET/5 PM PT:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grRE-EVXJjs

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