Tag: njpw

7/15/25 UPDATE: The full event can now be watched on demand on New Japan World.

New Japan held a special TANAHASHI JAM event today, a Hiroshi Tanahashi Produced event marking the halfway point of his retirement road and the grand finale of the Aichi Prefectural Gym venue, which is closing for good to make way for the brand-new Aichi International Arena (aka IG Arena) that opened about a month ago and will have it’s official grand opening in a couple weeks with the July 2025 Grand Sumo Tournament.

Today’s event was held at Aichi Prefectural Gym in Nagoya. There is/was no live or on demand broadcast outside of Japan. This event aired live in Japan only exclusively on TV Asahi.

The announced paid attendance was 4570.

Pre-show match: Katsuya Murashima vs. Daiki Odashima (Pro Wrestling NOAH) went to a 10 minute time limit draw.

Match 1: Ryusuke Taguchi, Shota Umino & Hiroshi Tanahashi beat LEONA (Dradition), Hiromu Takahashi & Tatsumi Fujinami (Dradition). Tanahashi beat LEONA with a Texas cloverleaf.

Match 2: Chase Owens, Yujiro Takahashi, Ren Narita & EVIL beat YOSHI-HASHI, Taichi, Tomohiro Ishii & Yuya Uemura. Owens pinned YOSHI-HASHI after Last Testament.

Match 3: NEVER Openweight Champion Boltin Oleg beat Yuji Nagata to retain the title. V1 for Oleg.

Match 4: Master Wato, Yoh, El Desperado & Dragon Kid (Dragon Gate) beat Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Sho, DOUKI & SANADA. Wato pinned Kanemaru after a falcon blow.

Match 5: NJPW WORLD TV Champion El Phantasmo beat TBA, revealed at match time to be Taiji Ishimori, to retain the title. V2 for Phantasmo.

Match 6: Shun Skywalker (Dragon Gate), Yota Tsuji & Shingo Takagi beat Jacob Austin Young, Callum Newman & Great-O-Khan. Skywalker pinned Young after SSW.

Match 7: Zack Sabre Jr. beat IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Hirooki Goto by ref stoppage (technical submission) to win the title. Sabre becomes the 13th IWGP World Heavyweight Champion. And the second 2-time champion.

Main Event: Naomichi Marufuji (Pro Wrestling NOAH) & Hiroshi Tanahashi beat Kaito Kiyomiya (Pro Wrestling NOAH) & Ryohei Oiwa. Tanahashi pinned Oiwa after High Fly Flow.

The next event is Friday at Tokyo Budokan in Tokyo for the penultimate event of the New Japan Soul 2025 Tour. Live streaming on New Japan World will begin at 2:30 AM PT/5:30 AM ET.

UPDATE: After the event, Dragon Gate announced Tanahashi will participate in the promotion at Kobe Pro Wrestling Festival 2025, the promotion’s biggest event of the year, on 7/13 at Kobe World Hall in Kobe. He was revealed as the TBA that will team with Dragon Kid to face Yuki Yoshioka & Dragon Dia. That event will be available to watch live & on demand on DRAGONGATE NETWORK.

UPDATE 2: Goto was injured in his match today. Right elbow. Out Friday. Status uncertain beyond that.

Hiroshi Tanahaahi isn’t the only face of New Japan retiring in 2026. It was revealed today via backstage comments from yesterday that Tiger Mask 4, the longest-lasting incarnation of the iconic masked wrestler, will retire in July 2026 after what will then be a 31-year career as one of the longtime anchors of New Japan’s Junior Heavyweight division. TM 4 followed Satoru Sayama, Mitsuharu Misawa & Koji Kanemoto as those who assumed the iconic comic book-themed persona, and there also was at least one more recent incarnation outside of New Japan.

More as it becomes available.

New Japan wrapped up the New Japan Soul 2025 Tour today with another event in Tokyo.

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 1489, a legit sellout.

Pre-show:
Match 1: Tatsuya Matsumoto vs. Zane Jay went to a 10 minute time limit draw.
Match 2: Daiki Nagai & Katsuya Murashima beat Masatora Yasuda & Shoma Kato. Nagai pinned Yasuda.

Match 1: Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Yujiro Takahashi, Ren Narita, SANADA & EVIL beat Ryusuke Taguchi, Tomnoaki Honma, Boltin Oleg, Yuya Uemura & Shota Umino. EVIL pinned Honma after EVIL.

Match 2: Hiromu Takahashi, Yota Tsuji & Shingo Takagi beat Hartley Jackson, Ryohei Oiwa & Zack Sabre Jr. Takagi pinned Jackson after Pumping Bomber. Afterwards, Daiki Nagai came out and asked to join Los Ingobernables de Japon. Seemingly accepted.

Match 3: Tiger Mask 4 30th Anniversary Match: Hiroshi Tanahashi beat Tiger Mask 4.

Match 4: A Gauntlet Match played out as follows:
1-Chase Owens beat Satoshi Kojima.
2-Taichi beat Chase Owens.
3-Taichi beat Tomohiro Ishii.
Taichi wins. As a result, Taichi will replace the injured Hirooki Goto in the G1 CLIMAX 35 Tournament.

Match 5: IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions DOUKI & Sho beat Master Wato & Yoh to retain the titles. DOUKI pinned Wato after Suplex De La Luna. V1 for the champs.

Main Event: IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion El Desperado beat Kosei Fujita by submission to retain the title. V7 for Desperado.

The next event is the G1 CLIMAX 35, the promotion’s biggest annual tournament that unofficially begins the Road To Tokyo Dome, starting on 7/18 at Hokkaido Prefectural Sports Center Hokkai Kita Yell in Hokkaido. Live streaming on New Japan World OUTSIDE JAPAN ONLY will begin at 1 AM PT/4 AM ET. This will be a live & exclusive TV Asahi broadcast in Japan. As in recent years, every tournament event will be available live & on demand on New Japan World.

New Japan resumed the New Japan Soul 2025 Tour today after a week-long break with the penultimate event of the tour.

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

The announced paid attendance was 1377.

Pre-show:
Match 1: Tatsuya Matsumoto vs. Zane Jay went to a 10 minute time limit draw.
Match 2: Daiki Nagai & Katsuya Murashima beat Masatora Yasuda & Shoma Kato. Nagai pinned Yasuda.

Main show:
Match 1: Tiger Mask, Shota Umino, Taichi, Tomohiro Ishii & Shota Umino beat Dick Togo, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, SANADA, DOUKI & EVIL. Umino beat Togo with STF.

Match 2: Hiromu Takahashi, Yota Tsuji & Shingo Takagi beat Jacob Austin Young, Callum Newman & Great-O-Khan. Takagi pinned Young after MADE IN JAPAN.

Match 3: Boltin Oleg, Yuya Uemura & El Desperado beat Hartley Jackson, Zack Sabre Jr. & Kosei Fujita. Uemura pinned Jackson after a Frankensteiner.

G1 CLIMAX 35 Qualifier Tournament Finals:
Match 4: Block A: Ryohei Oiwa beat Satoshi Kojima. As a result, Oiwa will be in Block A of the tournament.
Match 5: Block B: YOSHI-HASHI beat Chase Owens. As a result, YOSHI-HASHI will be in Block B of the tournament.

Match 6: Master Wato, Yoh & Toru Yano beat NEVER 6-Man Tag Team Champions Sho, Yujiro Takahashi & Ren Narita to win the titles. Wato, Yoh & Yano become the 31st NEVER 6-Man Tag Team Champions. Yano pinned Takahashi.

Main Event: IWGP Global Champion Gabriel Kidd beat Hiroshi Tanahashi to retain the title. V1 for Kidd.

The tour-ender is Sunday at Korakuen Hall. It may be a legit sellout and overflow crowd as standing room only tickets are now on sale in limited quantities. Live streaming on New Japan World will begin at 2:30 AM PT/5:30 AM ET.

UPDATE: After the event, it was announced Hirooki Goto is OUT of G1 CLIMAX 35. Recent elbow injury suffered last weekend at TANAHASHI JAM. That means he is now out at least another month. The replacement in Block A will be determined by a gauntlet match Sunday with Tomohiro Ishii, Taichi, Satoshi Kojima & Chase Owens participating. The winner is the replacement for Goto.

UPDATE 2: At today’s TAMASHII event in Auckland, New Zealand, Mark Tui & Richard Mulu, known as The Pretty Boys when teaming, won a tournament to become the inaugural TAMASHII Tag Team Champions.

New Japan held a special TANAHASHI JAM event today, a Hiroshi Tanahashi Produced event marking the halfway point of his retirement road and the grand finale of the Aichi Prefectural Gym venue, which is closing for good to make way for the brand-new Aichi International Arena (aka IG Arena) that opened about a month ago and will have it’s official grand opening in a couple weeks with the July 2025 Grand Sumo Tournament.

Today’s event was held at Aichi Prefectural Gym in Nagoya. There is/was no live or on demand broadcast outside of Japan. This event aired live in Japan only exclusively on TV Asahi.

The announced paid attendance was 4570.

Pre-show match: Katsuya Murashima vs. Daiki Odashima (Pro Wrestling NOAH) went to a 10 minute time limit draw.

Match 1: Ryusuke Taguchi, Shota Umino & Hiroshi Tanahashi beat LEONA (Dradition), Hiromu Takahashi & Tatsumi Fujinami (Dradition). Tanahashi beat LEONA with a Texas cloverleaf.

Match 2: Chase Owens, Yujiro Takahashi, Ren Narita & EVIL beat YOSHI-HASHI, Taichi, Tomohiro Ishii & Yuya Uemura. Owens pinned YOSHI-HASHI after Last Testament.

Match 3: NEVER Openweight Champion Boltin Oleg beat Yuji Nagata to retain the title. V1 for Oleg.

Match 4: Master Wato, Yoh, El Desperado & Dragon Kid (Dragon Gate) beat Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Sho, DOUKI & SANADA. Wato pinned Kanemaru after a falcon blow.

Match 5: NJPW WORLD TV Champion El Phantasmo beat TBA, revealed at match time to be Taiji Ishimori, to retain the title. V2 for Phantasmo.

Match 6: Shun Skywalker (Dragon Gate), Yota Tsuji & Shingo Takagi beat Jacob Austin Young, Callum Newman & Great-O-Khan. Skywalker pinned Young after SSW.

Match 7: Zack Sabre Jr. beat IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Hirooki Goto by ref stoppage (technical submission) to win the title. Sabre becomes the 13th IWGP World Heavyweight Champion. And the second 2-time champion.

Main Event: Naomichi Marufuji (Pro Wrestling NOAH) & Hiroshi Tanahashi beat Kaito Kiyomiya (Pro Wrestling NOAH) & Ryohei Oiwa. Tanahashi pinned Oiwa after High Fly Flow.

The next event is Friday at Tokyo Budokan in Tokyo for the penultimate event of the New Japan Soul 2025 Tour. Live streaming on New Japan World will begin at 2:30 AM PT/5:30 AM ET.

UPDATE: After the event, Dragon Gate announced Tanahashi will participate in the promotion at Kobe Pro Wrestling Festival 2025, the promotion’s biggest event of the year, on 7/13 at Kobe World Hall in Kobe. He was revealed as the TBA that will team with Dragon Kid to face Yuki Yoshioka & Dragon Dia. That event will be available to watch live & on demand on DRAGONGATE NETWORK.

UPDATE 2: Goto was injured in his match today. Right elbow. Out Friday. Status uncertain beyond that.

New Japan continued the New Japan Soul 2025 Tour today in Shiga.

Today’s event was held at Shiga Prefectural Cultural Industry Exchange Center & Event Hall in Shiga. There is/was no live or on demand broadcast.

The paid attendance has not been announced.

Match 1: Tatsuya Matsumoto vs. Zane Jay went to a 10 minute time limit draw.

Match 2: Masatora Yasuda beat Daiki Nagai.

Match 3: Yoshinobu Kanemaru, DOUKI, Sho, Yujiro Takahashi & Ren Narita beat Katsuya Murashima, Shoma Kato, Master Wato, Yoh & Toru Yano. Takahashi pinned Kato after Pimp Juice.

Match 4: Dick Togo, SANADA, Chase Owens & EVIL beat Tomoaki Honma, Togi Makabe, Yuji Nagata & YOSHI-HASHI. EVIL pinned Honma after Magic Killer.

Match 5: Ryusuke Taguchi, Tomohiro Ishii & Taichi beat Jacob Austin Young, Callum Newman & Great-O-Khan. Ishii pinned Young after a vertical drop brainbuster.

Match 6: Jado, Shota Umino & Hiroshi Tanahashi beat Gedo, Taiji Ishimori & Gabriel Kidd. Umino beat Gedo with STF.

Main Event: Boltin Oleg, Yuya Uemura & Hirooki Goto beat Hartley Jackson, Ryohei Oiwa & Zack Sabre Jr. Oleg pinned Jackson after Kamikaze.

The next event is TANAHASHI JAM Sunday at Aichi Prefectural Gym in Nagoya, the final event in the iconic 60-year-old venue before it closes for good (it is being replaced by the new Aichi International Arena aka IG Arena in Nagoya, which opened about a month ago and hosts its first major event in a couple weeks with the July 2025 Grand Sumo Tournament. It’ll be the biggest sumo venue in Japan with a reported capacity of 17,000-the next biggest is Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo at 15,000). There will be no live or on demand broadcast outside Japan. The event will be available IN JAPAN ONLY as a live & exclusive TV Asahi broadcast (no New Japan World broadcast anywhere).

New Japan continued the New Japan Soul 2025 Tour today in Nagano.

Today’s event was held at Chino Civic Center Multi Hall in Nagano. There is/was no live or on demand broadcast.

The announced paid attendance was 566.

There were late changes to the event due to El Phantasmo & Don Fale being off. Phantasmo-right knee injury, also off tomorrow. Fale-death in family, out until at least mid-July.

Pre-show match: Tatsuya Matsumoto vs. Zane Jay went to a 10 minute time limit draw.

Match 1: Daiki Nagai beat Masatora Yasuda.

Match 2: Yoshinobu Kanemaru, DOUKI. Sho, Yujiro Takahashi & Ren Narita beat Katsuya Murashima, Shoma Kato, Master Wato, Yoh & Toru Yano. Kanemaru beat Kato with a figure 4.

Match 3: Togi Makabe, Yuji Nagata, YOSHI-HASHI & Boltin Oleg beat Dick Togo, SANADA, Chase Owens & EVIL. Nagata beat Togo with Nagata Lock.

Match 4: Yuya Uemura, Tomohiro Ishii & Taichi beat Jacob Austin Young, Great-O-Khan & Callum Newman. Uemura pinned Young with a kannuki suplex hold.

Match 5: Jado, Ryusuke Taguchi & Hiroshi Tanahashi beat Gedo, Taiji Ishimori & Gabriel Kidd. Taguchi beat Gedo with Oh My & Gar Ankle.

Main Event: Hartley Jackson, Ryohei Oiwa & Zack Sabre Jr. beat Tomoaki Honma, Shota Umino & Hirooki Goto. Oiwa pinned Honma after The Grip.

The next event is tomorrow at Shiga Prefectural Cultural Industry Exchange Center & Event Hall in Shiga. There will be no live or on demand broadcast.

New Japan has announced some changes to upcoming events today:

First, El Phantasmo is off the next 2 events. Right knee injury that kept him off this week’s earlier events. Status uncertain for Sunday where he is supposed to defend the NJPW WORLD TV Championship vs. TBA (open challenge).

Second, Don Fale is off the rest of the current tour. Death in his family. He was to have been in a G1 CLIMAX 35 Qualifier on 7/4 against Ryohei Oiwa. Satoshi Kojima is the replacement. This could mean Fale will be out until after the G1 ends in mid-August. The winner of Kojima-Oiwa is in the tournament.

In other news, after being forced to wait for his IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship match until after yesterday’s PPV, Kosei Fujita finally gets El Desperado for the title. That match will happen on 7/6 at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo. Also set for 7/6 is IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Sho & DOUKI vs. Yoh & Master Wato for the titles, an immediate rematch from DOMINION. On that day there also will be Hiroshi Tabahashi vs. Tiger Mask on the latest Tanahashi Retirement Road match, which is also a TM 4 30th Anniversary match.

Announced for 7/4 at Tokyo Budokan in Tokyo (it’s not Nippon Budokan) is NEVER 6-Man Tag Team Champions Sho, Yujiro Takahashi & Ren Narita vs. Toru Yano, Yoh & Master Wato for the titles. That joins IWGP Global Champion Gabriel Kidd vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi for the title as title matches on that day.

New Japan held an El Desperado Produced independent event today dubbed “DEATH PAIN INVITACIONAL”.

Today’s event was held at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo and can be watched on demand as a PPV on New Japan World outside Japan for $22.99 US. Purchase includes unlimited on demand replays until July 31, 2025. You can also watch a pre-show match FOR FREE on YouTube.

The announced paid attendance was 1481, a legit sellout.

Pre-show match: Daiki Nagai, Katsuya Murashima, Master Wato & Ryusuke Taguchi beat Dragon Libre, Kengo, GENTARO & Tatsuhito Takaiwa. Taguchi beat Libre with Oh My & Gar Ankle.

Match 1: Mammoth Sasaki & Takashi Sasaki beat Gedo & Taiji Ishimori. Takashi Sasaki pinned Gedo after D. Geist.

Match 2: Kosei Fujita beat Jun Masaoka.

Match 3: In a hardcore match, Kenji Gukumoto & Seiji Takeda beat Rina Yamashita & Suzu Suzuki. Takeda pinned Yamashita after Reverse U Crush.

Match 4: Toru Sugiura & Boltin Oleg beat Tomoya Hirata & Toru Yano. Sugiura pinned Hirata after Swift Driver.

Main Event: In a Fluorescent Lighttubes & Glass Board Death Match, IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion El Desperado beat Jun Kasai to retain the title. V6 for Desperado. Next up: Presumably Fujita, who is awaiting his shot for winning Best Of The Super Junior. After this match, Kasai invited everyone to the next DEATH PAIN INVITACIONAL. Which will be in 2035…

The next event is Thursday at Chino Civic Center Multi-Hall in Nagano to continue the New Japan Soul 2025 Tour. There will be no live or on demand broadcast. In fact, the New Japan World broadcasts are finished for June, no live or on demand scheduled again until July 4. Remember the TANAHASHI JAM event this Sunday is only available in Japan and only on TV Asahi. But after that it’s the G1 CLIMAX and then a Yuji Nagata Produced event so everything should be live & on demand from July through mid-September.

It was also announced that TV Asahi will have a live broadcast of Tokyo Dome on 1/4/26, the first time in 22 years the network has broadcast New Japan’s biggest annual event live in Japan. It will be available outside Japan on New Japan World.

In other news, Togi Makabe participation in DDT was also announced today for that promotion’s 7/27 event for what will be a HARASHIMA 24th Anniversary match in his hometown at Sumitomo Metal Mining Arena Ome Sports Hall 1 in Tokyo. That match will be Makabe, HARASHIMA & Yasu Utano vs. Shuji Ishikawa, Shinya Aoki & Akito. That match may be available on New Japan World at some point but will also be available to watch on WRESTLE UNIVERSE.

After an emergency press conference earlier today, New Japan continued the New Japan Soul 2025 Tour in Tokyo.

Today’s event was held at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo and can be watched on demand on New Japan World. This was also a Samurai! TV broadcast in Japan.

The announced paid attendance was 1110.

Pre-show:
Match 1: Tatsuya Matsumoto vs. Zane Jay went to a 10 minute time limit draw.
Match 2: Masatora Yasuda beat Daiki Nagai.

Main show:
Match 1: Yoshinobu Kanemaru, DOUKI, Sho, Yujiro Takahashi & Ren Narita beat Katsuya Murashima, Shoma Kato, Master Wato, Yoh & Toru Yano by DQ. Yoh DQ’d. Deadly weapon use.

Match 2: SANADA, Don fale, Chase Owens & EVIL beat Tiger Mask, Tomoaki Honma, Togi Makabe & YOSHI-HASHI. EVIL pinned Honma after EVIL.

Match 3: Ryusuke Taguchi & Yuya Uemura beat Jacob Austin Young & Great-O-Khan. Uemura pinned Young after a diving body attack.

Match 4: Taiji Ishimori & Gabriel Kidd beat Jado & Hiroshi Tanahashi. Ishimori beat Jado with Bone Lock.

Match 5: Boltin Oleg, Shota Umino & Hirooki Goto beat Hartley Jackson, Ryohei Oiwa & Zack Sabre Jr. Umino pinned Jackson after Second Chapter.

G1 CLIMAX 35 Qualifier Tournament Finals:
Match 6: Block B: Drilla Moloney beat Tomohiro Ishii. As a result, Mooney qualifies for Block B.
Main Event: Block A: Callum Newman beat Taichi. As a result, Newman qualifies for Block A. United Empire pulls a pair of upsets.

The next event is “DEATH PAIN Invitacio” tomorrow. This is an El Desperado Produced event headlined by Desperado vs. Jun Kasai in a Fluorescent Light Tubes & Glass Board Death Match for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship. Live streaming on New Japan World as a PPV will begin at 2:30 AM PT/5:30 AM ET, however there is a pre-show match scheduled for 20 minutes before the event. The PPV is available for pre-order for $22.99 US outside Japan. In addition to the live broadcast, it will be available for purchase and on demand replays until July 31 (subject to change). It will be Japanese commentary only.