Tag: njpw

New Japan ran a special Taichi hometown event today which also was held at the school he graduated from.

Today’s event was held at Ishikari City Hanakawa Minami Junior High School Gym in Hokkaido and can be watched on demand as a PPV on New Japan World for $22.99 US until 11/30 Japan time.

The announced paid attendance was 842, a legit sellout.

Pre-show match: Masatora Yasuda beat Ryoma Tsukamoto (Independent/Freelancer).

Match 1: DDT Universal Champion Ryusuke Taguchi beat Dick Togo to retain the title. V3 for Taguchi. He will now defend the title against Akito at tomorrow’s DDT event.

Match 2: In a match where Satoshi Kojima would earn an IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship shot with a win AND make weight, Yoh beat Satoshi Kojima. It wouldn’t have happened anyway because Kojima did not make weight. Not even close. Still at 108 kg/237 pounds. The limit is 100 kg/220 pounds.

Match 3: YOSHI-HASHI & Hirooki Goto beat Kumagoro Hokkai & Lonely Wolf. YOSHI-HASHI pinned Hokkai.

Match 4: Yuya Uemura beat TAKA Michinoku.

Match 5: In a Falls Count Anywhere Inside The School (but not a No DQ) match, El Desperado & Toru Yano beat Gedo & Yuto Ice (Ice Baby). Yano pinned Gedo.

Main Event: Taichi & TBA, revealed to be Zack Sabre Jr., beat Naomichi Marufuji (Pro Wrestling NOAH) & TBA, revealed to be Yoshinobu Kanemaru. Taichi pinned Kanemaru after Zack Mephisto (combined Black Mephisto). The TBAs were the choices of Taichi & Marufuji, respectively. Afterwards, Taichi requested a match against Marufuji and announced his intent to return for another hometown event next year.

The next event is the Super Junior Tag League starting on 10/24 at Kumagaya City Civic Gym in Saitama. Live streaming on New Japan World will begin at 1 AM PT/4 AM ET. All tournament events will be available live & on demand.

New Japan has added an interesting match to Saturday’s Taichi hometown school event-not that there’s anything interesting about Yoh vs. Satoshi Kojima. But here’s the interesting part-if Kojima wins AND can get his weight down to 100 kg/220 lbs or less in time (which will be before the event), Kojima will get an IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship shot in the future. If Kojima is at the weight listed in bis profile on New Japan’s website, which is 108 kg/237.6 pounds, that’s less than 2 days now to cut 17.6 pounds. Yes, MMA fighters do these ridiculous (and dangerous) weight cuts all the time and sometimes boxers do too, but we also must keep in mind Kojima is 56. The Bread Club must rally and send him lots of high-fiber bread! The kicker here seems to be that Taichi was a Junior Heavyweight before moving up to Heavyweight in 2018 and it really moved his career forward, so can Kojima do it in reverse? Not that he needs to as he still is doing well for himself, especially in the US Independent (and now New Japan partner) Major League Wrestling (MLW).

We’ll see what happens at event time. The event will be a PPV on New Japan World.

New Japan did their usual post-major event news dump today coming out of KING OF PRO WRESTLING yesterday, mostly focused on POWER STRUGGLE on 11/3 and the upcoming Super Junior Tag League:

First, here is what was announced for the 11/3 blowout event in Hiroshima: IWGP Heavyweight Champion Yota Tsuji vs. Boltin Oleg & Kenny Omega in a 3-way NON-TITLE match, IWGP Global Champion Gabriel Kidd vs. Taichi for the title, IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Champions OSKAR & Yuto Ice vs. Will Ospreay & Callum Newman for the titles, Shingo Takagi & Jeff Cobb vs. Jon Moxley & Wheeler Yuta and the Super Junior Tag League Finals. The 3-way suggests if Tsuji loses, the winner could get the main event title shot at Tokyo Dome given all that’s left after 11/3 is a handful of independent produced events, the World Tag League and a Korakuen Hall doubleheader to wrap up 2026, then it’s Tokyo Dome.

As for the Super Junior Tag League, it was announced that 12 teams will participate this year in a 2-block round-robin format, with the winners of both blocks advancing to the Finals. Tiebreaker if needed will be head-to-head result. The entered teams:
Block A: El Desperado & Mistico (current IWGP Jubior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions), Ryusuke Taguchi & Kazuma Sumi (DDT), Master Wato & KUUKAI, KUSHIDA & Nick Wayne (All Elite Wrestling), Taiji Ishimori & Robbie X, DOUKI & Yoshinobu Kanemaru (DOUKI was half of last year’s winners)
Block B: Yoh & Hyo (Dragon Gate), Titan & Daiki Nagai, Robbie Eagles & Kosei Fujita, Francesco Akira & Jacob Austin Young, Blake Christian & Lee Johnson (AEW), Sho & Dick Togo

The tournament runs from 10/24-11/3. The winners, unless it’s Desperado & Mistico, will get an IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship shot, likely at Tokyo Dome. And based on the blocks, anything but the champs winning Block A will be a big upset while Block B looks like it’s between Eagles/Fujita-the 2024 winners-and Akira/Young.

UPDATE: Due to Sumi’s participation in the tournament, DDT has announced he will miss all DDT events from 10/24-11/3. Unfortunately that means he will be off Ultimate Party 2026, the promotion’s upcoming annual fall blowout event, on 11/3 at Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo. The only other event he will miss is 10/24 at Yokohama Radiant Hall in Yokohama, but he had not yet been announced for the event so no card changes should be needed. Sumi also was not yet in a match for 11/3.

KING OF PRO WRESTLING, New Japan’s October blowout event, is now in the books.

Today’s event was held at Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo and can be watched on demand OUTSIDE JAPAN ONLY on New Japan World. This event aired as part of WORLD PRO WRESTLING LIVE 2026 exclusively on TV Asahi in Japan. You can also watch the first 2 matches FOR FREE on YouTube.

The announced paid attendance was 6422.

Match 1: Daiki Nagai & Shingo Takagi beat Tatsuya Matsumoto & Hirooki Goto. Takagi pinned Matsunoto after Shingo Takagi Death Rider. After this, a recorded Jon Moxkey promo played where he demanded a match with Takagi.

Match 2: El Desperado, Taichi & Yuya Uemura beat Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Yujiro Takahashi & SANADA. Taichi pinned Takahashi after Black Mephisto.

Match 3: Boltin Oleg & Hechicero (CMLL) beat Hartlry Jackson & Zack Sabre Jr. Oleg pinned Jackson after Kamikaze.

Match 4: Toru Yano & Konosuke Takeshita beat Shun Skywalker & Ren Narita. Yano pinned Skywalker.

Match 5: Jeff (Corn On The) Cobb, OSKAR (The Grouch) & Yuto Ice (Ice Baby) beat NEVER 6-Man Tag Team Champions Will Ospreay, HENARE & Great-O-Khan to win the titles. Cobb, OSKAR & Ice become the 35th NEVER 6-Man Tag Team Champions. Ice pinned HENARE. Afterwards, Ospreay issued an IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championship challenge with Callum Newman as his partner.

Match 6: NEVER Openweight Champion Aaron Wolf beat Kosei Fujita to retain the title. V1 for Wolf.

Match 7: IWGP Global Champion Gabriel Kidd beat Shota Umino to retain the title. V2 for Kidd. Next up: Taichi. Kidd hinted at it happening on 11/3 in Hiroshima.

Match 8: IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Yoh beat Robbie Eagles to retain the title. V4 for Yoh.

Main Event: IWGP Heavyweight Champion Yota Tsuji beat Ryohei Oiwa to retain the title. V2 for Tsuji. Next up: Oleg…or Kenny Omega, who made a surprise appearance for a beatdown on both to end the show.

During the event, President Hiroshi Tanahashi also announced TANAHASHI JAM 2 will be held on 11/19 at Korakuen Hall. This likely will be an exclusive TV Asahi broadcast, if it’s like the first one that means no New Japan World live but maybe on demand after the exclusive TV window ends.

The next event is Taichi School Pro Wrestling 2 Saturday at Ishikari City Hanakawa Minami Junior High School Gym in Hokkaido, a Taichi hometown event. Live streaming as a PPV on New Japan World will begin Friday at 11 PM PT/2 AM ET. The PPV is available for pre-order for $22.99 US and will be available for purchase and on demand replays until 11/30 Japan time.

Also, tickets for Tokyo Dome on 14 will go on sale later this week. Based on a map of the planned seating layout, it suggests the setup will be for around 45,000. The Dome’s full capacity, primarily for baseball, is 65,000, but they won’t be using what would be the center field seating areas

I recently learned about a Japanese movie called “My Dad Is A Heel Wrestler”, starring New Japan’s Hiroshi Tanahashi and a number of other current & former New Japan wrestlers (I counted at least 9-10 including Kazuchika Okada, Togi Makabe, Ryusuke Taguchi and more plus referees-note this movie was released in Japan in 2018). Thanks to the JFF Theater service, you can watch this movie FOR FREE for a limited time (until January 7, 2027) at the below link:

https://en.jff.jpf.go.jp/movie/my-dad-is-a-heel-wrestler

A JFF Theater account is required to watch, it is free and only requires a valid email address. Also, due to licensing restrictions it may not be available in some countries but it is available in the US. It is in Japanese but subtitles in many languages including English are available.

New Japan wrapped up the Road To KING OF PRO WRESTLING Tour today in Niigata.

Today’s event was held at Horinouchi Gym in Niigata. There is/was no live or on demand broadcast.

The announced paid attendance was 1143/

Match 1: Taisei Nakahara beat Yushin Hatazawa.

Match 2: Daiki Nagai & Tiaji Ishimori beat Tatsuya Matsumoto & Master Wato. Ishimori beat Matsumoto with Bone Lock.

Match 3: Yoshinobu Kanemaru, DOUKI, Yujiro Takahashi & Shun Skywalker beat Masatora Yasuda, Boltin Oleg, Toru Yano & Shota Umino. Kanemaru beat Yasuda with a figure 4.

Match 4: KUSHIDA, El Desperado, Taichi & Yuya Uemura beat Dick Togo, Sho, Ren Narita & SANADA. Uemura pinned Togo.

Match 5: Gedo, OSKAR (The Grouch), Yuto Ice (Ice Baby) & Jeff (Corn On The) Cobb beat Zane Jay, Great-O-Khan, HENARE & Callum Newman. OSKAR pinned Jay after KOB.

Match 6: Yoh, Hechicero (CMLL) & Aaron Wolf beat Robbie Eagles, Zack Sabre Jr. & Yuya Uemura. Yoh pinned Eagles with 5 Star Clutch.

Main Event: Shingo Takagi & Yota Tsuji beat Hartley Jackson & Ryohei Oiwa.Tsuji pinned Jackson after Pumping Bomber.

The next event is KING OF PRO WRESTLING, the October blowout event, Monday at Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo. Live streaming on New Japan World OUTSIDE JAPAN ONLY will begin at midnight PT/3 AM ET. This will be an exclusive TV Asahi live broadcast in Japan.

Also, at today’s TAMASHII event in New Zealand, Don Fale won a 3-way to become the inaugural TAMASHII Openweight Champion.

New Japan continued the Road To KING OF PRO WRESTLING tour today in Tokyo.

Today’s event was held at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo and can be watched on demand on New Japan World. You can also watch the first 2 matches FOR FREE on YouTube.

The announced paid attendance was 1014.

Match 1: Taisei Nakahara beat Yushin Hatazawa.

Match 2: Sho, DOUKI, Yujiro Takahashi & SANADA beat Masatora Yasuda, El Desperado, Taichi & Yuya Uemura. Takahashi pinned Yasuda after Pimp Juice.

Match 3: Master Wato, Boltin Oleg, Toru Yano & Shota Umino beat Dick Togo, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Shun Skywalker & Ren Narita. Yano pinned Togo.

Match 4: Shingo Takagi, OSKAR (The Grouch), Yuto Ice (Ice Baby) & Jeff (Corn on the) Cobb beat Zane Jay, Great-O-Khan, HENARE & Callum Newman. Takagi pinned Jay after This is Shingo Takagi Death Rider.

Match 5: Zack Sabre Jr. & Ryohei Oiwa beat Ares (Vietnam) & Yota Tsuji. Sabre beat Area with a modified armbar. Afterwards, an MJF (All Elite Wrestling) promo aired with a challenge to Oiwa.

Match 6: Hartley Jackson, Robbie Eagles & Kosei Fujita beat Tatsuya Matsumoto, Hechicero (CMLL) & Aaron Wolf. Eagles beat Matsumoto with Ron Miller Special.

Main Event: IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Yoh beat Robbie X to retain the title. V3 for Yoh. Next up: Eagles.

The next event is Friday at Yoshitsune Arena in Ishikawa. There will be no live or on demand broadcast.

New Japan kicked off the Road To KONG OF PRO WRESTLING tour today, another quick sprint of a series to the next blowout event next week.

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 1041.

Match 1: Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Sho, DOUKI, Yujiro Takahashi & SANADA beat Taisei Nakahara, El Desperado, Taichi, Boltin Oleg & Yuya Uemura. Kanemaru beat Nakahara with a figure 4.

Match 2: Taiji Ishimori & Robbie X beat Tatsuya Matsumoto & Yoh. Ishimori beat Matsumoto with Bone Lock.

Match 3: Dick Togo, Shun Skywalker & Ren Narita beat Master Wato, Toru Yano & Shota Umino. Skywalker pinned Wato after Skyfall.

Match 4: Daiki Nagai & Jeff Cobb beat Zane Jay & Callum Newman. Cobb pinned Jay after Tour Of The Islands.

Match 5: Robbie Eagles. Zack Sabre Jr. & Kosei Fujita beat Masatora Yasuda, Hechicero (CMLL) & Aaron Wolf. Eagles pinned Yasuda after Hyperion.

Match 6: Shingo Takagi & Yota Tsuji beat Hartley Jackson & Ryohei Oiwa. Takagi pinned Jackson after Pumping Blaster.

Main Event: OSKAR (The Grouch) & Yuto Ice (Ice Baby) beat IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Great-O-Khan & HENARE to win the titles. OSKAR & Ice become the 113th IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Champions. OSKAR pinned Khan after KOB. They went nearly 35 minutes. Afterwards, Ice chose Conb as his & OSKAR’s partner for their NEVER 6-Man Tag Team Championship challenge on Monday.

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