Tag: njpw

New Japan continued the Road To WRESTLING DONTAKU Tour today in Osaka.

Today’s event was held at Osaka Prefectural Gym 2 in Osaka. There is/was no live or on demand broadcast.

The announced paid attendance was 857, a legit sellout.

Match 1: Katsuya Murashima beat Masatora Yasuda.

Match 2: Francesco Akira & Great-O-Khan beat Jado & El Phantasmo. Akira pinned Jado after Fireball.

Match 3: Boltin Oleg, Master Wato & Yoh beat Hartley Jackson (Independent/Freelancer), Kosei Fujita & Robbie Eagles. Oleg pinned Jackson after Kamikaze.

Match 4: Ryohei Oiwa & Zack Sabre Jr. beat Toru Yano & Hiroshi Tanahashi. Sabre pinned Yano.

Match 5: Yoshinobu Kanemaro, Ren Narita, Sho & SANADA beat Gedo, Taiji Ishimori, Clark Connors & Drilla Moloney. Kanemaru pinned Gedo.

Match 6: Ryusuke Taguchi, Hirooki Goto & El Desperado beat Jacob Austin Young, Templario & Callum Newman. Taguchi pinned Young.

Main Event: BUSHI, Hiromu Takahashi, Shingo Takagi, Yota Tsuji & Tetsuya Naito beat TAKA Michinoku, Taichi, Tomohiro Ishii, Shota Umino & Yuya Uemura. Takahashi pinned TAKA with Nameless Hiromu Roll.

The next event is tomorrow. There will be no live or on demand broadcast outside Japan. This event is scheduled to be a Samurai! TV broadcast in Japan only. (The next live New Japan World broadcast is scheduled to be Saturday)

New Japan runs a very rare morning matinee event today, which means a convenient Friday night live broadcast for us over in the US. The Road To WRESTLING DONTAKU Tour opener is on top, beginning the run to the traditional Golden Week blowout event in Fukuoka which is expanded to 2 days this year. It’s been a very difficult week for the promotion which is dealing with the impending departures of Jeff Cobb after today then Tetsuya Naito and BUSHI after DONTAKU. Cobb is rumored to be headed to WWE, Naito had been working without a contract and his departure seemed to be about money and usage, and BUSHI requested his release. Cobb’s leaving also means he & Callum Newman had to vacate the IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championship which is not good news if you can’t stand Bishamon because they get a shot at the vecant titles against Newman & Great-O-Khan, but that’s for later. Cobb’s final NJPW match will be today against Hiroshi Tanahashi.

There have also been last-minute changes to the card today because it was announced Hiroyoshi Tenzan is now off. The always vague poor health. HE was to have teamed with Satoshi Kojima, Yuji Nagata & Tiger Mask to face Yogi Makabe, Tomoaki Honma, Katsuya Murashima & Daiki Nagai. Masatora Yasuda, the Young Lion who has been out the last few months due to injury, is the replacement and will make his return today.

Today’s event will be held at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo and can be watched LIVE on New Japan World in Japanese and English. There are only 6 matches scheduled but the main event is a no time limit elimination match so I’m guessing the total running time will be around a “Standard” Korakuen non-major event time of 2 1/2 hours.

Today’s lineup:
Masatora Yasuda, Tiger Mask, Satoshi Kojima & Yuji Nagata vs. Togi Makabe, Tomoaki Honma, Katsuya Murashima & Daiki Nagai
Master Wato, Boltin Oleg, Yoh & Toru Yano vs. Kosei Fujita, Robbie Eagles, Hartley Jackson (Independent/Freelancer) & Ryohei Oiwa
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Jeff Cobb
Gedo, Taiji Ishimori & Drilla Moloney vs. Sho, Ren Narita & SANADA
Ryusuke Taguchi, El Desperado & Hirooki Goto vs. Jacob Austin Young, Templario & Callum Newman
TAKA Michinoku, YOSHI-HASHI, Taichi, Shota Umino & Yuya Uemura vs. BUSHI, Hiromu Takahashi, Tetsuya Naito, Shingo Takagi & Yota Tsuji in an elimination match (eliminations by pinfall, submission, countout, DQ, over the top rope)

Refresh this page occasionally for the latest results.

Updates below will begin at 7:30 PM PT/10:30 PM ET.

7:25 PM PT UPDATE: Live updates begin now.

Opening tour/event preview video starts us earlier than expected. After that…

We are LIVE from Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan. Your hosts are Haruo Murata & Milano Collection A.T. Great-O-Khan is the guest on Japanese commentary.

The paid attendance will be announced after the event. It looks close to a sellout which would mean around 1500 if legit. Only see a couple of empty seats here & there at the start. (UPDATE: The announced paid attendance was 1505, a legit sellout)

The matches begin right away.

Match 1: Masatora Yasuda, Tiger Mask, Satoshi Kojima & Yuji Nagata vs. Togi Makabe, Tomoaki Honma, Katsuya Murashima & Daiki Nagai. 20 minute time limit
Result: Masatora Yasuda, Tiger Mask, Satoshi Kojima & Yuji Nagata beat Togi Makabe, Tomoaki Honma, Katsuya Murashima & Daiki Nagai. Nagata beat Nagai with Nagata Lock 2.

Match 2: Master Wato, Boltin Oleg, Yoh & Toru Yano vs. Kosei Fujita, Robbie Eagles, Hartley Jackson (Independent/Freelancer) & Ryohei Oiwa. 20 minute time limit
Result: Master Wato, Boltin Oleg, Yoh & Toru Yano beat Kosei Fujita, Robbie Eagles, Hartley Jackson & Ryohei Oiwa. Oleg pinned Jackson after Kamikaze.

Match 3: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Jeff Cobb. 30 minute time limit
Result: Hiroshi Tanahashi beat Jeff Cobb. Afterwards, United Empire joins Cobb in the ring as he says goodbye to New Japan.

Match 4: Gedo, Taiji Ishimori & Drilla Moloney vs. Sho, Ren Narita & SANADA. 30 minute time limit
Result: Sho, Ren Narita & SANADA beat Gedo, Taiji Ishimori & Drilla Moloney. Narita pinned Gedo.

Match 5: Ryusuke Taguchi, El Desperado & Hirooki Goto vs. Jacob Austin Young, Templario & Callum Newman. 30 minute time limit
Result: Ryusuke Taguchi, El Desperado & Hirooki Goto beat Jacob Austin Young, Templario & Callum Newman. Taguchi pinned Young.

Main Event: TAKA Michinoku, YOSHI-HASHI, Taichi, Shota Umino & Yuya Uemura vs. BUSHI, Hiromu Takahashi, Tetsuya Naito, Shingo Takagi & Yota Tsuji in an elimination match (eliminations by pinfall, submission, countout, DQ, over the top rope). No time limit
Result: BUSHI, Hiromu Takahashi, Tetsuya Naito, Shingo Takagi & Yota Tsuji beat TAKA Michinoku, YOSHI-HASHI, Taichi, Shota Umino & Yuya Uemura. Naito was the only winner left, last eliminating Taichi. Afterwards, one final LIJ promo all together to end the event as the end is very near for Naito & BUSHI as they will be leaving New Japan after WRESTLING DONTAKU.

The next event is Monday at Osaka Prefectural Gym 2 in Osaka. There will be no live or on demand broadcast. There likely will be no more broadcasts the rest of the tour, the upcoming standalone events in Hiroshima & Saga before heading to Fukuoka will be live & on demand.

The rumors from a few weeks ago in the Japanese media have proven true…New Japan has announced Tetsuya Naito is done with the promotion. His contract will not be renewed by mutual agreement. The promotion says on their English website Naito is leaving on the best possible terms and will finish up with the promotion on 5/4 at the second day of WRESTLING DONTAKU 2025 in Fukuoka. Naito turns 43 this summer and has just short of 19 years in the ring but of course his future is a big question mark due to injuries, especially chronic knee issues and he’a had eye surgeries each of the last couple years prior to Tokyo Done yet he remains one of New Japan’s most popular wrestlers. Only Hiroshi Tanahashi may be more popular right now.

And just as I was about to post this…it was also announced that BUSHI is also leaving New Japan after 5/4. He requested his release and it was granted. BUSHI, previously known in his pre-New Japan days as T28 in All-Japan (Bushii is his real last name) is 42 and has 18 years experience but has mostly been used as a jobber the last few years. So Los Ingobernables de Japon is suddenly down to just 3 (not counting CMLL wrestler Titan).

They join Jeff Cobb in recently departing the promotion although Cobb’s departure was inmediate amidst runors he is WWE-bound.

More as it becomes available.

UPDATE: In a statement posted on New Japan’s Japanese website regarding these announcements, President Hiroshi Tanahashi stated that yesterday he tried to convince Naito to stay but Naito was determined to leave and Tanahashi couldn’t convince him otherwise.

UPDATE 2: More to come? New Japan has announced a press conference with Toru Yano will be held tomorrow at Noon Japan time, which means TONIGHT at 8 PM PT/11 PM ET. It will be streamed LIVE FOR FREE on New Japan World (no paid subscription required).

UPDATE 3: The Yano presser, hosted by Haruo Murata, was apparently to announce a joint New Japan-DDT Pro Wrestling PPV as Super Sasadango Machine, Sanshiro Takagi & Akito were present for DDT as well as Yano along with New Japan Chairman Naoki Sugabayashi. This PPV apparently will be available on both New Japan World and WRESTLE UNIVERSE. (Said event will be on 6/9 at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo. Tickets and PPV sales will begin 5/11 and will be available on both New japan World and WRESTLE UNIVERSE. Further details TBA but the only thing certain is there will be at least one match which will be Yano vs. Machine)

This is going to cause a lot of groans among some New Japan fans-the IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championship is now VACANT. Previous champions Jeff Cobb & Callum Newman have vacated the titles because Cobb is leaving the promotion at his request. He’s been rumored to be heading to WWE. Cobb’s final NJPW match will be Saturday against Hiroshi Tanahashi. Newman and Great-O-Khan will try to leep the titles on 4/26 when they face…cue the groans…Bishamon (Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI). However, Newman also gets to face Goto for the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship at WRESTLING DONTAKU on 5/4 (whoever wins will defend on 5/9 in the US).

New Japan is back in the US today for one of their annual spring events, Windy City Riot. Today is significant because, barring a change of plans, it’s the last time Hiroshi Tanahashi will compete in the US before his retirement at Tokyo Dome in January. In what is expected to be his final US match, he will face Konosuke Takeshita and, although Takeshita is still NEVER Openweight Champion, this will be a NON-TITLE match. There are 3 big title matches planned though-first up, STRONG Tag Team Champions Jorel Nelson & Royce Isaacs defend the titles against KUSHIDA & Kevin Knight, the latter recently confirming he is still signed with New Japan after signing with All Elite Wrestling recently (multiple contracts much like Takeshita has). In the second match, STRONG Openweight Champion Gabriel Kidd defends again vs. Tomohiro Ishii following their INSTANT CLASSIC draw in January (and I was lucky enough to be there!), but this time it’s an Iron Man Match and, if it’s a draw again, sudden death with no time limit-there must be a winner this time. Finally, after his latest successful defense at SAKURA GENESIS last weekend, IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Hirooki Goto will defend the title against Shota Umino. Whoever wins could be coming back to the US next month as champion for a title defense. Additionally, the next challenger for STRONG Women’s Champion Mercedes Mone on 5/9 will be determined in a match between Mina Shirakawa & AZM. Shirakawa just left Stardom for, presumable, AEW so we’ll see if that factors into the outcome.

Today’s event will be held at WinTrust Arena in Chicago, IL and can be watched LIVE on New Japan World as a PPV in Japanese & English (no freebie for monthly paid subscribers this time-everyone has to pay. But a monthly paid subscription IS NOT required to purchase the PPV) for $19.99 outside Japan and 2999 Japanese yen in Japan (which given recent stock market turmoil may actually be more than $20 US). Purchase includes unlimited on demand viewing until 5/31/25. It will likely be available without additional purchase for subscriberes on or after 6/1/25. No Triller/FITE option this time. There will be a pre-show match 30 minutes before the event. Including the pre-show I anticipate this event, with 8 matches total and only one or two likely to go more than 30 minutes, having a total running time of around 3 1/2 hours.

Today’s lineup:
Pre-show:
Zane Jay vs. CJ Tino

PPV:
TJP vs. Tom Lawlor
AZM vs. Mina Shirakawa for the next STRONG Women’s Championship shot
STRONG Tag Team Champions Jorel Nelson & Royce Isaacs. vs. KUSHIDA & Kevin Knight for the titles
STRONG Openweight Champion Gabriel Kidd vs. Tomohiro Ishii in an Iron Man Match for the title. If a time limit draw (30 minutes), match continues until there is a winner
Rocky Romero & El Phantasmo vs. Tetsuya Naito & Titan
Zack Sabre Jr. vs. David Finlay
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Konosuke Takeshita
IWGP World Heavyweight Champion HIrooki Goto vs. Shota Umino for the title

Refresh this page occasionally for the latest results.

Updates below will begin at 4:30 PM PT/7:30 PM ET.

4:20 PM PT UPDATE: You will also be able to watch the pre-show FOR FREE on YouTube.

4:30 PM PT UPDATE: Live updates begin now.

We are LIVE from WinTrust Arena in Chicago, IL. Your hoses are Haruo Murata, Milano Collection A.T. & Yoh in Tokyo. Your English hosts on-site are Walker Stewart & Veda Scott.

The paid attendance will be announced after the event. The last ticket sale estimate I have is from when I launched the live stream at 4 PM PT/7 PM ET and that was (via Ticketmaster sales) 4418 with a setup for about 4550 so it could be a legit sellout (the venue’s maximum capacity is just over 10,000) So whether or not they sell out will depend on walk-ups but based on this I’m going to go with them getting very close and predicting 4500. (UPDATE: The announced paid attendance was 4674, a full house/near sellout. That would suggest the actual setup was for closer to 5000)

Pre-show match: Zane Jay vs. CJ Tino. 20 minute time limit
Result: Zane Jay beat CJ Tino by submission. Afterwards, Jay with microphone. He put Tino over then announced he was giving up the “STRONG Survivor” title because he has been training at the NJPW Dojo in Japan the last 3 months and he is going back over there to focus on making his Japan debut in the promotion. Someone else from the NJPW Academy can now take the unofficial title which is contested for on US pre-show matches. I saw Jay beat longtime “Survivor” Matt Vandagriff in January in person. He has a lot of potential.

The pre-show ends here (4:48 PM PT/7:48 PM ET).

Updates will resume when the PPV begins.

PPV:
Opening video with today’s lineup then right into the matches.

Match 1: TJP vs. Tom Lawlor. 30 minute time limit
Result: TJP beat Tom Lawlor

Match 2: AZM vs. Mina Shirakawa for the next STRONG Women’s Championship shot. 30 minute time limit
Result: Double Countout. As a result, for now at least, NEITHER gets the title shot against Mercedes Mone.

Match 3: STRONG Tag Team Champions Jorel Nelson & Royce Isaacs. vs. KUSHIDA & Kevin Knight for the titles. 30 minute time limit
Result: STRONG Tag Team Champions Jorel Nelson & Royce Isaacs beat KUSHIDA & Kevin Knight to retain the titles. Nelson pinned KUSHIDA. V2 for the champs. Next up: Potentially TJP as one half of it as he was at ringside as the champs left and teased a confrontation with them.

Match 4: STRONG Openweight Champion Gabriel Kidd vs. Tomohiro Ishii in an Iron Man Match for the title. 30 minutes. If it’s a time limit draw, match continues with no time limit until there is a winner
Result: 1-1 after 30 minutes. Which means, per the rules for this match…CONTINUATION! No time limit, first pinfall/submission wins. There must be a winner!
Result: Tomohiro Ishii beat STRONG Openweight Champion Gabriel Kidd to win the title. Ishii becomes the 8th STRONG Openweight Champion. Another Classic Hoss Fight.

Match 5: Rocky Romero & El Phantasmo vs. Tetsuya Naito & Titan. 30 minute time limit
Result: Tetsuya Naito & Titan beat Rocky Romero & El Phantasmo. Titan pinned Romero after a diving foot stomp.

Match 6: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. David Finlay. 30 minute time limit
Result: Zack Sabre Jr. beat David Finlay. Right before the end there was a potential botched finish where it appeared and sounded like the ref counted 3 on a Sabre pinfall attempt but then signaled 2.

There’s been a last-second match order change because next is…
Match 7: IWGP World Heavyweight Champion HIrooki Goto vs. Shota Umino for the title. 1 Hour time limit (this was supposed to have been the main event. Turns out it’s now double main event)
Result: IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Hirooki Goto beat Shota Umino to retain the title. V4 for Goto. Next up: TBA but it may be at WRESTLING DONTAKU on 5/3 & 5/4 in Fukuoka, but whoever is champion will be defending in the US on 5/9.

The Young Bucks promo via recorded video. They challenge Bullet Club to a match of some sorts on 5/9.

Main Event: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Konosuke Takeshita. 30 minute time limit
Result: Konosuke Takeshita beat Hiroshi Tanahashi. Takeshita showed Tanahashi respect before leaving, but as soon as he left the ring El Phantasmo was there to confront him and perhaps make a NEVER Openweight Championship challenge. After he left, several of the wrestlers gathered and rallied around the ring in support of Tanahashi. Cameras also caught Zack Sabre Jr. watching alongside some fans. Tanahashi with microphone. He thanked the fans in English for coming and although retiring as wrestler he vowed as President to make NJPW number 1 in the world. He finished by leading the crowd in his Japanese fist-raising shout to close the event. But he made sure to stop for lots of selfies and well-wishes among front row fans to do what he always has done best-send the crowd home happy.

The next US event will be Resurgence on 5/9 in Ontario, CA. I will miss the event due to being in Japan at the time.

The next event is 4/19 at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo for the start of the Road To WRESTLING DONTAKU 2025 Tour. Live streaming on New Japan World will begin on 4/18 at 7:30 PM PT/10:30 PM ET.

UPDATE: Regarding the double countout and how it will affect the STRONG Women’s Championship match on 5/9…it’s now official-it will be a 3-way. Mone vs. Shirakawa and AZM for the title, first fall wins.

At today’s post-SAKURA GENESIS presser in Tokyo, New Japan also announced this year’s G1 CLIMAX, their biggest annual tournament of the year. The 35th edition of the annual Heavyweight singles tournament awards an IWGP World Heavyweight Championship shot to the winner, usually at Tokyo Dome but not always the case-Zack Sabre Jr. cashed in his chance early last year, gambling on being able to go home to England for Royal Quest 4 as the champion, which ultimately paid off as he won the title.
The full schedule was announced today, which is as follows:
7/19, 7/20-Hokkaido Prefectural Sports Center Hokkai Kita Yell, Hokkaido
7/23-Sendai Sun Plaza, Sendai
7/24-Aore Nagaoka, Niigata
7/25, 7/26-Ota City General Gym, Tokyo
7/27-Port Messe Nagoya, Nagoya
7/30-Yamato Arena, Osaka
8/1-Sun Messe Kagawa, Kagawa
8/5-Intex Osaka, Osaka
8/7-Korakuen Hall, Tokyo
8/8-Yolohama Budokan, Yokohama
8/10-G Messe Gunma, Gunma
8/13-Act City Hamamatsu, Shizuoka
8/14-Korakuen Hall
8/16, 8/17-Ariake Arena, Tokyo

Participants TBA at a later date, probably towards the end of or just after BEST OF THE SUPER JUNIOR wraps up in June.

New Japan finished up the Road To SAKURA GENESIS Tour today with an event dubbed “Jr. Genesis”.

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 1490, a legit sellout.

Match 1: Yuya Koroku & MAO (DDT) beat Katsuya Murashima & Ninja Mack. MAO pinned Murashima after Iai Kick. Afterwards, MAO hinted at a potential May return to New Japan.

Match 2: Hiroshi Tanahashi beat Ryusuke Taguchi.

Match 3: Jacob Austin Young, Callum Newman & Jeff Cobb beat BUSHI, Hiromu Takahashi & Tetsuya Naito. Cobb pinned BUSHI after Your of the Islands.

Match 4: Shingo Takagi & Yota Tsuhi beat Dick Togo & EVIL. Takagi pinned Togo after HOLD YOUR LAST CHANCE.

Match 5: Master Wato, Yoh, YOSHI-HASHI & Hirooki Goto beat Gedo, Drilla Mooney, Gabriel Kidd & David Finlay. Wato beat Gedo with Vendeval.

Match 6: IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Kosei Fujita & Robbie Eagles beat Robbie X & Taiji Ishimori to retain the titles. Eagles pinned X after Hyperion. V2 for the champs. Next up: Wato & Yoh. When is TBA.

Main Event: In a hardcore match, IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion El Desperado beat Clark Connors to retain the title. V4 for Desperado. Next up: Templario. The masked Mexican has apparently aligned himself with United Empire now. When is TBA. For this and the tag title match though, based on the current schedule I’m thinking they may happen at WRESTLING DONTAKU on 5/3 & 5/4.

The next event is SAKURA GENESIS, the annual spring blowout event, tomorrow at Ryogoku Kokugikan. Live streaming on New Japan World OUTSIDE JAPAN ONLY will begin at 1 AM PT/4 AM ET with a pre-show match scheduled to begin at 12:30 AM PT/3:30 AM ET. This will be an exclusive TV Asahi broadcast in Japan.

New Japan continued the Road To SAKURA GENESIS Tour today in Yamanashi.

Today’s event was held at Aimesse Yamanashi in Yamanashi and can be watched on demand on New Japan World. Originally it was to be non-televised but since this may be Hiroshi Tanahashi’s last match there before retirement, plans changed and it was streamed live.

The announced paid attendance was 850.

Match 1: Tiger Mask, Yoh, Master Wato, Tomoaki Honma & Togi Makabe beat Katsuya Murashima, Ninja Mack, Boltin Oleg, Toru Yano & Hiroyoshi Tenzan. Yoh beat Murashima with Anaconda Vice

Match 2: Drilla Moloney & SANADA beat TAKA Michinoku & Yuya Uenura. Moloney pinned TAKA after Drilla Killer.

Match 3: Gabriel Kidd, Robbie X & Taiji Ishimori beat Hartley Jackson (Independent/Freelancer), Kosei Fujita & Robbie Eagles. Kidd pinned Jackson after Drill-A-Hole Piledriver.

Match 4: BUSHI, Hiromu Takahashi & Tetsuya Naito beat Jacob Austin Young, Francesco Akira & Callum Newman. Takahashi pinned Young with Maximum The Holding 3rd Form.

Match 5: Yota Tsuji beat Yoshinobu Kanemaru by DQ. EVIL low blow.

Match 6: El Desperado, YOSHI-HASHI & Hirooki Goto beat Clark Connors, Gedo & David Finlay. Desperado beat Gedo with Numero Dos.

Main Event: Shingo Takagi beat Hiroshi Tanahashi.

The tour-ender is Friday at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, which has now been dubbed “Jr. Genesis” with an IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship and IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship match. Live streaming on New Japan World will begin at 2:30 AM PT/5:30 AM ET.

First things first, this is from Tokyo Sports so proverbial salt grains…but they dropped a major New Japan bombshell RUMOR earlier today…Tetsuya Naito may be leaving the promotion soon. He actually has been a freelancer since the end of January when his contract expired and he hasn’t signed a new one. To an extent Naito confirmed the story and indicated a potential contract dispute, perhaps over the number of matches worked annually. He will be 43 later this year and his injury history (knees in particular, much like Hiroshi Tanahashi) is well-known. Negotiations seem to be ongoing on a new contract, which given he’s also coming up on 20 years with New Japan may be his last. He is half of the current IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Champions with Hiromu Takahashi with a title defense this weekend at SAKURA GENESIS, so what happens there could be a clue to his future.

Original story at the link below (in Japanese):
https://t.co/odbVunBqcj

4/3/25 UPDATE: In a social media post, Naito confirmed the story is accurate.