Tag: njpw

New Japan continued the Road To WRESTLING DONTAKU Tour today with the second half of a Tokyo doubleheader.

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 887.

Match 1: Taiji Ishimori, Chase Owens & KENTA beat Shoma Kato, YOSHI-HASHI & Hirooki Goto. Ishimori beat Kato with Bone Lock.

Match 2: Kosei Fujita, Shane Haste, Mikey Nicholls & Zack Sabre Jr. beat Katsuya Murashima, El Desperado, El Phantasmo & Hikuleo. Fujita pinned Murashima.

Match 3: NEVER 6-Man Tag Team Champions Boltin Oleg, Toru Yano & Hiroshi Tanahashi beat Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Yujiro Takahashi & EVIL to retain the titles. Tanahashi pinned Takahashi after High Fly Flow. V1 for the champs.

LIJ vs. Bullet Club 5 Match Series:
Match 4: Yota Tsuji beat Gedo in 5 seconds.
Match 5: Gabriel Kidd beat BUSHI.
Match 6: Shingo Takagi beat Clark Connors.
Match 7: Drilla Moloney beat Tetsuya Naito. Jake Lee (Pro Wrestling NOAH) interference helped.
Main Event: David Finlay beat Hiromu Takahashi.
Bullet Club wins 3-2.

The next event is Thursday at Fukui Industrial Center Exhibition Hall 1 in Fukui. There will be no live or on demand broadcast.

New Japan continued the Road To WRESTLING DONTAKU Tour today with the first half of a Tokyo doubleheader.

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 811.

Match 1; Taiji Ishimori, Chase Owens & KENTA beat Katsuya Murashima, YOSHI-HASHI & Hirooki Goto. Ishimori beat Murashima with Bone Lock.

Match 2: Kosei Fujita, Shane Haste, Mikey Nicholls & Zack Sabre Jr. beat Shoma Kato, Jado, El Phantasmo & Hikuleo. Fujita pinned Kato.

Match 3: Dick Togo, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Yujiro Takahashi, Ren Narita & EVIL beat Boltin Oleg, Shota Umino, Toru Yano, Hiroshi Tanahashi & Tomohiro Ishii. Kanemaru pinned Oleg with Samson Clutch.

Match 4; BUSHI, Hiromu Takahashi, Yota Tsuji, Shingo Takagi & Tetsuya Naito beat Gedo, Drilla Moloney, Clark Connors, Gabriel Kidd & David Finlay. Takahashi pinned Gedo.

Main Event: In an elimination Gauntlet match, Great-O-Khan, Jeff Cobb, Callum Newman, Francesco Akira & TJP beat Yuya Uemura, SANADA, TAKA Michinoku, DOUKI & Taichi. Order of elimination: Khan vs. Uemura went to a 10 minute time limit draw (both out), Cobb vs. SANADA went to a 10 minute time limit draw (both out), TAKA by Newman, Newman by DOUKI, Akira by DOUKI, DOUKI by TJP, Taichi by TJP. United Empire wins with TJP the only man left.

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

New Japan continued the Road To WRESTLING DONTAKU Tour today with a house show 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 738.

Match 1: Taiji Ishimori, Chase Owens & KENTA beat Shoma kato, YOSHI-HASHI & Hirooki Goto. Ishimori beat Kato with Bone Lock.

Match 2: Callum Newman & Jeff Cobb beat Tomoaki Honma & Tomohiro Ishii. Cobb pinned Honma after Tour of the Islands.

Match 3; Sho & Yujiro Takahashi beat TAKA Michinoku & DOUKI. Takahashi pinned TAKA after Big Juice.

Match 4: Kosei Fujita, Shane Haste, Mikey Nicholls & Zack Sabre Jr. beat Jado, El Desperado, El Phantasmo & Hikuleo. Fujita beat Jado with a chicken wing.

Match 5: Boltin Oleg, Shota Umino, Toru Yano & Hiroshi Tanahashi beat Dick Togo, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Ren Narita & EVIL. Umino beat Togo with STF.

Match 6: Yuya Uemura, Taichi & SANADA beat Francesco Akira, TJP & Great-O-Khan. Taichi pinned TJP after Tensho Cross Fang.

Main Event: BUSHI, Hiromu Takahashi, Yota Tsuji, Shingo Takagi & Tetsuya Naito beat Gedo, Drilla Moloney, Clark Connors, Gabriel Kidd & David Finlay. BUSHI pinned Gedo after Fable.

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

New Japan began the Road To WRESTLING DONTAKU Tour today, which will take them to the annual May blowout event in Fukuoka.

Today’s event was held at Machida City Gym in Tokyo. There is/was no live or on demand broadcast.

The announced paid attendance was 1267.

There were late changes to this card and all events cards this series due to Ryusuke Taguchi now being off. Injuries sustained in a bicycle accident.

Before the matches began, a memorial ceremony for the late pro wrestler and sumo Yokozuna (Grand Champion) Akebono was held.

Match 1: Taiji Ishimori, Chase Owens & KENTA beat Katsuya Murashima, YOSHI-HASHI & Hirooki Goto. Ishimori beat Murashima with Bone Lock.

Match 2: Callum Newman, Francesco Akira & Jeff Cobb beat El Desperado, Tomoaki Honma & Tomohiro Ishii. Cobb pinned Honma after Tour of the Islands.

Match 3: Kosei Fujita, Shane Haste, Mikey Nicholls & Zack Sabre Jr. beat Shoma Kato, Jado, El Phantasmo & Hikuleo. Fujita pinned Kato.

Match 4: DOUKI & SANADA beat Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Sho. SANADA beat Kanemaru with Skull End.

Match 5: Boltin Oleg, Shota Umino, Toru Yano & Hiroshi Tanahashi beat Dick Togo, Yujiro Takahashi, Ren Narita & EVIL. Umino pinned Togo after Death Rider.

Match 6: Yuya Uemura & Taichi beat TJP & Great-O-Khan. Taichi pinned TJP after Tencho Cross Fang.

Main Event: BUSHI, Hiromu Takahashi, Yota Tsuji, Shingo Takagi & Tetsuya Naito beat Gedo, Dtilla Moloney, Clark Connors, Gabriel Kidd & David Finlay. Naito pinned Gedo.

The next event is tomorrow at Nagano CIvic Center Multi Hall in Nagano. There will be no live or on demand broadcast.

Another injury has hit New Japan following the word that Yoh is out a while, and now unfortunate circumstances have taken Ryusuke Taguchi to the disabled list. Neck, hands, arms, knees AND concussion. Out indefinitely but at least until after WRESTLING DONTAKU, meaning 2+ weeks. Status for Best Of The Super Junior uncertain at this time. In a statement, Taguchi said the incident happened when he swerved on his bicycle to avoid hitting a dog and fell off. Oh My.

More as it becomes available.

At New Japan’s SAKURA GENESIS event earlier this month, a match between Sho & Yoh for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship ended just over a minute in due to a Yoh injury. Unfortunately it was both legit and bad as we found out today. Dislocated left shoulder and damaged labrum. Out indefinitely but long enough that he is now out of Best Of The Super Junior in May & June, which would mean at least 2 months. No replacement named yet.

More as it becomes available.

UPDATE: KUSHIDA is the replacement.

Lots of New Japan news for the end of April & May:

First up, most of the matches for WRESTLING DONTAKU 2024 on 5/3 & 5/4 in Fukuoka have been announced including NEW IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Jon Moxley’s first defense. He said Shota Umino was going to be first…nope. This isn’t AEW so he can’t always call his shots and get them. Ren Narita gets next. First, here’s what’s set for 5/3:
Jon Moxley, Shota Umino & El Desperado vs. Ren Narita, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & EVIL
Yota Tsuji vs. David Finlay
NJPW WORLD TV Champion Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Jeff Cobb for the title
IWGP Global Champion Nic Nemeth vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi for the title

5/4 so far:
Hiroshi Tanahashi & Nic Nemeth vs. Taichi & SANADA
IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI vs. KENTA & Chase Owens for the titles
NEVER Openweight Champion Shingo Takagi vs. Gabriel Kidd for the title
IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Jon Moxley vs. Ren Narita for the title

On 4/27 as part of the Road to WRESTLING DONTAKU Tour in Hisoshima, there will be what looks to be a rematch of NEW STRONG Tag Team Champions Shane Haste & Mikey Nicholls vs. Hikuleo & El Phantasmo for the titles. The champs lost the titles in a 4-way at Windy City Riot but weren’t the ones involved in the fall. Also set is KOPW 2024 Champion Great-O-Khan vs. Yuya Uemura for the title. The main event will be an LIJ vs. Bullet Club 10-man elimination tag match, and other graphics suggest DOUKI & TAKA Michinoku vs. Sho & Yoshinobu Kanemaru is set as well.

On 4/29 in Kagoshima, the annual Wrestling Satsuma No Kuni event IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Clark Connors & Dilla Moloney vs. Hiromu Takahashi & BUSHI for the titles, IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Sho vs. DOUKI for the title and probably Tetsuya Naito, Shingo Takagi & Yota Tsuji vs. Gedo, David Finlay & Gabriel Kidd.

UPDATE: Whoever is IWGP World Heavyweight Champion on 5/11 will defend the title against Umino at Resurgence.

New Japan returned to Taiwan today for the first time in over 7 1/2 years for a special standalone event, featuring a tournament to crown new NEVER 6-Man Tag Team Champions.

Today’s event was held at Zepp New Taipei in Taipei, Taiwan and can be watched on demand on New Japan World OUTSIDE JAPAN ONLY. This was a live TV Asahi broadcast in Japan.

The announced paid attendance was 800, a full house/near sellout. New Japan’s English website says a legit sellout.

Pre-show Match: Puzzle Provided Match: Touyuu beat Axe Wang.

Match 1: NEVER 6-Man Tag Team Title Tournament: Hiroshi Tanahashi, Toru Yano & Boltin Oleg beat Great-O-Khan, Francesco Akira & Callum Newman. Yano pinned Newman.

Match 2: NEVER 6-Man Tag Team Title Tournament: Sho, Yujiro Takahashi & EVIL beat Shingo Takagi, Yota Tsuhji & BUSHI. Sho pinned BUSHI after Shock Arrow.

Match 3: Satoshi Kojima & Tiger Mask beat El Desperado & Shoma Kato. TM 4 pinned Kato after a tiger driver.

Match 4: Starlight Kid (Stardom) beat HANAKO (Stardom).

Match 5: DOUKI beat Kosei Fujita. As a result, DOUKI will face Sho for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship at a later date.

Match 6: IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI beat Yuya Uemura & SANADA to retain the titles. Goto pinned Uemora after Goh. V1 for the champs.

Main Event: NEVER 6-Man Tag Team Title Tournament: Hiroshi Tanahashi, Toru Yano & Boltin Oleg beat Sho, Yujiro Takahashi & EVIL to win the tournament and the titles. Tanahashi, Yano & Oleg become the 27th NEVER 6-Man Tag Team Champions. Tanahashi pinned Sho after High Fly Flow. Really cool to see a Young Lion (Oleg) win a title, although I personally am less than thrilled that it includes Yano. Sorry all but I am not a Yano fan.

The next event is the Road To WRESTLING DONTAKU Tour opener Saturday at Machida Gym in Tokyo. There will be no live or on demand broadcast. Most of the tour will be non-televised with just 3 broadcasts scheduled among 9 events, plus Wrestling Satsuma No Kuni on 4/29 which will be on New Japan World.

New Japan is back in the US today for this year’s Windy City Riot event, billed as the promotion’s biggest US event this decade, and possibly ever. From a box office standpoint it will be their biggest US event ever based on ticket sales. It’s a loaded event on paper with 4 title matches among 11 total, getting bigger after SAKURA GENESIS last weekend-with Tetsuya Naito vs. Jon Moxley already set for today, after Naito retained the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship Sunday Moxley made the challenge and this match became for the title. Also on tap is a NJPW WORLD TV Championship match as Zack Sabre Jr. tries to become a 2-time champion against Matt Riddle, STRONG Tag Team Champions El Phantasmo & Hikuleo defend in a 4-way, and NEW STRONG Women’s CHampion Stephanie Vaquer defends for the first time against AZM, who will try to bring the belt back to Stardom.

Today’s event will be held at Wintrust Arena in Chicago and can be watched LIVE ONLY ON NEW JAPAN WORLD OUTSIDE JAPAN as a PPV in English for $19.99. A paid monthly NJPW WORLD subscription is not required to buy the PPV. No Triller/FITE or any other option. Purchase includes the live stream and unlimited on demand replays until 6/30, but that date is subject to change (after that it should be available for all paying subscribers with no paywall). In Japan the event will be a live broadcast only on TV Asahi. There will be a FREE 30 minute pre-show on New Japan World and YouTube before the event with 2 matches scheduled. There’s one match with what appears to be no time limit but based on the number of matches, including the pre-show I anticipate the event will have a total running time of at least 3 1/2 hours, close to 4 hours.

Today’s lineup (in order):
Pre-show:
Matt Vandagriff vs. Zane Jay
Viva Van & Mina Shirakawa vs. Trish Adora & Alex Windsor

PPV:
Minoru Suzuki vs. Ren Narita
STRONG Women’s Champion Stephanie Vaquer vs. AZM for the title
STRONG Tag Team Champions El Phantasmo & Hikuleo vs. Shane Haste & Mikey Nicholls, Jorel Nelson & Royce Isaacs and Fred Rosser & Tom Lawlor in a 4-way for the titles
Shota Umino vs. Jack Perry
Mustafa Ali vs. Hiromu Takahashi
Eddie Kingston, TBA, TBA & TBA vs. Gabriel Kidd, TBA, TBA & TBA in a Riot Rules Tornado Tag Match. No DQs. Members revealed at entrance time
NJPW WORLD TV Champion Matt Riddle vs. Zack Sabre Jr. for the title
Nic Nemeth vs. Tomohiro Ishii
IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Tetsuya Naito vs. Jon Moxley for the title

Refresh this page occasionally for the latest results.

Updates below will begin at 4:30 PM PT/7:30 PM ET. PPV begins at 5 PM PT/8 PM ET.

4 PM PT UPDATE: If you purchased the PPV on New Japan World, the stream is now live in pre-show mode and will begin with the pre-show. If you want to buy the PPV, you must do so on a web browser-you cannot buy the PPV on the mobile/TV app.

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

We are LIVE from Wintrust Arena in Chicago, IL. Your hosts are Walker Stewart, Veda Scott & Chris Charlton.

The paid attendance will be announced after the event. Based on the last fan estimate via Ticketmaster that I saw yesterday, it should be in the 6200-6500 range. A sellout at the current capacity would be about 6700. Regardless, it’s going to be a new record for NJPW in the US and then some. (UPDATE: The announced paid attendance was 6028. That’s actually a little less than what was expected)

Pre-show:
Match 1: Matt Vandagriff vs. Zane Jay. 20 minute time limit
Result: Matt Vandagriff beat Zane Jay
Match 2: Viva Van & Mina Shirakawa vs. Trish Adora & Alex Windsor (Mrs. Will Ospreay btw). 20 minute time limit
Result: Trish Adora & Alex Windsor beat Viva Van & Mina Shirakawa. Windsor pinned Van.

Updates will resume when the PPV begins. Pre-show ends at 4:54 PM PT/7:54 PM ET.

PPV:
This event is airing live in Japan as part of WORLD PRO WRESTLING LIVE 2024 on TV Asahi. Clearly we’re getting their feed because they open with said graphic, we just have the English commentary being outside Japan.

Match 1: Minoru Suzuki vs. Ren Narita. 30 minute time limit
Result: Ren Narita beat Minoru Suzuki

Match 2: STRONG Women’s Champion Stephanie Vaquer vs. AZM for the title. 30 minute time limit
Result: STRONG Women’s Champion Stephanie Vaquer beat AZM to retain the title. V1 for Vaquer. Next up: Possibly Alex Windsor. With microphone. Challenge issued for 5/11 in Ontario, CA at Resurgence. Accepted by Vaquer.

Match 3: STRONG Tag Team Champions El Phantasmo & Hikuleo vs. Shane Haste & Mikey Nicholls, Jorel Nelson & Royce Isaacs and Fred Rosser & Tom Lawlor in a 4-way for the titles. 30 minute time limit
Result: Shane Haste & Mikey Nicholls beat STRONG Tag Team Champions El Phantasmo & Hikuleo, Jorel Nelson & Royce Isaacs and Fred Rosser & Ton Lawlor in a 4-way, when Haste pinned Nelson, to win the titles. Haste & Nicholls become the 7th STRONG Tag Team Champions.

Match 4: Shota Umino vs. Jack Perry. 30 minute time limit
Result: Shota Umino beat Jack Perry

Match 5: Mustafa Ali vs. Hiromu Takahashi. 30 minute time limit
Result: Mustafa Ali beat Hiromu Takahashi

Match 6: Eddie Kingston, TBA, TBA & TBA vs. Gabriel Kidd, TBA, TBA & TBA in a Riot Rules Tornado Tag Match. No DQs. Members revealed at entrance time. Kidd’s 3 TBAs are Clark Connors, David Finlay and KENTA. Kingston’s TBAs are TJP, Jeff Cobb and Homicide. No time limit
Result: Gabriel Kidd, Clark Connors, David Finlay & KENTA beat Eddie Kingston, Jeff Cobb, TJP & Homicide. Kidd pinned Homicide after a piledriver. Both sides kept fighting after the match until refs finally separated them all. Once things settled down, Kingston with microphone. With some choice English, he challenged Kidd to a No Rope Last Standing Match at Resurgence. And commentary notes it will also be for the STRONG Openweight Championship held by Kingston.

Quick break for ring clearning/repairs.

Match 7: NJPW WORLD TV Champion Matt Riddle vs. Zack Sabre Jr. for the title. 15 minute time limit
Result: Zack Sabre Jr. beat NJPW WORLD TV Champion Matt Riddle to win the title. Sabre becomes the 4th NJPW WORLD TV Champion. And first 2-time champion as he was the inaugural champion. Can he make it to V17 and break his own record this time? Sabre with microphone post-match for some brief comments, including saying he’ll defend the title very soon in the US. But before he can leave, Jeff Cobb comes out. Challenge issued and accepted, but Cobb goes for the cheap shot out of the handshake. They trade counters and Sabre bails. Sabre with microphone asking for the belt back in exchange for the title shot.

Upcoming live US PPV announcement-Capital Collision on 8/30 at Entertainment & Sports Arena in Washingon, DC.

Match 8: IWGP Global Champion Nic Nemeth vs. Tomohiro Ishii in a NON-TITLE match. 30 minute time limit
Result: Nic Memeth beat Tomohiro Ishii

Main Event: IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Tetsuya Naito vs. Jon Moxley for the title. 1 Hour time limit
Result: Jon Moxley beat IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Tetsuya Naito to win the title. Moxley becomes the 9th IWGP World Heavyweight Champion. HOLY S**T! HOLY S**T! UPSET ALERT!!! I never thought this is how Naito’s first title reign (and perhaps last) would end! After only 3 months. Next/first up: TBA but it’s all but guaranteed to be at Resurgence. Afterwards, Moxley with microphone. He basically threw down the gauntlet for any and all challengers in New Japan and announced up first is…Shota Umino. But instead, Ren Narita came out and ambushed Moxley from behind. Narita with microphone. While choking out Moxley, Narita said he’s next and continued the beatdown until Umino made the save. As Narita walked off, Moxley grabbed the microphone and delivered the death threat.

To put it simply, this event absolutely lived up to the hype from beginning to end. And after the disaster that was the stream last year, this year’s broadcast was perfect, maybe helped by it being on TV in Japan (I watched on a Roku device and had zero issues). If you missed it live it’s definitely a must-buy replay.

End Show.

The next event is WRESTLING WORLD 2024 IN TAIWAN Sunday at New Zepp Taaipei in Taipei, Taiwan. Live streaming on New Japan World OUTSIDE JAPAN ONLY will begin at 2 AM PT/5 AM ET. This will be a TV Asahi live broadcast in Japan.