News, results & more from Japanese Pro Wrestling & Sumo
New Japan has just announced an injury absence-Jeff Cobb is now off today’s event. Left thigh. He was to have faced Alex Coughlin. Great-O-Khan is the replacement. That was to have been the 6th match but will now be the 5th match. Gabriel Kidd vs. HENARE is now match 6. It’s not known if Cobb will miss any more time.
More as it becomes available.
At tonight’s Major League Wrestling (MLW) event in the US, New Japan’s Satoshi Kojima added another notch to his legacy, winning the MLW World Championship for a second time by beating Alex Kane for the title. Naturally, fans made sure the Bread Club leader was feted appropriately with, of course, throwing of bread into the ring.
The event can be watched on demand on TrillerTV (fka FITE) with a TrillerTV+ subscription which is $7.99/month of $79.99/year.
The end of January is typically when New Japan wrestlers’ contracts expire (after Tokyo Dome and New Year’s Dash), and the promotion has lost 3 major names already this month but they have locked up one..according to translation of social media posts from a Tokyo Sports reporter, Hiromu Takahashi has signed a new contract with New Japan. Terms not disclosed but unless he gets injured he’ll be in Chicago for New Japan’s next US event in April.
New Japan ran the second half of the Road To THE NEW BEGINNING Tokyo doubleheader today, the final appearance for Kazuchika Okada in the capital.
Today’s event was held at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo and can be watched on demand on New Japan World. This was a Samurai! YV broadcast in Japan.
The announced paid attendance was 1506, a legit sellout.
Pre-Show Match: Shoma Kato & Boltin Oleg beat Katsuya Murashima & Toru Yano. Oleg pinned Murashima after Kamikaze.
Match 1: Zack Sabre Jr. beat Tiger Mask by submission.
Match 2: Taiji Ishimori, Chase Owens & KENTA beat Ryusuke Taguchi, Jado & Hikuleo. Ishimori pinned Jado.
Match 3: Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Sho, Yujiro Takahashi & EVIL beat Tomoaki Honma, Yoh, El Desperado & Master Wato. EVIL pinned Honma after EVIL. Afterwards, Sho attacked and unmasked Desperado.
Match 4: Drilla Moloney, Gabriel Kidd, Clark Connors, Alex Coughlin & David Finlay beat Callum Newman, Francesco Akira, TJP, HENARE & Great-O-Khan. Connors pinned Akira after No Chaser. (New Japan’s Japanese website incorrectly says Connors pinned Newman)
Match 5: BUSHI, Yota Tsuji & Shingo Takagi beat TAKA Michinoku, Yuya Uemura & Taichi. Takagi pinned TAKA after Dragon Soul Powerbomb.
Match 6: DOUKI & SANADA beat Hiromu Takahashi & Tetsuya Naito. DOUKI pinned Takahashi with Jorge Rivera Special.
Match 7: NEVER 6-Man Tag Team Champions Tomohiro Ishii, Hiroshi Tanahashi & Kazuchika Okada beat Kosei Fujita, Shane Haste & Mikey Nicholls to retain the titles. Okada pinned Fujita after Rainmaker. V8 for the champs. And Final. Afterwards, because Okada is leaving New Japan and has only 3 dates left as a freelancer, he announced the titles are now VACANT. More as it becomes available.
Main Event: Shota Umino beat Ren Narita. They went almost 34 minutes. Afterwards, Umino with microphone to proclaim his time is now and he is the new ace of New Japan. Time will tell.
The next event is 2/1 at Nagano Prefectural Budokan in Nagano. There will be no live or on demand broadcast.
UPDATE: After today’s event, NEVER Openweight Champion EVIL vs. Shota Umino for the title was announced for 2/23 in Hokkaido.
New Japan continues the Road To THE NEW BEGINNING 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 FOR FREE! (Non-PC users will have to download the NJPW WORLD app to watch, a paid subscription is not required)
The announced paid attendance was 1510, a legit sellout.
Before the event began, Master Wato came out on crutches and announced he would be out of action due to a torn left ACL. He was then attacked from behind by Sho with a wrench until El Desperado made the save. Wato was to have faced Sho today.
Match 1: Katsuya Murashima & Ryusuke Taguchi beat Shoma Kato & Yoh. Taguchi beat Kato with Oh My & Gar Ankle.
Match 2: Callum Newman, Francesco Akira, TJP, HENARE & Great-O-Khan beat Drilla Moloney, Clark Connors, Gabriel Kidd, Alex Coughlin & David Finlay. Akira pinned Connors.
Match 3: Taiji Ishimori, Chase Owens & KENTA beat Jado, El Phantasmo & Hikuleo. KENTA pinned Jado.
Match 4: Match 4: Kosei Fujita, Shane Haste, Mikey Nicholls & Zack Sabre Jr. beat Tomoaki Honma, Tomohiro Ishii, Hiroshi Tamahashi & Kazuchika Okada. Sabre beat Honma with an armbar.
Match 5: Yujiro Takahashi, Ren Narita & EVIL beat Togi Makabe, Shota Umino & Tama Tonga. Narita pinned Makabe.
Match 6: TAKA Michinoku, DOUKI, Yuya Uemura, Taichi & SANADA beat BUSHI, Hiromu Takahashi, Yota Tsuji, Shingo Takagi & Tetsuya Naito. Taichi pinned BUSHI.
Main Event: IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion El Desperado beat Yoshinobu Kanemaru to retain the title. V1 for Desperado. Next up: Possibly Sho, although Desperado rejected his challenge.
The next event is tomorrow with a NEVER 6-Man Tag Team Championship match. Live streaming on New Japan World is scheduled to begin at 1:30 AM PT/4:30 AM ET, but may begin 30 minutes earlier for a scheduled pre-show match.
UPDATE: For tomorrow, with Wato now out indefinitely, Yoh is the replacement in an 8-man tag match
At the start of New Japan’s event today (results coming shortly), Master Wato came out on crutches and announced he was out due to injury. Left ACL tear. He was to have faced Sho. In an unusual move (for Japan anyway, they usually don’t do injury angles like the US does), that didn’t stop Sho from coming out to ambush Wato with a wrench until El Desperado made the save. Wato will probably be out long-term
THE NEW BEGINNING IN NAGOYA, New Japan’s first major post-Tokyo Dome event, went down today and it really did mark a new beginning for the promotion as it prepares to say goodbye to Tama Tonga, Kazuchika Okada and others over the next month.
Today’s event was held at Aichi Prefectural Gym in Nagoya and can be watched on demand on New Japan World.
The announced paid attendance was 2710.
Pre-show Match: Shoma Kato vs. Katsuya Murashima went to a 10 minute time limit draw.
Match 1: Yujiro Takahashi & Ren Narita beat Tomoaki Honma & Shota Umino. Narita pinned Honma after Double Cross.
Match 2: Drilla Moloney, Clark Connors, Gabriel Kidd, Alex Coughlin & David Finlay beat Callum Newman, Francesco Akira, TJP, HENARE & Jeff Cobb. Finlay pinned Newman after a powerbomb whip.
Match 3: Sho & Yoshinobu Kanemaru beat Master Wato & El Desperado. Sho pinned Wato after Shock Arrow.
Match 4: Kosei Fujita, Shane Haste, Mikey Nicholls & Zack Sabre Jr. beat Yohi Makabe, Tomohiro Ishii, Hiroshi Tanahashi & Kazuchika Okada. Sabre beat Makabe with a modified leg lock. Afterwards, Okada stuck around to say goodbye to the fans following his final Nagoya match.
Match 5: TAKA Michinoku, DOUKI, Yuya Uemura, Taichi & SANADA beat BUSHI, Hiromu Takahashi, Yota Tsuji, Shingo Takagi & Tetsuya Naito. SANADA beat BUSHI with Skull End.
Match 6: In a 10 Minute Ishimori Ring Fit Match, where the match was stopped at certain intervals for 30 seconds of high-intensity exercise, Great-O-Khan beat KOPW 2024 Champion Taiji Ishimori by surviving the entire 10 minutes to win the title. This was Ishimori’s chosen stip for the match as determined by fan voting.
Match 7: STRONG Tag Team Champions El Phantasmo & Hikuleo beat Chase Owens & KENTA to retain the titles. Phantasmo pinned Owens after CR 2. V5 for the champs. (This was only for the STRONG Titles and not the IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championship also held by Phantasmo & Hikuleo)
Main Event: NEVER Openweight Champion Tama Tonga vs. EVIL went to a no contest. Outside interference on both sides and out of control. Which led to…
Main Event (again): In a Lumberjack Death Match, EVIL beat NEVER Openweight Champion Tama Tonga to win the title. EVIL becomes the 43rd NEVER Openweight Champion. Officially this time. Tonga demanded the rematch after the initial no contest. This was Tonga’s final single match in New Japan before he leaves the promotion at the end of the month.
Next up is the Road To THE NEW BEGINNING 2024 Tour starting tomorrow at Nagahama Ika Twin Arena in Shiga. There will be no live or on demand broadcast.
Breaking news that I had to break in from vacation to post: New Japan is losing Kazuchika Okada on January 31. Contract expiring and he is moving on. But he will work the 3 big February events on 2/11, 2/23 & 2/24.
Read New Japan’s English statement with comments from Okada below:
https://www.njpw1972.com/168267
More as it becomes available.
UPDATE: New Japan has begun announcing event lineup changes: The NEVER 6-Man Tag Team Championship match schedules for 2/11 in Osaka has been moved up to 1/24 at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo. It’ll be Okada’s last match at Korakuen for NJPW. Now on 2/11 it will be…One. Last. Time…Okada vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi. 2/24 for Okada’s final match is TBA as is 2/23. Also now on 1/24 is Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Tiger Mask and a planned Shoma Kato & Boltin Oleg vs. Katsuya Murashima & Toru Yano match will be a pre-show match.
New Japan is back in the US for their first international event of the year, Battle In The Valley 2024. As usual they have loaded the card with a mix of wrestlers from Japan, the LA Dojo, partner and independent promotions and more. This year’s event is headlined by what is being billed as Will Ospreay’s last single match in New Japan (at least as a full-time member) before he jumps full-time to All Elite Wrestling next month, and it’s against none other than Kazuchika Okada. The co-main event sees a rematch between Shingo Takagi & Jon Moxley, not surprisingly it will be a No DQ match. Elsewhere, STRONG Openweight Champion Eddie Kingston will defend that title and his AEW Continental Crown (including the AEW Continental Championship and Ring Of Honor World Championship) against Gabriel Kidd while STRONG Women’s Champion Giulia defends her title against rising indy sensation Trish Adora. Bullet Club will also try to win the STRONG Tag Team Championship as Alex Coughlin & Clark Connors challenge Hikuleo & El Phantasmo, but it’s not a double title match so no IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championship on the line. That and plenty more to kick off a big international 2024 for the promotion.
Today’s event will be held at the San Jose Civic Center in San Jose, CA and can be watched LIVE on TrillerTV (fka FITE) in English for $19.99. IT IS NOT AVAILABLE LIVE ON NEW JAPAN WORLD OUTSIDE JAPAN. You get the live broadcast and unlimited on demand replays with purchase. There will also be a FREE 30 minute pre-show before the event. None of the title matches have more than a 30 minute time limit and neither do any matches except the last 2 (1 Hour), so including the pre-show I predict the event will have a total running time of around 3 1/2 hours. The longest it could possibly go is roughly 5 hours.
Today’s lineup:
Pre-show:
Matt Vandagriff vs. Goldy
Viva Van vs. Stephanie Vaquer
PPV:
Shota Umino, Fred Rosser & Jacob Fatu vs. Tom Lawlor, Royce Isaacs & Jorel Nelson
Mascara Dorada & Volador Jr. vs. Rocky Romero & Soberano Jr.
TJP vs. David Finlay
STRONG Tag Team Champions El Phantasmo & Hikuleo vs. Alex Coughlin & Clark Connors for the titles
STRONG Women’s Champion Giulia vs. Trish Adora for the title
Matt Riddle & TBA vs. Bad Dude Tito & Zack Sabre Jr.
STRONG Openweight Champion & AEW Continental Crown Champion Eddie Kingston vs. Gabriel Kidd for the titles
Shingo Takagi vs. Jon Moxley in a No DQ match
Will Ospreay vs. Kazuchika Okada
Refresh this page occasionally for the latest results.
Updates below will begin at 6:30 PM PT/9:30 PM ET.
6:30 PM PT UPDATE: Live updates begin now.
We are LIVE from San Jose Civic Center in San Jose, CA. Your hosts are Walker Stewart & Veda Scott.
The paid attendance will be announced after the event. They say it’s a legit sellout, if so that means 2100. As of midday today the last number I had was 2050 and they’re still filing in but it’s going to be right around 2100. (UPDATE: The announced paid attendance was 2147, a legit sellout. That means they added some capacity, the original setup was for 2100)
Pre-show:
Match 1; Matt Vandagriff vs. Goldy. 20 minute time limit
Result: Matt Vandagriff beat Goldy
Match 2: Viva Van vs. Stephanie Vaquer. 20 minute time limit
Result: Stephanie Vaquer beat Viva Van
Pre-show ends at 6:55 PM PT/9:55 PM ET. Updates will resume when the PPV begins.
PPV:
Match 1: Shota Umino, Fred Rosser & Jacob Fatu vs. Tom Lawlor, Royce Isaacs & Jorel Nelson. 20 minute time limit
Result: Shota Umino, Fred Rosser & Jacob Fatu beat Tom Lawlor, Royce Isaacs & Jorel Nelson. Umino pinned Isaacs after a double arm DDT.
After the match, while he was celebrating with the fans, Umino was sneak attacked and laid out by Jack Perry, normally part of All Elite Wrestling but not with them although he reportedly is no longer suspended after a backstage altercation with CM Punk last year. Perry held up an AEW contract and tore it up in the ring before producing and donning an armband reading “SCAPEGOAT”. Jungle Boy may officially be no more and no longer All Elite.
Match 2: Mascara Dorada & Volador Jr. vs. Rocky Romero & Soberano Jr.. 20 minute time limit
Result: Mascara Dorada & Volador Jr. beat Rocky Romero & Soberano Jr. Volador pinned Romero after a Canadian destroyer.
Match 3: TJP vs. David Finlay. 20 minute time limit
Result: David Finlay beat TJP
Match 4: STRONG Tag Team Champions El Phantasmo & Hikuleo vs. Alex Coughlin & Clark Connors for the titles. 30 minute time limit
Result: STRONG Tag Team Champions El Phantasmo & Hikuleo beat Alex Coughlin & Clark Connors to retain the titles. Hikuleo pinned Coughlin after Super Thunder Kiss 86. V4 for the champs.
Match 5: STRONG Women’s Champion Giulia vs. Trish Adora for the title. 30 minute time limit
Result: STRONG Women’s Champion Giulia beat Trish Adora to retain the title. V8 for Giulia. So maybe she’s not going to WWE yet. (She is technically a freelancer now although she has made some appearances in Stardom since disbanding her Donna Del Mundo faction)
Video promo from…Mustafa Ali! He does a Presidential campaign-style promo to call out Hiromu Takahashi for a match at Windy City Riot on 4/12 in Chicago, IL. I am all for Ali in New Japan! Or anywhere besides WWE for that matter.
Match 6: Matt Riddle & TBA vs. Bad Dude Tito & Zack Sabre Jr.. 30 minute time limit. TBA is…if a botched graphic during Riddle’s intro is true…and it is…Jeff Cobb.
Result: Matt Riddle & Jeff Cobb beat Zack Sabre Jr. & Bad Dude Tito. Riddle pinned Tito after Bro Derek.
Match 7: STRONG Openweight Champion & AEW Continental Crown Champion Eddie Kingston vs. Gabriel Kidd for the titles. 30 minute time limit
Result: STRONG Openweight Champion & AEW Conitinental Crown Champion Eddie Kingston beat Gabriel Kidd by countout to retain the titles. V10 for Kingston. They kept brawling at the end before Clark Connors & Alex Coughlin joined in for the heel beatdown on Kingston.
Match 8: Shingo Takagi vs. Jon Moxley in a No DQ match. 1 Hour time limit
Result: Jon Moxley beat Shingo Takagi. YOU. SICK. F*CKS! Yeah, there was a little blood and gore.But incredible nonetheless.
Afterwards, Moxley with microphone. It didn’t work at first but Moxley acknowledged it was his fault for not pressing the button. He called out Tetsuya Naito. HOLY SH*T!!!
Quick break for ring cleaning.
It’s Now Official…Naito-Moxley on 4/12 in Chicago (NON-TITLE match for now) as well as Mustafa Ali vs. Hiromu Takahashi. The biggest NJPW STRONG event ever as they’ve been billing it…Definitely!
Main Event: Will Ospreay vs. Kazuchika Okada. 1 Hour time limit
Result: Kazuchika Okada beat Will Ospreay. They went almost 30 minutes. After the match Bullet Club hit the ring for a beatdown on Ospreay. After a couple minutes TJP, Jeff Cobb & Eddie Kingston ran out to make the save. Once he recovered, Ospreay with microphone. He ran down Bullet Club ahead of 2/11 in Osaka and told Kingston “I owe you one”. He then thanked the fans and touched on his 8 years in New Japan as he prepares to move to All Elite Wrestling next month and also puts Okada over. He finishes by building up his final NJPW match on 2/11, which will be a steel cage match. His NSFW choice words about that match got a huge pop to finish his final promo and send the crowd home happy.
End Show.
The next event is THE NEW BEGINNING IN NAGOYA on 1/20 at Aichi Prefectural Gym in Aichi. Live streaming on New Japan World will begin at midnight PT/3 AM ET.
While browsing the socials just now, a post in Japanese by New Japan wrestler EVIL caught my eye, which was quoted by Tama Tonga. It stems from what happened at-and after-Tokyo Dome. Because this may affect an upcoming New Japan event, I am adding a SPOILER WARNING here just in case. Read on at your own risk. (See below, I’ve removes the spoiler warning because it actually is not)
What happened is EVIL posted a screenshot of the roster page from New Japan’s official Japanese website (the mobile version) showing EVIL as the 43rd NEVER Openweight Champion. Tonga is the current 42nd champion having won the title back on 1/4. But then in backstage comments Tonga announced he was leaving New Japan next month for family reasons (although he is from Tonga, he may have family in Hawaii which is where his brother Tanga Loa is from, Tonga wants to work where he can be closer to them). Tonga is to defend the title against EVIL next month and this screenshot suggests the conclusion is foregone. And it seems to be legit. I then went to NJPW’s Japanese website and took the following screenshot (note the time shown is US Pacific Time/GMT-8):
Make of that what you will while we wait for potential comments from New Japan.
More as it becomes available.
UPDATE: New Japan’s new English announcer, Walker Stewart, is claiming the title change happened today in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil. Nothing official yet from New Japan.
UPDATE 2: It was all fake. New Japan clarified this and posted a video clip of EVIL threatening website staff. See below:
