Tag: njpw

New Japan returns to England for ROYAL QUEST 4 today, resuming a new tradition that was quickly disrupted by the coronavirus pendemic. And luckily for the hometown fans, they have a champion to cheer for after Zack Sabre Jr. won the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship earlier in the week, and now because of that his scheduled match against SANADA will be for the title. The winner determines who gets the next title shot on 11/4-if Sabre wins, it’s Shingo Takagi. If SANADA wins, it’s Shota Umino. A second title match is set as the Hiroshi Tanahashi Retirement Road begins, as after his 25th Anniversary match last week he gave us the news we didn’t want to hear…he will retire on 1/4/2026 at the Tokyo Dome (but unless he also steps down as President of New Japan he won’t be going away). That road starts today with a NEVER Tag TEam Championship match as Tanahashi & Tomihiro Ishii challenge Shane Haste & Mikey Nicholls for the titles. That and much more, with the England representation mostly focused on the first half of the card including some new faces to some of us. We’ll also get to check in with a couple of the Young Lions on their training excursions as Oskar Leube & Yuto Nakahsima will compete against a pair of England-based independent standouts.

Today’s event will be held at Crystal Palace National Sports Centre in London, England and can be watched LIVE WORLDWIDE on New Japan World in Japanese. English will be available on demand at a later date. Also, this isn’t a PPV-all paid monthly subscribers can watch so if you’re not subscribed, go drop the $9.99 to get on board. There will be a pre-show match 30 minutes before the event begins. Including that match, this will probably have a total running time of 3 1/2-4 hours.

Today’s lineup:
Pre-show:
Oskar Leube & Yuto Nakashina vs. Brendan White & Danny Jones

Main show:
Taiji Ishimori & TBA vs. Danny Black & Joe Lando
Kanji & Mina Shirakawa vs. Dani Luna & AZM
Kosei Fujita vs. Michael Oku
Yota Tsuji vs. Drilla Moloney
Shota Umino vs. Callum Newman
David Finlay vs. TAKA Michinoku
Titan, Hiromu Takahashi & Tetsuya Naito vs. Mascara Dorada, Robbie Eagles & Ryohei Oiwa
STRONG Tag Team Champions Shane Haste & Mikey Nicholls vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi & Tomohiro Ishii for the titles
IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Zack Sabre Jr. vs. SANADA for the title

Refresh this page occasionally for the latest results.

Updates below will begin at 9 AM PT/Noon ET. The main show begins at 9:30 AM PT/12:30 PM ET.

9 AM PT UPDATE: We’re starting a few moments late. Still in pre-live mode.

:9:05 AM PT UPDATE 2: The pre-show is also live FOR FREE on YouTube. The NJPW WORLD feed is about 5 minutes behind. Anyway, live updates begin now.

We are LIVE from Crystal Palace National Indoor Sports Centre in London, England. Your hosts are Haruo Murata & Miki Motoi with guests including (I think) Taichi and someone else. All bravely working the graveyard shift because it’s 1 AM Monday in Japan.

The paid attendance will be announced after the event. They appear to be using the indoor venue that has a listed capacity of 1400, it looks about 75% full but fans may still be filing in. With the setup it has me thinking it’ll be around 1000. (UPDATE: The announced paid attendance was 1544)

Pre-show match: Oskar Leube & Yuto Nakashina vs. Brendan White & Danny Jones. 30 minute time limit
Result: Oskar Leube & Yuto Nakashima beat Brandan White & Danny Jones. Leube pinned White after Blood Rush.

End pre-show intermission (9:20 AM PT/12:20 PM ET). Updates and the live stream will resume in 10 minutes.

Main show:
The broadcast resumes at 9:33 AM PT/12:33 PM ET as the ring announcer comes back out during the opening video playing for the live crowd,

Match 1: Taiji Ishimori & TBA vs. Danny Black & Joe Lando. TBA, who was not revealed until entrances, is Robbie X. 30 minute time limit.
Result: Taiji Ishimori & Robbie X beat Danny Black & Joe Lando. X pinned Black after Spinal Tap.

Match 2: Kanji & Mina Shirakawa (Stardom) vs. Dani Luna (TNA Wrestling) & AZM (Stardom). 30 minute time limit
Result: Dani Luna & AZM beat Kanji & Mina Shirakawa. Luna pinned Shirakawa after Luna Landing. As far as the Europe women’s titles held by Shirakawa, that could be significant and set up a rematch.

Grizzled Young Veterans promo. Pre-taped. They want the STRONG Tag Team Championship match winners next.

Match 3: Kosei Fujita vs. Michael Oku. 30 minute time limit
Result: Kosei Fujita beat Michael Oku

Match 4: Yota Tsuji vs. Drilla Moloney. 30 minute time limit
Result: Yota Tsuji beat Drilla Moloney

Match 5: Shota Umino vs. Callum Newman. 30 minute time limit
Result: Shota Umino beat Callum Newman

Match 6: David Finlay vs. TAKA Michinoku. 30 minute time limit
Result: David Finlay beat TAKA Michinoku (not popular despite this being the first win since match 2 for the locals, prob due to Finlay being a leader of Bullet Club)

Match 7: Titan, Hiromu Takahashi & Tetsuya Naito vs. Mascara Dorada, Robbie Eagles & Ryohei Oiwa. 30 minute time limit
Result: Titan, Hiromu Takahashi & Tetsuya Naito beat Mascara Dorada, Robbie Eagles & Ryohei Oiwa. Titan pinned Dorada after a diving double footstomp.

Match 8: STRONG Tag Team Champions Shane Haste & Mikey Nicholls vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi & Tomohiro Ishii for the titles. 30 minute time limit
Result: STRONG Tag Team Champions Shane Haste & Mikey Nicholls beat Hiroshi Tanahashi & Tomohiro Ishii to retain the titles. Haste pinned Ishii after Tank Buster. V2 for the champs.

Main Event: IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Zack Sabre Jr. vs. SANADA for the title. 1 Hour time limit
Result: IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Zack Sabre Jr. beat SANADA by submission to retain the title. V1 for Sabre. Next up: As previously announced, Shingo Takagi on 11/4. Afterwards, Sabre brought out all of TMDK and did the obligatory very-England hometown promo to send the fans home happy. (In English with Motoi translating to Japanese)

The next event is the Super Jr. Tag League tournament starting Thursday at G Messe Gunma in Gunma. This will also be part of the Road To POWER STRUGGLE Tour. Live streaming on New Japan World will begin at 2:30 AM PT/5:30 AM ET.

UPDATE: Robbie X will also be the TBA with Taiji Ishimori in the Super Jr. Tag League. Also, Umino-SANADA will happen on 11/4 although at this time it won’t be for a title shot. Had SANADA won the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship yesterday this match would have been for the title.

A lot of New Japan news coming out of yesterday as expected, here’s what we know so far:

First, the full card for ROYAL QUEST 4 on Sunday in London, England is now official:
Oskar Leube & Yuto Nakashima vs. Brendan White & Danny Jones
Danny Black & Joe Landau vs. Taiji Ishimori & TBA
Kanji & Mina Shirakawa vs. Dani Luna & AZM
Kosei Fujita vs. Michael Oku
Yota Tsuji vs. Drilla Moloney
Shota Umino vs. Callum Newman
David Finlay vs. TAKA Michinoku
Titan, Hiromu Takahashi & Tetsuya Naito vs. Mascara Dorada, Robbie Eagles & Ryohei Oiwa
STRONG Tag Team Champions Shane Haste & Mikey Nicholls vs. Tomohiro Ishii & Hiroshi Tanahashi for the titles
IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Zack Sabre Jr. vs. SANADA for the title
The event will be streamed LIVE on New Japan World worldwide for all paid monthly subscribers (it is not a PPV) beginning at 9:30 AM PT/12:30 PM ET. The live broadcast will only be in Japanese. English will be on demand only at a later date. Live results will be provided for the event.

For the annual Anjo City event on 11/9, all matches will again be announced only on the day of the event, and since there’s no Kazuchika Okada this year for his honetown event, Tam Nakano of Stardom will appear instead as the hometown participant.

3 title matches are set for 11/4 at POWER STRUGGLE at Osaka Prefectural Gym in Osaka: IWGP Global Chanpion David Finlay vs. Taichi for the title, IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion DOUKI vs. Master Wato for the title and IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Shane Haste & Mikey Nicholls vs. HENARE & Great-O-Khan for the titles. 11/4 also will feature the Super Jr. Tag League Finals.

The Super Jr. Tag League fired has been announced, 12 teams will compete this year in a round-robin format split into 2 blocks of 6 teams. Block A is as follows: Tiger Mask & Capitan Suicida, Ryusuke Taguchi & Dragon Dia (Dragon Gate), Hiromu Takahashi & BUSHI, Robbie Eagles & Kosei Fujita, Clark Connors & Drilla Moloney, Sho & Yoshinobu Kanemaru. Block B is as follows: NEW IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Kevin Knight & KUSHIDA, The DKC & Ninja Mack (Independent/Freelancer, moat recently with Pro Wrestling NOAH), Yoh & Rocky Romero, Francesco Akira & TJP, Jude London & Paris de Silva (Australia/TAMASHII), Taiji Ishimori & TBA.

Format TBA but most likely it will be only the winner of each block advancing to the finals. Akira & TJP are the defending tournament winners. With the winners likely getting the next title shot, that means Connors & Moloney probably have to win to get their rematch against Knight & KUSHIDA after yesterday’s shocking upset.

At today’s post-event press conference, which also had the signing ceremony for Sabre-SANADA, they also had a drawing to determine who the next IWGP World Heavyweight Championship shot goes to after Sunday. If Sabre wins and retains the title, Shingo Takagi will be next. If SANADA wins the title, Shota Umino is next. The former brings interesting possibilities given Takagi is the current NEVER Openweight Champion (and a former IWGP World Heavyweight Champion). When that match will happen in either form is TBA but I would tentatively say 11/4.

UPDATE: Both Sabre-Takagi and SANADA-Umino have been added to 11/4. One will be for the title depending on Sunday’s result.

UPDATE 2: The start time for ROYAL QUEST 4 has been moved up to 9 AM PT/Noon ET for a pre-show match which will be the first match listed above.

KING OF PRO WRESTLING 2024, New Japan’s latest massive blowout event, is now in the books. And it was massive.

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 live in Japan as part of WORLD PRO WRESTLING LIVE 2024 on TV Asahi.

The announced paid attendance was 6211.

Before the event began, Yoh made an appearance and, although a specific date wasn’t mentioned, announced he would be returning soon from injuries.

Match 1: Hiromu Takahashi beat Mistico.

Match 2: Kevin Knight & KUSHIDA beat IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Drilla Moloney & Clark Connors to win the titles. Knight & KUSHIDA become the 76th IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions. Knight pinned Moloney.

Match 3: IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Shane Haste & Mikey Nicholls beat Caveman Ugg & Bad Luck Fale to retain the titles.. Nicholls pinned Ugg after Thunder Valley. V1 for the champs. Next up: Possibly HENARE & Great-O-Khan.

Match 4: NEVER Openweight Champion Shingo Takagi beat Ryohei Oiwa to retain the title. V1 for Takagi.

Match 5: Ren narita beat NJPW WORLD TV Champion Jeff Cobb & Yota Tsuji in a 3-way by pinning Cobb to win the title. Narita becomes the 6th NJPW WORLD TV Champion.

Match 6: Hiroshi Tanahashi 25th Anniversary Match: El Phantasmo, Shota Umino & Hiroshi Tanahashi beat Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Yujiro Takahashi & EVIL. Tanahashi pinned Takahashi after High Fly Flow. Then, the news that made my heart skip a beat…the end is near. Tanahashi announced he will retire at Tokyo Dome on January 4, 2026. Naturally EVIL & House Of Torture ruined the moment with a beatdown and more.

Match 7: IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion DOUKI beat Sho to retain the title.V3 for DOUKI. In 14 SECONDS. DOUKI was unmasked before the match officially began, revealing…face paint around his mouth. Next up: Possibly Yoshinobu Kanemaru…until the post-match beatdown was broken up by…Master Wato! The former champion returned from a long injury absence and made the save and his challenge. The Junior Heavyweight division is reviving!

Match 8: IWGP Global Champion David Finlay beat Hirooki Goto to retain the title. V3 for Finlay. Next up: Finlay wanted the injured Yuya Uemura, but instead it may be Taichi, who laid out Finlay.

Main Event: Zack Sabre Jr. beat IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Tetsuya Naito to win the title. Sabre becomes the 11th IWGP World Heavyweight Champion. As the Englanders like to say, IT’S COMING HOME. Sabre chose to gamble to try and go home as champion rather than wait for Tokyo Dome for his title shot, and it paid off. Next up: Almost certainly SANADA, his scheduled next opponent, but Umino & Takagi also made challenges. We’ll see what happens over the next couple days.

The next event is ROYAL QUEST 4 Sunday at Crystal Palace National Sports Centre in London, England. Live streaming worldwide on New Japan World (for all paying subscribers, no PPV) in Japanese will begin at 9:30 AM PT/12:30 PM ET. Live results will be posted. No English commentary (that will be on demand later on).

UPDATE: In the first bit of post-event news, the first US event of 2025, Battle In The Valley, was announced for 1/11 at San Jose Civic Center in San Jose, CA. Tickets go on sale Thursday.

UPDATE 2: It’s now official. The previously announced Sabre-SANADA match for Sunday is now for the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship.

New Japan wrapped up the Road To KING OF PRO WRESTLING 2024 Tour today in Ibaraki with likely the last non-televised event for a month or so.

Today’s event was held at Kamisu Disaster Prevention Arena in Ibaraki. There is/was no live or on demand broadcast.

The announced paid attendance was 685.

Match 1: Yasutora Yasuda vs. Daiki Nagai went to a 10 minute time limit draw.

Match 2: Boltin Oleg & Toru Yano beat Katsuya Murashima & Shoma Kato. Oleg pinned Kato after Kamikaze.

Match 3: Taiji Ishimori, Caveman Ugg & Bad Luck Fale beat Hartley Jackson, Shane Haste & Mikey Nicholls. Fale pinned Jackson after an elbow drop.

Match 4: Taichi & DOUKI beat Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Sho. Taichi pinned Kanemaru after Tensho Cross Fang.

Match 5: Shota Umino, Tomohiro Ishii & Hiroshi Tanahashi beat Dick Togo, Yujiro Takahashi & EVIL. Umino pinned Togo after Death Rider.

Match 6: Yota Tsuji & Hiromu Takahashi beat Ryusuke Taguchi & Mistico. Tsuji pinned Taguchi after Gene Blaster. Afterwards, Takahashi ripped off Mistico’s mask.

Match 7: Kevin Knight, KUSHIDA, Tomoaki Honma, YOSHI-HASHI & Hirooki Goto beat Drilla Moloney, Clark Connors, Gedo, Gabriel Kidd & David Finlay. YOSHI-HASHI beat Gedo with Butterfly Lock.

Main Event: BUSHI, Shingo Takagi & Tetsuya Naito beat Kosei Fujita, Ryohei Oiwa & Zack Sabre Jr. Naito pinned Fujita after Destino.

The next event is KING OF PRO WRESTLING 2024 Monday at Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo. Live streaming on New Japan World OUTSIDE JAPAN ONLY will begin at 1 AM PT/4 AM ET. This will be a TV Asahi exclusive broadcast in Japan.

New Japan ran the penultimate event of the Road To KING OF PRO WRESTLING Tour today.

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

The announced paid attendance was 538.

Match 1: Yasutora Yasuda vs. Daiki Nagai went to a 10 minute time limit draw.

Match 2: Shoma Kato & Tomohiro Ishii beat Katsuya Murashima & Boltin Oleg. Ishii pinned Murashima.

Match 3: Taiji Ishimori, Caveman Ugg & Bad Luck Fale beat Kosei Fujita, Shane Haste & Mikey Nicholls. Ugg pinned Fujita after Tour of the Caves.

Match 4: Taichi & DOUKI beat Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Sho. Taichi beat Kanemaru with Taichi-type Gedo Clutch.

Match 5: Shota Umino, Toru Yano & Hiroshi Tanahashi beat Dick Togo, Yujiro Takahashi & EVIL. Umino pinned Togo after Death Rider. Afterwards, Umino paid tribute to the late wrestler Kuniaki Kobayashi, who died several weeks ago, with the playing of his entrance theme.

Match 6: BUSHI & Hiromu Takahashi beat Ryusuke Taguchi & Mistico. BUSHI pinned Taguchi after Fable.

Match 7: Kevin Knight, KUSHIDA, Tomoaki Honma, YOSHI-HASHI & Hirooki Goto beat Drilla Moloney, Clark Connors, Gedo, Gabriel Kidd & David Finlay. YOSHI-HASHI beat Gedo with Butterfly Lock.

Main Event: Yota Tsuji, Shingo Takagi & Tetsiua Naito beat Hartley Jackson, Ryohei Oiwa & Zack Sabre Jr. Naito pinned Jackson after Destino.

The tour-ender is tomorrow at Kamisu Disaster Prevention Arena in Ibaraki. There will be no live or on demand broadcast.

New Japan continued the Road To KING OF PRO WRESTLING 2024 Tour today.

Today’s event was held at Kuki City Gym in Saitama. There is/was bo live or on demand broadcast.

The announced paid attendance was 502.

Match 1: Yasutora Yasuda vs. Daiki Nagai went to a 10 minute time limit draw.

Match 2: Katsuya Murashima & Shota Umino beat Shoma Kato & Tomohiro Ishii. Umino pinned Murashima.

Match 3: Taiji Ishimori, Caveman Ugg & Bad Luck Fale beat Hartley Jackson, Shane Haste & Mikey Nicholls. Fale pinned Jackson after an elbow drop.

Match 4: Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Sho beat TAKA Michinoku & DOUKI. Kanemaru pinned TAKA with Samson Clutch. Afterwards, Sho assaulted and apparently abducted DOUKI backstage.

Match 5: Boltin Oleg, Toru Yano & Hiroshi Tanahashi beat Dick Togo, Yujiro Takahashi & EVIL. Yano pinned Togo.

Match 6: Yota Tsuji & Hiroshi Tanahashi beat Ryusuke Taguchi & Mistico. Tsuji pinned Taguchi after Gene Blaster.

Matxh 7: Kevin Knight, KUSHIDA, Tomoaki Honma, YOSHI-HASHI & Hirooki Goto beat Drilla Moloney, Clark Connors, Gedo, Gabriel Kidd & David Finlay. YOSHI-HASHI beat Gedo with Butterfly Lock. Afterwards, Kidd reportedly took a child hostage.

Main Event: Kosei Fujita, Ryohei Oiwa & Zack Sabre Jr. beat BUSHI, Shingo Takagi & Tetsuya Naito. Sabre pinned BUSHI after Zack Driver.

The next event is tomorrow at Saku City Gym in Nagano. There will be no live or on demand broadcast.

New Japan continued the Road to KING OF PRO WRESTLING 2024 Your today in Shizuoka.

Today’s event was held at Fujisan Messe in Shizuoka. There is/was no live or on demand broadcast.

The announced paid attendance was 450.

Match 1: Yasutora Yasuda vs. Daiki Nagai went to a 10 minute time limit draw.

Match 2: Toru Yano & Tomohiro Ishii beat Katsuya Murashima & Shoma Kato. Ishii pinned Murashima.

Match 3: Taiji Ishimori, Caveman Ugg & Bad Luck Fale beat Kosei Fujita, Shane Haste & Mikey Nicholls. Fale pinned Fujita after an elbow drop.

Match 4: Yoshibobu Kanemaru & Sho beat TAKA Michinoku & DOUKI. Kanemaru pinned TAKA with Samson Clutch.

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

Match 6: Ryusuke Taguchi & Mistico beat BUSHI & Hiromu Takahashi. Taguchi beat BUSHI with Oh My & Gar Ankle.

Match 7: Kevin Knight, KUSHIDA, Tomoaki Honma, YOSHI-HASHI & Hirooki Goto beat Drilla Moloney, Clark Connors, Gedo, Gabriel Kidd & David Finlay. YOSHI-HASHI beat Gedo with Butterfly Lock.

Main Event: Yota Tsuji, Shingo Takagi & Tetsuya Naito beat Hartley Jackson, Ryohei Oiwa & Zack Sabre Jr. Tsuji pinned Jackson after Pumping Blaster.

The next event is Thursday at Kuki City Gym in Saitama. There will be no live or on demand broadcast.