Tag: noah_ghc

Pro Wrestling NOAH 2/12/23 Results

GREAT VOYAGE 2023 in OSAKA, the latest in Pro Wrestling NOAH’s signature blowout event series, is in the books. Today’s loaded event featured 3 title matches and a pre-event appearance by Keiji Muto for the final time ahead of his retirement event next week.

Today’s event was held at Osaka Prefectural Gym in Osaka and can be watched on demand on WRESTLE UNIVERSE in Japanese and English. You can also watch the first 3 matches FOR FREE on YouTube.

The announced paid attendance was 2092. Apparently they had reduced capacity compared to New Japan’s event the day before (50% here) so it’s not as bad as it sounds.

Match 1: Mohammed Yone & Akitoshi Saito beat Kinya Okada & Taishi Ozawa. Yone pinned Ozawa after Kinniku Muscle Buster.

Match 2: Chris Ridgeway & Daga beat Tadasuke & Hajime Ohara. Daga pinned Tadasuke after Magnum.

Match 3: Kazuyuki Fujita, Hideki Suzuki & Timothy Thatcher beat Masato Tanaka, Masaaki Mochizuki & Yoshiki Inamura. Suzuki pinned Inamura.

Match 4: Katsuhiko Nakajima, Masakatsu Funaki, Shuji Kondo & Hi69 beat Naomichi Marufuji, Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr., AMAKUSA & Ninja Mack. Hi69 pinned AMAKUSA after Michinoku Driver (Velo).

Match 5: El Desperado (New Japan) & NOSAWA Rongai beat YO-HEY & Yasutaka Yano. Desperado pinned Yano after Pinche Loco.

Match 6: Kenoh & Manabu Soya beat Jake Lee & Anthony Greene. Soya pinned Greene after a jumping DDT.

Match 7: Dralistico beat Atsushi Kotoge.

Match 8: Masa Kitamiya & Daiki Inaba beat GHC Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Takashi Sugiura & Satoshi Kojima to win the titles. Kitamiya & Inaba become the 63rd GHC Heavyweight Tag Team Champions. Kitamiya beat Kojima with Decapitated Prison. Next up: Kenoh & Soya. That match will happen at GREAT VOYAGE 2023 in YOKOHAMA on 3/19 at Yokohama Budokan.

Match 9: GHC Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Yoshinari Ogawa & Eita beat Junta Miyawaki & Alejandro to retain the titles. Eita pinned Alejandro after Imperial Uno. V1 for the champs. Next up: Ridgeway & the returning HAYATA. That match will happen on 3/19.

Main Event: GHC Heavyweight Champion Kaito Kiyomiya beat Jack Morris to retain the title. V4 for Kiyomiya.

The next event is chocoZAP Presents KEIJI MUTO GRAND FINAL PRO WRESTLING LAST LOVE ~HOLD OUT~, Muto’s retirement event, on 2/21 at the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo. This will be a PPV ONLY broadcast on WRESTLE UNIVERSE for about $38 for non-subscribers and about $30 for subscribers. Purchase includes the live event and replays for one week. There is no word on when it may be available for all UNIVERSE subscribers if at all (for comparative purposes, as of this past Friday the January Tokyo Joshi Pro PPV is still not available at all following the one week replay period). The event will begin at 2 AM ET/11 PM PT.

NOAH News: Late Changes to 2/11 Event

Pro Wrestling NOAH has announced late changes to GREAT VOYAGE 2023 in OSAKA on 2/11 because Seiki Yoshioka is now off the event. Cervical sprain. He was to have teamed with YO-HEY to face NOSAWA Rongai & El Desperado. Yasutaka Yano is the replacement. As a result, the first match is changed from a 6-man tag match to a tag match as Super Crazy is now off as well. It will now be Mohammed Yone & Akitoshi Saito vs. Kinya Okada & Taishi Ozawa. Yano was to have teamed with Okada & Ozawa. Crazy was to have teamed with Yone & Saito.

At this time Yoshioka is still expected to be on the card for Tokyo Dome on 2/21.

Pro Wrestling NOAH 2/5/23 Results

Pro Wrestling NOAH continued the never-ending STAR NAVIGATION 2023 Tour (it will now extend into at least April per schedule announcements today) today with an event headlined by a GHC National Championship match.

Today’s event was held at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo and can be watched on demand on WRESTLE UNIVERSE. You can also watch the first 3 matches FOR FREE on YouTube.

The announced paid attendance was 825. Vocal cheering was allowed, not sure what capacity limit was if any.

Match 1: Kinya Okada Return Match: Tadasuke & Hi69 beat Kinya Okada & Taishi Ozawa. Hi69 pinned Ozawa after Trance Rave.

Match 2: Super Crazy beat Yasutaka Yano.

Match 3: Timothy Thatcher & Hideki Suzuki beat Masaaki Mochizuki & Shuhei Taniguchi. Thatcher beat Taniguchi with a Fujiwara armbar.

Match 4: Kenoh, Katsuhiko Nakajima, Shuji Kondo & Hajime Ohara beat Daiki Inaba, Yoshiki Inamura, Ninja Mack & Atsushi Kotoge. Nakajima pinned Inamura after Vertical Spike.

Match 5: Satoshi Kojima beat Masa Kitamiya.

Match 6: Kaito Kiyomiya, Takashi Sugiura & Naomichi Marufuji beat Jack Morris, Jake Lee & Anthony Greene. Kiyomiya pinned Greene with a tiger suplex hold.

Match 7: In an Elimination Match, Yoshinari Ogawa, Eita, NOSAWA Rongai, Chris Ridgeway & Daga beat AMAKUSA, Junta Miyawaki, ALejandro, YO-HEY & Seiki Yoshioka. Order of elimination: AMAKUSA by Eita, Yoshioka by Daga, YO-HEY by Daga, Alejandro by Eita, Miyawaki by Eita. A Clean Sweep! Nobody on the winning team was eliminated.

Main Event: GHC National Champion Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr. beat Manabu Soya to retain the title. V2 for Wagner Jr.

The next event is GREAT VOYAGE 2023 in OSAKA on 2/12 at Osaka Prefectural Gym in Osaka. Keiji Muto will be at the event but is not scheduled to participate (of bigger concern is a report that at the Great Muta Final Event he partially tore both hamstrings, although both tears were said to be very small-at a recent event appearance in Japan he was in a wheelchair). Live streaming on WRESTLE UNIVERSE in English only will begin Saturday at 11 PM PT/Sunday at 2 AM ET. This is an ABEMA-only broadcast in Japan so Japanese audio will not be available until when the on demand version is uploaded shortly after the event concludes.

In other news, the promotion announced additional dates for the March schedule and the April schedule. The majority of the events will be continuing the SUNNY VOYAGE 2023 Tour and a STAR NAVIGATION 2023 Tour event at the end of April. March wraps up with a 4-day run of events in north & northeastern Japan, while April is headlined by ABEMA presents GREEN JOURNEY 2023 in SENDAI on 4/16 at Xebio Arena Sendai in Sendai, followed by a Korakuen Hall return on 4/29 that will lead in to ABEMA presents MAJESTIC 2023, their Golden Week blowout event on 5/4 at Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo (this one as well as 4/16 will probably be English-only on WRESTLE UNIVERSE if they are available live).

Pro Wrestling NOAH 2/4/23 Results

Pro Wrestling NOAH continued the never-ending SUNNY VOYAGE 2023 Tour with their first event in nearly 2 weeks after a post-Great Muta Final Event break.

Today’s event was held at Green Dome Maebashi in Gunma and will be available on demand on WRESTLE UNIVERSE Tuesday at 1 AM PT/4 AM ET. There was no live broadcast.

The announced paid attendance was 309. Because this had been decided on before recent government changes regarding guidelines for events, no vocal cheering today.

Match 1: Shuhei Taniguchi beat Taishi Ozawa.

Match 2: Atsushi Kotoge, YO-HEY & Seiki Yoshioka beat Tadasuke, Hajime Ohara & Hi69. Kotoge pinned Tadasuke after Kill Switch.

Match 3: Satoshi Kojima, Naomichi Marufuji & Ninja Mack beat Masa Kitamiya, Daiki Inaba & SUper Crazy. Kojima pinned Inaba after Western Lariat.

Match 4: Anthony Greene beat Mohammed Yone.

Match 5: Kenoh, Katsuhiko Nakajima & Manabu Soya beat Takashi Sugiura, Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr. & Timothy Thatcher. Soya pinned Wagner after Trajectory.

Match 6: AMAKUSA, Junta Miyawaki & Alejandro beat Yoshinari Ogawa, Chris Ridgeway & Yasutaka Yano. Miyawaki pinned Yano.

Main Event: Jack Morris & Jake Lee beat Kaito Kiyomiya & Yoshiki Inamura. Morris pinned Inamura after GLK (Good Looking Knee).

The next event is tomorrow at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, continuing the also-never-ending STAR NAVIGATION 2023 Tour. Kinya Okada will return tomorrow from injury and a GHC National Championship match headlines the event. Live streaming on WRESTLE UNIVERSE will begin at 1:30 AM PT/4:30 AM ET.

Pro Wrestling NOAH ABEMA Presents GREAT MUTA FINAL “BYE-BYE” Results (1/22/23)

As the Keiji Muto Retirement Road enters the home stretch, the final month of The Living Legend’s nearly 40-year career begins today with the final scheduled appearance of his iconic face painted/masked alter-ego, The Great Muta. First used early in Muto’s career when he competed overseas including in the US for World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and more recently revived occasionally for special appearances, the persona has always been a more heel/darker side of Muto famous for his colored mist sprays, each supposedly having a different effect. And some occasional fire breathing as his recent rivalry with Kenoh showed. For Muta’s final match, former WCW partner Sting will return to Japan for the first time in over 25 years, and All Elite Wrestling star Darby Allin will make his Japan debut as part of Muta’s team and will face off against famliar faces from Muta’s past-Hakushi, AKIRA & Naomichi Marufuji. There’s plenty more on the rest of the card including NOAH having a women’s match for the second time as Sumire Natsu & Maya Yukihi return to face Saori Anou & Jungle Kyona and much more, but of course it’s all about not the final Bye-Bye, but the final M****F**** BYE-BYE! It’s going to be a lot of fun.

Today’s event will be held at Yokohama Arena in Yokohama and can be watched LIVE on WRESTLE UNIVERSE in English only. It’s an ABEMA exclusive in Japan so Japanese audio will only be available on demand later. The event will also be available as a LIVE PPV on FITE in English for $19.99, which includes the live broadcast and unlimited on demand replays. While that’s a lot more than a month of WRESTLE UNIVERSE, it’s more convenient than signing up and then cancelling after paying around $7.50 for the rest of the month, and you essentially own a copy of the event to watch anytime (you just can’t download and watch offline). You will also be able to watch the first 3 matches FOR FREE on YouTube. If you’re staying up late in the US to watch plan on an all-nighter and load up on caffeine as I anticipate the event having a total running time of about 4 hours.

Today’s lineup:
Atsushi Kotoge & Seiki Yoshioka vs. Hajime Ohara & Hi69
Saori Anou & Jungle Kyona vs. Sumire Natsu & Maya Yukihi
Timothy Thatcher vs. Masaaki Mochizuki
Yoshinari Ogawa, Eita & NOSAWA Rongai vs. Junta Miyawaki, Alejandro & Yasutaka Yano
Jake Lee, Jack Morris & Anthony Greene vs. Masa Kitamiya, Daiki Inaba & Yoshiki Inamura
Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Hideki Suzuki in a GHC Martial Arts Rules match
AMAKUSA, Ultimo Dragon & Ninja Mack vs. YO-HEY, Kzy & Dante Leon
Kaito Kiyomiya, Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr., Takashi Sugiura & Satoshi Kojima vs. Kenoh, Katsuhiko Nakajima, Masakatsu Funaki & Manabu Soya
The Great Muta Final Match: The Great Muta, Sting & Darby Allin vs. Hakushi, AKIRA & Naomichi Marufuji
A couple hours before the event it was also announced that the full card for the Keiji Muto Retirement Event on 2/21 at the Tokyo Dome would be announced during today’s event.

Refresh the page occasionally for the latest results.

Updates below will begin at 12:15 AM ET/9:15 PM PT. The event is scheduled to begin at 1 AM ET/10 PM PT but the WRESTLE UNIVERSE stream is set to begin 45 minutes before.

9:15 PM PT UPDATE: The live stream has just started. Updates to follow when we go to the venue.

9:30 PM PT UPDATE: Live updates start now…
We are LIVE from Yokohama Arena in Yokohama, Japan. For now we only have low-volume but audible Japanese commentary. No English commentary yet, I’m guessing that’ll come on at start time when the FITE broadcast starts. Akitoshi Saito is a guest on Japanese commentary.

The paid attendance will be announced after the event. I’m not sure what the capacity limit is but vocal cheering is allowed and advance ticket sales seemed good. Based on the New Japan event earlier today and their draw, I’m thinking 4000-5000 will be good. It looks like at least 10-15% of the available seating is not available due to the layout so if it were full capacity, that’s probably somewhere in the 15,000 range (the venue’s normal capacity is 18,000).

A promo video plays for the main event. Afterwards commentary shows off some of the limited edition goods available today at the venue. Grab that Great Muta special edition 8-disc Blu-Ray box set for about 40,000 yen if you can! (around $300 US).

At 9:50 PM PT they show highlights of the New Japan/NOAH event earlier today. After this plays the Japanese commentary is fully muted on WRESTLE UNIVERSE.

At 10 PM PT/1 AM ET English announcer G-man welcomes us to the show as FITE joins in. Attendance-wise, the venue really filled up over the last 20 minutes so it should be a very good number.

The matches begin at 10:05 PM PT/1:05 AM ET. And now we have our English commentary. Your hosts are Stewart Fulton & Mark Pickering. Daisuke Harada joins Japanese commentary.

Match 1: Atsushi Kotoge & Seiki Yoshioka vs. Hajime Ohara & Hi69. 20 minute time limit
Result: Hajime Ohara & Hi69 beat Atsushi Kotoge & Seiki Yoshioka. Hi69 pinned Yoshika after Stuka Splash.

Mohammed Yone rotates in to Japanese commentary.

Match 2: Saori Anou & Jungle Kyona vs. Sumire Natsu & Maya Yukihi. 20 minute time limit
Result: Saori Anou & Jungle Kyona beat Sumire Natsu & Maya Yukihi. Kyona pinned Natsu after Jungle Buster.

Match 3: Timothy Thatcher vs. Masaaki Mochizuki. 30 minute time limit
Result: Timothy Thatcher beat Masaaki Mochizuki by submission.

The YouTube broadcast ends here.

Match 4: Yoshinari Ogawa, Eita & NOSAWA Rongai vs. Junta Miyawaki, Alejandro & Yasutaka Yano. 30 minute time limit
Result: Junta Miyawaki, Alejandro & Yasutaka Yano beat Yoshinari Ogawa, Eita & NOSAWA Rongai by DQ. Eita DQ’d. Ripping Alejandro’s mask off. They chased each other into the upper levels of the arena afterwards.

Match 5: Jake Lee, Jack Morris & Anthony Greene vs. Masa Kitamiya, Daiki Inaba & Yoshiki Inamura. 30 minute time limit
Result: Jake Lee, Jack Morris & Anthony Greene beat Masa Kitamiya, Daiki Inaba & Yoshiki Inamura. Lee pinned Inamura.

The 2/21 card for Keiji Muto’s retirement event is announced:
Masa Kitamiya & Daiki Inaba vs. Toshiki Inamura & Yasutaka Yano
Tokyo Joshi Pro Match: Miyu Yamashita, Rika Tatsumi, Shoko Nakajima & Yuka Sakazaki vs. Mizuki, Miu Watanabe, Maki Itoh & Yuki Arai (YES!)
Takashi Sugiura, Satoshi Kojima & Timothy Thatcher vs. Jake Lee, Jack Morris & Anthony GreeneEita, HAYATA, Daga, Yoshinari Ogawa & Chris Ridgeway vs. Atsushi Kotoge, YO-HEY, Seiki Yoshioka, Alejandro & Junta Miyawaki
MAO, Shunma Katsumata, Yuki Ueno & Toui Kojima vs. Tetsuya Endo, Hideki Okatani, Yuya Koroku & Takeshi Masada
Shun SKywalker, KAI & Diamante vs. Naomichi Marufuji, Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr. & Ninja Mack
Kento Miyahawa, Suwama & Yuma Aoyagi vs. Kenoh, Katsuhiko Nakajima & Manabu Soya
Intermission
NOSAWA Rongai Retirement Match: NOSAWA Rongai & MAZADA vs. Gedo & Taiji Ishimori
Kazuchika Okada vs. Kaito Kiyomiya (OH HELL YEAH!)
And finally…IT’S OFFICIAL! Keiji Muto Retirement Match…Keiji Muto vs. Tetsuya Naito! Heads-up…it’s going to be a PPV on ABEMA so may not be available outside Japan.

Match 6: Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Hideki Suzuki in a GHC Martial Arts Rules match. No pinfalls. Win only by submission or TKO. 30 minute time limit
Result: Kazushi Sakuraba beat Hideki Suzuki by ref stoppage (technical submission).

Match 7: AMAKUSA, Ultimo Dragon & Ninja Mack vs. YO-HEY, Kzy & Dante Leon. 30 minute time limit. They changed this last-second to Lucha Libre rules (no touch needed for tags).
Result: AMAKUSA, Ultimo Dragon & Ninja Mack beat YO-HEY, Kzy & Dante Leon. Mack pinned YO-HEY after a twisting corkscrew splash.

Match 8: Kaito Kiyomiya, Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr., Takashi Sugiura & Satoshi Kojima vs. Kenoh, Katsuhiko Nakajima, Masakatsu Funaki & Manabu Soya. 45 minute time limit
Result: Kaito Kiyomiya, Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr., Takashi Sugiura & Satoshi Kojima beat Kenoh, Katsuhiko Nakajima, Masakatsu Funaki & Manabu Soya. Wagner pinned Soya after a moonsault press.

Main Event: The Great Muta Final Match: The Great Muta, Sting & Darby Allin vs. Hakushi, AKIRA & Naomichi Marufuji. 1 Hour time limit
Result: The Great Mura, Sting & Darby Allin beat Hakushi, AKIRA & Naomichi Marufuji. Muta pinned Hakushi after Shining Wizard. They all then made their way to the back. The WRESTLE UNIVERSE/FITE broadcast ends here just before 1:30 AM PT, so just under 3 1/2 hours total.

The next event is 2/4 at Green Dome Maebashi in Gunma. There will be no live broadcast.

POST-SHOW UPDATE: The announced paid attendance was 8433. Depending on the exact available capacity that’s probably in the 75-80% full range. Excellent number and almost 3000 more than what the New Japan/NOAH event earlier in the day managed at the same venue.

It’s also been confirmed that 2/21 will be a PPV on WRESTLE UNIVERSE in English. If you are not a member/subscriber it will cost 5000 yen (roughly $38-40). If you are a member it will cost 4000 yen (around $30-32). Pre-orders begin Tuesday. It will be a PPV on ABEMA in Japanese.

New Japan 1/21/23 Results (SPOILERS!)

New Japan ran the second half of WRESTLE KINGDOM 17 today, reviving a popular and successful format from last year where they held a crossover event with/against Pro Wrestling NOAH. Every match featured some kind of combination of both promotions with the headlining feature being a 5 match singles series between the LIJ and Kongo factions from NJPW and NOAH, respectively.

Because the event is only available as a PPV, although New Japan has posted results already on their website I am trying to hide results below for those who want to try and avoid SPOILERS before the event can be watched without PPV, which will be in one week. Therefore, only click below or continue reading if you want to know right away what happened!

Continue reading “New Japan 1/21/23 Results (SPOILERS!)”

Pro Wrestling NOAH 1/15/23 Results

Pro Wrestling NOAH continued the never-ending SUNNY VOYAGE 2023 Tour today with a house show that served as the final event before a huge weekend ahead on Yokohama. The event also featured a big pre-event autograph session for fans.

Today’s event was held at Fujisan Messe in Shizuoka and will be available on demand on WRESTLE UNIVERSE Wednesday. There was no live broadcast, although the 7th match did stream live on Instagram.

The announced paid attendance was 380, a full house/near sellout.

Match 1: Atsushi Kotoge beat Yasutaka Yano.

Match 2: Masa Kitamiya & Yoshiki Inamura beat Mohammed Yone & Akitoshi Saito. Kitamiya pinned Saito after Saito Suplex.

Match 3: Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr. & YO-HEY beat Manabu Soya & Tadasuke. YO-HEY pinned Tadasuke after a dropkick.

Match 4: Timothy Thatcher beat Seiki Yoshioka by submission.

Match 5: Junta Miyawaki & Alejandro beat Yoshinari Ogawa & NOSAWA Rongai by DQ. NOSAWA DQ’d. Weapon use.

Match 6: Takashi Sugiura beat Daiki Inaba.

Match 7: Jack Morris & Jake Lee beat Kaito Kiyomiya & Shuhei Taniguchi. Lee pinned Taniguchi after Giant Killing.

Main Event: Kenoh, Katsuhiko Nakajima, Hajime Ohara, Shuji Kondo & Hi69 beat Satoshi Kojima, Naomichi Marufuji, Ninja Mack, AMAKUSA & Dante Leon. Ohara beat Leon with Mui Bien Clutch.

The next event is ABEMA PRESENTS GREAT MUTA FINAL BYE-BYE, the final career appearance by Keiji Muto’s masked/face painted alter-ego, on 1/22 at Yokohama Arena in Yokohama. All Elite Wresting participation is featured as Darby Allin makes his Japan debut and Sting returns to Japan one last time. Live streaming on WRESTLE UNIVERSE in English only will begin at 1 AM ET/Saturday at 10 PM PT. The event is also available as a PPV on FITE. The promotion also will participate in New Japan Pro Wrestling’s WRESTLE KINGDOM 17 in YOKOHAMA Saturday. That event will be available as a PPV only on New Japan World beginning at 3 AM ET/midnight PT then will be available to all subscribers on New Japan World and WRESTLE UNIVERSE in English only one week later.

After the event, the promotion announced that Kinya Okada, who has been out several months due to injury, will return on 2/5.

Pro Wrestling NOAH 1/9/23 Results

Pro Wrestling NOAH continued the never-ending SUNNY VOYAGE (now) 2023 Tour today headlined by a special non-title Champion vs. Champion match between the GHC Heavyweight & Jr. Heavyweight Champions.

Today’s event was held at Yokohama Radiant Hall in Yokohama and can be watched on demand on WRESTLE UNIVERSE.

The announced paid attendance was 227. No vocal cheering today.

Match 1: Tadasuke beat Taishi Ozawa.

Match 2: Jack Morris beat Shuhei Taniguchi.

Match 3: Katsuhiko Nakajima & Manabu Soya beat Hijo dd Dr. Wagner Jr. & Timothy Thatcher. Soya pinned Wagner after Trajectory. Afterwards, Soya issued a challenge to Wagner Jr. for the GHC National Championship. That match will happen on 2/5 at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo.

Match 4: Masa Kitamiya, Daiki Inaba & Shuhei Taniguchi beat Naomichi Marufuji, Mohammed Yone & Akitoshi Saito. Inaba pinned Yone.

Match 5: Junta Miyawaki beat Yasutaku Yano.

Match 6: Takashi Sugiura & NOSAWA Rongai beat Kenoh & Hajime Ohara. Sugiura pinned Ohara after Olympic Yosen Slam.

Main Event: Kaito Kiyomiya beat AMAKUSA.

The next event is Sunday at Fujisan Messe in Shizuoka. There will be no live broadcast. It will be available on demand on WRESTLE UNIVERSE at a later date, probably next Wednesday.

Pro Wrestling NOAH 1/8/23 Results (Second Event)

The second half of NOAH’s doubleheader today, REBOOT 2023, consisted of the Semifinals and Finals of the Scramble Shuffle Tag Team Tournament, with other matches not announced in advance and matchups only revealed when entrances began.

Today’s event was held at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo and can be watched on demand on WRESTLE UNIVERSE in Japanese.

The announced paid attendance was 570. Vocal cheering was allowed. This was lower than the early event number but they were also running right after the opening day of the January 2022 Grand Sumo Tournament wrapped up.

Match 1: Shuhei Taniguchi beat Taishi Ozawa.

Match 2: Scramble Shuffle Tag Team Tournament Semifinals: Katsuhiko Nakajima & Seiki Yoshioka beat Manabu Soya & Atsushi Kotoge. Nakajima pinned Kotoge after Vertical Spike. As a result, Nakajima & Yoshioka advance to the Finals.

Match 3: Scramble Shuffle Tag Team Tournament Semifinals: Satoshi Kojima & Shuji Kondo beat Masakatsu Funaki & YO-HEY. Kojima pinned YO-HEY after Western Lariat. As a result, Kojima & Kondo advance to the Finals.

Match 4: Dante Leon beat Yasutaka Yano.

Match 5: Masa Kitamiya & Daiki Inaba beat Takashi Sugiura & Timothy Thatcher by ref stoppage. Kitamiya beat Sugiura with a head cutting Prison Lock. (Which probably means it included Kitamiya’s devastating headbutts)

Match 6: AMAKUSA & Ninja Mack beat Tadasuke & Hi69. AMAKUSA pinned Tadasuke after Firebird Splash.

Match 7: Kenoh & Hajime Ohara beat Masato Tanaka (ZERO1) & Shoki Kitamura. Kenoh pinned Kitamura after PFS.

Match 8: Naomichi Marufuji, Junta Miyawaki & Alejandro beat Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr., Yoshinari Ogawa & Eita. Miyawaki pinned Eita.

Match 9: Jake Lee & Jack Morris beat Kaito Kiyomiya & Yoshiki Inamura. Morris pinned Kiyomiya after a Tiger driver. Significant as will be noted later below.

Main Event: Scramble Shuffle Tag Team Tournament Finals: Katsuhiko Nakajima & Seiki Yoshioka beat Satoshi Kojima & Shuji Kondo to win the tournament. Nakajima pinned Kojima after Vertical Spike.

The next event is tomorrow at Yokohama Radiant Hall in Yokohama, beginning the 2023 portion of the never-ending SUNNY VOYAGE Tour. Live streaming on WRESTLE UNIVERSE will begin at 12:30 AM PT/3:30 AM ET.

Now the significance of earlier-Morris has earned a GHC Heavyweight Championship match against Kiyomiya because of what happened. That match will happen on 2/12 at GREAT VOYAGE 2023 in OSAKA at Osaka Prefectural Gym. Also announced for 2/12 is GHC Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Takashi Sugiura & Satoshi Kojima vs. Masa Kitamiya & Daiki Inaba for the titles.

The full card for the Great Muta Final Event on 1/22 at Yokohama Arena has also been announced:
Atsushi Kotoge & Seiki Yoshioka vs. Hajime Ohara & Hi69
Saori Anou & Jungle Kyona vs. Sumire Natsu & Maya Yukihi
Masaaki Mochizuki vs. Timothy Thatcher
Yoshinari Ogawa, Eita & NOSAWA Rongai vs. Junta Miyawaki, Alejandro & Yasutaku Yano
Jake Lee, Jack Morris & Anthony Greene vs. Masa Kitamiya, Daiki Inaba & Yoshiki Inamura
Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Hideki Suzuki in a GHC Martial Arts Rules Match
AMAKUSA, Ultimo Dragon & Ninja Mack vs. YO-HEY, Kzy & Dante Leon
Kaito Kiyomiya, Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr., Takashi Sugiura & Satoshi Kojima vs. Kenoh, Katsuhiko Nakajima, Masakatsu Funaki & Manabu Soya
The Great Muta, Darby Allin (All Elite Wrestling) & Sting vs. Hakushi, AKIRA & Naomichi Marufuji
The event will be an ABEMA-exclusive broadcast in Japan, but will be available outside Japan in English only on WRESTLE UNIVERSE for subscribers and also is available now for pre-order as a PPV on FITE for $19.99.

Pro Wrestling NOAH “NEW SUNRISE” 2023 Results (1/8/23)

With their New Year’s Day blowout spectacular behind them and another crossover event with New Japan coming up, Pro Wrestling NOAH kicks off their 2023 today with a special doubleheader featuring a one-day scramble tag team tournament. Spread out between both events, the tournament is interesting in that teams are made up of one NOAH roster member and one Kongo member. While we won’t get Kaito Kiyomiya & Kenoh together aa a team, every pairing is something…Kenoh & AMAKUSA, the former Haoh who took Hi69’s old ring name and his hair before being banished from NOAH and returning under a mask and new identity, is intriguing. The first half main event will see the NOAH debut of Jake Lee, who showed up just hours after he left All-Japan Pro Wrestling when his contract there ended (he chose not to re-sign) and will face Yoshiki Inamura in his NOAH debut.

Today’s events will be held at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo and both can be watched LIVE on WRESTLE UNIVERSE. If there is commentary it will be Japanese only. You can also watch the first 3 matches of both events FOR FREE on YouTube. Based on the start times for both events they will be on a strict time limit, at least for the first event. I expect the first half to run 2 1/2-3 hours based on the number of matches. Note also that live results will only be posted for the first event and not the second, which is a 1 AM start for me.

Today’s lineup:
Masa Kitamiya & Daiki Inaba vs. Yasutaku Yano & Taishi Ozawa
Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr. & Timothy Thatcher vs. Mohammed Yone & Akitoshi Saito
Masaaki Mochizuki vs. Jack Morris
Yoshinari Ogawa & Eita vs. Junta Miyawaki & Alejandro
Scramble Shuffle Tag Team Tournament:
Naomichi Marufuji & Hi69 vs. Katsuhiko Nakajima & Seiki Yoshioka
Masakatsu Funaki & YO-HEY vs. Takashi Sugiura & Hajime Ohara
Kaito Kiyomiya & Tadasuke vs. Manabu Soya & Atsushi Kotoge
Satoshi Kojima & Shuji Kondo vs. Kenoh & AMAKUSA
Ninja Mack vs. Dante Leon
Yoshiki Inamura vs. Jake Lee

Refresh this page occasionally for the latest results.

Updates below will begin at 9:45 PM ET/6:45 PM PT.

9:45 PM ET UPDATE: Live streaming has started. We should go to the venue in the next 10-15 minutes.

9:50 PM ET UPDATE: Live updates begin now…
We are LIVE from Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan. There is Japanese commentary, I didn’t catch their names.

The paid attendance will be announced after the event. Vocal cheering is allowed so it’s reduced capacity. At the start of the matches it looked close to full so I’m estimating 650-700.
POST-EVENT UPDATE: The announced paid attendance was 622.

The matches should begin in 10-15 minutes.

We have that annoying-looking English announcer G-man welcoming us at the top of the hour. Dude looks like he’s had too much plastic surgery. The opening video follows.

The matches begin at 10:05 PM ET. Note that all tournament matches will have no time limit.

Match 1: Masa Kitamiya & Daiki Inaba vs. Yasutaku Yano & Taishi Ozawa. 20 minute time limit
Result: Masa Kitamiya & Daiki Inaba beat Yasutaku Yano & Taishi Ozawa. Inaba beat Ozawa with an armlock.

Match 2: Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr. & Timothy Thatcher vs. Mohammed Yone & Akitoshi Saito. 20 minute time limit
Result: Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr. & Timothy Thatcher beat Mohammed Yone & Akitoshi Saito. Thatcher beat Saito with a Fujiwara armbar.

Match 3: Masaaki Mochizuki vs. Jack Morris. 30 minute time limit
Result: Jack Morris beat Masaaki Mochizuki.

The YouTube broadcast ends here.

Match 4: Yoshinari Ogawa & Eita vs. Junta Miyawaki & Alejandro. 30 minute time limit
Result: Junta Miyawaki & Alejandro beat Yoshinari Ogawa & Eita. Miyawaki pinned Ogawa with a rollup after an Eita dropkick attempt towards Miyawaki backfired and hit Ogawa instead. Afterwards, Miyawaki with microphone. As I was thinking might happen, challenge issued for the GHC Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Championship held by Ogawa & Eita. Ogawa left the ring before this and there were tensions with Eita. It sounds like Eita accepted the challenge. More as it becomes available.

Upcoming major events were announced, new additions are 4.16 in Sendai for ABEMA PRESENTS GREEN JOURNEY 2023 in Sendai and 5/4 at Ryogoku Kokugikan. On 2/12 at GREAT VOYAGE 2023 in Osaka Mexican sensation Dralistico makes his NOAH debut. After this the March & April schedule was announced on Twitter:
3/9-Korakuen Hall; 3/19-Yokohama Budokan (GREAT VOYAGE 2022 in YOKOHAMA); 4/8-Osaka ATC Hall; 4/9-Takaoka Ecole, Toyama; 4/16-Xebio Arena Sendai (GREEN JOURNEY 2023 in SENDAI); 5/22-Act City Hamamatsu, Shizuoka; 4/23-Kyoto KBS Hall, Kyoto; 4/29-Korakuen Hall.

Akitoshi Saito joins commentary.

Match 5: Scramble Shuffle Tag Team Tournament Quarterfinals: Naomichi Marufuji & Hi69 vs. Katsuhiko Nakajima & Seiki Yoshioka. No time limit
Result; Katsuhiko Nakajima & Seiki Yoshioka beat Naomichi Marufuji & Hi69. Yoshioka pinned Hi69. As a result, Nakajima & Yoshioka advance to the Semifinals at the second event later today.

Match 6: Scramble Shuffle Tag Team Tournament Quarterfinals: Masakatsu Funaki & YO-HEY vs. Takashi Sugiura & Hajime Ohara. No time limit
Result: Masakatsu Funaki & YO-HEY beat Takashi Sugiura & Hajime Ohara. YO-HEY pinned Ohara after a jumping double knee strike. As a result, Funaki & YO-HEY advance to the Semifinals.

Match 7: Ninja Mack vs. Dante Leon. 30 minute time limit
Result: Ninja Mack beat Dante Leon. Almost didn’t happen as Leon entered first but Mack ambushed him immediately and they went at it with weapons outside the ring for a couple minutes before it officially began. Leon unmasked Mack late but it turned out Mack had a second mask on underneath.

Match 8: Scramble Shuffle Tag Team Tournament Quarterfinals: Kaito Kiyomiya & Tadasuke vs. Manabu Soya & Atsushi Kotoge. No time limit
Result: Manabu Soya & Atsushi Kotoge beat Kaito Kiyomiya & Tadasuke. Kotoge pinned Tadasuke after a moonsault. As a result, Soya & Kotoge advance to the Semifinals.

Match 9: Scramble Shuffle Tag Team Tournament Quarterfinals: Satoshi Kojima & Shuji Kondo vs. Kenoh & AMAKUSA. No tlme limit
Result: Satoshi Kojima & Shuji Kondo beat Kenoh & AMAKUSA. Kondo beat AMAKUSA with a modified Figure 4.

Main Event: Yoshiki Inamura vs. Jake Lee. 1 Hour time limit. Lee came out to his previous All-Japan entrance theme.
Result: Jake Lee beat Yoshiki Inamura

The next event is later today. Live streaming on WRESTLE UNIVERSE will begin at 12:45 AM PT/3:45 AM ET.