Tag: pro wrestling

DDT News: Wrestler Leaving Promotion (Updated)

At a press conference today in Tokyo, DDT announced Makoto Oishi will be leaving the promotion in October. Contract expiring. His last event as a member of the roster will be 10/3. Oishi stated he is not retiring (he has been active for 22 years, the last 13 with DDT after 9 years with TAKA Michinoku’s former KAIENTAI DOJO promotion) and will continue to be active as a freelancer.

UPDATE: More details as to why this is happening have come out…it’s primarily for family reasons. His wife’s (former wrestler Misaki Ohata) father passed away recently and they decided to buy a house near her parents’ home in Miyagi Prefecture. They also have two children, 3 & 5, about to begin school. So he will be based in Sendai and be a freelancer going forward. He had other roles in DDT according to Director Akito, including bus driver and working behind-the-scenes, and noted the door will remain open to Oishi appearing in DDT whenever they go to Sendai and possibly for major Tokyo events.

Stardom 7/23/24 Results

Stardom ran another unusual weeknight event to begin a stretch of big events leading into the 5STAR GP.

Today’s event was held at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo and can be watched on demand on Stardom World.

The announced paid attendance was 1017.

Match 1; Starlight Kid, AZM & Suzu Suzuki beat Mina Shirakawa, Gina & HANAKO. Suzuki pinned HANAKO with a German suplex hold.

Match 2: 5STAR GP Blue Block Entrant Tournament: Miyu Amasaki beat Aya Sakura.

Match 3: 5STAR GP Blue Block Entrant Tournament: Lady C beat Momo Kohgo.

Match 4: 5STAR GP Red Block Entrant Tournament: Waka Tsukiyama beat Sayaka Kurara.

Match 5: 5STAR GP Red Block Entrant Tournament: Yuna Mizumori beat Ruaka by DQ. Weapon use and punching (closed fist punching is illegal in Stardom).

Match 6: Saki Kashima, Ranna Yagami, Tomoka Inaba & Hina beat Mayu Iwatani, Koguma, Hazuki & Rian. Inaba pinned Rian after MIchinoku Driver.

Match 7: Rina & Azusa Inaba beat New Blood Tag Team Champions Hanan & Saya Iida to win the titles. Rina & Inaba become the 3rd New Blood Tag Team Champions. Rina pinned Hanan after Pink Devil. Little sister takes big sister’s title.

Match 8: Natsuko Tora, Fukigen, Natsupoi & Mei Seira beat Maika, Saori Anou, Tam Nakano & Saya Kamitani. Tora pinned Maika after Death Valley Bomb.

Main Event: Momo Watanabe & Thekla beat Goddesses Of Stardom Champions Syuri & Konami to win the titles. Watanabe & Thekla become the 34th Goddesses Of Stardom Champions. Watanabe pinned Syuri after Peach Sunrise. Afterwards, Konami turned on Syuri and joined in a big heel beatdown, defecting from God’s Eye to the Oedo Tai faction.

The next event is STARDOM WONDER RENDEZVOUS Saturday at Chateraise Gateau Kingdom Sapporo in Hokkaido. Live streaming as a PPV for 4400 Japanese yen (about $28 US) or as a bundle including Sunday’s PPV for 6000 Japanese yen (about $40 US, Sunday is also available separately for 4400 yen) will begin at midnight PT/3 AM ET. PPV purchases include unlimited on demand replays until Wednesday morning. The events should be available on Stardom World for monthly subscribers after the PPV window ends.

Injury Report: NOAH Star Voyage On Hold (Updated)

Pro Wrestling NOAH has announced an injury change to this weekend’s charity event in Ishikawa: Ulka Sasaki is now off. Shoulder. He was to have teamed with Dragon Bane & Alpha Wolf to face Manabu Soya, Masa Kitamoya & Yoshiki Inamura. Shuji Kondo is the replacement-he was to have faced Tadasuke & Super Crazy in a 3-way, that match is now a single match. It’s not known how long Sasaki may be out, important with the N-1 VICTORY Tournament upcoming.

More as it becomes available.

UPDATE: Go Shiozaki is now off too. Back.

NOAH News: Akitoshi Saito Retirement Update

Following the announcement of his retirement last week, Pro Wrestling NOAH held a press conference with Akitoshi Saito today to announce further details. Specifically the date-his retirement event will be on 11/17 at Aichi Prefectural Gym in Nagoya.

More as it becomes available.

Injury Report: Desperado For A Break

Breaking injury news from New Japan: After jokingly blaming his DDT match today against Chris Brookes for having holes all over his body, El Desperado got serious and announcing he is headed to the sidelines. Meniscus surgery for an injury he’s been dealing with for 6 months. Out indefinitely but it’ll be several months. With the G1 CLIMAX now underway, he & the Junior Heavyweights get a few weeks off so it comes at a good time. Desperado has vowed to come back at 100% and reclaim the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship.

Stardom 7/21/24 Results

Stardom ran perhaps the only non-major event in Japan today, a house show in Chiba.

Today’s event was held at TKP Garden City Chiba in Chiba and can be watched on demand on Stardom World.

The announced paid attendance was 301.

Match 1: Hanan, Saya Iida & Ranna Yagami beat Rina, Ruaka & Azusa Inaba. Iida pinned Rina after Iidabashi.

Match 2: Yuna Mizumori beat Rian.

Match 4: Mei Seira beat Saya Kamitani, Natsupoi & Fukigen in a 4-way by pinning Kamitani. Potential High Speed Championship implications there.

Match 5: Mayu Iwatani, Hazuki, Koguma & Momo Kohgo beat Saki Kashima, Tomoka Inaba, Lady C & Hina. Hazuki pinned Hina after a diving senton.

Match 6: Waka Tsukiyama, Gina & Mina Shirakawa beat Tam Nakano, Saori Anou & Aya Sakura and AZM, Starlight Kid & Miyu Amasaki in a 3-way when Gina pinned Nakano. Despite the loss, after the match Nakano demanded a rematch for the Artist Of Stardom Championship. Accepted. That match will happen on 8/4.

Main Event: Maika, Syuri & Konami beat Natsuko Tora, Momo Watanabe & Thekla. Konami pinned Thekla after Triangle Lancer.

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

Dragon Gate 7/21/24 Results

Kobe Pro Wrestling Festival 2024, Dragon Gate’s annual biggest event and this year a 25th Anniversary celebration, was held earlier today.

Today’s event was held at Kobe World Hall in Kobe and can be watched on demand on DRAGONGATE NETWORK.

The paid attendance has not yet been announced. (UPDATE: The announced paid attendance was 4795, a super full house/very near sellout. Maybe it’s me and they didn’t show all the seating on the broadcast but it looked like less, with at least 1/3 of the seating not used due to the setup. The venue can hold over 8000)

Match 1: Madoka Kikuta beat Kota Minoura.

Match 2: Shachihoko BOY, Ryu Fuda, Faiki Yanagiuchi & Ryoya Tanaka beat Takashi Yoshida, Problem Dragon, Punch Tomonaga & Ho Ho Lun. Tanaka pinned Tominaga after Survive.

Match 3: KAI & ISHIN beat Yosuke ❤️ Santamaria & La Estrella. ISHIN pinned Santamaria after Jinchu.

Match 4: Dragon Gate 25th Anniversary Match: Ultimo Dragon, Don Fujii, Yasushi Kanda, Susunu Yokosuka & Kagetora beat Masaaki Mochizuki, Kenichiro Arai, Super Shisa, Ichikawa & Vhocoflake K-ICHI. Dragon pinned Ichikawa after a blocked La Magistral.

Match 5: Open The Triangle Gate Champions Strong Machine J, BIGBOSS Shimizu & U-T beat BxB Hulk, Minorita & Mochizuki Junior to retain the titles. J pinned Hulk with Machine Suplex. V1 for the champs.

Match 6: Dragon Dia beat Open The Brave Gate Champion Hyo to win the title. Dia becomes the 52nd Open The Brave Gate Champion.

Match 7: Open The Twin Gate Champions Dragon Kid & Naruki Doi beat Luis Mante & JACKY KAMEI, Kzy & Flamita and Shun Skywalker & Jason Lee in a 4-way elimination match to retain the titles. Order of elimination (both members eliminated each time): KAMEI by Flamita, Kzy by Skywalker, Lee by Kid. V1 for the champs.

Main Event: YAMATO beat Open The Dream Gate Champion Ben-K to win the title. YAMATO becomes the 40th Open The Dream Gate Champion.

The next event is Saturday at Shimizu Marine Building in Shizuoka. There will be no live or on demand broadcast.

New Japan 7/21/24 Results

New Japan ran Day 2 of the G1 CLIMAX 34 Tournament today.

Today’s event was held at Osaka Prefectural Gym in Osaka and can be watched on demand on New Japan World. (I considered doing live results as I did watch some of the event live but only watched the first half and there were some technical issues with the stream throughout)

The announced paid attendance was 2545.

All matches were G1 CLIMAX matches, 30 minute time limit.

Match 1; Block A: SANADA beat Callum Newman.

Match 2: Block B: HENARE beat Boltin Oleg.

Match 3: Block A: Gabriel Kidd beat Great-O-Khan.

Match 4: Block B: Ren Narita beat El Phantasmo.

Match 5: Block A: EVIL beat Jake Lee.

Match 6: Block B: Yuya Uemura beat Hirooki Goto.

Match 7: Block A: Shota Umino beat Shingo Takagi.

Match 8: Block A: Zack Sabre Jr. beat Tetsuya Naito.

Main Event: Block B: Yota Tsuji beat David Finlay.

Day 3 is Tuesday at Hiroshima Sun Plaza Hall in Hiroshima. Live streaming on New Japan World will begin at 2:30 AM PT/5:30 AM ET.

DDT 7/21/24 Results

WRESTLE PETER PAN, DDT’s biggest annual event, is now in the books.

Today’s event was held at Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo and can be watched on demand on WRESTLE UNIVERSE.

The announced paid attendance was 4131, a super full house/very near sellout. They used a greatly reduced capacity setup (namely the box seats that normally hold 4-6 people for sumo were sold for only 2 people each), so a legit sellout probably would have been around 5000. The venue’s full normal capacity (mainly for sumo) is 15,000.

Match 1: Keigo Nakamura, Yuki Ishida & Kazuma Sumi beat Yuni, Yuya Koroku & Illusion. Nakamura pinned Yuni after a running diving headbutt.

Match 2: Toru Owashi, Hisamaru Tajima & Shinichiro Kawamatsu beat Makoto Oishi, Takao Soma & Munenori Sawa. Kawamatsu pinned Oishi after Ax Bomber.

Match 3: Super Sasadango Machine beat Kazuki Hirata.

Match 4: Jun Akiyama, Yukio Naya & Tomomitsu Matsunaga beat Minoru Suzuki, Shuji Ishikawa & Hikaru Sato. Naya pinned Sato after a wrist clutch backdrop.

Match 5: Sanshiro Takagi Final Pre-Hiatus Match: In a Weapon Rumble Match, Danshoku Dieno beat Sanshiro Takagi. Dieno also retained the DDT Iron Man Heavymetalweight Championship, which they traded at a press conference earlier this week. Takagi is now taking an indefinite hiatus from competing, but has emphasized this is not retiring.

Match 6: Daisuke Sasaki, MJ Paul & KANON beat KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Champions HARASHIMA, Yasu Urano & Akito and Masa Takanashi, Antonio Honda & Takeshi Masada and Aja Kong, Shunma Katsumata & To-y in a 4-way elimination match to win the titles. Sasaki, Paul & KANON become the 56th KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Champions. Order of elimination (one fall eliminates teams): Katsumata by Akito, Akito by Kanon, Masada by Sasaki.

Match 7: Konosuke Takeshita beat Masato Tanaka (ZERO1).

Match 8: KO-D Tag Team Champions Tetsuya Endo & Yuki Iino beat Go Shiozaki & Atsushi Kotoge (Pro Wrestling NOAH) to retain the titles. Endo pinned KOtoge after Burning Star Press. V3 for the champs.

Match 9: In a No DQ Match, El Desperado (New Japan) beat Chris Brookes. This was changed last-minute to No DQ at their request.

Main Event: KO-D Openweight Champion Yuki Ueno beat MAO to retain the title. V6 for Ueno. Next up: Shinya Aoki. That match will happen on 8/25 at Korakuen Hall. After this, MAO returned to The37Kamiina. Also, this match was not for the DDT Universal Championship still held by MAO.

The next event is Friday at Shinjuku Face. Live streaming on WRESTLE UNIVERSE will begin at 3 AM PT/6 AM ET.

Pro Wrestling NOAH 7/21/24 Results

Pro Wrestling NOAH runs their monthly STAR NAVIGATION 2024 Tour event today, the series of Korakuen Hall events, and it’s a rare weekend morning matinee. Not counting a charity fundraiser event after this, it’s the last event before the annual N-1 VICTORY Tournament so almost all the participants will be in various tag matches. There is also a GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship match scheduled as Shuji Kondo & Eita will defend the titles against Alejandro & Cristobal. In the opening match, Kai Fujimura will return from injury.

Today’s event will be held at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo and can be watched LIVE on WRESTLE UNIVERSE in ENGLISH ONLY. This is an ABEMA exclusive broadcast so there may be some parts edited out or that we won’t see live, and Japanese audio will only be available in the on demand version shortly after the event ends. You can also watch the first 2 matches FOR FREE on YouTube. This is a 7 match card and even with the title match i anticipate this event having a “standard” Korakuen running time of around 2 1/2 hours, so if you’re planning to watch other events like I am prepare to perhaps do some brief split screen streaming.

Today’s lineup:
Kai Fujimura vs. Yu Owada
Ninja Mack vs. Junta Miyawaki
Naomichi Marufuji, Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr. & AMAKUSA vs. Takashi Sugiura, Hajime Ohara & Alpha Wolf
HAYATA, YO-HEY & Tadasuke vs. Daga, Yoshinari Ogawa & Super Crazy
GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Shuji Kondo & Eita vs. Alejandro & Cristobal for the titles
Kenoh & Ulka Sasaki vs. Yoshiki Inamura & Manabu Soya
Kaito Kiyomiya, Jack Morris & Dragon Bane vs. Go Shiozaki, Masa Kitamiya & Ryohei Oiwa

Refresh this page occasionally for the latest results.

Updates below will begin at 7:30 PM PT/10:30 PM ET. The live stream is scheduled to begin 15 minutes before the event.

7:30 PM PT UPDATE: Live updates begin now.

We are LIVE from Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan. English Commentary will join the broadcast shortly.

The paid attendance will be announced after the event. Looks like the “new normal” full capacity setup and looked to be around 75% full from the quick first look I got. If that’s the case, I’m predicting the crowd should be near 1000. (UPDATE: The announced paid attendance was 903)

The opening video plays almost as soon as we join, so the matches should begin in 5-10 minutes.

The matches begin at 7:34 PM PT/10:34 PM ET. Thankfully no G-Man ring announcer. Your hosts are Mark Pickering & Mike Schroder (I don’t know where Stewart Fulton is but I miss him already).

Match 1: Kai Fujimura Return Match: Kai Fujimura vs. Yu Owada. 15 minute time limit
Result: Yu Owada beat Kai Fujimura

Match 2: Ninja Mack vs. Junta Miyawaki. 20 minute time limit
Result: Junta Miyawaki beat Ninja Mack

The YouTube broadcast ends here.

Match 3: Naomichi Marufuji, Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr. & AMAKUSA vs. Takashi Sugiura, Hajime Ohara & Alpha Wolf. 20 minute time limit
Result: Naomichi Marufuji, Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr. & AMAKUSA beat Takashi Sugiura, Hajime Ohara & Alpha Wolf. Wagner Jr. pinned Ohara after Wagner Driver.

Match 4: HAYATA, YO-HEY & Tadasuke vs. Daga, Yoshinari Ogawa & Super Crazy. 30 minute time limit
Result: HAYATA, YO-HEY & Tadauske beat Daga, Yoshinari Ogawa & Super Crazy. YO-HEY pinned Crazy after a dropkick.

Match 5: GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Shuji Kondo & Eita vs. Alejandro & Cristobal for the titles. 1 Hour time limit
Result: GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Shuji Kondo & Eita beat Alejandro & Cristobal to retain the titles. Eita pinned Cristobal after Imperial Uno. V1 for the champs.

Match 6: Kenoh & Ulka Sasaki vs. Yoshiki Inamura & Manabu Soya. 30 minute time limit
Result: Yoshiki Inamura & Manabu Soya beat Kenoh & Ulka Sasaki. Soya pinned Sasaki after a lariat. Afterwards, Soya with microphone. He simply put over his chances in the N-1 VICTORY, a surprise perhaps given he just beat the GHC National Champion. But with the tournament, no title matches for a while. Heavyweight & National titles anyway.

Main Event: Kaito Kiyomiya, Jack Morris & Dragon Bane vs. Go Shiozaki, Masa Kitamiya & Ryohei Oiwa. 1 Hour time linit
Result: Kaito Kiyomiya, Jack Morris & Dragon Bane beat Go Shiozaki, Masa Kitamiya & Ryohei Oiwa. Kiyomiya pinned Kitamiya after Transformed Shining Wizard. Afterwards, Kiyomiya with microphone. He started to put himself over ahead of the N-1 VICTORY, which brought everyone else in the match back in to put themselves over ahead of the tournament (they’re all in). After everyone else was done, Kiyomiya finished putting himself over and predicting he would win to end the show.

The next event is a Noto Peninsula earthquake relief fundraiser event on 7/28 at Ishikawa Prefectural Industrial Exhibition Hall 3 in Ishikawa. There will be no live broadcast.