Tag: pro wrestling

New Japan 7/5/24 Results

New Japan wrapped up the NEW JAPAN SOUL 2024 Tour today with a big event in Tokyo.

Today’s event was held at Tokyo Budokan in Tokyo (not the same as Nippon Budokan as I just discovered) and can be watched on demand on New Japan World.

The announced paid attendance was 2423.

Match 1: Kosei Fujita & Zack Sabre Jr. beat Gedo & KENTA. Fujita pinned Gedo after Abandon Hope.

Match 2: Francesco Akira, Great-O-Khan & TJP beat TAKA Michinoku, Yuya Uemura & SANADA. Akira pinned TAKA after Fireball.

Match 3: Ryusuke Taguchi Return Match: Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Sho, Ren Narita, Yujiro Takahashi & EVIL beat Ryusuke Taguchi, Tiger Mask, Tomoaki Honma, Yuji Nagata & Hiroshi Tanahashi. EVIL pinned Honma after EVIL.

Match 4: G1 CLIMAX 34 Contender Tournament A Block Finals: Callum Newman beat YOSHI-HASHI to win the tournament. As a result, Newman is in the tournament in A Block. UPSET ALERT!!! Although this all but means he’ll be the jobber and lose most if not all his matches.

Match 5: G1 CLIMAX 34 Contender Tournament B Block Finals: Boltin Oleg beat Taichi to win the tournament. As a result, Oleg is in the tournament in B Block. See above.

Match 6: BUSHI, Shingo Takagi & Tetsuya Naito vs. Titan, Hiromu Takahashi & Yota Tsuji went to a 30 minute time limit draw.

Main Event: DOUKI beat IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion El Desperado to win the title. DOUKI becomes the 97th IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion.

The next event is CMLL FANTASTICAMANIA USA on 7/13 at Mt. Pleasant High School in San Jose, CA. Live streaming on New Japan World in Japanese & English as a PPV ($19.99 US, 2999 Japanese yen in Japan) will begin at 5:30 PM PT/8:30 PM ET. Tickets are still available and run $30-$200.

Stardom 7/4/24 Results

Stardom ran a rather uncommon weeknight event earlier today in Tokyo, coming amidst reports in the Japanese media that Saya Kamitani was verbally harassed & insulted by fans at a post-event autograph signing this weekend (per a Tokyo Sports report). Stardom Co. Ltd. President Taro Okada addressed this report earlier today.

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

The announced paid attendance was 796.

Match 1: Tam Nakano beat Rian.

Match 2: Rina & Azusa Inaba (Just Tap Out) beat Waka Tsukiyama & HANAKO. Inaba pinned HANAKO after Bubber Killer #2.

Match 3; Hanan, Hazuki & Momo Kohgo beat Yuna Mizumori, Aya Sakura & Sayaka Kurara. Hanan pinned Kurara with a blockbuster hold.

Match 4: AZM & Mei Seira beat Mina Shirakawa & Gina. AZM pinned Gina after a shooting star.

Match 5: Natsuko Tora, Momo Watanabe, Thekla, Ruaka & Fukigen beat Syuri, Konami, Saki Kashima, Ranna Yagami & Hina. Thekla pinned Syuri after a poisonous spider death drop. Based on a post-match promo, it sounds like Thekla & Watanabe will be the pair challenging for the Goddesses Of Stardom Championship next against Syuri & Konami.

Match 6: Mayu Iwatani & Koguma beat Starlight Kid & Miyu Amasaki. Iwatani beat Amasaki with a standing dragon sleeper. It’s also being reported that Kid is forming a new faction with Mei Seira & the injured Suzu Suzuki, and is trying to add Amasaki & AZM. No response from those last 2 yet.

Match 7: Saori Anou & Natsupoi vs. Mika Iwata & Aimi (Sendai Girls) went to a 20 minute time limit draw. Afterwards, it was announced Iwata will defend the Wonder Of Stardom Championship against Anou (who she beat for the title) at the 7/15 Sendai Girls event, and it could be a double title match for Iwata’s Sendai Girls World Championship. Then Natsupoi said that, regardless of who wins, she wanted a Wonder Of Stardom title shot on 7/27.

Main Event: Maika, Saya Kamitani & Saya Iida beat Tomoka Inaba, Ami Sohrei & Lady C. Kamitani pinned C after Star Crusher.

The next event is Sunday. Live streaming on Stardom World will begin at 7:30 PM PT/10:30 PM ET. Live results are tentatively scheduled.

In other news, the field for the annual 5STAR GP Tournament was announced today. If will be a total field of 28 separated into 4 blocks: Red A, Red B, Blue A & Blue B. It will be a round-robin format with the top 2 in each block advancing to the Quarterfinals.
The fields so far:
Red A: Maika, Natsuko Tora, Hazuki, Natsupoi, Konami, Aimi, TBA
Red B: Mayu Iwatani, Tam Nakano, Momo Watanabe, AZM, Mei Seira, Saya Iida, Tomoka Inaba
Blue A: Saori Anou, Syuri, Starlight Kid, Gina, TBA, TBA
Blue B: Suzu Suzuki, Saya Kamitani, Hanan, Ami Sohrei, Saki Kashima, Thekla, TBA
For Red A & Blue A, TBA will be winners of a determination tournament to be held (only for one of the Blue A spots). Based on who isn’t in, presumably those tournaments would include Mina Shirakawa, Koguma, Rina, Hina, Miyu Amasaki and whoever else I may have missed. That aside, these brackets suggest Maika & Iwatani are the Red Block favorites while Block B will be tougher to predict, in particular Blue B-Hanan will be looking to back up her Cinderella Tournament win with now a 5STAR GP as she may be the biggest threat to Kamitani while Blue A seems loaded.
All matches were announced as well. The tournament begins on 8/10 at Yokohama Budokan then continues on 8/11 (Shibuya Ward Sports Center, Tokyo), 8/12 (Light Cube Utsunomiya, Tochigi-2 events), 8/15 (Korakuen), 8/17 (Kyoto KBS Hall, Kyoto), 8/18 (Kobe Art Center, Kobe), 8/20 (Osaka Prefectural Gym 2, Osaka), 8/23 (Sendai Pit, Sendai), 8/24 (Parse Izaka, Fukushima), 8/25 (Yamagata Big Wing, Yamagata), 8/28 (Shinjuku Face-Quarterfinals), and 8/31 (Semifinals/Finals, Musashino Forest Sports Plaza Main Arena, Tokyo). Broadcast plans are also set-all events except 8/10 & 8/31 will be LIVE on Stardom World, 8/10 & 8/31 will be PPVs live then Stardom World on demand a few days later.

Also, it was just announced that the 7/15 Sendai Girls event will be streamed LIVE on WRESTLE UNIVERSE and the double title match between Iwata & Anou is now official.

New Japan 7/13/24 Event Information

After not announcing anything before regarding broadcast plans for the CMLL FANTASTICAMANIA USA event on 7/13/24, New Japan announced broadcast plans overnight: It will be a PPV on New Japan World available worldwide in Japanese and English. The event, to be held in San Jose, CA, will be available for $19.99 worldwide and 2990 Japanese yen in Japan only (just under $20 US), which includes the live broadcast starting at 5:30 PM PT/8:30 PM ET and on demand replays until 8/31/2024 (subject to change). An NJPW WORLD account is required to purchase the PPV (free to create) but a monthly viewing subscription is not required. There probably will be live resluts here as I intend to wait until the event gets closer to purchase.

All-Japan 7/4/24 Results

All-Japan held NEW AGE CHRONICLE Z 5 today, the latest and possibly last in the series of Rising Hayato Produced events for younger and less experienced wrestlers (less than 10 years experience).

Today’s event was held at Shin-Kiba 1st Ring in Tokyo and can be watched on demand on AJPW.TV.

The announced paid attendance was 338, a legit advance sellout.

Match 1: Dan Tamura beat Ryo Inoue.

Match 2: Hokuto Omori beat Jack Kennedy.

Match 3: Rei Saito beat Jun Saito & Seigo Tachibana in a 3-way by pinning Tachibana.

Match 4: Yuma Anzai, Ryuki Honda, Rising Hayato & Ren Ayabe beat Yuma Aoyagi, Shotaro Ashino, Kumaarashi & Fuminori Abe. Anzai pinned Kumaarashi after Gimlet.

Main Event: Seigo Tachibana won a 15 man battle royal with all event participants, last eliminating Rei Saito.

No word on if there will be another event in the series, but they made it sound like no.

The next event is 7/13 at Osaka Prefectural Gym 2 in Osaka with 3 title matches-an All-Japan World Junior Heavyweight Championship match, All-Japan World Tag Team Championship match and All-Japan Triple Crown match. Live streaming on AJPW.TV will begin at 2 AM PT/5 AM ET.

In other news, an All-Japan 6-Man Tag Team Championship match has been announced for an Evolution Women’s Pro Wrestling event on 7/18: Suwama, Mayumi Ozaki & Maya Yukihi will defend the titles against Shuji Ishikawa, Chihiro Hashimoto & Yuu. Dan Tamura participation is also set for the event.

Pro Wrestling NOAH 7/4/24 Results

Pro Wrestling NOAH resumed the never-ending SUNNY VOYAGE 2024 Tour today with an event in Hokkaido.

Today’s event was held at Kitami Municipal Sports Center In Hokkaido and will be available on demand on WRESTLE UNIVERSE at a later date. There was no live broadcast.

The announced paid attendance was 429.

There was a last-minute change to the event because Yoshinari Ogawa was removed from the card. The always-vague poor health/physical condition. He was to have teamed with Daga to face HAYATA & AMAKUSA. Super Crazy was the replacement.

Match 1: Ryohei Oiwa beat Yu Owada.

Match 2: YOICHI & Ulka Sasaki beat Masa Kitamiya & Daiki Inaba. YOICHI pinned Inaba after a modified powerbomb.

Match 3: HAYATA & AMAKUSA beat Daga & Super Crazy. AMAKUSA pinned Crazy.

Match 4: Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr., Dragon Bane & Alpha Wolf beat Takashi Sugiura, Eita & Junta Miyawaki. Bane pinned Miyawaki after Twister Bane.

Match 5: Naomichi Marufuji beat LJ Cleary.

Main Event: Jake Lee, Anthony Greene, YO-HEY & Tadasuke beat Kaito Kiyomiya, Kenoh, Alejandro & Cristobal. Lee pinned Cristobal after FBS.

The next event is Saturday at Chateraise Gateau Kingdom Sapporo in Hokkaido. There will be no live broadcast.

New Japan 7/3/24 Results

After a nearly 2 week break for the Forbidden Door PPV, New Japan resumed the NEW JAPAN SOUL 2024 Tour today with the penultimate event of the tour.

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 1225.

Match 1: TAKA Michinoku, Yuya Uemura, DOUKI & SANADA beat Tomoaki Honma, Togi Makabe, Yuji Nagata & El Desperado. Uemura pinned Honma after a diving crossbody.

Match 2: Titan, Hiromu Takahashi & Yota Tsuji beat Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Sho & Ren Narita by DQ. Narita DQ’d. Which led to…

Match 3: BUSHI, Titan, Hiromu Takahashi, Yota Tsuji, Shingo Takagi & Tetsuya Naito beat Dick Togo, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Sho, Ren Narita, Yujiro Takahashi & EVIL. BUSHI pinned Togo after Fable.

Match 4: G1 CLIMAX Contender Tournament B Block: Boltin Oleg beat Hiroshi Tanahashi. As a result, Oleg advances to the Finals. UPSET ALERT!!!

Match 5: G1 CLIMAX Contender Tournament A Block: Callum Newman beat KENTA. As a result, Newman advances to the Finals. UPSET ALERT!!!

Match 6: G1 CLIMAX Contender Tournament B Block: Taichi beat TJP. As a result, Taichi advances to the Finals and will face Oleg.

Main Event: G1 CLIMAX Contender Tournament A Block: YOSHI-HASHI beat Tomohiro Ishii. As a result, YOSHI-HASHI advances to the Finals and will face Newman. So either the veterans are getting in or there will be massive upsets and the young guys will probably wind up being the jobbers in their G1 debuts.

The tour-ender is Friday at Nippon Budokan in Tokyo. Most of the card is still TBA outside of Oleg-Taichi, Newman-YOSHI-HASHI, IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion El Desperado vs. DOUKI for the title and a 6-man match featuring LIJ facing each other. Ryusuke Taguchi will also return from injury. Live streaming on New Japan World will begin at 2 AM PT/5 AM ET.

GLEAT 7/1/24 Results

GLEAT held their traditional anniversary event yesterday, also normally their biggest annual event, dubbed GLEAT Ver. 12. The event also was the retirement event for Kaz Hayashi.

Yesterday’s event was held at Tokyo Dome City Hall in Tokyo and can be watched on demand FOR FREE on YouTube.

The announced paid attendance was 1511.

Match 1: Jun Tonsho, MICHIKO, Junjie, Joe Lando & Shuji Ishikawa beat Riki Aitaka, Yukimitsu Takahashi, Yumehito Imanari, Kaji Tomato & Tyson Maeguchi. Lando pinned Takahashi after Steez Bomb.

Match 2: Minoru Tanaka & Kazuki Hirata beat Issei Onitsuka & Yusuke Kodama. Tanaka pinned Onitsuka after BDF.

Match 3: Octagon Jr. & Soma Watanabe beat SBK & TAKUMA. Octagon pinned TAKUMA after La Mahia de Dragon.

Match 4: Kotaro Suzuki, Hartley Jackson & So Daimonji beat T-Hawk, Takehiro Yamamura & Seiki Yoshioka. Suzuki pinned Yamamura after a tiger driver.

Match 5: Ryuichi Kawakami Final GLEAT Match: Kazuyuku Fujita, Kendo Ka Shin & Gameras beat Ryuichi Kawakami, KAZMA SAKAMOTO & Quiet Storm. Fujita pinned SAKAMOTO after a face kick. (Kawakami had his contract terminated effective after this event following an incident at an event last month where he attacked President Hiroyuki Suzuki)

Match 6: Kaz Hayashi Retirement Match: Kaito Ishida & Tetsuya Izuchi beat G INFINITY Champions Kaz Hayashi & CIMA to win the titles. Ishida & Izuchi become the 5th G INFINITY Champions. Ishida pinned Hayashi with a half tiger suplex hold.

Match 7: G-REX Champion Hayato Tamura beat Yuki Iino to retain the title. V6 for Tamura.

Match 8: Kota Ibushi 20th Anniversary Match: In an Exhibition Match, Kota Ibushi faced Daisuke Sekimoto in a 5 minute match. Ibushi, for those wondering, reportedly is still recovering from major injuries and is not 100%.

Match 9: Lidet URF Single Bout: Shinya Aoki beat El Lindaman by submission.

Main Event: Lidet UWF Championship Single Bout: Katsuhiko Nakajima beat Takanori Ito by ref stoppage (submission) to win the vacant title. Nakajima becomes the 3rd Lidet UWF Champion.

After the matches, Hayashi came out again to greet the fans as his retirement became official. He announced he would remain with Lidet Entertainment as an employee of GLEAT.

The next event is G PROWRESTLING Ver. 74 on 7/15 at Umeda Stellar Hall in Osaka. There will be no live broadcast. The promotion has also announced another house show for the following event on 8/21 at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, which will not be available live or on demand onYouTube.

All-Japan News: Upcoming Title Matches, New Ring Announcer, More

Some All-Japan news to kick off July:

Effective today, Yuji Shindo has joined All-Japan and will be the new ring announcer going forward. Shindo, 41, has been a ring announcer for 16 years and most recently was a freelancer.

Several title matches have been announced for this month’s events:
On 7/20, All-Asia Tag Team Champions MUSASHI & Seiki Yoshioka will defend the titles against Naruki Doi & TBA, identified as “S”. This “S” is a new member of the Saito Brothers group with Jun & Rei Saito and Doi.
On 7/13 there will be 3 title matches: All-Japan World Tag Team Champions Jun & Rei Saito vs. Kento Miyahara & Yuma Aoyagi for the titles and the previously announced matches of All-Japan World Junior Heavyweight Champion Rising Hayato vs. Naruki Doi for the title and Yuma Anzai vs. Suwama for the Triple Crown.

Also, while not a title match, Rising Hayato vs. Kento Miyahara has been announced for 7/20 as Hayato is leaving the NEXTREAM faction to form his own group, ELPIDA, with Ryuki Honda, Yuma Anzai & Ren Ayabe.

The AJPW.TV broadcast schedule for July has been announced, 4 of the 5 scheduled events will be live. The full schedule:
LIVE-Thursday (Shin-Kiba 1st Ring), 7/13 (Osaka Prefectural Gym 2, Osaka), 7/15 (Yokohama Radiant Hall, Yokohama), 7/20 (Korakuen Hall, Tokyo)
On Demand (next day-scheduled to be available in the US at 6 PM PT/9 PM ET that day)-7/14 (Shimizu Marine Building, Shizouka)
Also available on demand will be a Kuroshio TOKYO Japan Produced Independent event on 7/12 at Shinjuku Face in Tokyo. That should be available that night in the US.

AEW/NJPW “Forbidden Door 2024” Results (6/30/24)

Here are the quick results from today’s All Elite Wrestling/New Japan Pro Wrestling “Forbidden Door” PPV in Elmont, NY (Long Island):

Pre-show (FREE on YouTube):
Kyle Fletcher beat Serpentico.

Malakai Black & Brody King beat Tomohiro Ishii & Kyle O’Reilly, Isaiah Kassidy & Marq Quen and Roderick Strong & Gabriel Kidd in a 4-way when King pinned Kassidy.

Willow Nightingale & Tam Nakano beat Kris Statlander & Momo Watanabe. Nakano pinned Watanabe with a straighjacket German suplex.

Owen Hart Cup Women’s Quarterfinals: Mariah May beat Saraya. As a result, May advances to the Semifinals and will face Hikaru Shida.

Lucha Bros & Mistico beat Titan, Hiromu Takahashi & Yota Tsuji. Mistico beat Titan with La Mistica. This is leading to rumors Lucha Bros are officially done with AAA because that promotion would never let their wrestlers team with CMLL wrestlers (both are promotions in Mexico).

PPV (on cable/satellite providers, Bleacher Report & Triller/FITE in US, various providers internationally and as a PPV on New Japan World in Japan only):
MJF beat Hechicero.

The Young Bucks & Kazuchika Okada beat The Acclaimed & Hiroshi Tanahashi. Okada pinned Tanahashi after Rainmaker.

Owen Hart Cup Men’s Quarterfinals: Bryan Danielson beat Shingo Takagi by submission. As a result, Danielson advances to the Semifinals.

AEW Women’s Champion Toni Storm beat Mina Shirakawa to retain the title. Afterwards, Mariah May had to choose between them. She chose…to have them kiss and make up. HLAEW.

Zack Sabre Jr. beat Orange Cassidy.

Samoa Joe, Hook & Katsuyori Shibata beat Chris Jericho, Big Bill & Jeff Cobb. Hook pinned Jericho after Judas Effect.

In a Ladder Match, Jack Perry beat Konosuke Takeshita, Mark Briscoe, Dante Martin, Lio Rush & El Phantasmo to become THE NEW AEW TNT CHAMPION!

AEW TBS Champion Mercedes Mone beat NJPW STRONG Women’s Champion Stephanie Vaquer to retain the TBS title and win the STRONG title. Mone becomes the 4th STRONG Women’s Champion. Post-match, Britt Baker returned from a long hiatus.

New Japan’s annual Tokyo Dome event next year will be the traditional 1/4 event then a second day on 1/5 with New Japan, AEW, Stardom and CMLL participation. 1/5 will be called WRESTLE DYNASTY.

Tetsuya Naito beat IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Jon Moxley to win the title. Naito becomes the 10th IWGP World Heavyweight Champion. Second 2-time champion, Okada was the first.

AEW World Champion Swerve Strickland beat Will Ospreay to retain the title.

End Show.

All-Japan 6/30/24 Results

All-Japan continued the Dynamite Series 2024 tour today with an event in Fukushima.

Today’s event was held at Kokutai MemoriaL Gym in Fukushima and will be available on demand on AJPW.TV tonight at 6 PM PT/9 PM ET. There was no live broadcast.

The announced paid attendance was 415.

Match 1: MUSASHI (Michinoku Pro) beat Ryo Inoue.

Match 2: Shotaro Ashino & Seiki Yoshioka beat Kuroshio TOKYO Japan & Jack Kennedy. Ashino beat Kennedy with an ankle lock.

Match 3: Suwama beat Seigo Tachibana by ref stoppage (TKO).

Match 4; Kento Miyahara, Yuma Aoyagi & Dan Tamura beat Hokuto Omori, Hartley Jackson & Aizawa No. 1. Tamura pinned Aizawa after a powerbomb.

Match 5: Ryuki Honda beat Cyrus.

Main Event: Yuma Anzai, Ren Ayabe & Rising Hayato beat Jun & Rei Saito & Naruki Doi. Hayato pinned Doi after Sid Vicious.

The next event is NEW AGE CHRONICLE Z 5, the next (and possibly last) Rising Hayato Produced event, Thursday at Shin-Kiba 1st Ring in Tokyo. The event is now a legit advance sellout. Live streaming on AJPW.TV will begin at 2:30 AM PT/5:30 AM ET.