Tag: pro wrestling

New Japan 5/3/24 Results (Updated)

The first half of WRESTLING DONTAKU, New Japan’s annual Golden Week blowout event in Fukuoka, is in the books.

Today’s event was held at Fukuoka International Center in Fukuoka and can be watched on demand on New Japan World OUTSIDE JAPAN ONLY. This event aired live in Japan as part of WORLD PRO WRESTLING LIVE 2024 on TV Asahi.

The announced paid attendance was 2440. On paper, although partially dependent on the setup, that’s not good. (The venue’s maximum capacity, at least for sumo, is 7500. I imagine the setup reduced the capacity to 5500 tops)

Pre-show Match: Shoma Kato & Boltin Oleg beat Katsuya Murashima & Togi Makabe. Oleg pinned Murashima after Kamikaze.

Match 1: Sho & Yujiro Takahashi beat TAKA Michinoku & DOUKI. Takahashi pinned TAKA after Big Juice.

Match 2: Yuya Uemura & Taichi beat Callum Newman & Great-O-Khan. Uemura pinned Newman with a Kannuki suplex hold.

Match 3: Jado, El Phantasmo & Hikuleo beat Kosei Fujita, Shane Haste & Mikey Nicholls. Phantasmo pinned Nicholls.

Match 4: Taiji Ishimori, Chase Owens & KENTA beat Tiger Mask, YOSHI-HASHI & Hirooki Goto. Owens pinned TM 4 after a package driver.

Match 5: BUSHI, Hiromu Takahashi, Shingo Takagi & Tetsuya Naito beat Gedo, Drilla Moloney, Clark Connors & David Finlay. BUSHI pinned Gedo after Fable.

Match 6: Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Ren Narita & EVIL beat El Desperado, Shota Umino & Jon Moxley. Kanemaru pinned Desperado with Samson Clutch.

Match 7: Jeff Cobb beat NJPW WORLD TV Champion Zack Sabre Jr. to win the title. Cobb becomes the 5th NJPW WORLD TV Champion.

Match 8: David Finlay beat Yota Tsuji.

Main Event: IWGP Global Champion Nic Nemeth beat Hiroshi Tanahashi to retain the title. V1 for Nemeth. Afterwards, Nemeth demanded to defend against Finlay tomorrow, which would require several card changes because Nemeth is already set to team with Tanahashi to face TAKA & Taichi (Taichi is a replacement for SANADA who is off this weekend due to medical reasons).

Day 2 is tomorrow. Live streaming on New Japan World OUTSIDE JAPAN ONLY will begin TONIGHT at 10:30 PM PT/1:30 AM ET. This will be a TV Asahi live broadcast in Japan.

UPDATE: At about 5 PM PT/8 PM ET it was made official-Nemeth-Finlay for the IWGP Global Championship has just been added to the card. That means Nemeth is off the match mentioned above. Boltin Oleg is the replacement. Because of this addition, the start time for today’s event, which is for the pre-show, has been moved up to 10 minutes to 10:20 PM PT/1:20 AM ET.

AEW Dynamite & Rampage 5/1/24 LIVE Results

Here are the quick results from tonight’s AEW Dynamite AND LIVE Rampage from Winnipeg, Canada:

Dynamite:
Tony Khan is in Jacksonville selling what happened last week. His feed gets cut out by The Young Bucks, who say because of this they’re running the show now.

Swerve Strickland comes out first. He calls out who will be his next challenger for the AEW World Championship at Double Or Nothing, but The Bucks interrupt to introduce said challenger-Christian Cage. He & the Patriarchy beat down Strickland & Prince Nana, culminating with Killswitch legit ripping some of Strickland’s hair off his head.

Match 1: AEW TNT Champion Adam Copeland vs. one of House Of Black for the title. Who it is was not revealed in advance. It was revealed to be Buddy Matthews.
Result: AEW TNT Champion Adam Copeland beat Buddy Matthews to retain the title. Matthews may have been legit injured when he took a stiff elbow on a diving crossbody from Copeland to his midsection.

Match 2; Samoa Joe vs. Isaiah Kassidy
Result: Samoa Joe beat Isaiah Kassidy. Squash.

Skye Blue promo.

Orange Cassidy interviewed. He says Chuck Taylor will never wrestle again after a parking lot fight with Trent Beretta last weekend. Trent interrupts. Cassidy charges him but security keeps them apart. During this, Don Callis makes a move on Cassidy.

Match 3: FTW Champion Chris Jericho vs. Katsuyori Shibata for the title
Result: FTW Champion Chris Jericho beat Katsuyori Shibata to retain the title.

WIllow NIghtingale accepts Blue’s challenge for an AEW TBS Championship match. Added to Rampage. The Bucks add a stip-Kris Statlander & Stokely Hathaway are banned from ringside and if either interfere, Nightingale is stripped of the title.

Match 4: Claudio Castagnoli vs. Brian Cage
Result: Claudio Castagnoli beat Brian Cage by submission

Next week: Copeland vs. Brody King for the TNT Championship and Cassidy vs. Beretta.

Added to Rampage tonight: Konosuke Takeshita vs. London Lightning.

Rocky Romero interviewed. He’s done with Best Friends and is going after titles now. He challenges Kyle O’Reilly for Rampage tonight which likely finalizes the Rampage lineup.

Match 5: Mariah May vs. Serena Deeb
Result: Serema Deeb beat Mariah May by ref stoppage (towel). Towel thrown in by Toni Storm.

Justin Roberts does THE INTRO for Kenny Omega. You know what that means…NORTH CA-RO-LI-NA!!! This continues into Rampage.

Rampage:
Omega promo continues past the normal Dynamite overrun. At about that time Kazuchika Okada comes out. It’s a setup for a Jack Perry ambush. Omega tries to fight it off but when he goes for a V-Trigger Okada breaks it up and Perry hits Omega with a chair. The Bucks come out for a EVP Trigger. The Elite pose with the wounded Omega but FTR quickly comes out to make the save.
I figured this was how they would write Omega off TV long-term to have surgery for diverticulitis. The promo was absolutely hot and legit scary as he talked about the medical ramifications of his condition and what it means for his health. Absolute must-see.

Back to commentary then back to backstage as The Elite attack FTR again and dump Omega off the stretcher by the ambulance.

Matt Menard replaces Taz on commentary for Rampage.

Match 1: Jay White vs. Dante Martin
Result: Jay White beat Dante Martin

Deonna Purrazzo interviewed.

Swerve Strickland promo. More with Christian Cage promised for Dynamite next week but he won’t be alone.

Match 2: Rocky Romero vs. Kyle O’Reilly
Result: Kyle O’Reilly beat Rocky Romero

Main Event: AEW TBS Champion Willow Nightingale vs. Skye Blue in a Manitoba Massacre for the title. Anything Goes. Stokely Hathaway & Kris Statlander banned from ringside, if either interfere Nightingale is stripped of the title
Result: AEW TBS Champion WIllow NIghtingale beat Kris Statlander to retain the title.

Konosuke Takeshita vs. London Lighting did not happen, at least not on TV. I’m guessing time constraints because the Omega promo segment ran extremely long.

Dynamite was an enjoyable episode for me this week, it was nice to not have Tony Khan anywhere near it except at the beginning, and he stayed off the socials too. The Strickland-Cage and Omega promos really elevated the show. Matches were okay, not great but not bad either. Rampage suffered from Dynamite running way over despite a nearly 10-minute overrun, the main event was rushed and I don’t like the women having to resort to hardcore garbage matches to get time & reactions from the crowd, but the effort was absolutely there as always. Rampage can be skipped. The Omega promo segment is must-see.

No Collision this week. Rampage follows Collision next week and both will be on TBS, not TNT.

Also next week on Dynamite: Harley Cameron vs. Mariah May and Serena Deeb promo.

New Japan 5/1/24 Results

New Japan wrapped up the Road To WRESTLING DONTAKU Tour today with a house show in Oita.

Today’s event was held at Cycle Shop Kodama Ozu Arena in Oita. There is/was no live or on demand broadcast.

The announced paid attendance was 850.

There were last-minute changes to the card due to Yota Tsuji being off the event. Illness. He was to have been in the main event, a 10-man tag. Gedo was also removed to make it an 8-man tag.

Match 1: El Phantasmo & Hikuleo beat Katsuya Murashima & Shoma Kato. Hikuleo pinned Murashima after a double chokeslam.

Match 2: DOUKI & Yuya Uemura beat Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Sho. DOUKI beat Kanemaru with Jorge Rivera Special.

Match 3: Taiji Ishimori, Chase Owens & KENTA beat Tiger Mask, YOSHI-HASHI & Hirooki Goto. KENTA pinned TM 4.

Match 4: Kosei Fujita, Shane Haste, Mikey Nicholls & Zack Sabre Jr. beat Callum Newman, Francesco Akira, TJP & Jeff Cobb. Sabre beat Newman with a reverse armbar.

Match 5: Dick Togo, Ren Narita, Yujiro Takahashi & EVIL beat Boltin Oleg, Shota Umino, Togi Makabe & El Desperado. Narita pinned Makabe after Double Cross.

Match 6: Tomoaki Honma & Hiroshi Tanahashi beat TAKA Michinoku & Taichi. Tanahashi pinned TAKA after High Fly Flow.

Main Event: Drilla Moloney, Clark Connors, Gabriel Kidd & David Finlay beat BUSHI, Hiromu Takahashi, Shingo Takagi & Tetsuya Naito. Finlay pinned BUSHI after Overkill.

The next event is WRESTLING DONTAKU, the annual early May blowout event, on Friday & Saturday at Fukuoka International Center in Fukuoka. Live streaming on New Japan World OUTSIDE JAPAN ONLY will begin at 2 AM PT/5 AM ET Friday for Day 1 and that night at 11 PM PT/2 AM ET for Day 2. Both days will be live TV Asahi broadcasts in Japan.

New Japan 4/30/24 Results

New Japan ran the penultimate event of the Road To WRESTLING DONTAKU Tour today.

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

The announced paid attendance was 1035.

There were last-minute changes to the card again because, after missing the last couple events for unspecified medical reasons, the promotion announced SANADA is now off through at least after ALL TOGETHER on 5/6, meaning at least another week. For matches he was in, either they will be reduced participants for 6/8-man tag matches and for tag matches Taichi is the replacement.

Match 1: Boltin Oleg beat Shoma Kato.

Match 2: DOUKI & Yuya Uemura beat Sho & Yujiro Takahashi. Uemura pinned Takahashi with a Kannuki suplex hold.

Match 3: Taiji Ishimori, Chase Owens & KENTA beat Tiger Mask, YOSHI-HASHI & Hirooki Goto. Owens pinned TM 4.

Match 4: Callum Newman, Francesco Akira, TJP & Jeff Cobb beat Kosei Fujita, Shane Haste, Mikey Nicholls & Zack Sabre Jr. Cobb pinned Fujita after Tour of the Islands.

Match 5: El Desperado, Shota Umino, El Phantasmo & Hikuleo beat Dick Togo, Ren Narita, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & EVIL. Umino pinned Togo after Death Rider.

Match 6: Togi Makabe & Hiroshi Tanahashi beat TAKA Michinoku & Taichi. Tanahashi pinned TAKA after High Fly Flow.

Main Event: BUSHI, Hiromu Takahashi, Yota Tsuji, Shingo Takagi & Tetsuya Naito beat Gedo, Drilla Moloney, Gabriel Kidd, Clark Connors & David Finlay. Tsuji pinned Gedo after Gene Blaster.

The tour-ender is tomorrow at Cycle Shop Kodama Ozu Arena in Oita. There will be no live or on demand broadcast.

Stardom 4/29/24 Results

Stardom began their Golden Week (a weeklong national holiday in Japan) series of events today in Hiroshima.

Today’s event was held at Fukuyama Big Rose in Hiroshima and will be available on demand on Stardom World at a later date.

The announced paid attendance was 462.

Match 1: AZM beat Ranna Yagami.

Match 2: Koguma beat Rian.

Match 3; Suzu Suzuki & Miyu Amasaki beat Aya Sakura & Sayaka Kurara. Amasaki pinned Sakura after Heavenly.

Match 4: Momo Watanabe & Thekla beat Saya Kamitani & Lady C. Thekla pinned C after Poisonous Spider Drop.

Match 5: Mayu Iwatani, Hazuki, Hanan, Saya Iida & Momo Kohgo beat Maika, Mina Shirakawa, Gina, Waka Tsukiyama & HANAKO. Hanan pinned Shirakawa after 17. Based on post-match antics and Twitter posts, this could result in an Artist Of Stardom Championship match soon.

Match 6: Natsuko Tora & Ruaka beat Tam Nakano & Starlight Kid. Ruaka pinned Kid after Freezer Bomb.

Main Event: Syuri, Ami Sohrei & Konami beat Saori Anou, Natsupoi & Yuna Mizumori. Konami pinned Mizumori after Triangle Lancer.

The next event is tomorrow at CHRES Gym in Kochi. It will be available on demand at a later date.

Ganbare Pro 4/27/24 Results

Ganbare Pro ran their first event as an independent promotion Saturday, having separated from CyberFight Corporation and DDT.

Saturday’s event was held at Kitazawa Town Hall in Tokyo and can be watched on demand on WRESTLE UNIVERSE.

The announced paid attendance was 294, a legit sellout.

There were last-minute changes to the event due to Munetatsu Nakamura being off the card. Illness.

Match 1: Mizuki Watase & Rekka beat Tyson Maeguchi & Tsuyoshi Okada. Watase pinned Okada after Venetian.

Match 2: Shinichiro Tominaga beat Takuya Wada.

Match 3: PSYCHO, Yuna Manase & YuuRI beat Minoru Fujita, Sayaka Unagi & HARUKAZE. YuuRI pinned HARUKAZE after a swanton bomb.

Intermission. During this were several announcements, the biggest one being that Moeka Haruhi will return on 7/15. She has been out about a year due to being a living kidney donor for her sister. Shodai Kawakami, a trainee, will have his Debut Match on 5/18 at Shin-Kiba 1st Ring. On 7/27, a male wrestlers-only event and a joint women’s event with 666 will be held. The 7/27 event will be at Oji Basement MON*STAR in Tokyo.

Match 4: Yumehiro Imanari & Tatsuhito Takaiwa beat Ken Ohka & Fuminori Abe. Imanari pinned Ohka after a lariat.

Main Event: Keisuke Ishii beat Spirit Of Ganbare World Openweight Champions Shuichiro Katsumura to win the title. Ishii becomes the 7th Spirit Of Ganbare World Openweight Champion. Next up: Koki Iwasaki. That match will happen on 5/18.

The next event is 5/18 at Shin-Kiba 1st Ring. It’s not yet known if there will be a live broadcast but if not, it will be available on demand on WRESTLE UNIVERSE at a later date.

All-Japan 4/29/24 Results

All-Japan ran Day 6 of the Champions Carnival today.

Today’s event was held at Kurobe City Sports Center Main Arena in Toyama and will be available on demand on AJPW.TV beginning at 6 PM PT/9 PM ET. There was no live broadcast.

The announced paid attendance was 852.

Match 1: Jun Saito, Hikaru Sato & MUSASHI (Michinoku Pro) beat Yuma Anzai, Rising Hayato & Ryo Inoue. Saito pinned Inoue after Psycho Break.

Champions Carnival:
Match 2: Block B-Road Crew beat Hideki Suzuki.
Match 3: Block B-Rei Saito beat Hartley Jackson.
Match 4: Block A-Cyrus beat Hokuto Omori.

Match 5: Shotaro Ashino & Dan Tamura beat New Toyama Black (?) & Seigo Tachibana. Tamura pinned Tachibana after a powerbomb.

Champions Carnival:
Match 6: Block A-Davey Boy Smith Jr. beat Ren Ayabe.
Match 7: Block B-Suwama beat Ryuki Honda.
Main Event: Block A-Kento Miyahara beat Kuroshio TOKYO Japan.

The next event is Friday at Yume Messe Miyagi Main Building Exhibition Hall B/C in Sendai. Live streaming on AJPW.TV will begin Thursday at 10 PM PT/1 AM ET.

New Japan 4/29/24 Results (Updated)

Wrestling Satsuma No Kuni, New Japan’s annual end-of-April standalone event held in Kagoshima under the original name of the prefecture, took place earlier today.

Today’s event was held at Kagoshima Arena in Kagoshima and can be watched on demand on New Japan World.

The announced paid attendance was 1780,

There were last-minute changes to the first 2 matches due to SANADA being off again. Precautionary due to health concerns.

Match 1: Boltin Oleg beat Katsuya Murashima.

Match 2: TAKA Michinoku, Yuya Uemura & Taichi beat Tiger Mask, Togi Makabe & Hiroshi Tanahashi. Uemura pinned TM 4 after a diving crossbody.

Match 3: Kosei Fujita, Shane Haste, Mikey Nicholls & Zack Sabre Jr. beat Callum Newman, Great-O-Khan, Francesco Akira & Jeff Cobb. Sabre beat Newman with a reverse armbar.

Match 4: Dick Togo, Yujiro Takahashi, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Ren Narita & EVIL beat Jado, El Desperado, Shota Umino, El Phantasmo & Hikuleo. Narita pinned Jado.

Match 5; Taiji Ishimori, Chase Owens & KENTA beat Tomoaki Honma, YOSHI-HASHI & Hirooki Goto. KENTA pinned Honma after Busaiku Knee.

Match 6: Yota Tsuji, Shingo Takagi & Tetsuya Naito beat Gedo, Gabriel Kidd & David Finlay. Tsuji pinned Gedo after Curb Stomp.

Match 7: IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Drilla Moloney & Clark Connors beat BUSHI & Hiromu Takahashi to retain the titles. Connors pinned BUSHI after Full Clip. V2 for the champs.

Main Event: IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Sho beat DOUKI to retain the title. V2 for Sho. Ren Narita interference set it up. Naturally this result and the post-match promo sent the crowd home very unhappy.

The next event is tomorrow at Grand Messe Kumamoto in Kumamoto. There will be no live or on demand broadcast.

The promotion also announced that Ryusuke Taguchi is now out of Best Of The Super Junior due to injuries sustained recently. Dragon Dia (Dragon Gate) is the replacement.

UPDATE: SANADA is now out until at least after ALL TOGETHER on 5/6. Medical, but nothing specific beyond appraisal results.

Stardom 4/27/24 Results

STARDOM ALL-STAR GRAND QUEENDOM 2024, Stardom’s latest blowout event today, is in the books.

Today’s event was held at Yokohama Buntai in Yokohama and can be watched on demand on PPV via Pia Stream for 4400 Japanese yen (just under $30 US) until Tuesday morning. It should be available on demand on Stardom World soon after that. However, there once again were issues with the PPV, this time with purchasing the English commentary version ahead of time (there was also Japanese). They fixed it quickly but had to issue refunds again because some had to purchase it twice to get English. You can also watch the pre-show matches and the first PPV match FOR FREE on YouTube.

The announced paid attendance was 2735. This is a new venue that may be replacing Yokohama Budokan and has a listed capacity of 5000, but the setup was probably for quite a bit smaller. I’m guessing this number was 70-75% full.

Pre-show:
Match 1: Momo Kohgo beat Ranna Yagami.
Match 2: Yuna Mizumori & Aya Sakura beat Lady C & Rian. Mizumori pinned Rian.

PPV:
Match 1: Future Of Stardom Champion Rina beat Sayaka Kurara to retain the title. V8 for Rina.

Match 2: Syuri, Konami & Ami Sohrei beat Gina, Waka Tsukiyama & HANAKO. Konami pinned Tsukiyama after Triangle Lancer. Now that she is part of Stardom and not a freelancer anymore, Konami has joined the God’s Eye faction.

Match 3: Saya Kamitani beat High Speed Champion Saki Kashima, Saya Iida & Fukigen in a 4-way by pinning Fukigen to win the title. Kamitani becomes the 26th High Speed Champion.

Match 4: Mina Shirakawa vs. Natsuko Tora went to a no contest. Thekla interference. Returning after a long absence, Thekla has now joined the Oedo Tai faction.

Match 5; Aja Kong & Kaoru Ito (OZ Academy) beat Tam Nakano & Natsupoi. Kong pinned Nakano after a diving elbow drop.

Match 6: Goddesses Of Stardom Champions Suzu Suzuki & Mei Seira beat Starlight Kid & Ruaka, Hazuki & Koguma and AZM & Miyu Amasaki in a 4-way, when Seira pinned Ruaka, to retain the titles. V2 for the champs. Afterwards, Kid was kicked out of Oedo Tai and got a post-match beatdown until Tam Nakano made the save.

Match 7: IWGP Women’s Champion Mayu Iwatani beat Sareee to retain the title. V5 for Iwatani. Next up: Possibly Ice Ribbon star & longtime figurehead/leader Tsukasa Fujimoto, who also teased perhaps a handicap match with Arisa Nakajima before her apparent impending retirement against Iwatani.

Match 8: Wonder Of Stardom Champion Saori Anou beat Hanan to retain the title. V2 for Anou. Next up: Ami Sohrei or Natsupoi. Anou made a determination match between them for the future.

Main Event: In a 3 Falls Match with different rules for each fall, World Of Stardom Champion Maika beat Momo Watanabe 2-1 to retain the title. Fall 1 was a normal match won by Watanabe. Fall 2 was a Hardcore Falls Count Anywhere match won by Maika. Fall 3 was a Last Woman Standing match won by Maika. V4 for Maika.

The next event is Monday at Fukuyama Big Rose in Hiroshima. It will be available on demand at a later date. (The next scheduled live event is Friday, one of 6 live broadcasts scheduled for May. 4 will be on Stardom World while 5/5 in Fukuoka and 5/18 at Yokohama Budokan will be PPVs)

Pro Wrestling NOAH 4/27/24 Results

Pro Wrestling NOAH ran the latest LIMIT BREAK event today, dubbed LIMIT BREAK ex. This series features more crossover matches with non-NOAH wrestlers.

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

The paid attendance has not yet been announced.

Match 1: Yoshitatsu (DDT) beat Yu Owada.

Match 2: Atsushi Kotoge & Black Menso-re (Independent/Freelancer) beat Jun Akiyama & Rukiya (DDT). Kotoge pinned Rukiya after Kill Switch.

Match 3: Tetsuya Endo (DDT) beat Hi69.

Match 4: Go Shiozaki, Kazuyuki Fujita & Mohammed Yone vs. Shuji Ishikawa (Independent/Freelancer), Yuki Iino & Yukio Naya (DDT) went to a 20 minute time limit draw. Which led to…
Extra Time (10 minutes): Go Shiozaki, Kazuyuki FUujita & Mohammed Yone beat Shuji Ishikawa, Yuki Iino & Yukio Naya. Shiozaki pinned Iino after Go Lariat.

Main Event: ZERO1 World Heavyweight Champion Akitoshi Saito beat Yuki Nagao to retain the title. V1 for Saito.

The next event is WRESTLE MAGIC 2024 on 5/4 at Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo. Live streaming on WRESTLE UNIVERSE as a PPV ONLY will begin at midnight PT/3 AM ET. The PPV is available worldwide for 3800 Japanese yen (about $25 US) but those who were UNIVERSE subscribers prior to the price increase in March and remained subscribers at the start of April can buy the PPV for only 2800 yen (around $18 US). The event can be purchased until 5/12 at 4 AM PT/7 AM ET, the viewing window after purchase & the event is TBA. Currently there are 6 matches for the card-5 title matches and a special women’s match-with more TBA the day of the event.