Tag: pro wrestling

BREAKING: AEW Talent Cuts Announced

Uh oh…here comes The Wrath Of KHAN!!! AEW has reportedly released ten wrestlers/talents today, who will not have no-compete clauses and are immediate free agents. Here’s the list so far: The Boys, Dasha Kuret (Dasha Gonzalez, who was the secondary ring announcer), Jose The Assistant, Jora Johl, Anthony Henry, Gravity, Stu Grayson (again?), Parker Boudreaux, Slim J. Obviously I’m not happy about Dasha because I liked her as a ring announcer, when she started out she was also a co-host for the early episodes of Dark on YouTube (she also wrestled one match a couple years ago). I had read a rumor earlier today that Boudreaux was still under contract for several more months, beyond that it’s disappointing to see The Boys gone as they were a big part of Dalton Castle’s character, and same with Grayson seemingly being done for a second time. Henry had been seeing a lot of action lately, mostly as a jobber. Jose was a big part of LFI as a manager. Johl hasn’t really been used much at all, same for Slim J. Gravity is basically a wrestling pun but was the kind of flippy luchador-type Khan marks out for.

No word on whether or not there may be more cuts coming.

Pro Wrestling NOAH 4/1/24 Results

After a very successful first run several months ago, Pro Wrestling NOAH brought back the MONDAY MAGIC series for a second season of events, which kicked off today with Episode 1.

Today’s event was held at Shinjuku Face in Tokyo and can be watched on demand on WRESTLE UNIVERSE. It also streamed live on ABEMA in Japan.

The paid attendance has not yet been announced but it was a legit advance sellout.

Match 1: Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr. & Luis Mante (Dragon Gate) beat Dragon Bane & Alpha Wolf. Mante pinned Wolf after Vuelta Finale.

Match 2; Kenoh beat Ryohei Oiwa.

Match 3: Nagisa Nozaki & Great Sakuya beat Miyuki Takase & Nameless (?). Sakuya pinned Nameless after a moonsault press.

Match 4; Jake Lee, YO-HEY & Tadasuke beat Masa Kitamiya, Junta Miyawaki & Yu Owada. YO-HEY pinned Owada after a dropkick.

Match 5: Yoshinari Ogawa & Gedo (New Japan) vs. HAYATA & Eita went to a no contest.

Main Event: Kaito Kiyomiya beat Ulka Sasaki.

Episode 2 is next Monday and will feature a GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship match as YO-HEY & Tadasuke defend the titles against Isami Kodaka & Yuko Miyamoto.

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

In other news, after making a surprise appearance today, former Stardom wrestler Giulia has been added to the 5/4 event at Ryogoku Kokugikan. More as it becomes available.

Injury Report: TJPW US Card Now A Wreck

It may be April Fools Day but this is not much more than a bad pun…but it’s also true. The Tokyo Joshi Pro “GCW vs. TJPW” event this week just had changes made because Sawyer Wreck, part of the GCW side, is now off. Unspecified injury. She was to have teamed with Allie Katch to face Mizuki & Nao Kakuta. That match is now Katch vs. Mizuki and what had been a Suzume vs. Pom Harajuku match will now be Suzume & Harajuku vs. Kakuta & SAKI.

The event is scheduled for Saturday at 2:30 PM ET/11:30 AM PT and can be watched live and on demand on TrillerTV/FITE with a Triller+ subscription ($7.99/month or $79.99/year).

New Japan 3/31/24 Results

New Japan continued the Road To SAKURA GENESIS Tour today with an event in Shizuoka.

Today’s event was held at Act City Hamamatsu in Shizuoka and may be available on demand on New Japan World at a later date, but at least the main event will be available on demand. There was no live broadcast.

The announced paid attendance was 1105.

Match 1: Jeff Cobb beat Shoma Kato.

Match 2: KUSHIDA & Kevin Knight beat Gedo & Clark Connors. KUSHIGA Beat Gedo with Hoverboard Lock.

Match 3: TAKA Michinoku, DOUKI, Yuya Uemura, Taichi & SANADA beat Boltin Oleg, El Desperado, Toru Yano, Tomoaki Honma & Tomohiro Ishii. Uemura pinned Honma.

Match 4; Taiji Ishimori & Chase Owens beat Tiger Mask & Hirooki Goto. Owens pinned TM 4 after a package driver.

Match 5: Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Sho & Ren Narita beat Yoh, Togi Makabe & Shota Umino. Narita pinned Makabe after Double Cross.

Match 6: BUSHI, Hiromu Takahashi & Yota Tsuji beat TJP, Francesco Akira & Callum Newman. Tsuji pinned Newman after Gene Blaster.

Match 7: Shingo Takagi & Tetsiua Naito beat Yujiro Takahashi & EVIL. Takagi pinned Takahashi after Pumping Bomber.

Main Event: In a 3 Falls Regional Revitalization Match, with different stips for each fall, KOPW 2024 Champion Great-O-Khan beat Tanga Loa 2-1 to retain the title. Fall 1 was a 10-minute match with pinfall attempts worth 1 point, most points wins, with Loa winning 9-8. Fall 2 involved eating and was won by Khan. Fall 3 was a 4 Corners match where the first to touch all 4 corners without the other touching any wins and was won by Khan.

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

The promotion has also announced the broadcast plans for the Windy City Riot event on 4/12 in Chicago, IL-it will be a PPV only on New Japan World outside Japan only in English for $19.99. A paid New Japan World subscription is not required to buy the PPV. In addition to the live broadcast, you will have unlimited on demand replays until 6/12 at 7 AM PT/10 AM ET (subject to change). No TrillerTV/FITE option. The PPV will begin at 5 PM PT/8 PM ET. It will be a live TV Asahi broadcast in Japan only.. Note that to purchase the PPV, you must access New Japan World on a web browser-it cannot be purchased on the smartphone/tablet/TV app.

Stardom 3/31/24 Results

Stardom wrapped up March today with the farewell event for most of the wrestlers that are now part of the mass exodus from the promotion. Most are probably headed to what will be Rossy Ogawa’s new pending promotion but some could also be headed to WWE or elsewhere.

Today’s event was held at Yamagata Big Wing in Yamagata and can be watched on demand on PPV via Pia Stream. It should be available on demand on Stardom World Thursday.

The announced paid attendance was 471, a full house/near sellout.

Match 1: Mei Seira beat Yuzuki.

Match 2: Saya Iida & Hanan beat Rian & Maika. Hanan pinned Rian after Dandelion.

Match 3: Yuna Mizumori & Natsupoi beat Aya Sakura & Sayaka Kurara. Natsupoi pinned Sayaka after Fairy Real Gift.

Match 4; Momo Kohgo, Koguma, Hazuki & Mayu Iwatani beat HANAKO, Gina, Waka Tsukiyama & Mina Shirakawa. Iwatani pinned Gina after a moonsault press.

Match 5: Tam Nakano beat Mai Sakurai.

Match 6: In a God’s Eye Special Match Series, MIRAI vs. all of them went as follows:
MIRAI beat Ranna Yagami.
MIRAI vs. Ami Sohrei went to a 5 minute time limit draw.
Saki Kashima beat MIRAI in 15 seconds. Which led to…
Saki Kashima beat MIRAI again.
Saya Iida beat MIRAI.
MIRAI vs. Syuri went to a 5 minute time limit draw.
MIRAI went 1-2-2 not counting the quick Kashima win.

Match 7: Giulia vs. Suzu Suzuki went to a 15 minute time limit draw. Which led to…
Extra Time: Giulia vs. Suzu Suzuki went to a 5 minute time limit draw.

Main Event: Momo Watanabe, Starlight Kid, Rina, Ruaka & Natsuko Tora beat Miyu Amasaki, Lady C, AZM, Saya Kamitani & Utami Hayashishita. Watanabe pinned Hayashishita after Peach Sunrise.

All but a couple of the wrestlers moving on are now done with Stardom, but Giulia and Hayashishita have 2 dates left and will finish up on 4/12.

The next event is Stardom American Dream In The Keystone State 2024 Thursday at 2300 Arena in Philadelphia, PA. The event will be a live PPV available only on TrillerTV (fka FITE) worldwide in English only for $24.99. It will not be available on Pia Stream. It is a legit advance sellout. The live broadcast will begin at Noon PT/3 PM ET. I plan to purchase the PPV and do live results but will not be able to confirm my plans until the night before (I usually telework for my job on Thursdays so I need to wait until Wednesday to make sure there are not any last-minute changes).

Dragon Gate 3/31/24 Results (Updated)

Dragon Gate wrapped up March today with the latest Rey De Parejas event, with each block now down to one preliminary match left.

Today’s event was held at Hiroshima Sangyo Kaikan in Hiroshima. There is/was no live or on demand broadcast.

The announced paid attendance was 605, a full house/near sellout.

Match 1: YAMATO, Masaaki Mochizuki & Susumu Mochizuki vs. Kota Minoura, Ben-K & BxB Hulk went to a 15 minute time limit draw.

Match 2: KAI & Gianni Valetta beat Shachihoko BOY & Punch Tominaga. Valetta pinned Tominaga after a King Kong kneedrop.

Match 3: Madoka Kikuta & Dragon Dia beat Kagetora & Ryu Fuda. Dia pinned Fuda after DDDDT.

Match 4: Shun SKywalker, ISHIN & Jason Lee. beat BIGBOSS Shimizu, JACKY “FUNKY” KAMEI & Strong Machine J. Lee pinned KAMEI. Apparently Lee defected from Natural Vibes to Z-Brats during yesterday’s main event.

Rey De Parejas:
Match 5: Block A-Dragon Kid & Naruki Doi beat Shuji Kondo & Toru Owashi. Doi pinned Kondo after Ultra Huracanrana. As a result, Kid & Doi win Block A and will advance to the Semifinals.
Main Event: Block B-Luis Mante & Hyo beat Kzy & U-T. Mante pinned U-T after Vuelta Finale.
The top 2 in each block advance to the Semifinals and there is one match left in each. In Block A, the last match is BIGBOSS Shimizu & Strong Machine J vs. KAI & Gianni Valetta and the winner will advance. If there is a time limit draw or it goes to a double countout or no contest, they will have an immediate rematch as they are tied for second. The bottom line is there must be a winner. In Block B, the last match is Mante & Hyo vs. Madoka Kikuta & Dragon Dia. Mante & Hyo advance with a win or time limit draw. If Kikuta & Dia win, a 3-way tiebreaker match also involving Shun Skywalker & ISHIN will be needed. YAMATO & Susumu Mochizuki have already advanced.

The next event is Saturday at Act City Hamamatsu in Shizuoka with Shimizu/J vs. KAI/Valetta. There will be no live or on demand broadcast.

UPDATE: Corrected the Match 4 result as apparently the prior source (the Dragon Gate Official Facebook English page) had it wrong compared to DG’s official Japanese website.

Pro Wrestling NOAH 3/31/24 Results

Pro Wrestling NOAH wrapped up March with a STAR NAVIGATION 2024 Tour event, headlined by a GHC Heavyweight Championship match.

Today’s event was held at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo and can be watched on demand on WRESTLE UNIVERSE. (No ABEMA this time) You can also watch the first 3 matches FOR FREE on YouTube.

The announced paid attendance was 1338. If not a sellout or at least a near-sellout it had to be close.

Match 1; Masa Kitamiya beat Shuhei Taniguchi.

Match 2: Go Shiozaki & Atsushi Kotoge beat Takashi Sugiura & Hajime Ohara. Kotoge pinned Ohara after Kill Switch.

Match 3: Anthony Greene beat Daiki Inaba.

Match 4; Daga, Yoshinari Ogawa & Super Crazy beat Ninja Mack, Alejandro & Junta Miyawaki. Daga pinned Miyawaki after Diablo Wings.

Match 5: Kaito Kiyomiya & Ryohei Oiwa beat Kenoh & Yu Owada. Oiwa pinned Owada after Doctor Bomb.

Match 6: Naomichi Marufuji beat Ulka Sasaki.

Match 7: HAYATA, Dragon Bane & Alpha Wolf beat Jack Morris, YO-HEY & Tadasuke. HAYATA beat Morris with Samson Clutch.

Main Event: GHC Heavyweight Champion Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr. beat Jake Lee to retain the title. V1 for Wagner Jr.

The next event is MONDAY MAGIC Season 2 Episode 1 tomorrow at Shinjuku Face. The event is a legit advance sellout. Live streaming on WRESTLE UNIVERSE (and ABEMA) will begin at 3 AM PT/6 AM ET.

Tokyo Joshi Pro 3/31/24 Results

Tokyo Joshi Pro’s biggest event of the year, GRAND PRINCESS ’24, is now in the books.

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

The announced paid attendance was 2349. Given the setup (this is only the second time they’ve run the venue-the first was during the pandemic in 2022, they held this event at Ariake Arena last year), and the lower half of the venue was set up for only about 15% of normal capacity, this is actually very good. (The Kokugikan’s lower level box seats normally hold 4-6 people for sumo tournaments, but they used them as single person seats, plus the setup took away one of the 4 sections) The lower level was almost completely sold out.

Match 1: Haru Kazashiro, Runa Okubo & Uta Takami beat Chika Nanase, Kira Summer & Shino Suzuki. Kazashiro pinned Nanase with a fisherman’s suplex hold.

Match 2: Ami Yumoto Debut Match: Nao Kakuta & Ami Yumoto beat Mahiro Kiryu & HIMAWARI. Kakuta pinned HIMAWARI after Shiden Kai. Yumoto is a member of all-girl J-Pop group AKB48, the parent group of the numerous spinoffs like SKE48, and the Guinness World Record holder for biggest music/idol group in terms of members.

Match 3: Raku & Pom Harajuku beat Andreza Giant Panda & Kaya Toribami. Raku pinned Toribami after Doctor Yellow. Panda & Toribami were seconded by Neko Haruna, who is out long-term due to injuries.

An SKE48 mini-live performance was held, featuring Yuki Arai and Marika Tani, who was a special guest on Japanese commentary for WRESTLE UNIVERSE. Tani is about to leave the group so this was one of her final performances with them if not the last (she is what the Japanese call graduating, a polite way of usually saying not fired or retiring, but moving on in her career). (This portion will probably be removed from on demand in about a month, so watch it quickly if you missed it live)

Match 4: Moka Miyamoto & Juria Nagano beat Wakana Uehara & Toga. Miyamoto pinned Toga after Norokan.

Match 5: Masha Slamovich (TNA Wrestling) beat Rika Tatsumi.

Match 6: Aja Kong (OZ Academy) & Max The Impaler beat Shoko Nakajima & Hyper Misao. Kong pinned Misao after a diving elbow drop.

Match 7: Minoru Suzuki beat Maki Itoh by ref stoppage (technical submission). Post-match, Suzuki continued “breaking” Itoh’s fingers until she apologized for her behavior backstage.

Match 8: Yuka Sakazaki (All Elite Wrestling) & Mizuki beat Emi Sakura (All Elite Wrestling) & Chris Brookes (DDT). Mizuki pinned Sakura after Aquamarine. This was a one-time return for Sakazaki, who left TJPW in December to continue her career internationally, which unfortunately hadn’t really happened yet due to injuries (concussion).

Intermission (15 minutes). It was also announced that the summer blowout event, SUMMER SUN PRINCESS ’24, will be held on 7/20 at Korakuen Hall.

Match 9: International Princess Champion Yuki Arai beat Yuki Kamifuku to retain the title. V2 for Arai. The right Yuki won, which makes me very happy.

Match 10: Suzume & Arisu Endo beat Princess Tag Team Champions Yuki Aino & Ryo Mizunami to win the titles. Suzume & Endo become the 16th Princess Tag Team Champions. Suzume pinned Mizunami after Ring A Bell. They lost their prior best chance at the titles due to other wrestler injuries and got put into a 3-way instead that cost them a fair shot at the titles. Now they get redemption.

Main Event: Miu Watanabe beat Princess Of Princess Champion Miyu Yamashita to win the title. Watanabe becomes the 14th Princess Of Princess Champion. TRIPLE CROWN! Watanabe has now become only the second wrestler in TJPW history to win all 3 of the promotion’s titles in her career-the other one is Rika Tatsumi. Her dream has come true…this is also an incredibly big win for Up Up Girls, the promotion’s mini-music group Watanabe is the unofficial leader of. Just wonderful on so many levels, an exciting future to look forward to as TJPW prepares to enter it’s 11th year. Afterwards, all the wrestlers gathered on stage for the closing group photo as Watanabe thanked the fans for coming. Yamashita is now leaving for another extended tour of the US and will not return until at least mid-June.

The next event is TJPW LIVE IN PHILLY Friday at Penns Landing Caterers in Philadelphia, PA, part of Game Changer Wrestling’s “The Collective” taking place over WrestleMania week this next week in the city. Live streaming will be only on Triller+, the paid subscription service of TrillerTV fka FITE, available worldwide for $7.99/month or $79.99/year, beginning at 8 AM PT/11 AM ET. It will be available on demand on WRESTLE UNIVERSE at a later date. The event is a legit advance sellout. I will try to do live results but will not be able to watch live due to work conflicts. After this TJPW will participate in GCW with a co-branded GCW vs. TJPW event Saturday, also available only on Triller+, at the same venue with that event beginning at 11:30 AM PT/2:30 PM ET. Live results are tentatively scheduled (I have some potential schedule conflicts that morning but hopefully those will be out of the way in time).

Stardom 3/30/24 Results

Stardom ran the first half of their last March doubleheader today, the penultimate event before the big talent exodus begins.

Today’s event was held at Sendai Pit in Sendai and can be watched on demand as a PPV via Pia Stream. It should be available on demand on Stardom World Wednesday.

The announced paid attendance was 493, a legit sellout.

Match 1: Rian Debut Match: Starlight Kid beat Rian.

Match 2: In a match where the winner got to join Cosmic Angels, Aya Sakura vs. Sayaka Kurara went to a 10 minute time limit draw. Neither gets in for now.

Match 3: Ruaka & Rina beat Saki Kashima & Ranna Yagami and Waka Tsukiyama & HANAKO in a 3-way when Ruaka pinned Yagami.

Match 4: Yuna Mizumori beat Lady C & Mai Sakurai in a 3-way by pinning C.

Match 5: In a series of 1 minute matches against all members of STARS, Yuzuki went 0-1-5, going to a draw against Mayu Iwatani, Hazuki, Koguma, Hanan and Momo Kohgo but losing to Saya Iida in 58 seconds.

Match 6: Saori Anou & Natsupoi beat AZM & Miyu Amasaki, Giulia & Tam Nakano and Natsuko Tora & Momo Watanabe in a 4-way when Anou pinned Amasaki. Afterwards, Hanan came out and challenged Anou for the Wonder Of Stardom Championship on 4/27.

Match 7: Maika, Mina Shirakawa & Gina beat Artist Of Stardom Champions Syuri, MIRAI & Amo Sohrei to win the titles. Maika, Shirakawa & Gina become the 32nd Artist Of Stardom Champions. Gina pinned MIRAI after Thunderstruck.

Main Event: Suzu Suzuki & Mei Seira beat Goddesses Of Stardom Champions Utami Hayashishita & Saya Kamitani to win the titles. Suzuki & Seira become the 31st Goddesses Of Stardom Champions. Suzuki pinned Hayashishita with a German suplex hold.

The next event is in progress at Yamagata Big Wing in Yamagata. It is a live PPV on Pia Stream.