All-Japan wrapped up their January tour yesterday with a major event featuring 3 title matches.
Yesterday’s event was held at Esforta Arena Hachioji in Tokyo and can be watched on demand on AJPW.TV.
The announced paid attendance was 1588.
Match 1: Shuji Ishikawa & Black Menso-re Final All-Japan Match: Shuji Ishikawa & Black Menso-re vs. Ren Ayabe & Ryo Inoue went to a 15 minute time limit draw.
Match 2: Suwama, Hideki Suzuki (Pro Wrestling NOAH) & Hikaru Sato beat Minoru Suzuki, Naruki Doi (Independent/Freelancer) & Hokuto Omori. Suzuki pinned Omori with a double arm suplex.
Match 3: Kento Miyahara & Rising Hayato beat Kuroshio TOKYO Japan & Seigo Tachibana. Miyahara pinned Tachibana with a shutdown suplex hold.
Match 4: In an Electric Blasting Bats Exploding Death Match, Atsushi Onita, The Great Kojika & Raijin Yaguchi beat Mr. Pogo, Onryo & Takumi Sakurai. Onita pinned Onryo after an electric exploding bat attack.
Match 5: Yuma & Atsuki Aoyagi beat Konosuke Takeshita & Hideki Okatani (DDT). Yuma Aoyagi pinned Okatani after THE FOOL.
Match 6: All-Japan World Jr. Heavyweight Champion Dan Tamura beat Koji Iwamoto to retain the title. V2 for Tamura.
Match 7: All-Japan World Tag Team Champions Jun & Rei Saito beat Ryuki Honda & Yuma Anzai to retain the titles. Rei Saito pinned Honda after Elsvine. V4 for the champs.
Main Event: All-Japan Triple Crown Champion Katsuhiko Nakajima beat Shotaro Ashino to retain the Triple Crown. V3 for Nakajima.
The next event is NEW AGE CHRONICLE Z 3, the 3rd Rising Hayato Produced event, on 2/8 at Shin-Kiba 1st Ring. Live streaming on AJPW.TV will begin at 1:30 AM PT/4:30 AM ET.
Stardom continued the New Year Stars 2024 Tour today with an event in Sendai.
Today’s event was held at Sendai Pit in Sendai and will be available on demand on Stardom World at a later date.
The announced paid attendance was 331.
Match 1: Mei Seira beat Miyu Amasaki.
Match 2: Mai Sakurai beat Sayaka Kurara.
Match 3: Momo Watanabe & Starlight Kid beat Saori Anou & Yuna Mizumori. Kid pinned Mizumori with a Star suplex hold.
Match 4: Suzu Suzuki & Giulia beat Sumire Natsu & Natfuko Tora. Giulia beat Natsu with Bianca.
Match 5: Yuzuki, Koguma, Hanan, Saya Iida & Mayu Iwatani beat Ranna Yagami, Saki Kashima, Ami Sohrei, MIRAI & Syuri. Yuzuki pinned Yagami after Rolling Arrow.
Main Event: HANAKO, Waka Tsukiyama, Mina Shirakawa & Maika beat Lady C, AZM, Saya Kamitani & Utami Hayashishita. Maika pinned C after Flame Drop. Afterwards, Shirakawa challenged Iwatani for the IWGP Women’s Championship. More on that at a later date after consulting with New Japan Pro Wrestling as it’s their title.
The next event is tomorrow (underway as of this post) at Tokorozawa Sakura Town Pavilian Hall A in Saitama. It should be available on Stardom World at a later date.
DDT runs their monthly Tokyo major event today, Sweet Dreams! 2024, and it’s their first really major event of the year. There are 3 title matches scheduled but the big one is the main event for the KO-D Openweight Championship. Previously on the verge of the title but his hopes derailed by injury that kept him out long-term, Yukio Naya made his comeback late last year and won the D KING GP 2023 to earn a shot at current champion Yuki Ueno today. The time may be now for the big man who clearly is a big part of DDT’s future. Before that, there will be a KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Championship match, which is also a DOA Contra DOA Match, where the losing team can no longer call themselves “Dead Or Alive/DOA”. The DDT Extreme Championship is also up for grabs as Kazuki Hirata defends against Shunma Katsumata in a comedy match where Toi Kojima ultimately will decide the victor through various challenges he will undertake. The event will also see Yukio Sakaguchi’s final match in Korakuen Hall before his retirement next month, and he’ll face young Eruption stablemate & protege Hideki Okatani, who will have a lot of weight on his shoulders from carrying on the legacy of both retired factionmate Saki Akai and soon Sakaguchi.
Today’s event will be held at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo and can be watched LIVE on WRESTLE UNIVERSE in Japanese. Japanese voice actor Tetsu Inada will be a special guest on commentary. You can also watch the first 2 matches FOR FREE live on YouTube. This could be a long-running event with 3 title matches, if like me you’re watching opposite other wrestling tonight (like the WWE Royal Rumble) you’ll be split-screening for a little while before it’s just this event, which I’m estimating will run for around 3 hours.
Today’s lineup: Sanshiro Takagi, Toru Owashi, Akito, Shnichiro Kawamatsu & Yuni vs. HARASHIMA, Tomoya, Antonio Honda, Takeshi Masada & Kazuma Sumi Tetsuya Endo, Yuki Iino & Rukiya vs. Daisuke Sasaki, KANON & Bryan Keith Yukio Sakaguchi vs. Hideki Okatani MAO & TAKA Michinoku (New Japan) vs. Chris Brookes & Masa Takanashi DDT Extreme Champion Kazuki Hirata vs. Shunma Katsumata for the title. 2 Count pinfalls. After a pinfall, KO, TKO, submission or countout, Toi Kojima may enter the ring for a Kojima Challenge. If he does and completes the challenge, whoever got that last fall wins. If Kojima fails the challenge, the match continues KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Champions Jun Akiyama, Danshoku Dieno & Makoto Oishi vs. Hikaru Sato, Kazusada Higuchi & Ryo Kawamura in a DOA Contra DOA Match for the titles. The losing team can no longer call themselves DOA (Dead Or Alive) Konosuke Takeshita vs. Naruki Doi (Independent/Freelancer) KO-D Openweight Champion Yuki Ueno vs. Yukio Naya for the title The opponent for Kaaisei Takechi’s Debut Match on 2/25 will be announced
Refresh this page occasionally for the latest results.
The YouTube broadcast is scheduled to begin 10 minutes before the event and can be watched below (video courtesy of the DDT Official YouTube channel), scroll down further for results/updates:
Updates below will begin at 6:30 PM PT/9:30 PM ET.
6:20 PM PT UPDATE: Live updates begin now.
We are LIVE from Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan. Your hsots are Haruo Murata, Kagehiro Osano & special guest Tetsu Inada.
The paid attendance will be announced after the event. Looks like they’re using more capacity on the bleacher side than usual but it’s too early to estimate the crowd. They are going up opposite the final day of sumo in Tokyo but it’s hopefully going to be a good number. I’ll hope for at least 1000 right now. (It looks like a close-to-full-capacity setup today. Gonna stick with around 1000 for my prediction) (UPDATE: The announced paid attendance was 1120, a super full house/very near sellout)
The matches should begin in 15-20 minutes.
The matches begin at 6:32 PM PT/9:32 PM ET.
Match 1: Sanshiro Takagi, Toru Owashi, Akito, Shnichiro Kawamatsu & Yuni vs. HARASHIMA, Tomoya, Antonio Honda, Takeshi Masada & Kazuma Sumi. 30 minute time limit Result: HARASHIMA, Tomoya, Antonio Honda, Takeshi Masada & Kazuma Sumi beat Sanshiro Takagi, Toru Owashi, Akito, Shnichiro Kawamatsu & Yuni. Sumi pinned Yuni.
The debut opponent on 2/25 for Kaisei Takechi is announced. It actually will be a 6-man tag: Takechi, Yuki Ueno & Shunma Katsumata vs. Tetsuya Endo, Hideki Okatani & Takeshi Masada. Pre-recorded comments from Takechi follow.
Match 2: Tetsuya Endo, Yuki Iino & Rukiya vs. Daisuke Sasaki, KANON & Bryan Keith. 30 minute time limit Result: Daisuke Sasaki, KANON & Bryan Keith beat Tetsuya Endo, Yuki Iino & Rukiya. KANON pinned Rukiya.
The YouTube broadcast ends here.
Match 3: Yukio Sakaguchi vs. Hideki Okatani. 30 minute time limit Result: Yukio Sakaguchi beat Hideki Okatani
Your new host is Ken Kato for the next match or two.
Match 4: MAO & TAKA Michinoku (New Japan) vs. Chris Brookes & Masa Takanashi. 30 minute time limit Result: MAO & TAKA Michinoku beat Chris Brookes & Masa Takanashi. MAO pinned Takanashi after Cannonball 450.
The 20th Anniversary KING OF DDT Tournament is announced along with the first 5 entrants, all former winners: Poison Sawada JULIE, Sanshiro Takagi, Danshoku Dieno, HARASHIMA and…Shuji Ishikawa! (Formerly of All-Japan Pro Wrestling but he is leaving the promotion). The schedule is set too: 5/5 at Korakuen for Round 1, 5/11 at Yokohama Radiant Hall in Yokohama for Round 2, and 5/26 at Korakuen for the Finals (this is a single-elimination tournament).
Quick break for the delayed-to-now opening announcements from GM Imabayashi.
Match 5: DDT Extreme Champion Kazuki Hirata vs. Shunma Katsumata for the title. 2 Count pinfalls. After a pinfall, KO, TKO, submission or countout, Toi Kojima may enter the ring for a Kojima Challenge. If he does and completes the challenge, whoever got that last fall wins. If Kojima fails the challenge, the match continues. 1 Hour time limit Result: By virtue of a Kojima challenge being completed after a 2 count fall, Shunma Katsumata beat DDT Extreme Champion Kazuki Hirata to win the title. Katsumata becomes the 59th DDT Extreme Champion. Afterwards, Katsumata invited Hirata to join The37Kamiina. My Japanese is not good enough to know whether Hirata accepted. (Update: He refused) Katsumata stood frozen holding them microphone in a comedy spot as GM Imabayashi entered the ring. Announcement eventually made…next up: MJ Paul. He handed Imabayashi a note before trying to ambush Katsumata but Hideki Okatani made the save. If Katsumata wins, then maybe Okatani. More on this as it becomes available. (UPDATE: Next up will be the winner of a match TBA on 2/7 with the title match on 3/17)
Match 6: KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Champions Jun Akiyama, Danshoku Dieno & Makoto Oishi vs. Hikaru Sato, Kazusada Higuchi & Ryo Kawamura in a DOA Contra DOA Match for the titles. The losing team can no longer call themselves DOA (Dead Or Alive). 1 Hour time limit Result: KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Champions Jun Akiyama, Danshoku Dieno & Makoto Oishi beat Hikaru Sato, Kazusada Higuchi & Ryo Kawamura to retain the titles. Oishi pinned Kawamura. V3 for the champs. As a result, the losers can no longer call themselves DOA.
Match 7: Konosuke Takeshita (entrance starting with the AEW Don Callis ambient droning tone before his normal music) vs. Naruki Doi (Independent/Freelancer). 30 minute time limit Result: Konosuke Takeshita beat Naruki Doi
Main Event: KO-D Openweight Champion Yuki Ueno vs. Yukio Naya for the title. 1 Hour time limit Result: KO-D Oprnweight Champion Yuki Ueno beat Yukio Naya by submission to retain the title. V1 for Ueno. Wow. What a finish. Naya slowly if not reluctantly tapped out to a sleeper hold after BME. GM Imabayashi interviewed Ueno afterwards and, according to Ueno, if he gets his wish…next up: Danshoku Dieno (!?!). Afterwards, Ueno brought The37Kamiina back in all together, and now with 3 titles they once again are where they were just under a year ago. They’re the faces that run the places in DDT. WER!!
The next event is 2/4 at Nagano Arcs in Nagano. There will be no live broadcast.
Here are the quick results from tonight’s AEW Collision in Bossier City, LA:
Match 1: Jon Moxley & Claudio Castagnoli vs. Shane Taylor & Lee Moriarty Result: Jon Moxley & Claudio Castagnoli beat Shane Taylor & Lee Moriarty. Moxley beat Taylor with a rear naked choke.
Match 2: AEW International Champion Orange Cassidy vs. Komander for the title Result: AEW International Champion Orange Cassidy beat Komander to retain the title.
Daniel Garcia has been ambushed backstage and left bloody. Matt Menard finds him and summons help.
Match 3: Mariah May vs. Lady Frost Result: Mariah May beat Lady Frost
Swerve Strickland promo. He chooses Adam Page vs. Toa Liona as his choice of Page’s match for Wednesday on Dynamite.
Adam Page promo.
Match 4: AEW Continental Champion Eddie Kingston vs. Willie Mack in a NON-TITLE match Result: Eddie Kingston beat Willie Mack
Match 5: Bryan Danielson vs. Yuji Nagata (New Japan Pro Wrestling) Result: Bryan Danielson beat Yuji Nagata
Daniel Garcia appears to be out of the main event after what happened earlier. Mark Briscoe may be in with FTR now.
Match 6: Serena Deeb vs. a jobber. Didn’t catch the name Result: Serena Deeb beat a jobber by submission. Glorified squash.
Main Event: FTR & Mark Briscoe (replacing Daniel Garcia) vs. House Of Black in an Escape The Cage Elimination Match Result: FTR & Mark Briscoe beat House Of Black by having all 3 escape the cage first
Dragon Gate’s first blowout event of 2024, THE GATE OF BAYSIDE 2024, is now in the books.
Today’s event was held at Yokohama Budokan in Yokohama and can be watched on demand on DRAGONGATE NETWORK.
The paid attendance has not yet been announced. (UPDATE: The announced paid attendance was 2086, a full house/near sellout)
Match 1: Madoka Kikuta, Dragon Dia & Ryoya Tanaka beat Don Fujii, Genki Horiguchi & Daiki Yanagiuchi. Kikuta pinned Yanagiuchi after a hip drop.
Match 2: Gianni Valetta beat U-T. Potential squash yet again, it didn’t even go 2 minutes.
Match 3; Mochizki Jr. Return Match: Masaaki Mochizuki, Susumu Mochizuki, Mochizuki Jr. & Yasushi Kanda vs. Dragon Kid, BxB Hulk, Takashi Yoshida & Punch Tominaga went to a double countout. Jr. has been out of action for several months due to injuries and is preparing to leave the promotion soon for an international training excursion, which will be to Europe.
Match 4: YAMATO & Shuji Kondo beat Kota Minoura & Ben-K. YAMATO beat Minoura with a body scissor sleeper hold.
Match 5: Open The Brave Gate Champion Hyo beat Kagetora to retain the title. V3 for Hyo.
Match 6: Open The Twin Gate Champions Kaito Kiyomiya & Alejandro (Pro Wrestling NOAH) beat Jason Lee & JACKY “FUNKY” KAMEI to retain the titles. Kiyomiya pinned KAMEI after Transformed Shining Wizard. V1 for the champs.
Match 7: Open The Triangle Gate Champions KAI, ISHIN & Yoshiki Kato beat Kzy, Strong Machine J & BIGBOSS Shimizu to retain the titles. KAI pinned J after Meteo Impact KAI. V2 for the champs.
Main Event: Open The Dream Gate Champion Luis Mante beat Shun Skywalker to retain the title. V1 for Mante.
The next event is tomorrow at Fujisan Messe in Shizuoka. There will be no live or on demand broadcast.
Tokyo Joshi Pro continued the Futari-wa Princess Max Heart Tournament today with the Semifinals.
Today’s event was held at Ryogoku KFC Hall in Tokyo and can be watched on demand on WRESTLE UNIVERSE.
The announced paid attendance was 307, a full house/near sellout.
Match 1; Mahiro Kiryu beat Haru Kazashiro.
Match 2: Yuki Aino & Toga beat Shoko Nakajima & Kaya Toribami. Aino pinned Toribami after Venus DDT.
Match 3: In what can be best described as a ridiculous comedy match, Hyper Misao beat Pom Harajuku. Something involving warding off evil spirits and 2 count falls after turning hearts into demons.
Match 4: Miyu Yamashita, Yuki Kamifuku & HIMAWARI beat Mizuki, Raku & Shino Suzuki. Yamashita pinned Suzuki after Attitude Adjustment.
Tournament Semifinals: Match 5: Suzume & Arisu Endo beat Moka Miyamoto & Juria Nagano. Endo beat Nagano with a camel clutch. Main Event: Rika Tatsumi & Miu Watanabe beat Yuki Arai & Wakana Uehara. Watanabe pinned Uehara after Teardrop. As a result, the Finals will be Suzume/Endo vs. Tatsumi/Watanabe.
The Finals are on 2/10 at Korakuen Hall. Live streaming on WRESTLE UNIVERSE will begin on 2/9 at 6:30 PM PT/9:30 PM ET.
UPDATE: From post-match backstage comments, it’s being reported that Juria Nagano has challenged Yuki Arai for the International Princess Championship. We’ll see if that happens considering Nagano doesn’t have many dates left before retiring from wrestling. The promotion also announced Zara Zucker for 2/10. Zucker, a rookie from the USA (California), will be making her Japan debut. Very little is known about her but TJPW notes she was chosen to visit Japan because of her talent and potential, which made her a breakout candidate.
Here are the quick results from tonight’s TNA Impact Wrestling from Las Vegas, NV:
This episode was taped on 1/14 and continues the fallout from Hard To Kill.
Match 1: Chris Bey vs. Kevin Knight went to a no contest. GYV interference and beatdown on Bullet Club.
Ash By Elegance (fka Dana Brooke in WWE) promo.
Match 2: Dirty Dango & Oleg Prudius beat Dante Kong & Damian Drake. Squash.
Match 3: TNA Knockouts Champion Jordynne Grace beat Trinity to retain the title. Gisele Shaw & her entourage hit the ting for a post-match beatdown on both.
Match 4: Nic Nemeth beat Zachary Wentz.
Match 5: Masha Slamovich & Killer Kelly beat Dani Luna & Jody Threat. Slamovich pinned Threat after a double-team powerbomb/piledriver. Slamovich & Kelly beat down Luna afterwards.
Main Event: Kazuchika Okada, Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin beat Moose, Brian Myers & Eddie Edwards. Shelley pinned Myers after Shell Shock.
Mustafa Ali promo after the “End Show” graphic.
Next week: Nic Nemeth vs. Trey Miguel, Frankie Kazarian explains his turning on Eric Young, Brian Myers vs. Kevin Knight and Grizzled Young Vets vs. Bullet Club in Match 1 of a Best-of-3 Series for the TNA Tag Team Championship.
UPDATE: After the show, TNA announced the return of the Xplosion weekly show. It will feature 2 matches each week and other segments. New episodes will premiere Fridays on TNA+, with the first one now available, then will be available Tuesdays on YouTube. Also, due to technical issues on some TV providers, this week’s episode of Impact will be replayed on 1/26 (tonight) at 7 PM ET on AXS TV. I had no notable issues with the YouTube Ultimate Insider version.
Tokyo Joshi Pro has announced on Twitter that card changes are coming to Saturday’s (tomorrow US time) Ryogoku KFC Hall event as Nao Kakuta will remain out of action. Illness. She was to have teamed with Miyu Yamashita & HIMAWARI to face Mizuki, Raku & Shino Suzuki.
Here are the quick results from tonight’s AEW Dynamite in Savannah, GA:
Samoa Joe comes out to open. Essentially an open challenge to everyone. Interrupted early on by Hook. Hook says he lost last week but there will be a rematch. Joe called security to send Hook off but Hook instead laid out a few before walking off.
Match 1: Penta El Zero M vs. Adam Page. Joe on commentary. Result: Adam Page beat Penta El Zero M.
Orange Cassidy interviewed. He’ll defend the AEW International Championship against Roderick Strong at Revolution but won’t sit idle until then. He’ll defend Saturday on Collision against the winner of a match he had Tony Khan put together for Rampage. We’ll find out what that is later (or tomorrow). (It’s Kip Sabian, The Butcher, Komander & El Hijo Del Vikingo)
Match 2: Trent Beretta vs. Wardlow Result: Wardloe beat Trent Beretta
Saturday on Collision: Bryan Danielson vs. Yuji Nagata (New Japan) and FTR & Daniel Garcia vs. House Of Black in an Elimination Escape The Cage Match.
Toni Storm & Deonna Purrazzo interviewed.
Jon Moxley promo. He’ll face Lee Moriarty Friday on Rampage.
Taya Valkyrie promo. She challenges Purrazzo to a match next week.
Match 3: Swerve Strickland vs. Jeff Hardy Result: Swerve Strickland beat Jeff Hardy
Adam Page & Swerve Strickland will both be in Dealer’s Choice matches next week, meaning they will pick each other’s match.
Match 4: Thunder Rosa vs. Red Velvet Result: Thunder Rosa beat Red Velvet
Sting & Darby Allin promo. Allin says they should be #1 in the tag team rankings when they come out again soon and should go for the AEW Tag Team Championship. Sting agrees.
Ricky Starks & Big Bill respond after commercial. Challenge accepted, but we don’t know when. It will be before Revolution though. (During the main event it was announced that match will be in 2 weeks in Phoenix, AZ for Dynamite)
Match 5: AEW Trios Champions The Acclaimed & Billy Gunn vs. Gates Of Agony & Brian Cage for the titles Reslut: AEW Trios Champions The Acclaimed & Billy Gunn beat Gate Of Agony & Brian Cage to retain the titles. Gunn pinned Bishop Kaun after Mic Drop.
Main Event: Adam Copeland vs. Minoru Suzuki Result: Adam Copeland beat Minoru Suzuki
Clearly they ran into time management issues going into the last half hour, even with overrun, and had to rush through the last 2 matches which weren’t great anyway. But it was a fine show overall considering the lack of star power, no doubt because Collision on Saturday airs opposite the WWE Royal Rumble PPV.
Also Friday: Christopher Daniels vs. Konosuke Takeshita & Anna Jay vs. Ruby Soho.
Also Saturday: Orange Cassidy vs. Friday’s 4-way winner for the AEW International Championship, Serena Deeb’s first match since March 2022 and Mariah May vs. Lady Frost.
Next week: Deonna Purrazzo vs. Taya Valkyrie and the Dealer’s Choice matches for Adam Page & Swerve Strickland.