Tag: pro wrestling

BREAKING: Japan Promotions Return To The Collective In 2024

In a social media post from US promotion Game Changer Wrestling moments ago announcing The Collective, their WrestleMania weekend series of independent events in Philadelphia, PA, there are currently 2 events from Japanese promotions on the lineup: DDT on 4/4 at 8 PM ET and Tokyo Joshi Pro on 4/5 at 11 AM ET (not the best timeslot for them because that is a Friday morning). There was one timeslot left open because one interesting item was perhaps omitted from the lineup-Stardom. They apparently have a 4/4 event at 2300 Arena fka ECW Arena planned according to Stardom’s official English Twitter. That being said, The Collective has a 2:30 PM ET 4/6 event that will be announced tomorrow, so…perhaps?

More as it becomes available.

Injury Report: Young NOAH Star Sidelined

In announcing full cards for their upcoming events, namely 1/13 at Korakuen Hall, Pro Wrestling NOAH announced that Kai Fujimura was apparently injured at Tuesday’s year-opening event. Right distal radius fracture. In simpler terms, a broken wrist. Out indefinitely but it probably will keep him out at least a couple months.

More as it becomes available.

Stardom 1/3/24 & 1/4/24 Results

Stardom began their 2024 with a major doubleheader, first yesterday in Yokohama then today before Tokyo Dome.

Yesterday’s event was held at Yokohama Budokan in Yokohama and will be available on demand on Stardom World at a later date.

The announced paid attendance was 960.

Match 1: Rookie Of Stardom 2023 Tournament: Yuzuki beat Ranna Yagami.

Match 2: Rookie Of Stardom 2023 Tournament: HANAKO beat Sayaka.

Match 3: Lady C beat Hina.

Match 4: Triangle Derby 2024 Tournament: Giulia, Thekla & Mai Sakurai beat Miyu Amasaki, Lady C & Hina by forfeit. Amasaki was forced off the card due to illness.

Match 5: Triangle Derby 2024 Tournament: Saya Kamitani, AZM & Utami Hayashita vs. Meghan Bayne, Mei Seira & Suzu Suzuki went to a 15 minute time limit draw. Both out of the tournament as a result. Because of this, Giulia/Thekla/Sakurai get a free pass and advance directly to the Finals.

Match 6: Triangle Derby 2024 Tournament: Momo Watanabe, Starlight Kid & Natsuko Tora beat Hanan, Saya Iida & Mayu Iwatani. Watanabe pinned Iida.

Match 7: Triangle Derby 2024 Tournament: Ami Sohrei, MIRAI & Syuri beat Fukigen, Hanan & Sumire Natsu. MIRAI pinned Natsu after a lariat.

Match 8: Triangle Derby 2024 Tournament: Ami Sohrei, MIRAI & Syuri beat Momo Watanabe, Starlight Kid & Natsuko Tora by countout. Tora counted out. Sohrei/MIRAI/Syuri advance to the Finals.

Match 9: Yuu, Nanae Takahashi, Hazuki & Saki Kashima beat Maika, Mina Shirakawa, Saori Anou & Yuna Mizumori. Kashima pinned Mizumori.

Match 10: Rookie Of Stardom 2023 Finals: Yuzuki beat HANAKO to win the tournament. She is officially Stardom’s 2023 Rookie Of The Year.

Main Event: Triangle Derby Tournament Finals: Ami Sohrei, MIRAI & Syuri beat Artist Of Stardom Champions Giulia, Thekla & Mai Sakurai to win the tournament and the titles. Sohrei, MIRAI & Syuri become the 31st Artist Of Stardom Champions. Syuri pinned Thekla.

Today’s event was held at Tokyo Dome City Hall in Tokyo and cma be watched on demand on PPV via Pia Japan. It will be available on Stardom World at a later date.

The announced paid attendance was 1536, a full house/near sellout.

Match 1: Ranna Yagami, Yuzuki & HANAKO beat Sayaka Unagi, Lady C & Hina. Yuzuki pinned Unagi after Tolling Arrow. Unagi was a late replacement for the absent Miyu Amasaki.

Match 2: Hazuki, Hanan & Saya Iida beat Fukigen, Starlight Kid & Hina. Hanan pinned Hina with a blockbuster hold.

Match 3: Mei Seira & Mina Shirakawa beat Mai Sakurai & Thekla. Seira pinned Thekla with La Magistral.

Match 4: SAKI, Saori Anou & Yuna Mizumori beat Momo Watanabe, Sumire Natsu & Natsuko Tora. Anou pinned Natsu.

Match 5: Saya Kamitani, AZM & Utami Hayashishita beat Saki Kashima, Ami Sohrei & MIRAI. Hayashishita pinned Kashima with a German suplex hold.

Match 6: Meghan Bayne & Maika vs. Giulia & Suzu Suzuki went to a 20 minute time limit draw. Afterwards, Giulia announced her Donna Del Mundo faction is no more and they are disbanded. In post-match backstage comments, Giulia confirmed she is done with Stardom and will be a freelancer going forward, but there have been online rumors she is possibly headed to WWE (they reportedly have made signing the mixed Japanese/Italian wrestler from England a very high priority).

Main Event: IWGP Women’s Champion Mayu Iwatani beat Syuri to retain the title. V3 for Iwatani.

The next event is Saturday (Friday US time) at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo. It will be available on Stardom World at a later date.

Ganbare Pro 1/4/24 Results

Ganbare Pro opened their 2024 today with an event held opposite Tokyo Dome (yes, at the same time).

Today’s event was held at Itabashi Green Hall in Tokyo and can be watched on demand on WRESTLE UNIVERSE.

The announced paid attendance was 157, a full house/near sellout. It’s a very small venue, their max capacity for wrestling is roughly 200.

Match 1: Yoshiko Hasegawa & Kaede Matsushita beat YuuRI & Riara. Hasrgawa beat Riara with a muffler hold.

Match 2: Hartley Jackson & HARUKAZE beat Shigehiro Irie & Bunny Oikawa. HARUKAZE beat Oikawa after Wind Spear.

Match 3: Yuni (DDT) beat Munetatsu Nakamura & Illusion (DDT) in a 3-way by pinning Nakamura.

Match 4: Shota, Takao Soma & Shinichiro Tominaga beat Keisuke Ishii, Yumehito Imanari & Mizuki Watase. Tominaga pinned Ishii after a moonsault press.

Main Event: Spirit Of Ganbare World Openweight Chanpion Shuichiro Katsumura beat Ken Ohka to retain the title. V1 for Katsumura.

The next event is Saturday (tomorrow US time) at 176BOX in Osaka. There will be no live broadcast.

New Japan 1/4/24 Results (SPOILERS!) (Updated)

The biggest annual event in Japan, and the biggest wrestling spectacular in the world after WWE WrestleMania, WRESTLE KINGDOM 18 in TOKYO DOME, is now in the books as New Japan held their annual year-opening January 4 extravaganza today.

Due to time differences and event length, for those waiting until later to watch on demand and trying to avoid SPOILERS, I am posting a warning here so you can stop scrolling and come back later. If you do want to know what happened, click below and read on.

Continue reading “New Japan 1/4/24 Results (SPOILERS!) (Updated)”

Tokyo Joshi Pro “Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling ’24” Results (1/4/24) (Updated x2)

The biggest day of the year in Japanese pro wrestling kicks off with Tokyo Joshi Pro opening 2024 with their first blowout event of the year. 3 big title matches headline a 10-match extravaganza today-first, in a match that will have me on pins & needles, Yuki Arai challenges International Princess Champion Max The Impaler for the title. Can the Genius Girl solve the Non-Binary Nightmare? Then, what was to have been a Princess Tag Team Championship match between Nao Kakuta & Hikari Noa and Suzume & Arisu Endo is now a 3-way for the titles because Kakuta & Noa vacated the titles due to Noa being out indefinitely (the always vague poor health/physical condition). Suzune & Endo will face Miu Watanabe & Rika Tatsumi and Ryo Mizunami & Yuki Aino for the titles. In the main event, Miyu Yamashita defends the Princess Of Princess Championship against Masha Slamovich. This will also be the final event for Runa Okubo for now. The rookie will be away for the near future to focus on her education (high school entrance exams) and is planning to return in March.

Today’s event will be held at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo and can be watched LIVE on WRESTLE UNIVERSE in Japanese and English. Arai’s SKE48 teammate Marika Tani will be a guest on Japanese commentary. You can also watch the first 2 matches FOR FREE on YouTube. Fans will be allowed to throw streamers into the ring but they just announced it won’t be allowed during only the 4th match due to the nature of the match. There will be a post-event gathering/autograph session afterwards at a nearby venue. Although this event will be over in time for fans to get to (or ready for) Tokyo Dome they do caution it’s going to be a longer event than normal. With the plans for the post-event party they may have to push that back a little but plan on this event going roughly 3 hours. (Pre-show mote: TJPW is saying around 3 hours runtime for today’s event, which would leave maybe 90 minutes until Tokyo Dome afterwards)

Today’s lineup:
Yuki Kamifuku, Mahiro Kiryu & Toga vs. Moka Miyamoto, Juria Nagano & Kaya Toribami
Raku, Ram Kaichow & Pom Harajuku vs. HIMAWARI, Haru Kazashiro & Runa Okubo
Mizuki vs. Nao Kakuta
Shoko Nakajima vs. Hyper Misao
Riho vs. Shino Suzuki
Aja Kong vs. Wakana Uehara
Rina Yamashita vs. Maki Itoh
International Princess Champion Max The Impaler vs. Yuki Arai for the title
Suzume & Arisu Endo vs. Rika Tatsumi & Miu Watanabe and Ryo Mizunami & Yuki Aino in a 3-way for the vacant Princess Tag Team Championship
Princess Of Princess Champion Miyu Yamashita vs. Masha Slamovich for the title

Refresh this page occasionally for the latest results.

Updates below will begin at 5:30 PM PT/8:30 PM ET. The event is scheduled to begin at 6 PM PT/9 PM ET.

5:30 PM PT UPDATE: The live stream has started. We should be going to the venue in about 15 minutes.

5:45 PM PT UPDATE: Live updates begin now.

We are LIVE from Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan. Your hosts are Haruo Murata, Kagehiro Osano, Sayoko Mita & special guest Marika Tani (SKE48). Your English hosts are Baliyan Akki & Mr. Haku.

The paid attendance will be announced after the event. It’s a slightly modified reduced capacity setup as usual so won’t be in the 4 digits, plus a Stardom event is about to start too, but looks like a good crowd so far. Probably will be around 700. Will not be a sellout but looks like it will wind up being close. (UPDATE: The announced paid attendance was 1235, a super full house/very near sellout. Blew my estimate away and then some)

The matches should start in about 20 minutes.

No match lineup video as usual for Korakuen, Sayuri Namba handles it today as she usually does for other events.

The matches begin at 6:15 PM PT/9:15 PM ET.

Match 1: Yuki Kamifuku, Mahiro Kiryu & Toga vs. Moka Miyamoto, Juria Nagano & Kaya Toribami. 20 minute time limit
Result: Yuki Kamifuku, Mahiro Kiryu & Toga beat Moka Miyamoto, Juria Nagano & Kaya Toribami. Kamifuku pinned Toribami after Fameasser.

Match 2: Raku, Ram Kaichow (666) & Pom Harajuku vs. HIMAWARI, Haru Kazashiro & Runa Okubo. 20 minute time limit
Result: Raku, Ram Kaichow & Pom Harjauku beat HIMAWARI, Haru Kazashiro & Runa Okubo. Raku pinned Kazashiro after Doctor Yellow.

The YouTube broadcast ends here.

Match 3: Mizuki vs. Nao Kakuta. 15 minute time limit
Result: Mizuki beat Nao Kakuta

Match 4: Shoko Nakajima vs. Hyper Misao. Some kind of ladder match with a Daruma hanging above the ring. 15 minute time limit
Result: Shoko Nakajima beat Hyper Misao. Retrieving the Daruma. Comedy match largely involving Misao riding her new and improved Hyper Bike all throughout Korakuen Hall. Nice guided tour!

Match 5: Riho (All Elite Wrestling) vs. Shino Suzuki. 15 minute time limit
Result: Riho beat Shino Suzuki by submission

Match 6: Aja Kong (OZ Academy) vs. Wakana Uehara. 15 minute time limit
Result: Aja Kong beat Wakana Uehara

Match 7: Rina Yamashita (Independent/Freelancer/Game Changer Wrestling) vs. Maki Itoh. 20 minute time limit
Result: Rina Yamashita beat Maki Itoh

Match 8: International Princess Champion Max The Impaler vs. Yuki Arai for the title. 30 minute time limit
Result: Yuki Arai beat International Princess Champion Max The Impaler to win the title. Arai becomes the 12th International Princess Champion. FINALLY!!! SHE DID IT!!! A long-awaited measure of revenge. Last year on this date Max & Heidi Howitzer beat Arai & Saki Akai to win the Princess Tag Team Championship and Max also stole Arai’s prized hairpin. After this, Max returned the hairpin in an honorable gesture. Now Arai has it back and she is finally a singles champion. And I broke down crying very happy tears of joy. It’s all worth it now.

Match 9: Suzume & Arisu Endo vs. Rika Tatsumi & Miu Watanabe and Ryo Mizunami (Independent/Freelancer) & Yuki Aino in a 3-way for the vacant Princess Tag Team Championship. 30 minute time limit
Result: Yuki Aino & Ryo Mizunami beat Suzume & Arisu Endo and Miu Watanabe & Rika Tatsumi in a 3-way, when Aino pinned Endo, to win the Princess Tag Team Championship. Aino & Mizunami become the 15th Princess Tag Team Champions. Kinda feel bad for Suzume & Endo because they lost a good chance to win when Hikari Noa & Nao Kakuta had to vacate the titles and cost them a shot and instead they got put into a 3-way here instead that really stacked the deck against them. They’ll be back.

Main Event: Princess Of Princess Champion Miyu Yamashita vs. Masha Slamovich for the title. 30 minute time limit
Result: Princess Of Princess Champion Miyu Yamashita beat Masha Slamovich to retain the title. V3 for Yamashita. The onscreen graphics on the stream incorrectly spelled Masha’s last name as “Alamovich”. When it was over, Masha made it clear she wanted one more match. Next up: The winner of a 6 person battle royal Saturday, meaning it will be one of these: Mizuki, Maki Itoh, Miu Watanabe, Rika Tatsumi, Yuki Kamifuku, Shoko Nakajima. That title match will happen at GRAND PRINCESS ’24 on 3/31 at Ryogoku Kokugikan. Just not Mizuki or Itoh again please…

The next event is a TJPW INSPIRATION stand-alone event Saturday at Shinjuku Face. It is supposed to be headlined by Slamovich vs. Hikari Noa in some form of deathmatch but that is questionable because of Noa’s status as she may be off the event due to the ever-vague poor health/physical condition that caused her to miss today. Live streaming on WRESTLE UNIVERSE will begin Friday at 5:45 PM PT/8:45 PM ET with live results scheduled.

UPDATE: The Noa-Slamovich Death Match Saturday is now off. Noa remains out and will miss the event. Max The Impaler is the replacement and it will be a normal match.

UPDATE 2: Maki Itoh is now off all events for the next month after Saturday. Returning to the US from 1/13-1/27. Will return on 2/10.

AEW Dynamite 1/3/24 Results

Here are the quick results from tonight’s AEW Dynamite in Newark, NJ:

Samoa Joe promo. Recorded backstage after the PPV Saturday.

Adam Cole promo.

AEW International Champion Orange Cassidy beat Dante Martin to retain the title. After the match, Private Party returned (including Marq Quen, back from a long layoff due to injury).

Mariah May beat Queen Aminata. Afterwards, Deonna Purrazzo debuted in AEW by interrupting a post-match interview. Later on she got the #AllElite graphic on the socials.

Konosuke Takeshita beat Darby Allin.

Trent Beretta beat Brian Cage, Bryan Keith & El Hijo Del Vikingo in a 4-way by pinning Keith. As a result, Beretta will face Eddie Kingston for the AEW Continental Championsihp/NJPW STRONG Openweight Championship/ROH World Championship Saturday on Collision.

Swerve Strickland beat Daniel Garcia. Prince Nana low blowed Garcia post-match during an apparent handshake, then after Matt Menard tried to make the save but was sent packing Adam Page came out. Page & Strickland fought as security tried to separate them to end the show.

DDT 1/3/24 Results (Updated)

DDT wrapped up the D KING GP 2023 and kicked off their 2024 today with a big year-opening event.

Today’s event was held at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo and can be watched on demand on WRESTLE UNIVERSE in Japanese. Kenta Kobashi & SKE48 member Marika Tani were guests on commentary.

The announced paid attendance was 1194, a super full house/very near sellout. Also their best Korakuen number in a long time as they normally use a smaller configuration.

During the opening wrestler entrance ceremony, Yoshitatsu, who just left All-Japan Sunday, appeared and announced he will be participating full time in DDT starting Friday.

Match 1: Daisuke Sasaki, MJ Paul & KANON beat Takao Soma, Shota & Yuni. KANON beat Soma with Cobra Twist 2.0. Shota was a last-minute replacement for Yuki Iino, who was removed from the match as a last-minute replacement in another match for the absent MAO (fever). Afterwards, Sasaki & KANON issued a KO-D Tag Team Championship challenge to Soma & Shota. That match will happen on 1/21 at Club Shinagawa eX in Tokyo.

Match 2: Makoto Oishi & Jun Akiyama beat Yusuke Okada & Kazuma Sumi. Oishi beat Sumi with a Fujiyama knee lock.

Miu Watanabe (Tokyo Joshi Pro) appeared to promote tomorrow’s (tonight US time) TJPW event .They then introduced Tsubasa Suzuki, aka Mother Con Kid, who will debut om 3/17. However, he is an intern and will continue as such so there is no guarantee he will become a full-time member, that decision will come in a few months.

Match 3: Shunma Katsumata Return Match: Shunma Katsumata & Toi Kojima beat Yukio Sakaguchi & Hideki Okatani. Kojima pinned Okatani after a deformed face buster.

Match 4: HARASHIMA, Toru Owashi & Kazuki Hirata beat Sanshiro Takagi, Akito & Antonio Honda. Hirata pinned Honda. After this, it appears Disaster Box officially disbanded, then Katsumata reappeared to issue a DDT Extreme Championship challenge to Hirata. That match will happen on 1/28.

Match 5: Jun & Rei Saito (All-Japan) beat Kazusada Higuchi & Rukiya. Rei Saito pinned Rukiya.

Impromptu Match: Kuroshio TOKYO Japan beat DDT Iron Man Heavymetalweight Champion The Christmas Tree to win the title. Kuroshio becomes the 1600th Champion.

Which led to…

Match 6: DDT Iron Man Heavymetalweight Champion Kuroshio TOKYO Japan beat Danshoku Dieno to retain the title.

In addition to what All-Japan announced earlier in the day, more crossover matches to be held in DDT were announced: Ryuki Honda & Yuma Anzai will appear on 2/7 and Konosuke Takeshita vs. Yuma Aoyagi will happen on 3/17.

Match 7: Yuki Ueno & Yuki Iino beat Masa Takanashi & Takeshi Masada. Ueno pinned Masada after Jul 2. Iino was a last-minute replacement for MAO.

Main Event: D KING GP 2023 Finals: Yukio Naya beat Tetsuya Endo to win the tournament. First victory for Naya. As a result, Naya will face KO-D Openweight Champion Yuki Ueno for the title on 1/28.

The next event is Friday at Shinjuku Face. Live streaming on WRESTLE UNIVERSE will begin at 2 AM PT/5 AM ET.

UPDATE: In post-match backstage comments, Sanshiro Takagi announced he will take a break from wrestling after the 7/21 event for health reasons. He will continue in his current managerial role for owner CyberFight Corporation.

BREAKING: Yet Another DDT Absence

DDT has just announced a last-minute change for their year-opening event in a few hours…the body count keeps unfortunately rising and the latest casualty is MAO. Fever. He just returned from the US where he defended the DDT Universal Championship Sunday. He was to have teamed with Yuki Ueno to face Masa Takanashi & Takeshi Masada. Yuki Iino is the replacement, but he was to have been in a 6-man tag that was the first match with Takao Soma & Yuno vs. Daisuke Sasaki, MJ Payl & KANON. Shota is the replacement there. MAO should mot miss any more time and hos next totle defense is scheduled for 1/21.