News, results & more from Japanese Pro Wrestling & Sumo
The first huge AEW announcement of the week has dropped: The long-awaited “Fight Forever” videogame release date is now official beyond just this year…June 29. The press release from THQ Nordic featured a YouTube clip and comments from Kenny Omega, who worked on the game.
It will be available on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series S & X, Switch and PC. Pre-orders are now available.
More information and pre-order links below:
https://aew.thqnordic.com/#order
Continuing a theme across promotions recently, DDT has announced the DDT Extreme Championship and KO-D Tag Team Championships are now VACANT. Both are because Shunma Katsumata suffered an ankle injury yesterday. This means MAO loses the Tag Team Title. Determination matches to crown new champions will be held on 6/25.
Resurgence, New Japan’s latest US event, is now in the books. Read on to find out who became the first STRONG Women’s Champion and more.
Today’s event was held at Walker Pyramid in Long Beach, CA and can be watched on demand as a PPV on New Japan World.
The paid attendance has not yet been announced.
Pre-Show:
Match 1: The DKC beat Bateman.
Match 2: Alex Coughlin beat Christopher Daniels.
PPV:
Match 1: Barbaro Cavernario & Virus beat Bad Dude Tito & Zack Sabre Jr. Cavernario pinned Tito.
Match 2: STRONG Women’s Chanpionship Tournament: Mercedes Mone beat Stephanie Vaquer.
Match 3: STRONG Women’s Championship Tournament: Willow Nightingale beat Momo Kohga.
Match 4: In a Street Fight, Juice Robinson beat Fred Rosser.
The STRONG Tag Team Championship AND IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championship are now VACANT. Kyle Fletcher announced that Aussie Open (Mark Davis & Fletcher) are vacating the titles due to a Davis injury. Determination match between Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI and Yujiro Takahashi & EVIL to crown new champions will happen at DOMINION on 6/4. That match will be for both titles.
Match 5: KENTA beat STRONG Openweight Champion Hikuleo by countout to win the title. KENTA becomes the 5th STRONG Openweight Champion. Next up: Possibly Eddie Kingston.
Match 6: Wheeler Yuta, Jon Moxley & Shota Umino beat Rocky Romero, Tomohiro Ishii & Kazuchika Okada. Umino pinned Romero after Death Rider.
Match 7: IWGP US Championship #1 Contender Tournament: Will Ospreay beat Hiroshi Tanahashi. As a result, Ospreay will face Lance Archer on 6/4 with the winner facing Kenny Omega for the title at a later date.
Main Event: STRONG Women’s Championship Tournament Final: Willow Nightingale beat Mercedes Mone to win the tournament and the title and become the inaugural STRONG Women’s Champion. Mone may have been legit injured and was hospitalized afterwards. Regardless, this is a huge upset and a lot of online fans are not happy.
The next US event is All Star Junior Festival USA 2023 on 8/19 at 2300 Arena in Philadelphia, PA.
UPDATE: Mone was legit injured in the match. Broken ankle.
The announced paid attendance was 2903. Not sure what capacity was but not a sellout.
Dragon Gate continued the Hopeful Gate 2023 Tour this weekend with a tripleheader of BxB Hulk/Kzy hometown events.
All 3 events were held at Sapporo E-One Arena in Hokkaido and can be watched on demand on DRAGONGATE NETWORK.
5/19:
The announced paid attendance was 256.
Match 1: YAMATO, Dragon Kid & Dragon Dia beat Kota Minoura, Ben-K & Minorita. Dia pinned Minorita after DDDDT.
Match 2: KAI & H-Y-O beat Don Fujii & Punch Tominaga. H-Y-O pinned Tominaga.
Match 3: Masaaki Mochizuki, Susumu MOzhicuki & Yasushi Kanda beat BIGBOSS Shimizu, Strong Machine J & U-T. Mochizuki pinned U-T after Yokosuka Liner.
Match 4: Genki Horiguchi & La Estrella beat Jason Lee & JACKY “FUNKY” KAMEI. Estrella pinned KAMEI.
Match 5: Madoka Kikuta & Yuki Yoshioka beat Shun Skywalker & Diamante by DQ. SKywalker DQ’d. Weapon use.
Main Event: BxB Hulk beat Kzy.
5/20:
The announced paid attendance was 355.
Match 1: Madoka Kikuta, Yuki Yoshioka & Dragon Dia beat Shun Skywalker, KAI & H-Y-O. Kikuta pinned H-Y-O after a rolling lariat.
Match 2: YAMATO & Masaaki Mochizuki beat Don Fujii & Punch Tominaga. Mochizuki pinned Tominaga after Twister.
Match 3: La Estrella & Minorita beat Dragon Kid & Genki Horiguchi. Estrella pinned Horiguchi.
Match 4: Diamante beat Strong Machine J.
Match 5: Susumu Mochizuki & Yasushi Kanda beat Jason Lee & U-T. Kanda pinned U-T after a diving elbow drop.
Main Event: Kzy, BIGBOSS Shimizu & JACKY “FUNKY” KAMEI beat Open The Triangle Gate Champions Kota Minoura, BxB Hulk & Ben-K to win the titles. Kzy, SHimizu & KAMEI become the 85th Open The Triangle Gate Champions. Kzy beat Hulk with Spider Twist.
Today:
The announced paid attendance was 404.
Match 1: BxB Hulk & YAMATO beat Masaaki Mochizuki & Don FUjii. Hulk pinned Fujii.
Match 2: KAI beat Punch Tominaga.
Match 3: Susumu Mochizuki & Yasushi Kanda beat Dragon Kid & Genki Horiguchi. Mochizuki pinned Horiguchi after Yokosuka Cutter.
Match 4: Kota Minoura & Ben-K beat U-T & JACKY “FUNKY” KAMEI. Minoura pinned U-T after R-301.
Match 5: Open The Brave Gate Champion Jason Lee beat La Estrella to retain the title. V2 for Lee.
Main Event: Madoka Kikuta, Yuki Yoshioka & Dragon Dia beat Kzy, BIGBOSS Shimizu & Strong Machine J and Shun Skywalker, Diamante & H-Y-O in a 3-way when Kikuta pinned J.
The next event is tomorrow at Hakodate Arena in Hokkaido. There will be no live broadcast.
During tonight’s Resurgence Event, New Japan announced that the US-based STRONG brand is next headed to Japan for “Independence Day”, to be held on July 4 & 5 at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo. Both lineups are TBA and both will be PPVs on New Japan World. Confirmed names for the events are Fred Rosser, Eddie Kingston, Tom Lawlor, JR Kratos, Hiroshi Tanahashi and Rocky Romero.
More as it becomes available. Resurgence results will be posted when available.
DDT wrapped up the KING OF DDT 2023 Tournament today with the Semifinals and Finals.
Today’s event was held at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo and can be watched on demand on WRESTLE UNIVERSE in Japanese. You can also watch the first 4 matches FOR FREE on YouTube.
The announced paid attendance was 677.
Pre-show:
Match 1: Yuki Iino, Danshoku Dieno & Yumehito Imanari beat Akito, Yusuke Okada & Rukiya by ref stoppage (TKO). Iino beat Rukiya.
Match 2: Yukio Sakaguchi, Saki Akai, Takao Soma, Yuni & Yuki Ishida beat Toru Owashi, Makoto Oishi, Antonio Honda, Kazuki Hirata & Kazuma Sumi. Akai pinned Hirata after Quetzalcoatl.
Main show:
The promised announcement of a former WWE wrestler/champion appearing at WRESTLE PETER PAN was made to reveal the wrestler’s identity…Matt Cardona (Zack Ryder). He will face DDT Universal Champion Tetsuya Endo for the title on 7/23 with Steph De Lander in Cardon’a corner (not Chelsea Green, Cardona’s real-life wife. She’s back in WWE).
Match 1: KING OF DDT Semifinals: Kazusada Higuchi beat Yuki Ueno.
Match 2: KING OF DDT Semifinals: Chris Brookes beat Jun Akiyama.
Match 3: Tetsuya Endo & Kotaro Suzuki beat Daisuke Sasaki & MJ Paul. Endo pinned Paul after Burning Star Press. This was to have been a 6-man tag match but was changed to a tag match due to a KANON injury.
Match 4: Yuji Hino, Sanshiro Takagi, HARASHIMA & Naruki Doi beat MAO, Touki Kojima, Yuya Koroku & Takeshi Masada. Hino beat Koroku with King Kong sleeper.
Match 5: In a Piercing Deathmatch where win was by pinfall, submission or piercing your opponent’s ear 3 times, DDT Extreme Champion Shunma Katsumata beat Hideki Okatani to retain the title. V1 for Katsumata. Next up: TBA, but Katsumata hinted at wanting Atsushi Onita.
Main Event: KING OF DDT Finals: Chris Brookes beat Kazusada Higuchi by submission to win the tournament. As a result, Brookes will next face KO-D Openweight Champion Yuji Hino for the title at a date TBA.
Daisuke Sasaki summoned media backstage and tried to wait for El Desperado, who was part of the New Japan event later in the day at the venue. However, Korakuen Hall staff forced him to leave. Sasaki will face Desperado at WRESTLE PETER PAN.
The next event is Saturday at JMS Alter Plaza Multipurpose Studio in Hiroshima. There will be no live broadcast.
New Japan Ran Day 8 of Best Of The Super Junior 30 today, the penultimate day of preliminary round action.
Today’s event was held at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo and can be watched on demand on New Japan World in Japanese and English. This was a Samurai! TV broadcast.
The announced paid attendance was 1416, a legit sellout.
All matches were Best Of The Super Junior matches, 30 minute time limit.
Match 1: Block A: Titan beat DOUKI.
Match 2: Block B: Clark Connors beat Yoshinobu Kanemaru.
Match 3: Block A: KUSHIDA beat Sho.
Match 4: Block B: Master Wato beat BUSHI.
Match 5: Block A: Mike Bailey beat Ryusuke Taguchi.
Match 6: Block B: Dan Moloney beat Robbie Eagles.
Match 7: Block A: Lio Rush beat TJP.
Match 8: Block B: Yoh beat Kevin Knight.
Match 9: Block A: Hiromu Takahashi beat Taiji Ishimori by ref stoppage. Shoulder injury.
Main Event: Block B: El Desperado beat Francesco Akira by submission.
Standings:
Block A:
1-Bailey, 6-2, 12 pts
2-Takahashi, 6-2, 12 pts
3-Rush, 6-2, 12 pts
4-Titan, 5-3, 10 pts
5-Ishimori, 5-3, 10 pts
6-TJP, 4-4, 8 pts (OUT)
7-Sho, 3-5, 6 pts (OUT)
8-DOUKI, 3-5, 6 pts (OUT)
9-KUSHIDA, 2-5, 7 pts (OUT)
10-Taguchi, 0-8, 0 pts (OUT)
Block B:
1-Desperado, 6-3, 12 pts
2-Yoh, 6-3, 12 pts
3-Wato, 6-3, 12 pts
4-Eagles, 5-3, 10 pts
5-Akira, 4-4, 8 pts (OUT)
6-Connors, 4-4, 8 pts (OUT)
7-Knight, 3-5, 6 pts (OUT)
8-Moloney, 3-5, 6 pts (OUT)
9-Kanemaru, 2-6, 4 pts (OUT)
10-BUSHI, 1-8, 2 pts (OUT)
The top 2 in each block advance to the Semifinals. In Block A, one thing is certain for Day 9-the Rush-Bailey winner advances. If it goes the distance, who moves on depends on Takahashi-Titan. Takahashi is through with a win. Titan beat Rush so he’d need to beat Takahashi and have Bailey win. If the top 3 somehow finish in a 3-way tie, Takahashi is probably out as he lost to both Bailey & Rush. Ishimori is the big question mark because of health-if he can’t go on Day 9 he’s out and TJP would get a free win. KUSHIDA & Taguchi face off for pride and points. In Block B, there could also be a 3-way tie at the top, if that happens the one out is Wato because his losses are to Desperado & Yoh. Desperado has Eagles, Yoh has Kanemaru, Wato has Knight.If Eagles beats Desperado, he needs Wato to lose to have a chance because Eagles beat Yoh but lost to Wato.
Day 9 is Tuesday at Osaka Prefectural Gym 2 in Osaka with only Block A along with non-tournament matches (Block B finishes Wednesday). Live streaming on New Japan World will begin at 2 AM PT/5 AM ET.
UPDATE: Ishimori was legit injured. Cervical vertebra. Out the rest of the tournament. TJP gets a free win in his final tournament match, which was to have been against Ishimori. Ishimori is out indefinitely.
Pro Wrestling NOAH continued the SUNNY VOYAGE 2023 Tour today with an event headlined by an All-Japan World Tag Team Championship match. Kenoh & Manabu Soya are the champions but Suwama & KONO were looking to take the title back to All-Japan.
Today’s event was held at Kobe Sambo Hall in Kobe and will be available on demand on WRESTLE UNIVERSE at a later date (probably Wednesday). There was no live broadcast.
The announced paid attendance was 891, a full house/near sellout. That’s the biggest crowd by a considerable amount for anyone in the venue since at least pre-pandemic.
Match 1: Hajime Ohara & Hi69 beat Alejandro & Super Crazy. Ohara beat Alejandro with Muy Bien.
Match 2: HAYATA, Dragon Bane & Lancelot beat Dante Leon, Extreme Tiger & Alpha Wolf. Bane pinned Wolf after Koura Del Dragon.
Match 3: Kazuyuki Fujita, Kendo Ka Shin, Masato Tanaka & Dave The Clown beat Masa Kitamiya, Yoshiki Inamura, Daiki Inaba & Shuhei Taniguchi. Clown pinned Inaba after a package piledriver.
Match 4: Yoshinari Ogawa, Chris Ridgeway & Sean Legacy beat Kaito Kiyomiya, AMAKUSA & Junta Miyawaki. Legacy pinned Miyawaki after Shambles.
Match 5: Daga beat Eita.
Match 6: Go Shiozaki & Katsuhiko Nakajima beat Masakatsu Funaki & Shuji Kondo. Shiozaki pinned Kondo after Go Lariat.
Match 7: Jake Lee, Anthony Greene, YO-HEY & Tadasuke beat Naomichi Matufuji, Takashi Sugiura, Atsushi Kotoge & Seiki Yoshioka. YO-HEY pinned Yoshioka after a dropkick.
Main Event: All-Japan World Tag Team Champions Kenoh & Manabu Soya beat Suwama & KONO (All-Japan) to retain the titles. Soya pinned KONO after a jumping DDT. V1 for the champs.
The next event is 5/28 at Bandaijima Multipurpose Plaza Large Hall in Niigata. There will be no live broadcast.
UPDATE: Next up for Kenoh/Soya: Suwama (again) & Rei Saito. That will happen on 5/29 in All-Japan.
Tokyo Joshi Pro continued their spring house show tour today with an event in Tokyo, which again underwent late changes due to wrestler absences (between injuries and overseas excursions they are down roughly 1/3 of their roster).
Today’s event was held at Otemachi Mitsui Hall in Tokyo and can be watched on demand on WRESTLE UNIVERSE.
The announced paid attendance was 272.
During opening announcements, Miyu Yamashita vs. Sawyer Wreck was added to SUMMER SUN PRINCESS ’23 on 7/8. Despite being injured, Yuki Arai also appeared to greet fans.
Match 1: Mahiro Kiryu beat Toga.
Match 2: Hyper Misao beat Shino Suzuki by submission.
Match 3: Shoko Nakajima, Suzume & Haru Kazashiro beat Ryo Mizunami, Yoshiko Hasegawa (Ganbare Pro) & Kaya Toribami. Nakajima pinned Toribami with a Northern Lights suplex hold. Mizunami was a late replacement for Rika Tatsumi, who remains out due to the vague “poor physical condition”.
Match 4: Yuki Kamifuku beat HIMAWARI.
Match 5: Yuki Aino, Raku & Pom Harajuku beat Hikari Noa, Nao Kakuta & Wakana Uehara. Raku pinned Uehara after Doctor Yellow.
Main Event: Mizuki & Moka Miyamoto beat Miu Watanabe & Arisu Endo. Mizuki pinned Endo after a diving foot stomp.
The next event is a Hyper Misao Produced event Thursday at Kitazawa Town Hall in Tokyo. There will be no live broadcast.
New Japan ran Day 7 of Best Of The Super Junior today as the tournament enters the home stretch.
Today’s event was held at New Aomori Sports Park Maeda Arena Sub Arena in Aomori and can be watched on demand on New Japan World in Japanese and English.
The announced paid attendance was 1196.
All matches were Best Of The Super Junior Matches, 30 minute time limit.
Match 1: Block B: Master Wato beat Clark Connors.
Match 2: Block A: DOUKI beat Ryusuke Taguchi.
Match 3: Block B: Robbie Eagles beat Kevin Knight by submission.
Match 4: Block A: Sho beat Titan. Sho & EVIL ripped off Titan’s mask aftetwards.
Match 5: Block B: Francesco Akira beat Yoshinobu Kanemaru.
Match 6: Block A: Lio Rush beat KUSHIDA.
Match 7: Block B: Yoh beat BUSHI.
Match 8: Block A: Taiji Ishimori beat Mike Bailey by submission.
Match 9: Block B: El Desperado beat Dan Moloney by submission.
Main Event: Block A: Hiromu Takahashi beat TJP.
Standings:
Block A:
1-Ishimori, 5-2, 10 pts
2-Bailey, 5-2, 10 pts
3-Takahashi, 5-2, 10 pts
4-Rush, 5-2, 10 pts
5-Titan, 4-3, 8 pts
6-TJP, 4-3, 8 pts
7-Sho, 3-4, 6 pts
8-DOUKI, 3-4, 6 pts
9-KUSHIDA, 1-6, 2 pts (OUT)
10-Taguchi, 0-7, 0 pts (OUT)
Block B:
1-Desperado, 5-2, 10 pts
2-Yoh, 5-2, 10 pts
3-Wato, 5-2, 10 pts
4-Eagles, 5-2, 10 pts
5-Akira, 4-3, 8 pts
6-Knight, 3-4, 6 pts
7-Connors, 3-5, 6 pts
8-Moloney, 2-5, 4 pts (OUT)
9-Kanemaru, 2-5, 4 pts (OUT)
10-BUSHI, 1-6, 2 pts (OUT)
The top 2 in each block advance to the Semifinals. Both blocks are headed to last day settlements now. Block B has cleared up some with 3 now eliminated and 2 more mathematically all but out. While 7 still have a chance in Block A it’s all but down to the 4 tied for the lead with Titan and TJP still having a chance. Sho & DOUKI can only hope for tiebreakers and no contests.
Day 8 is Sunday at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo. Live streaming on New Japan World will begin at 2:30 AM PT/5:30 AM ET.
Also Sunday is Resurgence, the next US event. Live streaming on Nee Japan World as a PPV (about $22 in the US, no subscription required) will begin at 5 PM PT/8 PM ET. THERE IS NO FITE BROADCAST THIS TIME. Only New Japan World.
