Tag: pro wrestling

New Japan 11/17/23 Results

New Japan began the New Japan Road Tour today, a very short series consisting of just 2 events this year.

Today’s event was held at Yamagata Big Wing in Yamagata and can be watched on demand on New Japan World. (There were a number of technical issues reported today)

The announced paid attendance was 784.

There was a last-second change to the cars at the beginning of the event as Match 6, a 6-man tag on the card was changed from a NON-TITLE match to a NEVER 6-Man Tag Team Championship match.

Match 1: Togi Makabe, Satoshi Kojima & Hiroyoshi Tenzan beat Boltin Oleg, Oskar Leube & Yuto Nakashima. Kojima pinned Nakashima after a lariat.

Match 2: Master Wato & Toru Yano beat Gedo & Taiji Ishimori by DQ. Gedo DQ’d.

Match 3: Yoh, YOSHI-HASHI & Hirooki Goto beat Callum Newman, HENARE & Great-O-Khan. Goto pinned Newman after Shoto.

Match 4: Tiger Mask, Ren Narita, Minoru Suxuki & Yuji Nagata beat BUSHI, Hiromu Takahashi, Yota Tsuji & Shingo Takagi. Umino pinned BUSHI after Blaze Blade.

Match 5: Dick Togo, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Yujiro Takahashi & EVIL beat TAKA Michinoku, DOUKI, Yuya Uemura & SANADA. Kanemaru beat TAKA with a figure 4.

Match 6: NEVER 6-Man Tag Team Champions Tomohiro Ishii, Hiroshi Tanahashi & Kazuchika Okada beat Ryusuke Taguchi, Ren Narita & Tomoaki Honma to retain the titles. Tanahashi pinned Narita. V6 for the champs.

Main Event: In a match with restricted moves and Yoshinobu Kanemaru as special referee, Taichi beat KOPW 2023 Champion Sho to win the title. Referee Red Shors Unno made the 3 count when Kanemaru was out. As a result, per another stip for the match, Sho can never wrestle in Yamagata again. Next up: Kanemaru if Taichi gets his wish.

The tour-ender is Sunday at Light Cube Utsunomiya in Tochigi. There will be no live or on demand broadcast.

AEW News: In Case You Missed It Last Night…

A HILARIOUS typo was made during a promo graphic for tomorrow’s Collision during the late part of Dynamite. The image below says it all. Hint: One too many D’s. Give whoever did that a raise!

DDT 11/16/23 Results

The post-Saki Akai era began in DDT today with an event featuring a mini-tournament to crown new KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Champions, the title she gave up upon her retirement Sunday. But Akai thankfully isn’t gone, she is now in a behind-the-scenes position with the promotion so this was her first real event in her new job.

Today’s event was held at Shinjuku Face in Tokyo and can be watched on demand on WRESTLE UNIVERSE.

The announced paid attendance was 181.

The event opened with a public signing ceremony for a DDT Universal Championship match Sunday between MAO & Demus (Mexico).

The opening was then by SCHADENFREUDE, a new faction formed by Chris Brookes of himself, Masa Takanashi, Antonio Honda and maybe someone else. They promised to begin taking over DDT by winning the KO-ad 6-Man Tag Team Championship today. Sounds more like just renaming CDK.

Match 1: Demus beat Kazuma Sumi. Borderline squash.

Match 2: KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Championship Tournament: Jun Akiyama, Danshoku Dieno & Makoto Oishi beat Chris Brookes, Masa Takanashi & Antonio Honda. Doeno pinned Honda after Danshoku Driver. Yeah, nice backing up that promise Brookes. HAHA.

Match 3: KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Championship Tournament: Yuki Ueno, MAO & Toi Kojima beat Daisuke Sasaki, MJ Paul & KANON. Ueno pinned Paul after BME.

Match 4: Yusuke Okada & Yuya Koroku beat Takashi Yoshida (Dragon Gate) & Rukiya. Okada pinned Rukiya after Sudden Death.

Match 5: In a DDT Trivia King Death Match, where a trivia question had to be answered correctly after a pinfall/submission to win, DDT Extreme Champion Kazuki Hirata beat MIKAMI to retain the title. V5 for Hirata. They also traded the DDT Iron Man Heavymetalweight Championship during this with MIKAMI becoming the 1592nd Champion then Hirata becoming the 1593rd Champion.

Match 6: Sanshiro Takagi, HARASHIMA, Kazusada Higuchi & Akito beat Takao Soma, Shota, Tetsuya Endo & Yukio Naya. Akito beat Soma with a Figure 4. Afterwards, Akito issued a KO-D Tag Team Championship challenge on behalf of himself & Toru Sugiura. That match will happen on 12/2.

Main Event: KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Championship Tournament Finals: Jun Akiyama, Danshoku Dieno & Makoto Oishi beat Yuki Ueno, MAO & Toi Kojima to win the tournament and the vacant titles. Akiyama, Dieno & Oishi become the 53rd KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Champions. Dieno pinned Kojima after Danshoku Driver. Afterwards in backstage comments Akiyama announced he will leave the Burning faction by the end of the year. That would leave Endo, Okada & Koroku in the faction.

The next event is a Street Wrestling event Saturday at Tenjin Misaki Sports Park in Fukushima. This is a free one-match event. There will be no live broadcast. Fans that attend are encouraged to take pictures and upload them to the organizer’s official social media accounts for a chance to win prizes.

AEW Dynamite 11/15/23 Results (Updated)

Here are the quick results from tonight’s AEW Dynamite in Ontario, CA:

Match 1: Jon Moxley & Wheeler Yuta vs. Orange Cassidy & Hook
Result: Jon Moxley & Wheeler Yuta beat Orange Cassidy & Hook. Yuta pinned Hook with a seatbelt.

Adam Page-Swerve Strickland staredown. If either got violent with the other, both are banned the rest of the year and their PPV match Saturday is off. That didn’t happen because Page cut a straight fire promo and also found a loophole-nothing about Prince Nana in there, so Page got a free beatdown on Nana until security broke it up.

Match 2: Skye Blue vs. Red Velvet. The winner gets added to a 3-way Saturday for the AEW TBS Championship against Kris Statlander & Julia Hart
Result: Skye Blue beat Red Velvet. As a result, Blue will face AEW TBS Champion Kris Statlander & Julia Hart in a 3-way for the title at Full Gear.

Miro promo.

RJ City introduces Mariah May to Toni Storm backstage. Storm is having none of it, then demands Luther talk to Tony Khan and book her in a match for Friday.

Match 3: Samoa Joe vs. a jobber. Unintroduced and revealed by commentary to be Jon Cruz.
Result: Samoa Joe beat Jon Cruz by submission. Squash.

Match 4: Penta El Zero M & Komander vs. The Young Bucks
Result: The Young Bucks beat Penta El Zero M & Komander. Matt Jackson pinned Komander after BTE Trigger.

Match 5: Gunn Club beat 2 jobbers in less than 10 seconds. Squash.

Match 6: Kenny Omega, Chris Jericho, Kota Ibushi & Paul Wight vs. Brian Cage, Kyle Fletcher, Powerhouse Hobbs & Konosuke Takeshita in a street fight (sponsored by Like A Dragon Gaiden, a new videogame in the “Yakuza” series from Sega that was released yesterday
Result: Kenny Omega, Chris Jericho, Kota Ibushi & Paul Wight beat Brian Cage, Kyle Fletcher, Powerhouse Hobbs & Konosuke Takeshita. Omega pinned Cage after One Winged Angel.

MJF is main event segment, which is next.

Friday on a LIVE Collision: Dax Hardwood (actually said that on broadcast) vs. Rush, Saraya & Ruby Soho vs. HIkaru Shida & Kris Statlander, Miro vs. Daniel Garcia. Then on a LIVE Rampage: MJF and Jay White interviews and Toni Storm vs. Emi Sakura. More to come on the socials.

MJF promo. Jay White comes out at the end and sets up the Bullet Club beatdown to end the show. Samoa Joe is watching on the monitor backstage as we cut away.

This show didn’t do much for me especially as a PPV go-home, but it wasn’t a bad show. Everything was average or better, the tag match and women’s match are worth watching (the tag match was really good). I didn’t care much for the street fight. Viewer discretion on this one but there’s nothing you need to or should skip outside of a couple quick squashes.

LIVE results for Collision Friday at 8 PM ET and Rampage at 10 PM ET Friday are scheduled. A PPV preview special follows at 11 PM ET, all on TNT. All will be TAPED on the west coast.

UPDATE: After the show, AEW announced on the socials that they’ve officially signed Kota Ibushi.

All-Japan 11/15/23 Results

All-Japan ran Day 2 of the Real World Tag League today.

Today’s event was held at Tokorozawa Municipal Gym in Saitama and will be available on demand on AJPW.TV later today. There was no live broadcast.

The announced paid attendance was 560.

Match 1: Jr. Battle Of Glory: Naruki Doi beat Hikaru Sato.

Match 2: Real World Tag League: Shuji Ishikawa & Ren Ayabe beat Hayato Tamura & Galeno Del Mal. Ishikawa pinned Tamura after a running knee lift.

Match 3: Real World Tag League: Suwama & Hideki Suzuki beat Kuroshio TOKYO Japan & Seigo Tachibana. Suzuki pinned Tachibana with a double arm suplex.

Match 4: Ryuji Hijikata & Hiroshi Yamato (Independent/Freelancers) beat Black Menso-re & Ryo Inoue. Hijikata pinned Me so-re with a Fisherman’s Buster.

Match 5: Real World Tag League: Katushiko Nakajima & Hokuto Omori beat Ryuki Honda & Yuma Anzai. Nakajima pinned Anzai after Northern Lights Bomb.

Match 6: Jr. Battle Of Glory: Dan Tamura beat Rising Hayato.

Match 7: Jr. Battle Of Glory: Atsuki Aoyagi vs. Koji Iwamoto went to a 10 minute time limit draw.

Match 8: Real World Tag League: Jun & Rei Saito beat Cyrus & Ryan Danielson. Rei Saito pinned Danielson after a diving body press.

Main Event: Real World Tag League: Kento Miyahara & Yuma Aoyagi beat Yukio Sakaguchi & Hideki Okatani. Miyahara pinned Okatani with a shutdown suplex hold.

The next event is Sunday at Nagoya Congress Center Event Hall in Nagoya. Live streaming on AJPW.TV will begin at 12:30 AM PT/3:30 AM ET.

Injury Report: Stardom Body Count Keeps Rising

It seems no Japanese promotion has gotten the worst of a recent major injury wave the last couple months than Stardom. That continues today with 2 more casualties-Mayu Iwatani & Waka Tsukiyama. Iwatani-dislocated finger. Out long enough to be off Sunday’s PPV. Tsukiyama-hernia. Out indefinitely but long enough to be “taking time off”. Possible the former happened last weekend at Lonestar Shootout.

More as it becomes available.

New Japan News: World Tag League Field Set, More (Updated)

New Japan announced the field for the 2023 World Tag League today. The annual year-end Heavyweight tag team tournament will have 16 teams split into 2 blocks for the round-robin format event with the top 2 teams in each block advancing to the Semifinals.

The full field:
Block A: Shota Umino & Ren Narita, Tomohiro Ishii & Toru Yano, Great-O-Khan & HENARE, Shane Haste & Mikey Nicholls, Alex Coughlin & Gabriel Kidd, Yujiro Takahashi & EVIL, Kaito Kiyomiya & Ryohei Oiwa, Bishop Kaun & Toa Liona

Block B: YOSHI-HASHI & Hirooki Goto (2-time defending winners), Hikuleo & El Phantasmo, Yuji Nagata & Minoru Suzuki, Taichi & Yuya Uemura, Yota Tsuji & TBA, Soberano Jr. & Atlantis Jr., Lance Archer & Alex Zayne, Bad Luck Fale & Jack Bonza

TBA for Tsuji’s partner, “a friend he met on excursion who isn’t an X but a Z”, will be revealed at Sunday’s non-televised event. The tournament begins on 11/20 and will end on 12/8.

In other news, 2 more title matches have been added to Tokyo Dome on 1/4: NEVER Openweight Champion Shingo Takagi vs. Tama Tonga for the title is now official following Lonestar Shootout, as is NJPW WORLD TV Champion Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi for the title.

The World Tag League will also see the debuts of 2 new Young Lions (rookies making their in-ring debuts in NJPW): Shoka Kato & Katsuya Murashima. Kato, 20, from Osaka is 5’8″, about 180 pounds, He has backgrounds in basketball, MMA and grappling and gained attention through “The Spirit”, a reality show produced by Kazuchika Okada that followed trainees in the New Japan Dojo. He will face Oskar Leube in his debut match on 11/20. Murashima, 23, is from Ibaraki and has been an amateur wrestler for 9 years with 2 regional college championships at 86 kg & 92 kg. He will face Yuto Nakashima in his debut match on 11/21.

(Pictured on right: Shoka Kato)
(Pictures on right: Katsuya Murashima)

UPDATE: In a sometimes-rumored move, lead New Japan World English commentator Kevin Kelly has left the promotion. Kelly hinted at such a move earlier this year but still planned to do some events, the plan was to do Tokyo Dome on 1/4 but now can’t make it due to personal reasons. Kelly joined All Elite Wrestling this year as the lead commentator on AEW Collision when the NJPW schedule was announced. Walker Stephens, who debuted recently on live events in the US, is the likely replacement.

Pro Wrestling NOAH 11/13/23 Results (Updated x2)

Pro Wrestling NOAH ran Episode 3 of MONDAY MAGIC today, the halfway point of the series.

Today’s event was held at Shinjuku Face in Tokyo and can be watched on demand on WRESTLE UNIVERSE.

The paid attendance has not yet been announced but it appears to have been a legit advance sellout.

The card was not announced in advance but there was a last-minute change because Haruka Umesaki, who was scheduled to participate, was removed due to illness.

Match 1: In an Exhibition Match, Kenoh & Ulka Sasaki vs. Manabu Soya & Daisuke Nakamura went to a 10 minute time limit draw. Sasaki is a former UFC & MMA fighter who was making his pro wrestling debut.

Match 2: Hajime Ohara won a 9 man battle royal, last eliminating Saxon Huxley. As a result, Ohara gets the next GHC National Championship shot against Jack Morris. That match will happen on 12/2 at Yokohama Budokan in Yokohama..

Match 3: HAYATA & Titus Alexander beat Atsushi Kotoge & Terry Yaki. Alexander pinned Kotoge with a German suplex hold

Match 4: Miyuki Takase & Chihiro Hashimoto beat Yuu & Hibiscus Mii. Takase pinned Mii after a diving guillotine drop.

Match 5: Dragon Bane vs. Alpha Wolf went to a double pinfall.

Match 6: Kaito Kiyomiya, Ryohei Oiwa & Yuma Anzai (All-Japan) beat Jake Lee, Anthony Greene & LJ Cleary. Kiyomiya pinned Cleary after a modified tiger driver.

After the event, GHC Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Dragon Bane & Aloha Wolf vs. Ninja Mack & Alejandro and YO-HEY & Tadasuke for the titles was announced for 1/2 at Ariake Arena.

Episode 4 is 11/27.

The next event is Friday at Light Cube Utsunomiya in Tochigi. There will be no live broadcast.

UPDATE: Corrected Match 6 result to note ? from earlier (bad website translation) was actually Yuma Anzai.

Additionally, the first match for Episode 4 has been announced: Nagisa Nozaki Return Match-Nagisa Nozaki vs. Miyuki Takase.

UPDATE 2: Added Match 3 result.

GLEAT 11/12/23 Results

GLEAT ran their latest G PROWRESTLING event today, returning to Osaka for today’s event headlined by a G-REX Championship match.

Today’s event was held at Umeda Stellar Hall in Osaka and will be available on demand on YouTube at a later date (probably Tuesday or Wednesday). There was no live broadcast.

The announced paid attendance was 241.

Match 1: Soma Watanabe & Yuys Susumu beat Takanori Ito & Fire Katsumi. Watanabe pinned Katsumi after Firebird Splash.

Match 2: Ryuichi Kawakami beat Keiichi Sato.

Match 3: El Lindaman beat JD Lee.

Match 4: Kaito Ishida, Kotaro Suzuki & Hartley Jackson beat KAZMA SAKAMOTO, Check Shimatani & Quiet Storm. Jackson pinned Shimatani after a piledriver.

Match 5: Kaz Hayashi, Minoru Tanaka, CIMA, Seiichi Ikemoto & Tomoaki Honma (New Japan) beat Tetsuya Izuchi, Yu Iizuka, Jun Tonsho, Junjae & Issei Onitsuka. Hayashi pinned Tonsho.

Main Event: G-REX Champion T-Hawk beat Masato Kamino by ref stoppage (corner stoppage-towel) to retain the title. V5 for T-Hawk.

The next event is Saturday at Nishitetsu Hall in Fukuoka with G INFINITY Champions Jun & Rei Saito (All-Japan) vs. KAZMA SAKAMOTO & Quiet Storm for the titles. Broadcast plans TBA.

Pro Wrestling NOAH 11/12/23 Results

Pro Wrestling NOAH continued the SUNNY VOYAGE 2023 Tour today with a house show in Kyoto.

Today’s event was held at Kyoto KBS Hall in Kyoto 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 334.

Match 1: Atsushi Kotoge, Hajime Ohara & Taishi Ozawa beat Super Crazy, Hi69 & Yu Owada. Ohara pinned Owada after a backbreaker.

Match 2: Saxon Huxley & Shuhei Taniguchi beat Alejandro & Extreme Tiger. Taniguchi pinned Tiger after Wyvern Catch.

Match 3: LEONA (Dradition) beat Kai Fujimura by submission.

Match 4: Takashi Sugiura & Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr. beat Go Shiozaki & Stallion Rogers. Sugiura pinned Rogers after Olympic Yosen Slam.

Match 5: Manabu Soya, HAYATA & Eita beat Kenoh, Ninja Mack & Terry Yaki. Soya pinned Yaki after Trajectory.

Match 6: Daiki Inaba beat Anthony Greene.

Match 7: Daga & Yoshinari Ogawa beat Shuji Kondo & Junta Miyawaki. Daga pinned Miyawaki after a lariat.

Main Event: Jake Lee, Jack Morris, LJ Cleary, YO-HEY & Tadasuke beat Kaito Kiyomiya, Manabu Soya, Ryohei Oiwa, Dragon Bane & Alpha Wolf. Morris pinned Kitamiya after a tiger driver.

The next event is MONDAY MAGIC Episode 3 tomorrow at Shinjuku Face in Tokyo. The card will not be announced in advance, but it has been announced that Haruka Umesaki, who was scheduled for the event, is now off. Illness. No replacement will be announced before the event. Live streaming on WRESTLE UNIVERSE will begin at 2 AM PT/5 AM ET. Also, the January 2024 schedule indicates the never-ending SUNNY VOYAGE 2023 Tour will become the never-ending SUNNY VOYAGE 2024 Tour in the new year.