Tag: pro wrestling

Off-Topic: Remembering The One & Only Iron Sheik

A short time ago the entire wrestling world lost one of the true giants of the sport-The Iron Sheik has died. He was 81. The cause of death is not known yet except that, according to his family and his official Twitter, he died peacefully.

Born Hossein Khosrow Ali Vaziri in Iran, he was an amateur wrestler in the 1960s and a two-time assistant coach for the US National Olympic team in the 1970s before breaking into pro wrestling. Verne Gagne’s wife came up with the idea of making him a villainous heel and this he became The Iron Sheik. He is a former WWF(E) World Heavyweight Champion and Tag Team Champion and competed for 3 decades before retiring in 2010. After retirement he cultivated a massive Twitter following through his all-caps posting about anything & everything, always interjected with hilarious shots at “the blonde jabroni Hulk Hogan”. There has also been a movie and, more recently, an A&E TV special about his life and career (I have the movie and absolutely recommend it). He was inducted into the WWE Hall Of Fame in 2005 and the NWA Hall Of Fame in 2008.

I join the pro wrestling community in sending my deepest condolences to the family and friends of “Sheiky Baby”, no doubt one of the greatest and most iconic & endearing characters ever in the ring. Social media in particular will never be the same without him. In his own Twitter words, THE ONE TRUE IRON SHEIK CLASS. LOVE YOU FOREVER BUBBA. RESPECT THE LEGEND FOREVER

The original post from The Iron Sheik’s official Twitter account with the news is below (and for those curious, nothing from Hulk Hogan yet. At least not on Twitter)

GLEAT 6/7/23 Results

Ahead of their major anniversary event in July, GLEAT held a major event dubbed GLEAT Ver. EX today to begin setting the stage for that event and more to come.

Today’s event was held at Korakuen Hal in Tokyo and can be watched on demand FOR FREE on YouTube. The video is also available in this post:

UPCOMING LIVE VIDEO: GLEAT 6/7/23 Full Event

The announced paid attendance was 732.

Pre-show match: Issei Onitsuka & Yusuke Kodama beat Yu Iizuka & Yuya Susumu. Kodama pinned Iizuka after Mad Splash.

Match 1: Yutani, Emperador Azteca & Kotaro Suzuki beat Jun Tonsho, Keiichi Sato & Oji Shiiba. Suzuki pinned Sato after a tiger driver.

Match 2: Kaz Hayashi & Minoru Tanaka beat T-Hawk & El Lindaman. Tanaka pinned Lindaman after Minoru Special.

Match 3: Atsuki Aoki & Rydeen Hagane beat Yukari Hosokawa & Sayaka Unagi. Aoki pinned Hosokawa after a frog splash. Afterwards, Michiko Miyagi made a surprise appearance, her first since being forced to leave GLEAT after losing to Unagi earlier this year despite efforts to keep her onboard, but Miyagi refused. She wants Unagi again. As a result, an 8-woman tag match of Unagi, Aoki, Hagane & Hosokawa vs. Miyagi and presumably 3 TBAs had been made for 7/1 at Tokyo Dome City Hall.

Match 4: Soma Watanabe beat Tetsuya Izuchi. As a result, Watanabe gets the next G-REX Championship match against current champion T-Hawk.

Match 5: Kaito Ishida, Flamita, Hartley Jackson & Bandido beat Ryuichi Kawakami, KAZMA SAKAMOTO, Quiet Storm & Galeno Del Mar. Ishida pinned SAKAMOTO with a small package hold. Afterwards, Ishida demanded a match between Bulk Orchestra and 60seconds where the losing faction must disband. Agreed to by Commissioner Masato Yoshino. That match will happen on 7/1.

A promised major announcement by CIMA was made…on 8/4, GLEAT makes their Ryogoku Kokugikan debut!

Match 6: Jun & Rei Saito (All-Japan) beat G-INFINITY Champions Hayato Tamura & Check Shimatani to win the titles. The Saitos become the 3rd G-INFINITY Champions. Rei Saito pinned Shimatani after a diving body press. Next up: Hayashi & Tanaka. That match will happen on 7/1.

Main Event: Lidet UWF Championship Tournament Finals: Takanori Ito beat Shinya Aoki by TKO (10 count down) to win the tournament and the title and become the inaugural Lidet UWF Champion. And immediately the first challenger appeared…Fujita “Jr.” Hayato. That match will happen on 7/1.

The next event is 6/17 at Umeda Sky Building Stellar Hall in Osaka for G PROWRESTLING Ver. 54. Since it’s Osaka there likely will be no live broadcast but it should be available on YouTube 2-3 days after the event.

Dragon Gate 6/6/23 Results

Dragon Gate continues the Rainbow Gate 2023 Tour today with a U-T hometown event.

Today’s event was held at Loisir Hotel Toyohashi in Aichi. There was/is no broadcast.

The paid attendance has not yet been announced. (Update: The announced paid attendance was 258)

(Update: After posting these I learned there were last-minute changes to the card because Shun Skywalker was off the event. The always-vague poor physical condition. No word on if he will miss any more time but maybe not given the next event is 4 days away)

Match 1: Susumu Mochizuki & Yasushi Kanda beat Ben-K & Minorita. Kanda pinned Minorita after Ryu’s.

Match 2: Masaaki Mochizuki beat Daiki Yanagiuchi.

Match 3: Kota Minoura & BxB Hulk beat YAMATO & Ryoya Tanaka. Minoura pinned Tanaka.

Match 4: BIGBOSS Shimizu beat La Estrella.

Match 5: Madoka Kikuta, Yuki Yoshioka & Dragon Dia beat Dragon Kid, Genki Horiguchi & Problem Dragon. Yoshioka pinned Dragon after Inferno.

Main Event: KAI, Diamante, H-Y-O & ISHIN beat Kzy, Jason Lee, Strong Machine J & U-T. H-Y-O pinned U-T after a diving senton.

The next event is Saturday and there are 2 events that day-first is a special mini-event at HI Hirose Super Combo Kashima Kamijima Store in Kumamoto, then there is an event at Inari Kunimidai Gym in Saga. There will be no broadcasts.

UPCOMING LIVE VIDEO: GLEAT 6/7/23 Full Event

Earlier today on Twitter, GLEAT announced tomorrow’s “GLEAT Ver. EX” event will be a LIVE FREE broadcast on YouTube. The live video has been scheduled, you can set a reminder, bookmark the below video and come back tomorrow (6/7) beginning at 2:30 AM PT/5:30 AM ET to watch. It will be available on demand after the event concludes. (Video courtesy of the GLEAT Official YouTube channel)

DEVELOPING: Forbidden Door Presser Early Tomorrow (6/6/23) (Updated)

A Twitter post by New Japan and upcoming YouTube broadcast by AEW have announced a Forbidden Door related press conference tomorrow with Will Ospreay and Kazuchika Okada scheduled to attend. This is in Japan so live streaming begins at 2 AM PT/5 AM ET. It will be available on New Japan World and AEW’s YouTube channel.

More tomorrow.

UPDATE: IWGP US Heavyweight Champion Kenny Omega vs. Will Ospreay for the title and Bryan Danielson vs. Kazuchika Okada were announced for Forbidden Door at the presser.

New Japan News: Another Upcoming Title Match in ROH (SPOILERS!)

At the latest Ring Of Honor TV tapings held yesterday in Orlando, FL, there was another New Japan title match held as part of what should be a couple weeks of TV to air in the upcoming weeks. It’s not known when this will be streamed (could be this Thursday, could be next Thursday or even later on) but if you want to know ahead of time, read on (SPOILERS!).

Continue reading “New Japan News: Another Upcoming Title Match in ROH (SPOILERS!)”

News: ALL TOGETHER AGAIN Full Card Announced

The full card for Friday’s ALL TOGETHER AGAIN New Japan/All-Japan/Pro Wrestling NOAH card was finalizes today. New Japan announced the entire card which is as follows:
Pre-show (scheduled for 30 minutes before event): Ryo Inoue, Black Menso-re, Yoh & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Atsushi Kotoge, Seiki Yoshioka, Alejandro & Super Crazy
Main show (in order):
YOSHI-HASHI, Hirooki Goto & Tomohiro Ishii vs. Masa Kitamiya, Daiki Inaba & Yoshiki Inamura
Kosei Fujita & Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Chris Ridgeway & Sean Legacy
Shota Umino vs. Yoshitatsu
Hokuto Omori & Shuji Ishikawa vs. Go Shiozaki & Katsuhiko Nakajima
Ren Narita, El Desperado & Minoru Suzuki vs. Naomichi Marufuji, Takashi Sugiura & Junta Miyawaki
Francesco Akira, TJP, Aaron Henare, Great-O-Khan & Jeff Cobb vs. Jun & Rei Saito, Hikaru Sato, Dan Tamura & Ryuki Honda
BUSHI, Shingo Takagi & Tetsuya Naito vs. Yuji Nagata, Suwama & Yuma Anzai
TAKA Michinoku, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & SANADA vs. Jake Lee, YO-HEY & Tadasuke
AMAKUSA, Atsuki Aoyagi & Hiromu Takahashi vs. Master Wato, Rising Hayato & HAYATA
Kaito Kiyomiya, Kento Miyahara & Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kazuchika Okada, Yuma Aoyagi & Kenoh

With the pre-show match added, the start time is now 1:30 AM PT/4:30 AM ET. The event is available only as a PPV on New Japan World for about $30. The PPV window is expected to be 3 months and commentary will be by the New Japan broadcast team. This suggests the earliest it could possibly be available on AJPW.TV and WRESTLE UNIVERSE (or as a non-PPV on New Japan World) is roughly September 10.

New Japan News: Full G1 Climax 33 Participation List

Following up on yesterday’s announcement at the New Japan event, here is the full entry list for this year’s G1 Climax 33 Tournament:
Kazuchika Okada
Tetsuya Naito
SANADA
Will Ospreay
Hiroshi Tanahashi
David Finlay
Shota Umino
Shingo Takagi
Tomohiro Ishii
Tama Tonga
Tanga Loa
Hikuleo
Hirooki Goto
YOSHI-HASHI
Toru Yano
KENTA
Zack Sabre Jr.
Taichi
El Phantasmo
Eddie Kingston
Ren Narita
EVIL
Chase Owens
Jeff Cobb
Great-O-Khan
Aaron Henare
Gabriel Kidd
Alex Coughlin
Shane Haste
Mikey Nicholls
Yota Tsuji
Kaito Kiyomiya (Pro Wrestling NOAH)

Okada is the 2-time defending champion and going for a 3-peat and should be considered the heavy favorite. Naito is a 2-tine winner, Tanahashi a 3-time winner and Goto a one-time winner. Whoever wins gets a future IWGP World Hevayweight Championship match, traditionally on 1/4 at Tokyo Dome but this is not always the case.

The blocks will be announced Saturday.

Dragon Gate 6/4/23 Results

Dragon Gate continued the Rainbow Gate 2023 Tour today with a return home to Kobe for a house show.

Today’s event was held at Kobe Sambo Hall in Kobe and can be watched on demand on DRAGONGATE NETWORK.

The announced paid attendance was 394.

Match 1: YAAMTO, Don Fujii & Naruki Doi beat Dragon Kid, Kagetora & Eita. Doi pinned Kagetora.

Match 2: In an Open The Owarai Gate Championship Practice Match, Problem Dragon beat Ichikawa in 25 seconds.

Match 3: ISHIN won a 10 man battle royal, last eliminating La Estrella.

Match 4: Kota Minoura, BxB Hulk, Ben-K & Minorita beat Masaaki Mochizuki, Susumu Mochizuki, Yasushi Kanda & Ryoya Tanaka. Minorita pinned Tanaka after Minoritanic.

Match 5: Shun Skywalker & KAI beat Strong Machine J & U-T. KAI pinned U-T after Meteor Impact.

Main Event: Madoka Kikuta, Yuki Yoshioka & Dragon Dia beat Kzy, BIGBOSS Shimizu & Jason Lee. Kikuta pinned Shimizu after a rolling lariat.

The next event is Tuesday at Loisir Hotel Toyohashi in Aichi. There will be no broadcast.

In other news, additional matches for Kobe Pro Wrestling Festical on 7/2 have been announced:
Open The Brave Gate Champion Jason Lee vs. ISHIN for the title. But this is conditional on ISHIN making the 82 kg weight limit on 7/1. If he doesn’t, it will be a NON-TITLE match
Open The Triangle Gate Champions Kzy, BIGBOSS Shimizu & JACKY “FUNKY” KAMEI vs. Kota Minoura, Minorita & Naruki Doi for the ttiles
Ultimo Dragon vs. Strong Machine J, Shun Skywalker & Diamante in a 4-way Cage Survival Mascara Contra Mascara Match. The ultimate loser will lose their mask
Kenoh (Pro Wrestling NOAH) participation among others

DDT 6/4/23 Results

DDT ran a special charity event in association with the Japan Para-Wrestling Federation today, raising funds for the association which, oddly, currently has only one member-former Olympic medalist Yoshiaki Yatsu who sometimes still competes despite having one prosthetic leg.

Today’s event was held at Odawara Arena Sub Arena in Kanagawa and will be available on demand on WRESTLE UNIVERSE at a later date. There was no live broadcast.

The announced paid attendance was 280.

Match 1: Takeshi Masada beat Rukiya.

Match 2: Saki Akai & Hideki Okatani beat Kazuki Hirata & Toi Kojima. Akai pinned Hirata after Quetzalcoatl.

Match 3: Yuki Iino & Danshoku Dieno beat Takao Soma & Kazuma Sumi in 6 seconds. Iino pinned Sumi after a lariat. Which led to…
Match 3 (Again): Yuki Iino & Danshoku Dieno beat Takao Soma & Kazuma Sumi. Dieno pinned Sumi after Danshoku Driver.

Match 4: Daisuke Sasaki & MJ Paul beat Yusuke Okada & Yuya Koroku. Paul pinned Koroku after Death Valley Bomb.

Match 5: Yuki Ueno beat Akito.

Match 6: Yoshiaki Yatsu, Tetsuya Endo & Jun Akiyama beat Sanshiro Takagi, Toru Owashi & Makoto Oishi. Yatsu beat Oishi.

Main Event: Yuji Hino, HARASHIMA & Yukio Sakaguchi beat Kazusada Higuchi, MAO & Yuki Ishida. HARASHIMA pinned Ishida after Blue Sword.

The next event is Saturday at Suminoe Maikon Hall in Osaka. There will be no live broadcast.