Although MAO is scheduled to defend the DDT Universal Championship next month in Tokyo, he may not make it there as champion. US independent promotion Circle 6, in a post by MAO in Japanese and translated to English by DDT on the socials, has announced MAO will defend the title against Nate Webb on Sunday in Hollywood, CA. MAO will also participate in the promotion’s 12/30 event in Los Angeles. Tickets may still be available on Circle 6’s website (this will be a 10 PM PT/1 AM ET event with no TV/streaming scheduled).
Tag: pro wrestling
Ganbare Pro 12/27/23 Results (Updated x2)
The final (and final annual) Ganbare Pro blowout event of the year, BAD COMMUNICATION ’23, is now in the books.
Today’s event was held at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo and can be watched on demand on WRESTLE UNIVERSE.
The announced paid attendance was 603. They used a reduced capacity setup with the opposite-hard camera bleacher seating completely closed off and used as the entrance ramp area.
The opening start call was delivered by Moeka Haruhi, who is recovering from donating a kidney to her younger sister as life-saving treatment. Haruhi will return to competing when she is fully recovered acleared.
Match 1: KO-D Tag Team Champions Takao Soma & Shota beat Keisuke Ishii & Shigehiro Irie to retain the titles. Shota pinned Ishii with Gannosuke Clutch. V3 for the champs. Next up: Ken Ohka & HARASHIMA. That match may happen on 1/6.
Match 2: Makoto, HARUKAZE & Bunny Oikawa beat Sumire Natsu, YuuRI & Riara. HARUKAZE pinned Riara after Flame Spear.
Match 3: Yoshiko Hasegawa beat Arisu Endo (Tokyo Joshi Pro).
Match 4: Yuko Miyamoto beat Munetatsu Nakamura.
Match 5: In a GanPro vs. GLEAT elimination match with over the top rope elimination rules in effect, Yumehito Imanari, Takuya Wada, Mizuki Watase, Shinichiro Tominaga & Tyson Maeguchi beat Kaz Hayashi, Minoru Tanaka, Takanori Ito, Check Shimatani & Jun Tonsho. Order of elimination: Tominaga by Hayashi, Tonsho by Watase, Maeguchi by Ito, Ito by Imanari & Watase, Watase by Tanaka, Tanaka & Wada simultaneously, Shimatani by Imanari, Hayashi by Imanari. Imanari is the only one left, GanPro wins.
Match 6: Ken Ohka beat Kuma Arashi.
Main Event: Shuichiro Katsumura beat Spirit Of Ganbare World Openweight Champion Isami Kodaka to win the title. Katsumura becomes the 6th Spirit Of Ganbare World Openweight Champion. Next up: Ohka. That may happen on 1/4 although that card has been finalized already. Then perhaps a KO-D Tag Team Championship match 2 days later. The Landlord looking for lots of gold.
The next event, their first of 2024, is 1/4 at Itabashi Green Hall. Broadcast plans TBA but note they will be running opposite Tokyo Dome.
UPDATE: After the event, Yuna Manase announced on the socials that she will return on 2/23. She has been out most of this year due to injury.
UPDATE 2: Both Ohka title matches hinted at above are now official.
FREE VIDEOS: Dragon Gate PRIME ZONE (Limited Time)
From 2012 until early 2020 when the pandemic put everything on hold, Dragon Gate ran a monthly series called PRIME ZONE that streamed on DRAGONGATE NETWORK. If you’ve never seen it before and want to check it out, you can now watch all 85 episodes FOR FREE on DRAGONGATE NETWORK, even if you are not a paying subscriber. Each episode ran for between 50-90 minutes and featured 2 or 3 matches and other content.
The free access is until 1/24/24 at 6:59 AM PT/9:59 AM ET. Click below to access the page:
https://dragongate.live/dragongate_studio/
This and much more content is part of DRAGONGATE NETWORK, available worldwide for 1650 yen/month (around $12 US).
Dragon Gate 12/26/23 Results (Updated x2)
Dragon Gate wrapped up their 2023 today with the final event of the Fantastic Gate 2023 Tour, a hometown event for the promotion.
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 726, which sounds like a legit sellout.
Match 1: Kzy, BIGBOSS Shimizu & U-T beat Dragon Dia, Ryoya Tanaka & Kaito Nagano. Shimizu pinned Tanaka after BIGBOSS Press.
Match 2: Takashi Yoshida beat Problem Dragon.
Match 3: BxB Hulk, Shachihoko BOY, Kagetora & Punch Tominaga beat Ultimo Dragon, Don Fujii, Genki Horiguchi & Shuji Kondo. Kagetora pinned Horiguchi.
Match 4: Masaaki Mochizuki, Susumu Mochizuki & Yasushi Kanda vs. KAI, ISHIN & Yoshiki Kato went to a double countout.
Match 5: YAMATO & Naruki Doi beat Dragon Kid & Eita. YAMATO pinned Kid after Gallaria.
Main Event: Shun Skywalker won a 9 man battle royal, last eliminating JACKY “FUNKY” KAMEI. Participants included NEW Open The Dream Gate Champion Luis Mante
The 2024 schedule begins with the New Year Gate 2024 Tour, starting on 1/6 at Kyoto KBS Hall in Kyoto. Live streaming on DRAGONGATE NETWORK will begin at midnight PT/3 AM ET.
Additionally, ahead of the coming return of the promotion’s old PRIME ZONE series all episodes of the prior iteration are available FOR FREE on DRAGONGATE NETWORK for a limited time, no registration required.
UPDATE; Apparently Skywalker got a nice reward for winning the battle royal today-the first shot at Mante for the Open The Dream Gate Championship. That match will happen at THE GATE OF BAYSIDE 2024 on 1/27 at Yokohama Budokan in Yokohama.
UPDATE 2: Also added to 1/27 is NEW Open The Twin Gate Champions Kaito Kiyomiya & Alejandro vs. Jason Lee & JACKY “FUNKY” KAMEI for the titles. On 1/11 at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo will be NEW Open The Triangle Gate Champions KAI, ISHIN & Yoshiki Kato vs. Masaaki Mochizuki, Susumu Mochizuki & Yasushi Kanda for the titles and Hyo vs. Shun Skywalker in a NON-TITLE matchz
All-Japan News: Wrestler Leaving Promotion
All-Japan announced today that Takao Omori will be leaving the promotion after the next event on 12/31. Contract expiring and will not be renewed. This was Omori’s second stint in All-Japan, which began at the start of 2012 and he also served as a director until 2014. No word yet on future plans for the 54-year-old Omori, who has been active for over 31 years.
All-Japan News: WWE Wrestler Challenging For Triple Crown
In a story getting a lot of attention because it breaks from their tradition of just about never working with other promotions, WWE is sending a wrestler to All-Japan to start 2024, specifically NXT wrestler Charlie Dempsey who will challenge for the All-Japan Triple Crown on 1/3. Who is champion at that time will be determined on 12/31 when Katsuhiko Nakajima defends against Kento Miyahara.
This is actually the second time this year WWE has allowed a wrestler to go to Japan, the first was for Pro Wrestling NOAH’s 1/1 event when Shinsuke Nakamura was allowed to go back for a special match against Keiji Muto. It seems that William Regal, who returned to WWE Earlier this year after a couple years with All Elite Wrestling, played a part in making this happen…and he revealed for the first time in this announcement that Dempsey is his real-life son, so the pedigree should definitely be there. Dempsey will also participate in All-Japan’s 1/1 event..
Tokyo Joshi Pro 12/24/23 Results
Tokyo Joshi Pro wrapped up their 2023 with their annual Christmas event, “Se-No, Merry Christmas!”
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 365, a legit advance sellout.
There were last-minute changes to the card due to Hikari Noa being off the event (illness). Nao Kakuta also missed the event due to a scheduled stage performance.
During the opening announcements, it was announced that Runa Okubo will be temporarily leaving the promotion after the 1/4 event. High school entrance exams (students in Japan have to take and pass exams before they can begin high school, which typically is at age 15 or 16. Okubo is 15). She plans to return in March.
Match 1: Suzume beat Toga.
Match 2: Mahiro Kiryu beat Haru Kazashiro & Arisu Endo in a 3-way by pinning Kazashiro.
Match 3: Maki Itoh & Yuki Kamifuku beat Wakana Uehara & Shino Suzuki. Itoh beat Suzuki with Itoh Deluxe.
Match 4: In a Holy Night Miracle Rules Match, a comedy match with special rules requested from Santa in advance, Hyper Misao, Yuki Aino & Pom Harajuku beat Mizuki, HIMAWARI & Runa Okubo. Aino pinned HIMAWARI after Venus DDT. The special rules were a bell in a sock was placed in a corner and if it was rung during a Christmas song being played, those rules were lifted. The rules chosen by the teams were 2 count falls only for Mizuki’s team and no Mizuki participation for Misao’s team.
Main Event: Rika Tatsumi, Miu Watanabe, Raku & Moka Miyamoto beat Miyu Yamashita, Shoko Nakajima, Yuki Arai & Kaya Toribami. Miyamoto pinned Toribami after Korokan. Afterwards, all of today’s participants gathered in the ring for the final send-off and to wish all the fans a Merry Christmas.
This concludes 2023 for Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling, a year in which, just a few weeks ago, they celebrated their 10th Anniversary and successfully continued their expansion efforts outside Japan, including returns to the USA and other parts of Asia, which will continue into 2024 and beyond as they move into a brighter post-pandemic future.
The next event is “Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling ’24”, their 2024 opening event, on 1/4 at Korakuen Hall. Live streaming on WRESTLE UNIVERSE in Japanese and English will begin on 1/3 at 5:45 PM PT/8:45 PM ET and live results will be posted. Despite more matches and a longer running time than planned, the event will be over in plenty of time for fans to get to, or prepare to watch, New Japan’s Tokyo Dome blowout event (starting at 11:30 PM PT/2:30 AM ET).
Dragon Gate 12/24/23 Results (Updated)
Dragon Gate’s final blowout event of 2023, THE FINAL GATE 2023, is now in the books.
Today’s event was held at Fukuoka International Center in Fukuoka and will be available on demand on DRAGONGATE NETWORK tomorrow at 5 PM PT/8 PM ET. The event was streamed live on the service but on demand availability is delayed due to broadcast rights.
The paid attendance has not yet been announced. (UPDATE: The announced paid attendance was 2286)
Match 1: Jason Lee, U-T & JACKY “FUNKY” KAMEI beat Ryoya Tanaka, Kaito Nagano & Shachihoko BOY. KAMEI pinned Tanaka after “JACKY” Knife. BOY was a late replacement for the absent Daiki Yanagiuchi (illness).
Match 2: Open The Brave Gate Champion Hyo beat Genki Horiguchi to retain the title. V2 for Hyo.
Match 3: Masaaki Mochizuki, Susumu Mochizuki & Yasushi Kanda beat Don Fujii, Kagetora & Problem Dragon. Masaaki Mochizuki pinned Dragon after Twister.
Match 4: Kzy, BIGBOSS Shimizu, Strong Machine J & Naruki Doi beat Ultimo Dragon, BxB Hulk, Dragon Dia & Shuji Kondo. J pinned Hulk with Machine Suplex. The teams for this match were determined by random draw at the event.
Match 5: KAI, ISHIN & Yoshiki Kato beat Open The Triangle Gate Champions YAMATO, Dragon Kid & Punch Tominaga to win the titles. KAI, ISHIN & Kato become the 88th Open The Triangle Gate Champions. Kato pinned Tominaga after Cadere Luna.
Match 6: Kaito Kiyomiya & Alejandro (Pro Wrestling NOAH) beat Open The Twin Gate Champions Ben-K & Kota Minoura to win the titles. Kiyomiya & Alejandro become the 65th Open The Twin Gate Champions. Kiyomiya pinned Minoura after Transformed Shining Wizard.
Main Event: Luis Mante beat Open The Dream Gate Champion Madoka Kikuta & Shun Skywalker in a 3-way elimination match to win the title. Mante becomes the 38th Open The Dream Gate Champion. Skywalker DQ’d first then Mante pinned Kikuta. What a turnaround for Mante, who began the year as Diamante then left for several months after losing his mask this summer, returned under a new unmasked identity and now has won the top title in the promotion.
The next event, their final event of the year, is Tuesday at Kobe Sambo Hall in Kobe. Live streaming on DRAGONGATE NETWORK will begin at 1 AM PT/4 AM ET.
BREAKING: New Japan 1/4/24 Full Card Announced
The countdown is on now…just 12 days to New Japan’s annual 1/4 year-opening spectacular at the Tokyo Dome, and the promotion has just announced the full card for the biggest Japanese pro wrestling event of the year. The full lineup is as follows (in order):
New Japan Ranbo. Battle Royal with an undetermined number of entrants. The last 4 left win and advance to a 4-way on 1/5/24 to determine the first KOPW 2024 Champion
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Clark Connors & Drilla Moloney vs. Francesco Akira & TJP for the titles
NJPW WORLD TV Champion Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi for the title
Yota Tsuji vs. Yuya Uemura
Kaito Kiyomiya (Pro Wrestling NOAH) & Shota Umino vs. Ren Narita & EVIL (*)
NEVER Openweight Champion Shingo Takagi vs. Tama Tonga for the title
IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Champions YOSHI-HASHI & Hirooki Goto vs. STRONG Tag Team Champions Hikuleo & El Phantasmo for the titles (both titles)
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Hiromu Taakahashi vs. El Desperado for the title
Will Ospreay vs. Jon Moxley & David Finlay in a 3-way for the IWGP Global Championship
Kazuchika Okada vs. Bryan Danielson (All Elite Wrestling)
IWGP World Heavyweight Champion SANADA vs. Tetsuya Naito for the title
(*)-New Japan’s English website says it’s Kiyomiya & Ryohei Oiwa vs. Narita & EVIL but the match graphic and preview description says it’s Umino. I’m 100% certain it’s Kiyomiya & Umino and not Oiwa.
DDT 12/24/23 Results (Updated)
DDT runs their penultimate event of 2023 today and will finish up the preliminary round of the D KING GP 2023 as well. It’s gotten a little less dramatic because today’s lineup has become decimated by injury and illness and that will affect the tournament, namely Block B-Rei Saito was in a must-win situation today but got gifted a free win because opponent Chris Brookes is out doe to injury/illness (malignant tumor in abdomen). And before a must-win for both that screwed MAO because he now can’t advance to the Final even if he beats Yukio Naya because of tiebreakers (he lost to Saito). So Naya advances if he wins, Saito advances if MAO wins or it’s a draw. Yusuke Okada is also out due to illness and Yuki Ishida, just after coming back from injury, is back on the shelf again long-term. There is plenty of other stuff happening today but the focus is the tournament: In Block A, 4 still have a chance to advance so it almost certainly will come down to tiebreakers after the matches unless the simplest scenario occurs, that’s Kazusada Higuchi winning to advance. But if it’s Yuki Ueno & Daisuke Sasaki tied at the top *should both win and Higuchi lose), things get interesting because their match result was a draw.
Today’s event will be held at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo and can be watched LIVE on WRESTLE UNIVERSE in Japanese. Japanese actor Takumi Momose will be a special guest on commentary. There are 2 title matches although one is for the DDT Iron Man Heavymetalweight Championship, and I think they’ll want to be done in time for viewers to switch over to Tokyo Joshi Pro’s event later today so I anticipate the total running time being 2 1/2 to 3 hours.
Today’s lineup:
Yukio Sakaguchi & Rukiya vs. MJ Paul & KANON
Battle Royal for the DDT Iron Man Heavymetalweight Championship. Participants announced so far: Toru Owashi, Sanshiro Takagi, Kazuki Hirata, Kazuma Sumi, Akito, TBA (open recruitment slots), presumably Great Koji (current champion-supposedly is really Toi Kojima)
Rei Saito vs. Hideki Okatani
KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Champions Jun Akiyama, Danshoku DIeno & Makoto Oishi vs. Masa Takanashi, Antonio Honda & Takeshi Masada for the titles
D KING GP:
Block B: MAO vs. Yukio Naya. Naya advances with win. Otherwise Saito advances
Block A: Daisuke Sasaki vs. HARASHIMA. Sasaki must win
Block A: Yuki Ueno vs. Yuki Iino. Ueno must win
Block A: Tetsuya Endo vs. Kazusada Higuchi. Higuchi advances with win
Refresh this page occasionally for the latest results.
Updates below will begin at 6:30 PM PT/9:30 PM ET.
6:23 PM PT UPDATE: Live updates begin now…
We are LIVE from Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan. Yours hosts are Haruo Murata, Kagehiro Osano and special guest Takumi Momose.
The paid attendance will be announced after the event. The crowd is still filing in but they’re using their usual reduced capacity setup opposite hard-camera and it’s Christmas Eve so that may keep the crowd down (although the Tokyo Joshi Pro event after this is now a legit advance sellout). I’ll estimate it’ll be around 500. (UPDATE: The announced paid attendance was 761, a full house/near sellout)
The matches should begin in about 15 minutes.
The matches begin at 6:33 PM PT.
Match 1: Yukio Sakaguchi & Rukiya vs. MJ Paul & KANON. 30 minute time limit
Result: MJ Paul & KANON beat Yukio Sakaguchi & Rukiya. KANON beat Rukiya with a cobra twist.
Match 2: (At least a 7 man) Battle Royal for the DDT Iron Man Heavymetalweight Championship. Staggered entry. Over the top rope elimination rules in effect. No time limit. Participants (order of entry): Kazuki Hirata, Toru Owashi, Akito, Kazuma Sumi, Sanshiro Takagi, DDT Iron Man Heavymetalweight Champion Great Koji (Toi Kojima), Poison Sawada JULIE
Order of elimination: Akito by Takagi, Sumi by Takagi, Hirata by Takagi, Takagi by JULIE, Kojima by JULIE to win the title, JULIE by Owashi to win the title
Result: Toru Owashi wins to win the title, last liminating Poison Sawada JULIE who beat Great Koji to win the title. JULIE became the 1597th Champion. Owashi becomes the 1598th Champion. And inadvertently left without the title belt so GM IMabayashi had to retrieve it and run after him.
Your new host is Ken Kato for now.
Match 3: Rei Saito (All-Japan) vs. Hideki Okatani. 30 minute time limit
Result: Rei Saito beat Hideki Okatani. Glorified squash.
Match 4: KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Champions Jun Akiyama, Danshoku DIeno & Makoto Oishi vs. Masa Takanashi, Antonio Honda & Takeshi Masada for the titles. 1 Hour time limit
Result: KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Champions Jun Akiyama, Danshoku Dieno & Makoto Oishi beat Masa Takanashi, Antonio Honda & Takeshi Masada to retain the titles. Oishi pinned Honda with a rollup after reversing a rollup. V1 for the champs.
Quick break for GM Imabayashi’s opening-at-mid-event announcements.
D KING GP 2023 Block B: Rei Saito beat Chris Brookes by forfeit (withdrawal-injury).
Match 5: D KING GP 2023 Block B; MAO vs. Yukio Naya. If Naya wins, he wins Block B and advances to the Finals. If MAO wins or it’s a draw, Rei Saito advances. 30 minute time limit
Result: Yukio Naya beat MAO. As a result, Naya wins Block B and advances to the Finals. Naya had the tiebreaker over Saito by winning their match. He will face the Block A winner on 1/4/24.
Match 6: D KING GP 2023 Block A: Daisuke Sasaki vs. HARASHIMA. Sasaki must win. 30 minute time limit
Result: HARASHIMA beat Daisuke Sasaki. Sasaki is OUT. That means Yuki Ueno can now win Block A with a win AND Kazusada Higuchi loss.
Match 7: D KING GP 2023 Block A: Yuki Ueno vs. Yuki Iino. Ueno must win. 30 minute time limit
Result: Yuki Iino beat Yuki Ueno. As a result, the main event winner wins Block A.
Main Event: D KING GP 2023 Block A: Kazusada Higuchi vs. Tetsuya Endo. The winner wins Block A (Endo would have tiebreaker with a win). If it’s a draw, Higuchi wins Block A. 30 minute time limit
Result: Tetsuya Endo beat Kazusada Higuchi. As a result, Endo wins Block A and will face Naya in the Finals.
Afterwards, Naya, who had been watching from one of the entrances, came to the ring to join Endo and GM Imabayashi in the ring. Promo time.
The Final is on 1/3.
After all this, “All I Want For Christmas Is You” by Mariah Carey is played as the roster comes out in Santa outfits, hats and more with goody bags filled with candy and goodies to be thrown into the crowd. Referee Dsiauke Kiso even brings out a small tree. Kazuki Hirata with microphone to deliver Christmas greetings & wishes to the fans. And then he attacked Toru Owashi with the tree! Which led to…
The Christmas Tree beat DDT Iron Man Heavymetalweight Champion Toru Owashi to win the title. The Tree becomes the 1599th Champion. The entire roster made the pinfall, but the tree was directly on top of Owashi and declared the champion. Takagi with microphone. He said a few year-end words before handing off to Ueno for the KO-D Openweight Champion’s send-off. He had the fans all stand and led the roster in a shout of “Merry Christmas, Thank You!” followed by a 2023 highlight video to end the event with the final sendoff: Thank You To DDT Universe And Have A Happy New Year!
The next event is 12/31 with a year-end 1-day 6-man tag team tournament. There will be no live broadcast (unusual because it’s at Korakuen). Before commentary signed off to end the broadcast, it was announced that SKE48 member Marika Tani will return as a guest on commentary for the 1/3 event.
UPDATE: In post-match backstage comments shared on the socials, Daisuke Sasaki claimed he was going to retire. Maybe in a year. We shall see if anything comes of this.