Tag: pro wrestling

Injury Report: Another Major Scare Today (Updated)

At today’s Big Japan Pro Wrestling event at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, there was a major scare as Daisuke Sekimoto, a veteran who is a “pure” wrestler in the mostly hardcore/deathmatch-oriented promotion and appears regularly in other promotions, was injured after hitting a swinging DDT in a tag match and he went down and did not move. The match was immediately stopped and Sekimoto was rushed to an emergency room, where he was examined and reported numbness in his arms & neck. Fortunately initial scans revealed no abnormalities, paralysis or serious neck/spinal cord injuries and, according to a social media post by Big Japan, Sekimoto reportedly has been or will be discharged today and will visit a hospital in Yokohama for further examination. The numbness was mild and should go away in time and he had movement in all extremities.

I join other wrestlers and fans in sending prayers and beat wishes to Sekimoto for a full and speedy recovery.

UPDATE: Big Japan’s latest update as of 5/31/25: Sekimoto is home and will undergo further examinations at a hospital in Yokohama on 6/2 (Monday) Japan time. He will be out at least a month and they will consult with doctors regarding his status for July and beyond, with his health a top priority.

New Japan 5/29/25 Results

New Japan ran the penultimate event of Best Of The Super Junior today, finishing up Block B.

Today’s event was held at Region Plaza Joetsu in Niigata and can be watched on demand on New Japan World.

The paid attendance has not been announced.

Match 1: Dragon Dia, Ninja Mack & KUSHIDA beat Daiki Nagai, Masatora Yasuda & Shoma Kato. KUSHIDA beat Yasuda with a hoverboard lock.

Match 2: Yujiro Takahashi, Ren Narita & Yoshinobu Kanemaru beat Katsuya Murashima, Toru Yano & Master Wato. Narita beat Murashima with a knee lock.

Match 3: Yota Tsuji & Hiromu Takahashi beat Jacob Austin Young & Francesco Akira. Tsuji pinned Young after Gene Blaster.

Match 4: Hartley Jackson, Ryohei Oiwa & Kosei Fujita beat Gedo, Robbie X & Clark Connors. Fujita pinned Gedo with Neshin Special.

Beat Of The Super Junior Block B:
Match 5: Kevin Knight beat Ryusuke Taguchi.
Match 6: Titan beat Nick Wayne.
Match 7: MAO beat Sho.
Match 8: El Desperado beat Robbie Eagles by submission.
Main Event: Yoh beat Taiji Ishimori. As a result, Yoh wins Block B on tiebreakers (he beat both MAO and Desperado) and advances to the Finals to face Fujita.

The Final is Sunday at Ota City General Gym in Tokyo. Live streaming on New Japan World will begin at 2:30 AM PT/5:30 AM ET.

Injury Report: TJPW Triple Whammy (Updated)

Tokyo Joshi Pro has announced a trio of injury issues but one is actually an update from prior news-first the update: Kira Summer has not been recovering as well as hoped for from a left thigh bruise, or a henatoma in her words. Out another 4 weeks. Expected back in late June. Also now out of action is the most concerning-Hyper Misao, half of the Princess Tag Team Champions. Right elbow. Out at least a month. Also expected back in late June. Finally, Neko Haruna is out of action again. Knee. Out indefinitely. Changes for this weekend’s events have been announced. Summer’s absence means her Tokyo Princess Cup Qualifier match this weekend against Wakana Uehara has been POSTPONED. But if she can’t return in a certain timeframe Uehara would win by forfeit. Also off this weekend’s events are Raku (competing in Thailand) and Yuki Kamifuku (off Saturday only-appearance in Singapore).

More as it becomes available.

Also in unrelated TJPW news, it was decided that Konatsu, who will debut Sunday vs. Suzume, will have the ring name Ren Konatsu. For this weekend there is no live broadcast Saturday but WRESTLE UNIVERSE will have a live broadcast Sunday (starts Saturday at 8 PM PT/11 PM ET.

UPDATE: It was just announced by TJPW that you will also be able to watch Sunday’s live broadcast FOR FREE on YouTube. This will be for the live event only, on demand will only be available on WRESTLE UNIVERSE.

News: Another Tag Team For Eternity! (Updated)

And an interesting one at that-according to social media posts in Japanese & English by DDT, and subsequent reactions from fellow wrestlers, wrestling’s newest married couple is a really interesting pairing-Yuka Sakazaki & Konosuke Takeshita have tied the knot. Neither has posted about it but both shared posts from DDT’s Japanese account and Takeshita replied to comments by fellow DDT wrestler Jun Akiyama sending congratulations to the new couple. Both currently are in All Elite Wrestling but Takeshita also continues to compete in New Japan and occasionally DDT. It’s not yet known how long they were together before tying the knot.

Congratulations and best wishes to the new couple for a long and happy life together, both inside and outside the ring. Now to think of cleverly bad tag team names for them…and hope the Magical Girl stays out of the clutches of The Callous Hand Of Don too…

UPDATE: Japanese wrestling news site Puroresu Today has posted an article that includes Instagram posts from both Takeshita and Sakazaki announcing their marriage. Each posted a different photo of them together with Takeshita’s (I think) pet dog and the same photo of them making handprints in wet sand on the beach. Check out the article below (in Japanese):

KONOSUKE TAKESHITAが坂崎ユカとの結婚を報告

New Japan 5/27/25 Results (Updated)

New Japan continued the Best Of The Super Junior today with the final day of Block A., which would determine who advanced to the Finals. (I previously stated the top 2 in each block would make the Finals. That was incorrect as I found out today only the winner of each block advances this year)

Today’s event was held at Kira Messe Numazu in Shizuoka and can be watched on demand on New Japan World.

The announced paid attendance was 668.

Match 1: Yota Tsuji & Titan beat Daiki Nagai & Nick Wayne. Tsuji pinned Nagai after Gene Blaster.

Match 2: Yujiro Takahashi & Sho beat Shoma Kato & MAO. Takahashi pinned Kato after Pimp Juice.

Match 3: Toru Yano & El Desperado beat Hartley Jackson & Robbie Eagles. Yano pinned Jackson.

Match 4: Tiger Mask & Yoh beat Gedo & Taiji Ishimori. Yoh beat Gedo with Anaconda Vice.

Best Of The Super Junior Block A:
Match 5: Ninja Mack beat Dragon Dia.
Match 6: Francesco Akira beat KUSHIDA.
Match 7: Yoshinobu Kanemaru beat Master Wato by submission.
Match 8: Kosei Fujita beat Clark Connors.
Main Event: Robbie X beat Hiromu Takahashi. As a result, Fujita wins Block A on tiebreakers and advances to the Finals. It was a 5-way tie but he beat everyone in the tie.

The final day of Block B, with a potentially similar tiebreaker scenario, is Thursday at Region Plaza Joetsu in Niigata. Live streaming on New Japan World will begin at 2:30 AM PT/5:30 AM ET.

UPDATE: In post-event comments via New Japan’s English website, Robbie X announced he wants to be the first challenger to Fujita if he wins the BOSJ and, subsequently, the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship. We’ll see. When the winner gets the title shot is TBA but I’m thinking DOMINION on 6/15.

BREAKING: New Japan TAMASHII Gets First Titles

In a news post a short tome ago, New Japan announced the first title for its TAMASHII sub-brand based in and focused on Australia, New Zealand and the Oceania region. The TAMASHII Tag Team Championship will be first awarded at the next event on 7/4 in Mangere, New Zealand via a one-night tournament to crown inaugural champions. Participants TBA but the event poster suggests at least a 4-team tournament.

More as it becomes available.

Pro Wrestling NOAH 5/26/25 Results (Updated)

Pro Wrestling NOAH kicked off a new season of MONDAY MAGIC today, this one dubbed a “Prime Time” season.

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

The announced paid attendance was 412.

Match 1: Dragon Bane vs. Alpha Wolf went to a 10 minute time limit draw.

Match 2: Manabu Soya, Saxon Huxley & HAYATA beat Shuji Ishikawa, Mohammed Yone & Eita. Soya pinned Yone after Ballistic.

Match 3: Archer Cole (?) beat Daiki Odashima.

Match 4: AMAKUSA beat YO-HEY & Alejandro in a 3-way by pinning Alejandro.

Match 5: Kouki Amarei & Mayu Iwatani beat Great Sakuya & Sadie Gibbs. Iwatani pinned Gibbs with a dragon suplex hold. Well that didn’t take long…now that she’s left Stardom for Marigold, and thus the CyberFight/WRESTLE UNIVERSE umbrella, Iwatani has already made her first NOAH appearance (or first in at least a long time).

Match 6: Naomichi Marufuji beat Hikaru Sato.

Main Event: Kaito Kiyomiya & Titus Alexander beat Minoru Suzuki & Ryan Clancy. Kiyomiya pinned Clancy after Skywalk Elbow.

Episode 2 is 6/2. Announced for that event are GHC Hardcore Champion Shuji Ishikawa vs. Manabu Soya for the title and GHC Women’s Champion Kouki Amarei vs. Takumi Iroha for the title (2nd defense for those wondering, I believe part of the limited activity with the title this year has been Amarei injuries). Live streaming on WRESTLE UNIVERSE will begin at 3 AM PT/6 AM ET.

UPDATE: The promotion has announced this episode is now the most-watched MONDAY MAGIC episode ever on WRESTLE UNIVERSE. At least to date.

New Japan 5/25/25 Results

New Japan continued the Best Of The Super Junior today in Nagoya.

Today’s event was held at Port Messe Nagoya Exhibition Hall 2 in Nagoya and can be watched on demand on New Japan World. This also aired on an unknown TV channel in Japan.

The announced paid attendance was 1404.

All matches were Best Of The Super Junior matches, 30 minute time limit.

Match 1: Block B: Robbie Eagles beat Ryusuke Taguchi.
Match 2: Block A: KUSHIDA beat Yoshinobu Kanemaru.
Match 3: Block B: Yoh beat Titan.
Match 4: Block A: Dragon Dia beat Robbie X.
Match 5: Block B: MAO beat Nick Wayne.
Match 6: Block A: Ninja Mack beat Kosei Fujita.
Match 7: Block B: Sho beat Taiji Ishimori.
Match 8: Block A: Clark Connors beat Francesco Akira by DQ. Chair use.
Match 9: Block B: El Desperado beat Kevin Knight.
Main Event: Block A: Hiromu Takahashi beat Master Wato.

Standings:
Block A:
1-Takahashi, 5-3, 10 pts
2-Wato, 5-3, 10 pts
3-Connors, 5-3, 10 pts
4-Fujita, 4-4, 8 pts
5-KUSHIDA, 4-4, 8 pts (OUT)
6-Akira, 4-4, 8 pts (OUT)
7-Dia, 4-4, 8 pts (OUT)
8-Mack, 3-5, 6 pts (OUT)
9-X, 3-5, 6 pts (OUT)
10-Kanemaru, 3-5, 6 pts (OUT)

Block B:
1-Yoh, 5-3, 10 pts
2-Desperado, 5-3, 10 pts
3-MAO, 5-3, 10 pts
4-Sho, 4-4, 8 pts
5-Wayne, 4-4, 8 pts (OUT)
6-Eagles, 4-4, 8 pts (OUT)
7-Ishimori, 4-4, 8 pts (OUT)
8-Taguchi, 3-5, 6 pts (OUT)
9-Knight, 3-5, 6 pts (OUT)
10-Titan, 3-5, 6 pts (OUT)
The top 2 in each block advance to the Finals. In Block A, a spot is Takahashi’s to lose-he just has to win his final match (X) to advance. Connors has the advantage among the rest, only needing to beat Fujita to advance on tiebreakers. Wato must win (Kanemaru) and needs Fujita to beat Connors to advance. Fujita must beat Connors and Takahashi & Wato must lose to advance on tiebreakers. Everyone else is out due to tiebreakers. In Block B, Yoh advances with a win in his last match (Ishimori), and Desperado will advance with a win (Eagles). MAO must win (Sho) and Yoh and/or Desperado must lose to advance because MAO loses tiebreaker to both. Sho must beat MAO and Yoh must lose and Desperado must win or draw to advance on tiebreakers (Sho beat MAO and Yoh but lost to Desperado). Everyone else is out.

The final day of Block A is Tuesday at Kira Messe Numazu in Shizuoka. Live streaming on New Japan World will begin at 2:30 AM PT/5:30 AM ET.

DDT Pro Wrestling “KING OF DDT 2025 FINAL!!” LIVE Results (5/25/25) (Updated x2)

DDT wraps up the annual KING OF DDT Tournament today with the Semifinals and Finals. The first of DDT’s 2 annual single tournaments, this one is single-elimination and is down to the Final 4, which this year are Kazusada Higuchi, Yuki Ueno, KANON & Hideki Okatani. They’ll face off early today in the Semifinals then the winners will meet in the main event for a KO-D Openweight Championship shot. The undercard is highlighted by a DDT Universal Championship match as Minoru Suzuki defends against Danshoku Dieno.

Today’s event will be held at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo and can be watched LIVE on WRESTLE UNIVERSE in Japanese. Comedian Layla Ikeda will be a guest on commentary. Since the tournament matches are no time limit and with the title match this will probably run a little longer than a normal Korakuen event so I’ll predict the running time will be about 3 hours.

Today’s lineup:
Chris Brookes, Antonio Honda & Takeshi Masada vs. Daisuke Sasaki, MJ Paul & Illusion
KING OF DDT Semifinals:
Kazusada Higuchi vs. Yuki Ueno
Hideki Okatani vs. KANON
HARASHIMA & Kazuki Hirata vs. Akito & Yuya Koroku, Toru Owashi & Yuki Ishida and Yuni & Kazuma Sumi in a 4-way
Jun Akiyama, Yukio Naya & Daichi Sato vs. Shinya Aoki, Shunma Katsumata & To-y
DDT Universal Champion Minoru Suzuki vs. Danshoku Dieno for the title
KING OF DDT Finals (Higuchi/Ueno vs. Okatani/KANON)

Refresh this page occasionally for the latest results.

Updates below will begin at 7:30 PM PT/10:30 PM ET. The live stream is scheduled to begin 25 minutes before the event (the broadcast from the venue will probably begin 10 minutes before the event).

7:05 PM PT UPDATE: The live stream has begun. We should be going to the venue in about 15 minutes.

7:15 PM PT UPDATE: Live updates begin now.

We are LIVE from Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan. Your hosts are Satoshi Dairaku, Kagehiro Osano & Layla Ikeda. We should be joined later by Haruo Murata.

The paid attendance will not be announced after the event as DDT stopped doing that at the beginning of the year. Late-arriving crowd and it didn’t seem too affected by sumo (the final day of the May Tournament is in progress) so my guess is the attendance would’ve been around 1000).

The matches should begin in about 25 minutes.

NwA Jr. comes out 5 minutes before start time for their opening performance.

The matches begin at 7:37 PM PT/10:37 PM ET.

Match 1: Chris Brookes, Antonio Honda & Takeshi Masada vs. Daisuke Sasaki, MJ Paul & Illusion. 30 minute time limit
Match 1: Chris Brookes, Antonio Honda & Takeshi Masada beat Daisuke Sasaki, MJ Paul & Illusion. Honda pinned Illusion with a Japanese leg roll clutch hold.

Match 2: KING OF DDT Semifinals: Kazusada Higuchi vs. Yuki Ueno. No time limit
Result: Kazusada Higuchi beat Yuki Ueno. As a result, Higuchi advances to the Finals.

Match 3: KING OF DDT Semifinals: Hideki Okatani vs. KANON. No time limit
Result: KANON beat Hideki Okatani. As a result, KANON advances to the Finals.

This means the Finals (main event) will be Higuchi vs. KANON.

Your new host is Haruo Murata, taking over for Satoshi Dairaku.

Match 4: HARASHIMA & Kazuki Hirata vs. Akito & Yuya Koroku, Toru Owashi & Yuki Ishida and Yuni & Kazuma Sumi in a 4-way. 30 minute time limit
Result: Akito & Yuya Koroku beat HARASHIMA & Kazuki Hirata, Toru Owashi & Yuki Ishida and Yuni & Kazuma Sumi in a 4-way when Koroku beat Sumi.

Haruto Sakuraba promo (pre-recorded video). He next competes on 7/13 and it sounds like he wants KANON.

Match 5: Jun Akiyama, Yukio Naya & Daichi Sato vs. Shinya Aoki, Shunma Katsumata & To-y. 30 minute time limit
Result: Shinya Aoki, Shunma Katsumata & To-y beat Jun Akiyama, Yukio Naya & Daichi Sato. Aoki pinned Sato.

Match 6: DDT Universal Champion Minoru Suzuki vs. Danshoku Dieno for the title. 1 Hour time limit
Result: DDT Universal Champion Minoru Suzuki beat Danshoku Dieno to retain the title. V2 for Suzuki. Next up: Pass the throat lozenges…Aoki. Cauliflower ear and all which I noticed his left ear is when the camera got close up. GM Imabayashi makes it official. That match will happen on 6/28 at the next Korakuen (not counting the New Japan-DDT Toru Yano vs. Super Sasadango Machine crossover PPV on 6/8.

Main Event: KING OF DDT Finals: Kazusada Higuchi vs. KANON. No time limit
Result: Kazusada Higuchi beat KANON to win the tournament. As a result, Higuchi will get a KO-D Openweight Championship shot in the future. But no hints dropped as to when as it wasn’t mentioned and no Brookes appearance during the Higuchi promo.

The next event is a BBQ Street Pro Wrestling mini-event Wednesday at Kirana Garden Toyosu in Tokyo. This event is weather permitting due to being outdoors. There will be no live broadcast. That will be followed by a special free mini-event/variety event on 5/31 at a JR Train Station stop in Tokyo including a special talk show event with Saki Akai.

The next “actual” event is 6/1 at Chunichi Hall in Nagoya with a KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Championship match. Live streaming on WRESTLE UNIVERSE will begin at 1 AM PT/4 AM ET.

UPDATE: Correction to Suzuki-Aoki note above: That match will actually happen on 7/13, not 6/28. 7/13 is also at Korakuen.
After their win in the 4-way, Koroku issues a KO-D Tag Team Championship challenge on behalf of himself & Akito. They got it. That match will happen on 6/7 at Club eX in Shinagawa Prince Hotel when they face champions Takuya Nomura & Fuminori Abe for the titles.

UPDATE 2: Brookes-Higuchi for the title is now official. That match will happen on 6/29.

Tokyo Joshi Pro 5/24/25 Results (Updated)

Tokyo Joshi Pro continued their spring house show tour today in Shizuoka with a hometown event for Shino Suzuki.

Today’s event was held at Shimizu Marine Building in Shizuoka and will be available on demand on WRESTLE UNIVERSE Tuesday. There was no live broadcast.

The announced paid attendance was 232, a full house/near sellout.

There were some late changes to the card due to Kira Summer being removed a couple days prior. Leg/thigh injury (she is recovering well but advised by doctors to rest due to heat/humidity aggravating it).

Match 1: Toga beat Mifu Ashida.

Match 2: Raku beat Mahiro Kiryu & Ivy Steele in a 3-way by pinning Steele.

Match 3: Yuki Arai & Moka Miyamoto beat Yoshiko Hasegawa & Chika Nanase. Miyamoto beat Nanase with Rashomon.

Match 4: Rika Tatsumi beat Pom Harajuku by submission.

Match 5: Suzume & Arisu Endo beat Maki Itoh & Uta Takami. Suzume pinned Takami after Ring A Bell.

Match 6: Shoko Nakajima, Yuki Aino & Neko Haruna beat Kaya Toribami, Wakana Uehara & HIMAWARI. Nakajima pinned HIMAWARI with a Northern Lights suplex hold.

Main Event: Mizuki & Haru Kazashiro beat Shino Suzuki & Miu Watanabe. Mizuki pinned Suzuki with Cutie Special.

The next event is 5/31 at Coconeri Hall in Tokyo with Suzume vs. Yoshiko Hasegawa for the International Princess Championship. There will be no live broadcast. On demand on 6/3. 5/31 will also be the first chance for fans to buy Sayuri Namba’s upcoming photobook which will be released on that date. It will also be available in digital form on Amazon which means hopefully fans outside Japan can buy it too (Namba says that will be possible).

In other news, the matches and entrants for the upcoming Tokyo Princess Cup Tournament are set. Today drawings were held for qualifier matches to fill 4 of the 16 entries, which will be a tournament itself starting with 16 entrants. The 8 winners will advance then another drawing will be held to determine 4 more single matches, with the winners of those 4 matches getting into the tournament. Those initial 8 matches are as follows: Toribami vs. nanase, HIMAWARI vs. Ashida, Toga vs. Steele, Kazashiro vs. Kinatsu (debuting soon, tentative name), Uehara vs. Summer, Harajuku vs. Haruna, Kiryu vs. Miyamoto and Suzuki vs. Takami. Already in as announced before: Mizuki, Nakajima, Hyper Misao, Suzume, Yuki Kamifuku, Raku, Miyu Yamashita, Tatsumi, Watanabe, Aino, Endo, Arai. The only one not in this year? Maki Itoh because of scheduled overseas expeditions during the tournament.
The qualifier matches will be held on 5/31, 6/7, 6/21 & 6/22 followed by the second round of qualifiers on 7/5 & 7/8. The official tournament matches will be held on 7/27 (Round 1), 8/2 (Round 1), 8/9 (Quarterfinals), 8/17 (Semifinals) and 8/23 (Finals). The winner presumably will get a Princess Of Princess Championship match, likely at WRESTLE PRINCESS 6 on 9/19 at Ota City General Gym in Tokyo, unless it’s the current champion (it may not be current champion Mizuki).

UPDATE: It was announced afterwards that Konatsu, the next new trainee, will debut on 6/1 vs. Suzume. If Suzume retains the International Princess Championship on 5/31 it will be a NON-TITLE match. Also announced is that Raku will miss 6/1 due to an excursion to Thailand to compete in Setup Pro Wrestling.