Tokyo Joshi Pro holds their annual Golden Week blowout event today, one of their most important events of the year (right up there with GRAND PRINCESS and WRESTLE PRINCESS in scale). Usually there would be 3 title matches at such an event but because TJPW has a double champion there are just 2 (I wouldn’t have minded making Mizuki defend two titles on one day, but then again I don’t like her and want her to lose) so it’s just the singles titles with Mizuki defending the Princess Of Princess Chmpionship against foreigner Sawyer Wreck in the main event. The co-main has International Princess Champion Rika Tatsumi defending against Suzume, who steps up for the biggest match of her career so far. Other highlights of the event include a Yuki Arai 2nd Anniversary Match, as the SKE48 member teams with, oddly enough, Maki Itoh (whi does not like Arai at all) against Yuka Sakazaki & Shoko Nakajima. Juria Nagano, who is out of action due to injury, will be a special guest on commentary today.
Today’s event will be held at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo and can be watched LIVE on WRESTLE UNIVERSE in Japanese and English. You can also watch the first 2 matches FOR FREE on YouTube. The Japanese commentary tram will be Haruo Murata, Kagehiro Osano, Sayoko Mita & Juria Nagano. The English commentary team will be Chris Brookes (DDT) & Drew Parker. The opening announcements will begin 5 minutes before event time and they’ve already announced on Twitter to expect the main event beginning 2 hours in so I anticipate the event’s royal running time being about 2 1/2 hours. They also have a post-event party set at Ryogoku KFC Hall after the event. (They are on a strict clock today because there is a Ganbare Pro event a few hours after this one)
Today’s lineup (in order):
HIMAWARI vs. Shino Suzuki
Hyper Misao, Haru Kazashiro & Runa Okubo vs. Raku, Pom Harajuku & Neko Haruna
Yuki Kamifuku & Wakana Uehara vs. Mahiro Kiryu & Toga
Ryo Mizunami, Moka Miyamoto & Kaya Toribami vs. Hikari Noa, Nao Kakuta & Yuki Aino
Miu Watanabe vs. Arisu Endo
Yuki Arai & Maki Itoh vs. Yuka Sakazaki & Shoko Nakajima
International Princess Champion Rika Tatsumi vs. Suzume for the title
Princess Of Princess Champion Mizuki vs. Sawyer Wreck for the title
Refresh this page occasionally for the latest results.
Updates below will begin at 7 PM PT/10 PM ET. The matches should begin around 7:45 PM PT with the opening announcements at 7:25 PM PT. The YouTube broadcast will begin at 7:15 PM PT/10:15 PM ET and will go through the end of Match 2.
7 PM PT UPDATE: The live stream has begun. We should be going to the venue in about 15 minutes. Updates will resume at that time.
7:15 PM PT UPDATE: Live updates begin now…
We are LIVE from Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan. Your hosts are Haruo Murata, Kagehiro Osano, Sayoko Mita & Juria Nagano. Your English hosts are Chris Brookes & Drew Parker.
The paid attendance will be announced after the event. This is the first time they have been able to run Korakuen at full capacity post-pandemic although the seating behind Japanese commentary is curtained off (English commentary is elsewhere) but hopefully it will be better than what would otherwise likely be 550-650. Full capacity would probably be around 1100. Fans were still filing in just before start time but early crowd shots look good in terms of filling seats so hopefully it will wind up being close to 1000 with a minimum of 800 (probably on the lower end as the opposite-hard camera bleacher seats on the left and right sides are curtained off because of commentary positioning. Once the event got going the venue looked almost full. Not a sellout but a good crowd). Also, fans are finally allowed to hang support banners in the venue again and throw paper tape/streamers at Korakuen events going forward. Streamers will be on a case-by-case basis for events elsewhere for now, primarily at the venue’s discretion.
The opening announcements will begin in 10 minutes. I anticipate the matches beginning in about 30 minutes.
Opening announcements/introduction begin on time at 7:25 PM PT. They announce the card for the Hyper Misao Produced 5/25 event at Kitazawa Town Hall in Tokyo and it includes…YOSHIHIKO! The DDT legend will face Shoko Nakajima in a MUST-SEE MATCH! Other matches set are Arisu Endo & Rika Tatsumi vs. Mahiro Kiryu & Yuki Aino and what looks like a 6-way with Miu Watanabe, Raku, Yuki Kamifuku, Suzume, Moka Miyamoto & HIMAWARI. Also announced was several wrestler hometown events: Shoko Nakajima on 8/5, Yuki Arai on 9/10 at Kyoto KBS Hall, Rika Tatsumi on 9/16, Arisu Endo on 10/20. They’re also headed back to Sendai on 10/21 for the first time in over 4 years. More details on these tomorrow in post-event updates once I get English translations.
The matches begin at 7:48 PM PT.
Match 1: HIMAWARI vs. Shino Suzuki. 15 minute time limit
Result: HIMAWARI beat Shino Suzuki by submission
Match 2: Hyper Misao, Haru Kazashiro & Runa Okubo vs. Raku, Pom Harajuku & Neko Haruna. Kazashiro & Okubo are also wearing Misao masks. 20 minute time limit
Result: Hyper Misao, Haru KAzashiro & Runa Okubo beat Raku, Pom Harajuku & Neko Haruna. Misao pinned Harajuku after I Am A Hero.
The YouTube broadcast ends here.
Match 3: Yuki Kamifuku & Wakana Uehara vs. Mahiro Kiryu & Toga. 20 minute time limit
Result: Yuki Kamifuku & Wakana Uehara beat Mahiro Kiryu & Toga. Kamifuku pinned Toga after Fameasser.
Match 4: Ryo Mizunami (Independent/Freelancer), Moka Miyamoto & Kaya Toribami vs. Hikari Noa, Nao Kakuta & Yuki Aino. 20 minute time limit
Result: Ryo Mizunami, Moka Miyamoto & Kaya Toribami beat HIkari Noa, Nao Kakuta & Yuki Aino. Mizunami pinned Aino.
Match 5: Miu Watanabe vs. Arisu Endo. 15 minute time limit
Result: Miu Watanabe beat Arisu Endo
Match 6: Yuki Arai 2nd Anniversary Match: Yuki Arai & Maki Itoh vs. Yuka Sakazaki & Shoko Nakajima. 20 minute time limit. Itoh did her entrance song in English today and again was wearing her belt that said “FUCK”. Really. But hey, it’s Japan so it’s cool.
Result: Yuka Sakazaki & Shoko Nakajima beat Yuki Arai & Maki Itoh. Sakazaki pinned Arai after Magical Merry-Go-Round. UNHAPPY UNHAPPY.
Match 7: International Princess Champion Rika Tatsumi vs. Suzume for the title. 30 minute time limit
Result: International Princess Champion Rika Tatsumi beat Suzume to retain the title. V3 for Tatsumi.
Main Event: Princess Of Princess Champion Mizuki vs. Sawyer Wreck for the title. 30 minute time limit
Result: Princess Of Princess Champion Mizuki beat Sawyer Wreck to retain the title. V2 for Mizuki. UNHAPPY UNHAPPY. Next up: OH SNAP…Maki Itoh. That’s even worse. But then again, if she can’t beat Miyu Yamashita for the title, why not try and beat someone else who has it? (By the way, Yamashita is back in England today to defend her Pro Wrestling EVE Championship, today’s challenger is Millie McKenzie. Her international schedule currently has her away from TJPW for at least another month, with mid-June the earliest possible return date at this time) We’ll maybe find out tomorrow when this could happen but my first thought is Summer Sun Princess ’23 in July, the next major event. Updates to come.
The next event is 5/13 at Act City Hamamatsu in Shizuoka to resume the Spring 2023 house show tour. There will be no live broadcast.
Post-show note: The announced paid attendance was 774. It also appears Mizuki-Itoh will indeed happen at Summer Sun Princess ’23 on 7/8 at Ota City General Gym in Tokyo.
