Tag: tjpw

At US independent promotion Major League Wrestling’s (MLW) latest live event last night, Tokyo Joshi Pro participation in 2 title matches were among the highlights of the event. Here’s what happened:

Miyu Yanashita successfully defended the Princess Of Princess Championship against Delmi Exo. V2 for Yamashita. The champ is on her latest international excursion ahead of her next scheduled defense in Japan on 1/4/24 against Masha Slamovich.

Maki Itoh lost to indy standout and occasional TJPW/All Elite Wrestling participant Janai Kai by submission as Kai retained the MLW Women’s World Featherweight Championship. Kai choked out Itoh after a missed diving headbutt following outside interference and other shenanigans.

Also in action was Satoshi Kojima, as the Japanese legend and inaugural MLW World Champion beat Tom Lawlor, and was serenaded by the Bread Club fans in attendance-yes, they actually threw slices of bread in the ring. Kojima noted on the socials he wanted to bring Japanese bread with him but couldn’t take it through US Customs.

The event is available on demand on FITE with a FITE+ subscription for $7.99/month or $69.99/year.

Tokyo Joshi Pro finished their 10th Anniversary celebration by returning to where it all began-the site of their very first event-but it also marked an ending as they said farewell to original roster member Yuka Sakazaki, who had been with the promotion since Day 1. Sakazaki is leaving to continue her career outside Japan.

Today’s event was held at Kitazawa Town Hall in Tokyo and will be available on demand on WRESTLE UNIVERSE Monday. There was no live broadcast.

The announced paid attendance was 204, a super full house/very near sellout.

The event opened with a random lottery draw for the card for the annual fan lottery match event on 12/17. Those matches include Wakana Uehara vs. Aja Kong and also on 1/4/24 it will be International Princess Champion Max The Impaler defending against…Yuki Arai! I’m both excited and scared for my girl Arai, just surviving against the Non-Binary Nightmare will not be easy.

Match 1: In an I Quit Match, Yuka Sakazaki & Rika Tatsumi beat Antonio Honda (DDT) & Trans-Am⭐️Hiroshi by making Honda say “I Quit”, which was the only way to win.

Match 2: Wakana Uehara, Shino Suzuki & Runa Okubo beat HIMAWARI, Toga & Haru Kazashiro. Uehara beat Kazashiro with a sleeper hold.

Match 3: Miu Watanabe, Suzume & Arisu Endo beat Yuki Kamifuku, Mahiro Kiryu & Kaya Toribami. Watanabe pinned Toribami after Teardrop.

Match 4: Hikari Noa, Nao Kakuta, Mizuki & Moka Miyamoto beat Hyper Misao, Yuki Aino, Raku & Pom Harajuku. Mizuki pinned Harajuku with Cutie Special.

Main Event: Yuka Sakazaki Farewell Match: In a No Time Limit match, Yuka Sakazaki beat Miyu Yamashita & Shoko Nakajima in a 3-way by pinning Nakajima. Which led to…
Impromptu Match: Yuka Sakazaki vs. Mizuki went to a 3 minute time limit draw.

Sakazaki farewell ceremony closed the event. In Japanese culture they call it Graduation when one leaves a group/promotion for reasons other than being fired or retiring. It had its usual weird moments such as Tatsumi ceremonially b*tch slapping Sakazaki (they’re weird customs), traditional gift and flower presentations, group hugs and photos and lots of tears flowing as Sakazaki’s 10 years in TJPW came to a close. While it’s not entirely clear where Sakazaki will go next beyond outside Japan, the common thought is she will return to All Elite Wrestling, as she has been part of their roster since Day 1 and was pushed early on, including handing Britt Baker her first AEW loss. Unfortunately the pandemic and global travel restrictions halted that push early on but once restrictions eased she was able to return for a few appearances. Such a move would also keep the door open for independent and other international appearances, including potential special returns to Japan.

The next event is COMBAT PRINCESS USA on 12/14 in Los Angeles, CA. Although the Globe Theater is listed as the venue, co-promoter Prestige Wrestling announced late yesterday it will be moved to The Vermont Hollywood. This will be a live PPV on WRESTLE UNIVERSE for 3000 yen (around $20 US) in English, and a paid monthly subscription is not required to buy the PPV. There also will be support content packs available for 1500 yen (around $10). The PPV can be purchased now until 12/20 and includes on demand replays until 1/30/24. The live broadcast begins on 12/14 at 7 PM PT/10 PM ET.

There also is another pre-taped PPV that will be available on WRESTLE UNIVERSE Sunday, this is an Aquarium Pro Wrestling event at Halkeijima Sea Paradise in Yokohama. It will premiere Sunday at 3 AM PT/6 AM ET and can be purchased until 12/19, with replays available until 2/28/24. This PPV also costs 3000 yen (around $20).

Another big change was just made for Tokyo Joshi Pro’s COMBAT PRINCESS USA event in Los Angeles, CA later this month: An already announced match between Nao Kakuta & Hikari Noa and Janai Kai & Shazza McKenzie has just been changed to be for the Princess Tag Team Championship held by Noa & Kakuta. This will be the 3rd defense for the champs.

The event will be held on 12/14 and it also was announced that it will be broadcast on PPV but I don’t know where (it likely will not be WRESTLE UNIVERSE or FITE).

UPDATE: PPV will be on WRESTLE UNIVERSE for 3000 yen, or around $20 US. Will be in English. Pre-sales begin Thursday.

UPDATE 2: And more potential headaches for the event…co-host Prestige Wrestling just announced the event has been moved from the Globe Theater to the Vermont Hollywood in Los Angeles, CA due to ongoing issues with the former. First The Globe was going to close, then it wasn’t, and now this with the event just 9 days away.

Tokyo Joshi Pro celebrated their 10th Anniversary today with an event highlighting how far they have cone from humble beginnings as part of a DDT event to a growing spinoff that continues its worldwide expansion, even as it prepares to say goodbye to original member Yuka Sakazaki next week.

Today’s event was held at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo and can be watched on demand on WRESTLE UNIVERSE on Japanese and English.

The announced paid attendance was 714.

At the start they announced the 12/14 USA event will be a PPV.

Match 1: Kaya Toribami, Toga & Runa Okubo beat Juria Nagano, Shino Suzuki & Haru Kazashiro. Toga pinned Kazashiro after Rock Bottom.

Match 2: In a Random Official Weapons Rules Match, Yuki Aino & Raku beat Hyper Misao & Mahiro Kiryu. Aino pinned Kiryu after Venus DDT.

At this point it was announced they would be part of The Collective with a 4/5 event in Philadelphia, PA. There also will be an Aquarium Wrestling PPV later this month.

Match 3: NextGen Tournament Finals: Wakana Uehara beat HIMAWARI by submission to win the tournament.

Match 4: Queen Of Asia Champion Yuki Kamifuku beat VIVA VAN to retain the title. V1 for Kamifuku.

Match 5: Princess Tag Team Champions Hikari Noa & Nao Kakuta beat Max The Impaler & Pom Harajuku to retain the titles. Kakuta pinned Harajuku after Shiden Kai. V2 for the champs.

Main Event: In a 3 Falls Match, Miyu Yamashita, Shoko Nakajima, Yuka Sakazaki, Rika Tatsumi & Mizuki beat Miu Watanabe, Yuki Arai, Moka Miyamoto, Suzume & Arisu Endo 2-1. Fall 1: Endo pinned Nakajima. Fall 2: Sakazaki pinned Miyamoto after Magical Merry-Go-Round. Fall 3: Yamashita pinned Watanabe after Skull Kick.

The next event is the official 10th Anniversary event Wednesday at Kitazawa Town Hall in Tokyo, the exact date of the promotion’s 10th Anniversary at the location of their very first event. It will be headlined by Sakazaki’s final TJPW match, where she will face Yamashita & Nakajima in a 3-way. While plans may change, at this time there will be no live broadcast.

In a social media post just made moments ago, Tokyo Joshi Pro has announced a change to their US event on 12/14 in Los Angeles, co-promoted with PRESTIGE: Johnnie Robbie is now off due to an undisclosed injury. She was to have teamed with Janai Kai to face Hikari Noa & Nao Kakuta. Shazza McKenzie is the replacement.

[Card Change]

Unfortunately, due to an injury Johnnie Robbie can no longer compete at Combat Princess USA.

Shazza McKenzie will replace her in the team with Janai Kai to face Free Wifi.

Look forward to the match!https://t.co/8H0bioxVqG#tjpw #CombatPrincessUSA pic.twitter.com/7Padc7wWuW

— TJPW 東京女子プロレス (@tjpw2013) November 29, 2023

Tokyo Joshi Pro continued the CITY CIRCUIT Tour today with the final event before their 10th Anniversary event.

Today’s event was held at NGK Sports Plaza Stadium 3 in Aichi and will be available on demand on WRESTLE UNIVERSE at a later date. There was no live broadcast.

The announced paid attendance was 403, a full house/near sellout.

Match 1: Arisu Endo beat Runa Okubo by submission.

Match 2: Suzume beat Haru Kazashiro.

Match 3: In a match where each wrestler could bring in a weapon that could be legally exchanged and used without DQ, Hyper Misao beat Raku.

Match 4: VIVA VAN & Yuki Kamifuku beat Shoko Nakajima & Kaya Toribami. VAN pinned Toribami after Helevator.

Match 5: Rika Tatsumi, Miu Watanabe & HIMAWARI beat Miyu Yamashita, Mahiro Kiryu & Toga. Tatsumi pinned Toga after Twist OF Fate.

Match 6: Max The Impaler, Yuki Aino & Pom Harajuku beat Hikari Noa, Nao Kakuta & Shino Suzuki. Harajuku pinned Suzuki after Pomu. Do. Justis.

Main Event: Yuka Sakazaki & Mizuki beat Yuki Arai & Moka Miyamoto. Sakazaki pinned Miyamoto after Toy Story 4. This is the last time Sakazaki & Mizuki team up in a regular tag match as Sakazaki is leaving TJPW after the next event to continue her 10-year career overseas (probably returning to All Elite Wrestling).

The next event is the Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling 10th Anniversary Event-We Are TJPW-Friday at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo. There has been one change announced to the card-because Yuki Kamifuku recently won the Queen Of Asia Championship in Singapore, her scheduled match against VIVA VAN will now be for the title. There also will be a Princess Tag Team Championship match as the popular Wasteland Pom Party (Max The Impaler & Pom Harajuku) challenge Hikari Noa & Nao Kakuta for the titles, and the main event will be a TJPW 10th Anniversary 10-woman tag with Sakazaki’s final match in the promotion and perhaps a ceremonial passing of the torch to the next generation: Miyu Yamashita, Shoko Nakajima, Yuka Sakazaki, Mizuki & Rika Tatsumi vs. Miu Watanabe, Yuki Arai, Suzume, Moka Miyamoto & Arisu Endo. (No Maki Itoh, you ask? Nope. Overseas again) Live streaming on WRESTLE UNIVERSE will begin at 1 AM PT/4 AM ET.

This is the kind of stuff you never want to read about and never happen…while browsing socials just now, I discovered there were apparent death threats made against Tokyo Joshi Pro wrestler Wakana Uehara today (yesterday Japan time). The posts in Japanese and English were reported on by her official Twitter/X account. One post, in Japanese but also in English, stated the threats said someone was sent to Shinjuku (part of Tokyo) today to kill Uehara in front of her mother and her family. So far Uehara appears to be safe and unharmed and while this may have been a joke, she is wisely taking it very seriously and will be more aware of her surroundings. She closed by thanking the fans who have always supported her.

Uehara had a stage performance scheduled today and, as a result, is not at today’s TJPW event (in progress at the time of this post, there is no live WRESTLE UNIVERSE broadcast) in Aichi.

More as it becomes available.

UPDATE: Yahoo Japan via Nikkan Sports reports the social media account in question has been identified and shut down, and Uehara posted on social media post-event today, all went well and she is okay but will continue to be careful going forward. Probably will be little to no criminal action because of lax/weak laws against this sort of behavior online in Japan, as sadly is still the case following the tragic Hana Kimura suicide caused by cyberbullying. Hopefully an incident like this lends more fuel to the fire and helps the neverending push by Hana’s mother, former wrestler Kyoko Kimura, to toughen the laws in Japan about this.

Tokyo Joshi Pro ran a special standalone event today ahead of their major 10th Anniversary event next week.

Today’s event was held at Tsurumi Fruit & Vegetable Market in Kanagawa and will be available on demand on WRESTLE UNIVERSE at some point next week. There was no live broadcast.

The announced paid attendance was 210, a full house/near sellout.

Before the matches began, former TJPW wrestler Nodoka Tenma, who retired last year, returned for the opening call along with Minami Momochi, TJPW’s original ring announcer who also came back for today. Still wearing that Kigurumi mask as she always did.

Match 1: Shoko Nakajima beat Pom Harajuku.

Match 2: In a Ghost Story Death match, Yumehito Imanari beat DDT GM Hisaya Imabayashi, Super Sasadango Machine & Antonio Honda in a 4-way by beating Imabayashi. Of course it was a comedy match.

There was a break here for a mini-live performance by “Bad In” (?), a sexy idol duo.

Match 3: In a No Time Limit match, Rika Tatsumi beat Demonio.

Nodoka Tenma returned to the ring for a “Ping-Pong-Pan Exercises” segment.

Main Event: Yuka Sakazaki, Mizuki & Hyper Misao beat Miyu Yamashita, Hikari Noa & Yuki Aino. Sakazaki pinned Aino after Burning Magical Merry-Go-Round.

Most if not all the matches were comedy matches to some extent, as evident by the phoos posted on DDT’s website.

The next event is Sunday at NGK Sports Plaza 3rd Stadium in AIchi to continue the CITY CIRCUIT Tour. Wakana Uehara is off the event due to a scheduled stage performance. There will be no live broadcast.

Tokyo Joshi Pro returned to Osaka today for “The Mountain Top 2023”., which just wrapped up.

Today’s event was held at Osaka Prefectural Gym 2 in Osaka 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 413.

In pre-event announcements, they announced the return date will be 2/24. Also, Hyper Misao is crowdfunding for a new bicycle.

Match 1: Nextgen Tournament Semifinals: HIMAWARI beat Shino Suzuki.

Match 2: Nextgen Tournament Semifinals: Wakana Uehara beat Toga by submission.

Match 3: Yuki Aino, Raku & Pom Harajuku beat Hyper Misao, Mahiro Kiryu & Haru Kazashiro. Taku pinned Kazashiro after Doctor Yellow.

Match 4: Hikari Noa & Nao Kakuta beat Yuki Kamifuku & Runa Okubo. Noa pinned Okubo after a running neckbreaker drop.

Match 5: Yuki Arai, Suzume & Arisu Endo beat Moka Miyamoto, Juria Nagano & Kaya Toribami. Arai pinned Toribami after Finally.

Match 6: Yuka Sakazaki & Mizuki vs. Ruka Tatsumi & Miu Watanabe went to a 20 minute time limit draw.

Main Event: International Princess Champion Max The Impaler beat Shoko Nakajima to retain the title. V2 for Impaler.

The next event is Thursday at Tsurumi Fruit & Vegetable Market in Kanagawa. There will be no live broadcast.

Tokyo Joshi Pro reports that, in a scheduled title match held in London, England yesterday. International Princess Champion Max The Impaler beat KASEY to retain the title. V1 for Impaler. As a result, the planned 11/19/23 title match vs. Shoko Nakajima is now official. There will be no live broadcast of the event.