Tag: tokyo joshi pro

Tokyo Joshi Pro continued the spring house show tour today in Fukuoka.

Today’s event was held at Acros Fukuoka in Fukuoka and will be available on demand on WRESTLE UNIVERSE Wednesday. There was no live broadcast.

The announced paid attendance was 335.

Match 1: Moka Miyamoto beat Mifu Ashida by submission.

Match 2: Mahiro Kiryu & Neko Haruna beat Yoshiko Hasegawa & Chika Nanase. Kiryu pinned Nanase after a spinebuster.

Match 3: Raku beat Shino Suzuki & Kaya Toribami in a 3-way by pinning Suzuki.

Match 4: Rika Tatsumi & Toga beat Kira Summer & Ivy Steele. Tatsumi pinned Summer after Twist Of Fate.

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

Match 6: Mizuki & Aja Kong (OZ Academy) beat Hyper Misao & Pom Harajuku. Kong pinned Harajuku after a backdrop.

Main Event: Maki Itoh, Wakana Uehara & Yuki Kamifuku beat Miyu Yamashita, Yuki Aino & Haru Kazashiro. Itoh beat Kazashiro with Itoh Deluxe.

The next event is Friday at Shinjuku Face in Tokyo. Live streaming on WRESTLE UNIVERSE will begin at 3 AM PT/6 AM ET.

In other news, it was announced that Jada Stone will return to Japan for the 5/31, 6/1 and 6/7 events. If she wins the International Princess Championship in the US on 4/18, a title defense is possible.
Speaking of which, the next challenger after 4/18 will be determined by a one-day tournament on 4/19 at Kanda Myojin Hall in Tokyo, an event featuring wrestlers not going to the US that week. It will be an 8-woman tournament with only wrestlers who debuted in 2023 or 2024, starting with an 8-woman tag match with teams determined on the day by drawing. The winners will advance to a tag match with random pairings. The two winners left after those two matches face off in a single match with the winner getting the title shot. Participants: HIMAWARI, Kira Summer, Toga, Chika Nanase, Haru Kazashiro, Uta Takami, Mifu Ashida, Ivy Steele. On paper it seems set up for Toga to win but I also like Steele’s odds or maybe even HIMAWARI. Title match date TBA and will depend on what happens on 4/18.

And in case you missed it, in the US last night Shoko Nakajima became THE NEW MLW Women’s World Featherweight Champion at MLW Battle Riot 2025. The entire event can be watched on demand FOR FREE on YouTube.

Tokyo Joshi Pro resumed the spring 2025 house show tour today in Hiroshima.

Today’s event was held at Hiroshima Sangyo Kaikan East Exhibition Hall 2 in Hiroshima and will be available on demand on WRESTLE UNIVERSE Tuesday. There was no live broadcast.

The announced paid attendance was 178.

Match 1: Kaya Toribami beat Uta Takami by submission.

Match 2: Yuki Aino, Raku & Pom Harajuku beat Mahiro Kiryu, Moka Miyamoto & Chika Nanase. Raku beat Nanase with a front neck lock.

Match 3: Rika Tatsumi beat Mifu Ashida by submission.

Match 4: Miu Watanabe, Haru Kazashiro & Toga beat Yuki Kamifuku, Kira Summer & Ivy Steele. Watanabe pinned Steele after The Reverse Paradox.

Match 5: Suzume & Arisu Endo beat Hyper Misao & Neko Haruna. Suzume pinned Haruna after Ring A Bell.

Match 6: Miyu Yamashita beat Yoshiko Hasegawa.

Main Event: Mizuki & Wakana Uehara beat Maki Itoh & Shino Suzuki. Mizuki pinned Suzuki with Cutie Special.

The next event is tomorrow at Acros Fukuoka in Fukuoka. There will be no live broadcast.

With an emotional weekend in Nagoya in the books as Yuki Arai said goodbye to SKE48 after over a decade, Tokyo Joshi Pro returned to Tokyo today for an outdoor event.

Today’s event was held at Ueno Park Outdoor Stage in Tokyo and will be available on drmand on WRESTLE UNIVERSE Saturday. There was no live broadcast.

The announced paid attendance was 136.

There were last-minute changes to the card due to Pom Harajuku being pulled off the event. The always-vague poor health. Antonio Honda was also a last-minute removal. Chronic illness. A.YAZAWA was the replacement.

Match 1: Suzume & Neko Haruna beat Toga & Chika Namase. Suzume pinned Nanase after Ring A Bell.

Match 2: Maki Itoh & Yuki Kamifuku beat Kira Summer & Ivy Steele. Itoh beat Steele with Itoh Deluxe.

Match 3: Arisu Endo beat Uta Takami & Miu Watanabe in a 3-way by pinning Takami.

Match 4: Miyu Yamashita & Moka Miyamoto beat Wakana Uehara & Mifu Ashida. Yamashita pinned Ashida after Attitude Adjustment.

Match 5: In a Rock & Roll Deathmatch, where all wrestlers must rock out when music played, Rika Tatsumi & Mahiro Kiryu beat A.YAZAWA & Trans-Am Hiroshi. Tatsumi pinned YAZAWA.

Main Event: In a 3 event competition that detetmined which team could win the actual match with 1 count pinfalls or 2 count pinfalls. Mizuki, Yuki Aino, Raku, Haru Kazashiro & Shino Suzuki beat Shoko Nakajima, Hyper Misao, Kaya Toribami, Yoshiko Hasegawa & HIMAWARI. First event: Mizuki team wins a Ball Insertion conpetition 5-2. Second event: In a 2-legged wrestling 2 count pinfalls match, Nakajima team wins (Nakajima & Hasegawa pinned Kazashiro & Suzuki). Third event: Nakajima team won a baton relay race. That meant Nakajima team could win with 1 count pinfalls, Mizuki team with 2 count pinfalls. Match result: Raku pinned Misao.

The next event is Saturday at Hiroshima Sangyo Kaikan in Hiroshima. Shoko Nakajima, Uta Takami & HIMAWARI will miss the event as they are headed to the US early for other events ahead of The Collective. There will be no live broadcast.

In other news, as soon as Arai left SKE48 she announced the official idol-rite-of-passage: Her first sexy modeling photobook. Shot on location in Indonesia, it has all kinds of content-swimsuits, lingerie, implied nudity, all you’d expect from a gravure idol. It’s been all over Japanese media since Arai announced it herself. On sale in Japan on 5/23. (UPDATE: She’s announced that it’s already hit #1 on the Amazon Japan bestseller chart as a preorder) She will return to TJPW full-time in May but will be on the US event in Las Vegas, NV on 4/18. and it was announced her US debut match will be against Arisu Endo. The event will have 7 matches including 3 title matches. Broadcast plans TBA but I expect the live broadcast will be only on TrillerTV/FITE with a Triller+ membership which is $7.99/month or $71.99/year. The event is scheduled for 4/18 at 11 AM PT/2 PM ET.

It was also announced that Matcha & Alexis Lee will participate in TJPW on 5/3 & 5/5. Matches TBA.

UPDATE: WRESTLE UNIVERSE has extended the PPV viewing period for the 3/30 Yuki Arai SKE48 performance. Originally to end this weekend, the viewing period has been extended until 4/13 at 10 PM PT/1 AM ET and you can now purchase the replay until 25 hours prior. I highly recommend it.

Tokyo Joshi Pro’s second half of their Nagoya doubleheader featured a special live SKE48 concert with Yuki Arai ahead of her final performance with the group tomorrow before leaving to be part of TJPW full-time.

Today’s event was held at Chunichi Hall in Nagoya and can be watched on demand on WRESTLE UNIVERSE as a PPV until 4/6 at 10 PM PT/1 AM ET. The replay is available for 3000 Japanese yen (around $20 US) for non-subscribers and 2500 yen (around $16.75 US) for subscribers. (UPDATE: I purchased the replay on 3/31/25 as a subscriber and, at that time, the 2500 yen translated to $16.70 US. The entire running time is 2 hours, 41 minutes. Except for the second match below, there is no commentary)

The announced paid attendance was 490, a legit advance sellout.

Match 1: In a “Class Of ’98” match, where all the participants were born in 1998, Yuki Arai, Neko Haruna & Moka Miyamoto beat Suzume, Arisu Endo & Shino Suzuki. Arai pinned Suzuki after Finally.

Match 2: Raku won a 6 woman battle royal, last eliminating Pom Harajuku. Order of elimination: Yuki Kamifuku by Miyu Yamashita, Mahiro Kiryu by Harajuku, Hyper Misao by Harajuku, Yamashita by Raku, Harajuku by Raku. Everyone in the match was dressed up as Yuki Arai. This match featured special live commentary from Haruo Murata & Marika Tani. (UPDATE: Not mentioned or noticed before was that former SKE48 member Shiori Aoki returned for this match as a special referee)

Main Event: Mizuki, Rika Tatsumi & Shoko Nakajima vs. Maki Itoh, Miu Watanabe & Yuki Aino went to a 15 minute time limit draw.

After the matches there was an intermission to remove the ropes from the ring and prepare for the concert. The matches went about an hour total.

The 90-minute (scheduled) concert featured 16 songs by Arai’s SKE48 Team KII including a 3-song encore, a final post-concert promo from Arai and group photo. Arai will now take a break next month before returning full-time in May but she will be part of the US events during The Collective in Las Vegas, NV, making what will be her US debut. It’s an enjoyable set and about halfway through featured my favorite (so far) SKE48 song, “Finally” which made me really happy. Today (3/31 in Japan) was Arai’s official final performance and at least some of the TJPW roster attended including Miu Watanabe & Miyu Yamashita. I will miss Arai as part of SKE48 but am excited to see her continue in TJPW and will continue to aupport her going forward. She also has her own new online fanclub starting which you can join at araiyuki.net.

The next event is Wednesday at Ueno Park Outdoor Stage in Tokyo. There will be no live broadcast.

There’s also been some outside-the-ring news:
Now that her SKE48 days are over, Yuki Arai has announced the release of another idol rite-of-passage: Her first photobook. It will be released in Japan on 5/23, you might be able to get it on Amazon Kindle outside Japan. It was shot in Bali, Indonesia and looks like it will be more pinup/gravure/swimsuit in nature. Of course I want it…
Also, Wakana Uehara announced today (4/1) she has left the talent agency she was previously signed with and will be independent going forward. This should not affect her TJPW participation but would also be for her other entertainment activities. She has also launched her own official website, which also notes her entrance song is available on iTunes in the US, which I thus need to download!

Tokyo Joshi Pro is in Nagoya this weekend for a very big, and very emotional, doubleheader as Yuki Arai says goodbye to SKE48 and her J-pop idol career after over 12 years. They call it graduating in Japan, but the hidden truth is, at 26 (27 in May), Arai is now too old for them (it’s idol group culture unfortunately-doesn’t mean one’s musical career is over though and some idols continue as actresses or entertainers including some of Arai’s former teammates like Marika Tani, who is now a regular guest on WRESTLE UNIVERSE live broadcasts of DDT). But when one door closes, another door opens, and after this weekend she will take a break for most of April before continuing with TJPW full-time going forward, but will be making her first US appearance next month in Las Vegas, NV (sadly I can’t be there). Today will be her first match of the weekend and, as a bonus, she will join Up Up Girls for a one-day-only special live performance.

Today’s event will be held at Chunichi Hall in Nagoya and can be watched LIVE on WRESTLE UNIVERSE. You can also watch the entire live broadcast FOR FREE on YouTube (there will be no on demand replay available on YouTube, only on WRESTLE UNIVERSE). It’s not known if there will be any commentary. There are 6 matches scheduled plus the mini-live performance so it probably will run a little longer than a normal TJPW event, I’m thinking it’ll be about 2 1/4 hours depending on the mini-live length. (It can’t run too long because there is a DDT event scheduled for the venue afterwards)

Today’s lineup:
Suzume, Mahiro Kiryu & Neko Haruna vs. Yuki Aino, Kaya Toribami & Ivy Steele
Pom Harajuku vs. Arisu Endo & Chika Nanase in a 3-way
Maki Itoh vs. Yoshiko Hasegawa
Shoko Nakajima & Hyper Misao vs. Yuki Kamifuku & Kira Summer
Yuki Arai, Miu Watanabe, Raku, Shino Suzuki & Uta Takami vs. Wakana Uehara, HIMAWARI, Haru Kazashiro, Toga & Mifu Ashida
Mizuki & Rika Tatsumi vs. Miyu Yamashita & Moka Miyamoto
Yuki Arai & Up Up Girls Mini-Live Performance (not known where this will be in the lineup)

Refresh this page occasionally for the latest results.

Updates below will begin at 8 PM PT/11 PM ET. The WRESTLE UNIVERSE livestream is scheduled to begin 15 minutes prior to the event. The YouTube livestream is scheduled to begin at event start time.

7:56 PM PT UPDATE: Live updates begin now.

We are LIVE from Chunichi Hall in Nagoya, Japan. There is no commentary.

The paid attendance will be announced after the event. The venue has 3 different event areas and it looks like they’re using the smallest of them, which has a full capacity of around 575. The largest one has a capacity of 650. Advance ticket sales were very good so it depends on the setup but I’m guessing it will wind being about 500. (UPDATE: The announced paid attendance was 536, a super full house/very near sellout)

The opening announcements start a couple minutes early. The matches should begin in 15-20 minutes but that depends on if the Yuki Arai-Up Up Girls mini-live starts things off. (It will so the matches will start closer to 8:30 PM PT). It’s 3 songs for a very vocal and energetic crowd. They should make Arai part of Up Up Girls going forward!

The matches begin at 8:25 PM PT/11:25 PM ET.

Match 1: Suzume, Mahiro Kiryu & Neko Haruna vs. Yuki Aino, Kaya Toribami & Ivy Steele. 20 minute time limit
Result: Suzume, Mahiro Kiryu & Neko Haruna beat Yuki Aino, Kaya Toribami & Ivy Steele. Suzume pinned Steele after Ring A Bell.

Match 2: Pom Harajuku vs. Arisu Endo & Chika Nanase in a 3-way. 20 minute time limit
Result: Pom Harajuku beat Arisu Endo & Chika Nanase in a 3-way by pinning Nanase.

Match 3: Maki Itoh vs. Yoshiko Hasegawa. 15 minute time limit
Result: Maki Itoh beat Yoshiko Hasegawa by submission

Match 4: Shoko Nakajima & Hyper Misao vs. Yuki Kamifuku & Kira Summer. 20 minute time limit
Result: Shoko Nakajima & Hyper Misao beat Yuki Kamifuku & Kira Summer. Misao pinned Summer after Hypami Returns.

Match 5: Yuki Arai, Miu Watanabe, Raku, Shino Suzuki & Uta Takami vs. Wakana Uehara, HIMAWARI, Haru Kazashiro, Toga & Mifu Ashida. 20 minute time limit
Result: Yuki Arai, Miu Watanabe, Raku, Shino Suzuki & Uta Takami beat Wakana Uehara, HIMAWARI, Haru Kazashiro, Toga & Mifu Ashida. Watanabe beat Ashida with a modified sharpshooter.

Main Event: Mizuki & Rika Tatsumi vs. Miyu Yamashita & Moka Miyamoto. 20 minute time limit
Result: Miyu Yamashita & Moka Miyamoto beat Mizuki & Rika Tatsumi. Yamashita beat Mizuki with what started as a modified facelock and transitioned into a very impressive-looking leg lock/arm lock choke. That’ll send me home HAPPY HAPPY!

The next event is tomorrow, a special event with 3 matches followed by Yuki Arai’s final SKE48 performance. The event is a legit advance sellout. Live streaming on WRESTLE UNIVERSE as a PPV will begin at 11:20 PM PT/2:20 AM ET. The PPV is available for pre-purchase for 3000 yen for non-subscribers (around $20 US) and 2500 yen for subscribers (around $17 US) and includes on demand replays for the next week. One of the matches (a battle royal) may not be broadcast on PPV, that match will have Japanese commentary (clarification-all 3 matches will be shown live on PPV, but only the battle royal will actually be live at the venue. That match will have Japanese commentary from Haruo Murata & Matika Tani). The entire SKE48 live performance, scheduled to run 90 minutes, will be included in the PPV. I plan to buy it later in the day and watch it on demand. The PPV will be available for viewing until 4/6 at 10 PM PT/1 AM ET.

At a press conference at CyberFIght headquarters earlier today, Tokyo Joshi Pro wrestler Yoshiko Hasegawa announced she will leave the promotion and retire in July, specifically at the 7/8 event at Shinjuku Face in Tokyo. It’s been about a year since Hasegawa left Ganbare Pro and joined TJPW after a short time as a freelancer. No hints dropped as to a potential retirement match but Hasegawa did say she wanted to challenge Suzume for the International Princess Championship before then. That depends on what happens in the US next month.
Hasegawa is the oldest member of TJPW at 38, having not debuted until she was 32 in November 2019 and then was forced to retire in early 2021 due to a major injury. She returned in 2022 with Ganbare and stayed with them until about a year ago when she became a freelancer before joining TJPW.

Tokyo Joshi Pro kicked off the spring 2025 house show tour today in Yokohama, the first event after GRAND PRINCESS ’25, with lots of news coming out of it.

Today’s event was held at Yokohama Radiant Hall in Yokohama and can be watched on demand on WRESTLE UNIVERSE.

The announced paid attendance was 258, a super full house/very near sellout.

Match 1: Mahiro Kiryu beat Ivy Steele.

Match 2: Rika Tatsumi beat HIMAWARI & Neko Haruna in a 3-way by pinning both together.

Match 3: Raku & Pom Harajuku beat Yoshiko Hasegawa & Chika nanase. Raku pinned Nanase after Doctor Yellow.

Match 4: Yuki Kamifuku & Wakana Uehara beat Haru Kazashiro & Toga. Uehara beat Toga with Banana Pillow.

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

Match 6: Shoko Nakajima & Hyper Misao beat Miu Watanabe & Uta Takami. Nakajima pinned Takami with a Northern Lights suplex hold.

Main Event: Mizuki, Miyu Yamashita & Kaya Toribami beat Yuki Aino, Moka Miyamoto & Shino Suzuki. Yamashita pinned Suzuki after Skull Kick.

During the event, the promotion announced that all 3 titles will be defended at their upcoming USA event on 4/18 in Las Vegas, NV as part of The Collective 2025. First up, the Princess Of Princess Championship and, much to my delight, Mizuki’s second reign might be ending soon because next up is Yamashita, going for an unprecedented 5th reign. There also will be an International Princess Championship match as Suzume will defend against Jada Stone, one of the many top prospects who came to Japan in the last couple years and made an immediate massive impact. Finally, the Princess Tag Team Championship match will be Shoko Nakajima & Hyper Misao defending the titles against Yuki Kamifuku & Wakana Uehara, and Uehara revealed they have come up with quite the name for their pairing-Ober Eats. Yeah, a play on Uber Eats and Uehara’s love of good food. The rest of the card is TBA with one exception-already announced before was Miu Watanabe vs. Masha Slamovich. Most of the roster is already set for this event-not participating are Haru Kazashiro, Chika Nanase, Kira Summer, Toga and Neko Haruna. More outside/international participation is also TBA but Max The Impaler and WWE ID prospect Zara Zakher are also confirmed.

The next event is “Yuki Arai’s Last Two-Sword Style-Go For The Victory!” Saturday at Chunichi Hall in Nagoya, the first half of a doubleheader coinciding with Arai’s final performances with SKE48. In addition to being in a 10-woman tag match, Arai will be part of a mini-live performance with Up Up Girls. Live streaming on WRESTLE UNIVERSE will begin Friday at 8 PM PT/11 PM ET.

In other news, it was announced that the final Yuki Arai SKE48 performance on 3/30 will be available live and on demand as a PPV on WRESTLE UNIVERSE. The event, to be held at Chunichi Hall, is scheduled to have 3 TJPW matches (TBA) and Arai’s final performance with her SKE48 teammates, which is scheduled to run 90 minutes. The PPV is available for pre-order for 3000 Japanese yen (around $20 US), but if you are a monthly paid WRESTLE UNIVERSE member you only pay 2500 yen (around $17 US). The event will be available to watch on demand until 4/6 at 10 PM PT/4/7 at 1 AM ET and can be purchased until 24 hours prior. Start time (scheduled to include a pre-show) is Saturday at 11:20 PM PT/2:20 AM ET. After this performance Arai will be joining TJPW full-time going forward but will be taking a break for most of April, however she will be part of the USA event.

Elsewhere, you may remember the plan for the SETUP All-Asia Championship after GRAND PRINCESS ’25 was for the champion coming out to next defend against the winner of a match in Thailand between Matcha & Alexis Lee in the near-future. No longer the case. TJPW announced that NEW Champion Raku will instead defend first against Nor Phoenix Diana, a wrestler from Malaysia. That match will happen on 5/5 at Osaka Prefectural Gym 2 in Osaka. Diana competes in Malaysia promotion APAC Wrestling and is said to be among the top women wrestlers in Southeast Asia along with Lee & Matcha, She is 25 and has 9 years experience. Diana will also compete on the 5/3 event in Saitama.

UPDATE: In non-event news, the promotion now has its own unique website separate from DDT’s website as the former website is being shut down in favor of unique websites for both. Effective immediately, the new TJPW website URL is https://www.tjpw.jp/

UPDATE 2: You will also be able to watch Friday’s event FOR FREE on YouTube, but only the live broadcast (no on demand).

If you have followed Tokyo Joshi Pro since the pandemic, you may remember Juria Nagano and her short career in wrestling, which was unfortunately derailed by serious injuries. She also was a model, actress and martial artist among other things. Since leaving wrestling it sounds like she’s gotten back into the latter two as the YouTube channel (and standalone streaming service) “Samurai Vs. Ninja” dropped this new movie trailer a few hours ago. It’s from the director of some recent major movies including the last “Power Rangers” movie and guess who is in the cast roll at the end in at least a supporting role? Juria Nagano!

Check out the trailer below, the movie premieres on the Samurai Vs. Ninja YouTube on 3/28 at 7 PM PT/10 PM ET. and then will be available on demand immediately. You will have to be a paid channel member to watch this movie, membership is $3.99/month and gives you access to lots of members-only shows and movies and more (and it’s half the price of the standalone streaming version! All content on the channel is in Japanese with English subtitles):

Tokyo Joshi Pro’s biggest event of the year, GRAND PRINCESS ’25, is in the books.

Today’s event was held at Ota City General Gym in Tokyo and can be watched on demand on WRESTLE UNIVERSE.

The announced paid attendance was 1212. That’s down from prior years when they ran the event at the much larger Ryogoku Kokugikan (at a greatly reduced capacity which probably was due to the space it provided for spacing out during the pandemic and recovery)but was probably still around half-full for the setup (the venue’s full capacity for wrestling is around 3500).

Match 1: Yoshiko Hasegawa & Mifu Ashida beat HIMAWARI & Shino Suzuki. Hasegawa pinned Suzuki after a diving double knee.

Match 2: Kakeru Sekiguchi (Independent/Freelancer), Mahiro Kiryu, Neko Haruna & Ivy Steele beat Kaya Toribami, Kira Summer, Chika Nanase & Uta Takami. Kiryu pinned Nanase after a spinebuster.

Match 3: Max The Impaler beat Moka Miyamoto.

Match 4: Aja Kong (OZ Academy), Yuki Kamifuku & Wakana Uehara beat Yuki Aino, Haru Kazashiro & Toga. Uehara beat Kazashiro with Banana Pillow.

Match 5: Raku beat SETUP All-Asia Women’s Champion Pom Harajuku to win the title. Raku becomes the 3rd SETUP All-Asia Women’s Champion. And now is headed to Thailand in the future to defend against an upcoming #1 contender match winner, meaning either Matcha (who Harajuku beat for the title) or Alexis Lee.

Match 6: Willow Nightingale (All Elite Wrestling) beat Miu Watanabe.

Match 7: Meiko Satomura beat Yuki Arai. Not the result I hoped for as a #1 Arai fanboy but the result I expected as Satomura winds down her career (she’s retiring on 4/28).

Match 8: International Princess Champion Suzume beat Arisu Endo to retain the title. V2 for Suzume.

Match 9: Shoko Nakajima & Hyper Misao beat Princess Tag Team Champions Miyu Yamashita & Maki Itoh to win the titles. Nakajima & Misao become the 18th Princess Tag Team Champions. Misao pinned Yamashita after Hypami Returns. An unmasked Misao at that.

Main Event: Princess Of Princess Champion Mizuki beat Rika Tatsumi by submission to retain the title.V1 for Mizuki. UNHAPPY UNHAPPY.

The next event is Saturday at Yokohama Radiant Hall in Yokohama to start the Spring 2025 house show tour. Live streaming on WRESTLE UNIVERSE will begin Friday at 9 PM PT/midnight ET. Also, as far as upcoming major events go, they’re not running Korakuen Hall for their usual Golden Week blowout event in early May this year so don’t be alarmed when that doesn’t happen.

Breaking news via the socials from Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling, and it’s equally sad & surprising-their popular ring announcer, Sayuri Namba, is leaving the promotion this summer. Of course they’re billing it as “graduating” (so presumably it’s either a mutual decision or expiring contract that won’t be renewed but surely she’s leaving on good terms) but no further details have been revealed yet and she hasn’t posted anything yet on social media about it. Her final TJPW event will be 6/22 at Ryogoku KFC Hall in Tokyo and a special event before that will be held on 6/14 at Shin-Kiba 1st Ring. She has been with the promotion for almost 7 years as a ring announcer and also has been an MMA ring card girl and also an actress. Also no word yet on her future plans but, nonetheless, she will be greatly missed in TJPW.

More as it becomes available.,

UPDATE: DDT has posted an official news item and press conference transcript and Namba has posted on social media about it. She wants to live and work overseas, not necessarily in wrestling, and is planning to relocate to Canada this summer, possibly seeking work as a Japanese language teacher and with perhaps the goal of eventually moving to the USA. The door to a return as a ring announcer or to TJPW will never be closed though, and she expressed interest in possibly returning for events outside Japan, as they have started coming to the US a couple times annually (on average).