News, results & more from Japanese Pro Wrestling & Sumo
Dragon Gate has announced that Open The Brave Gate Champion Hyo will be temporarily sidelined for the next few days. Illness. Out tomorrow and Wednesday. Condition is improving and at this time is still on for Saturday, when he is to defend the Open The Brave Gate Championship against Genki Horiguchi.
More as it becomes available.
Dragon Gate continued the Fantastic Gate 2023 Tour today with a house show in Nagoya.
Today’s event was held at Nagoya Congress Center in Nagoya. There is/was no live or on demand broadcast.
The paid attendance has not yet been announced.
Match 1: KAI & Yoshiki Kato beat Kaito Nagano & Daiki Yanagiuchi. Kato pinned Yanagiuchi after Cadere Luna.
Match 2: Ben-K beat Problem Dragon.
Match 3: Kota Minoura beat JACKY “FUNKY” KAMEI.
Match 4; BIGBOSS Shimizu, Strong Machine J & Jason Lee beat Masaaki Mochizuki, Susumu Mochizuki & Yasushi Kanda. J pinned Kanda after Reflected Candy Magic.
Match 5: Ultimo Dragon & Dragon Kid beat Kzy & U-T. Kid pinned U-T after Bible.
Main Event: Madoka Kikuta & Dragon Dia beat Shun Skywalker & ISHIN, Hyo & Luis Mante and Genki Horiguchi & Kagetora in a 4-way when Dia pinned ISHIN.
The next event is Tuesday at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo. Live streaming on DRAGONGATE NETWORK will begin at 1:30 AM PT/4:30 AM ET.
Dragon Gate continued the Fantastic Gate 2023 Tour yesterday with an event in Hiroshima.
Yesterday’s event was held at Fukuyama Big Rose in Hiroshima. There was/is no live or on demand broadcast.
The announced paid attendance was 408, a full house/near sellout.
Match 1: Kzy, Strong Machine J & Jason Lee beat Madoka Kikuta, Dragon Dia & Ryoya Tanaka. J pinned Tanaka after Gold Ship.
Match 2: Takashi Yoshida & Kaito Nagano beat BIGBOSS Shimizu & Daiki Yanagiuchi. Yoshida pinned Yanagiuchi.
Match 3: Ultimo Dragon, Kota Minoura & Ben-K beat Masaaki Mochizuki, Susumu Mochizuki & Yasushi Kanda. Minoura pinned Kanda after a jumping knee.
Match 4: Luis Mante & Hyo beat Genki Horiguchi & Naruki Doi. Hyo pinned Horiguchi after a double biceps senton.
Main Event: YAMATO, Dragon Kid, Punch Tominaga & Shachihoko BOY beat Shun Skywalker, Kzy, ISHIN & Yoshiki Kato. Kid pinned Kato after Bible.
The latest event was today at Nagoya Congress Center in Nagoya. There is/was no live or on demand broadcast.
The next event is Tuesday at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo for the final Tokyo event of the year. Live streaming on DRAGONGATE NETWORK will begin at 1:30 AM PT/4:30 AM ET.
Pro Wrestling NOAH ran the last event of the never-ending SUNNY VOYAGE 2023 Tour (which will continue into 2024) today with a house show in Shizuoka.
Today’s event was held at Act City Hamamatsu in Shizuoka and will be available on demand on WRESTLE UNIVERSE Thursday. There was no live broadcast.
The announced paid attendance was 319.
Match 1; Taishi Ozawa beat Yu Owada.
Match 2: Alejandro & Terry Yaki beat Hajime Ohara & Extreme Tiger. Alehandro pinned Tiger after Empty Bullet.
Match 3: Junta Miyawaki beat Kai Fujimura.
Match 4: Saxon Huxley, Timothy Thatcher & Shuhei Taniguchi beat Go Shiozaki, Atsushi Kotoge & Hi69. Thatcher beat Hi69 with a Fujiwara armbar.
Match 5: Kaito Kiyomiya & Ryohei Oiwa beat Yoshinari Ogawa & Super Crazy. Kiyomiya pinned Crazy after Transformed Shining Wizard.
Match 6; Manabu Soya, Masa Kitamiya & Daiki Inaba beat Kenoh, Mohammed Yone & Akitoshi Saito. Soya beat Yone with a dragon sleeper.
Main Event: Naomichi Marufuji, Takashi Sugiura, HAYATA & Eita beat Jake Lee, LJ Cleary, YO-HEY & Tadasuke. Marufuji pinned Cleary after God Tiger King.
The next event is MONDAY MAGIC FINAL, the 5th and final event of the series, tomorrow at Shinjuku Face in Tokyo. The event is a legit advance sellout. Live streaming on WRESTLE UNIVERSE will begin at 2 AM PT/5 AM ET.
Tokyo Joshi Pro wrapped up the CITY CIRCUIT 2023 Tour today with their penultimate event of the year, their annual fan appreciation event. This event featured matches that were all determined by a fan lottery/drawing at the prior event.
Today’s event was held at Kasukabe Fureai Cube in Saitama and will be available on demand on WRESTLE UNIVERSE at a later date. There was no live broadcast.
The announced paid attendance was 210.
Miyu Yamashita, Rika Tatsumi & Mizuki all missed the event due to remaining on overseas expeditions to the US and Nao Kakuta missed the event due to scheduling conflicts. All matches had a 7 minute time limit.
In opening announcements, Princess Tag Team Champions Nao Kakuta & Hikari Noa vs. Suzume & Arisu Endo for the titles was added to 1/4 at Korakuen Hall.
Match 1: Arisu Endo beat Haru Kazashiro.
Match 2; Suzume beat HIMAWARI.
Match 3: Shoko Nakajima beat Toga.
Match 4: Yuki Kamifuku beat Runa Okubo & Shino Suzuki in a 3-way by pinning Okubo.
Match 5: Raku vs. Juria Nagano went to a time limit draw.
Match 6: In a match where you had to answer a trivia question right after a 2 count or submission to win, and you could lose on a 1 count while a song was playing after a wrong answer, Hyper Misao beat Kaya Toribami.
Match 7: Mahiro Kiryu vs. Wakana Uehara went to a time limit draw.
Match 8: Yuki Aino beat Pom Harajuku.
Match 9: Maki Itoh vs. Hikari Noa went to a time limit draw.
Main Event: Miu Watanabe beat Moka Miyamoto.
The next event is “Se-No, Marry Christmas! 2023”, their final event of the year, on 12/24 at Ryogoku KFC Hall in Tokyo. Yuki Arai participation has been announced but Nao Kakuta will miss the event due to a stage performance. Live streaming on WRESTLE UNIVERSE will begin Saturday at 10:15 PM PT/1:15 AM ET but the actual start time is subject to change as that is 45 minutes before the event begins (streams normally start 30 minutes before an event, sometimes 15 minutes if there are pre-show matches).
DDT continued the D KING GP 2023 today with the penultimate event of the prelim round.
Today’s event was held at Sakurajuji Hall Yatsushiro Multipurpose Hall and will be available on demand on WRESTLE UNIVERSE Wednesday. There was no live broadcast.
The announced paid attendance was 282, a super full house/very near sellout.
Match 1: Yukio Sakaguchi & Hideki Okatani beat Takao Soma & Kazuma Sumi. Okatani beat Sumi with a dragon sleeper.
Match 2: Chris Brookes, Akito & Takeshi Masada beat Danshoku Dieno, Makoto Oishi & Kazuki Hirata. Masada pinned Oishi after a triangle kick.
Match 3: Tetsuya Endo, Jun Akiyama & Yusuke Okada beat HARASHIMA, Yukio Naya & Rukiya. Endo pinned Rukiya after a rotating torture rack bomb. This was Akiyama’s final match as a member of the Burning faction, or at least such match teaming with Endo in the faction.
D KING GP:
Match 4: Block A: Daisuke Sasaki beat Yuki Iino.
Match 5: Block B: MAO beat KANON.
Main Event: Kazusada Higuchi & Yuki Ishida beat Yuki Ueno & Toi Kojima. Higuchi pinned Kojima after Brain Claw Slam.
Standings Update for tournament: In Block A, Sasaki stays in it with the win and 4 still have a chance on the final day. Scenarios to win are as follows:
Higuchi (6 points): Advances with win (Endo). Also advances with draw and Sasaki win.
Ueno (5 points): Advances with win (Sasaki) and Higuchi loss or draw.
Sasaki (5 points): Advances with win (Ueno) and Higuchi loss.
Endo (4 points): Advances with win (Higuchi) and Ueno/Sasaki must end in a no points scenario (double DQ or no contest).
In Block B, KANON is now OUT thanks to the loss today so it’s 3 tied for the lead. Their scenarios to win:
MAO (6 points): Advances with win (Naya) and Rei Saito loss or draw.
Naya (6 points): Advances with win (MAO).
Rei Saito (6 points): Advances with win (Brookes) and MAO win.
The next event is 12/24 at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo. The card is subject to change last-minute due to a DDT Iron Man Heavymetalweight Championship battle royal being scheduled (the title has legit 24/7 rules and can be won anytime, anywhere by anything as long as a referee is present). Live streaming on WRESTLE UNIVERSE will begin Saturday at 6:30 PM PT/9:30 PM ET. Live results will be provided here.
Here are the quick results from tonight’s AEW Collision in Garland Park, TX:
Continental Classic Blue Block: Claudio Castagnoli beat Andrade El Idolo. Castagnoli has 6 points, Andrade 9 points. (No CJ Perry tonight. Hospitalized due to an infection in her finger that spread to her arm)
ABadon beat Jazmin Allure. Squash. Post-match happenings set up the return of Thunder Rosa. She will make her in-ring return next week.
AEW International Champion Orange Cassidy beat Bryan Keith to retain the title.
Today is/was Brodie Lee’s birthday.
In a Street Fight, Kris Statlander & Willow Nightingale beat Mercedes Martinez & Diamante. Statlander pinned Diamante.
Brian Cage beat Kair Wright. Squash.
Continental Classic Blue Block: Eddie Kingston beat Daniel Garcia. Kingston has 6 points. Garcia 0 points and is OUT.
Continental Classic Blue Block: Bryan Danielson beat Brody King. Danielson has 9 points. King has 6 points.
I did not watch the live show this week.
DDT continued the D KING GP 2023 today with an event in Fukuoka.
Today’s event was held at Nishitetsu Hall in Fukuoka and will be available on demand on WRESTLE UNIVERSE at a later date. There was no live broadcast.
The announced paid attendance was 355, a full house/near sellout.
A pre-show match was provided by Kyushu Sangyo University Pro Wrestling Research Department with a bunch of masked wrestlers.
Match 1: Yukio Sakaguchi & Takao Soma beat Yukio Naya & Yusuke Okada. Soma pinned Okada.
Match 2: MAO, Toi Kojima & Vanvert Jacques beat Azure Dragon, Akito & Kazuma Sumi. Kojima pinned Sumi after Kojima Wonderland.
Match 3: D KING GP Block B: Kazuki Hirata beat Chris Brookes.
Match 4: D KING GP Block B: Rei Saito beat KANON.
Match 5: Jun Akiyama, Danshoku Dieno & Makoto Oishi beat Hideki Okatani, Yuki Ishida & Takeshi Masada. Oishi pinned Ishida with a tornado clutch.
Match 6: D KING GP Block A: Kazusada Higuchi beat Yuki Iino.
Match 7: D KING GP Block A: Yuki Ueno beat HARASHIMA.
Main Event: D KING GP Block A: Daisuke Sasaki beat Tetsuya Endo by submission.
Standings:
Block A:
1-Higuchi, 3-1, 6 points
2-Ueno, 2-1-1, 5 points
3-Endo, 2-2, 4 points
4-Sasaki, 1-1-1, 3 points
5-HARASHIMA, 1-3, 2 points (OUT)
6-Iino, 1-2, 2 points (OUT)
Block B:
1-Naya, 3-1, 6 points
2-Saito, 3-1, 6 points
3-MAO, 2-1, 4 points
4-KANON, 2-2, 4 points (OUT)
5-Brookes, 1-3, 2 points (OUT)
6-Hirata, 1-4, 2 points (OUT). Finished.
The winner of each block advances to the Finals. Block A will come down to Endo-Higuchi on 12/24. If Higuchi wins, he advances. If Endo wins, he needs a Ueno loss or tie on 12/24 (Iino) to advance on tiebreakers. If Ueno wins, he needs Endo to beat Higuchi to advance. If Endo wins and Ueno draws, that makes it a 3-way tie but the tiebreakers would go to Endo. Sasaki still has a chance if he wins both his remaining matches, then he would also need an Endo win and Ueno loss or draw. In Block B, it’s still up in the air. Naya still advances with a win in his last match (MAO) while Saito must win (Brookes) and Naya must lose to advance (Naya has tiebreaker). MAO can advance by winning both his remaining matches (Naya, KANON) and Saito must lose or draw. Saito has tiebreaker over MAO. KANON is technically out because while he beat Naya, he lost to Saito.
The next event is tomorrow at Sakurajuji Hall Yatsushiro Multipurpose Hall in Kumamoto. Tomorrow’s tournament matches are Sasaki-Iino and MAO-KANON. There will be no live broadcast. When the on demand replay is available there will be an intermission after the 4th of 6 scheduled matches.
Pro Wrestling NOAH continued the SUNNY VOYAGE 2023 Tour today with a house show in Yokohama.
Today’s event was held at Yokohama Radiant Hall in Tokyo and can be watched on demand on WRESTLE UNVIERSE.
The announced paid attendance was 290.
Match 1: YO-HEY & Tadasuke beat Atsushi Kotoge & Hi69. Tadasuke pinned Hi69 after Good Looking Piledriver.
Match 2: Saxon Huxley, Timothy Thatcher & Shuhei Taniguchi beat Masa Kitamiya, Daiki Inaba & Taishi Ozawa. Huxley pinned Ozawa after a neck hanging bomb.
Match 3: Extreme Tiger & Super Crazy beat Alejandro & Terry Yaki. Tiger pinned Yaki after a reverse Gory Special Bomb.
Match 4: LJ Cleary beat Ryohei Oiwa.
Match 5: Manabu Soya & Kai Fujimura beat Kenoh & Yu Owada. Fujimura pinned Owada after a swan dive elbow attack.
Main Event: Kaito Kiyomiya beat Junta Miyawaki.
The next event is tomorrow at Act City Hamamatsu in Shizuoka. There will be no live broadcast.
Here are the quick results from tonight’s Ring Of Honor Final Battle 2023 PPV in Garland Park, TX:
Updates will begin at 4 PM PT/7 PM ET. The event is available only on HonorClub, ROH’s streaming service, which costs $9.99/month. No additional purchase required.
Pre-show:
Taya Valkyrie beat Jazmin Allure.
The Von Erichs beat The Outrunners.
Bryan Keith beat Jack Cartwheel. As a result, Keith qualifies for tonight’s Survival Of The Fittest match.:
Daniel Garcia beat Blake Christian.
PPV:
AAA Mega Champion El Hijo de Vikingo beat Black Taurus to retain the title.
ROH 6-Man Tag Team Champions Brian Cage, Toa Liona & Bishop Kaun beat Shane Haste, Mikey Nicholls & Kosei Fujita (New Japan Pro Wrestling) to retain the titles. Cage pinned Fujita.
In an I Quit Match, Ethan Page beat Tony Nese.
Nyla Rose beat Vertvixen.
In Survival Of The Fittest (6-way elimination match), Kyle Fletcher beat Lee Johnson, Lee Moriarty, Dalton Castle, Bryan Keith & Komander to become THE NEW ROH WORLD TV CHAMPION!
In a Pure Rules Match, ROH Pure Champion Wheeler Yuta beat Tom Lawlor to retain the title.
Keith Lee beat Shane Taylor.
AEW International Champion Orange Cassidy vs. Bryan Keith for the title has been added to tomorrow’s Collision.
Mark Briscoe & FTR vs. Jon Moxley, Claudio Castagnoli & Bryan Danielson went to a double countout. Which led to…
In a Fight Without Honor (Anything Goes), Mark Briscoe & FTR beat Jon Moxley, Claudio Castagnoli & Bryan Danielson. Briscoe pinned Danielson after Jay Driller onto chairs.
Eddie Kingston beat Anthony Henry. Proving Ground Match, which meant Henry would’ve gotten an ROH World Championship shot if he won or the match went over 10 minutes, and neither happened.
ROH Women’s Champion Athena beat Billie Starkz to retain the title.
End Show.
The post-event media scrum is scheduled for midnight ET/9 PM PT and will be streamed FOR FREE on YouTube on the ROH and All Elite Wrestling channels. (9:05 PM PT UPDATE: Media scrum stream has not started yet so we’re potentially running over scheduled time)
(9:18 PM PT UPDATE: They blew way past the top of the hour on the PPV. Media scrum feed just launched)