Tag: wrestling

Pro Wrestling NOAH 5/4/23 Results

MAJESTIC 2023, Pro Wrestling NOAH’s Golden Week blowout event, is now in the books.

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

The announced paid attendance was 2721. Again quite low even with configuration and reduced box seat capacity which still should have meant a capacity of at least 8000-9000 (the venue’s normal full capacity, primarily for sumo, is around 14,000).

Match 1: Mohammed Yone & Super Crazy beat Akitoshi Saito & Taishi Ozawa. Crazy pinned Ozawa after a moonsault press.

Match 2: Atsushi Kotoge & Seiki Yoshioka beat Extreme Tiger & Lancelot. Kotoge pinned Lancelot after Kill Switch.

Match 3: Jack Morris, Anthony Greene, YO-HEY & Tadasuke beat Sean Legacy, Stallion Rogers, Dragon Bane & Alpha Wolf. Greene pinned Rogers after Alternate Ending.

Match 4: Sumire Natsu & Ryo Mizunami beat Maya Yukihi & SAKI. Natsu pinned Yukihi after Youran.

Match 5: Shuji Kondo, Hajime Ohara & Hi69 beat AMAKUSA, Junta Miyawaki & Alejandro. Hi69 pinned Miyawaki after Stuka Splash.

Match 6: Kazuyuki Fujita & Masato Tanaka beat Masa Kitamiya & Daiki Inaba. Tanaka pinned Inaba after Sliding D.

Match 7: In a GHC Martial Arts Rules match, Masakatsu Funaki beat Shinya Aoki by submission.

Match 8: Yoshinari Ogawa & Chris Ridgeway beat Eita & Daga. Ogawa pinned Eita after a Daga Diablo Wings.

Match 9: Dralistico beat Rey Escorpion.

Match 10; Saxon Huxley & Timothy Thatcher beat GHC Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Takashi Sugiura & Shuhei Taniguchi to win the titles. Huxley & Thatcher become the 65th GHC Heavyweight Tag Team Champions. Huxley pinned Taniguchi after a neck hanging bomb.

Match 11: GHC Jr. Heavyweight Champion HAYATA beat Ninja Mack to retain the title. V1 for HAYATA. Next up: Dante Leon. That match will happen on 6/17 at Nagoya Congress Center Event Hall in Nagoya.

Match 12: GHC National Champion Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr. beat Hideki Suzuki by submission to retain the title. V4 for Wagner Jr.

Match 13: Go Shiozaki Return Match: Kenoh, Katsuhiko Nakajima & Manabu Soya beat Go Shiozaki, Kaito Kiyomiya & Yoshiki Inamura. Nakajima pinned Shiozaki after Vertical Spike. It’s possible Nakajima defected from Kongo after the match to re-form Axiz with Shiozaki as Kenoh vs. Nakajima has been announced for 5/31 at Shinjuku Face.

Main Event: GHC Heavyweight Champion Jake Lee beat Naomichi Marufuji to retain the title. V2 for Lee.

The next event is 5/14 at Korakuen Hall as part of the never-ending STAR NAVIGATION 2023 Tour. Live streaming on WRESTLE UNIVERSE will begin at 2:30 AM PT/5:30 AM ET. This is also an ABEMA broadcast so the live broadcast on WRESTLE UNIVERSE may be in English only.

In other news, the annual N-1 VICTORY Tournament was announced for 2023. The full schedule was announced and is as follows:
8/6-Yokohama Budokan, Yokohama
8/9-Korakuen Hall
8/10-Korakuen Hall
8/11-Korakuen Hall
8/19-Chateraise Gatteaux Kingdom Sapporo, Hokkaido
8/26-Sendai Pit, Sendai
8/27-Culttz Kawasaki, Kanagawa
9/3-Osaka Prefectural Gym, Osaka (Finals)
All events will be streamed live on ABEMA or WRESTLE UNIVERSE.

AEW Dynamite 5/3/23 Results

Here are the quick results from tonight’s AEW Dynamite in Baltimore, MD:

Orange Cassidy, Bandido, Adam Cole & Roderick Strong beat Angelo Parker, Matt Menard, Daniel Garcia & Jake Hager. Cole pinned Parker after BOOM. Chris Jericho was on commentary. After the match, Cole took out Jericho AND the stage behind commentary. Cole then was forced out of the arena by security as Jericho kept taunting him, which allowed Britt Baker to sneak in and b*tch slap Jericho.

Saraya beat Willow Nightingale. Hikaru Shida returned post-match and appeared to align with The Outcasts, but it was a ruse as Britt Baker & Jamie Hayter hit the ring and Shida laid out The Outcasts.

The Acclaimed & Billy Gunn won the Tres De Mayo Trios Battle Royal, last eliminating The Butcher & The Blade & Kip Sabian. Other teams entered: Lucha Bros & El Hijo De Vikingo, Varsity Athletes, Dark Order, Powerhouse Hobbs & QT Marshall & Aaron Solo.

Wardlow beat Logan LeRoux. Squash. Wardlow called out Luchasaurus for an open challenge AEW TNT Title match but Christian Cage refused.

Ricky Starks beat Juice Robinson.

Darby Allin & Jungle Boy beat MJF & Sammy Guevara. Allin pinned Guevara after Coffin Drop. As a result, the Double Or Nothing Main Event is now AEW World Champion MJF vs. Guevara, Allin & Jungle Boy in a 4-way for the title (ie had been MJF-Guevara).

Another average show overall saved from being meh by the last two matches which were good. The main event wasn’t a great match but the storytelling and mind games were easily A+ material and was a lot of fun to watch.

Friday on Rampage now at 6:30 PM ET/3:30 PM PT: Mark Briscoe vs. Preston Vance, Jade Cargill vs. TBA, Lucha Bros/Vikingo vs. Hobbs/Marshall/Solo and The Firm Deletion at The Hardy Compound (The Hardys, Isaiah Kassidy & Hook vs. Big Bill, Ethan Page, Lee Moriarty & Stokely Hathaway), which likely will be a cinematic match.

Next week: Jon Moxley vs. Kenny Omega in a Steel Cage Match, AEW International Champion Orange Cassidy vs. Daniel Garcia for the title and an FTR promo.

In other AEW news, there are now rumors that Dark, the weekly YouTube program on Tuesdays, has either been cancelled or is on indefinite hiatus. This is apparently because as part of the deal for the rumored new Saturday AEW TV show (announcement being held up by CM Punk status) all AEW programming going forward will only be on WBD TV networks so no YouTube. Ring Of Honor likely would not be affected and would remain on HonorClub. This all is not yet official.

BREAKING: Sumo Champion Retires (Updated)

Breaking sumo news: Nikkan Sports reports Ichinojo, the March Juryo Champion and July 2022 Emperor’s Cup winner, has retired effective immediately. He will submit a formal notice to the Japan Sumo Association today (tomorrow US time). A translation of the Nikkan Sports report says the reason is chronic back pain which is not completely treatable. It should be noted that Ichinojo, at well over 450 pounds/206 kilos, is the largest rikishi in the top 2 tiers of sumo. The report also states he will not take a former master’s name and will leave sumo completely.

Ichinojo, real name Takashi Miura, is from Mongolia but is a Japanese citizen. He was ranked at Maegashira 13 for the May tournament and has 3 career championships, one top tier championship (July 2022) and 2 Juryo championships including March. He won 4 special prizes and is believed to lead all current rikishi with 9 kinboshi (Gold Star victories, when a Maegashira defeats a Yokozuna). His highest ranking was Sekiwake, the 3rd highest in sumo. He debuted in January 2014 at Makushita 15 and needed just 2 tournaments to reach Juryo, tied for the second-fastest promotion ever, won the chanpionship in his Juryo debut, and just 5 tournaments to reach the top tier, reaching Sekiwake in just his second top tier tournament after going 13-2 with 2 Special Prizes in his Makuuchi debut. But after his July 2022 triumph he had 2 straight losing records and then was suspended for January for outside-competition misconduct announced as coronavirus protocol violations, returning at Juryo in March and going 14-1 and winning the championship in what will now be his final tournament.

UPDATE: On their official Japanese Twitter, the Nihon Sumo Kyokai has confirmed and announced Ichinojo’s retirement.

All-Japan News: Possible Title Vacancy Coming

All-Japan posted a comment today from wrestling legend Dory Funk Jr., who also serves as head of the Pacific Wrestling Federation (PWF), one of the governing bodies of All-Japan. His comments suggest the All-Asia Tag Team Championship could/should be vacated soon because of an Atsushi Onita injury. Reportedly an abdominal acute aneurysm that will require emergency surgery. While mot a mandate yet, he is urging Onita & Yoshitatsu to vacate the titles as a result and for Onita to focus on his health. Should they do this and Onita os eventually able to return, Funk is open to them challenging for the titles soon after, even in an Onita-style signature deathmatch.

More as it becomes available. It should be emphasized the titles have not been vacated yet or stripped from Onita & Yoshitatsu. This is just a request from Funk and not a demand/mandate at this time.

DDT 5/3/23 Results

DDT held MEGA MAX BUMP 2023, their annual Golden Week blowout event, today in Yokohama and it was, well, DDT.

Today’s event was held at Yokohama Budokan in Yokohama and can be watched on demand on WRESTLE UNIVERSE. You can also watch up to the second main show match FOR FREE on YouTube.

The announced paid attendance was 1160. Although it only has a capacity of 3000, and was probably smaller with the setup, same-day ticket sales ads made it sound like the gate/attendance was not that good.

Pre-Show:
Match 1: Yumehito Imanari beat Rukiya.
Match 2: Illusion beat Danshoku Dieno.
Match 3: Koju Takeda beat Yuki Ishida.

Main Show:

Match 1: Yuya Koroku & Sotatsu Nakamura beat Toui Kojima & Kazuma Sumi. Koroku pinned Sumi after a deformed Triangle Lancer.

Match 2: Saki Akai beat Rayne Leverkusen.

Match 3: Daisuke Sasaki, MJ Paul & Minoru Fujita beat Takao Soma, Yusuke Okada & Diego. Sasaki beat Diego with a crossface. Diego was a late replacement for Keigo Nakamura, who is out due to injury.

Match 4: In a Dance vs. Kickboxing Match scheduled for 15 2-minute rounds, Hikaru Machida beat Kazuki Hirata by TKO in 7 seconds. Which led to…
Match 4 (again): In a Dance vs. Kickboxing Match scheduled for 15 2-minute rounds, Kazuki Hirata beat Hikaru Machida. Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling ring announcer Sayuri Namba was the special ring card girl (which she also is part-time for MMA and boxing events in Japan).

Match 5: Chiitan⭐️ Debut Match: Chiitan⭐️, Toru Owashi & Akito beat Chris Brookes, Masa Takanashi & Antonio Honda. Chiitan⭐️ pinned Honda after Shining Wizard. Post-match happenings involving Pocotan led to Akito making a giant costume mascot match for 5/13.

Match 6: Yuki Ueno & Yuni beat Van Vert Jacques & Takeshi Masada. Ueno pinned Masada after a rolling guillotine Ace Crusher. Jacques was a replacement for Nick Wayne, who missed the event due to visa issues (announced well in advance).

Match 7: In a TLC (Toys, Ladders, Chairs) Match, Shunma Katsumata beat DDT Extreme Champion Jun Akiyama to win the title. Katsumata becomes the 57th DDT Extreme Champion. Toui Kojima interference helped set it up. Apparently Akiyama had been referring to Kojima as “Toy”, intentionally misspelling his first name. This all led to Akiyama-Kojima being made for 5/28 at Yokohama Budokan.

Match 8: Kazusada Higuchi, Yukio Sakaguchi, Naruki Doi & KANON beat Sanshiro Takagi, HARASHIMA, Kotaro Suzuki & Hideki Okatani. Sakaguchi pinned Okatani after God’s Right Knee.

Match 9: DDT Universal Champion Tetsuya Endo beat MAO to retain the title. V1 for Endo.

Main Event: KO-D Openweight Champion Yuji Hino beat Yuki Iino to retain the title. V2 for Hino.

Big announcements made for the future included an unnamed former WWE superstar appearing at WRESTLE PETER PAN on 7/23, to be revealed at Korakuen Hall later this month, and a Ryogoku Kokugikan return date for a big event on 11/12.

The next event is the KING OF DDT 2023 Tournament Round 1 Saturday at Shinjuku Face in Tokyo. Live streaming on WRESTLE UNIVERSE will begin Friday at 11 PM ET/8 PM PT. Live results here are scheduled for the event.

Dragon Gate 5/3/23 Results

Dragon Gate kicked off their May tour, Hopeful Gate 2023, with the start of a doubleheader in Kyoto to kick off their Golden Week slate.

Today’s event was held at Kyoto KBS Hall in Kyoto and can be watched on demand on DRAGONGATE NETWORK FOR FREE! No signup or login required!

The announced paid attendance was 296.

Match 1: Kzy beat BxB Hulk.

Match 2: Diamante & H-Y-O beat YAMATO & Don Fujii. H-Y-O pinned Fujii after Neko Tamashi.

Match 3: Masaaki Mochizuki, Susumu Mochizuki & Yasushi Kanda beat Ultimo Dragon, Genki Horiguchi & Kaito Nagano. Susumu Mochizuki pinned Kanda after Yokosuka Cutter.

Match 4: Yuki Yoshioka & Dragon Dia beat Dragon Kid & Jason Lee. Dia pinned Lee.

Match 5: BIGBOSS Shimizu, Strong Machine J & JACKY “FUNKY” KAMEI beat Kota Minoura, Ben-K & Minorita. Shimizu pinned Minorita after Liger Bomb.

Main Event: KAI & ISHIN beat Shun Skywalker & Madoka Kikuta by TKO. ISHIN beat Kikuta. Ref stoppage (towel).

The next event is tomorrow. Live streaming on DRAGONGATE NETWORK will begin TONIGHT at 11 PM PT/2 AM ET.

New Japan 5/3/23 Results

WRESTLING DONTAKU 2023, New Japan’s annual Golden Week blowout event, is now in the books.

Today’s event was held at Fukuoka International Center in Fukuoka and can be watched on demand on New Japan World. This event aired as part of WORLD PRO WRESTLING LIVE 2023 on TV Asahi.

The announced paid attendance was 4498, a legit advance sellout. They must have had quite the stage setup taking a ton of space because that’s only 60% capacity (the venue’s max capacity is 7500, but that’s primarily for sumo).

Pre-Show Match: In a Young Lion Consecutive Battles Match where Ryohei Oiwa faced Oskar Leube, Boltin Oleg & Yuto Nakashima in 5 minute time limit matches with the chance to win prizes from TV Asahi and an NJPW WORLD TV Championship match if he won all 3, Oiwa finished with one loss and 2 time limit draws. He wins nothing. Leube beat Oiwa.

Match 1: Yoh, Toru Yano, YOSHI-HASHI & Hirooki Goto beat Dick Togo, Sho, Yujiro Takahashi & EVIL. YOSHI-HASHI pinned Togo after Shoto.

Match 2: Great-O-Khan & Aussie Open beat Kosei Fujita, Shane Haste & Mikey Nicholls. Khan beat Fujita with Subaru Sheep Killer.

Match 3: Kevin Knight, KUSHIDA & Shota Umino beat Francesco Akira, TJP & Aaron Henare. KUSHIDA pinned TJP with Perfect Small Package.

Match 4: DOUKI, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Taichi beat BUSHI, Shingo Takagi & Tetsuya Naito. Taichi pinned BUSHI after Seitei Jujiro.

Match 5: Hikuleo beat STRONG Openweight Chanpion KENTA to win the title. Hikuleo becomes the 4th STRONG Openweight Champion.

Match 6: NJPW WORLD TV Champion Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Jeff Cobb went to a 15 minute time limit draw. As a result, Sabre retains the title. V6 for Sabre. Next up: Since Oiwa couldn’t earn a shot today, TBA.

Match 7: Tomohiro Ishii, Hiroshi Tanahashi & Kazuchika Okada beat NEVER 6-Man Tag Team Champions Ren Narita, El Desperado & Minoru Suzuki to win the titles. Ishii, Tanahashi & Okada become the 26th NEVER 6-Man Tag Team Champions. Okada pinned Narita after Rainmaker. Next up: Possibly Umino, who may have chosen Jon Moxley as one of his partners. Moxley will return to Japan for the first time since the pandemic began at DOMINION in June. Other partner seems TBA but it was hinted that Moxley is bringing someone with him, which immediately suggests someone from All Elite Wrestling-namely one of Bryan Danielson, Claudio Castagnoli or Wheeler Yuta.

Match 8: David Finlay beat NEVER Openweight Champion Tama Tonga to win the title. Finlay becomes the 39th NEVER Openweight Champion. Next up: TBA, but Finlay’s celebration was short lived thanks to an ambush by El Phantasmo, who is now on the New Japan side after being kicked out of Bullet Club.

Main Event: IWGP World Heavyweight Chanpion SANADA beat Hiromu Takahashi to retain the title. V1 for SANADA. Takahashi’s IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship was not on the line here. Note that as of earlier today New Japan’s English website incorrectly indicated Takahashi wok while indicating SANADA retained. Next up: Possibly a challenger less than nobody expected…Yota Tsuji!?! The Young Lion, who is/has been on his traditional training excursion (he chose to go to Mexico and has been competing in CMLL) made a surprise appearance and laid out SANADA post-match.

Next up is Best Of The Super Junior 30, New Japan’s annual prestigious Jr. Heavyweight showcase, beginning on 5/12 at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo. Live streaming on New Japan World will begin at 2:30 AM PT/5:30 AM ET. Every BOSJ event will be available live and on demand in Japanese and English. A pre-tournament press conference and talk show event will be held on 5/11 at Tokyo FM Hall in Tokyo, which is open to the public (tickets required to attend).

GLEAT News: Michiko Miyagi Update (5/2/23) (Updated)

GLEAT posted a press release today updating the situation around Michiko Miyagi, who was forced to leave the promotion after losing a match to Sayaka Unagi last month. GLEAT continues to try and talk Miyagi into changing her mind, but Miyagi has refused so far. A compromise of sorts has bene reached-Miyagi is still part of GLEAT, but will not be on any GLEAT events for now and will compete in other promotions like she was a freelancer. Discussions will continue in the future.

More as it becomes available.

UPDATE: In other GLEAT news, SHIHO is now off Saturday’s event. Doctor’s orders. The quick translation is ridiculous and gars to understand (something about brain in the morning and deer temperature). The card has already been changed, not sure what the changed match was.

Ganbare Pro 5/2/23 Results

Ganbare Pro ran the second Ganbare Women stand-alone event today, continuing the effort that re-launched last month under injured wrestler Yuna Manase, who is also GM of the projectz

Today’s event was held at Takashimadaira Community Center in Tokyo and will be available on demand on WRESTLE UNIVERSE at a later date. There was no live broadcast.

The announced paid attendance was 117.

Match 1: In a 5 minute Exhibition Match, Moeka Haruhi faced Reala. Because this was an exhibition match, there was no winner or loser. Reala makes her official debut Friday.

Match 2: Chocolate Pro Wrestling Provided Match: Chie Koishikawa beat Tokiko Kiribara.

Match 3: Ami Manase vs. Marika Kobashi went to a no contest. Miyako Matsumoto interference. Which led to…
Match 3 (again): Ami Manase & Marika Kobashi beat Miyako Matsunoto & Alex Lee. Manase pinned Matsumoto after Suzuki Dynamic.

Match 4: Tae Honma beat Yoshiko Hasegawa.

Main Event: Moeka Haruhi & YuuRI beat Tomoka Inaba & HisokA. YuuRI pinned HisokA after a swanton bomb.

The next women’s event may have just been announced before this post, which would be on 7/16 at Ryogoku KFC Hall. Ganbare also announced this year’s edition of WRESTLE SEKIGAHARA, normally their biggest event of the year, on 7/9 at Ota City General Gym in Tokyo.

The next event is LOVE PHANTOM 2023, their annual Golden Week blowout event, Friday at Korakuen Hall. Live streaming on WRESTLE UNIVERSE will begin at 2:30 AM PT/5:30 AM ET.

BREAKING: Hana Kimura Memorial Event Returning

FITE has just announced the Hana Kimura Memorial Event will return for a 3rd annual installment. This year’s edition, nicknamed “pinx!”, honoring the former wrestler and daughter of former Japanese wrestler Kyoko Kimura who sadly took her own life after being cyberbullied online, will be held on 5/23 at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo. In the US it will be available live and on demand on FITE for $24.99-good thing you get unlimited on demand replays with purchase because it’s a 2:30 AM PT/5:30 AM ET start. I imagine there will be English commentary (there was in 2021 thanks to Ring Of Honor commentator Ian Riccaboni & others). If it’s as in past years, a portion of the proceeds will go to support Kyoko Kimura and her efforts to toughen cyberbullying criminal penalties in Japan along with assisting with legal fees and to also help honor Hana’s memory & restore her honor. That alone makes it worth buying.

The current event card is as follows:
Battle Royal. Announced participants: Tsutomu Oosugi, Banana Senga, Fuminori Abe, Menso-re Oyaji, Super Delfin, Hanako Nakamori, Chihiro Hashimoto, Hibiscus Mii, Munenori Sawa
Saori Anou vs. Miyuki Takase
Mika Iwata & Mio Momono vs. Aja Kong & TBA
Konami, Rina & Kaori Yoneyama vs. Shuri, Asuka (the Asuka known as Veny outside Japan) & Natsupoi
Masao Hanabata & Shotaro Ashino (All-Japan Pro Wrestling) vs. Ryo Mizunami & Sonoko Kato, Yuko Miyamoto & Ram Kaichow (666)) and Koji Kanemoto & TBA in a 4-way
Maiden Name Hana Kimura (Sakura Hirota) vs. TBA

The 2 previous events are also available on demand on FITE. If you are a FITE+ subscriber, you can watch both events as part of your subscription. If you are able to buy them, do so. I bought the 2021 event and didn’t know about 2022’s until now. Although I will have to wait to watch on demand I will be buying this year’s event too. Hana left us far too soon and while the bully was found and prosecuted, it was a very minor crime in Japan which is beyond unacceptable. Kyoko Kimura’s legal efforts continue and this event is a great way for us to support this and honor her daughter’s memory.

As Hana would always say, Matane.