Tag: wrestling

BREAKING: AEW Staffer, Former Wrestler Fired (Updated)

All Elite Wrestling has terminated BJ Whitmer, a former wrestler working for the company in a backstage/front office role, after he was arrested on domestic violence charges. AEW made a Twitter post with the announcement but said little more.

More as it becomes available. The original post is below:

UPDATE: The charges, in Boone County, KY, are 1st degree strangulation (the domestic violence) and 2nd degree burglary and stem from a 6/4 incident. Whitmer apparently posted $25,000 bond today and was released. A grand jury indictment will now be sought.

Dragon Gate 6/12/23 Results

Dragon Gate continued the Rainbow Gate 2023 tour today with the start of a 3-week tun of non-televised events.

Today’s event was held at Oro City Hall in Kagoshima. There is/was no live or on demand broadcast.

The paid attendance has not yet been announced. (UPDATE: The announced paid attendance was 289, a full house/near sellout).

Match 1: Kota Minoura, BxB Hulk & Minorita beat Kzy, BIGBOSS Shimizu & U-T. Minoura pinned U-T after R-301.

Match 2: Don Fujii & Ben-K beat YAMATO & Kagetora. Ben-K pinned Kagetora after a spear.

Match 3: Ultimo Dragon, Dragon Kid & Genki Horiguchi vs. Masaaki Mochizuki, Susumu Mochizuki & Yasushi Kanda went to a no contest. Z-Brats interference.

Match 4: Shun Skywalker & Diamante beat Strong Machine J & JACKY “FUNKY” KAMEI. Diamante pinned KAMEI after Martinete.

Main Event: Madoka Kikuta, Yuki Yoshioka & Dragon Dia beat KAI, H-Y-O & ISHIN. Yoshioka pinned H-Y-O after a frog splash.

The next event is tomorrow at Sasebo City Sports Culture Center in Nagasaki. There will be no live or on demand broadcast.

Dragon Gate News: Full 7/2 Card Announced

Dragon Gate has announced what appears to be the final card for Kobe Pro Wrestling Festival 2023, their biggest event of the year. The event will be held on 7/2 at Kobe World Hall in Kobe and will be available live and on demand outside Japan on DRAGONGATE NETWORK beginning on 7/1 at 10:20 PM PT/1:20 AM ET.

The full card:
Pre-show (scheduled to begin at 10:20 PM PT/1:20 AM ET):
Shachihoko BOY, Takashi Yoshida & Problem Dragon vs. Genki Horiguchi, Punch Tominaga & Ho Ho Lun
KAI & H-Y-O vs. Young Selection Team

Main show (11 PM PT/2 AM ET):
Dragon Dia, La Estrella & Eita vs. Kagetorax U-T & Taro Nohashi (Michinoku Pro)
Open The Brave Gate Champion Jason Lee vs. ISHIN for the title
Masaaki Mochizuki & Don Fujii vs. Kenoh (Pro Wrestling NOAH) & Shuji Kondo
Ichikawa vs. TBA
Open The Twin Gate Champions Susumu Mochizuki & Yasushi Kanda vs. Ben-K & BxB Hulk for the titles
YAMATO vs. Hiromu Takahashi (New Japan Pro Wrestling)
Open The Triangle Gate Champions Kzy, BIGBOSS Shimizu & JACKY “FUNKY” KAMEI vs. Kota Minoura, Minorita & Naruki Doi for the titles
Open The Dream Gate Champion Madoka Kikuta vs. Yuki Yoshioka for the title
Uktimo Dragon, Dragon Kid, Shun Skywalker, Diamante & Strong Machine J in a Mascara Contra Mascara 5-way Cage Match. Each wrestler’s mask will be hung above the ring & cage. No pinfalls or submissions, the only way to win/escape is to climb up and retrieve your mask. The last man left loses and will also be unmasked in the ring

Dragon Gate 6/11/23 Results (2 Events) (Updated)

Dragon Gate continued the Rainbow Gate 2023 Tour today with a doubleheader in Fukuoka.

Today’s events were held at Acros Fukuoka in Fukuoka and can be watched on demand on DRAGONGATE NETWORK.

The paid attendance for both events has not yet been announced. Pictures from Dragon Gate’s official Twitter suggest the second event may have been close to a sellout. (Update: The announced paid attendance was 324 for event 1 and 484 for event 2)

Event 1:
Match 1: YAMATO, BxB Hulk & Minorita beat Don Fujii, Genki Horiguchi & Kagetora. Hulk pinned Horiguchi after First Flash.

Match 2: Dragon Dia beat JACKY “FUNKY” KAMEI.

Match 3: Ultimo Dragon & Dragon Kid vs. Susumu Mochizuki & Yasushi Kanda went to a no contest. Z-Brats interference.

Match 4: Masaaki Mochizuki beat Ryoya Tanaka by submission.

Match 5: Shun Skywalker, Diamante, KAI, H-Y-O & ISHIN beat Kzy, BIGBOSS Shimizu, Jason Lee, Strong Machine J & U-T. ISHIN pinned U-T after a Komata-style chokeslam.

Main Event: Madoka Kikuta & Yuki Yoshioka beat Kota Minoura & Ben-K. Yoshioka pinned Minoura after a frog splash.

Event 2:
Match 1: Match 1: Kzy, Jason Lee & U-T beat YAMATO, Dragon Kid & Genki Horiguchi. Lee pinned Horiguchi after Maximum Driver.

Match 2: BIGBOSS Shimizu beat Minorita.

Match 3: Don Fujii & Kagetora beat JACKY “FUNKY” KAMEI & Ryu Fuda. Fujii pinned Fuda.

Match 4: Madoka Kikuta, Dragon Dia & Yuki Yoshioka beat KAI, H-Y-O & ISHIN. Kikuta pinned H-Y-O after a rolling lariat.

Match 5: Kota Minoura, Ben-K & BxB Hulk vs. Masaaki Mochizuki, Susumu Mochizuki & Yasushi Kanda went to a double countout.

Main Event: Ultimo Dragon & Strong Machine J beat Shun Skywalker & Diamante. Dragon pinned Skywalker with La Magistral. Dragon Kid was special referee.

Afterwards, the promotion announced the return date for the venue is 8/13 for another doubleheader.

The next event is tomorrow at Oro City Hall in Kagoshima. There will be no live or on demand broadcast. In fact, it looks like there are no more broadcasts scheduled the rest of the month.

UPDATE: Kobe Pro Wrestling Festival Update-Dragon Kid has been added to the 4-way Mask vs. Mask match so it’s now a 5-way.

DDT 6/11/23 Results

DDT continued the What Are You Doing 2023 Tour today with a house show in Ehime.

Today’s event was held at Matsuyama City Comprehensive Community Center Exhibition Hall in Ehime and will be available on demand on WRESTLE UNIVERSE at a later date. There was no live broadcast.

The announced paid attendance was 216, a full house/near sellout. It should be noted that DDT is running a summer-long campaign offering free admission for children and fans under 18, so that may not be the actual paid attendance.

Match 1: In a handicap match, Yuki Iino & Danshoku Dieno beat Toru Owashi, Kazuki Hirata & Rukiya in 14 seconds. Iino pinned Hirata. Which led to…
Match 1 (again): In a handicap match, Yuki Iino & Danshoku Dieno beat Toru Owashi, Kazuki Hirata & Rukiya. Iino pinned Rukiya.

Match 2: Akito & Shaa (?) beat Yusuke Okada & Hana Tsuruhime. Akito pinned Okada after a Shaa missile kick.

Match 3: Daisuke Sasaki & MJ Paul beat Kazusada Higuchi & Takeshi Masada. Sasaki beat Masada with a figure 4.

Match 4: Sanshiro Takagi, Imabari Towel Mascaras & His Excellency Tsutenkaku beat HARASHIMA, Saki Akai & Kazuma Sumi. Takagi pinned Sumi after a lift-up Spiccoli Driver.

Match 5: Yuji Hino & Makoto Oishi beat Yukio Sakaguchi & Hideki Okatani. Hino beat Okatani with a King Kong sleeper.

Main Event: Yuki Ueno, MAO & Toi Kojima beat Tetsuya Endo, Jun Akiyama & Yuya Koroku. Kojima pinned Koroku after Kojima In Wonderland.

The next event is Tuesday at Asakusa Flower Theater in Tokyo. There will be no live broadcast.

All-Japan 6/11/23 Results

All-Japan began the Dynamite Series 2023 today with an event featuring 2 title matches and additional developments for the next big event later this week.

Today’s event was held at Big Palette Fukushima in Fukushima and will be available on demand on AJPW.TV later today or tomorrow. There was no live broadcast.

The announced paid attendance was 637.

Match 1: Kohei Sato, MUSASHI (Independent/Freelancer), Rising Hayato & Ryo Inoue beat Atsuki Aoyagi, Dan Tamura, Ren Ayabe & Oji Shiiba. Inoue pinned Tamura after a low altitude lariat.

Match 2: All-Japan Pro Wrestling TV 6-Man Tag Team Champions ATM, Takao Omori & Black Menso-re beat Black Tiger (Independent/Freelancer), Gorgeous Matsuno (DDT) & Aizawa No. 1 to retain the titles.Omori pinned Aizawa after Ax Bomber. V1 for the champs.

Match 3: In a Barbed Wire Double Barricade Mat Megaton Electric Blast Death Match, All-Asia Tag Team Champions Atsushi Onita & Yoshitatsu beat Hikaru Sato & Ryo Kawamura to retain the titles. Yoshitatsu pinned Kawamura. V3 for the champs.

Match 4: Minoru Suzuki & Hokuto Omori beat Ryuki Honda & Masao Hanabata. Susuki pinned Hanabata after a Gotch-style piledriver.

Match 5: Suwama & Satoshi Kojima vs. Jun & Rei Saito went to a double countout. Which led to…
Match 5 (again): Suwama & Satoshi Kojima vs. Jun & Rei Saito went to a double countout (again).

Match 6: Yuma Aoyagi beat Manabu Soya (Pro Wrestling NOAH).

Main Event: Kento Miyahara & Yuma Anzai beat Yuji Nagata (New Japan) & Yutaka Yoshie (Independent/Freelancer). Anzai pinned Yoshie with a German suplex hold.

The next event is Thursday at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo. Following the challenge issued by Kenoh in Pro Wrestling NOAH yesterday, an All-Japan World Tag Team Championship match of Kenoh & Soya vs. Miyahara & Anzai for the titles has been added to the event, which also will feature All-Japan World Jr. Heavyweight Champion Atsuki Aoyagi vs. Kaito Ishida for the title. Live streaming on AJPW.TV will begin at 2:30 AM PT/5:30 AM ET.

New Japan 6/11/23 Results

New Japan continued the New Japan Road Tour today with the start of a week of 4 non-televised events.

Today’s event was held at Kamisu Disaster Prevention Arena in Ibaraki. There was/is no live or on demand broadcast.

The announced paid attendance was 783.

Match 1: Ryusuke Taguchi beat Yuto Nakashima by submission.

Match 2: Tomoaki Honma & Togi Makabe beat Boltin Oleg & Ryohei Oiwa. Makabe pinned Oiwa after a King Kong kneedrop.

Match 3: Tiger Mask, Master Wato, Toru Yano & Hirooki Goto beat Dick Togo, Sho, Yujiro Takahashi & EVIL. Wato beat Togo with Vendeval.

Match 4: Francesco Akira, TJP & Aaron Henare beat Gedo, Clark Connors & Drilla Moloney. Henare beat Gedo with Ultima.

Match 5: Gabriel Kidd & Alex Coughlin beat Oskar Leube & YOSHI-HASHI. Coughlin pinned Leube after a jackhammer.

Match 6: Yoh, Tomohiro Ishii, Hiroshi Tanahashi & Kazuchika Okada beat El Desperado, Ren Narita, Shota Umino & Hiroyoshi Tenzan. Tanahashi pinned Tenzan after High Fly Flow.

Main Event: BUSHI, Hiromu Takahashi, Yota Tsuji, Shingo Takagi & Tetsuya Naito beat TAKA Michinoku, DOUKI, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Taichi & SANADA. Tsuji pinned TAKA after a spear.

The next event is Tuesday at Shirakawa City Central Gym in Fukushima. There will be no live or on demand broadcast.

Dragon Gate 6/10/23 Results (2 Events) (Updated)

Dragon Gate continued the Rainbow Gate 2023 Tour today with 2 separate events, first a shopping center mini-event then a regular event at a different location.

Event 1:
Today’s event was held at HI Hirose Super Combo Kashima Kamijama Store in Kumamoto. There is/was no broadcast.
The paid attendance has not been announced. This was an outdoor event.

Match 1: Kzy, Jason Lee & Strong Machine J beat KAI, H-Y-O & ISHIN. Kzy pinned H-Y-O after a running elbow smash.

Match 2: YAMATO won an 8 man battle royal, last eliminating Fatta (?) Kobashi by ref stoppage. Apparently there was a Shinsuke Nakamura parody wrestler too.

Main Event: Genki Horiguchi, Shachihoko BOY & U-T beat Masaaki Mochizuki, Susumu Mochizuki & Punch Tominaga. Horiguchi pinned Tominaga with Backslide From Heaven.

Event 2:
Today’s event was held at Imari Kunimidai Gym in Saga. There is/was no broadcast.

The paid attendance has not been announced.

Match 1: Madoka Kikuta & Yuki Yoshioka beat BIGBOSS Shimizu & JACKY “FUNKY” KAMEI. Kikuta pinned KAMEI after a rolling lariat.

Match 2: Yasushi Kanda beat Ichikawa. Squash. Which led to…
Match 2 (Again): Yasushi Kanda beat Ichikawa.

Match 3: Takashi Yoshida beat Minorita.

Match 4: Kota Minoura, Ben-K & BxB Hulk beat YAMATO, Kagetora & Dragon Dia. Ben-K pinned Kagetora after a spear.

Match 5: Ultimo Dragon & Dragon Kid beat Diamante & ISHIN by DQ. Diamante DQ’d. Mask ripping off Dragon. This was Dragon’s first match back since an indefinite suspension was lifted by GM Ryo Saito. Dragon & Diamante are facing off in a 4-way elimination match on 7/2 where the final loser will lose their mask (the other 2 in the match are Shun Skywalker & Strong Machine J. Worth nothing Skywalker wasn’t always masked).

Main Event: Kzy, Jason Lee & Strong Machine J beat Shun Skywalker, KAI & H-Y-O. Kzy pinned H-Y-O after a running elbow smash.

The next event is a doubleheader tomorrow at Acros Fukuoka in Fukuoka. Live streaming on DRAGONGATE NETWORK for both events will begin TONIGHT at 9 PM PT/midnight ET for the first event and tomorrow at 1 AM PT/4 AM ET for the second event. These appear to be the final televised events for June with the next broadcast likely being Kobe Pro Wrestling Festival, their biggest annual event, on 7/2.

UPDATE: For event 2 (Saga), the announced paid attendance was 289.

New Japan 6/10/23 Results

New Japan kicked off the New Japan Road Tour today, their traditional June tour that will build to a special STRONG doubleheader in Tokyo in July this year. Today also featured the announcement of the blocks for this year’s G1 CLIMAX Tournament.

Today’s event was held at Makuhari Messe International Exhibition Hall 1 in Chiba and can be watched on demand on New Japan World. This was a Samurai! TV broadcast.

The announced paid attendance was 684.

Match 1: Kosei Fujita beat Yuto Nakashima.

Match 2: Tomoaki Honma & Togi Makabe beat Boltin Oleg & Oskar Leube. Honma pinned Leube after Kokeshi.

Match 3: Yoh, Ryusuke Taguchi, Toru Yano & YOSHI-HASHI beat Dick Togo, Sho, Yujito Takahashi & EVIL. Yoh pinned Togo after Direct Drive.

Match 4: Francesco Akira, TJP & Aaron Henare beat Gedo, CLark Connors & Drilla Moloney (Dan Moloney). Henare beat Gedo with Ultima.

Match 5: Gabriel Kidd & Alex Coughlin beat Ryohei Oiwa & Hirooki Goto. Kidd pinned Oiwa after a piledriver. Afterwards, Kidd & Coughlin made a double tag title challenge to Goto & YOSHI-HASHI.

The G1 CLIMAX 33 blocks and preliminary matches were announced. With 32 participants it will again be 4 blocks with a traditional round-robin format. See below for the full list of blocks.

Match 6: Master Wato, Tomohiro Ishii, Hiroshi Tanahashi & Kazuxhika Okada beat Tiger Mask, El Desperado, Ren Narita & Shota Umino. Ishii pinned TM 4 after a vertical drop brainbuster.

Main Event: In an Elimination Match, BUSHI, Hiromu Takahashi, Yota Tsuji, Shingo Takagi & Tetsuya Naito beat TAKA Michinoku, DOUKI, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Taichi & SANADA. Tsuji was the last man left, last eliminating DOUKI.

Here are the G1 CLIMAX 33 Blocks:
Block A: SANADA, Chase Owens, Hikuleo, Ren Narita, Shota Umino, Yota Tsuji, Gabriel Kidd, Kaito Kiyomiya (Pro Wrestling NOAH)
Block B: Kazuchika Okada, YOSHI-HASHI, Taichi, KENTA, Great-O-Khan, Will Ospreay, Tanga Loa, El Phantasmo
Block C: David Finlay, Tomohiro Ishii, EVIL, Tama Tonga, Shingo Takagi, Aaron Henare, Eddie Kingston (All Elite Wrestling), Mikey Nicholls
Block D: Hiroshi Tanahashi, Tetsuya Naito, Hirooki Goto, Zack Sabre Jr., Toru Yano, Jeff Cobb, Shane Haste, Alex Coughlin
All block matches will have a 20 minute time limit. This year the top 2 from each block will advance to the Quarterfinals, where it then shifts to single-elimination format. That makes things more interesting. My initial thoughts are as follows:
Block A: Only SANADA & Owens have prior G1 experience. SANADA has the highest bar as the IWGP World Heavyweight Champion so while he might go far, that all but means he’s not winning it all. Kiyomiya is the wild card as the outsider. Figure SANADA goes through easily, the second spot is a toss-up.
Block B: Okada is the 2-time defending champion and overwhelming favorite to 3-peat. Should be Okada & Ospreay. Okada not 3-peating will be a massive upset.
Block C: There is upset potential here but the clear favorites are EVIL & Takagi. Tonga & Henare are sleepers and Ishii guarantees some near-time-limit hoss fights. Kingston gets to live a personal dream and represent AEW but won’t advance.
Block D: The traditional Death Block. This is the one to watch and is wide open with, on paper, at least 5 having a reasonable chance. I would expect Naito to go through while Cobb has been a beast in the G1 the last couple years and hopefully can do it again. Never count Tanahashi out and same for Goto, also a former G1 winner. Sabre won the New Japan Cup this year which works for and against him. Forget Yano, Coughlin & Haste, they’re not advancing. By process of elimination I see Cobb joining Naito in moving on.

Each day of the tournament will see 2 blocks in action with alternating days, so it will be Blocks A & B at one event, then Blocks C & D at the next event, and so on for the first 12 days. Once we reach Day 13, the next 4 events will have one block with their final matches each day. Day 17 is the Quarterfinals, Day 18 & 19 at Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo will be the Semifinals and Finals, respectively. The winner of the Finals on 8/13 is going to the main event of Tokyo Dome on 1/4/24 to face the IWGP World Heavyweight Champion.

The next event is tomorrow at Kamisu Disaster Prevention Center in Ibaraki. There will be no live or on demand broadcast (including tomorrow, no TV or on demand for the next 4 events). The next televised event is next Saturday.

Pro Wrestling NOAH 6/10/23 Results

Pro Wrestling NOAH resumed the never-ending SUNNY VOYAGE 2023 Tour today with a house show in Yokohama, the first official event of Mitsuharu Misawa Memorial Month.

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 310, a legit advance sellout.

There was a last-second change to this event because Junta Miyawaki suffered an injury at yesterday’s ALL TOGETHER AGAIN event. Spinal cord concussion. Out 2 weeks and will miss all of this month’s events (that means he will officially be out a month because after 6/24 the promotion is off until 7/9). Match 2 was changed as a result. It was also announced that Kaito Kiyomiya is off all events from 7/15 until the end of August due to New Japan participation in the annual G1 CLIMAX tournament. This will be the first time Kiyomiya has participated in the tournament. But don’t get too excited about a potential 3rd Kazuchika Okada fight forever…the way the blocks are, it could only happen if both make the Semifinals or Finals. That could also keep him out of this year’s N-1 VICTORY Tournament depending on when it will start. (Update: Kiyomiya will not be in N-1 VICTORY this year because of it)

Match 1: Seiki Yoshioka vs. Eita went to a 15 minute time limit draw.

Match 2: Yoshinari Ogawa & LEONA (Dradition) beat Atsushi Kotoge & Kai Fujimura. LEONA beat Fujimura with a Figure 4.

Match 3: Chris Ridgeway beat Tadasuke by submission.

Match 4: Go Shiozaki & Katsuhiko Nakajima beat Manabu Soya & Hajime Ohara. Nakajima pinned Ohara after Vertical Spike.

Match 5: Kaito Kiyomiya beat Sean Legacy.

Match 6: Masa Kitamiya, Yoshiki Inamura, Dante Leon & Alejandro beat HAYATA, Daiki Inaba, Super Crazy & Stallion Rogers. Leon pinned Crazy after Inferno.

Match 7: Jake Lee & YO-HEY beat Takashi Sugiura & AMAKUSA. Lee pinned AMAKUSA after FBS (Face Break Shot).

Main Event: Kenoh beat Hi69.

The next event is GREEN JOURNEY 2023 in NAGOYA on 6/17 at Nagoya International Conference Center Event Hall in Nagoya. 3 title matches headline including GHC Heavyweight Champion Jake Lee vs. Takashi Sugiura for the title in the main event. Live streaming on WRESTLE UNIVERSE in English only will begin at 1 AM PT/4 AM ET. This is an ABEMA exclusive broadcast in Japan (Japanese commentary will only be available on demand after the event).