Tag: wrestling

New Japan 2/11/23 Results

New Japan ran THE NEW BEGINNING in OSAKA today, the end of their traditional year-opening tour and a blowout event that would settle many things including potentially the main event of next week’s US event. Whoever emerged from the main event as IWGP World Heavyweight Champion will defend the title on 2/18.

Today’s event was held at Osaka Prefectural Gym in Osaka and can be watched on demand on New Japan World in Japanese and English.

The announced paid attendance was 4055. Back to close to full capacity, with the setup that probably was around 70-75% full.

Match 1: Aaron Henare & Great-O-Khan beat Oskar Leube & Toru Yano. Henare pinned Leube after Rampage.

Match 2: BUSHI, Hiromu Takahashi, SANADA & Tetsuya Naito beat Ryusuke Taguchi, Tiger Mask, Shota Umino & Tomoaki Honma. Takahashi pinned Taguchi after TIME BOMB 2. Afterwards, a video played which was Lio Rush issuing an IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship challenge to Takahashi.

Match 3: Taiji Ishimori beat Master Wato.

Match 4: Hiroshi Tanahashi beat KENTA.

The time came where House Of Torture had to defend the NEVER 6-Man Tag Team Championship or be stripped of the titles in light of EVIL continuously refusing to do so. They did finally agree to. Which led to…
Match 5: Ren Narita, El Desperado & Minoru Suzuki beat NEVER 6-Man Tag Team Champions Sho, Yujiro Takahashi & EVIL to win the titles. Narita, Desperado & Suzuki become the 25th NEVER 6-Man Tag Team Champions. Narita beat Takahashi with a cobra twist. Afterwards, Suzuki announced their new faction/team will be known as Strong Style.

Match 6: In a Loser Leaves Japan Match, Hikuleo beat Jay White. As a result, White must leave Japan. I have read rumors that White’s contract with New Japan has expired, so we’ll see what happens.

Match 7: NEVER Openweight Champion Tama Tonga beat El Phantasmo to retain the title. V1 for Tonga. And to make it even more memorable, he won with Jay Driller, the late Jay Briscoe’s finisher. REACH FOR THE SKY, BOY!

Main Event: IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada beat Shingo Takagi to retain the title. V1 for Okada. As a result, Okada will defend the title on 2/18 in San Jose, CA. The opponent…Okada called his shot…Tanahashi!!! Ace vs. Rainmaker…reminiscent of 11 years ago here when Okada beat Tanahashi to become champion…they last had a title match 5 years ago, and now…One Last Time?

The next event is Battle In The Valley on 2/18 at San Jose Civic Center in San Jose, CA. The event is a legit advance sellout. Live streaming as a PPV on FITE will begin with a FREE pre-show at 6:20 PM PT/9:20 PM ET. The PPV will be in English for $19.99. It’s also available on New Japan World in Japanese but be aware that will cost, dependent on if a subscription is required, at least $8-15 more. The matches will also be broadcast on the newly-rebranded STRONG On Demand on New Japan World and FITE in the near future, possibly in March.

AEW Rampage 2/10/23 Results

Here are the quick results from tonight’s TAPED AEW Rampage from El Paso, TX:
Jon Moxley, Claudio Castagnoli & Wheeler Yuta beat Kip Sabian, The Butcher & The Blade. Castagnoli pinned Sabian after a European uppercut.

Ruby Soho beat Marina Shafir.

Jungle Boy beat Ryan Nemeth. Squash.

AEW All-Atlantic Champion Orange Cassidy beat Lee Moriarty to retain the title.

This week’s show ended a recent run of good episodes as it started well but then was monkey crap the rest of the way.

Next week on Dynamite: Moxley/Castagnoli vs. Rush & Preston Vance in a Texas Tornado Tag Match and Renee Paquette interviews Adam Cole.

Next week’s Rampage will air at an earlier time of 7 PM ET/4 PM PT due to NBA All-Star Weekend coverage on TNT.

Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling 2/11/23 Results (Updated)

Tokyo Joshi Pro wraps up the Futari-wa Princess Max Heart Tournament 3 today with the Finals, which likely will set up a Princess Tag Team Championship match at GRAND PRINCESS ’23 in March. The Finals will be Miyu Yamashita & Maki Itoh vs. Shoko Nakajima & Hyper Misao with the winners expected to challenge Heidi Howitzer & Max The Impaler for the titles. Elsewhere on the event, Janai Kai-the next challenger for International Princess Champion Miu Watanabe-will make her TJPW debut and Juria Nagano will appear to address the crowd. Nagano was to have competed today but is out due to a finger injury suffered on 1/29. Sayuri Namba also has 3 announcements to make before the matches begin, expected to be 5 minutes before start time.

Today’s event will be held at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo and can be watched LIVE on WRESTLE UNIVERSE in Japanese & English. The Japanese commentary team will be Haruo Murata, Kagehiro Osano & Sayoko Mita. The English commentary team will be Chris Brookes (DDT) & Drew Parker. If you’re watching live and planning to watch the usual other US Friday night wrestling, plan on split-screening throughout except on the west coast if you’re waiting for AEW Rampage as I expect this event’s running time to be about 2 1/2 hours. There is a post-event party scheduled elsewhere in Tokyo at 2:45 PM JST (event begins at 11:30 AM) so they’re on a tight schedule-they may have to keep it closer to 2 hours.

Today’s lineup (in order):
Wakana Uehara vs. HIMAWARI
Yuki Kamifuku, Nao Kakuta & Mahiro Kiryu vs. Raku, Neko Haruna & Kaya Toribami
Moka Miyamoto vs. Arisu Endo
Yuki Arai vs. Pom Harajuku
Rika Tatsumi & Yuki Aino vs. Hikari Noa & Janai Kai
Yuka Sakazaki & Mizuki vs. Miu Watanabe & Suzume
Futari-wa Princess Max Heart Tournament Finals: Miyu Yamashita & Maki Itoh vs. Shoko Nakajima & Hyper Misao
Juria Nagano will appear and address the crowd (probably pre-show)

Refresh this page occasionally for the latest results.

Updates below will begin at 9 PM ET/6 PM PT.

9 PM ET UPDATE: The live stream has just started. Updates will begin when we go to the venue in 15-20 minutes.

9:20 PM ET UPDATE: Live updates begin now…
We are LIVE from Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan. Your hosts are Haruo Murata, Kagehiro Osano & Sayoko Mita. Your English hosts are Chris Brookes & Drew Parker.

The paid attendance will be announced after the event. Not sure what the capacity is today and plenty of tickets were available before the event. It looks like 50% capacity and mostly full so probably in the 650-700 range, likely closer to 700 and maybe even 750.

The matches should begin in about 20 minutes. Sayuri Namba’s introduction & opening announcements began at 9:25 PM ET, to be followed by the Up Up Girls performance. During the announcements, 3 new debuting wrestlers are introduced-one, Toga, will debut on 3/6 at Shinjuku Face, the other 2, Haru & Momo, will debut at GRAND PRINCESS ’23 on 3/18. Then a Yuki Kamifuku hometown event is announced for 5/27, I think it’ll be at Fujisan Messe in Shizuoka (this will be updated later). Also on 6/25 at Nishitetsu Hall in Fukuoka will be a Miyu Yamashita & Maki Itoh hometown event. Then we get the super-cute pairing of Miu Watanabe & Suzume out to promote just-as-supercute Idolmaster Cinderella Girls towels featuring both their animated likenesses along with plenty more goods. Times like this that being an American really sucks…but someday I hope to get to Japan! And then suddenly…A GIANT 12+ FOOT PANDA APPEARS! And it can’t get into the ring even with help! Its “handler” looks like a colonial-era Tiger Mask. Serious inflation action going on inside that costume. It’s part of the collaboration…apparently it’s name is Takumi Mukai aka Andreza (I think). And it’s going to be at GRAND PRINCESS ’23! Chris Brookes is enjoying this way too much.

Up Up Girls performance up now. Start of matches pushed back to roughly 10 PM ET as the pre-event announcements went almost 25 minutes

The matches begin at 9:57 PM ET.

Match 1: Wakana Uehara vs. HIMAWARI. 15 minute time limit
Result: Wakana Uehara beat HIMAWARI by submission. First career victory! And the emotions flowed immediately and freely when she knew she had won. Congratulations!

Match 2: Yuki Kamifuku, Nao Kakuta & Mahiro Kiryu vs. Raku, Neko Haruna & Kaya Toribami. 20 minute time limit
Result: Yuki Kamifuku, Nao Kakuta & Mahiro Kiryu beat Raku, Neko Haruna & Kaya Toribami. Kamifuku pinned Toribami after Fameasser.

Juria Nagano comes out. Close-up of her injured fingers (two broken on her left hand). Out at least 3 months. So unfortunately she will miss GRAND PRINCESS ’23 but she’ll be back later this year, probably sometime this summer.

Match 3: Moka Miyamoto vs. Arisu Endo. 15 minute time limit
Result: Arisu Endo beat Moka Miyamoto by submission.

Match 4: Yuki Arai vs. Pom Harajuku. 15 minute time limit. Harajuku came out wearing a Yuki Arai shirt with blue colored hair and a red/white headband and red/white/blue lights like she’s a big fan. Yep, definitely a comedy match.
Result: Yuki Arai beat Pom Harajuku. Really fun match.

New match for GRAND PRINCESS ’23 is announced: NEO Bishiku-Gun is back! Saki-sama (Saki Akai’s sexier, darker alter-ego) & May Saint-Michel (Mei Suruga) vs. Yuki Kamifuku & Billie Starks. So I guess AA Eye Candy is done for now but I always love me some Saki-sama so no complaints.

Match 5: Rika Tatsumi & Yuki Aino vs. Hikari Noa & Janai Kai. 20 minute time limit
Result: HIkari Noa & Janai Kai beat Rika Tatsumi & Yuki Aino. Kai pinned Aino after a rolling head kick.

Match 6: Yuka Sakazaki & Mizuki vs. Miu Watanabe & Suzume. 20 minute time limit
Result: Yuka Sakazaki & Mizuki beat Miu Watanabe & Suzume. Sakazaki pinned Suzume after Toy Story 4.

Main Event: Futari-wa Princess Max Heart Tournament Finals: Miyu Yamashita & Maki Itoh vs. Shoko Nakajima & Hyper Misao. No time limit
Result: Miyu Yamashita & Maki Itoh beat Shoko Nakajima & Hyper Misao to win the tournament. Itoh beat Nakajima with Itoh Special. This went almost 25 minutes. As a result, Yamashita & Itoh will probably get a Princess Tag Team Championship match soon, confirmation should come later.

The next event is 2/18 at Nagoya International Conference Center in Nagoya for a CITY CIRCUIT event, which will feature Yuki Arai as part of an SKE48 LIVE mini-performance. Live streaming on WRESTLE UNIVERSE in Japanese will begin on 2/17 at 10:30 PM ET/7:30 PM PT. The SKE48 performance will only be available on demand for one month after the event so don’t waste time checking it out if you miss the live event.

UPDATE: The announced paid attendance was 657, a super full house/very bear sellout.

Yamashita & Itoh will face Max The Impaler & Heidi Howitzer on 3/18 now as expected. However, there is one Princess Tag Team Championship defense scheduled before that so it’s not for the titles yet.

BREAKING: New Japan Orders 2/11 Title Match

In response to the repeated refusals by the champions, and in particular EVIL, New Japan has just announced an order for Saturday’s event in Osaka: Sho, Yujiro Takahashi & EVIL MUST defend the NEVER 6-Man Tag Team Championship against El Desperado, Ren Narita & Minoru Suzuki. If they do not, they will be STRIPPED OF THE TITLES. However, whether or not the challengers would be awarded the titles if this happens was not made clear. Stay tuned.

Impact Wrestling 2/9/23 Results (Updated)

Here are the quick results from tonight’s TAPED Impact Wrestling from Orlando, FL:

Pre-show YouTube match (which I was actually able to watch before the show this week): Mike Bailey beat Raj Singh.

Match 1: Brian Myers beat Dirty Dango. As a result, Myers qualifies for the #1 Contender 4-way at No Surrender on 2/24.

Match 2: Mickie James & Tommy Dreamer beat John Skyler & Jason Hotch. James pinned Hotch after a stereo DDT. Afterwards, Bully Ray sneak attacked Dreamer allowing Masha Slamovich to sneak attack James.

Match 3: Jordynne Grace beat Steph De Lander. This was the Impact debut for De Lander.

Match 4: Taya Valkyrie & Rosemary beat Taylor Wilde & Killer Kelly. Valkyrie pinned Kelly after Road To Valhalla. Afterwards, Father James Mitchell returned to Impact to call out Rosemary, allowing The Hex (Allysin Kay & Marti Belle) to sneak in and beat down Valkyrie & Jessicka.

Ace Austin, Chris Bey & KENTA (!) vs. KUSHIDA, Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin is apparently made for No Surrender by Austin/Bey challenging MCMG & KUSHIDA. (This was announced as official later in the show)

Match 5: PCO beat Shera. As a result, PCO qualifies for the #1 Contender 4-way at No Surrender.

Main Event: Impact Digital Media Chanpion Joe Hendry beat Matt Cardona to retain the title.

Next week: Chris Bey vs. KUSHIDA, Eddie Edwards vs. Heath and Steve Maclin vs. Rhino in the last two No Surrender #1 Contender 4-way qualifiers and Kenny King vs. Rich Swann.

POST-SHOW UPDATE: Jonathan Gresham vs. Mike Bailey has been announced for the No Surrender Pre-Show on 2/24 at 7:30 PM ET/4:30 PM PT.

NOAH News: Late Changes to 2/11 Event

Pro Wrestling NOAH has announced late changes to GREAT VOYAGE 2023 in OSAKA on 2/11 because Seiki Yoshioka is now off the event. Cervical sprain. He was to have teamed with YO-HEY to face NOSAWA Rongai & El Desperado. Yasutaka Yano is the replacement. As a result, the first match is changed from a 6-man tag match to a tag match as Super Crazy is now off as well. It will now be Mohammed Yone & Akitoshi Saito vs. Kinya Okada & Taishi Ozawa. Yano was to have teamed with Okada & Ozawa. Crazy was to have teamed with Yone & Saito.

At this time Yoshioka is still expected to be on the card for Tokyo Dome on 2/21.

New Japan 2/9/23 Results (Updated)

New Japan wrapped up the Road to THE NEW BEGINNING Tour with what likely will be the last non-televised house show for some time with major events and tournaments on tap for the next 2 months.

Today’s event was held at Saku City General Gym in Nagano. There was no live broadcast and no on demand video will be available.

The announced paid attendance was 653.

Match 1: Aaron Henare beat Ryohei Oiwa.

Match 2: Great-O-Khan beat Kosei Fujita by submission.

Match 3: Toru Yano beat Oskar Leube.

Match 4: BUSHI & SANADA beat Tiger Mask & Tomoaki Honma. BUSHI pinned TM 4.

Match 5: Dick Togo, Sho, Yujiro Takahashi & EVIL beat Yuto Nakashima, El Desperado, Ren Narita & Minoru Suzuki. Takahashi pinned Nakashima after Pimp Juice. There is a potential Saturday development ongoing here as EVIL is continuously refusing the NEVER 6-Man Tag Team Title match against Narita/Desperado/Suzuki.

Match 6: Hiromu Takahashi, Shingo Takagi & Tetsuya Naito beat Ryusuke Taguchi, Shota Umino & Kazuchika Okada. Takagi pinned Taguchi after MADE IN JAPAN.

Main Event: In an Elimination Match, Jado, Master Wato, Tama Tonga, Hikuleo & Hiroshi Tanahashi beat Gedo, Taiji Ishimori, El Phantasmo, KENTA & Jay White. Tanahashi was the only winner remaining. Afterwards, Tonga & Wato joined Tanahashi in a triple air guitar show to send the crowd home happy.

The next event is THE NEW BEGINNING in OSAKA Saturday at Osaka Prefectural Gym in Osaka. Live streaming on New Japan World in Japanese & English will begin at midnight PT/3 AM ET.

UPDATE: It has been announced that in response to EVIL’s repeated refusals, if H.O.T does not defend Saturday, they will be STRIPPED OF THE NEVER 6-MAN TAG TEAM TITLES.

BREAKING: Another Title Match for NJPW on 2/18

New Japan just announced on Twitter that after accepting an open challenge from the champion, NJPW WORLD TV Champion Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Clark Connors for the title has been added to Battle in the Valley on 2/18 in San Jose, CA. That’s now 4 title matches scheduled for the event.

Tickets are sold out so make sure to pre-order the PPV on FITE (it’s also on New Japan World as a PPV if you want Japanese but it will cost roughly $7 more).

New Japan News: Antonio Inoki Farewell Party Announced

In what likely will be the final ceremonial event for founder/longtime owner and legend Antonio Inoki, who died in late 2022, New Japan has announced a special farewell party that will be open to the public. It will be a 2-part event with both parts held on 3/7 (the day after New Japan’s annual Anniversary Event) at Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo: Part 1 will be a ticketed memorial ceremony where those attending will be given flowers to leave for Inoki and special gifts for attending (a special Inoki towel and message card) while Part 2 will be a flower offering ceremony open to the general public with no ticket required. Tickets for Part 1 will be 10,000 yen (around $77 US) with the lower box seats for 2 people available at that same price. For those who cannot attend but want to participate, they can purchase a flower bouquet online for 6000 yen (around $45 US) and they will receive the special gifts by mail at a later date. That package will be available from 2/16-3/31 via New Japan’s Japanese online shop.

If the event is postponed or cancelled, ticket holders for Part 1 will receive refunds.