Tag: wrestling

New Japan Pro Wrestling “THE NEW BEGINNING in SAPPORO” Results (2/5/23) (Updated x2)

New Japan runs the second half of THE NEW BEGINNING in SAPPORO today, wrapping up their winter major event in Hokkaido with 3 title matches on tap today. First up, the IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championship is on the line as YOSHI-HASHI & Hirooki Goto defend against Shane Haste & Mikey Nicholls. Then, the Australians’ new stablemate Zack Sabre Jr. makes the first defense of the NJPW WORLD TV Championship vs. Tomohiro Ishii, and with a 15 minute time limit it promises a fast pace. Finally, the main event sees bad blood come to a boiling end as Hiromu Takahashi defends the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship against Yoh. And with only non-televised house shows ahead this week, this also will represent the final real build for next weekend’s tour-ending major event in Osaka.

Today’s event will be held at Hokkaido Prefectural Sports Center Hokkai Kita Yell in Hokkaido and can be watched LIVE on New Japan World in Japanese and English. You can also watch the first 2 matches FOR FREE on YouTube. With TV Title matches having a 15 minute time limit that potentially shortens the event a little bit but with the other title matches and a full card I anticipate the event’s total running time being around 3 1/4 hours.

Today’s lineup:
Francesco Akira, TJP, Great-O-Khan & Will Ospreay vs. TAKA Michinoku, DOUKI, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Taichi
Yuto Nakashima, Ren Narita, El Desperado & Minoru Suzuki vs. Dick Togo, Sho, Yujiro Takahashi & EVIL
Master Wato & Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Taiji Ishimori & KENTA
Jado, Hikuleo & Tama Tonga vs. Gedo, El Phantasmo & Jay White
Ryusuke Taguchi, Shota Umino, Toru Yano & Kazuchika Okada vs. BUSHI, SANADA, Shingo Takagi & Tetsuya Naito
IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Champions YOSHI-HASHI & Hirooki Goto vs. Shane Haste & Mikey Nicholls for the titles
NJPW WORLD TV Champion Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Tomohiro Ishii for the title
IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion Hiromu Takahashi vs. Yoh for the title

Refresh this page occasionally for the latest results.

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

9 PM PT UPDATE: Live updates begin now…
We are LIVE from Hokkaido Prefectural Sports Center Hokkai Kita Yell in Hokkaido, Japan. This event is airing as part of WORLD PRO WRESTLING LIVE 2023 on TV Asahi. No guest on Japanese commentary at the start with Milano Collection A.T. and the announcer (didn’t catch name).

The paid attendance will be announced after the event. It’s full capacity with vocal cheering, yesterday’s event drew just over 3000 so that’s the early benchmark for today. The layout does reduce the venue’s actual capacity by about 20% or so.

Match 1: TAKA Michinoku, DOUKI, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Taichi vs. Francesco Akira, TJP, Great-O-Khan & Will Ospreay. 20 minute time limit
Result: Francesco Akira, TJP, Great-O-Khan & Will Ospreay beat TAKA Michinoku, DOUKI, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Taichi. Ospreay pinned TAKA after Hidden Blade.

Match 2: Yuto Nakashima, Ren Narita, El Desperado & Minoru Suzuki vs. Dick Togo, Sho, Yujiro Takahashi & EVIL. 20 minute time limit
Result: Yuto Nakashima, Ren Narita, El Desperado & Minoru Suzuki beat Dick Togo, Sho, Yujiro Takahashi & EVIL. Narita beat Takahashi with a cobra twist. Afterwards, Suzuki with microphone to issue a challenge to House Of Torture for the NEVER 6-Man Tag Team Championship. As this ended, Suzuki stuck around for a full-throttle KAZE NI NARE from the crowd. Chills. I have missed that so much these last 3 years.

Match 3: Master Wato & Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Taiji Ishimori & KENTA. 20 minute time limit
Result: Taiji Ishimori & KENTA beat Master Wato & Hiroshi Tanahashi. Ishimori pinned Wato by using the ropes illegally for leverage but the ref didn’t see.

Match 4: Jado, Hikuleo & Tama Tonga vs. Gedo, El Phantasmo & Jay White. 30 minute time limit (Of note: White came out wearing the new AEW/ROH Jay Briscoe tribute shirt available from both online shops. 100% of proceeds go to support the Briscoe family)
Result: Jado, Hikuleo & Tama Tonga beat Gedo, El Phantasmo & Jay White. Jado beat Gedo with Crossface Of Jado.

Match 5: Ryusuke Taguchi, Shota Umino, Toru Yano & Kazuchika Okada vs. BUSHI, SANADA, Shingo Takagi & Tetsuya Naito. 30 minute time limit
result: Ryusuke Taguchi, Shota Umino, Toru Yano & Kazuchika Okada beat BUSHI, SANADA, Shingo Takagi & Tetsuya Naito. Okada pinned SANADA after Rainmaker.

El Desperado joins Japanese commentary.

Match 6: IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Champions YOSHI-HASHI & Hirooki Goto vs. Shane Haste & Mikey Nicholls for the title. 1 Hour time limit
Result: IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Champions YOSHI-HASHI & Hirooki Goto beat Shane Haste & Mikey Nicholls to retain the titles. Goto pinned Nicholls after Shoto. V1 for the champs

Match 7: NJPW WORLD TV Champion Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Tomohiro Ishii for the title. 15 minute time limit
Result: NJPW WORLD TV Champion Zack Sabre Jr. beat Tomohiro Ishii to retain the title. V1 for Sabre. But it came down to the wire-less than 30 seconds left when it ended.

Main Event: IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion Hiromu Takahashi vs. Yoh for the title. 1 Hour time limit
Result: IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion Hiromu Takahashi beat Yoh to retain the title. V1 for Takahashi.

The next event is Wednesday at New Sunpia Tochigi in Tochigi. There will be no live or on demand broadcast.

UPDATE: The announced paid attendance was 3316. That is almost 250 more than yesterday and on TV the arena looked full, excluding tarped-off areas that weren’t visible until the end.

No indication as to who may be next for the champs after today but on the way out Takahashi did have an exchange with and seemingly taunted El Desperado at commentary.

UPDATE 2: It’s now official. Suzuki/Desperado/Narita vs. H.O.T. for the NEVER 6-Man Tag Team Titles has been added to 2/11.

Tokyo Joshi Pro 2/4/23 Results

Tokyo Joshi Pro continued the CITY CIRCUIT Tour today with their first visit of the year to Osaka.

Today’s event was held at Osaka Azalea Taisho in Osaka and will be available on demand on WRESTLE UNIVERSE at a later date. There was no live broadcast.

The announced paid attendance was 166.

Match 1: Kaya Toribami beat HIMAWARI.

Match 2: Suzume beat Wakana Uehara.

Match 3: Hikari Noa, Nao Kakuta & Yoshiko Hasegawa (Ganbare Pro) beat Yuki Kamifuku, Mahiro Kiryu & Neko Haruna. Kakuta pinned Haruna after Shiden Kai.

Match 4: Mizuki beat Raku.

Match 5: Rika Tatsumi & Miu Watanabe beat Yuki Aino & Pom Harajuku. Tatsumi pinned Harajuku after Daydream Eternity.

Main Event: Miyu Yamashita, Maki Itoh & Moka Miyamoto vs. Shoko Nakajima, Hyper Misao & Arisu Endo went to a 20 minute time limit draw.

The next event is 2/11 at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo with the Futari-wa Princess Max Heart Tournament 3 Finals. Juria Nagano was scheduled for the event but is off due to injury. Live streaming on WRESTLE UNIVERSE will begin Friday at 6:30 PM PT/9:30 PM ET.

Pro Wrestling NOAH 2/4/23 Results

Pro Wrestling NOAH continued the never-ending SUNNY VOYAGE 2023 Tour with their first event in nearly 2 weeks after a post-Great Muta Final Event break.

Today’s event was held at Green Dome Maebashi in Gunma and will be available on demand on WRESTLE UNIVERSE Tuesday at 1 AM PT/4 AM ET. There was no live broadcast.

The announced paid attendance was 309. Because this had been decided on before recent government changes regarding guidelines for events, no vocal cheering today.

Match 1: Shuhei Taniguchi beat Taishi Ozawa.

Match 2: Atsushi Kotoge, YO-HEY & Seiki Yoshioka beat Tadasuke, Hajime Ohara & Hi69. Kotoge pinned Tadasuke after Kill Switch.

Match 3: Satoshi Kojima, Naomichi Marufuji & Ninja Mack beat Masa Kitamiya, Daiki Inaba & SUper Crazy. Kojima pinned Inaba after Western Lariat.

Match 4: Anthony Greene beat Mohammed Yone.

Match 5: Kenoh, Katsuhiko Nakajima & Manabu Soya beat Takashi Sugiura, Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr. & Timothy Thatcher. Soya pinned Wagner after Trajectory.

Match 6: AMAKUSA, Junta Miyawaki & Alejandro beat Yoshinari Ogawa, Chris Ridgeway & Yasutaka Yano. Miyawaki pinned Yano.

Main Event: Jack Morris & Jake Lee beat Kaito Kiyomiya & Yoshiki Inamura. Morris pinned Inamura after GLK (Good Looking Knee).

The next event is tomorrow at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, continuing the also-never-ending STAR NAVIGATION 2023 Tour. Kinya Okada will return tomorrow from injury and a GHC National Championship match headlines the event. Live streaming on WRESTLE UNIVERSE will begin at 1:30 AM PT/4:30 AM ET.

All-Japan 2/4/23 Results

All-Japan began their February ExcitemaniaX tour today with a major event headlined by a Triple Crown match. For the second time in the past year Kento Miyahara looked to turn back the challenge of Yuma Aoyagi.

Today’s event was held at Esforta Arena Hachioji Sub Arena in Tokyo and can be watched on demand on AJPW.TV. This was a Samurai! TV simulcast with Japanese commentary.

The announced paid attendance was 1398. On TV the venue looked 85-90% full so perhaps a near-sellout.

Match 1: Shotaro Ashino & Ryuki Honda beat Dan Tamura & Hikaru Sato. Honda pinned Tamura after Final Vent.

Match 2: Takao Omori, Masao Inoue, Oji Shiiba & Rising Hayato beat Ricky Fuji, Raijin Yaguchi, Black Menso-re & SUSHI. Hayato pinned SUSHI after Sid Vicious.

Match 3: Naruki Doi (Independent/Freelancer) & Hokuto Omori beat Naoya Nomura & Ryo Inoue. Doi pinned Inoue after Bakatare Sliding Kick.

Match 4: In a Tornado Bunkhouse Electric Blast Death Match, Atsushi Onita & Yoshitatsu beat All-Asia Tag Team Champions NOSAWA Rongai & Kendo Ka Shin to win the titles. Onita & Yoshitatsu become the 119th All-Asia Tag Team Champions. Onita pinned NOSAWA after an exploding barbed wire bat attack. This result was probably obvious to those who follow Japanese wrestling closely because NOSAWA is retiring on 2/21.

Match 5: Yuji Nagata (New Japan), Yuma Anzai & Shuji Ishikawa beat Suwama, Jun & Rei Saito. Nagata pinned Suwama with a backdrop hold.

Match 6: All-Japan World Jr. Heavyweight Champion Atsuki Aoyagi beat Kotaro Suzuki (Pro Wrestling NOAH) to retain the title. V5 for Aoyagi.

Main Event: All-Japan Triple Crown Champion Kento Miyahara beat Yuma Aoyagi to retain the Triple Crown. V4 for Miyahara. Next up: Possibly Nagata.

The next event is 2/19 at Korakuen Hall. Live streaming on AJPW.TV will begin on 2/18 at 6:30 PM PT/9:30 PM ET.

New Japan 2/4/23 Results

New Japan ran the first half of THE NEW BEGINNING IN SAPPORO today, kicking off a big weekend doubleheader in chilly Hokkaido with title matches and major single matches.

Today’s event was held at Hokkaido Prefectural Sports Center Hokkai Kita Yell in Hokkaido and can be watched on demand on New Japan World in Japanese and English.

The announced paid attendance was 3073.

Match 1: Great-O-Khan beat Oskar Leube by submission.

Match 2: Ryohei Oiwa, Ren Narita, El Desperado & Minoru Suzuki beat Dick Togo, Yujiro Takahashi, Sho & EVIL. Narita beat Togo with a cobra twist.

Match 3: Kosei Fujita, Shane Haste, Mikey Nicholls & Zack Sabre Jr. beat Yuto Nakashima, YOSHI-HASHI, Tomohiro Ishii & Hirooki Goto. Fujita beat Nakashima with a double armlock.

Match 4: Master Wato, Hikuleo, Tama Tonga & Hiroshi Tanahashi beat Taiji Ishimori, El Phantasmo, KENTA & Jay White. Wato pinned Ishimori.

Match 5: BUSHI, Hiromu Takahashi, SANADA & Shingo Takagi beat Yoh, Ryusuke Taguchi, Toru Yano & Kazuchika Okada. Takagi pinned Taguchi after Last of the Dragon.

Match 6: IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Francesco Akira & TJP beat DOUKI & Yoshinobu Kanemaru to retain the titles. Akira pinned DOUKI after Fireball. V4 for the champs.

Match 7: Will Ospreay beat Taichi.

Main Event: Tetsuya Naito beat Shota Umino. This went over 32 minutes.

The second half of the doubleheader is tomorrow with 3 title matches including the first defense of the NJPW WORLD TV Championship. Live streaming on New Japan World in Japanese and English will begin TONIGHT at 9 PM PT/midnight ET. Live results will be posted here.

Dragon Gate 2/3/23 Results

Dragon Gate kicked off the 2023 Rey De Parejas Tournament, a tag team tournament being held for the first time since the late 2010s in part due to the coronavirus pendemic.

Today’s event was held at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo and can be watched on demand on DRAGONGATE NETWORK.

The announced paid attendance was 1198. Vocal cheering was allowed and presumably capacity restrictions were lifted following recent government actions, but both can still be restricted by venues especially for where decisions were previously made.

Match 1: Shun Skywalker, KAI & Diamante beat Shuji Kondo, Eita & Takashi Yoshida. Skywalker pinned Yoshida after a moonsault kneedrop.

Match 2: JACKY “FUNKY” KAMEI beat Kaito Nagano.

Match 3: Jason Lee beat Yoshiki Kato.

Match 4: Rey De Parejas Block B: Susumu Mochizuki & Yasushi Kanda beat Strong Machine J & F. Movhizuki pinned F with Jumbo Pin.

Match 5: Rey De Parejas Block A: Masaaki Mochizuki & Mochizuki Jr. beat H-Y-O & ISHIN. Mochizuki pinned H-Y-O after a reverse Twister.

Match 6: Ultimo Dragon, Ben-K & Minorita beat Genki Horigucho, Kagetora & Ho Ho Lun. Ben-K pinned Horiguchi after Masakari.

Main Event: Rey De Parejas Block A: Yuki Yoshioka & Madoka Kikuta vs. BxB Hulk & Kota Minoura went to a 20 minute time limit draw.

The next event is tomorrow at Fujisan Messe in Shizuoka. There will be no live broadcast.

In other news, the promotion announced their Golden Week blowout event, DEAD OR ALIVE 2023, for 5/5 at Aichi Prefectural Gym in Nagoya. (Golden Week is a week-long national holiday in Japan, generally it’s the first week of May. Almost every promotion, both major ones and smaller independents, hold either a big event or for the smaller ones their biggest event of the year during this week)

Impact Wrestling 2/2/23 Results

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

The pre-show featured Aiden Prince vs. Jonathan Gresham.

Match 1: Ace Austin & Chris Bey beat Kevin Knight & KUSHIDA. Bey pinned Knight after 1…2…Sweet. Amazing finishing sequence.

Match 2: Gisele Shaw beat Savannah Evans.

Match 3: Crazzy Steve beat Sheldon Jean. Squash.

Match 4: Kenny King beat Johnny Swinger. Squash.

Main Event: The Design (Kon, Angels, Deaner) & Sami Callahan beat Josh Alexander, Frankie Kazarian, Rich Swann & Yuya Uemura. Callahan pinned Uemura.

Next week: The Good Hands vs. Tommy Dreamer & Mickie James with Bully Ray banned from ringside, Impact Digital Media Champion Joe Hendry vs. Matt Cardona for the title and 2 qualifying matches for a 4-way at No Surrender to become the next #1 contender for the Impact World Championship and likely a shot at the Josh Alexander-Rich Swann winner at No Surrender-those matches will be Brian Myers vs. Dirty Dango and Shera vs. PCO. Also Taylor Wilde & Killer Kelly vs. Death Dollz.

News: Former TJPW Wrestler Back In The Ring

Tokyo Joshi Pro fans might remember Marika Kobashi, a former model & wrestler who left the promotion last year and wrestling as a whole to focus on education after 6 years in wrestling (she debuted at age 14). It wasn’t known if she would ever return to wresting…but she’s back after only about 7 months away. From posts on her official Twitter she may have returned late last year but will be more active this month-she appears to be a freelancer now and is competing for small independent promotions in Tokyo in the coming weeks. There is no indication she plans to return to TJPW anytime soon though.

FYI for New Japan World Subscribers for February 2023

In posts on Twitter in Japanese and English, New Japan World announced that a technical issue has resulted in some subscribers being double-billed for February 2023. This happened to me upon checking my credit card activity earlier today, but a refund has already been issued and the promotion is working on doing just that.

Here is the English-language post which was updates to note refunds are being processed:

AEW Dynamite 2/1/23 Results

Here are the quick results from tonight’s AEW Dynamite in Dayton, OH:

Jon Moxley beat Adam Page.

The Acclaimed beat 2 jobbers. Squash.

Konosuke Takeshita beat Brian Cage.

Bryan Danielson beat Timothy Thatcher.

AEW TBS Champion Jade Cargill beat Red Velvet to retain the title. 50-0.

In a No Holds Barred Match, Samoa Joe beat AEW TNT Champion Darby Allin to become THE NEW AEW TNT CHAMPION!

I missed the first 45 minutes live due to cable issues but watched what I missed on the west replay. Another good show overall.