Tag: wrestling

New Japan 5/6/22 Results (Special Event)

New Japan ran a special standalone TakaTaichiMania 2.5 event today produced by Taichi & TAKA Michinoku, the second such exclusive PPV put on by the Suzuki-gun faction this year.

Today’s event was held at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo and can be watched on New Japan World only as a standalone PPV for an additional 3000 yen (about $23-24 US) on top of a monthly subscription. It will be behind this paywall until August 6.

The paid attendance was not announced. Note the matches were listed as Match 4-7 so there may have been more than what New Japan listed:

Match 1: Minoru Suzuki beat Ren Ayabe (JUST TAP OUT). JTO is a promotion run by TAKA Michinoku which he started after moving on from his former KAIENTAI DOJO.

Match 2: TAKA Michinoku & Yoshinobu Kanemaru beat Dick Togo & Gedo. Kanemaru beat Gedo with a Samson clutch.

Match 3: Taichi & Yoshitatsu 20th Anniversary Match: Taichi beat Yoshitatsu. Yoshitatsu, real name Naofumi Yamamoto (I think), changed his name when he left New Japan for a chance in WWE over a decade ago, and continues using the name after being released following a largely failed stint there. It was absolutely not his fault, he was just badly misused by Creative.

Main Event: In a Hardcore match, Jun Kasai (Freedoms) & Tomoaki Honma beat DOUKI & El Desperado. Kasai pinned DOUKI after a reverse Tiger driver. They teased a potential Kasai-Desperado match in the future afterward.

CyberFight Festival Card Announcement Next Week

The CyberFight Group announced today that the full card for CyberFight Festival 2022 will be revealed at a press conference Tuesday. The presser will be streamed live on ABEMA, WRESTLE UNIVERSE and all the promotions’ YouTube channels (DDT, Pro Wrestling NOAH, Tokyo Joshi Pro) beginning Monday at 11 PM ET/8 PM PT.
So far the following is set the event:
GHC Heavyweight Champion Go Shiozaki vs. Satoshi Kojima for the title
Kenoh vs. Daisuke Sasaki
Rob Van Dam Participation

CyberFight Festival 2022 will be held on 6/12 at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan and will be broadcast live only on WRESTLE UNIVERSE starting at 2 AM ET/11 PM PT on 6/11.

Pro Wrestling NOAH 5/5/22 Results

Pro Wrestling NOAH continued the Dream On 22 Tour today with the second half of their Golden Week doubleheader, following yesterday’s event with a more regular show (no title matches, because I guess ABEMA gets preferential treatment).

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

The announced paid attendance was 487.

Match 1: Slex beat Kinya Okada.

Match 2: Texano Jr. & Super Crazy beat Atsushi Kotoge & Haoh. Texano pinned Haoh after Road To Texas.

Match 3: Katsuhiko Nakajima & Hi69 beat Shuhei Taniguchi (apparently he’s not King Tany anymore?) & Mohammed Yone. Nakajima pinned Taniguchi after Vertical Spike.

Match 4: Extreme Tiger, Alpha Wolf, Dragon Bane & Alejandro beat HAYATA, Seiki Yoshioka, Yuya Susumu & Kai Fujimura. Bane pinned Fujimura after Alas De Kebradora (?). This was to have been Yasutaka Yano teaming with Stinger but Yano was out due to injuries.

Match 5: Naomichi Marufuji, YO-HEY & Ninja Mack beat Kenoh, Tadasuke & Hajime Ohara. Mack pinned Tadasuke after Ninja Bomb.

Match 6: Michae Elgin beat Manabu Soya.

Match 7: Simon Gotch, Yoshinari Ogawa & Chris Ridgeway beat Kaito Kiyomiya, Daisuke Harada & Junta Miyawaki. Ridgeway pinned Miywwaki with a package German suplex hold.

Match 8: Satoshi Kojima (New Japan) beat Yoshiki Inamura.

Main Event: Go Shiozaki, Masato Tanaka, Masa Kitamiya & Daiki Inaba beat Takashi Sugiura, Hideki Suzuki, Rene Dupree & Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr. Kitamiya beat Wagner Jr. with Prison Lock.

After the event, the promotion announced it has signed Ninja Mack to an annual contract. He will be returning to the US for now but will return to NOAH at different times in the future, with his next tour scheduled to begin in July.

The next event is 5/14 at Yokohama Radiant Hall in Yokohama for this month’s N INNOVATION event. An event on Saturday at Big Palette Fukushima is still listed but has been CANCELLED due to the venue sustaining damage from a major earthquake in March.

Tokyo Joshi Pro 5/5/22 Results

Tokyo Joshi Pro ran their second Golden Week event today, GO GO DO IT, making their return to Osaka for their first event at Osaka Prefectural Gym #2 in several years.

Today’s event was held at Osaka Prefectural Gym #2 in Osaka and can be watched on demand on WRESTLE UNIVERSE in Japanese.

The announced paid attendance was 348, a super full house/very near sellout. They only used floor seating close to the ring as apparently Osaka is still under major coronavirus safety protocols and very reduced capacity limits (normally the venue can hold 1500-2000). Your hosts are Haruo Mutata & Kagehiro Osano. SKE48 member Marika Tani was a special guest on commentary.

Match 1: Yuki Aino beat Neko Haruna.

Match 2: In a 3 Falls Osaka Ultra Quiz Match, where the first to answer two Osaka-related questions correctly wins, Hyper Misao beat Kaya Toribami.

Match 3: Yuna Manase (Ganbare Pro Wrestling) beat Mahiro Kiryu.

Match 4: Hikari Noa & Nao Kakuta beat Raku & Pom Harajuku. Kakuta pinned Harajuku after Shiden Kai.

Match 5: Saki Akai (DDT) & Yuki Kamifuku beat Miyu Yamashita & Miu Watanabe. Kamifuku pinned Watanabe after Fameasser.

Main Event: In a 3 Falls Match, Shoko Nakajima, Maki Itoh, Mizuki & Rika Tatsumi beat Yuki Arai, Moka Miyamoto, Arisu Endo & Suzume. Fall 1-Tatsumi beat Endo with a dragon sleeper. Fall 2-Nakajima pinned Arai after a diving senton. This match went just short of 30 minutes.

The next event is 5/15 at Ryogoku KFC Hall in Tokyo. They’re taking most of the next month off after a busy last couple months as only 3 more events are scheduled before CyberFight Festival on 6/12.

Pro Wrestling NOAH 5/4/22 Reaults & News

Pro Wrestling NOAH began their May schedule today with the opener of the Dream On 22 Tour. It began with the first half of a Golden Week doubleheader and was headlined by a GHC Tag Team Title match.

Today’s event was held at Korakuen Hall in Tokkyo and will be available on demand on WRESTLE UNIVERSE at a later time/date. It was an ABEMA-only live broadcast in Japan only.

The announced paid attendance was 645. It appears they are still reduced capacity at Korakuen even though they previously said they intended to run full capacity by now. If still reduced, this likely was a near-sellout.

Match 1: Simon Gotch beat Kinya Okada.

Match 2: NOSAWA Rongai, Texano Jr. & Super Crazy beat Alejandro, Kai Fujimura & Yasutaka Yano. Texano pinned Fujimura after Road To Texas.

Match 3: Dragon Bane, Ninja Mack & Alpha Wolf beat Tadasuke, Hajime Ohara & Hi69 (formerly Nioh). Wolf pinned Hi69 after Night Wolf.

Match 4: Michael Elgin & Masa Kitamiya beat Katsuhiko Nakajima & Manabu Soya. Elgin pinned Nakajima after Elgin Bomb.

Match 5: HAYATA, Yoshinari Ogawa, Chris Ridgeway, Seiki Yoshioka & Yuya Susumu beat Daisuke Harada, Atsushi Kotoge, YO-HEY, Haoh & Junta Miyawaki. Yoshioka pinned YO-HEY after Buzzsaw Kick.

Match 6: Kaito Kiyomiya beat Ninja Mack.

Match 7: Satoshi Kojima (New Japan Pro Wrestling), Naomichi Marufuji & Masato Tanaka beat Go Shiozaki, Daiki Inaba & Yoshiki Inamura. Kojima pinned Shiozaki after a lariat.

Main Event: Rene Dupree & Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr. beat GHC Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Takasho Sugiura & Hideki Suzuki to win the titles. Dupree & Wagner Jr. become the 59th GHC Heavyweight Tag Team Champions. Wagner Jr. pinned Sugiura after a moonsault press.

The next event is tomorrow. There has been a late change because Yasutaka Yano is now off due to injuries. Head and face. It’s not known how long he may be out. He was to have teamed with HAYATA, Yuya Susumu & Seiki Yoshioka to face Alejandro, Alpha Wolf, Dragon Bane & Extreme Tiger. Kai Fujimura is the replacement.

Live streaming on WRESTLE UNIVERSE will begin tomorrow at 2:30 AM PT/5:30 AM ET.

The usual post-event news dump:
Added to 5/14 at Yokohama Radiant Hall (N INNOVATION) are Chris Ridgeway vs. Seiki Yoshioka and Simon Gotch & Yoshinari Ogawa vs. Kaito Kiyomiya & Yuya Susumu.

Added to 5/19 at Yokohama Radiant Hall is HAYATA, Yoshinari Ogawa & Chris Ridgeway vs. Seiki Yoshioka, Yuya Susumu & Kai Fujimura.

Added to 5/21 at Ota City General Gym (tour ender) is NEW GHC Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Yoshinari Ogawa & Chris Ridgeway vs. Seiki Yoshioka & Yuya Susumu for the titles. At this time this event will be an ABEMA-ONLY live broadcast.

The 2022 N-1 Victory Tournament has been announced. This year’s edition will be the August tour with the exception of 8/3 and will conclude on 9/3. Further details to come.

Ganbare Pro Wrestling 5/3/22 Results

DDT sub-brand Ganbare Pro ran their major Golden Week event, “Love Phantom 2022”, today after the Tokyo Joshi Pro event, featuring some TJPW participation and a Spirit Of Ganbare World Openweight Championship main event.

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

The announced paid attendance was 380.

Match 1: Grief beat Taison Maeguchi.

Match 2: HARUKAZE & Tsuyoshi Okada beat Yuu Yamagata & Shinichiro Tomonaga. Okada beat Tominaga with an armbar.

Match 3: Yuki Kamifuku (Tokyo Joshi Pro) & Asuka (Veny) beat Yuna Manase & YuuRI. Kamifuku pinned YuuRI after Fameasser.

Match 4: Shota & Takao Soma beat Chris Brookes & Antonio Honda and Takumi Tsukamoto & Yasu Urano in a 3-way when Shota beat Honda.

Match 5: Ken Ohka beat Muscle Sakai.

Match 6: Keisuke Ishii & Koki Iwasaki beat Shuichiro Katsumura & Mizuki Watase. Ishii pinned Watase after Nail Kick.

Main Event: Yumehito Imanari beat Spirit Of Ganbare World Openweight Champion Tatsuhito Takaiwa to win the title. Imanari becomes the second Spirit of Ganbare World Openweight Champion. Just what DDT dreads-more gold for those deplorable Pheromons. Next up: Probably Ken Ohka. That match will happen on 7/10 at Ota City General Gym.

The next event is 5/14 at Chiba 2AW Square in Chiba.

UPDATE: It’s now official-Imanari vs. Ohka for the title on 7/10 as is Chris Brookes & Masa Takanashi vs. Shota & Takao Soma.

New Japan Free Match Monday 5/2/22

It’s Monday, which means it’s New Japan Free Match Monday! Every Monday New Japan takes a classic match from New Japan World and makes it available FOR FREE!

This week it’s the 2018 Best Of The Super Junior, as we see Taiji Ishimori vs. Hiromu Takahashi from 6/4/2018:

https://youtu.be/35dQtEtgLaw

New Japan Pro Wrestling WRESTLING DONTAKU ’22 Results (5/1/22)

WRESTLING DONTAKU ’22, New Japan’s annual May Golden Week blowout event, is now in the books. An absolutely loaded card punctuated the Fukuoka spectacular highlighted by, for the 3rd time this year, Tetsuya Naito trying once again to take the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship fron Kazuchika Okada. Was it the charm? Let’s find out!
Today’s event was held at the Fukuoka PayPay Dome in Fukuoka and can be watched on demand on New Japan World in Japanese and English. (If you’re signing up just to watch today, the monthly subscription fee for May is currently $7.37 US. Still an incredible bargain)
The announced paid attendance was 8162. It looks like they had all the seating on the floor and not other seating around the stadium, which is used mainly for baseball, but still this represents the highest non-Tokyo Dome attendance so far this year-only Night 1 at Tokyo Dome drew higher. Remember there are still pandemic-related capacity restrictions at virtually all venues in Japan due to coronavirus safety protocols. This event was broadcast as part of WORLD PRO WRESTLING LIVE 2022 on TV Asahi. The first match begins at the 11:30 mark of the replay. (The whole event’s runtime is just over 4 hours but if you fast forward through entrances & exits you’ll save a lot of time). Togi Makabe & Jushin Thunder Liger are the guests on Japanese commentary.
Match 1: TAKA Michinoku, Taichi & Zack Sabre Jr. beat BUSHI, Shingo Takagi & Shiro Koshinaka. Taichi pinned Takagi with a rollup & leg pinning bridge after a sumo throw.(This was to have been TAKA, Taichi & Sabre vs. BUSHI, Takagi & Tatsumi Fujinami, but Fujinami was pulled late last week due to coronavirus. Koshinaka was the replacement)
Match 2: Hiromu Takahashi beat Yoh.
Match 3: Tanga Loa beat Yujiro Takahashi.
Match 4: IWGP Jr. heavyweight Tag Team Champions Ryusuke Taguchi & Master Wato beat DOUKI & Yoshinobu Kanemaru to retain the titles. Taguchi pinned Kanemaru with a rollup into a bridge. V2 for the champs.
Match 5: Chase Owens & Bad Luck Fale beat IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Jeff Cobb & Great-O-Khan and HIrooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI, when Owens pinned Goto, to win the titles. Fale & Owens become the 94th IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Champions.
Best Of The Super Junior 29 Participants are announced. They are: Hiromu Takahashi (3-time champion who will be going for his 3rd straight victory, Block A), Ryusuke Taguchi (2012 winner, Block A), Master Wato (Block B), Yoh (Block A-that guarantees a Hiromu Takahashi match again), Robbie Eagles (Block B), BUSHI (Block B), Yoshinobu Kanemaru (Block A), DOUKI (Block B), El Desperado (Block B), Taiji Ishimori (Block A), Sho (Block A-that guarantees a Yoh match), El Phantasmo (Block B), Titan (from the CMLL promotion in Mexico, Block B), TJP (Block B), Clark Connors (Debut-from the LA Dojo, Block A), Wheeler Yuta (Debut-from All Elite Wrestling, Block B), Alex Zayne (Block A), Ace Austin (from Impact Wrestling, Block A), Francesco Akira (Debut, Block A), El Lindaman (GLEAT, Block B)
Match 6: Tama Tonga beat NEVER Openweight Champion EVIL to win the title. Tonga becomes the 36th NEVER Openweight Champion.
Match 7: Taiji Ishimori beat IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion El Desperado by submission to win the title. Ishimori becomes the 92nd IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion.
Match 8: Hiroshi Tanahashi beat Tomohiro Ishii to win the vacant IWGP US Heavyweight Championship. Tanahashi becomes the 14th IWGP US Heavyweight Champion
Main Event: IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada beat Tetsuya Naito to retain the title. V4 for Okada. Next up: Jay White. He returned and led a Bullet Club beatdown of Okada to end the show.
The next event is Capital Collision on 5/14 in Washington, DC. Broadcast plans are still undecided.

DDT MEGA MAX BUMP 2022 in YOKOHAMA Results (5/1/22)

DDT officially ended the MAX BUMP 2022 tour with a blowout event in Yokohama, featuring 4 title matches and events that would further set up big matches for CyberFight Festival in mid-June.

Today’s event was held at Yokohama Budokan in Yokohama and can be watched on demand on WRESTLE UNIVERSE in Japanese and English.

The announced paid attendance was 835. They didn’t set up a lot of floor seating and it was a very reduced capacity layout but it didn’t look good on broadcast.
Your Japanese hosts are Haruo Murata, Sayoko Mita & Kagehiro Osano. Ken Kato filled in for Murata for the pre-show matches. AKB48 member Megu Taniguchi was a guest for some matches. Kenta Kobashi was also a guest for some matches. Your English hosts are Chris Brookes for some matches, Baliyan Akki & Hiroshi Arai.

Pre-show:
Match 1: KANON beat Yuya Kuroku by submisison.
Match 2: Toru Owashi & Naomi Yoshimura beat Antonio Honda & Yuki Ishida. Yoshimura pinned Ishida after Harai Goshi.

Main Show:
Kenta Kobashi is introduced as the special guest observer for the main event. I still always get goosebumps whenever GRAND SWORD is played.

Match 3: Shinya Aoki beat Toui Kojima by submission.

Match 4: KO-D 10-Man Tag Team Champions Poison Sawada JULIE, Takashi Sasaki, GENTARO, MIKAMI & Tanomusaku Toba (with Naomi Susan) beat Sanshiro Takagi, Kazuki Hirata, Yoshiaki Yatsu, Akito & Gota Ihashi to retain the titles. JULIE beat Hirata with Cattle Mutilation. V1 for the champs.

Match 5: Maya Yukihi & Shunma Katsumata beat Saki Akai & Hideki Okatami. Katsumata pinned Okatani after Totonoe Splash.

Match 6: Hisaya Iambayashi (DDT General Manager), AKIRA & Muscle Sakai beat Danshoku Dieno, Yuki Iino & Yumehito Imanari. Imabayashi pinned Dieno with a jackknife. (VIEWER WARNING: NSFW CONTENT)

Match 7: Daisuke Sasaki, MJ Pawl & TBA, who turned out to be KANON, beat Yuji Hino, Yukio Naya & Takao Soma. Sasaki beat Soma with a crossface. KANON was a replacement for Minoru Fujita, who is out due to injury.

Match 8: Kazusada Higuchi & Yukio Sakaguchi beat HARASHIMA & Hikaru Sato. Higuchi pinned HARASHIMA with a brain claw press.

Match 9: DDT Universal Champion MAO beat Asuka (Veny) to retain the title. V2 for MAO. Next up: Masa Takanashi. That match will happen on 6/1 at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo.

Match 10: KO-D Tag Team Champions Chris Brookes & Masa Takanashi beat Jun Akiyama & Yusuke Okada to retain the titles. Takanashi pinned Okada after Turn Back Sudden Death. V2 for the champs. Next up: MAO & Asuka. That match will happen on 5/22 at Korakuen.

Main Event: KO-D Openweight Champion Tetsuya Endo beat Yuki Ueno to retain the title. V1 for Endo. Next up: TBA, but probably on 6/12.

Pro Wrestling NOAH star Kenoh made a surprise appearance during the event. This set up Kenoh vs. Takashi Sasaki for CyberFight Festival 2022.

Former DDT star Dick Togo, currently part of New Japan Pro Wrestling, will return to the promotion for WRESTLE PETER PAN on 8/20 at Ota City General Gym. Togo is a 4-time KO-D Openweight Champion. Also set for 8/20 are KO-D Openweight Championship and DDT Universal Championship matches.

The next event is Friday at Shinjuku Face in Tokyo. The event will feature the start of a tournament to crown new KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Champions. Live streaming on WRESTLE UNIVERSE will begin Friday at 2 AM PT/5 AM ET.

Tokyo Joshi Pro 4/30/22 Results

Tokyo Joshi Pro wrapped up their April schedule with their almost-regular Saturday matinee event, which also was the final event before their next major event next week.
Today’s event was held at Ryogoku KFC Hall in Tokyo and can be watched on demand on WRESTLE UNIVERSE.
The announced paid attendance was 155. Whoa, 2 straight KFC non-sellouts.
Before the matches, the contract signings for the 5/3 title matches were held. Also, as previously announced, Pom Harajuku missed today’s event due to family circumstances.
Match 1: Suzume beat Kaya Toribami.
Match 2: Yuki Aino beat Arisu Endo.
Match 3: Raku beat Rika Tatsumi & Neko Haruna in a 3-way by pinning Haruna. Tatsumi losing a 3-way these days is always an UPSET ALERT!
Match 4: Maki Itoh beat Moka Miyamoto by submission.
Match 5: Miyu Yamashita & Miu Watanabe beat Yuki Kamifuku & Mahiro Kiryu. Watanabe pinned Kiryu after Kick and Kabom!
Main Event: Hyper Misao, Hikari Noa & Nao Kakuta beat Shoko Nakajima, Yuka Sakazaki & Mizuki. Misao pinned Nakajima after Vanitas.
The next event is “YES! WONDERLAND 2022-Spread the wings of your dreams”, their annual Golden Week major event, Tuesday at Korakuen Hall. Live streaming on WRESTLE UNIVERSE will begin Monday at 10:30 PM ET/7:30 PM PT. All Elite Wrestling superstar Hikaru Shida will return for her 3rd TJPW appearance this year as part of the event.
Post-event news: Yuka Sakazaki is now off Thursday’s (5/5) event at Osaka Prefectural Gym #2. All Elite Wrestling wants her back next week so she’s returning to the US after Tuesday. If she retains the Princess Tag Team Championship Tuesday, there will be a substitute announced for Thursday. It might be a close call on time because she would have to fly from Tokyo to Baltimore, MD on Tuesday and AEW Dynamite is Wednesday, so we’ll see (AEW Rampage on Friday will be TAPED on Wednesday).
Yuna Manase vs. Mahiro Kiryu has been added to Thursday.
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