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.
Tag: wrestling
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.
New Japan 2/1/23 Results
New Japan wrapped up the first part of the Road to THE NEW BEGINNING Tour today amidst fallout from the departure of Kota Ibushi from the promotion (contract expired) and potential concerns about Yoh, who missed a second straight event today due to a fever. He should be fine for the weekend.
Today’s event was held at Aomori Budokan in Aomori. There was no live broadcast and no on demand video will be available.
The announced paid attendance was 1216.
Match 1: Aaron Henare beat Ryohei Oiwa.
Match 2: Toru Yano & Togi Makabe beat Oskar Leube & Hiroyoshi Tenzan. Yano pinned Leube.
Match 3: Taiji Ishimori & El Phantasmo beat Master Wato & Tiger Mask. Phantasmo pinned TM 4 after Sudden Death.
Match 4: Jado & Hiroshi Tanahashi beat Gedo & KENTA. Tanahashi beat Gedo with a Texas Cloverleaf.
Match 5: Yuto Nakashima, YOSHI-HASHI, Tomohiro Ishii & Hirooki Goto beat Kosei Fujita, Shane Haste, Mikey Nicholls & Zack Sabre Jr. YOSHI-HASHI beat Fujita with Butterfly Lock.
Match 6: Francesco Akira, TJP, Great-O-Khan & Will Ospreay beat TAKA Michinoku, DOUKI, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Taichi. Ospreay pinned TAKA after Hidden Blade.
Main Event: Hiromu Takahashi, SANADA, Shingo Takagi & Tetsuya Naito beat Ryusuke Taguchi, Shota Umino, Tomoaki Honma & Kazuchika Okada. Takagi pinned Honma after Pumping Bomber. During the match, BUSHI interfered against Umino and Naito attacked Umino’s father, referee Red Shoes Unno, potentially setting up the next big rivalry for Naito…after his match against Keiji Muto in The Living Legend’a retirement match, presumably.
The next events are as follows:
TAMASHII returns for its second installment with 2 events this weekend. The first one is Friday in Sydney, Australia and the second one is Saturday in Melbourne, Australia. There will be no live broadcast for both.
On the Japan side. Next up is THE NEW BEGINNING in SAPPORO, a doubleheader Saturday US time at Hokkaido Prefectural Sports Center Hokkai Kitayell in Hokkaido. Live streaming on New Japan World in Japanese and English will begin Saturday at midnight PT/3 AM ET for the first event and Saturday at 9 PM PT/midnight ET for the second event. Live results are scheduled for the second event.
Also, announced after the event were a Hirooki Goto 20th Anniversary event on 4/22 in Mie and WRESTLING DONTAKU 2023, the annual Golden Week blowout event in Fukuoka, on 5/3 back at its regular home, Fukuoka International Center. Last year’s event was held at the much larger Fukuoka PayPay Dome for the 50th Anniversary celebration.
TJPW News: Injury Forces Wrestler Off 2/11 Event
In announcing the full card for the Korakuen Hall event on 2/11 (the Futari-wa Princess Max Heart Tournament Finals), Tokyo Joshi Pro also announced a forced change of plans-Juria Nagano, who was scheduled to participate, is now off. Hand injury suffered in her match with Moka Miyamoto against Miyu Yamashita & Maki Itoh. Out indefinitely but to be off this event means at least 2 weeks. They have about 6 weeks until GRAND PRINCESS ’23, which she has been announced for, so hopefully it’s not serious and she will be back in time for that.
More as it becomes available.
BREAKING: Kota Ibushi Comeback (Updated x2)
He’s back…Game Changer Wrestling has announced on Twitter that Kota Ibushi will return to action at GCW Collective 2023 as part of events on 3/30 & 3/31. Both events will stream live on FITE as part of FITE+, a subscription package available for $4.99/month or $49.99/year (and if you go annual, each year they give you enough credits to watch up to $24 worth of PPV content FOR FREE). It’s not known what this means for his status in Japan as his New Japan contract has presumably expired and he had been out since October 2021 due to injury and personal issues.
More as it becomes available.
UPDATE: There are reports Ibushi’s New Japan contract expired today (yesterday Japan time). Also, the original post has been corrected to reflect that the injury occurred in October 2021, not August 2021.
UPDATE 2: New Japan has announced on their Japanese website that Ibushi has left the promotion, confirming his contract expired today (yesterday Japan time).
New Japan 1/31/23 Results (Updated)
New Japan continued the Road to THE NEW BEGINNING Tour today with the last event of the month.
There were last-second changes to the event as Yoh was a late removal from the card. Fever. Coronavirus rapid test was negative. Status beyond today is uncertain. The main event also saw BUSHI removed as a result.
Today’s event was held at Akita Furusato Village Dome Theater in Akita. There was no live broadcast and no on demand video will be available.
The announced paid attendance was 659.
Match 1: Great-O-Khan beat Yuto Nakashima by submission.
Match 2: Tiger Mask & Tomoaki Homna beat Oskar Leube & Hiroyoshi Tenzan. Honma pinned Leube after Kokeshi.
Match 3: Taiji Ishimori & El Phantasmo beat Jado & Master Wato. Phantasmo pinned Jado after Sudden Death.
Match 4: Toru Yano & Hiroshi Tanahashi beat Gedo & KENTA by DQ. Gedo DQ’d.
Match 5: Kosei Fujita, Shane Haste, Mikey Nicholls & Zack Sabre Jr. beat Ryohei Oiwa, YOSHI-HASHI, Hirooki Goto & Tomohiro Ishii. Nicholla pinned Oiwa after a siding lariat.
Match 6: Francesco Akira, TJP, Aaron Henare & Will Ospreay beat TAKA Michinoku, DOUKI, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Taichi. Ospreay pinned TAKA after Hidden Blade.
Main Event: Hiromu Takahashi, SANADA, Shingo Takagi & Tetsuya Naito beat Ryusuke Taguchi, Shota Umino, Togi Makabe & Kazuchika Okada. Takagi pinned Makabe after Last of the Dragon.
The next event is tomorrow at Aomori Budokan in Aomori. There will be no live or on demand broadcast.
UPDATE: Yoh is now off tomorrow as well. Precautionary due to fever. BUSHI is now off again as well to change their match from a 10-man tag to 8-man.
DEVELOPING: TJPW Adds New GRAND PRINCESS ’23 Match
A short time ago on Twitter and DDT’s website, Tokyo Joshi Pro announced a new match for GRAND PRINCESS ’23 on 3/18 at Ariake Arena…and this one more than blew my mind as Yuki Arai will be in, literally and figuratively, her biggest single match yet against…AJA KONG! The Hall Of Famer and living legend of Japanese women’s wrestling! This is the second official match for the event.
Video: Jay Briscoe Funeral Service (1/29/23)
The school district where the children of Jay Briscoe went to school live-streamed the funeral service yesterday on YouTube. If you want to see the video you can do so at the link below:
New Japan 1/30/23 Results
New Japan continues the Road to THE NEW BEGINNING tour today with another non-televised house show. Coming amidst reports that, following government loosening of coronavirus guidelines, Bushiroad may be returning to full capacity for all NJPW & Stardom events.
Today’s event was held at Iwate Prefectural Gym in Iwate. There was no live broadcast and no on demand video will be available.
The announced paid attendance was 1150.
Match 1: Aaron Henare beat Ryohei Oiwa.
Match 2: Tiger Mask & Togi Makabe beat Yuto Nakashima & Hiroyoshi Tenzan. Makbe pinned Nakashima after a King Kong kneedrop.
Match 3: Jado & Master Wato beat Gedo & Taiji Ishimori. Wato pinned Gedo after RPP.
Match 4: El Phantasmo & KENTA beat Tomoaki Honma & Hiroshi Tanahashi. Phantasmo pinned Honma after Sudden Death.
Match 5: Kosei Fujita, Shane Haste, Mikey Nicholls & Zack Sabre Jr. beat Oskar Leube, YOSHI-HASHI, Tomohiro Ishii & Hirooki Goto. Nicholls pinned Leube after a sliding lariat.
Match 6: Francesco Akira, TJP, Great-O-Khan & Will Ospreay beat TAKA Michinoku, DOUKI, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Taichi. Ospreay pinned TAKA after Hidden Blade.
Main Event: BUSHI, Hiromu Takahashi, SANADA, Shingo Takagi & Tetsuya Naito beat Yoh, Ryusuke Taguchi, Shota Umino, Toru Yano & Kazuchika Okada. Takagi pinned Taguchi after MADE IN JAPAN.
The next event is tomorrow at Akita Furusato Village Dome Theater in Akita. There will be no live or on demand broadcast.