New Japan ran the penultimate event of Best Of The Super Junior today, finishing up Block B.
Today’s event was held at Region Plaza Joetsu in Niigata and can be watched on demand on New Japan World.
The paid attendance has not been announced.
Match 1: Dragon Dia, Ninja Mack & KUSHIDA beat Daiki Nagai, Masatora Yasuda & Shoma Kato. KUSHIDA beat Yasuda with a hoverboard lock.
Match 2: Yujiro Takahashi, Ren Narita & Yoshinobu Kanemaru beat Katsuya Murashima, Toru Yano & Master Wato. Narita beat Murashima with a knee lock.
Match 3: Yota Tsuji & Hiromu Takahashi beat Jacob Austin Young & Francesco Akira. Tsuji pinned Young after Gene Blaster.
Match 4: Hartley Jackson, Ryohei Oiwa & Kosei Fujita beat Gedo, Robbie X & Clark Connors. Fujita pinned Gedo with Neshin Special.
Beat Of The Super Junior Block B: Match 5: Kevin Knight beat Ryusuke Taguchi. Match 6: Titan beat Nick Wayne. Match 7: MAO beat Sho. Match 8: El Desperado beat Robbie Eagles by submission. Main Event: Yoh beat Taiji Ishimori. As a result, Yoh wins Block B on tiebreakers (he beat both MAO and Desperado) and advances to the Finals to face Fujita.
The Final is Sunday at Ota City General Gym in Tokyo. Live streaming on New Japan World will begin at 2:30 AM PT/5:30 AM ET.
Tokyo Joshi Pro has announced a trio of injury issues but one is actually an update from prior news-first the update: Kira Summer has not been recovering as well as hoped for from a left thigh bruise, or a henatoma in her words. Out another 4 weeks. Expected back in late June. Also now out of action is the most concerning-Hyper Misao, half of the Princess Tag Team Champions. Right elbow. Out at least a month. Also expected back in late June. Finally, Neko Haruna is out of action again. Knee. Out indefinitely. Changes for this weekend’s events have been announced. Summer’s absence means her Tokyo Princess Cup Qualifier match this weekend against Wakana Uehara has been POSTPONED. But if she can’t return in a certain timeframe Uehara would win by forfeit. Also off this weekend’s events are Raku (competing in Thailand) and Yuki Kamifuku (off Saturday only-appearance in Singapore).
More as it becomes available.
Also in unrelated TJPW news, it was decided that Konatsu, who will debut Sunday vs. Suzume, will have the ring name Ren Konatsu. For this weekend there is no live broadcast Saturday but WRESTLE UNIVERSE will have a live broadcast Sunday (starts Saturday at 8 PM PT/11 PM ET.
UPDATE: It was just announced by TJPW that you will also be able to watch Sunday’s live broadcast FOR FREE on YouTube. This will be for the live event only, on demand will only be available on WRESTLE UNIVERSE.
The worst-kept secret in sumo is now official-Onosato has been promoted and is now The 75th Yokozuna in history! It was a foregone conclusion after winning the May Tournament this past weekend for his second straight championship with records of 12-3 in March and 14-1 in May. Onosato, real name Daiki Nakamura, 24 (he turns 25 on June 7), went from debut at Makushita 10 to Grand Champion in a record-fast 13 tournaments, winning 4 Emperor’s Cups so far and 8 Special Prizes in just 9 top tier tournaments, and a career record of 135-44, 101-34 in the top tier, and has yet to have a losing tournament.
And an interesting one at that-according to social media posts in Japanese & English by DDT, and subsequent reactions from fellow wrestlers, wrestling’s newest married couple is a really interesting pairing-Yuka Sakazaki & Konosuke Takeshita have tied the knot. Neither has posted about it but both shared posts from DDT’s Japanese account and Takeshita replied to comments by fellow DDT wrestler Jun Akiyama sending congratulations to the new couple. Both currently are in All Elite Wrestling but Takeshita also continues to compete in New Japan and occasionally DDT. It’s not yet known how long they were together before tying the knot.
Congratulations and best wishes to the new couple for a long and happy life together, both inside and outside the ring. Now to think of cleverly bad tag team names for them…and hope the Magical Girl stays out of the clutches of The Callous Hand Of Don too…
UPDATE: Japanese wrestling news site Puroresu Today has posted an article that includes Instagram posts from both Takeshita and Sakazaki announcing their marriage. Each posted a different photo of them together with Takeshita’s (I think) pet dog and the same photo of them making handprints in wet sand on the beach. Check out the article below (in Japanese):
New Japan continued the Best Of The Super Junior today with the final day of Block A., which would determine who advanced to the Finals. (I previously stated the top 2 in each block would make the Finals. That was incorrect as I found out today only the winner of each block advances this year)
Today’s event was held at Kira Messe Numazu in Shizuoka and can be watched on demand on New Japan World.
The announced paid attendance was 668.
Match 1: Yota Tsuji & Titan beat Daiki Nagai & Nick Wayne. Tsuji pinned Nagai after Gene Blaster.
Match 2: Yujiro Takahashi & Sho beat Shoma Kato & MAO. Takahashi pinned Kato after Pimp Juice.
Match 3: Toru Yano & El Desperado beat Hartley Jackson & Robbie Eagles. Yano pinned Jackson.
Match 4: Tiger Mask & Yoh beat Gedo & Taiji Ishimori. Yoh beat Gedo with Anaconda Vice.
Best Of The Super Junior Block A: Match 5: Ninja Mack beat Dragon Dia. Match 6: Francesco Akira beat KUSHIDA. Match 7: Yoshinobu Kanemaru beat Master Wato by submission. Match 8: Kosei Fujita beat Clark Connors. Main Event: Robbie X beat Hiromu Takahashi. As a result, Fujita wins Block A on tiebreakers and advances to the Finals. It was a 5-way tie but he beat everyone in the tie.
The final day of Block B, with a potentially similar tiebreaker scenario, is Thursday at Region Plaza Joetsu in Niigata. Live streaming on New Japan World will begin at 2:30 AM PT/5:30 AM ET.
UPDATE: In post-event comments via New Japan’s English website, Robbie X announced he wants to be the first challenger to Fujita if he wins the BOSJ and, subsequently, the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship. We’ll see. When the winner gets the title shot is TBA but I’m thinking DOMINION on 6/15.
In a news post a short tome ago, New Japan announced the first title for its TAMASHII sub-brand based in and focused on Australia, New Zealand and the Oceania region. The TAMASHII Tag Team Championship will be first awarded at the next event on 7/4 in Mangere, New Zealand via a one-night tournament to crown inaugural champions. Participants TBA but the event poster suggests at least a 4-team tournament.
Pro Wrestling NOAH kicked off a new season of MONDAY MAGIC today, this one dubbed a “Prime Time” season.
Today’s event was held at Shinjuku Face in Tokyo and can be watched on demand on WRESTLE UNIVERSE.
The announced paid attendance was 412.
Match 1: Dragon Bane vs. Alpha Wolf went to a 10 minute time limit draw.
Match 2: Manabu Soya, Saxon Huxley & HAYATA beat Shuji Ishikawa, Mohammed Yone & Eita. Soya pinned Yone after Ballistic.
Match 3: Archer Cole (?) beat Daiki Odashima.
Match 4: AMAKUSA beat YO-HEY & Alejandro in a 3-way by pinning Alejandro.
Match 5: Kouki Amarei & Mayu Iwatani beat Great Sakuya & Sadie Gibbs. Iwatani pinned Gibbs with a dragon suplex hold. Well that didn’t take long…now that she’s left Stardom for Marigold, and thus the CyberFight/WRESTLE UNIVERSE umbrella, Iwatani has already made her first NOAH appearance (or first in at least a long time).
Match 6: Naomichi Marufuji beat Hikaru Sato.
Main Event: Kaito Kiyomiya & Titus Alexander beat Minoru Suzuki & Ryan Clancy. Kiyomiya pinned Clancy after Skywalk Elbow.
Episode 2 is 6/2. Announced for that event are GHC Hardcore Champion Shuji Ishikawa vs. Manabu Soya for the title and GHC Women’s Champion Kouki Amarei vs. Takumi Iroha for the title (2nd defense for those wondering, I believe part of the limited activity with the title this year has been Amarei injuries). Live streaming on WRESTLE UNIVERSE will begin at 3 AM PT/6 AM ET.
UPDATE: The promotion has announced this episode is now the most-watched MONDAY MAGIC episode ever on WRESTLE UNIVERSE. At least to date.
New Japan continued the Best Of The Super Junior today in Nagoya.
Today’s event was held at Port Messe Nagoya Exhibition Hall 2 in Nagoya and can be watched on demand on New Japan World. This also aired on an unknown TV channel in Japan.
The announced paid attendance was 1404.
All matches were Best Of The Super Junior matches, 30 minute time limit.
Match 1: Block B: Robbie Eagles beat Ryusuke Taguchi. Match 2: Block A: KUSHIDA beat Yoshinobu Kanemaru. Match 3: Block B: Yoh beat Titan. Match 4: Block A: Dragon Dia beat Robbie X. Match 5: Block B: MAO beat Nick Wayne. Match 6: Block A: Ninja Mack beat Kosei Fujita. Match 7: Block B: Sho beat Taiji Ishimori. Match 8: Block A: Clark Connors beat Francesco Akira by DQ. Chair use. Match 9: Block B: El Desperado beat Kevin Knight. Main Event: Block A: Hiromu Takahashi beat Master Wato.
Block B: 1-Yoh, 5-3, 10 pts 2-Desperado, 5-3, 10 pts 3-MAO, 5-3, 10 pts 4-Sho, 4-4, 8 pts 5-Wayne, 4-4, 8 pts (OUT) 6-Eagles, 4-4, 8 pts (OUT) 7-Ishimori, 4-4, 8 pts (OUT) 8-Taguchi, 3-5, 6 pts (OUT) 9-Knight, 3-5, 6 pts (OUT) 10-Titan, 3-5, 6 pts (OUT) The top 2 in each block advance to the Finals. In Block A, a spot is Takahashi’s to lose-he just has to win his final match (X) to advance. Connors has the advantage among the rest, only needing to beat Fujita to advance on tiebreakers. Wato must win (Kanemaru) and needs Fujita to beat Connors to advance. Fujita must beat Connors and Takahashi & Wato must lose to advance on tiebreakers. Everyone else is out due to tiebreakers. In Block B, Yoh advances with a win in his last match (Ishimori), and Desperado will advance with a win (Eagles). MAO must win (Sho) and Yoh and/or Desperado must lose to advance because MAO loses tiebreaker to both. Sho must beat MAO and Yoh must lose and Desperado must win or draw to advance on tiebreakers (Sho beat MAO and Yoh but lost to Desperado). Everyone else is out.
The final day of Block A is Tuesday at Kira Messe Numazu in Shizuoka. Live streaming on New Japan World will begin at 2:30 AM PT/5:30 AM ET.
Here are the quick results from today’s Day 15-the Final Day-of the May 2025 Grand Sumo Tournament in Tokyo: Key: M-Maegashira, K-Komusuvi, S-Sekiwake, O-Ozeki, Y-Yokozuna, J-Juryo, Ms-Makushita, Sd-Sandanme, Jd-Jonidan, Jk-Jonokuchi
Makuuchi )top tier): Roga (M14) beat Kotoshoho (M14) Atamifuji (M12) beat Nishikigi (M16) Toachitaikai (M18) beat Shishi (M11) Endo (M11) beat Asakoryu (M17) Shodai (M10) beat Shonannoumi (M15) Midorifuji (M9) beat Tamashoho (M17) Aonishiki (M9) beat Sadanoumi (M13) Kinbozan (M8) beat Kayo (M16) Onokatsu (M8) beat Meisei (M10) Churanoumi (M7) beat Ryuden (M15) Tokihayate (M13) beat Hakuoho (M7) Ura (M5) beat Takanosho (M12) Tamawashi (M3) beat Hiradoumi (M3) Takerufuji (M4) beat Gonoyama (M2) Oshoma (M6) beat Abi (M2) Oho (M1) beat Chiyoshoma (M5) Wakamotoharu (M1) beat Ichiyamamoto (M4) Wakatakakage (K) beat Tobizaru (M6) Takayasu (K) beat Kirishima (S) Daieisho (S) beat Kotozakura (O) Hoshoryu (Y) beat Onosato (O) CHAMPION: Onosato (14-1) Of note: No zensho yusho. That was the only question of the day-could Onosato beat Hoshoryu and finish 15-0? Hoshoryu said no and beat Onosato for the 3rd straight time. So Onosato finishes 14-1 with his 4th Emperor’s Cup, 2nd straight and expected promotion to Yokozuna in a few days. Now the real question I’m asking: Can he be the next Hakuho, if not greater? Hakuho won a record 45 championships in his career. Onosato already has 4 in only 9 top tier tournaments and 13 career. Let’s say he stays healthy for the next 15 years…he would be 40 by then (Hakuho retired at roughly 38) but that would put him on a pace for 40-44 titles total. He could have a chance. Elsewhere, despite protecting his rank as the likely only Ozeki Kotozakura lost his last 3 to finish a disappointing 8-7. Kirishima will go in July with a chance at an Ozeki return but he’s almost certainly going to need a championship as otherwise his unofficial magic number for promotion contention will be 14, and Wakatakakage will also be in promotion contention as he should return to Sekiwake but would also need a championship for promotion hopes. Daieisho remains in Ozeki contention but again will need a championship or, like Kirishima, at least 14 wins. At the bottom, demotions to Juryo will include Tamashoho, Tochitaikai, maybe Nishikigi and maybe Shonannoumi & Ryuden among others. Despite missing the first 5 days I think a 6-4 finish will be enough to keep Kotoshoho in the top tier despite 3 straight losses at the end.
SPECIAL PRIZES: Outstanding performance (winning record with most wins vs. Yokozuna & Ozeki): None (the likely winner, Oho, was not eligible due to demotion) Fighting Spirit (most wins with best display of fighting spirit among lower ranks): Sadanoumi, Aonishiki (2nd straight time) (Asakoryu would’ve have won it had he won his last match) Technique (most wins with best display of technique): Kirishima, Wakatakakage (6th time)
Juryo: Kotokuzan (Ms4) beat Miyanokaze (J13) Hatsuyama (J10) beat Ishizaki (Ms4) Nabatame (J12) beat Daiseizan (J6) Hitoshi (J6) beat Mitoryu (J12) Wakaikari (J5) beat Daiamami (J13) Nishikifuji (J5) beat Mudoho (J14) Kagayaki (J4) beat Shimanoumi (J5) Kazekeno (J11) beat Hakuyozan (J4) Kotoeiho (J7) beat Shirokuma (J3) Takarafuji (J3) beat Shiden (J9) Tomokaze (J7) beat Fujiseiun (J2) Kusano (J1) beat Tsurugisho (J9). KUSANO JURYO YUSHO!!! 2nd straight championship Oshoumi (J9) beat Mitakeumi (J1) CHAMPION: Kusano (13-2) Of note: With 2 straight Juryo titles Kusano is now emphatically headed to the top tier, the question is how high will his starting rank be. With 13 wins I’m guessing he’ll slot in at M12. Despite today’s loss Mitakeumi will return to the top tier as well with 8 wins, and Wakaikari has a chance at promotion after a 12-3 runner-up effort. Elsewhere, if this is the end of the road for Takarafuji amidst rumors he may retire and cash in his elder stock to potentially take over Isegahama Beya, he finishes with a win but would stay in Juryo should he continue and try to extend his career streak of 1368 matches without missing a day. At the bottom, Miyanokaze will be demoted to Makushita after his debut tournament as will Mudoho (a brother of Oho), while Daiamami is a toss-up.
Jonidan: Playoff: Mineyaiba (Jd61) beat Tenrosei (Jd21). MINEYAIBA JONIDAN YUSHO!!!1st career championship. An emotional and very rare circumstances playoff because both are from the same stable (Shikorouama Beya).
Lower tier notes: Otsuji is the only guaranteed Makushita promotion as the champion from Ms3 and will return to Juryo in July. Kotokuzan, who went 5-2 at Ms4, will have a chance at a Juryo return for the first time since March 2023 (he’s been as high as M16). Enho will be demoted after a 3-4 finish, done in by 4 straight losses after a 2-1 start, so a potential Juryo return now probably won’t happen until at least November if it does. Asanoyama went 6-1 at Ms14 so a September promotion is possible.
The next tournament is 7/13-7/27 at the hew IG Arena in Nagoya, which has been built as a replacement for the Aichi Prefectural Gym (aka Dolphins Arena). Advance tickets are now on sale. The Banzuke will be announced on June 30. As for Onosato being promoted to Yokozuna? It could happen as soon as Wednesday (Tuesday night US time).
UPDATE: A late result of note from Makushita today…Chiyotora beat Yuma by foul/judges’ reversal…HANSOKU!!! Although Yuma initially won he grabbed the opponent’s hair/topknot in the process, which is illegal in sumo. Thus Yuma was DQ’d and the results overturned.
Also, earlier tonight (Monday morning Japan time) a post-tournament press conference with Onosato was held at Nishinoseki Stable. Some Japanese news channels broadcast this live including NTV/Nippon Television Network, which also streamed it live FOR FREE on YouTube as part of their 24/7 live news streaming. You can watch it on demand below in Japanese:
UPDATE 2: While it is non-binding, the Yokozuna Deliberation Council approved the promotion at their meeting today. In a record 6 minutes.
UPDATE 3: Some poorly-timed unfortunate news: Nikkan Sports reports an unnamed referee is under investigation for embezzlement for stealing-and reportedly gambling away-tens of millions of yen set aside in a reserve fund of the Wrestlers’ Association that is used for supporting children affected by the devastating 2011 earthquake in Japan. How much exactly is now known but tens of millions of yen, if true, would be hundreds of thousands-or maybe millions-in US dollars. Punishment is expected in June and could be quite severe (expulsion from the association alone would probably be best case).
UPDATE 4: Per NHK’s weekday “7 News” Japanese-language news broadcast, Onosato will be promoted Wednesday (Tuesday night US time) barring the absolute unexpected. He will become The 75th Yokozuna in history.