Tokyo Joshi Pro holds their first TJPW INSPIRATION event of the year today, part of their series of occasional mini-events focusing more on comedy matches and types of matches you aren’t likely to see often in the promotion. The events normally have only 3 or 4 matches and run just over an hour. Today’s event was to have been headlined by Hikari Noa vs. Masha Slamovich in some kind of deathmatch, but Noa is off due to the ever-vague poor physical condition/health. Max The Impaler is the replacement and it will be a regular match. The match of note is a 6-woman battle royal with Mizuki, Maki Itoh, Miu Watanabe, Rika Tatsumi, Shoko Nakajima & Yuki Kamifuku-the winner will main event GRAND PRINCESS ’24 on 3/31 and get a shot at Princess Of Princess Champion Miyu Yamashita at the biggest event of the year.
Today’s event will be held at Shinjuku Face in Tokyo and can be watched LIVE on WRESTLE UNIVERSE. There will be no commentary. These are very short events with only 4 matches and they typically have 10-15 minute time limits, so if you’re in the western US keep your Friday night plans for after this event as it should have a running time of only about 75 minutes. The promotion is predicting the event will run around 90 minutes.
Today’s lineup:
Pom Harajuku vs. Kuishinbo Kamen (Osaka Pro)
Miyu Yamashita & Yuki Aino vs. HIMAWARI & Toga
Battle Royal. Participants: Mizuki, Maki Itoh, Miu Watanabe, Rika Tatsumi, Shoko Nakajima, Yuki Kamifuku. The winner will face Princess Of Princess Champion Miyu Yamashita for the title on 3/31 (Update-see below)
Max The Impaler vs. Masha Slamovich (TNA)
Refresh this page occasionally for the latest results.
Updates below will begin at 6 PM PT/9 PM ET.
PRE-SHOW UPDATE (1:45 PM PT/4:45 PM ET): Maki Itoh is now off the event due to injury. Arm. Out indefinitely but her planned excursion back to the US the rest of the month is now also off. MRI conducted today after complaining of numbness in the arm after the 1/4 event where she lost to Rina Yamashita. According to TJPW, a full diagnosis and return tineframe is pending but she will rest for now. The battle royal will go forward with just 5 today and there will be no replacement.
6 PM PT UPDATE: Live updates begin now.
We are LIVE from Shinjuku Face in Tokyo, Japan. There is no commentary.
The pair attendance will be announced after the event. What we can see on screen looks close to full except below the camera. DDT here did 255 earlier today so I’m guessing this will do close to that, around 250. Hard camera view only. (UPDATE: The announced paid attendance was 374, a super full house/very near sellout)
The matches should begin shortly. It starts with Sayuri Namba’s usual pre-match rundown & announcements, then someone is brought in to preview the lineup. This went on for about 15 minutes. No Up Up Girls performance today. Lineup order changed so the battle royal is now the main event.
The matches begin at 6:20 PM PT/9:20 PM ET.
Match 1: Miyu Yamashita & Yuki Aino vs. HIMAWARI & Toga. 20 minute time limit
Result: Miyu Yamashita & Yuki Aino beat HIMAWARI & Toga. Yamashita pinned HIMAWARI after Attitude Adjustment.
Match 2: Pom Harajuku vs. Kuishinbo Kamen (Osaka Pro). 15 minute time limit
Result: Pom Harajuku beat Kuishinbo Kamen. Comedy match. Harajuku is dressed up like Kamen, a masked clown wrestler. Harajuku won after the referee superkicked Kamen and counted fast on a Harajuku rollup. You read that right, the ref superkicked Kamen. Afterwards, Harajuku with microphone. It almost immediately turned into a comedy skit.
Match 3: Max The Impaler vs. Masha Slamovich (TNA Wrestling). 20 minute time limit
Result: No Contest. Ref assault by both after Max introduced a chair then they brawled through the venue and out of the audience area.
Quick break for restoring order and referee recovery from what just happened.
Main Event: Battle Royal. Participants: Mizuki, Miu Watanabe, Rika Tatsumi, Shoko Nakajima, Yuki Kamifuku. Pinfalls, submissions and over the top rope eliminations. The winner will face Princess Of Princess Champion Miyu Yamashita for the title on 3/31. No time limit
Order of elimination: Nakajima by Mizuki (over the top rope), Mizuki by Tatsumi (over the top rope), Tatsumi by Kamifuku (rollup), Kamifuku by Watanabe (Teardrop)
Result: Miu Watanabe wins. As a result, Watanabe will face Miyu Yamashita at GRAND PRINCESS ’24 for the Princess Of Princess Championship. Only a select very few have been TJPW Triple Crown champions in their career by winning all 3 titles in the promotion. Watanabe now has a chance to join them. Afterwards, Yamashita came back out for the initial promo for that match. Handshake turned into fighting words and a stare then she left the ring and Watanabe finished with her victory comments to end the event. A very exciting main event to come and I’m looking forward to it!
The next event is 1/13 at Kobe Art Center in Kobe. There will be no live broadcast.
