Tokyo Joshi Pro wraps up the Futari-wa Princess Max Heart Tournament 3 today with the Finals, which likely will set up a Princess Tag Team Championship match at GRAND PRINCESS ’23 in March. The Finals will be Miyu Yamashita & Maki Itoh vs. Shoko Nakajima & Hyper Misao with the winners expected to challenge Heidi Howitzer & Max The Impaler for the titles. Elsewhere on the event, Janai Kai-the next challenger for International Princess Champion Miu Watanabe-will make her TJPW debut and Juria Nagano will appear to address the crowd. Nagano was to have competed today but is out due to a finger injury suffered on 1/29. Sayuri Namba also has 3 announcements to make before the matches begin, expected to be 5 minutes before start time.
Today’s event will be held at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo and can be watched LIVE on WRESTLE UNIVERSE in Japanese & English. The Japanese commentary team will be Haruo Murata, Kagehiro Osano & Sayoko Mita. The English commentary team will be Chris Brookes (DDT) & Drew Parker. If you’re watching live and planning to watch the usual other US Friday night wrestling, plan on split-screening throughout except on the west coast if you’re waiting for AEW Rampage as I expect this event’s running time to be about 2 1/2 hours. There is a post-event party scheduled elsewhere in Tokyo at 2:45 PM JST (event begins at 11:30 AM) so they’re on a tight schedule-they may have to keep it closer to 2 hours.
Today’s lineup (in order):
Wakana Uehara vs. HIMAWARI
Yuki Kamifuku, Nao Kakuta & Mahiro Kiryu vs. Raku, Neko Haruna & Kaya Toribami
Moka Miyamoto vs. Arisu Endo
Yuki Arai vs. Pom Harajuku
Rika Tatsumi & Yuki Aino vs. Hikari Noa & Janai Kai
Yuka Sakazaki & Mizuki vs. Miu Watanabe & Suzume
Futari-wa Princess Max Heart Tournament Finals: Miyu Yamashita & Maki Itoh vs. Shoko Nakajima & Hyper Misao
Juria Nagano will appear and address the crowd (probably pre-show)
Refresh this page occasionally for the latest results.
Updates below will begin at 9 PM ET/6 PM PT.
9 PM ET UPDATE: The live stream has just started. Updates will begin when we go to the venue in 15-20 minutes.
9:20 PM ET UPDATE: Live updates begin now…
We are LIVE from Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan. Your hosts are Haruo Murata, Kagehiro Osano & Sayoko Mita. Your English hosts are Chris Brookes & Drew Parker.
The paid attendance will be announced after the event. Not sure what the capacity is today and plenty of tickets were available before the event. It looks like 50% capacity and mostly full so probably in the 650-700 range, likely closer to 700 and maybe even 750.
The matches should begin in about 20 minutes. Sayuri Namba’s introduction & opening announcements began at 9:25 PM ET, to be followed by the Up Up Girls performance. During the announcements, 3 new debuting wrestlers are introduced-one, Toga, will debut on 3/6 at Shinjuku Face, the other 2, Haru & Momo, will debut at GRAND PRINCESS ’23 on 3/18. Then a Yuki Kamifuku hometown event is announced for 5/27, I think it’ll be at Fujisan Messe in Shizuoka (this will be updated later). Also on 6/25 at Nishitetsu Hall in Fukuoka will be a Miyu Yamashita & Maki Itoh hometown event. Then we get the super-cute pairing of Miu Watanabe & Suzume out to promote just-as-supercute Idolmaster Cinderella Girls towels featuring both their animated likenesses along with plenty more goods. Times like this that being an American really sucks…but someday I hope to get to Japan! And then suddenly…A GIANT 12+ FOOT PANDA APPEARS! And it can’t get into the ring even with help! Its “handler” looks like a colonial-era Tiger Mask. Serious inflation action going on inside that costume. It’s part of the collaboration…apparently it’s name is Takumi Mukai aka Andreza (I think). And it’s going to be at GRAND PRINCESS ’23! Chris Brookes is enjoying this way too much.
Up Up Girls performance up now. Start of matches pushed back to roughly 10 PM ET as the pre-event announcements went almost 25 minutes
The matches begin at 9:57 PM ET.
Match 1: Wakana Uehara vs. HIMAWARI. 15 minute time limit
Result: Wakana Uehara beat HIMAWARI by submission. First career victory! And the emotions flowed immediately and freely when she knew she had won. Congratulations!
Match 2: Yuki Kamifuku, Nao Kakuta & Mahiro Kiryu vs. Raku, Neko Haruna & Kaya Toribami. 20 minute time limit
Result: Yuki Kamifuku, Nao Kakuta & Mahiro Kiryu beat Raku, Neko Haruna & Kaya Toribami. Kamifuku pinned Toribami after Fameasser.
Juria Nagano comes out. Close-up of her injured fingers (two broken on her left hand). Out at least 3 months. So unfortunately she will miss GRAND PRINCESS ’23 but she’ll be back later this year, probably sometime this summer.
Match 3: Moka Miyamoto vs. Arisu Endo. 15 minute time limit
Result: Arisu Endo beat Moka Miyamoto by submission.
Match 4: Yuki Arai vs. Pom Harajuku. 15 minute time limit. Harajuku came out wearing a Yuki Arai shirt with blue colored hair and a red/white headband and red/white/blue lights like she’s a big fan. Yep, definitely a comedy match.
Result: Yuki Arai beat Pom Harajuku. Really fun match.
New match for GRAND PRINCESS ’23 is announced: NEO Bishiku-Gun is back! Saki-sama (Saki Akai’s sexier, darker alter-ego) & May Saint-Michel (Mei Suruga) vs. Yuki Kamifuku & Billie Starks. So I guess AA Eye Candy is done for now but I always love me some Saki-sama so no complaints.
Match 5: Rika Tatsumi & Yuki Aino vs. Hikari Noa & Janai Kai. 20 minute time limit
Result: HIkari Noa & Janai Kai beat Rika Tatsumi & Yuki Aino. Kai pinned Aino after a rolling head kick.
Match 6: Yuka Sakazaki & Mizuki vs. Miu Watanabe & Suzume. 20 minute time limit
Result: Yuka Sakazaki & Mizuki beat Miu Watanabe & Suzume. Sakazaki pinned Suzume after Toy Story 4.
Main Event: Futari-wa Princess Max Heart Tournament Finals: Miyu Yamashita & Maki Itoh vs. Shoko Nakajima & Hyper Misao. No time limit
Result: Miyu Yamashita & Maki Itoh beat Shoko Nakajima & Hyper Misao to win the tournament. Itoh beat Nakajima with Itoh Special. This went almost 25 minutes. As a result, Yamashita & Itoh will probably get a Princess Tag Team Championship match soon, confirmation should come later.
The next event is 2/18 at Nagoya International Conference Center in Nagoya for a CITY CIRCUIT event, which will feature Yuki Arai as part of an SKE48 LIVE mini-performance. Live streaming on WRESTLE UNIVERSE in Japanese will begin on 2/17 at 10:30 PM ET/7:30 PM PT. The SKE48 performance will only be available on demand for one month after the event so don’t waste time checking it out if you miss the live event.
UPDATE: The announced paid attendance was 657, a super full house/very bear sellout.
Yamashita & Itoh will face Max The Impaler & Heidi Howitzer on 3/18 now as expected. However, there is one Princess Tag Team Championship defense scheduled before that so it’s not for the titles yet.
