Tokyo Joshi Pro continues the CITY CIRCUIT Tour today with a return visit to Nagoya for the first time this year. Nagoya of course is the homebase of popular all-girl J-Pop megagroup SKE48 and TJPW’s Yuki Arai, an SKE48 member and the group once again will be prominently featured on today’s event. In addition to Arai being in the main event opposite her GRAND PRINCESS ’23 opponent, the legendary Hall of Famer Aja Kong, she will be part of a live SKE48 mini-concert during the event with teammates Shiori Aoki, Rika Aoki, Miki Ito & Ayaka Okamoto, and teammate Nao Fukushi will be a guest on commentary. With vocal cheering again allowed by fans it promises to be a very energetic performance and one not to miss. There’s also a title match before the main event as International Princess Champion Miu Watanabe defends the title against Janai Kai.
Today’s event will be held at Nagoya International Conference Center (aka Nagoya Congress Center) Event Hall in Nagoya and can be watched LIVE on WRESTLE UNIVERSE in Japanese. The event could be a legit sellout by event time as there were only a few tickets left as of this morning. The commentary team will be Haruo Murata & Kagehiro Osano with Fukushi the special guest. Note that the SKE48 performance will only be available as part of the on demand replay for one month so watch it ASAP if you miss the live broadcast! There is a DDT event at the venue shortly after this event wraps up so they may be on a tight schedule today and the event can’t go too long, this will probably keep the whole event’s running time to 2 1/2 hours tops (the SKE48 performance probably will go about 15 minutes).
Today’s lineup (in order):
Hikari Noa & Wakana Uehara vs. Yuki Aino & HIMAWARI
Nao Kakuta vs. Neko Haruna & Pom Harajuku in a 3-way
Shoko Nakajima, Hyper Misao & Kaya Toribami vs. Rika Tatsumi, Suzume & Arisu Endo
Yuka Sakazaki, Mizuki & Raku vs. Maki Itoh, Yuki Kamifuku & Mahiro Kiryu
International Princess Champion Miu Watanabe vs. Janai Kai for the title
Miyu Yamashita & Yuki Arai vs. Aja Kong & Moka Miyamoto
It’s not known when the SKE48 performance will take place, my guess is after the second or third match.
Refresh this page occasionally for the latest results.
Updates below will begin at 10 PM ET/7 PM PT when the live stream launches. The event is scheduled to begin at 10:30 PM ET/7:30 PM PT.
10 PM ET UPDATE: The live stream has just launched. We should be going to the venue in 20-25 minutes. Updates will resume then.
10:15 PM ET UPDATE: Live updates begin now…
We are LIVE from Nagoya International Conference Center in Nagoya, Japan. Your hosts are Haruo Murata, Kagehiro Osano & SKE48 member Nao Fukushi.
The paid attendance will be announced after the event, but at worst it’s going to be very close to a legit sellout as only one seating area had seats left at the start of the day. It probably will be a sellout. As the event began there looked to be maybe 20-25 empty seats. Hard to tell how many seats the setup has but I’m going to guess the crowd will be in the range of 500.
The event should begin in about 15 minutes.
The introduction & opening announcements begin at 10:25 PM ET. New Up Up Girls member/trainee Shino is part of today’s performance. And it ends with a surprise announcement for Shino…on 3/6 at Shinjuku Face in Tokyo…DEBUT MATCH! Shiho & Raku vs. Miu Watanabe & Hikari Noa in an Up Up Girls special tag match! Very exciting! Very emotional moment for Shino.
The matches begin at 10:45 PM ET.
Match 1: Hikari Noa & Wakana Uehara vs. Yuki Aino & HIMAWARI. 20 minute time limit
Result: Yuki Aino & HIMAWARI beat Hikari Noa & Wakana Uehara. HIMAWARI beat Uehara with a single leg Boston Crab. First career victory for HIMAWARI!
Match 2: Nao Kakuta vs. Neko Haruna & Pom Harajuku in a 3-way. 20 minute time limit
Result: Nao Kakuta beat Neko Haruna & Pom Harajuku in a 3-way by pinning Haruna. Comedy match but as always a lot of fun to watch.
Time for the SKE48 mini-performance! And another surprise announcement…one of them has her TJPW DEBUT MATCH on 4/15 at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo! It’ll be Shiori Aoki…as a referee! We also got a glimpse of “fans” Raku & Pom Harajuku watching in the back of the crowd, Harajuku of course in full Yuki Arai fan mode. This leads to the 4th song of the performance, my favorite so far-Finally! This concludes the performance, which went about 20 minutes. Remember, you only have ONE MONTH to watch it on demand!
And now back to the wrestling…
Match 3: Shoko Nakajima, Hyper Misao & Kaya Toribami vs. Rika Tatsumi, Suzume & Arisu Endo. 20 minute time limit
Result: Rika Tatsumi, Suzume & Arisu Endo beat Shoko Nakajima, Hyper Misao & Kaya Toribami. Endo beat Toribami with a camel clutch.
Match 4: Yuka Sakazaki, Mizuki & Raku vs. Maki Itoh, Yuki Kamifuku & Mahiro Kiryu. 20 minute time limit
Result: Yuka Sakazaki, Mizuki & Raku beat Maki Itoh, Yuki Kamifuku & Mahiro Kiryu. Mizuki pinned Kiryu with Cutie Special.
Match 5: International Princess Champion Miu Watanabe vs. Janai Kai for the title. 30 minute time limit
Result: International Princess Champion Miu Watanabe beat Janai Kai to retain the title. V3 for Watanabe. Next up: Tatsumi, who made the challenge immediately afterwards. This will probably happen at GRAND PRINCESS ’23, but we’ll find out soon. (Update: Barring the unexpected, it will be at GRAND PRINCESS ’23)
Main Event: Miyu Yamashita & Yuki Arai vs. Aja Kong & Moka Miyamoto. 30 minute time limit
Result; Miyu Yamashita & Yuki Arai beat Aja Kong & Moka Miyamoto. Arai pinned Miyamoto after Finally. Arai’s SKE48 teammates watched from the back row of the crowd by the entrance area. An Arai win and show-ending promo sends the crowd home happy. Although before leaving Kong stared down Arai and let her know, one month to go…but Arai said she will win no matter what everyone says, which would be her biggest career win so far.
The next event is 2/25 at Ota City Industrial Plaza Small Exhibition Hall in Tokyo. There will be no live broadcast.
UPDATE: The announced paid attendance was 604, a super full house/very near sellout. Tatsumi-Watanabe is now official for GRABD PRINCESS ’23.
Also, while it hasn’t been officially announced as such the 3/31 US debut in Los Angeles, CA will be available as a PPV on FITE for $19.99. Start time is 3 PM ET/Noon PT. Be aware this is a Friday (in California it’s a holiday).
