Tokyo Joshi Pro begins the 3rd Futari-wa Princess Max Heart Tournament today with opening round matches. This is a tag team tournament coming back for the second straight year in the winter as a lead-in to GRAND PRINCESS in March, featuring almost the entire TJPW roster participating. Of the 10 teams many are established to some extent and have been featured before but there are some new faces as well as notable names missing-in particular one top team absent this time is Yuka Sakazaki & Mizuki. Sakazaki is in the USA for the next month, presumably for a return to All Elite Wrestling, and won’t be back until March and thus being the privileged, snobby brat she is Mizuki refused to participate without Sakazaki. Also sitting out the tournament is Pom Harajuku, who has opted to be a cheerleader for her friends Yuki Aino & Raku. New rookies Wakana Uehara & HIMAWARI, who just debuted, also will not participate. The assumption seems to be that despite a mild concussion a couple weeks ago, Miyu Yamashita will be competing and teaming with Maki Itoh-there have been no indications Yamashita is out. The eventual tournament winners will probably get a shot at NEW Princess Tag Team Champions Heidi Howitzer & Max The Impaler at GRAND PRINCESS ’23, I’m personally hoping Yuki Arai & Saki Akai claim the tournament and can win the belts back. The defending tournament champion team is Rika Tatsumi & Miu Watanabe.
Today’s event will be held at Otemachi Mitsui Hall in Tokyo and can be watched LIVE on WRESTLE UNIVERSE. There will be no commentary. The event is a legit advance sellout-only 50% capacity so vocal cheering probably will be allowed. For the tournament there are 2 1st round matches and one 2nd round match today (it’s single-elimination but the bracket setup is odd because there are 10 teams participating). With 6 matches and probably no time limit for the tournament matches I anticipate the event’s running time being around 2 hours.
Today’s lineup:
Shoko Nakajima vs. Wakana Uehara
Mizuki vs. Hyper Misao & Pom Harajuku in a 3-way
Rika Tatsumi, Miu Watanabe & HIMAWARI vs. Suzume, Arisu Endo & Kaya Toribami
Futari-wa Princess Max Heart Tournament Round 1:
Yuki Kamifuku & Mahiro Kiryu vs. Moka Miyamoto & Juria Nagano
Saki Akai & Yuki Arai vs. Yuki Aino & Raku
Futari-wa Princess Max Heart Tournament Quarterfinals: Miyu Yamashita & Maki Itoh vs. Hikari Noa & Nao Kakuta
Refresh this page occasionally for the latest results.
Updates below will begin at midnight ET/9 PM PT.
11:30 PM ET UPDATE: The live stream has started. Updates will begin in about 30 minutes when we go to the venue.
11:55 PM ET UPDATE: Live updates begin now…
We are LIVE from Otemachi Mitsui Hall in Tokyo, Japan. There is no commentary.
The paid attendance will be announced after the event but it is a legit advance sellout. With only 50% capacity because vocal cheering is allowed it’s probably going to be between 250-300.
The matches begin at 12:10 AM ET. The match order listed above is today’s official match order. No time limit for the tournament matches. Looks like hard-camera only setup today.
Match 1: Shoko Nakajima vs. Wakana Uehara. 15 minute time limit
Result: Shoko Nakajima beat Wakana Uehara
Match 2: Mizuki vs. Hyper Misao & Pom Harajuku in a 3-way. 20 minute time limit
Result: Hyper Misao beat Mizuki & Pom Harajuku in a 3-way by pinning Harajuku.
Match 3: Rika Tatsumi, Miu Watanabe & HIMAWARI vs. Suzume, Arisu Endo & Kaya Toribami. 20 minute time limit
Result: Rika Tatsumi, Miu Watanabe & HIMAWARI beat Suzume, Arisu Endo & Kaya Toribami. Watanabe pinned Toribami after Teardrop. And that’s career V1 for HIMAWARI!
Match 4: Futari-wa Princess Max Heart Tournament Round 1: Yuki Kamifuku & Mahiro Kiryu vs. Moka Miyamoto & Juria Nagano. No time limit (side note: Miyamoto recently unveiled a new look and changed her outfit up. I really like it)
Result: Moka Miyamoto & Juria Nagano beat Yuki kamifuku & Mahiro Kiryu. Nagano pinned Kiryu after a spinning head kick. As a result, Miyamoto & Nagano advance to the Quarterfinals and will face Suzume & Arisu Endo.
Match 5: Futari-wa Princess Max Heart Tournament Round 1: Saki Akai & Yuki Arai vs. Yuki Aino & Raku. No time limit
Result: Saki Akai & Yuki Arai beat Yuki Aino & Raku. Akai beat Raku with an arm triangle choke. As a result, AA Eye Candy advances to the Quarterfinals and will face Miu Watanabe & Rika Tatsumi. One step closer!
Main Event: Futari-wa Princess Max Heart Tournament Quarterfinals: Miyu Yamashita & Maki Itoh vs. Hikari Noa & Nao Kakuta. No time limit
Result: Miyu Yamashita & Maki Itoh beat Hikari Noa & Nao Kakuta. Yamashita pinned Kakuta after Skull Kick. As a result, Yamashita & Itoh advance to the Semifinals and will face the 1/19 Miyamoto/Nagano-Suzume/Endo winner.
The event was a little shorter than anticipated, the total running time was 1 hour 45 minutes.
The next event is Thursday at Shinjuku Face in Tokyo with the remaining Quarterfinals: Miyamoto/Nagano-Suzume/Endo, Arai/Akai-Tatsumi/Watanabe and Shoko Nakajima & Hyper Misao vs. Neko Haruna & Kaya Toribami. Live streaming on WRESTLE UNIVERSE will begin at 2 AM PT/5 AM ET. Likely no vocal cheering as it’ll be full capacity.
UPDATE: The announced paid attendance was 310.
