The day almost every Tokyo Joshi Pro fan, myself included, has been dreading for the last few months is fast approaching-in just over a week we have to say goodbye to beloved MC/ring announcer Sayuri Namba as she is leaving the promotion to pursue a career outside wrestling (she intends to relocate to Canada, and hopefully to the US at some point-to become a language teacher). Today is a celebration of her 7+ years and everything she has done to help with the incredible growth of TJPW, especially post-pandemic as it has begun expanding worldwide including the US. She isn’t completely closing the door on her ring announcer career though so it’s always possible we see her somewhere else, maybe in the US. As for today, Namba will even reprise her prior part-time role as a ring card girl for combat sports during a special round system match between Kazuki Hirata & Ryuichi Sekine, plus the roster members not in matches today-Miu Watanabe, Raku, Pom Harajuku, Arisu Endo & Yuki Arai-will take turns acting as ring announcers and wearing Namba’s older outfits from earlier in her career. The main event will see Namba in the corner of Mizuki & Suzume as they face TBA & TBA, which were revealed a short time ago to be RIKADEVIL & YUKIDEVIL with TORIDEVIL seconding them…that almost certainly means RIka Tatsumi & Yuki Aino with Kaya Toribami as a new faction called BABYDEVIL and they even get their own merchandise for sale today! Also present for at least one match will be Yuki Ishii, TJPW’s reporter for Japanese wrestling magazine Weekly Pro.
Today’s event will be held at Shin-Kiba 1st Ring in Tokyo and can be watched LIVE on WRESTLE UNIVERSE. The event is a legit advance sellout. There will likely be no commentary. Although some of the matches will have different rules from the others it probably will still be around a standard house show length of around 2 hours.
Today’s lineup:
Yoshiko Hasegawa vs. Ren Konatsu
Moka Miyamoto & Ivy Steele vs. Shino Suzuki & HIMAWARI
Shoko Nakajima & Chika Nanase vs. Mahiro Kiryu & Toga
Round System Special Match: Kazuki Hirata (DDT) vs. Ryuichi Sekine. Sayuri Namba will be ring card girl
LEONA (Dradition) vs. Antonio Honda (DDT). Sayuri Namba will be ring announcer for this match. Weekly Pro correspondent Yuki Ishii will be match reporter
Mizuki & Suzume with Sayuri Namba vs. RIKADEVIL & YUKIDEVIL with KAYADEVIL. Stremaers/paper tape throwing is allowed for this match
Refresh this page occasionally for the latest results.
Updates below will begin at 7:30 PM PT/10:30 PM ET. The broadcast is scheduled to begin 15 minutes before the event.
7:15 PM PT UPDATE: The live stream has begun. We should be going to the venue in 10-15 minutes.
7:30 PM PT UPDATE; Live updates begin now.
We are LIVE from Shin-Kiba 1st Ring in Tokyo, Japan. There is no commentary.
The paid attendance will be announced after the event. It’s a legit advance sellout so it depends on the setup-the venue’s full capacity is 600 but post-pandemic they’ve usually limited it to around 350 so we’ll see afterwards. (UPDATE: The announced paid attendance-a legit advance sellout-was 284)
Sayuri Namba comes out in a new outfit for the opening announcements.
No Up Up Girls today so Namba does the start call before the match rundown. Different order from what was announced earlier (above). LEONA-Honda is moved from Semifinal to Match 2. Match 3 is the Semifinal aka Match 5.
The matches begin at 7:40 PM PT/10:40 PM ET. For the first match Arisu Endo is the special ring announcer.
Match 1: Yoshiko Hasegawa vs. Ren Konatsu. 15 minute time limit
Result: Yoshiko Hasegawa beat Ren Konatsu by submission
As noted above Sayuri Namba is the ring announcer for the next match, her only one today. Weekly Pro correspondent Yuki Ishii will be match reporter
Match 2: LEONA (Dradition) vs. Antonio Honda (DDT). 15 minute time limit
Result: LEONA beat Antonio Honda by submission. Afterwards, LEONA with microphone to put Namba over. This leads to Namba coming in the ring for a comedy segment between them.
For the third match Raku is the special ring announcer.
Match 3: Moka Miyamoto & Ivy Steele vs. Shino Suzuki & HIMAWARI. 20 minute time limit
Result: Moka Miyamoto & Ivy Steele beat Shino Suzuki & HIMAWARI. Miyamoto beat Suzuki with Rahsomon.
For the fourth match Pom Harajuku is the special ring announcer.
Match 4: Round System Special Match: Kazuki Hirata (DDT) vs. Ryuichi Sekine. Sayuri Namba will be ring card girl
Result: Hideki Sekine beat Kazuki Hirata by submission in seconds. Namba was immediately EN FUEGO. She was not going to have her special event ruined like this! Which led to…
Match 4 (again): Round System Special Match: Kazuki Hirata (DDT) vs. Ryuichi Sekine. Sayuri Namba will be ring card girl
Result: Hideki Sekine beat Kazuki Hirata by submission in round 3 while Namba did the Hirata shades dancing. Every bit the ridiculous comedy match it was meant to be. This was just too much fun.
For the fifth match, much to my delight of course, Yuki Arai is the special ring announcer. That means since she’s the last one to get her turn it will be Miu Watanabe for the main event.
Match 5: Shoko Nakajima & Chika Nanase vs. Mahiro Kiryu & Toga. 20 minute time limit
Result: Mahiro Kiryu & Toga beat Shoko Nakajima & Chika Nanase. Kiryu pinned Nanase.
Since she’s last to get her turn, for the main event Miu Watanabe is the special ring announcer.
Main Event: Mizuki & Suzume with Sayuri Namba vs. RIKADEVIL & YUKIDEVIL with KAYADEVIL. 20 minute time limit. Streamers allowed so Namba got drowned in them. The DEVILS are indeed Rika Tatsumi & Yuki Aino with Kaya Toribami being goth punks and their own version of the H.A.T.E. faction in Stardom.
Result: Mizuki & Suzume beat RIKADEVIL & YUKIDEVIL. Mizuki pinned YUKIDEVIL with Cutie Special after Namba interfered (she got beaten down quite a bit in this match). Afterwards, everyone gathered in the ring for the final commemorative group photo with Namba to end the show.
While this isn’t the final chance we’ll have to see and hear Namba in TJPW (two events left next weekend, the first one isn’t live on WRESTLE UNIVERSE but her final event is) this was a very enjoyable send-off and hopefully Namba’s dream did come true today. We love her and will miss her very much. But hopefully we will see her again someday, somewhere, maybe even in TJPW again. The door will always be open.
The next event is 6/21 at Kose Sports Park Gym in Yamanashi. There will be no live broadcast.
