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gdwessel · 1 year

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The Thrill Of Anticipation

[This was originally written back in February or March of 2022, pitched and accepted by FanFyte back when it was still a thing. It never ran, although I did get a kill fee for this, so in that respect I did get compensated. I miss FanFyte and I would have written for them forever. C’est la vie. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this. If you want to see the match I am talking about, links are below after the piece.]

As New Japan Pro Wrestling is in the midst of its 50th Anniversary year in 2022, one might be tempted to recount the glorious matches, brutal feuds and classic moments that made people become fans in the first place. However, as a quick look at this very website will tell you, wrestling is made up of a lot more weird ideas, goofiness, and noble failures than it is made up of classics.

NJPW’s founder Antonio Inoki is one of the greatest wrestlers and promoters ever to have graced the business. This much cannot be argued against. Inoki had a LOT of ideas about how pro wrestling can, could, and should be. Not every idea hit the mark. Occasionally, the reason was, the idea was way ahead of its time.

The Bed Of Nails match between Antonio Inoki v. Umanosuke Ueda that took place on 2/8/1978 at Tokyo Nippon Budokan, the penultimate night of that year’s New Years Golden Series tour, could definitely be seen as one of those Way Ahead Of Its Time ideas. But was it a bad match in of itself? That is debatable.

First, some context for those not familiar with Inoki’s opponent on the night. Umanosuke Ueda was born Hiroshi Ueda on 6/20/1940 in Yatomi, Aichi Prefecture. His eventual ring name would come from a historical figure of the same name, a samurai who was part of the Shinsengumi, the shogun’s personal police force from 1863 – 1869. He debuted in 1961 for Japan’s original wrestling promotion, the Japan Pro Wrestling Alliance, whilst Rikidozan was still the top man in the company. He would also wrestle in Los Angeles and other NWA territories, bouncing around various promotions, including a brief stint in All Japan Pro Wrestling in 1973, and the IWE promotion in Japan, where he would briefly become an IWA World Heavyweight Champion.

What set Ueda apart in those days, were his look, his style, and his alliances. Ueda was the innovator of the bleached-blonde hair look in Japanese wrestling, which nowadays is pretty common, but in the early 1970s was considered scandalous in Japan. He was considered a “traitor heel,” not only because of his looks, but also his lawless brawling style. Wrestlers such as NJPW’s Tatsutoshi Goto and FMW’s Mr. Gannosuke would find inspiration in Ueda’s look and antics. More recently, NJPW talents Toru Yano and EVIL would be influenced by Ueda for their characters.

Then there was the matter of Ueda’s chosen partner by the time he arrived in New Japan in 1977 – the hated foreign nemesis, Tiger Jeet Singh. Inoki’s rivalry with Singh is pretty storied, and the combination of Singh and Ueda brought fan animosity that most heels would kill for in this age of wrestling. It’s worth noting, that the combo of Ueda & Singh were the first tandem to ever win titles in both NJPW and AJPW.

The pair ran roughshod, terrorizing NJPW, until the match was made for the biggest date of the 1978 New Years Golden Series. Antonio Inoki would face Umanosuke Ueda in a match where the ringside floor area would be covered by boards with nails sticking up from them. A decade before the advent of FMW, W*ING, and what we know now as deathmatch wrestling, and New Japan Pro Wrestling was running what they dubbed a “Nail Floor Death Match” in the hallowed halls of Budokan.

When you advertise a Bed Of Nails deathmatch, it comes with certain expectations in the modern fan’s mind. Did it meet those expectations? Well… not quite.

The match started off as you’d figure. Ueda was seconded by Singh, both wearing matching red and white outfits (I think – the video quality wasn’t the greatest), complete with t-shirts reading CAPITAL on the front, with their names on the back of the shirts. Inoki meanwhile arrives in the ring in his customary robe and scarf. Inoki is presented with not one, but two floral bouquets in the ring. Ueda had to dodge trash being thrown at him. Clearly, ownership has its privileges.

A VERY BUFF REFEREE forces Singh to leave the ringside to much drama, as the match begins with some good ol’ RASSLIN. Inoki is the first to gain control here with an early enzuiguri that nearly sends Ueda over the ropes for the first tease of a spill into the nails, to the crowd’s delight.

Ueda manages to get Inoki on the ground with a double wristlock, but Inoki powers out of it, almost dumping Ueda over the ropes to the waiting nails below. More of the same comes when Inoki ducks a clothesline from Ueda, Ueda nearly falling over AGAIN, but that transitions into a Boston Crab from Inoki instead.

The biggest moment of suspense comes as Ueda does finally get Inoki on the ground, and begins kicking him out of the ring, under the ropes, trying to get Inoki to fall. Inoki deftly hangs on to a rope for dear life, as the crowd screams, not wanting their hero to fall and injure himself in the nails below.

Inoki manages to get to his feet, and get himself around the ringpost to apply an armbar to Ueda through the ropes! This leads to a minute or so where it looks like BOTH Ueda and Inoki will go to the floor with the nails waiting for them. The crowd is on needles and pins, so to speak, eager to see whether or not one or both of these men will hit the floor.

Ultimately, Inoki and Ueda are both in the ring once more, as Inoki attacks Ueda’s arm and shoulder. This leads to a towel flying into the ring, as the bell rings, with Inoki winning via TKO. Inoki continues to attack Ueda’s arm, with Ueda with yet another tease to the outside. Ueda’s arm is put into a makeshift sling with the towel, once the VERY BUFF REF and Singh manage to get Inoki off the prone Ueda.

Despite the stipulation, despite the teases and suspense, neither Antonio Inoki nor Umanosuke Ueda ever actually make it onto the boards of nails outside the ring. Was this a waste of a stipulation? Did the match fail because of this?

The answer is: it depends on what you were looking for to begin with.

Had this match taken place in the mid-90s, the time of Kawasaki Dream (aka “King Of The Deathmatch,” the infamous tournament won by Mick Foley) and exploding rings, there would have been, at minimum, three spots with Inoki, Ueda, or both going full on into the nails, blood gushing from them. No question about that. But by then, the definition of what a “deathmatch” was had changed.

Audience expectations had changed by then as well. In 1978, Bed Of Nails deathmatches were not common at all. Barbed wire matches were a thing, but usually with the wire wrapped around the existing ropes. Wrestlers were not shy about bleeding either, even back then.

On the other hand, take a look at the horror genre. Some works are atmospheric, with fog and shadows, merely hinting at the terrors lurking, in order to create a mood of suspense. Others are gory, filled with jump-scares and visceral imagery. Neither are a wrong method, neither one is intrinsically superior to another. It all depends on what the expectations are, and what’s trying to be accomplished. The old Universal monster movies, FRIDAY THE 13TH and DARK WATER all work as horror, for many and varied reasons. For the pro wrestling audience in Budokan in February 1978, the mere anticipation of one of the two, or both, competitors MAYBE going into the nails was enough. And going back and watching the match, the fans were engaged and into the match all throughout. Sure, the danger was never actualized, so perhaps it fails the Chekhov’s Gun test. To the fans in Budokan, that didn’t matter.

Would the nail boards not being there in the first place have changed the match itself? Beyond a few spots, most likely not. All that said, the nails on the floor did add a little extra juice to it going in. (A very good example of a great Bed Of Nails deathmatch? Look up Ryuji Yamakawa v. Tomoaki Honma for the BJW Deathmatch Heavyweight Championship from 6/20/1999.)

Antonio Inoki liked to experiment. Experiments don’t always work. Perhaps the most infamous of his “deathmatches” was the Island Deathmatch, from 10/4/1987, a literally 2+-hour match on an island between Inoki v. Masa Saito. I don’t recommend it.

Of course, less than two years after Inoki’s “epic” on Ganryujima, Atsushi Onita would form Frontier Martial Arts Wrestling, and forever alter what a “deathmatch” meant to wrestling at large.

Inoki’s experiment on 2/8/1978 may not have worked through modern eyes, and modern expectations of that match stipulation. As a match, it was just fine. Sometimes, it’s the thought that counts.

Links to the match: Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uamsWjxvIno

Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDZHlAaYeXQ

Part 3:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBY8y1eacuc

#NJPW #new japan pro wrestling #Antonio Inoki #Umanosuke Ueda #deathmatch wrestling #horror

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gdwessel · 1 year

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Please Allow Me To Reintroduce Myself, or Meet The New Blog, Same As The Old Blog

Hello there.

The changes are complete for this blog. This is no longer the Strong Style Story site for Japanese wrestling, exclusively. Thank you for your years of reading this site, and listening to the associated podcast that I was doing with @damascenocs that never did quite do its final episode. Oops. I hope you stick around for this new era of this particular blog. As I say in the header, I may still do posts about Japanese wrestling. In fact, I plan to in an upcoming post.

For those of you just tuning in, my name is Geoffrey D. Wessel, and I write comics. Occasionally they actually get made, and published. One such book will be War Birds, written by me, drawn/lettered by Steve Parkhouse, a legend of comics whom younger readers/viewers may know as the co-creator of the comic book Resident Alien that is now the hit SyFy TV show Resident Alien. The cover is above. It's due out in March 2023. This hasn't been solicited by Diamond yet, although you can pre-order it on Amazon. I'd hope you could get it through your local shop, comic or book, once the solicitation hits.

A book I self-published in 2013, Takedown, got colorized and crowdfunded for re-release last year through Florida indie publisher Cosmic Times, and you can get that in print or digitally. There's a Phil Hester variant cover for this one you may like.

Some of you may remember my early 2010s self-published series Keeper about a serial killing soccer/futbol player. This isn't available in any format anymore, even digitally, since Comixology got snarfed into Amazon Kindle entirely. I also had a strip in David Lloyd's (of V For Vendetta fame) Aces Weekly digital comic anthology, about fascists getting control of the White House. It seemed like such a far-fetched concept at the time. Additionally, I had a story in the Eisner- and Harvey-nominated anthology Outlaw Territory 3, that is also no longer in print anywhere. (It also didn’t win either an Eisner or a Harvey.) There is every possibility I may repost some of these older stories here at some point.

Despite not currently doing any wrestling podcasts at the moment, I have a comedic (sometimes) podcast about soccer/futbol that I do every couple of weeks or so called Busting Balls. Should check it out. We swear and do a lot of political takes on this show. The next episode will be the big milestone Episode 75, so tune in if you'd like. It’s on Soundcloud or you can search “Busting Balls Podcsast” on Spotify.

I'm on more social media than I care to be, but here we are. You can find my various spots on my Linktree page, which does not have my Hive account listed, but it's down as I'm writing this anyway. Most socials I am at gdwessel so that's pretty easy to find. At my Linktree is a signup for a mailing list that I've yet to post on, and who knows, it might never happen. Or it might. I don't know. There’s also my Mastodon link. And FB, IG, Twitter, etc. And CoHost, but I really don’t think that one is going anywhere.

If you want to see my old gdwessel.com site, it's here, although not been updated since early 2016, so not much of anything of note there anymore, I don't think.

I am planning some things, and they may actually come to fruition.

I hope to post more often, across a wide array of subjects, and even share a few other Tumblr posts I come across. I may link my Instagram to this blog too, but I don't know yet. There are a lot of questions I don't have answers too at the moment.

Thank you for reading this, and I hope to see you here regularly.

#comics #resident alien #steve parkhouse #phil hester #puroresu

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gdwessel · 1 year

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RIP Antonio Inoki (2/20/1943 - 10/1/2022) + Katsuya Kitamura (12/14/1985 - 10/12/2022)

[Hello. It’s been a long while since I posted. So here’s a very long pre-amble to this piece, which seems a little out of date by now, but...:

· I first wrote this the night after Antonio Inoki died. I tried to sell it to various outlets, but nobody bit. FanFyte shut down in September, so I couldn’t sell to them anymore. (If you want to see my complete works for FanFyte, click here.) I’m now doing work for Wrestling Inc., and some of this piece ends up in my debut, where I wrote about Antonio Inoki. I know this is now horribly out of date, but I waited to see if anyone would publish this for coin, and nobody wanted it, so here we are.

· On that note, a lot of things have been changing, on social media and with myself. On the latter note, I am wrapping up the Strong Style Story incarnation of this blog, and by the first weekend of December will be making this my personal blog. Currently gdwessel.com points to a WordPress I haven’t updated since 2016. It will become this place, which will also become gdwessel.tumblr.com . I hit the wall with writing about puroresu exclusively, and frankly, I don’t want to do it for free anymore. I will still write about wrestling here, along with other things. But there are plenty of outlets these days for reporting and news on Japanese wrestling, many of them doing a better and more immediate job than I could have. Thank you for reading me these many years, and I hope you stick around for the transition to my own blog, where I will also be (hopefully) announcing some other writing projects very soon.

Without further ado…]

It was reported [October 1, 2022] that Antonio Inoki, born Kanji Inoki, legally named Muhammad Hussein Inoki following a conversion to Shia Islam in 1990, died of systemic transthyretin amyloidosis at the age of 79.

It’s not going to be easy writing about Antonio Inoki, because, well, he’s Antonio Inoki. He was larger than life and seemed immortal. Quite literally, were it not for the fruits of his labors, I would not be here as a fan of puroresu for as long as I have been, let alone writing this eulogy of sorts. Inoki, as founder of New Japan Pro Wrestling, is of course one of the architects of Japanese pro wrestling as we know it today. But there was a lot more to him than that, and NJPW may not even be the one defining trait of his life and career.

Kanji Inoki was born in 1943, the sixth of seven sons, second youngest of 11 children in all. His family were pretty well off into the post-war years, where the death of Inoki’s father (a businessman and politician) whilst Kanji was five would cascade into hard times for the family, and in 1957, the family (including a grandfather who would pass during the journey) would relocate to Brazil. It was there Inoki excelled in athletics, and was scouted by Rikidozan, the Father Of Puroresu, at age 17 to go back to Japan and wrestle for Rikidozan’s Japan Pro Wrestling Alliance promotion, alongside another athletic prodigy, the former Yomiuri Giants pitcher Shohei “Giant” Baba. Inoki was trained by both Rikidozan and Karl Gotch, with other training under the likes of amateur wrestler Isao Yoshiwara and judoka Kiyotaka Otsubo. This would go on to greatly influence the direction Inoki wanted to take pro wrestling. Inoki and Baba both debuted on the same JWA show, 9/30/1960, making Inoki’s official date of death 62 years and one day after his wrestling debut. Eventually he would take on the name Antonio Inoki, as tribute to his time in Brazil, and to wrestler Antonio Rocca.

Inoki would leave JWA twice during his tenure: once in 1966, after being second in the pecking order to Giant Baba following Rikidozan’s murder in 1963, going to the ultimately failed Tokyo Pro Wrestling company. He would return to JWA in 1967, and was sacked in 1971 for trying to organize a takeover of the promotion. This is what would ultimately lead to the founding of New Japan Pro Wrestling, which ran their first show on 3/6/1972 at Tokyo Ota Ward Gymnasium, Inoki facing off against one of his trainers, Karl Gotch, in the tag-team main event of that show. In his way, Inoki would be an innovator of another hallmark of any Japanese wrestling promotion that has some years on them: the talent exodus to form a new company.

Inoki’s tenure as owner, founder and top star in NJPW is pretty well documented. Legendary feuds with the likes of Andre the Giant, Hulk Hogan, Tiger Jeet Singh, Umanosuke Ueda, Masa Saito, Big Van Vader, Riki Choshu, Tatsumi Fujinami… the list goes on and on. Not to mention, the stars that the NJPW Dojo would produce in time: Keiji Muto / The Great Muta, Masahiro Chono, Shinya Hashimoto, Jushin Thunder Liger, Kensuke Sasaki, Hiroshi Hase, Yuji Nagata, Satoshi Kojima, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Shinsuke Nakamura, Katsuyori Shibata. That list is endless too, even though some wrestlers who were reared in the dojo, for example Minoru Suzuki or Mr. Pogo, would make their names outside of NJPW.

What set Inoki apart from other promoters was his innovation and willingness to try other styles of fighting in a wrestling ring, bringing in non-wrestling combat sports participants to wrestle him (and others) in New Japan. In his own way, Inoki was a founding pioneer in what we now call Mixed Martial-Arts combat, made popular by the likes of Pancrase, Ultimate Fighting Championship and PRIDE. Indeed, Inoki’s “strong style” wrestling was an amalgam of pro wrestling and what was known as catch or shoot wrestling. Several of these “different style fights” ended up in shoots, notoriously against Akram Pahalwan in 1976, and against Croatian/Canadian strongman The Great Antonio on 12/6/1977, repeating a feat that Inoki’s sensei Rikidozan undertook on 6/2/1961 - getting so pissed off against Great Antonio in a match that he started legitimately beating him up.

This commitment to “different style fighting” had its peak in the famous Boxing v. Wrestling match between Inoki and Muhammad Ali on 6/26/1976 at Tokyo Nippon Budokan that ended in a draw, and left Ali with leg injuries as Inoki spent much of the match on the mat kicking at Ali. It did prove Inoki’s concept of different fighting styles in a match could draw, even if we were still over a decade away from the formation of Pancrase and UFC. (The match was also homaged in the movie ROCKY III, with Rocky Balboa taking on Thunderlips, aka Hulk Hogan.) The meeting with Ali would also have a profound effect on Inoki in other ways, which I will relate below.

But as there was a peak, there was also a nadir. Inoki experimented a lot. Not all of it worked. There was the infamous Island Deathmatch against Masa Saito on 10/4/1987, fought on Ganryujima with no audience, and mostly in the dark, that I don’t really recommend. There was a “Nail Floor Deathmatch” (bed of nails match) in February 1978 that I wrote in a piece for FanFyte that sadly didn’t get published before Fanbyte Media shut down FanFyte, maybe I will print that separately here on this dormant blog.

And then there was the 2000s. Well, it would have started in 1997, when Inoki took Olympic champion judoka Naoya Ogawa under his wing to be part of Inoki’s UFO (Universal Fighting-Arts Organization) project that would interact with NJPW, but the peak of “Inokiism” occurred in the 2000s. As MMA was becoming a bigger deal on the world stage, Inoki would bring in more MMA and other martial artists, and indeed have NJPW wrestlers participate in MMA matches outside of NJPW as well. One of the more infamous instances was Yuji Nagata getting completed washed by Mirko Filipovic in 21 seconds at the Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye event on 12/31/2001. This was an era that would see the likes of Tadao Yasuda get elevated to IWGP Heavyweight Champion, and also see Shinsuke Nakamura, a prodigy by any stretch, get pushed to the top of NJPW not two years into his career, mostly on the back of successful MMA bouts himself, in deference to whether or not Nakamura was really ready for the top spot in the promotion. It would also see Keiji Muto and Satoshi Kojima, both stars of NJPW, jump ship to All Japan Pro Wrestling in early 2002 in defiance of the MMA direction NJPW was going in, and see Riki Choshu leave after being relieved of his duties as booker, blamed for the departures. Out of respect, we won’t discuss the infamous three-way IWGP title match between Kazuyuki Fujita v. Brock Lesnar v. Masahiro Chono. Let’s just say it was not good, and the fact remains, Inoki sold his shares of NJPW to videogame company Yuke’s not long after that debacle.

There are those who swear by this era of NJPW, and if it works for them, great. Wrestling offers something for everyone. In hindsight, some of it is not as bad as it seemed at the time… but at the time, it seemed pretty bad. Coinciding with a retraction of business in pro wrestling, after its global peak in the late 1990s, it was brave, but it was not great for business, and in fact, nearly cratered NJPW.

Inoki did sell the company in 2005, and afterwards still attempted to push his philosophy in both Inoki Genome Federation (formed 2007) and later in another company called ISM. IGF folded in 2019 (although Inoki had left it by 2017 to his son-in-law, Simon Inoki), and ISM ran a few shows, but was not a regular promotion.

One part of Inoki’s life and career that is not talked about enough is his political career, begun in 1989 when he was voted into the House Of Councillors under his own Sports & Peace Party banner. I mentioned before that Inoki was greatly affected by his meeting with Muhammad Ali. This extended to his political acts. In 1990, mimicking Ali, he went to Iraq to negotiate the release of Japanese nationals being held hostage in the run-up to the first Gulf War. Inoki was able to see 36 Japanese persons released from Iraq; the upshot of this would be Inoki not only running an NJPW event in Baghdad, but also converting to Shia Islam. This was also a very unofficial visit, not sanctioned by the Diet or the government, but it did help Inoki get re-elected in 1992.

What did not help were similar overtures and visits to North Korea, in the interests of creating peace between Japan and North Korea, a very tense relationship there owing to decades, and centuries, of colonialism, extending into the early 20th century. Of course, Rikidozan was also North Korean by birth, so that surely played into Inoki’s desire to see better relations between the two governments. This culminated in the Pyongyang International Sports and Culture Festival for Peace in Pyongyang, on 4/28/1995 & 4/29/1995, a two-day NJPW card with WCW participation that had great attendance (very likely compulsory), and the only meeting ever between Inoki v. Ric Flair, which Inoki, the only wrestler anyone in the crowd had any energy for, won. (This is also known as Collision in Korea – VICE would cover this in the third season of DARK SIDE OF THE RING, and of course I did a very long podcast about this with the hosts of the Days Of Thunder podcast.)

This did not go over very well with the Japanese public, as well as accusations that Inoki and the SPP were taking bribes, and had involvement with the yakuza. Inoki did not get elected to a third term in 1995, and stayed out of politics until running once more in 2013, this time under the Japan Restoration Party banner, which itself would dissolve in 2014, leaving Inoki as an Independent. He continued his unofficial visits to North Korea, still against the wishes of the government, while publicly declaring his desire for relations between the two nations to improve. He would ultimately retire from politics in 2019. Not long after that, due to illnesses and spinal issues, he would be confined to a wheelchair for the rest of his life.

None of which belies the fact that Inoki is very much a cultural icon in Japan. People from all walks of life lined up to get slapped by Inoki, his way of transferring his “fighting spirit” to others. He has been pastiched and referenced in very many comedy programs, dramas, manga and anime. (A personal recommendation – GOLOSSEUM by Yasushi Baba, a glorious insanity featuring A LOT of wrestlers against Vladmir Putin in a SF fighting extravaganza.) His large chin gave him an aura of being larger than life, and if someone is wearing a red scarf, chances are it’s an homage to the man. Even if pro wrestling is no longer the mainstream hit it once was in Japan, he occupies a rarified place in Japanese pop culture.

But as with most icons, in the end, Inoki was a man. As with other iconic cultural touchstones like, say, Stan Lee or David Bowie, real life is more complicated than the legends make them out to be. He did great things, he did not-so-great things. For every Andre the Giant, there was a Great Antonio. Not everything Inoki tried was a hit, but also, you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take. Often, it’s the mistakes that make the successes better. Without the struggles of the company in the mid-2000s, with or without Inoki in charge, you don’t get Hiroshi Tanahashi becoming The Ace. Going to North Korea may have pissed off a lot of people in the government, but mending fences between Japan and the homeland of his beloved mentor was something he was passionate about. Ultimately, that’s what Inoki’s life came down to – his passions. He followed them and tried to make them reality.

Inoki’s life will be celebrated, and his death mourned, all over pro wrestling, all over Japan, all over the world. In a crazy world such as pro wrestling, we will probably never see the likes of him again. He was the right man for the right time, and ran with every idea he had in his head, for good or for ill. He took risks nobody would take today. Ultimately, he changed the world of pro wrestling, and the world of combat sports in general.

Ichi.

Ni.

San.

DA.

Not two full weeks later, Katsuya Kitamura died at the far-too-young age of 36, on 10/12/2022. At this writing, it still has not been determined quite why Kitamura, a massive hulk of a man, suddenly needed to go to hospital, where he passed.

Kitamura burst into the NJPW fan consciousness in 2016, his debut coming at the tender age of 31, in the same dojo class as Tomoyuki Oka (Great O-Khan). He was a champion amateur wrestler, who was banned from the 2012 London Olympiad after failing a doping test. He was big. VERY big. He wanted to emulate Bill Goldberg, using his Jackhammer finish in matches, which culminated in Kitamura winning the 2017 Young Lion Cup.

Following that, Kitamura began a 7-match trial series, which most assumed would be the next step before an excursion to the USA, where he had wanted to wrestle superheavyweights. He never finished the trial, his last trial match coming on 2/10/2018 in a loss to Yuji Nagata. His seventh trial match, against Manabu Nakanishi, never took place as Kitamura had suffered a cerebral concussion, to the extent he would have to retire. During his recovery, Kitamura suffered a scooter accident that crushed one of his legs. He would officially leave New Japan on 1/31/2019.

His post-NJPW career saw him attempt bodybuilding, hosting a YouTube series on the subject. He also took part in his only MMA fight, a submission loss to Bobby Ologun at Rizin 32 on 11/20/2021 in Okinawa.

There’s not as much I can say about Kitamura as I did above about Inoki. Kitamura more represents the potential that was there, rather than accomplishments. He was poised to be a massive star in NJPW, the company was clearly banking on it. He would have brought something to New Japan that was lacking at the time, a native wrestler with such physical presence, that could go pound for pound against the giants that typically only seemed to come from visiting wrestlers.

He never got that far. The only T-shirt of Kitamura produced was a bootleg from The Atomic Elbow fanzine. (Yes, I have it!) He never had his big matches against giant American superheavyweights. All those Could Have Beens…

Ultimately, it’s important to remember, that with both Antonio Inoki, and Katsuya Kitamura, is despite accomplishments, or potential, they were people first and foremost. One was one of the most influential figures ever in professional wrestling. The other never got to make it that far.

Both are missed, in their own ways.

#new japan pro wrestling #NJPW #Antonio Inoki #katsuya kitamura

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gdwessel · 2 years

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Taking A Hiatus

Hey gang.

After some consideration and soul-searching, not to mention the fact I have something that is going to be pretty time and concentration-intensive coming up very quickly, I’ve kind of hit the wall as far as time and ability to do multiple things. Something has to give, and this time, it’s going to be this blog, and indeed my AEW podcast, at least through the end of June.

I know this is probably a bad time to be doing so: King Of Gate 2022 started today, Best Of The Super Juniors 29 starts Sunday, and there is a lot of gossip and speculation right now about some beef between Kota Ibushi and NJPW management that is the talk of Twitter right now. In addition to the ongoing drama at NOAH at the moment.

But as I said, I’ve hit a wall, and after nearly seven years of doing this, bar short breathers when I went to England, had a medical emergency with my son, and the initial pandemic shutdown of NJPW, I think I need to take a break from writing/podcasting about wrestling so I can get my head back in gear. I initially believed that by expanding my scope of promotions, but only posting three days a week, it would make it a little easier and more bearable. Honestly, I’m now spending my entire Sundays writing posts up, and I’m getting behind on other things because of it. I’ve even taken time to blog about events I took vacations to attend (Long Beach in 2017, CEO X NJPW in 2018). Right now I need a rest, and maybe actually watch wrestling without having to take notes or any of that.

All that being said, I am doing a comic book crowdfunder at the end of the month called KAIJU SUNSET which you can pre-register here, launching 5/31/2022.

If you really need to talk to me, I am on Twitter (at)gdwessel or you can email me gdwessel (at) hotmail (dot) com.

I plan to be back in July, maybe in time for G1 Climax 32. I hope puroresu doesn’t totally collapse by then.

Take care of yourselves and your loved ones.

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gdwessel · 2 years

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Golden Week Winds Down: DDT, STARDOM, Dragon Gate Results; Hayato “Jr.” Fujita Announces Return to Wrestling After 5 Years Away; NJPW Strong Episode 89 - 5/7/2022

Golden Week is winding down, and as far as the scope of this particular blog, a little slower weekend as far as major shows in Japan. Which is good, because I need to breathe sometimes too! NOAH was originally scheduled to have a show Saturday but that got cancelled due to earthquake activity in Fukushima. There have been shows, however!

DDT / Tokyo Joshi

DDT held a couple of shows over this weekend.

DDT Audience 2022 Tour In Shinjuku - 5/6/2022, Tokyo Shinjuku FACE (Wrestle Universe)

Jun Akiyama, Yusuke Okada & Yuya Koroku [Burning] d. Yuji Hino, Yukio Naya & Yuki Ishida (Koroku > Ishida, Chickenwing, 12:25)

Yuki Iino & Danshoku Dino [Pheromones] d. Antonio Honda & Kazuki Hirata (Iino > Honda, Sexy Giga Slash, 9:10)

Children’s Day Special! DDTeeeen!! Challenge Match: Yuki Ueno [The 37KAMIINA] d. Ilusion (Frog Splash, 7:48)

Children’s Day Special! DDTeeeen!! Challenge Match: Tetsuya Endo [Burning] d. El Unicorn (Swivel Torture Rack Bomb, 14:14)

46th KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Champions Tournament 1st Round: Kazusada Higuchi, Yukio Sakaguchi & Hideki Okatani [Eruption] d. Akito, Hikaru Machida & Thanomsak Toba (Okatani > Toba, Northern Lights Suplex, 12:19)

46th KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Champions Tournament 1st Round: Daisuke Sasaki, MJ Paul & KANON [DAMNATION TA] d. HARASHIMA, Toru Owashi & Naomi Yoshimura [DISASTER BOX] (Sasaki > Yoshimura, La Mistica, 18:18)

Chris Brookes & Masahiro Takanashi d. MAO & Shunma Katsumata [The 37KAMIINA] (Takanashi > Katsumata, Everclear, 18:42)

CDK get a win leading into the various title challenges between them and The 37KAMIINA coming up. It comes down to Eruption v. DAMNATION TA to become the next KO-D 6-man tag champions. The current DDT generation get opportunities against the participants of the last KO-D Openweight title match, but come up short in both cases.

DDT FRIED Yamada Festival Is It Fried! - 5/8/2022, Kagoshima Shibushi City Unagi Station

Hideki Okatani [Eruption] d. Kazuiki Hirata (Double Arm Suplex, 8:51)

3-Way Tag Match: Sanshiro Takagi & Toru Owashi [DISASTER BOX] d. Yuki Iino & Danshoku Dino [Pheromones] and Chris Brookes & Saki Akai [Eruption] (Takagi > Dino, Sanshiro Stunner, 11:56)

Daisuke Sasaki & MJ Paul [DAMNATION TA] d. Soma Takao & Shunma Katsumata [The 37KAMIINA] (Sasaki > Katsumata, Crossface, 9:48)

Shinya Aoki & Yuki Ueno [The 37KAMIINA] d. Kazusada Higuchi [Eruption] & Yuki Ishida (Ueno > Ishida, BME, 15:05)

Tetsuya Endo [Burning], Jun Akiyama [Burning] & Naomi Yoshimura [DISASTER BOX] d. Shiro Koshinaka, MAO [The 37KAMIINA] & Toi Kojima [The 37KAMIINA] (Endo > Kojima, Swivel Torture Rack Bomb, 13:39)

FRIED Yamada Festival Deep Fried Food! Special 6-Man Tag Match: Shishamo Power, Unagi Power & HARASHIMA [DISASTER BOX] d. Yuji Hino, Yukio Naya & Akito (Shishamo > Akito, Fisherman Suplex, 20:06)

A special show sponsored by Yamada Fisheries. It’s a thing.

Both Konosuke Takeshita and Yuka Sakazaki lost their AEW Rampage matches. Takeshita was expected, and he is having some matches on the US indies coming up that are pretty mouthwatering. Sakazaki, I am not sure what the point of flying her in special to lose to Riho in a tournament qualifier was.

STARDOM

The Golden Week Fight Tour wrapped up with shows yesterday and today, including a title match main event at today’s show.

Golden Week Fight Tour 2022 - 5/7/2022, Osaka EDION Arena Subarena

Saya Kamitani [Queen’s Quest] d. Rina [Oedo Tai] (Star Crusher, 8:08)

Natsupoi & Thekla [Donna del Mondo] d. Hanan & Saya Iida [STARS] (Natsupoi > Hanan, Rolling La Magistral, 10:38)

AZM, Utami Hayashishita, Minami & Lady C [Queen’s Quest] d. Tam Nakano, Mina Shirakawa, Unagi Sayaka & Waka Tsukiyama [Cosmic Angels] (Minami > Tsukiyama, Love Shark, 15:08)

Syuri, MIRAI, Ami Sorei & Konami [God’s Eye] d. Saki Kashima, Ruaka, Starlight Kid & Momo Watanabe [Oedo Tai] (Syuri > Ruaka, Suzaku, 14:12)

Giulia, Maika, Himeka & Mai Sakurai [Donna del Mondo] d. Mayu Iwatani, Koguma, Hazuki & Momo Kohgo (Sakurai > Koguma, Modified Clutch Hold, 19:31)

- 5/8/2022, Aichi Nagoya Congress Center

Hina [Queen’s Quest] d. Waka Tsukiyama [Cosmic Angels] (Gedo Clutch, 5:54)

Captain’s Fall 3-Way Match: Tam Nakano, Mina Shirakawa & Unagi Sayaka [Cosmic Angels] d. Utami Hayashishita, Saya Kamitani & Lady C [Queen’s Quest] and Maika, Thekla & Mai Sakurai [Donna del Mondo] Order of Falls: - Hayashishita > Thekla, German Suplex Hold, 4:59 - Shirakawa > C, Implant DDT, 7:53 - Hayashishita > Sakurai, Frankensteiner, 9:17 - Nakano > Kamitani, OTTR, 11:31

Syuri, MIRAI & Ami Sorei [God’s Eye] TLD Giulia, Himeka & Natsupoi [Donna del Mondo] (15:00)

Mayu Iwatani, Saya Iida, Hanan, Hazuki & Momo Kohgo [STARS] d. Saki Kashima, Rina, Ruaka, Starlight Kid & Momo Wanatanabe [Oedo Tai] (Iida > Rina, Vertical Drop Brainbuster, 15:11)

High Speed Championship: AZM [Queen’s Quest] © d. Koguma [STARS] (Numero Uno, 11:35) - AZM succeeds her 3rd defense

Post-main, Thekla challenged AZM for her title.

The next show is New Blood 2 on Friday.

Dragon Gate

Contrary to my earlier assumptions, NOW the Gate Of Passion tour is complete after this weekend’s events. These were non-streamed house shows but select matches end up on the YouTube channel.

The Gate of Passion 2022 Night 20 - 5/7/2022, Fukui Sangyokaikan

Kota Minoura, Naruki Doi & Kaito Ishida [Gold Class] d. YAMATO, Dragon Kid & Keisuke Okuda [HIGH-END] (Minoura > Okuda, R-301, 12:02)

Diamante & Shun Skywalker [Z-Brats] d. Takuma Fujiwara & Ishin Iihashi (Skywalker > Ishin, SSW, 8:02)

Eita, Takashi Yoshida, Strong Machine J & La Estrella d. Masaaki Mochizuki, Yasushi Kanda, GEnki Horiguchi & Susumu Mochizuki (J > Horiguchi, Machine Suplex, 11:40)

Dragon Dia & Yuki Yoshioka [D’Courage] d. Ben-K & Kagetora [HIGH-END] (Dia > Kagetora, Double Cork, 13:39)

Kzy, U-T & Jason Lee [Natural Vibes] d. KAI, BxB Hulk & HYO [Z-Brats] (Kzy > HYO, Running Elbow Smash, 14:13)

The Gate of Passion 2022 Night 21 - 5/8/2022, Mie Yokkaichi Kusuryokuchi Gym

Kota Minoura, Naruki Doi & Kaito Ishida [Gold Class] d. Susumu Mochizuki, Yasushi Kanda & Ishin Iihashi (Minoura > Ishin, R-301, 12:35)

3-Way Match: Ho Ho Lun d. Masaaki Mochizuki & Konomama Ichikawa (Lun > Ichikawa, Reverse Figure-4 Leglock, 5:27)

Dragon Dia & Yuki Yoshioka [D’Courage] d. Madoka Kikuta & Takuma Fujiwara (Dia > Fujiwara, Front Cradle, 9:08)

Kzy, U-T & Jason Lee [Natural Vibes] d. Don Fujii, Eita & Strong Machine J (Kzy > Fujii, Running Elbow Smash, 10:40)

YAMATO, Dragon Kid, Kagetora, Ben-K & Keisuke Okuda [HIGH-END] d. KAI, BxB Hulk, HYO, Shun Skywalker & Diamante [Z-Brats] (YAMATO > HYO, Galleria, 15:09)

Susumu Yokosuka Mochizuki and Genki Horiguchi begin their post-Natural Vibes lives. And with that, the tour is over. King Of Gate 2022 starts Wednesday with a livestreamed show.

King Of Gate 2022 - 5/11/2022, Tokyo Korakuen Hall

King Of Gate 2022 1st Round: KAI [Z-Brats] v. Shuji Kondo

King Of Gate 2022 1st Round: SB KENTo [Z-Brats] v. Hip Hop Kikuta

King Of Gate 2022 1st Round: YAMATO [HIGH-END] v. Yuki Yoshioka [D’Courage]

King Of Gate 2022 1st Round: Eita v. Shun Skywalker [Z-Brats]

This week’s NJPW Strong were matches from Lonestar Shootout in Dallas during Mania Weekend. I’ve already posted results here, but now that it has aired, why not post again.

Hikuleo & Chris Bey [Bullet Club] d. Bateman & Barrett Brown [Stray Dog Army] (Hikuleo > Brown, Chokeslam, 12:16)

JONAH d. Blake Christian (Tsunami, 6:56)

“Filthy” Tom Lawlor, Royce Isaacs & JR Kratos [Team Filthy] d. Fred Rosser, Alex Coughlin & The DKC (Isaacs > DKC, Super Powerslam, 11:12)

In other NJPWWorld news, Friday’s TAKA Taichi Mania 2.5 event is now on NJPWWorld, but as a PPV event for about $24. At some point NJPWWorld decided to pivot to PPV events for actual monies. Windy City Riot was one, and both Capital Collision and the Tatsumi Fujinami 50th Anniversary event (that Fujinami himself can’t wrestle at now) are also such events.

For free, on the other hand, is the 60th Anniversary of Korakuen Hall event that was a join NJPW/AJPW show, so go check that out. (Well, free, with a subscription).

Other News

Earlier today in Michinoku Pro, wrestler Hayato “Jr.” Fujita made his first appearance in a ring in almost five years. He suffered a knee injury in 2017, and whilst recovering, a cancerous tumor was discovered on his spinal cord in 2018. He has been recovering from these ever since. Today, he announced he will be returning to the ring, and challenged MUSASHI for the Tohoku Junior title.

Tenryu Project ran a special charity show on Saturday from Tokyo that had only two matches, but also a “talk battle” between Genichiro Tenryu, Kenta Kobashi and Akira Taue.

ZERO1 also ran another anti-bullying charity show in Niigata Saturday.

Sendai Girls ran shows this weekend, featuring matches against Prominence talents, as that promotion looks to make war with every joshi company imaginable.

AEW’s Hikaru Shida was a surprise wrestler at OZ Academy’s show at Shinjuku FACE earlier today.

BURST ran their first anniversary show today in Saga Kanzaki Base, featuring talents from AJPW, BJW and other promotions.

I don’t see a lot of shows happening by Tuesday, so Tuesday’s post may just be an Upcoming Events one. There definitely will be one this week.

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NOAH Dream On 2022 Results, Upheaval Backstage as NOSAWA Fired; Dragon Gate Dead Or Alive 2022 - 5/5/2022; AJPW Champion Carnival 2022 Final - 5/4/2022; STARDOM, TJPW, BJW Results

Pro Wrestling NOAH

A lot of wild crap has gone on in the last 48 hours regarding Pro Wrestling NOAH, and, well, here’s where I am going to try to make sense of it all.

It started with an announcement that California-based indie Pro Wrestling Revolution, in association with the lucha-themed media company Masked Republic, helped secure a P-3 group visa for wrestlers both from NOAH and Dragon Gate. According to PWR’s Gabriel Ramirez:

“We’re combining these Japanese promotions’ storied athleticism and fighting spirit with the high-flying spectacle of the Pro Wrestling Revolution roster. California pro wrestling fans have a lot to look forward to in 2022.”

It would appear there are designs for wrestlers from both companies to start trickling in at PWR’s next show in July, into King Of The Indies in November, and possibly an event or two during WrestleMania Weekend in California next year, with both NOAH and DG able to hold shows there.

Ironic that it is these two promotions, as earlier today, it was revealed (primarily through a paywalled article at Voices of Wrestling), at DG’s Dead Or Alive 2022 event (see below) that Perros del Mal de Japon stable leader, and head booker of NOAH, NOSAWA Rongai had been fired from the company, with Kendo Kashin now acting as head booker. Apparently this came from higher-ups at CyberAgent (owners of both NOAH and DDT), unhappy with the amount of money being spent on indie talents. There was also talk of native roster members being very unhappy, and some talk that Rongai was a “puppet” of Keiji Muto. Which makes sense given the preponderance of late for wrestlers over 50-years of age winning major titles in NOAH.

YO-HEY is also gone, after turning down a new deal with NOAH, and it seems that the entire Perros del Mal de Japon stable is no longer in NOAH, meaning Super Crazy & Texano Jr. either won’t get their junior tag title shot, or that will be their final appearance. It could explain why Eita was so quick to drop the GHC junior title last weekend too. Eita still has DG to call home, and if the results at Dead Or Alive today are any indication, the rest of the Perros may be there for a while too.

Kendo Kashin as booker is laughable, as he is as much, if not more, a carny than NOSAWA Rongai. Keiji Muto being GHC Champion, while some absolutely wild shit, was still a draw for the company; Kazuyuki Fujita, on the other hand, was not, and ended in the most Kazuyuki Fujita way possible. Regardless, this news makes the results from the last two days interesting, as it gives indications as to which indie wrestlers NOAH values, and which they don’t. The answers may surprise (and sicken) you!

Dream On 2022

- 5/4/2022, Tokyo Korakuen Hall (ABEMA)

Simon Gotch [FREE] d. Kinya Okada (Old Dead, 4:58)

NOSAWA Rongai, Texano Jr. & Super Crazy [Perros del Mal de Japon] d. Alejandro, Kai Fujimura & Yasutaka Yano (Texano > Fujimura, Road To Texas, 4:29)

Kenoh & Masakatsu Funaki [Kongo] d. Kendo Kashin [Sugiura-gun] & Slex (Kenoh > Slex, FFS, 11:05)

Dragon Bane [IWRG], Alpha Wolf [IWRG] & Extreme Tiger [FREE] d. Tadasuke, Hajime Ohara & Hi69 [Kongo] (Wolf > Hi69, Night Wolf, 10:34)

Masa Kitamiya & Michael Elgin d. Katsuhiko Nakajima & Manabu Soya [Kongo] (Elgin > Nakajima, Elgin Bomb, 9:12)

HAYATA, Yoshinari Ogawa, Chris Ridgeway, Seiki Yoshioka & Yuya Susumu [STINGER] d. Daisuke Harada, Atsushi Kotoge, YO-HEY, Hao & Junta Miyawaki (Yoshioka > YO-HEY, Buzzsaw Kick, 13:19)

Kaito Kiyomiya d. Ninja Mack [GCW] (Tiger Suplex Hold, 9:49)

Satoshi Kojima, Naomichi Marufuji [M’s Alliance] & Masato Tanaka [M’s Alliance] d. Go Shiozaki, Daiki Inaba & Yoshiki Inamura (Kojima > Shiozaki, lariat, 14:16)

GHC Heavyweight Tag Team Championship: Rene Dupree [FREE] & Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr. [FREE] d. Takashi Sugiura & Hideki Suzuki [Sugiura-gun] © (Wagner > Sugiura, Moonsault Press, 18:32) - Sugiura/Suzuki fail their 2nd defense - Les Mexicanas are the 59th champions

Sugiura-gun lose their tag titles mere days after retaining against Kongo. Kojima gets a direct win over Shiozaki heading into their GHC title match. Yoshioka & Susumu asserted themselves as the next challengers to their STINGER mates Ogawa & Ridgeway’s junior tag titles. Elgin pinning Nakajima… yuck.

- 5/5/2022, Tokyo Korakuen Hall (Wrestle Universe)

Slex d. Kinya Okada (Business Bomb, 6:32)

Texano Jr. & Super Crazy [Perros del Mal de Japon] d. Atsushi Kotoge & Hao (Texano > Hao, Road To Texas, 9:31)

Katsuhiko Nakajima & Hi69 [Kongo] d. King Tany & Muhammad Yone [Funky Express] (Nakajima > Tany, Vertical Spike, 8:57)

Dragon Bane [IWRG], Alpha Wolf [IWRG], Extreme Tiger [FREE] & Alejandro d. HAYATA [STINGER], Seiki Yoshioka [STINGER], Yuya Susumu [STINGER] & Kai Fujimura (Bane > Fujimura, Alas de Quebradora, 9:27)

Naomichi Marufuji [M’s Alliance], YO-HEY & Ninja Mack [GCW] d. Kenoh, Tadasuke & Hajime Ohara [Kongo] (Mack > Tadasuke, Ninja Bomb, 12:47)

Michael Elgin d. Manabu Soya [Kongo] (Elgin Bomb, 8:53)

Simon Gotch [FREE], Yoshinari Ogawa [STINGER] & Chris Ridgeway [STINGER] d. Kaito Kiyomiya, Daisuke Harada & Junta Miyawaki (Ridgeway > Miyawaki, Package German Suplex Hold, 19:19)

Satoshi Kojima d. Yoshiki Inamura (Lariat, 8:21)

Go Shiozaki, Masato Tanaka [M’s Alliance], Masa Kitamiya & Daiki Inaba d. Takashi Sugiura [Sugiura-gun], Hideki Suzuki [Sugiura-gun], Rene Dupree [FREE] & Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr. [FREE] (Kitamiya > Wagner, Kangokugatame, 20:39)

Kitamiya and Elgin challenged Les Mexicanas for their tag titles. You can see who NOAH is valuing at the present moment. Kojima praised Inamura post-match, saying he has a strong future. Ninja Mack announced he has signed an exclusive contract (in Japan, I assume?) with NOAH, and will return in July. King Tany has quit Funky Express, meaning, I guess, Funky Express is over, and wants to go back to being Maybach/Shohei Taniguchi. That’s a bummer, Funky Express were one of the best things about NOAH.

The next show was supposed to be on Saturday in Fukushima, however due to an earthquake that affected Fukushima earlier today, that show is no longer happening. Perhaps for the best after all the upheaval in NOAH at the present moment, they can take some time to find their footing. An N Innovation show is listed for Yokohama Radiant Hall on 5/14/2022 as the next show.

Since Dragon Gate has come up quite a bit here, maybe we should do them next.

Dragon Gate

The Gate of Passion 2022 tour concluded, and went right into Dead Or Alive 2022. You can see both these shows on DG Network.

The Gate of Passion 2022 Night 19 - 5/4/2022, Kyoto KBS Hall (DG Network)

YAMATO, Dragon Kid & Keisuke Okuda [HIGH-END] d. Kzy, U-T & Jacky “Funky” Kamei [Natural Vibes] (YAMATO > U-T, pinfall, 9:57)

Ben-K [HIGH-END} & Takuma Fujiwara d. Don Fujii & Ishin Iihashi (Ben-K > Ishin, Spear, 11:14)

Kota Minoura, Naruki Doi & Kaito Ishida [Gold Class] d. Masaaki Mochizuki, Takashi Yoshida & Punch Tominaga (Minoura > Tominaga, R-301, 12:13)

Eita [Perros del Mal de Japon] d. Minorita [Gold Class] (Tombstone Piledriver, 1:45)

Exhibition Match: Jacky “Funky” Kamei TLD Madoka Kikuta (3:00)

BxB Hulk & HYO [Z-Brats] d. Genki Horiguchi & Jason Lee [Natural Vibes] (HYO > Horiguchi, Diving Senton, 9:32)

Susumu Yokosuka [Natural Vibes], Dragon Dia [D’Courage] & Yuki Yoshioka [D’Courage] d. KAI, Shun Skywalker & Diamante (Yokosuka > KAI, Aikata, 13:34)

Yokosuka gets another direct win over KAI heading into their Dream Gate title match. Good thing this is never an omen for the actual title match, eh? Madoka Kikuta wrestles a special exhibition match with his partner at Dead Or Alive 2022, which we will get into…. Right now!

Dead Or Alive 2022 - 5/5/2022, Aichi Prefectural Gymnasium (DG Network)

Open The Twin Gate Championship: Shun Skywalker & Diamante [Z-Brats] d. Dragon Dia & Yuki Yoshioka [D’Courage] © (Skywalker > Dia, Cielo Finale, 14:01) - D’Courage fail their 4th defense - Sky Diamonds are the 57th champions

4-Way Match: Mondai Ryu d. Shachihoko Machine, Konomama Ichikawa and Yosuke Santa Maria (Ryu > Ichikawa, Reverse Figure-4 Leglock, 2:55)

Masaaki Mochizuki, Don Fujii, Yasushi Kanda & Takashi Yoshida d. Strong Machine J, La Estrella, Ishin Iihashi & Takuma Fujiwara (Yoshida > Ishin, Pineapple Bomber, 8:42)

BxB Hulk & HYO [Z-Brats] d. Madoka Kikuta & Jacky “Funky” Kamei [Natural Vibes] (Hulk > Kikuta, First Flash, 7:05)

Ben-K, Keisuke Okuda & Kagetora [HIGH-END] d. Genki Horiguchi [Natural Vibes], Punch Tominaga & Jason Lee [Natural Vibes] (OKuda > Tominaga, Sleeper Hold, 6:38)

Ryukyu Dragon Pro Wrestling Twin Ryuo Championship: Kzy & U-T [Natural Vibes] © d. YAMATO & Dragon Kid [HIGH-END] (U-T > Kid, Hikari no Wa, 11:10) - Kzy/U-T succeed their 2nd defense

Open The Brave Gate Championship: Dragon Dia [D’Courage] © d. SB KENTo [Z-Brats] (Double Cork, 16:12) - Dia succeeds his 2nd defense

Open The Triangle Gate Championship: Eita, NOSAWA Rongai & Kotaro Suzuki [Perros del Mal de Japon] d. Kota Minoura, Naruki Doi & Kaito Ishida [Gold Class] © (Rongai > Doi, La Magistral, 13:15) - Gold Class fail their 1st defense - Perros del Mal de Japon are the 78th champions

Open The Dream Gate Championship: KAI [Z-Brats] © d. Susumu Yokosuka [Natural Vibes] (Meteo Impact KAI, 24:53) - KAI succeeds his 3rd defense

Man. This is not a good day for stables who sing, dance and enjoy themselves. Susumu Yokosuka loses his challenge for the Dream Gate, letting down K-ness’s final wish for him. He must now go back to his given name, Susumu Mochizuki, and also depart from Natural Vibes. With that, Genki Horiguchi also announced he will leave the Vibes. It makes sense – Genki and Susumu have been partners, a lot, in several units (Jimmyz, Toryumon Generation, and Natural Vibes, and that’s just recently, off the top of my head) and indeed were co-founders with Kzy. Good thing Jason Lee just joined, eh?

Lucky for NOSAWA Rongai, the day it was announced he was fired from NOAH, he and the Perros gain the Open The Triangle Gate titles, handing the Gold Class trio their first loss since formation. D’Courage also get their first loss as a unit, giving the Twin Gate titles to Sky Diamonds; that said, Dragon Dia DID retain the Brave Gate title. I would have thought the opposite would be true. But I also don’t think D’Courage will be out of the Twin Gate scene any time soon either.

Madoka Kikuta did not join Z-Brats (tonight, anyway), and also got his ass handed to him on his return. Youch. After all that.

Konomama Ichikawa filled in for Punch Tominaga in the second match. Shachihoko Boy became Shachihoko Machine, with his mask altered to be like Super / Strong Machine / J. Takashi Yoshida filled in for Shuji Kondo in the third match.

DG run shows on Saturday and Sunday, before the King Of Gate 2022 tournament begins on 5/11/2022.

All Japan Pro Wrestling

The Champion Carnival 2022 Finals took place yesterday, with the winner of this year’s tournament determined.

Champion Carnival 2022 Final - 5/4/2022, Tokyo Korakuen Hall (AJPW.tv)

TAJIRI & Kuma Arashi [TOTAL ECLIPSE] d. Takao Omori & Ryo Inoue (Arashi > Inoue, Flying Body Attack, 6:34)

Hokuto Omori & Yusuke Kodama [TOTAL ECLIPSE] d. Izanagi & Black Menso-re (Hokuto > Izanagi, Muso-Issen, 7:51)

Hikaru Sato [Evolution] d. Rising HAYATO [NEXTREAM] (Ground Cobra Twist, 7:07)

Ryuki Honda [TOTAL ECLIPSE] d. Yoshitatsu (Pinfall, 4:52)

Shigehiro Irie, T-Hawk [#STRONGHEARTS] & Issei Onitsuka [#STRONGHEARTS] d. Kento Miyahara [NEXTREAM], Atsuki Aoyagi [NEXTREAM] & Takuya Nomura [BJW] (T-Hawk > Atsuki, Night Ride, 10:59)

Shuji Ishikawa, Kohei Sato & Ren Ayabe [JTO] d. Suwama, Shotaro Ashino & Dan Tamura [Evolution] (Ishikawa > Ashino, Fire Thunder Driver, 10:28)

Champion Carnival 2022 Final: Yuma Aoyagi [NEXTREAM] d. Jake Lee [TOTAL ECLIPSE] (The Fool, 30:24) - Yuma Aoyagi wins Champion Carnival 2022

Yuma Aoyagi is now the youngest person to ever win Champion Carnival, at the age of 26. Now he looks to challenge his stablemate Kento Miyahara for the Triple Crown at the second night of their stand in Sapporo on 5/15/2022; if he does, he will also become the youngest to ever hold the Triple Crown, beating Kento by 5 months.

Shuji Ishikawa gets a direct win over Runaway SUPLEX heading into their tag title match on 5/14/2022 in Sapporo.

During intermission, a match for the upcoming Jumbo Tsuruta tribute show was announced, with Shingo Takagi’s mystery partner against Yuma & Atsuki Aoyagi announced as being T-Hawk of GLEAT/#STRONGHEARTS, making this is little reunion of the VerserK stable from Dragon Gate. Funny how DG keeps coming up in conversation here today.

The next show is 5/14/2022 from Sapporo which will have multiple title matches.

STARDOM

The Golden Week Fight Tour continued, with shows yesterday and today. Today featured quite a bit as well.

Golden Week Fight Tour 2022 - 5/4/2022, Kumamoto City Distribution Information Center

Rina [Oedo Tai] d. Hina [Queen’s Quest] (Pink Devil, 7:05)

Natsupoi & Thekla [Donna del Mondo] d. Hanan & Momo Kohgo [STARS] (Natsupoi > Kohgo, Fairing, 8:48)

Giulia, Maika, Himeka & Mai Sakurai [Donna del Mondo] d. Tam Nakano, Mina Shirakawa, Unagi Sayaka & Waka Tsukiyama [Cosmic Angels] (Giulia > Tsukiyama, Stealth Viper, 12:36)

Mayu Iwatani, Saya Iida, Koguma & Hazuki [STARS] TLD Saki Kashima, Ruaka, Starlight Kid & Momo Watanabe [Oedo Tai] (15:00)

Syuri, MIRAI, Ami Sorei & Konami [God’s Eye] d. AZM, Utami Hayashishita, Saya Kamitani & Lady C [Queen’s Quest] (Sorei > C, Brainbuster, 17:46)

- 5/5/2022, Fukuoka International Center

Hina [Queen’s Quest] d. Waka Tsukiyama [Cosmic Angels] (Modified Bodybuster, 6:25)

Saya Iida, Hanan & Momo Kohgo [STARS] d. Saki Kashima, Rina & Ruaka [Oedo Tai] (Hanan > Rina, pinfall, 8:43)

Tam Nakano, Unagi Sayaka & Mina Shirakawa [Cosmic Angels] d. Utami Hayashishita, AZM & Lady C [Queen’s Quest] (Sayaka > C, Jomon Toppa, 10:03)

SWA World Championship: Mayu Iwatani [STARS] d. Thekla [Donna del Mondo] © (Moonsault Press, 17:29) - Thekla fails her 3rd defense - Iwatani is the 9th champion

Elimination Match: Syuri, MIRAI, Ami Sorei & Konami [God’s Eye] d. Giulia, Himeka, Natsupoi & Mai Sakurai [Donna del Mondo] Order of Eliminations: - Sakurai > Sorei, OTTR, 10:14 - Konami > Natsupoi, Final Lancer, 13:33 - Syuri <> Himeka, OTTR, 16:56 - Konami <> Giulia, OTTR, 20:42 - MIRAI > Sakurai, Miramare, 26:32

Goddess of Stardom Championship: Hazuki & Koguma [STARS] d. Starlight Kid & Momo Watanabe [Oedo Tai] © (Hazuki > Watanabe, Hazukistal, 22:19) - Black Desire fail their 2nd defense - Hazuki/Koguma are the 34th champions

Wonder of Stardom Championship: Saya Kamitani [Queen’s Quest] © d. Maika [Donna del Mondo] (Phoenix Splash, 24:58) - Kamitani succeeds her 5th defense

MIRAI challenged Kamitani post-main. Boy she is making all the challenges now.

The tour continues into the weekend.

Tokyo Joshi

Tokyo Joshi were in Osaka today, with a special show.

TJPW Go Go Do It - 5/5/2022, Osaka EDION Arena Subarena (Wrestle Universe)

Yuki Aino d. Haruna Neko (Venus DDT, 6:51)

Osaka Ultra Quiz Match: Hyper Misao d. Kaya Toribami 2-1 (10:24)

Hikari Noa & Nao Kakuta d. Raku & Pom Harajuku (Kakuta > Harajuku, Shidenkai, 8:40)

Yuna Manase d. Mahiro Kiryu (Lariat, 7:02)

Saki Akai & Yuki Kamifuku d. Miyu Yamashita & Miu Watanabe (Kamifuku > Watanabe, Famouser, 16:17)

Osaka Special 8-Woman Best 2 Out Of 3 Falls Match: Shoko Nakajima, Mizuki, Maki Itoh & Rika Tatsumi d. Yuki Arai, Suzume, Moka Miyamoto & Arisu Endo - Tatsumi > Endo, Dragon Sleeper, 16:01 - Nakajima > Arai, Diving Senton, 13:48

Rika Tatsumi fills in for Yuka Sakazaki in this match. Sakazaki is taking on / took on Riho in the final women’s qualifier for AEW’s Owen Hart Foundation Tournament, which will air Friday night on AEW Rampage. DDT’s Konosuke Takeshita will take on Jay Lethal on that show too.

DDT return to action tomorrow at Tokyo Shinjuku FACE.

Other News

Big Japan held a big show in Yokohama today that had four title matches. Yuji Okabayashi remains the World Strong champion after defeating his Strong BJ partner Daisuke Sekimoto for his 2nd defense. Drew Parker is once again the Deathmatch Heavyweight Champion, defeating Yuko Miyamoto for that title. Astronauts, the team of Takuya Nomura & Fuminori Abe, are the new tag champions, defeating Okami (Daichi Hashimoto & Hideyoshi Kamitani), wth Abe getting Daichi with an Onryo Clutch. Kota Sekifuda succeeded his seventh defense of the junior title, beating Kosuke Sato, and challenging anyone from any promotion to come for his title.

Tickets went on pre-sale for NJPW X AEW Forbidden Door. I got my tickets. Hope you are able to get yours!

There has been a lot going on the last two days. In fact, too much. I can’t get into everything. It’s Golden Week. There’s a lot.

See you on Sunday.

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gdwessel · 2 years

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Dominion Title Matches, BOSJ29 Cards Revealed; TJPW Yes! Wonderland 2022 - 5/3/2022: Reika Saiki Retires; STARDOM, Dragon Gate, GLEAT Results, Other News

New Japan Pro Wrestling

The feature matches for Dominion 6.12 In Osaka-jo Hall have been announced, for the show taking place, ironically, on 6/12/2022 in Osaka-jo Hall. You'd think this joke would never get old, however, recall that last year's got bumped by one day, so Dominion 6.6 was actually on 6/7/2021.

The main event will of course be Kazuchika Okada defending the IWGP World Heavyweight title against the returning Jay White, having made his shock return at Wrestling Dontaku 2022 on Sunday. Another shock returnee has a title match as well, as "Machine Gun" Karl Anderson will wrestle his former stablemate and co-founder of the Bullet Club, Tama Tonga, for the latter's newly-won NEVER Openweight title.

Below are the announced Dominion matches. The full cards for Best Of The Super Juniors 29 have also been announced, however that will be an Upcoming Events post coming in the next week or so.

Dominion 6/12 in Osaka-jo Hall - 6/12/2022, Osaka Osaka-jo Hall (NJPWWorld)

Provisional KOPW2022 Championship: Shingo Takagi [Los Ingobernables] (c) v. Taichi [SZKG]

NEVER Openweight Championship: Tama Tonga [GoD] (c) v. Karl Anderson [Bullet Club]

IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championship: Bad Luck Fale & Chase Owens [Bullet Club] (c) v. Jeff Cobb & Great O-Khan [United Empire]

IWGP World Heavyweight Championship: Kazuchika Okada [CHAOS] (c) v. Jay White [Bullet Club]

More TBA

In other news, Hiroshi Tanahashi will be taking the place of Tatsumi Fujinami at Fujinami’s own 50th Anniversary show from Korakuen Hall on 5/12/2022, due to Fujinami’s COVID-19 diagnosis, and effects from that. This will be Tanahashi’s debut match in Dradition, although the show will be carried on NJPWWorld. So that main event match is now Tanahashi, Shiro Koshinaka & Yuji Nagata v. Mitsuya Nagai, Shingo Takagi & Hiromu Takahashi. Masato Tanaka has also been added to this show, as a fill-in for Shinjiro Otani, who I shouldn’t have to say what happened with him.

Hirooki Goto is booked for the next GLEAT show on 5/18/2022 from Korakuen Hall. He will be facing Hayato Tamura of the BULK Orchestra heel unit. More information on that show below.

Tokyo Joshi

Reika Saiki, the Muscle Idol, has "graduated" (read: retired) from wrestling, with a three-minute exhibition match at TJPW's Korakuen Hall rally today, that also saw two title matches take place. This is on Wrestle Universe.

TJPW Yes! Wonderland 2022 – Spread The Wings Of Your Dreams - 5/3/2022, Tokyo Korakuen Hall (Wrestle Universe)

Princess Tag Team Championship: Yuka Sakazaki & Mizuki © d. Hikari Noa & Nao Kakuta (Mizuki > Noa, Cutie Special, 13:53) - Magical Sugar Rabbits succeed their 4th defense

Exhibition Match: Reika Saiki TLD Arisu Endo (3:00) - Retirement ceremony for Reika Saiki took place post-match

Yuki Kamifuku & Mahiro Kiryu d. Haruna Neko & Kaya Toribami (Kiryu > Toribami, Boston Crab, 10:09)

Suzume d. Juria Nagano (Ring A Bell, 5:46)

Rika Tatsumi, Miu Watanabe & Yuki Arai d. Yuki Aino, Raku & Pom Harajuku (Arai > Harajuku, Finally, 13:41)

Miyu Yamashita & Maki Itoh d. Hikaru Shida [AEW] & Moko Miyamoto (Yamashita > Miyamoto, Skull Kick, 15:02)

Princess of Princess Championship: Shoko Nakajima © d. Hyper Misao (Diving Senton, 14:29) - Nakajima succeeds her 2nd defense

Neither title changed hands today, meaning Shoko Nakajima will go on to defend her title at CyberFight Festival on 6/12/2022. Yuka Sakazaki's match was first, so she could get on a plane to make her AEW appearance this week. How this is going to affect the match on Thursday where the tag title winners and the Princess of Princess winner would team with Maki Itoh is beyond me. Maybe someone will be dropped. Speaking of AEW, of course, Shida wrestled here today, on the losing side against Itoh/Miyu Yamashita.

The next show is Thursday. DDT runs on Friday as well.

STARDOM

The Golden Week Fight Tour continued today.

- 5/3/2022, Nagasaki Prefectural Gymnasium

Saki Kashima & Ruaka [Oedo Tai] d. Hanan & Koguma [STARS] (Ruaka > Hanan, Freezer Bomb, 8:34)

Himeka & Natsupoi [Donna del Mondo] d. AZM & Lady C [Queen's Quest] (Himeka > C, JP Coaster, 8:56)

Utami Hayashishita, Saya Kamitani & Hina [Queen's Quest] TLD Rina, Starlight Kid & Momo Watanabe [Oedo Tai] (15:00)

Giulia, Maika, Thekla & Mai Sakurai [Donna del Mondo] d. Tam Nakano, Mina Shirakawa, Unagi Sayaka & Waka Tsukiyama [Cosmic Angels] (Maika > Tsukiyama, Enka Otoshi, 13:18)

Syuri, MIRAI, Ami Sorei & Konami [God's Eye] d. Matu Iwatani, Hazuki, Saya Iida & Momo Kohgo [STARS] (MIRAI > Iida, lariat, 21:05)

There are shows tomorrow and Thursday, the latter with several title matches and a God's Eye v. DdM Elimination match.

Dragon Gate

The first of two Gate of Passion tour-ending shows from Kyoto KBS Hall took place today, which you can see now on DG Network. An interesting main event, with the participants of both tag title matches taking place on Thursday in a 4-way match.

The Gate of Passion 2022 Night 18 - 5/3/2022, Kyoto KBS Hall (DG Network)

KAI, BxB Hulk & HYO [Z-Brats] d. Susumu Yokosuka, Genki Horiguchi & Jason Lee [Natural Vibes] (KAI > Horiguchi, Meteo Impact, 10:14)

Strong Machine J d. Ho Ho Lun (Machine Suplex, 9:32)

Eita & Yasushi Kanda d. Masaaki Mochizuki & Yosuke Santa Maria (Eita > Yosuke, Imperial Uno, 10:03)

Masaaki Mochizuki d. Konomama Ichikawa (Reverse Figure-4 Leglock, 2:24)

Masahiro Gano d. Konomama Ichikawa (STF, 0:07)

Kota Minoura, Naruki Doi & Kaito Ishida [Gold Class] d. Kegatora, Ben-K & Keisuke Okuda [HIGH-END] (Minoura > Okuda, R-301, 15:19)

Twin Gate & Twin Ryuo Skirmish 4-Way Match: YAMATO & Dragon Kid [HIGH-END] d. Dragon Dia & Yuki Yoshioka [D'Courage] and Kzy & U-T [Natural Vibes] and Shun Skywalker & Diamante [Z-Brats] (Kid > Kzy, Bible, 13:44)

Dragon Kid gets a direct pin on Kzy heading into their Ryukyu Dragon Twin Ryuo tag title match on Thursday. KAI also is victorious before the challenge of Susumu Yokosuka for the Dream Gate. The two Konomama Ichikawa matches were of course impromptu, with Mochizuki ending the feud once and for all, before bringing out Masahiro Gano, a comedy wrestler who impersonates NJPW legend Masahiro Chono, to handle the predicted restart. There are a lot of these wrestlers in Japan; I personally met Chinsuke Nakamura, an imitator of Shinsuke Nakamura, at the DDT show in NYC in 2019.

DG reported yesterday that Big Boss Shimizu suffered a left foot injury in training, and now won't be at Dead Or Alive. Punch Tominaga will take his place in the 6-man match Shimizu was scheduled for.

The end of the tour is tomorrow, also streamed live, before Dead Or Alive on Thursday.

GLEAT

GLEAT returned to action today, although I don’t see this show on their YouTube channel as yet. El Lindaman’s next challenger for the G-REX title was determined on this one.

GLEAT G PROWRESTLING Ver.24 - 5/3/2022, Osaka Umeda Sky Building Stella Hall

G-REX Next Challenger Decision Match: Shigehiro Irie d. Nobuhiro Shimatani [BULK Orchestra] (Beast Bomber, 13:42)

Akane Fujita [Prominence] d. Michiko Miyagi (Miken de Pon, 9:35)

Takanori Ito & Masato Kamino d. TiiiDA & HUB (Ito > TiiiDA, German Suplex Hold, 13:49)

T-Hawk [#STRONGHEARTS] d. Keiichi Sato [60 Seconds] (Night Ride, 14:31)

El Lindaman [#STRONGHEARTS] d. Jun Tonsho [60 Seconds] (German Suplex Hold, 9:26)

Tetsuya Izuchi [60 Seconds] d. Issei Onitsuka [#STRONGHEARTS] (Spin Break, 3:38)

Ryuichi Kawakami, Hayato Tamura, KAZMA SAKAMOTO & Quiet Storm [BULK Orchestra] d. Minoru Tanaka, CIMA [#STRONGHEARTS], Yu Iizuka & Soma Watanabe (Tamura > Watanabe, Jackhammer, 21:53)

So there was a #STRONGHEARTS v. 60 Seconds best two out of three series here; why have #STRONGHEARTS win the first two, when the series is then already won? Seems like odd booking to me. Shigehiro Irie becomes the 2nd challenger to El Lindaman’s G-REX title at the 5/18/2022 Tokyo Korakuen Hall show. The complete card is below:

GLEAT G PROWRESTLING Ver.25 - 5/18/2022, Tokyo Korakuen Hall

Minoru Tanaka, MUSASHI [Michinoku Pro] & Soma Watanabe v. Quiet Storm, Nobuhiro Shimatani & Masato Kamino [BULK Orchestra]

Michiko Miyagi v. DASH Chisako [Sendai Girls]

Takanori Ito v. Yu Iizuka

T-Hawk [#STRONGHEARTS], Jack Cartwheel [FREE] & Issei Onitsuka [#STRONGHEARTS] v. Tetsuya Izuchi, Keiichi Sato & Jun Tonsho [60 Seconds]

Hayato Tamura [BULK Orchestra] v. Hirooki Goto [CHAOS]

CIMA 25th Anniversary Match: CIMA [#STRONGHEARTS] & Shingo Takagi [Los Ingobernables] v. Ryuichi Kawakami & KAZMA SAKAMOTO [BULK Orchestra]

G-REX Championship: El Lindaman [#STRONGHEARTS] (c) v. Shigehiro Irie

Other News

Not a good day to be Tatsuhito Takaiwa, as he lost not one but two titles today, in two different promotions, in two different cities. First, he dropped the IWA World Juniorheavyweight title in FREEDOMS to Kengo in Yokohama, with Kengo becoming the 40th champion. Then he made his way to Tokyo (which is not TOO far from Yokohama it has to be said), where he lost the Spirit Of Ganbare World Openweight Championship that Takaiwa was the inaugural holder of, to DDT/Pheromones’ Yumehito Imanari, over in Ganbare Pro at Korakuen Hall. Well, at least it’s less weight in baggae, eh?

Another match has been announced for Kenta Kobashi’s Fortune Dream 7, from Korakuen Hall on 6/15/2022. This time, a six-man, with both teams comprising of wrestlers from AJPW, BJW and DDT, as Shuji Ishikawa, Daisuke Sekimoto & Yuji Hino (a beefy side if ever there was one) will take on Daichi Hashimoto, Tetsuya Endo & Yuma Aoyagi.

A lot of indie shows happened.

Tomorrow is an interesting day. AJPW has the Champion Carnival Finals. NOAH starts the Dream On tour. But also, Gatoh Move holds its first card that is not a ChocoPro YouTube show since 3/22/2020. Gatoh Move Returns will be at Tokyo Itabashi Green Hall.

See you Thursday.

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gdwessel · 2 years

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NJPW Wrestling Dontaku 2022 - 5/1/2022: A Good Night For The Bullet Club, BOSJ29 Participants & Blocks Announced; NJPW Strong Episode 88 - 4/30/2022; NOAH Majestic 2022 Night 2 - 4/30/2022; DDT, TJPW, STARDOM, Dragon Gate, Marvelous, Osaka Pro, Onita Fire Pro Wrestling Results

As I said would happen in Thursday’s post, the @StrongStylStory Twitter account is not under that name any longer; it is now @gdwessel. If you happened to follow the previous @gdwessel account, its name has changed, and you should follow the proper @gdwessel one now. Thanks!

New Japan Pro Wrestling

Today was Wrestling Dontaku 2022. Usually the show happens on May 3 (and for the past couple of years, it has been a two-night show). It was streamed live on NJPWWorld, and features a lot of title matches.

Wrestling Dontaku 2022 - 5/1/2022, Fukuoka Pay Pay Dome (NJPWWorld)

Zack Sabre Jr., Taichi & TAKA Michinoku [SZKG] d. Shiro Koshinaka, Shingo Takagi [Los Ingobernables] & BUSHI [Los Ingobernables] (Taichi > Shingo, Taichi-Style Gedo Clutch, 10:15)

Hiromu Takahashi [Los Ingobernables] d. YOH [CHAOS] (Timebomb II, 9:59)

Tanga Loa [GoD] d. Yujiro Takahashi [Bullet Club] (Apeshit, 11:33)

IWGP Juniorheavyweight Tag Team Championship: Ryusuke Taguchi & Master Wato © d. Yoshinobu Kanemaru & DOUKI [SZKG] (Taguchi > Kanemaru, Rollup, 9:10) - Team Six or Nine succeed their 2nd defense

IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championship 3-Way Match: Bad Luck Fale & Chase Owens [Bullet Club] d. Jeff Cobb & Great O-Khan [United Empire] © and Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI [CHAOS] (Owens > Goto, Rocket Launcher Elbow Drop, 9:42) - Cobb/O-Khan fail their 1st defense - Fale/Owens are the 94th champions

NEVER Openweight Championship: Tama Tonga [GoD] d. EVIL [Bullet Club] © (Gunstun, 13:25) - EVIL fails his 3rd defense - Tonga in the 36th champion

IWGP Juniorheavyweight Championship: Taiji Ishimori [Bullet Club] d. El Desperado [SZKG] © (Bone Lock, 14:40) - Despy fails his 4th defense - Ishimori is the 92nd champion

IWGP US Heavyweight Championship Decision Match: Hiroshi Tanahashi d. Tomohiro Ishii [CHAOS] (High Fly Flow, 23:20) - Tanahashi is the 14th champion

IWGP World Heavyweight Championship: Kazuchika Okada [CHAOS] © d. Tetsuya Naito [Los Ingobernables] (Rainmaker, 34:12) - Okada succeeds his 4th defense

Okada retains against Naito, and is attacked by the entire “new” Bullet Club, which now includes Juice Robinson as a member, with “Machine Gun” Karl Anderson & Doc Gallows making their first appearance in Japan since 2016. Jay White challenged Okada, while Juice stole the IWGP US title belt. Wrestling Dontaku is the anniversary show for the Bullet Club, formed at the 2013 edition of this show. I mean, sure, wrestling is all a work and the talk of him leaving the company was now all a part of that work. I guess that we are in 2022, and the solution for “We have no ideas left for this guy” is to put him with the Bullet Club. (Or United Empire, sure. But the Empire is still a relatively new unit, and they need numbers.) They’ve done it now with EVIL and SHO the last two years, and but for mere short-term gain; long-term, nobody wants to see EVIL and SHO now, their matches deflate the room. It’s like their one idea for a heel turn now (well, two with the Empire); WCW did the same thing, had their one idea for a heel turn, which was to put somebody, ANYBODY with the nWo and we all know how that turned out long-term.

Yes, Juice v. Tana for the US title makes sense. Why it has to be with Bullet Club is beyond me. But then, this has been one of the biggest issues creatively with NJPW even during the good times in the 2010s. The unwillingness to break up and create new units and stables has made things really stale in that regard. Bullet Club is now nine years old. CHAOS is thirteen, and is so far removed from its original intentions that they may as well be part of the Hontai now. Even Los Ingobernables de Japon is hitting seven years in existence this year, and absolutely none of the founding members of the original Los Ingobernables are even with CMLL anymore. The United Empire felt like a breath of fresh air, despite having scummy dweebs like Ospreay and TJP, because it took five years for a new unit to be formed since LIJ first coalesced in October 2015. That they haven’t been more successful is more how things have gone because of the pandemic than anything. Well, and Ospreay’s injury/whatever last year too.

Look at the landscape of, say, Dragon Gate, and I guarantee you within two years from this writing, none of Natural Vibes, HIGH-END, Gold Class, Z-Brats or even the tag team D’Courage will be around. Three of those were only formed in the last couple of months. A little thing like splitting up existing stables and forming new ones with different members would go a long way to make the booking, which HAS improved in 2022 it must be said, a lot fresher these days.

Overall, however, it was a good night for the Bullet Club, despite EVIL losing the NEVER title to the founder the BC kicked out, Tama Tonga, winning his first ever NJPW singles title. But they gained not only the IWGP junior title, but also, the heavyweight tag belts, with a new configuration, Fale & Owens. I’m pretty sure O-Cobb are not done with the titles either.

Shiro Koshinaka became the new partner for Shingo & BUSHI, with Tatsumi Fujinami waylaid with COVID-19. Shingo challenged Taichi to a rematch soon, probably Dominion if I had to guess.

The blocks and participants for Best Of The Super Juniors 29 were announced, as the tournament returns to its traditional calendar spot after the last two years of Olympics, pandemic and Olympics delays because of the pandemic. It starts 5/15/2022 from Nagoya, ending 6/3/2022 at Tokyo Nippon Budokan. Several debuts from outside NJPW (and one from within) feature this year, as we return to a 20-man field, divided into two blocks.

In A Block, Clark Connors makes his way over from the LA Dojo, whilst Alex Zayne, who has featured on Strong and in GCW, also makes his debut. The Empire’s newest member Francesco Akira is here, as well as Ace Austin of Impact Wrestling.

Meanwhile, B Block gets Wheeler Yuta’s NJPW Japan debut, representing AEW and his stable, the Blackpool Combat Club. El Lindaman of #STRONGHEARTS, GLEAT’s inaugural G-REX Champion, makes his BOSJ debut here as well. Not a debut, but a return, is CMLL’s Titan, meaning the relationship between NJPW and CMLL is still on in some form or fashion, despite NJPW now working with AEW & Impact, both of whom have partnerships with AAA.

Here are the blocks, with debutants in italics:

A Block: Ryusuke Taguchi, YOH [CHAOS], Clark Connors, Hiromu Takahashi [Los Ingobernables], Yoshinobu Kanemaru [SZKG], Ace Austin [Impact], Alex Zayne [GCW], Francesco Akira [United Empire], Taiji Ishimori [Bullet Club], SHO [Bullet Club]

B Block: Master Wato, Robbie Eagles [CHAOS], Titan [CMLL], BUSHI [Los Ingobernables], El Desperado [SZKG], DOUKI [SZKG], El Lindaman [#STRONGHEARTS], Wheeler Yuta [AEW], TJP [United Empire], El Phantasmo [Bullet Club]

Last night’s NJPW Strong continues (or concludes?) the matches from Strong Style Evolved from St. Petersburg, FL.

The DKC d. Kevin Knight (Reverse Double Armbar, 7:45)

Mascara Dorada [FREE] d. TJP [United Empire] (Dorada Screwdriver, 10:50)

Ren Narita d. Jay Lethal [AEW] (Lethal Injection, 12:17)

In other news, Minoru Suzuki will face Brody King at Capital Collision on 5/15/2022. Also, a new NJPW Strong taping, Ignition, has been signed for 6/19/2022 at the Vermont Hollywood in LA once again. Tickets are already on sale.

Last night in Seattle, DEFY Wrestling held its Wild Ones event featuring as its main event, Jon Moxley of NJPW & AEW defeating the NJPW Strong Openweight Champion, “Filthy” Tom Lawlor. El Phantasmo was also on this show, falling to Steve Migs. Other talents who work, or have worked, Strong were on this as well. It was shown live on PLUTO Channel 732. I have no idea how PLUTO actually works, and don’t know if there is a VOD option for this show or not. I did not see it live as it started too late for me, especially after AAA Triplemania XXX Monterrey last night went til midnight my time. UGH. One bad thing about the idea we are somehow past the pandemic, is that wrestling cards are getting way too long again.

The next NJPW tour will, of course, be Best Of The Super Juniors 29. No cards or matches announced yet. Stay tuned for that.

Pro Wrestling NOAH

The second night of Majestic was yesterday, at Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan. You can see it now on Wrestle Universe if you’d like.

Majestic 2022 - 4/30/2022, Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan (Wrestle Universe)

Slex & Kai Fujimura d. Alejandro & Yasutaka Yano (Slex > Yano, Close Of Business, 10:22)

Manabu Soya, Tadasuke & Hajime Ohara [Kongo] d. King Tany, Muhammad Yone & Akitoshi Saito [Funky Express] (Soya > Yone, Ballistic, 12:55)

HAYATA, Yoshinari Ogawa, Chris Ridgeway, Seiki Yoshioka & Yuya Susumu [STINGER] d. NOSAWA Rongai, Eita, Texano Jr., Kotaro Suzuki & Super Crazy [Perros del Mal de Japon] (HAYATA > Eita, DQ, 9:28)

Kazushi Sakuraba & Kendo Kashin [Sugiura-gun] d. Masaaki Mochizuki [M’s Alliance] & Don Fujii [Dragon Gate] (Kashin > Mochizuki, Schoolboy, 6:47)

Rene Dupree [FREE] & Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr. [FREE] d. Masato Tanaka [M’s Alliance] & Daiki Inaba (Wagner > Inaba, Moonsault Press, 10:51)

Michael Elgin [FREE] d. Masa Kitamiya (Elgin Bomb, 12:33)

GHC National Championship: Masakatsu Funaki [Kongo] © d. Simon Gotch [FREE] (Referee Stoppage, 9:47) - Funaki succeeds his 3rd defense

Dragon Bane [IWRG], Alpha Wolf [IWRG], Extreme Tiger [FREE] & Ninja Mack [GCW] d. Daisuke Harada, Atsushi Kotoge, YO-HEY & Junta Miyawaki (Bane > Miyawaki, Bane Twister, 16:33)

Naomichi Marufuji [M’s Alliance] & Satoshi Kojima d. Yoshiki Inamura & Kinya Okada (Kojima > Okada, lariat, 15:01)

GHC Heavyweight Tag Team Championship: Takashi Sugiura & Hideki Suzuki [Sugiura-gun] © d. Kenoh & Katsuhiko Nakajima [Kongo] (Suzuki > Nakajima, Double-Arm Suplex, 23:36) - Sugiura/Suzuki succeed their 1st defense

GHC Heavyweight Championship Decision Match: Go Shiozaki d. Kaito Kiyomiya (Strong Arm Lariat, 30:02) - Shiozaki is the 38th champion

Shiozaki becomes the champion, which, to be fair, I am pretty sure was the plan to begin with. Why they decided to sacrifice Kaito Kiyomiya on that altar instead of someone else, I don’t know. Shiozaki was challenged by NJPW’s Satoshi Kojima, who was also Naomichi Marufuji’s mystery partner. Kojima was wearing a NOAH shirt all night, and seems to be looking to be around NOAH for a bit. That match is now set for the CyberFight Festival on 6/12/2022.

Sugiura-gun retain the tag titles, and are challenged by Rene Dupree & Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr., which will happen on the Tokyo Korakuen Hall show on Wednesday 5/4/2022. Super Crazy & Texano Jr. challenged for the junior tag belts held by Yoshinari Ogawa & Chris Ridgeway. Texano Jr. is a junior heavyweight in the same way Shingo Takagi was in his first nine months in New Japan; that is, not at all. Masa Kitamiya asked Michael Elgin for a partnership, which Elgin agreed to. Which means NOAH is planning on using Elgin, at least in the short-term. Puke.

Keiji Muto returns to action on 5/21/2022 from Tokyo Ota Ward Gymnasium, where he will team with Marufuji & Kojima against Shiozaki, Kiyomiya & Masato Tanaka.

The next two shows are the beginning of Dream On 2022, both from Tokyo Korakuen Hall. The Hi69 you see is Nio, who had to revert back to this name after his loss to Hao on Friday, something I neglected to mention.

Dream On 2022 - 5/4/2022, Tokyo Korakuen Hall (ABEMA)

Simon Gotch [FREE] v. Kinya Okada

NOSAWA Rongai, Texano Jr. & Super Crazy [Perros del Mal de Japon] v. Alejandro, Kai Fujimura & Yasutaka Yano

Kenoh & Masakatsu Funaki [Kongo] v. Kendo Kashin [Sugiura-gun] & Slex

Tadasuke, Hajime Ohara & Hi69 [Kongo] v. Dragon Bane [IWRG], Alpha Wolf [IWRG] & Extreme Tiger [FREE]

Katsuhiko Nakajima & Manabu Soya [Kongo] v. Masa Kitamiya & Michael Elgin

HAYATA, Yoshinari Ogawa, Chris Ridgeway, Seiki Yoshioka & Yuya Susumu [STINGER] v. Daisuke Harada, Atsushi Kotoge, YO-HEY, Hao & Junta Miyawaki

Kaito Kiyomiya v. Ninja Mack [GCW]

Go Shiozaki, Daiki Inaba & Yoshiki Inamura v. Satoshi Kojima, Naomichi Marufuji [M’s Alliance] & Masato Tanaka [M’s Alliance]

GHC Heavyweight Tag Team Championship: Takashi Sugiura & Hideki Suzuki [Sugiura-gun] © v. Rene Dupree [FREE] & Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr. [FREE]

- 5/5/2022, Tokyo Korakuen Hall (Wrestle Universe)

Slex v. Kinya Okada

Atsushi Kotoge & Hao v. Texano Jr. & Super Crazy [Perros del Mal de Japon]

Katsuhiko Nakajima & Hi69 [Kongo] v. King Tany & Muhammad Yone [Funky Express]

HAYATA [STINGER], Seiki Yoshioka [STINGER], Yuya Susumu [STINGER] & Yasutaka Yano v. Dragon Bane [IWRG], Alpha Wolf [IWRG], Extreme Tiger [FREE] & Alejandro

Naomichi Marufuji [M’s Alliance], YO-HEY & Ninja Mack [GCW] v. Kenoh, Tadasuke & Hajime Ohara [Kongo]

Manabu Soya [Kongo] v. Michael Elgin

Simon Gotch [FREE], Yoshinari Ogawa [STINGER] & Chris Ridgeway [STINGER] v. Kaito Kiyomiya, Daisuke Harada & Junta Miyawaki

Satoshi Kojima v. Yoshiki Inamura

Go Shiozaki, Masato Tanaka [M’s Alliance], Masa Kitamiya & Daiki Inaba v. Takashi Sugiura [Sugiura-gun], Hideki Suzuki [Sugiura-gun], Rene Dupree [FREE] & Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr. [FREE]

DDT / Tokyo Joshi

DDT held the Mega Max Bump 2022 in Yokohama event today, which you can see now on Wrestle Universe. Four title matches, and a special challenge tag match between the GM Hisaya Imabayashi & team against Danshoku Dino’s Pheromones unit to end that feud. We think.

DDT Mega Max Bump 2022 in Yokohama - 5/1/2022, Kanagawa Yokohama Budokan (Wrestle Universe)

KANON d. Yuya Koroku [Burning] (Just Cobra Twist, 7:22)

Toru Owashi & Naomi Yoshimura d. Antonio Honda & Yuki Ishida (Yoshimura > Ishida, Harai Goshi, 9:33)

Shinya Aoki d. Toi Kojima [The 37KAMIINA] (Leglock, 5:04)

KO-D 10-Man Tag Team Championship: Poison Sawada JULIE, Takashi Sasaki, GENTARO, MIKAMI & Thanomsak Toba © d. Sanshiro Takagi, Yoshiaki Yatsu, Akito, Kazuki Hirata & Gota Ihashi (JULIE > Hirata, Cattle Mutilation, 8:45) - JULIE/Sasaki/GENTARO/MIKAMI/Toba succeed their 1st defense

Maya Yukihi & Shunma Katsumata [The 37KAMIINA] d. Saki Akai & Hideki Okatani [Eruption] (Katsumata > Okatani, Totono Splash, 10:28)

Hisaya Imabayashi, AKIRA & Muscle Sakai d. Danshoku Dino, Yuki Iino & Yumehito Imanari [Pheromones] (Imabayashi > Dino, Jackknife Hold, 16:55)

Daisuke Sasaki, MJ Paul & KANON [DAMNATION TA] d. Yuji Hino, Yukio Naya & Soma Takao (Sasaki > Takao, Crossface, 10:43)

Kazusada Higuchi & Yukio Sakaguchi [Eruption] d. HARASHIMA [DISASTER BOX] & Hikaru Sato (Higuchi > HARASHIMA, Brain Claw, 14:25)

KO-D Tag Team Championship: Chris Brookes & Masahiro Takanashi © d. Jun Akiyama & Yusuke Okada [Burning] (Takanashi > Okada, Cradle, 21:09) - Calamari Drunken Kings succeed their 1st defense

KO-D Openweight Championship: Tetsuya Endo [Burning] © d. Yuki Ueno [The 37KAMIINA] (Burning Star Press, 31:17) - Endo succeeds his 1st defense

MAO & Asuka settled their differences in the ring, and challenged Calamari Drunken Kings for the tag titles. Masahiro Takanashi of CDK challenged MAO to the Universal belt as well. Recent signee KANON is the mystery new member of DAMNATION TA that Daisuke Sasaki teased. Prominence (specifically Suzu Suzuki) attacked Shunma Katsumata. Sasaki is also booked to fight NOAH’s Kenoh at CyberFight Festival 2022 on 6/12/2022. Yuki Iino will defend the DDT Extreme title against AKIRA on 6/1/2022. Gota Ihashi took the place of Gorgeous Matsuno in the KO-D 10-man title match as Matsuno had a family emergency crop up.

Meanwhile, Tokyo Joshi held the second of two nights at Tokyo Ryogoku KFC Hall yesterday, the final build show to Tuesday’s Korakuen Hall show.

TJPW Spring Tour ‘22 - 4/30/2022, Tokyo Ryogoku KFC Hall (Wrestle Universe)

Suzume d. Kaya Toribami (Ring A Bell, 9:50)

Yuki Aino d. Arisu Endo (Full Nelson Of Love And Fire, 8:48)

3-Way Match: Raku d. Rika Tatsumi & Haruna Neko (Raku > Neko, Doctor Yellow, 7:43)

Maki Itoh d. Moko Miyamoto (Itoh Punish, 8:46)

Miyu Yamashita & Miu Watanabe d. Yuki Kamifuku & Mahiro Kiryu (Watanabe > Kiryu, Kick de Bakoon!, 12:56)

Hyper Misao, Hikari Noa & Nao Kakuta d. Shoko Nakajima, Yuka Sakazaki & Mizuki (Misao > Nakajima, Vanitas, 11:20)

Challengers beat the champions in the last prelude match to Tuesday’s title matches, with Hyper Misao getting a direct win over Shoko Nakajima. Indeed, here’s the card for that show:

TJPW Yes! Wonderland 2022 – Spread The Wings Of Your Dreams - 5/3/2022, Tokyo Korakuen Hall (Wrestle Universe)

Exhibition Match: Reika Saiki v. Arisu Endo

Yuki Kamifuku & Mahiro Kiryu v. Haruna Neko & Kaya Toribami

Suzume v. Julia Nagano

Rika Tatsumi, Miu Watanabe & Yuki Arai v. Yuki Aino, Raku & Pom Harajuku

Miyu Yamashita & Maki Itoh v. Hikaru Shida [AEW] & Moko Miyamoto

Apparently, Yuka Sakazaki will be getting on a plane immediately following this show as AEW has asked for her to be present for a match this week (which show, I don’t know, there are several to choose from). Ironically, they just gave an out for Hikaru Shida to not be there next week, as she just lost a feud-ender against Serena Deeb on Dynamite this past Wednesday. (In other DDT Talent In AEW news, Konosuke Takeshita will be featured on AEW Dark this week versus Rhett Titus.)

The kicker with this, is on Thursday’s show, the winners of the tag title match are supposed to be teaming with both Maki Itoh and the winner of the Princess of Princess match against Yuki Arai, Suzume, Moka Miyamoto & Arisu Endo. So, possibly a giveaway for the tag title match? We’ll see!

STARDOM

STARDOM are running a Golden Week Fight Tour all week, which began today. Thursday’s show will be the big one as it has three title matches and an Elimination match.

Golden Week Fight Tour 2022 - 5/1/2022, Hiroshima Big Rose

Thekla [Donna del Mondo] d. Momo Kohgo [STARS] (Dokugumo Death Drop, 5:56)

Ruaka & Starlight Kid [Oedo Tai] d. AZM & Hina [Queen’s Quest] (Kid > Hina, Moonsault Press, 8:06)

Giulia, Maika, Himeka, Natsipoi & Mai Sakurai [Donna del Mondo] d. Mayu Iwatani, Saya Iida, Janan, Koguma & Hazuki [STARS] (Giulia > Hanan, Backdrop, 10:38)

Saki Kashima, Rina & Momo Watanabe [Oedo Tai] d. Utami Hayashishita, Saya Kamitani & Lady C [Queen’s Quest] (Kashima > C, Kishikaisei, 13:12)

Syuri, MIRAI, Ami Sorei & Konami [God’s Eye] d. Tam Nakano, Mina Shirakawa, Unigi Sayaka & Waka Tsukiyama [Cosmic Angels] (Konami > Tsukiyama, Triangle Lancer, 19:40)

God’s Eye’s newest member beats the rookie of Cosmic Angels, with Waka still waiting for her first win.

The tour resumes Tuesday.

Dragon Gate

The Gate of Passion 2022 tour continued through the weekend.

The Gate of Passion 2022 Night 16 - 4/30/2022, Fukui Tsuruga Kirameki Minato Building

YAMATO, Dragon Kid & Kagetora [HIGH-END] d. Kzy, U-T & Genki Horiguchi [Natural Vibes] (YAMATO > Horiguchi, Galleria, 12:29)

SB KENTo & Diamante [Z-Brats] d. Takashi Yoshida & Yosuke Santa Maria (KENTo > Yosuke, MCC, 10:13)

Kota Minoura, Kaito Ishida & Minorita [Gold Class] d. Strong Machine J, La Estrella & Takuma Fujiwara (Minoura > Fujiwara, R-301, 11:15)

Dragon Dia & Yuki Yoshioka [D’Courage] d. Ben-K & Keisuke Okuda [HIGH-END] (Yoshioka > Okuda, Frog Splash, 12:09)

Susumu Yokosuka, Big Boss Shimizu, Jacky “Funky” Kamei & Jason Lee [Natural Vibes] d. KAI, BxB Hulk, HYO & Shun Skywalker (Yokosuka > HYO, Aikata, 18:09)

The Gate of Passion 2022 Night 17 - 5/1/2022, Aichi Tsushima Bunka Hall

Susumu Yokosuka, Genki Horiguchi, Big Boss Shimizu & Jason Lee [Natural Vibes] d. KAI, BxB Hulk, HYO & Diamante [Z-Brats] (Yokosuka > HYO, Yokosuka Cutter, 12:11)

Shachihoko Boy & Strong Machine J d. Yosuke Santa Maria & Ho Ho Lun (J > Yosuke, Machine Suplex, 10:46)

Kota Minoura, Kaito Ishida & Minorita [Gold Class] d. Eita, Ishin Iihashi & Takuma Fujiwara (Minoura > Ishin, R-301, 13:21)

Dragon Dia & Yuki Yoshioka [D’Courage] d. Kagetora & Keisuke Okuda [HIGH-END] (Dia > Okuda, Double Cork, 13:29)

YAMATO, Dragon Kid & Ben-K [HIGH-END] d. Kzy, U-T & Jacky “Funky” Kamei [Natural Vibes] (YAMATO > Kamei, Galleria, 19:24)

K-Ness has announced that following his retirement, he is now leaving Dragon Gate entirely. Best wishes to him in his life post-wrestling.

Founder Ultimo Dragon was in AAA last night, wrestling at the Triplemania XXX in Monterrey show. He went on first, defeating Penta 0M in the opening match, which was also the first in the Ruleta de la Muerte tournament. The tournament actually sees the loser advance to the next round, as the Final will be a mask v. mask match, taking place at the Triplemania XXX show in October.

The tour wraps up with two livestreamed shows on DG Network on Tuesday & Wednesday, then Dead Or Alive 2022 on Thursday.

Other News

Marvelous held its 6th Anniversary show today at Korakuen Hall. The main event saw Rin Kadokura & Itsuki Aoki beat Tomoko Watanabe & Kaoru Ito to fill the vacant AAAW Tag Team Championship for the first time since 2005. Afterwards, Kadokura announced she was now married, and her mother-in-law was none other than Akira Hokuto. Meaning, her father-in-law is Kensuke Sasaki, and her husband would most likely be Kennosuke Sasaki. I guess congratulations are in order.

Osaka Pro crowned its new champion today, as Zeus defeated the previous (Openweight) champion Kazuaki Mihara with a Jackhammer in 24:25, becoming the 34th champion, and the first for this new revival of the promotion.

Atsushi Onita ran two Fire Pro Wrestling (not the videogame) shows from Shimane and Hiroshima this weekend, featuring Rising HAYATO, Koji Doi and Hokuto Omori from All Japan. The main events both nights were Electric Current Blast Explosion Bat deathmatches, that saw Onita team with both Osamu Nishimura and a switching third partner between nights, against Mr. Pogo and various others. Onita won yesterday, whilst Devil Magician got a win on Onita today.

Shows also took place by BJW, HARD HIT, Michinoku Pro, 2AW, Kyushu Pro, Colega, Ice Ribbon, ChocoPro, ZERO1, and other one-off events through this Golden Weekend.

I’ll be back Tuesday.

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gdwessel · 2 years

Text

Golden Week Begins: NOAH Majestic Night 1 - 4/29/2022; STARDOM Cinderella Tournament 2022 Finals - 4/29/2022; AJPW Champion Carnival 2022 Final Set; Dragon Gate, TJPW, DDT, Osaka Pro, More

Golden Week has begun. The annual week of holidays always has a lot of pro wrestling going on, so let’s just get into this special post.

Pro Wrestling NOAH

NOAH returned to action for the first time in nearly two weeks, with the first night of Majestic 2022 from Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan. This was the “N Innovation” part of the event, with a lot of outside wrestlers coming in from the USA, Mexico and Australia. Possibly the most talent from outside of Japan on a single show since the pandemic started. Jushin Thunder Liger was a guest on commentary for this show.

Majestic 2022 - 4/29/2022, Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan (ABEMA)

Ikuto Hidaka [Perros del Mal de Japon] d. Kai Fujimura (Shawn Capture, 6:37)

Slex d. Yasutaka Yano (Business Bomb, 8:37)

Kotaro Suzuki [Perros del Mal de Japon] TLD Yuya Susumu [STINGER] (20:00)

NOSAWA Rongai, Texano Jr. & Super Crazy [Perros del Mal de Japon] d. Tadasuke [Kongo], Hajime Ohara [Kongo] & Shuji Kondo [Dragon Gate] (Texano > Tadasuke, Road to Texas, 10:46)

Hair v. Hair + Loser Must Change Name: Hao d. Nio [Kongo] (Tatsumaki, 16:03)

Extreme Tiger [FREE] d. Seiki Yoshioka [STINGER] (Tijuana Lock, 11:31)

HYO, SB KENTo & Shun Skywalker [Z-Brats] d. Daisuke Harada, Alejandro & Junta Miyawaki (Skywalker > Miyawaki, SSW, 25:00)

3-Way Elimination Match: Ninja Mack [GCW] d. Dragon Bane [IWRG] & Alpha Wolf [IWRG] Order of Eliminations: - Bane > Wolf, Twister Bane, 15:47 - Mack > Bane, Ninja Bomb, 18:03

GHC Juniorheavyweight Tag Team Championship: Yoshinari Ogawa & Chris Ridgeway [STINGER] d. Atsushi Kotoge & YO-HEY (c) (Ridgeway > Kotoge, Stretch Muffler, 33:41) - Kotoge/YO-HEY fail their 3rd defense - Ogawa/Ridgeway are the 50th champions

GHC Juniorheavyweight Championship: HAYATA [STINGER] d. Eita [Perros del Mal de Japon] © (Headache, 28:08) - Eita fails his 1st defense - HAYATA is the 49th champion

Eita doesn’t even last his first defense, which makes sense, as he is not a NOAH-contracted wrestler, despite the fact there is a lot of Dragon Gate talent nowadays (Z-Brats and Eita today, Masaaki Mochizuki and Don Fujii on tomorrow’s show). Daisuke Harada v. HYO in a singles match will happen on 5/14/2022 in Yokohama.

HAYATA declared he would usher in a new era of NOAH. I hope that’s good, what with attendances not great (1585 reported today), and everyone associated with their English social media accounts being gotten-to weirdos (to wit, getting into it with one of my oldest friends in puroresu internetting, over them misspelling it as “Ryuguku” on a meme edit yesterday).

Is this the first time Texano Jr. has appeared in NOAH? It would appear so. I know he is no longer in AAA since last year, so he is freelance as of now. Ninja Mack said he wants to become the GHC Junior champion. It’s good to have goals. Alpha Wolf is also known as Hijo de Canis Lupus.

Nio of Kongo lost his hair, and also now will lose his name, following defeat to his former Kongo stablemate Hao. Slex is an Australian wrestler; he once wrestled Kazuchika Okada in Sydney.

The GHC Heavyweight title match has now been confirmed, as Kaito Kiyomiya will in fact be Go Shiozaki’s opponent in the decision match main event tomorrow at Ryogoku. That will be on Wrestle Universe. As a reminder, an utter piece of human filth is in a featured match on this show facing Masa Kitamiya, so be warned.

- 4/30/2022, Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan (Wrestle Universe)

Slex & Kai Fujimura v. Alejandro & Yasutaka Yano

King Tany, Muhammad Yone & Akitoshi Saito [Funky Express] v. Manabu Soya, Tadasuke & Hajime Ohara [Kongo]

NOSAWA Rongai, Eita, Texano Jr., Kotaro Suzuki & Super Crazy [Perros del Mal de Japon] v. HAYATA, Yoshinari Ogawa, Chris Ridgeway, Seiki Yoshioka & Yuya Susumu [STINGER]

Kazushi Sakuraba & Kendo Kashin [Sugiura-gun] v. Masaaki Mochizuki [M’s Alliance] & Don Fujii [Dragon Gate]

Masato Tanaka [M’s Alliance] & Daiki Inaba v. Renee Dupree [FREE] & Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr. [FREE]

Masa Kitamiya v. Michael Elgin [FREE]

GHC National Championship: Masakatsu Funaki [Kongo] (c) v. Simon Gotch [FREE]

Daisuke Harada, Atsushi Kotoge, YO-HEY & Junta Miyawaki v. Dreagon Bane [IWRG], Alpha Wolf [IWRG], Extreme Tiger [FREE] & Ninja Mack [GCW]

Naomichi Marufuji [M’s Alliance] & X v. Yoshiki Inamura & Kinya Okada

GHC Heavyweight Tag Team Championship: Takashi Sugiura & Hideki Suzuki [Sugiura-gun] © v. Kenoh & Katsuhiko Nakajima [Kongo]

GHC Heavyweight Championship Decision Match: Go Shiozaki v. Kaito Kiyomiya

STARDOM

The winner of the Cinderella Tournament 2022 has been determined, on a show that also featured several title matches, including the World Of Stardom championship.

Cinderella Tournament 2022 Finals - 4/29/2022, Tokyo Ota Ward Gymnasium

3-Way Match: Ami Sorei [God’s Eye] d. Mai Sakurai [Donna del Mondo] and Waka Tsukiyama [Cosmic Angels] (Sorei > Tsukuiyama, Brainbuster, 4:19)

Future of Stardom Championship: Hanan [STARS] © d. Hina [Queen’s Quest] (Backdrop Hold, 6:26) - Hanan succeeds her 5th defense

Cinderella Tournament 2022 Semifinal: Koguma [STARS] d. Hazuki [STARS] (Jackknife Hold, 6:17)

Cinderella Tournament 2022 Semifinal: MIRAI [God’s Eye] d. Natsupoi [Donna del Mondo] (Miramare, 8:17)

Trios Gauntlet Match: Tam Nakano, Mina Shirakawa & Unagi Sayaka [Cosmic Angels] d. Giulia, Maika & Thekla [Donna del Mondo] and Utami Hayashishita, Saya Kamitani & Lady C [Queen’s Quest] and Ruaka, Starlight Kid & Momo Watanabe [Oedo Tai] and Mayu Iwatani, Saya Iida & Momo Kohgo [STARS] and Saki Kashima, Rina & Fukigen Death [Oedo Tai] Order of Eliminations: - Iwatani > Lady C, 4:06 - Watanabe > Iida, 5:11 - Kid > Sayaka, 5:01 - Maika > Ruaka, 3:35 - Nakano > Giulia, 7:19

High Speed Championship: AZM [Queen’s Quest] © d. Mei Suruga [Gatoh Move] (Azumisushi, 13:06) - AZM succeeds her 2nd defense

Cinderella Tournament 2022 Final: MIRAI [God’s Eye] d. Koguma [STARS] (Miramare, 11:45) - MIRAI wins the Cinderella Tournament 2022

World of Stardom Championship: Syuri [God’s Eye] © d. Himeka [Donna del Mondo] (SyuSekai, 21:24) - Syuri succeeds her 4th defense

MIRAI wins the tournament, and afterwards challenges her stable’s leader Syuri to the Red Belt. Mei Suruga asked to form a team with AZM following her defeat in the High Speed title match.

STARDOM have a whole Golden Week Fight Tour coming up starting Sunday, with a big show on 5/5/2022 from Fukuoka Kokusai Center that will feature three title matches, as well as an elimination match between Donna del Mondo v. God’s Eye. I’d type it all up here but my day has already gotten away from me.

All Japan Pro Wrestling

The Champion Carnival 2022 Final is now set, as we had the end of B Block today.

- 4/29/2022, Aichi Nagoya Congress Center

Shuji Ishikawa & Takao Omori d. Shigehiro Irie & Ryo Inoue (Takao > Inoue, Boston Crab, 7:42)

Black Menso-re d. Konaka = Pale One [666] (5:44)

TAJIRI & Yusuke Kodama [TOTAL ECLIPSE] d. Atsuski Aoyagi & Rising HAYATO [NEXTREAM] (Kodama > HAYATO, Mad Splash, 9:41)

Jake Lee, Ryuki Honda & Hokuto Omori [TOTAL ECLIPSE] d. Shotaro Ashino, Hikaru Sato & Dan Tamura [Evolution] (Lee > Tamura, D4C, 11:50)

Champion Carnival B Block: Takuya Nomura [BJW] d. Kuma Arashi [TOTAL ECLIPSE] (Ground Cobra Twist, 11:05)

Champion Carnival B Block: Yoshitatsu d. Suwama [Evolution] (6:54)

Champion Carnival B Block: Kento Miyahara [NEXTREAM] TLD Yuma Aoyagi [NEXTREAM] (30:00)

Yuma Aoyagi advances to the Final after drawing with his stablemate (and Triple Crown Champion) Kento Miyahara, but also will face off against his former stablemate in Jake Lee. That will happen on Wednesday, 5/4/2022 from Korakuen Hall. No other matches have been announced as yet.

Shuji Ishikawa announced he will challenge for Runaway SUPLEX’s World Tag Team Championship, partnering with Kohei Sato on 5/14/2022 in Sapporo, which will also have an All Asia tag title defense on the card.

Final Champion Carnival 2022 standings:

A Block Lee: 8pts (4W 0D 1L) ***WINNER*** Ishikawa: 6pts (3W 0D 2L) Ashino: 6pts (3W 0D 2L) Irie: 5pts (2W 1D 2L) T-Hawk: 5pts (2W 1D 2L) Honda: 0pts (0W 0D 5L)

B Block Aoyagi: 7pts (3W 1D 1L) ***WINNER*** Miyahara: 6pts (2W 2D 1L) Nomura: 6pts (3W 0D 2L) Suwama: 5pts (2W 1D 2L) Yoshitatsu: 4pts (2W 0D 3L) Arashi: 2pts (1W 0D 4L)

Dragon Gate

The Gate of Passion 2022 tour continued today.

The Gate of Passion 2022 Night 15 - 4/29/2022, Hiroshima Sangyo Hall

KAI, BxB Hulk & Diamante [Z-Brats] d. Susumu Yokosuka, Genki Horiguchi & Jacky “Funky” Kamei [Natural Vibes] (Diamante > Kamei, Vuelta Finale, 10:11)

Yosuke Santa Maria d. Konomama Ichikawa (Inside Cradle, 7:58)

Kota Minoura, Kaito Ishida & Minorita [Gold Class] d. Takashi Yoshida, Punch Tominaga & Ho Ho Lun (Minoura > Tominaga, R-201, 12:27)

Ben-K [HIGH-END] d. Shachihoko Boy (Spear, 8:08)

Dragon Dia & Yuki Yoshioka [D’Courage] d. Yasushi Kanda & Ishin Iihashi (Dia > Ishin, Double Cork, 11:07)

Kzy, Big Boss Shimizu, U-T & Jason Lee [Natural Vibes] d. YAMATO, Dragon Kid, Kagetora & Keisuke Okuda [HIGH-END] (U-T > Kagetora, Hikari no Wa, 15:04)

Jason Lee, while not getting the pin, wins in his first match as a member of Natural Vibes.

DG run shows tomorrow and Sunday as well, before the first of three livestreamed showed beginning Tuesday, a two-night stand at Kyoto KBS Hall and then Dead Or Alive 2022 on Thursday.

DDT / Tokyo Joshi

Tokyo Joshi ran the first of two nights at Tokyo Ryogoku KFC Hall earlier today.

TJPW Spring Tour ‘22 - 4/29/2022, Tokyo Ryogoku KFC Hall

Yuki Aino d. Kaya Toribami (Venus DDT, 6:57)

Miu Watanabe d. Haruna Neko (Canadian Backbreaker, 7:33)

Hikari Noa & Nao Kakuta d. Rika Tatsumi & Arisu Endo (Kakuta > Endo, Shidenkai, 11:20)

Miyu Yamashita d. Moka Miyamoto (Attitude Adjustment, 8:25)

Yuka Sakazaki, Mizuki & Raku d. Maki Itoh, Yuki Kamifuku & Mahiro Kiryu (Sakazaki > Kiryu, Toy Story 4, 13:01)

Shoko Nakajima & Pom Harajuku d. Hyper Misao & Suzume (Nakajima > Suzume, Northern Lights Suplex, 12:45)

Nakajima accidentally unmasked Hyper Misao during a hurricanrana spot. Reika Saiki will be retiring on Tuesday from Korakuen Hall, and will have a three-minute exhibition match with former partner Arisu Endo.

TJPW runs one last show before Tuesday’s Korakuen Hall show. In the meantime, DDT held an outdoor street wrestling match, as a last preview before Sunday’s big show in Yokohama

DDT “Just Before Yokohama Budokan! Rojo Pro Wrestling In I-Canal Street” - 4/29/2022, Yokohama i-Canal Street (YouTube)

Falls Count Anywhere 3-Way Tag Match: MAO & Shunma Katsumata [The 37KAMIINA] d. Kazusada Higuchi & Hideki Okatani [Eruption] and Yuki Naya & Yuki Ishida (Katsumata > Ishida, Diving Body Press From Telephone Pole Through Table, 29:08)

DDT does the kind of match that only DDT can really do.

Other News

Osaka Pro ran today, showing off their new title belt that will be crowned on Sunday. They also announced a new Light Heavyweight title that will be determined via tournament beginning on 6/26/2022, with the champion being crowned on 7/31/2022.

Big Japan, 2AW, Michinoku Pro, Kyushu Pro, Diana, SEAdLINNNG, Colega, Sportiva, and several other produced shows all ran today.

More shows happening all through the weekend, and into all next week. See you Sunday.

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