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gdwessel · 2 years

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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.