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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.

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mpwma · 1 year

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Today is/was Pro Wrestling NOAH Keiji Muto Grand Final Pro-Wrestling "Last-Love"! Masa Kitamiya and Daiki Inaba vs. Yoshiki Inamura and Yasutaka Yano! Should we cover the show?

#Pro wrestling #pro wrestling podcast #professional wrestling #professional wrestling podcast #wrestling #wrestling podcast #make pro wrestling majestic again #mpwma #keiji muto grand final pro wrestling last love #muto final #pro wrestling Noah #Noah ghc #masa kitamiya #daiki inaba #yoshiki inamura #yasutaka yano

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mpwma · 1 year

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Today is/was Pro Wrestling NOAH Great Voyage in Osaka! Muhammad Yone, Akitoshi Saito and Super Crazy vs. Kinya Okada, Yasutaka Yano and Daishi Ozawa! Should we cover the show?

#Pro wrestling #pro wrestling podcast #professional wrestling #professional wrestling podcast #wrestling #wrestling podcast #make pro wrestling majestic again #mpwma #pro wrestling Noah #Noah ghc #great voyage in Osaka #Noah great voyage in Osaka #muhammad yone #akitoshi saito #super crazy #kinya okada #yasutaka yano #daishi ozawa

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gdwessel · 2 years

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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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gdwessel · 2 years

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NOAH, AJPW, STARDOM, Dragon Gate Supercard Results for Emperor’s Birthday Holiday 2/23/2022 With Title Matches & Changes Galore; DDT’s COVID-19 Woes Continue To Wreak Havoc On Ultimate Tag League, DDT/TJPW 2/23/2022 Results

Today is the 62nd birthday for the Reiwa Emperor Naruhito. It is a national holiday in Japan, so there is a bunch of wrestling happening, with a bunch of title defenses across a bunch of promotions.

Pro Wrestling NOAH

NOAH ran Gain Control 2022 in Nagoya today, live on ABEMA and Wrestle Universe. Two title defenses, and a match to fill a third title, took place on this show.

Gain Control 2022 in Nagoya - 2/23/2022, Aichi Nagoya Congress Center Event Hall (ABEMA, Wrestle Universe)

King Tany & Muhammad Yone [Funky Express] d. Akitoshi Saito & Masao Inoue [Funky Express] (Yone > Inoue, Kinniku Buster, 11:58)

Nio [Kongo] d. Kinya Okada (Stuka Splash, 9:58)

NOSAWA Rongai & Kotaro Suzuki [Perros del Mal de Japon] d. Yoshinari Ogawa [STINGER] & Yasutaka Yano (Suzuki > Yano, Excalibur, 6:42)

Tadasuke, Hajime Ohara & ALEJA [Kongo] d. Hao, Junta Miyawaki & Kai Fujimura (Tadasuke > Fujimura, Fuyuki Special, 14:42)

Masato Tanaka [M’s Alliance] DCO Kendo Kashin [Sugiura-gun] (11:01)

Naomichi Marufuji [M’s Alliance] & Takashi Sugiura [Sugiura-gun] d. Masa Kitamiya & Yoshiki Inamura (Sugiura > Inamura, Olympic Qualifying Slam, 20:22)

GHC Juniorheavyweight Tag Team Championship Decision Match: Atsushi Kotoge & YO-HEY d. HAYATA & Yuya Susumu [STINGER] (YO-HEY > Susumu, Super Face G, 26:58) - Kotoge/YO-HEY are the 49th champions

GHC Juniorheavyweight Championship: Daisuke Harada © d. Super Crazy [Perros del Mal de Japon] (Hurricanrana, 18:57) - Harada succeeds his 2nd defense

Go Shiozaki, Kaito Kiyomiya & Daiki Inaba d. Kenoh, Masakatsu Funaki & Manabu Soya [Kongo] (Kiyomiya > Soya, Double Armlock, 21:21)

GHC Heavyweight Championship: Kazuyuki Fujita [Sugiura-gun] d. Katsuhiko Nakajima [Kongo] © (Powerbomb, 21:11) - Nakajima fails his 5th defense - Fujita is the 37th champion

Good golly, Miss Molly. Kazuyuki Fujita can now be one of the all-time worst IWGP *and* GHC Heavyweight Champions of all time. What can I say, besides, CyberFight love their 50+ year-old champions. I really don’t know what purpose this serves to NOAH. God I hate Kazuyuki Fujita.

So I guess Hajime Ohara is part of Kongo now. I can’t keep up with the changes in that stable anymore. YO-HEY comes good for Ohara’s old partner Kotoge, as they now fill the vacant junior tag belts. Hope this reign lasts more than a week, given the vacations of the belts the last month. One day BIG TANK Yoshiki Inamura will beat Takashi Sugiura. Super Crazy does not get to hold two promotions’ junior titles in the span of a couple of months. Masao Inoue returned to the ring in an inter-Funky-Express match.

NOAH’s next show is on Friday from Yokohama Radiant Hall.

All Japan Pro Wrestling

A Triple Crown match highlighted today’s Korakuen Hall rally for AJPW. Three other title matches took place on this one too. Hokuto Omori and Yusuke Kodama were pulled from this show as being close contacts to an undetermined positive COVID-19 case.

Excite Series 2022 Night 5 - 2/23/2022, Tokyo Korakuen Hall (AJPW.tv)

Ryuki Honda [TOTAL ECLIPSE] d. Ryo Inoue (Lariat, 4:00)

Dan Tamura [Evolution] & Ryuji Hijikata d. Takuho Kato & Kazumasa Yoshida (Tamura > Yoshida, 6:49)

Shuji Ishikawa, Takao Omori & Black Menso-re d. Yuma Aoyagi, Atsuki Aoyagi & Rising HAYATO [NEXTREAM] (Ishikawa > HAYATO, Fire Thunder Bomb, 9:02)

KAZMA SAKAMOTO, Takayuki Ueki & Seigo Tachibana d. Yoshitatsu, Izanagi & Devil Murasaki (KAZMA > Yoshitatsu, Schoolboy, 8:22)

GAORA TV Championship: Shigehiro Irie © d. Isami Kodaka (Flying Headbutt, 10:22) - Irie succeeds his 2nd defense

World Juniorheavyweight Championship: Hikaru Sato [Evolution] d. SUGI © (Cross Armbreaker, 9:51) - SUGI fails his 3rd defense - Sato is the 61st champion

World Tag Team Championship: Suwama & Shotaro Ashino [Evolution] © d. Koji Doi & Kuma Arashi [TOTAL ECLIPSE] (Ashino > Doi, T-Bone Suplex, 18:26) - Runaway SUPLEX succeed their 3rd defense

Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship: Kento Miyahara [NEXTREAM] © d. Abdullah Kobayashi [BJW] (German Suplex Hold, 16:06) - Miyahara succeeds his 1st defense

I don’t think there were any surprises here today, including the junior title change. AJPW will not put the Triple Crown on a wrestler contracted to Big Japan. Sato is far superior a wrestler to SUGI. But hey, Shigehiro Irie retained his title, and we like him a lot around these parts.

It would not surprise me to see Shuji Ishikawa challenge Kento coming up either.

The Excite Series wraps up Sunday in Chiba.

STARDOM

STARDOM held Cinderella Journey in Nagaoka today, live on PPV. I don’t think you can still get it; both links I tried, failed. Four title matches on this one.

Cinderella Journey 2022 in Nagaoka - 2/23/2022, Niigata Aore Nagaoka (PPV)

Future Of Stardom Next Challenger 3-Way Match: - Rina [Oedo Tai] d. Waka Tsukiyama [Cosmic Angels] & Mai Sakurai [Donna del Mondo] (Rina > Tsukiyama, Gory Bomb, 6:09) - Mai Sakurai [Donna del Mondo] d. Waka Tsukiyama [Cosmic Angels] (8:06)

Future Of Stardom Championship: Hanan [STARS] © d. Momo Kohgo [Queen’s Quest] (Backdrop Hold, 5:20) - Hanan succeeds her 2nd defense

Ruaka & Momo Watanabe [Oedo Tai] d. Utami Hayashishita & Lady C [Queen’s Quest] (Ruaka > C, Freezer Bomb, 7:34)

Mayu Iwatani [STARS] & Tam Nakano [Cosmic Angels] d. Saki Kashima & Fukigen Death [Oedo Tai] (Iwatani > Kashima, Moonsault Press, 10:04)

Syuri, Maika & Himeka [Donna del Mondo] TLD Giulia, MIRAI & Thekla [Donna del Mondo] (20:00)

Goddess Of Stardom Championship: Koguma & Hazuki [STARS] © d. Mina Shirakawa & Unagi Sayaka [Cosmic Angels] (Koguma > Shirakawa, Diving Body Press, 12:28) - Koguma/Hazuki succeed their 2nd defense

High Speed Championship: AZM [Queen’s Quest] d. Starlight Kid [Oedo Tai] © (Numero Uno, 17:03) - Starlight Kid fails her 6th defense - AZM is the 22nd champion

Wonder Of Stardom Championship: Saya Kamitani [Queen’s Quest] © d. Natsupoi [Donna del Mondo] (Phoenix Splash, 21:55) - Kamitani succeeds her 2nd defense

Immediately after retaining her title, Saya Kamitani nominated both her table leader Utami Hayashishita, and Cosmic Angels’ leader Tam Nakano, as challengers to her title for both nights at Ryogoku on 3/26 & 3/27/2022. Momo Watanabe challenged Koguma & Hazuki for their titles, with a special mystery partner to team with her. The crux of the opener is to determine the challengers for Hanan on both nights of Ryogoku, which will now be Rina and Mai Sakurai, both. Seems like an awfully busy time for STARDOM.

STARDOM return this weekend with shows Saturday and Sunday.

Dragon Gate

DG held Memorial Gate 2022 in Wakayama today, which you can see now on Dragon Gate Network. Featured today was the first defense of the Open The Twin Gate titles for Dragon Dia & Yuki Yoshioka.

Memorial Gate 2022 in Wakayama - 2/23/2022, Wakayama Prefectural Gymnasium (Dragon Gate Network)

Susumu Yokosuka, Big Boss Shimizu & U-T [Natural Vibes] TLD KAI, BxB Hulk & Shun Skywalker [Z-Brats] (15:00)

Takashi Yoshida & Ho Ho Lun d. Strong Machine J & Shachihoko Boy (Yoshida > Boy, Release Powerbomb, 3:49)

SB KENTo & Diamante [Z-Brats] d. Yosuke Santa Maria & Punch Tominaga (KENTo > Yosuke, SB Shooter, 0:34)

YAMATO, Dragon Kid, Ben-K, Keisuke Okuda & Kagetora [HIGH-END] d. Ultimo Dragon, Masaaki Mochizuki, Don Fujii, Yasushi Kanda & Shuji Kondo (Kagetora > Kanda, Kagenui, 12:24)

Open The Brave Gate #1 Contender 5-Way Match: Takuma Fujiwara d. Riki Iihashi, Ishin Iihashi, Takumi Hayakawa & Ryu Fuda (Fujiwara > Ishin, Schoolboy, 7:32)

Naruki Doi, Kota Minoura & Kaito Ishida d. Kzy, Genki Horiguchi & Jacky “Funky” Kamei [Natural Vibes] (Minoura > Horiguchi, Gang, 9:58)

HYO [Z-Brats] d. Eita (Schoolboy with ropes, 7:37)

Open The Twin Gate Championship: Dragon Dia & Yuki Yoshioka © d. Jason Lee & La Estrella (Yoshioka > Estrella, Frog Splash, 17:58) - DiaYoshi succeed their 1st defense

Dragon Dia remains a double-crown champion after he & Yoshioka beat Dia’s former MASQUERADE mates in Lee & Estrella. I don’t know if DiaYoshi is the name, but it sounded good and DG-esque. Dia will now face Takuma Fujiwara to defend the Brave Gate title after Fujiwara beat his dojo class fellows. I was kinda rooting for Ryu Fuda actually. That match will be at Champion Gate in Osaka on 3/5/2022.

Naruki Doi’s Unit With No Name gets a good prelude win over Natural Vibes, as we head for that Open The Triangle Gate match, also on 3/5/2022.

HYO gets another one over on Eita, the man he deposed to turn R.E.D. into Z-Brats. In other Z-Brats goings on, after a week or so of Big Boss Shimizu beating HYO in prelude matches, and getting a direct win over KAI, now Z-Brats is starting to get one over on Shimizu, first with KAI interfering to cause Shimizu’s loss to Jason Lee on Sunday, and now a time limit draw in the opener to add some intrigue to the KAI v. Shimizu Open The Dream Gate title defense that is coming 3/6/2022 in Osaka.

The Truth Gate 2022 tour wraps up Saturday in Tsushima, and on Sunday with another streamed show from Kobe.

DDT / Tokyo Joshi

The COVID-19 issues for DDT continue, as Hideki Okatani has now tested positive as well. Eruption are now effectively out of the tournament – their match that was to take place today v. Yuji Hino & Yukio Naya is a forfeit, and due to Kazuki Hirata being out, the Eruption v. Hirata & Shuji Kondo match for the Final on Saturday will be a double-forfeit. Neither team were in the running at this point as it was. So today’s Ultimate Tag League show had no actual Ultimate Tag League matches on it. Yuji Hino & Yukio Naya end the League with 4 points, not in the running for the Final as that will come down to Burning v. The 37KAMIINA on Sunday for A Block.

DDT Ultimate Tag League 2022 In Fukushima!! - 2/23/2022, Will Fukushima (Wrestle Universe)

Kazusada Higuchi d. Yuki Ishida (Brain Claw, 10:00)

Danshoku Dino & Yuki iino [Pheromones] NC Toru Owashi & Naomi Yoshimura [DISASTER BOX] (13:08)

Chris Brookes d. Yukio Naya (Death By Roll-Up, 12:41)

HARASHIMA [DISASTER BOX] & Antonio Honda d. Yukio Sakaguchi [Eruption] & Gorgeous Matsuno (Honda > Matsuno, Crushed La Magistral Cradle, 13:07)

Daisuke Sasaki & MJ Paul [DAMNATION TA] d. Yuji Hino & Akito (Sasaki > Akito, Crossface, 12:43)

Tetsuya Endo, Jun Akiyama & Yusuke Okada [Burning] d. Yuki Ueno, Shunma Katsumata & MAO [The 37KAMIINA] (Endo > Katsumata, Best Burning Star Press In The Universe, 19:27)

Burning get the win in a prelude match to the Final on Sunday against The 37KAMIINA. Post-main, Endo and Akiyama basically said The 37KAMIINA ain’t shit without Konosuke Takeshita. Endo says he will beat Takeshita at Korakuen Hall Sunday, and for the KO-D Openweight title at Ryogoku. Endo also ripped MAO’s favorite Gorgeous Matsuno shirt, for which MAO swore revenge. Speaking of Gorgeous Matsuno, at age 60, given CyberFight’s proclivities towards titling up older wrestlers, he may like his chances here soon.

Current Ultimate Tag League 2022 Standings:

A Block Akiyama/Endo – 6pts (3W 0D 0L) Takeshita/Ueno – 4pts (2W 0D 1L) Hino/Naya – 4pts (2W 0D 2L) Higuchi/Okatani – 2pts (1W 0D 3L) Kondo/Hirata – 0pts (0W 0D 4L)

B Block HARASHIMA/Yoshimura – 4pts (2W 0D 1L) Sasaki/Paul – 4pts (2W 0D 2L) Iino/Imanari – 4pts (2W 0D 1L) Brookes/Takanashi – 2pts (1W 0D 2L) MAO/Katsumata – 2pts (1W 0D 2L) The Final show is Sunday from Tokyo Korakuen Hall. Block A comes down to Burning v. The 37KAMIINA. Block B is still up for grabs between DISASTER BOX & Pheromones; DAMNATION TA are out, having had 4 matches (One of them was a forfeit win however). The Final will be the Block winners in the main event. Hopefully this card stands.

DDT Ultimate Tag League 2022 The Final!! - 2/27/2022, Tokyo Korakuen Hall (Wrestle Universe)

Soma Takao, Yusuke Okada & Yuya Koroku v. Toru Owashi, Toi Kojima & Yuki Ishida

3-Way Match: Danshoku Dino [Pheromones] v. Antonio Honda v. Hiroshi Yamato

Daisuke Sasaki, Minoru Fujita & MJ Paul [DAMNATION TA] v. Yuji Hino, Akito & Yukio Naya

Ultimate Tag League 2022 B Block: Chris Brookes & Masahiro Takanashi v. Shunma Katsumata & MAO [The 37KAMIINA]

Ultimate Tag League 2022 B Block: HARASHIMA & Naomi Yoshimura [DISASTER BOX] v. Yuki Iino & Yumehito Imanari [Pheromones]

Ultimate Tag League 2022 A Block: Tetsuya Endo & Jun Akiyama [Burning] v. Konosuke Takeshita & Yuki Ueno [The 37KAMIINA]

Yukio Sakaguchi & Saki Akai [Eruption] v. Sanshiro Takagi & Maya Yukihi

Ultimate Tag League 2022 Final: WINNER A Block v. WINNER B Block

Tokyo Joshi also ran today, a second show this week from Tokyo Ryogoku KFC Hall. Miyu Yamashita and Maki Itoh are still out due to positive COVID-19 tests.

Tokyo Joshi 2022 Winter - 2/23/2022, Tokyo Ryogoku KFC Hall (Wrestle Universe)

Yuki Kamifuku & Mahiro Kiryu d. Hikari Noa & Kaya Toribami (Kamifuku > Toribami, Famouser, 9:10)

3-Way Match: Suzume d. Haruna Neko & Moka Miyamoto (Suzume > Neko, Jackknife Hold, 9:52)

Hyper Misao d. Marika Kobashi (Hypami Returns, 10:51)

Shoko Nakajima, Nodoka Tenma & Yuki Aino d. Raku, Pom Harajuku & Yuki Arai (Aino > Harajuku, Bakuretsu Bulldog, 14:40)

Rika Tatsumi, Miu Watanabe & Nao Kakuta d. Yuka Sakazaki, Mizuki & Arisu Endo (Tatsumi > Endo, Twist Of Fate, 16:28)

Tatsumi cut a post-match promo about how great it was that she and Yuka Sakazaki joined TJPW as classmates, and how Daydream will beat the Magical Sugar Rabbits at Ryogoku. Nodoka Tenma will have a singles match at Ryogoku as well against her Bakuretsu Sister, Yuki Aino, as we head towards her retirement. Hyper Misao will also face Sanshiro Takagi at Sumo Hall. Misao also protested Marika Kobashi’s “graduation from TJPW” before their match.

BJW, Ice Ribbon and Gatoh Move also held shows today. There may have been even more I don’t know about.

No post tomorrow. I am going to try to do an Upcoming Events post on Saturday, then back to the regularly scheduled posts on Sunday.

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gdwessel · 2 years

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NJPW New Year’s Golden Series, WrestleCon STRONG Taping Announced; NOAH, Dragon Gate, STARDOM, TAKA Taichi Mania 3 Results

New Japan Pro Wrestling

NJPW have now announced the full lineups for the New Year’s Golden Series, running from 1/20/2022 until 2/20/2022. I won’t be posting those lineups here today, but there will be an Upcoming Shows post in the very near future I assure thee.

The biggest announcement is Kazuchika Okada’s next defense of the IWGP World Heavyweight title against Tetsuya Naito, the main event of the closing event in Sapporo on 2/20/2022. Also that day will be two other title matches, as the House Of Torture defense the NEVER Openweight 6-Man titles against Hirooki Goto, YOSHI-HASHI and YOH in a rematch of the clusterfuck from WK16. Minoru Suzuki also defends his Provisional KOPW2022 trophy against Toru Yano that night.

On the night before, 2/19/2022, Hiroshi Tanahashi will defend his IWGP US Heavyweight Championship against SANADA. Both tag team championships will be on the line as well, when Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI defend their newly-won titles against EVIL & Yujiro Takahashi, whilst Flying Tiger matches up against Bullet Club’s Cutest Tag Team for the junior straps.

EVIL, somehow, is part of three title matches on this tour, as on 2/13/2022 in Osaka, he will defend the NEVER Openweight title against Tomohiro Ishii in a lumberjack match, that is the rematch to what was hands down the worst Wrestle Kingdom match in memory.

On 2/11/2022 in Sendai, the IWGP Juniorheavyweight belt will be on the line, as El Desperado defends against Master Wato. This will be Hirai Kawato’s first-ever challenge for this title. Despy and Kawato have a long history of Despy beating Kawato, and I don’t really see that changing much here.

As I mentioned above, I will post the full lineups very soon.

NJPW also announced that an NJPW Strong show will be happening at WrestleCon in Dallas, TX, on 4/1/2022, during Wrestlemania weekend. No details including ticket sales have been revealed as yet. AAA and current NJPW partners Impact Wrestling have announced WrestleCon events as well, and (former?) NJPW partner Ring of Honor is set to return during that weekend too, with on-sale dates for Supercard Of Honor already announced. We’ll see how that goes.

Pro Wrestling NOAH

The third and final N Innovation U-CUP show was yesterday, with a title match main event.

- 1/10/2021, Yokohama Radiant Hall (Wrestle Universe)

Ikuto Hidaka [Perros del Mal de Japon] & Daiki Inaba d. Yoshiki Inamura & Kai Fujimura (Hidaka > Fujimura, Shawn Capture, 11:43)

Seiki Yoshioka & Yuya Susumu [STINGER] TLD Hajime Ohara & Atsushi Kotoge (20:00)

NOSAWA Rongai, YO-HEY & Kotaro Suzuki [Perros del Mal de Japon] d. ALEJA, Nao & Nio [Kongo] (YO-HEY > ALEJA, Dropkick, 7:26)

Kaito Kiyomiya d. Super Crazy [Perros del Mal de Japon] (Tiger Suplex, 16:42)

U-CUP Unit Shuffle Tag Match: Tadasuke [Kongo] & Junta Miyawaki d. Eita [Perros del Mal de Japon] & Yoshinari Ogawa [STINGER] (Tadasuke > Eita, lariat, 6:42)

GHC Juniorheavyweight Championship: Daisuke Harada d. HAYATA [STINGER] © (DOKAAAN!!, 27:02) - HAYATA fails his 9th defense - Harada is the 47th champion

HAYATA’s third reign ends after 197 days. This is Harada’s fifth reign as champion; only Yoshinobu Kanemaru has more at seven, but not since 2016. Eita and Perros del Mal de Japon all attacked Ogawa post-match, and challenged for a GHC junior tag title match. Kiyomiya returns to winning ways after losing to Kazuchika Okada on Saturday. The first match was changed, with BIG TANK Yoshiki Inamura filling Yasutaka Yano’s spot for reasons I am not aware of.

NOAH’s next show is on Sunday, with Katsuhiko Nakajima’s next defense of the GHC Heavyweight title as the main event. Keiji Muto & Naomichi Marufujii also defend their GHC tag team titles against Kongo’s Kenoh & Manabu Soya. NOAH and DDT have also announced the date and locale of CyberFight Festival 2022, on 6/12/2022 at Saitama Super Arena.

Bumper Crop in Sendai - 1/16/2022, Sendai Sunplaza Hall (Wrestle Universe)

Kinya Okada v. Yasutaka Yano

NOSAWA Rongai, YO-HEY, Kotaro Suzuki & Super Crazy [Perros del Mal de Japon] v. Tadasuke, ALEJA, Nao & Nio [Kongo]

King Tany & Muhammad Yone [Funky Express] v. Masakatsu Funaki & Masato Tanaka [M’s Alliance]

HAYATA, Yoshinari Ogawa, Seiki Yoshioka & Yuya Susumu [STINGER] v. Daisuke Harada, Atsushi Kotoge, Hajime Ohara & Junta Miyawaki

Go Shiozaki, Kaito Kiyomiya, Daiki Inaba & Yoshiki Inamura v. Takashi Sugiura, Kazushi Sakuraba, Kendo Kashin & Kazuyuki Fujita [Sugiura-gun]

GHC Tag Team Championship: Keiji Muto & Naomichi Marufuji [M’s Alliance] © v. Kenoh & Manabu Soya [Kongo]

GHC Heavyweight Championship: Katsuhiko Nakajima [Kongo] © v. Masa Kitamiya

STARDOM

STARDOM ran a small show yesterday that was not streamed.

New Year Stars 2022 Night 3 - 1/8/2022, Tokyo Ryogoku KFC Hall

Saki Kashima & Fukigen Death [Oedo Tai] d. Unagi Sayaka & Mai Sakurai [Cosmic Angels] (Kashima > Sakurai, Kishikaisei, 8:09)

Hazuki [STARS] d. Rina [Oedo Tai] (8:19)

Utami Hayashishita, Saya Kamitani & Lady C [Queen’s Quest] d. Ruaka, Starlight Kid & Momo Watanabe [Oedo Tai] (Hayashishita > Ruaka, German Suplex Hold, 11:47)

Syuri, Maika & Himeka [Donna del Mundo] d. Mayu Iwatani, Hanan & Koguma [STARS] (Maika > Hanan, 13:49)

Giulia, MIRAI & Thekla [Donna del Mundo] d. Tam Nakano, Mina Shirakawa & Waka Tsukiyama [Cosmic Angels] (Thekla > Tsukiyama, Toxic Snake Death Drop, 18:26)

STARDOM next run in Gifu on Saturday.

Dragon Gate

Dragon Gate’s tour continued today. The show was not streamed live, however the main event was posted to YouTube so you can watch that if you want.

Open The New Year Gate 2022 - 1/11/2022, Mie Kuwana Yamamori Gymnasium

Kzy, Susumu Yokosuka, Big Boss Shimizu & Jacky “Funky” Kamei [Natural Vibes] d. Takumi Hayakawa, Takuma Fujiwara, Ryu Fuda & Shoya Sato (Shimizu > Hayakawa, Big Boss Press, 13:43)

Ultimo Dragon, Naruki Doi & Takashi Yoshida d. Dragon Kid, Ben-K & Keisuke Okuda [HIGH-END] (Yoshida > Okuda, Pineapple Bomber, 12:24)

Masaaki Mochizuki & Jason Lee [MASQUERADE] d. Riki & Ishin Iihashi (Lee > Riki, Maximum Driver, 11:07)

BxB Hulk & SB KENTo [R.E.D.] d. YAMATO & Kagetora [HIGH-END] (KENTo > Kagetora, SB Shooter, 13:58)

Shun Skywalker, Kota Minoura & La Estrella [MASQUERADE] d. KAI, Kaito Ishida & HYO (Skywalker > HYO, SSW, 14:06)

Once again, MASQUERADE beats R.E.D. despite the beef within MASQUERADE because of a botched cheating spot, this time Ishida intentionally hitting HYO with their signature plastic box before Shun hit SSW. If you watch the main event at the link above, you see Minoura and Estrella come out just in their ring gear, whilst Shun wants to do the full MASQUERADE entrance, even carrying another outfit with him to get somebody, anybody to put it on. Either this group will be unstoppable or they are disbanding soon. Jason Lee has already been teaming with others recently, and Naruki Doi wants Kota Minoura for the unit he’s planning to form soon.

One thing I have been neglecting to mention – this is K-ness’s retirement tour, as he is quitting at age 47 due to a neck injury. Not sure when his actual retirement show is, but this tour is subtitled Final Burst Out! K-ness Forever.

Two nights at Tokyo Korakuen Hall follow tomorrow and Thursday, and those will be shown live. No cards announced.

Other News

TAKA & Taichi Produce returned for the first time in some years, with TAKA Taichi Mania 3 at Tokyo Korakuen Hall yesterday. It was run as a JUST TAP OUT show, but you can actually see it on NJPWWorld now. Which tells me TAKA Michinoku really is back in good graces with NJPW. As for Suzuki-gun goings on, Taichi defeated DOUKI in the main event, whilst El Desperado beat TAKA. Minoru Suzuki & Zack Sabre Jr. also teamed at the show, defeating the indie tag team of KANON & Ren Ayabe. Check it out.

Michinoku Pro ran a two-match Dojo event yesterday in Takizawa.

MARVELOUS ran yesterday at Korakuen Hall as well, with Takumi Iroha beating Sendai Girls’ Chihiro Hashimoto to win the vacant AAAW Championship.

Gatoh Move’s ChocoPro wrestling show in a day care playroom had its latest event yesterday too, I think you can still catch those on YouTube?

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gdwessel · 2 years

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New Year, New Format & Schedule; NOAH The New Year - 1/1/2022; AJPW New Year Wars Night 1 - January 2, 2022; More FanFyte Articles By Me, Other News

Pro Wrestling NOAH

Yesterday was Pro Wrestling NOAH’s mega show at Tokyo Nippon Budokan, NOAH The New Year. You can see this now on Wrestle Universe, for which you should have already been charged if you signed up for the 3-Months Free Deal back in October (it costs around what NJPWWorld does, and now you are able to cancel if you wish).

NOAH The New Year - 1/1/2022, Tokyo Nippon Budokan (Wrestle Universe, ABEMA)

Junta Miyawaki & Kinya Okada d. Kai Fujimura & Yasutaka Yano (Miyawaki > Fujimura, Falcon Arrow, 8:39)

King Tany, Muhammad Yone & Akitoshi Saito [Funky Express] d. Manabu Soya, Tadasuke & Nio [Kongo] (Yone > Tadasuke, Kinniku Buster, 8:45)

Hao & ALEJA [Kongo] d. Seiki Yoshioka & Yuya Susumu [STINGER] (Hao > Yoshioka, Firebird Splash, 11:44)

Ultimo Dragon [Dragon Gate], Dausuke Harada, Atsushi Kotoge & Hajime Ohara d. NOSAWA Rongai, Eita, YO-HEY & Kotaro Suzuki [Perros del Mal de Japon] (Ultimo > NOSAWA, La Magistral, 13:51)

Kazuyuki Fujita & Kendo Kashin [Sugiura-gun] d. Masakatsu Funaki [M’s Alliance] & Ikuto Hidaka [Perros del Mal de Japon] (Fujita > Hidaka, Powerbomb, 12:17)

GHC Juniorheavyweight Championship: HAYATA [STINGER] © d. Yoshinari Ogawa [STINGER] (Pinfall, 20:54) - HAYATA succeeds his 8th defense

GHC Tag Team Championship: Keiji Muto & Naomichi Marufuji [M’s Alliance] © d. Masato Tanaka & Masaaki Mochizuki [M’s Alliance] (Muto > Mochizuki, Figure-4 Leglock, 20:50) - Muto/Marufuji succeed their 1st defense

Takashi Sugiura [Sugiura-gun], Kazushi Sakuraba [Sugiura-gun] & KENTA [Bullet Club] d. Masa Kitamiya, Daiki Inaba & Yoshiki Inamura (KENTA > Inamura, Go2Sleep, 25:46)

GHC National Championship: Kenoh [Kongo] © d. Kaito Kiyomiya (Referee Stoppage, 24:42) - Kenoh succeeds his 2nd defense

GHC Heavyweight Championship: Katsuhiko Nakajima [Kongo] © d. Go Shiozaki (Northern Lights Bomb, 30:10) - Nakajima succeeds his 3rd defense

No titles changed hands during this megashow, meaning Nakajima and Kenoh both main event Wrestle Kingdom 16 in Yokohama Arena with their titles in hand against Los Ingobernables de Japon. I fully recommend the top 4 matches on this show, however the junior title match was alright too, and has some tension behind it, being between not only stablemates but shared GHC junior tag champions. In fact, Ogawa threw down his tag belt post-match. The M’s Alliance all shared a moment in the ring after one side defeated the other. KENTA wins his first “real” match back in NOAH since going to WWE, beating Yoshiki Inamura, who is a massive tank of a man. Takashi Sugiura and Masato Tanaka had a busy night, as they wrestled each other earlier at Tokyo Korakuen Hall for Pro Wrestling ZERO1’s Happy New Year show, with Sugiura defeating Tanaka to retain the ZERO1 World Heavyweight title. That show is also on Wrestle Universe. This is a show you should check out overall, the setup was fantastic in Nippon Budokan.

NOAH runs their next show on January 4, 2022, during WK16.

NOAH New Sunrise 2022 - January 4, 2022, Tokyo Korakuen Hall (Wrestle Universe, ABEMA)

Kai Fujimura v. Yasutaka Yano

King Tany & Muhamma Yone [Funky Express] v. Junta Miyawaki & Kinya Okada

NOSAWA Rongai & Eita [Perros del Mal de Japon] v. Nao & Nio [Kongo]

Atsushi Kotoge v. Seiki Yoshioka [STINGER]

Takashi Sugiura, Kazushi Sakuraba & Kazuyuki Fujita [Sugiura-gun] v. Masato Tanaka [M’s Alliance], Masaaki Mochizuki [M’s Alliance] & Daiki Inaba

Katsuhiko Nakajima, Kenoh, Manabu Soya, Tadasuke & ALEJA [Kongo] v. Naomichi Marufuji [M’s Alliance], Masa Kitamiya, Yoshiki Inamura, Daisuke Harada & Hajime Ohara

Go Shiozaki v. Kaito Miyomiya

GHC Juniorheavyweight Tag Team Championship: HAYATA & Yoshinari Ogawa [STINGER] © v. YO-HEY & Kotaro Suzuki [Perros del Mal de Japon]

All Japan Pro Wrestling

AJPW ran their first show of the year today from Tokyo Korakuen Hall. You can see it now on AJPW.tv. It was supposed to be headlined by Jake Lee defending the Triple Crown against Big Japan’s Abdullah Kobayashi, however Lee was forced to vacate the title earlier this week, after suffering fractured nasal and orbital bones in a match on 12/26/2021 against Ryuki Honda. No word on his return, nor what will become of the Triple Crown in the meantime.

New Year Wars - January 2, 2022, Tokyo Korakuen Hall (AJPW.tv)

Ryo Inoue Debut Singles Match: Dan Tamura [Evolution] d. Ryo Inoue (Boston Crab, 6:24)

Shuji Ishikawa & Jun Saito d. Rei Saito & Rising HAYATO [NEXTREAM] (Jun > Rei, Boston Crab, 9:45)

Masanobu Fuchi, Takao Omori, Black Menso-re, TAMURA & Andy Wu d. Yoshitatsu, Seigo Tachibana, Takayuki Ueki, Baliyan Akki & Raimu Imai [Yoshitatsu Kingdom] (Omori > Tachibana, Ax Bomber, 7:15)

Super Crazy, TAJIRI & CIMA [STRONGHEARTS] d. Izanagi, SUGI & MASASHI (Crazy > SUGI, Powerbomb, 10:01)

New Year Battle Royale: Rising HAYATO [NEXTREAM] d. Shigehiro Irie, Raimu Imai [Yoshitatsu Kingdom], Ryo Inoue, Takao Omori, Dan Tamura, TAMURA, Jun Saito, Rei Saito, Andy Wu, Black Menso-re, Shuji Ishikawa, Yoshitatsu [Yoshitatsu Kingdom], Baliyan Akki [Yoshitatsu Kingdom], Takayuki Ueki [Yoshitatsu Kingdom], Seigo Tachibana [Yoshitatsu Kingdom] & Devil Murasaki (7:54)

Kento Miyahara, Yuma Aoyagi & Atsuki Aoyagi [NEXTREAM] d. Suwama, Shotaro Ashino & Hikaru Sato [Evolution] (Yuma > Ashino, Spin Kick, 11:44)

Abdullah Kobayashi, Ryuji Ito & Daisuke Sekimoto [BJW] d. Koji Doi [TOTAL ECLIPSE], Kuma Arashi [TOTAL ECLIPSE] & Ryuki Honda (Kobayashi > Arashi, Diving Back Elbow Drop, 9:19)

All Asia Tag Team Championship: Hokuto Omori & Yusuke Kodama [TOTAL ECLIPSE] d. T-Hawk & El Lindaman [STRONGHEARTS] © (Omori > Lindaman, , 14:40) - T-Hawk/Lindaman fail their 3rd defense - Omori/Kodama are the 112th champions

Representing TOTAL ECLIPSE, Omori & Kodama won this chance through winning the Jr. Tag Battle Of Glory one-day tournament on 12/26/2021. NEXTREAM gets a direct pin on Evolution, leading into tomorrow’s World Tag Team Championship match, with Runaway SUPLEX defending against the 2021 World’s Strongest Tag Determination League winners Kento Miyahara & Yuma Aoyagi. The card below is not the final order.

- January 3, 2022, Tokyo Korakuen Hall (AJPW.tv)

Ryo Inoue v. Seigo Tachibana [Yoshitatsu Kingdom]

Dan Tamura [Evolution], Hikaru Sato [Evolution] & Ryuji Hijikata v. Black Menso-re, Hiroshi Yamato & Andy Wu

Hokuto Omori [TOTAL ECLIPSE], Yusuke Kodama [TOTAL ECLIPSE] & Ryuki Honda v. Atsuki Aomori [NEXTREAM], Rising HAYATO [NEXTREAM] & Yu Iizuka

TAJIRI & Kuma Arashi [TOTAL ECLIPSE] v. Izanagi & Devil Murasaki

Shuji Ishikawa, Takao Omori & Ren Ayabe [JTO] v. Yoshitatsu [Yoshitatsu Kingdom], Jun Saito & Rei Saito

GAORA TV Championship: Shigehiro Irie © v. Koji Doi [TOTAL ECLIPSE]

World Juniorheavyweight Championship: Super Crazy © v. SUGI

World Tag Team Championship: Suwama & Shotaro Ashino [Evolution] © v. Kento Miyahara & Yuma Aoyagi [NEXTREAM]

Other News

Big Japan ran today at Korakuen Hall as well, with Yuji Okabayashi winning the BJW World Strong Heavyweight Championship for the 4th time, defeating Takuya Nomura on his 4th defense of the title.

GLEAT ran a show on 12/30/2021 that included the first half of the show being all Lidet UWF matches, all of which I highly recommend. Featuring the likes of Minoru Suzuki, Chihiro Hashimoto and Shuji Ishikawa, that half of the show slapped, so go watch it now on YouTube (honestly, the G-Pro Wrestling portion of GLEAT I can take or leave).

Minoru Suzuki also main evented at Hard Hit’s show yesterday at Shinkiba 1st-RING, beating Hikaru Sato after 40:28.

A lot of shows have run over the holiday period. I cannot list all of them.

So as you can tell, I’m trying something different with this blog thing. I am going to post on Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays… I think. Special occasions (i.e. Wrestle Kingdom Week) will prompt more. I may end up hating this format very soon, and revert back to how it was before. NJPW is still my primary focus, but I wanna talk other wrestling too on my wrestling blog.

In the meantime, I’ve had not one but two 2021 In Review articles posted at FanFyte – one all about Shingo Takagi rescuing NJPW’s 2021, but also how Matt Cardona was the heel of the year based on his work in Game Changer Wrestling. Please take a look at these, as well as other great pieces on the site covering the best of 2021 in pro wrestling.

@damascenocs and I recorded the penultimate episode of the podcast yesterday, and I’ll be editing and posting that later today.

Hope you like this new format, and I do too.

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gdwessel · 3 years

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Road to Wrestle Grand Slam Night 2 - 5/24/2021; Kazuchika Okada Reveals His Positive COVID-19 Diagnosis; State Of Emergency May Extend to 6/20/2021 While USA Issues Do Not Travel Advisory; Ryogoku Kokugikan Used As Vaccination Site

The tour resumed today, with a show you can see now on NJPWWorld. - 5/24/2021, Tokyo Korakuen Hall (NJPWWorld)

Yujiro Takahashi [Bullet Club] d. Yota Tsuji (Pimp Juice, 8:24)

Zack Sabre Jr. & DOUKI [SZKG] d. Chase Owens & Gedo [Bullet Club] (Sabre > Gedo, Straitjacket Sleeper, 10:58)

Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa [Bullet Club] d. Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Tomoaki Honma (Loa > Honma, OJK, 9:12)

Jeff Cobb & Great O-Khan [United Empire] d. Kota Ibushi & Master Wato (Cobb > Wato, Tour Of The Islands, 14:11)

Tetsuya Naito, SANADA, Shingo Takagi & BUSHI [Los Ingobernables] d. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Hirooki Goto [CHAOS], Tomohiro Ishii [CHAOS] & YOSHI-HASHI [CHAOS] (Takagi > YOSHI-HASHI, Last Of The Dragon, 16:18)

Shingo once again reiterated he wants to be part of the match (or tournament) that fills the vacant IWGP World Heavyweight title. Naito and Shingo got into it with Ishii post-match as well, with Naito getting a fake pin on Ishii. The saga of Ibushi v. Cobb continues as well. Taichi was ringside to stare down Tanga Loa as they starting building back to the IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team title match.

Tokyo Sports published a report that Kazuchika Okada has become the first person to reveal he was positive for COVID-19 in the recent outbreak that infected 8 other wrestlers. He also reports he got hooked on Korean dramas whilst in quarantine, which, LOL. Okada's wife, Suzuko Mimori, also went into her own quarantine following the diagnosis. It's good Okada is saying all this, and there really should be no shame attached to being infected by the coronavirus that caused a global pandemic. I'm still not sure why NJPW and Bushiroad are keeping this all a secret. Dragon Gate were pretty forthcoming about Ben-K and possibly Dragon Dia being infected (Ben-K did test positive, never heard about Dragon Dia that I've seen although he has not been on shows. Neither is Naruki Doi.). NOAH recently announced Kotaro Suzuki also tested positive, and wrestlers YO-HEY and Yasutaka Yano would also be missing due to being in close contact. NJPW's own announcement about the withdrawals of talent on 5/4/2021 all but said it was Okada, but fell short of it. People SHOULD know. And as to "How did he get infected?," there is speculation that it could have been during his Olympic torch run, which to be fair, the relay has become a vector for infections, including several IOC members in attendance at one event. However, Okada's run was on 4/6/2021, so unless it incubated really slowly, I don't think that was it.

In the meantime, the government, who is no closer to cancelling the Olympics despite an overwhelming majority of the people against them happening, is looking to extend the state of emergency further to 6/20/2021. That date is when the new measures in Okinawa, which just took effect yesterday, are due to expire. This will run up against the Dominion cycle of shows, including Dominion itself at Osaka-jo Hall on 6/6/2021. With Osaka being part of the state of emergency this may put a damper on those plans. It may also see the already-rescheduled All Japan Pro Wrestling Champions Night, already moved to a June date at Tokyo Ota Ward Gymnasium, be pushed out further, or as they did in NOAH, moved to a different venue. Fun times!

With this in mind, the US government has now issued a Do Not Travel Advisory for Japan, which is going to possibly disrupt the Olympics now. We keep saying this any second now they are going to be cancelled, and so far they have not been. The USA not going over there might be one of the things that tips that over the edge. Good possibility this could affect upcoming NJPW events as well. But this is only an Advisory, not a full travel ban. It’s two months until the Olympics are supposed to start.

One place that won't be running any NJPW, or other cards, anytime soon is Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan. Following the conclusion of the May sumo basho yesterday, Sumo Hall is now a vaccination site. This isn't that unusual; here in Chicago, the United Center (the home stadium of the Chicago Bulls and Blackhawks, neither of whom are in their respective league playoffs) is being used as a site too.

The tour continues tomorrow.

- 5/25/2021, Tokyo Korakuen Hall (NJPWWorld)

Yota Tsuji v. Chase Owens [Bullet Club]

Zack Sabre Jr. & DOUKI [SZKG] v. Yujiro Takahashi & Taiji Ishimori [Bullet Club]

Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Master Wato v. Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa [Bullet Club]

Hirooki Goto [CHAOS], Tomohiro Ishii [CHAOS], YOSHI-HASHI [CHAOS] & Ryusuke Taguchi v. Tetsuya Naito, SANADA, Shingo Takagi & BUSHI [Los Ingobernables]

Kota Ibushi & Hiroshi Tanahashi v. Jeff Cobb & Great O-Khan [United Empire]

#NJPW #new japan pro wrestling #Shingo Takagi #Kazuchika Okada #COVID-19 #Tokyo Olympics #Ryogoku Kokugikan #njpwworld

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gdwessel · 2 years

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NOAH Just Fine! Nights 2 + 3 - 3/23 & 3/24/2022: Title Match, Surprise Attack from Z-Brats, As Sumo Hall Shows Begin Build; New Japan Cup Weekend Cards For Real This Time; Dragon Gate, GLEAT Results

Pro Wrestling NOAH

NOAH was back in Korakuen Hall for two shows this week, both of which are on either ABEMA, Wrestle Universe, or both.

Just Fine! 2022 - 3/23/2022, Tokyo Korakuen Hall (ABEMA)

Tadasuke [Kongo] d. Kai Fujimura (Fuyuki Special, 6:50)

King Tany & Muhammad Yone [Funky Express] d. Masaaki Mochizuki [Dragon Gate] & Kinya Okada (Tany > Okada, Funky Press, 10:37)

Daisuke Harada, Alejandro & Junta Miyawaki NC NOSAWA Rongai, Kotaro Suzuki & Super Crazy [Perros del Mal de Japon] (10:33)

Kaito Kiyomiya & HAYATA [STINGER] d. Yoshinari Ogawa [STINGER] & Yasutaka Yano (Kiyomiya > Yano, Dropkick, 14:17)

Takashi Sugiura, Hideki Suzuki & Masato Tanaka [M’s Alliance] d. Masa Kitamiya, Daiki Inaba & Yoshiki Inamura (Suzuki > Inamura, Royal Stretch, 15:34)

Eita [Perros del Mal de Japon] NC YO-HEY (10:43)

Kazuyuki Fujita, Naomichi Marufuji, Atsushi Kotoge & Hao v. Kenoh, Manabu Soya, Hajime Ohara & Nio [Kongo] (Fujita > Nio, Powerbomb, 16:02)

Go Shiozaki d. Katsuhiko Nakajima [Kongo] (Strongarm Lariat, 17:20)

Does the M’s Alliance exist anymore? I don’t think it does, as Masato Tanaka seems part of Sugiura-gun now. I guess I’m not listing them anymore til I see they are back, but NOAH’s own website seems to think they are done. I dunno. Go Shiozaki gets a big win over Katsuhiko Nakajima, whom he failed to beat at NOAH The New Year; he then challenged Kazuyuki Fujita, who was not originally on this card, for the GHC Heavyweight title, with both men declaring “I Am NOAH.” That match will be on Night 2 of NOAH’s upcoming residency at Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan on 4/29 & 4/30/2022. Please, God, let Shiozaki win it.

Two no-contests in the junior matches. HAYATA attacked and bust open Eita with the GHC junior belt, making his challenge, presumably for Sumo Hall. The 6-man between NOAH v. Perros del Mal de Japon went to a no-contest, after three masked men attacked. It turned out to be three members of Dragon Gate’s Z-Brats unit, HYO, SB KENTo and Shun Skywalker, making a challenge to Daisuke Harada, Alejandro & Junta Miyawaki for the first night at Ryogoku, 4/29/2022. Ironically, those three members of Z-Brats were the main instigators for Eita being removed from R.E.D. along with Kaito Ishida, which begat not only Z-Brats, but Ishida’s new unit Gold Class. Surprisingly, Eita was not directly attacked by Z-Brats, but then again, that can happen in DG anytime. (DG were off yesterday too, hence the availability.)

Along with the challenges for Sumo Hall beginning, NOAH announced that IWRG’s Dragon Bane and Alpha Wolf (aka El Hijo de Canis Lupus), GCW’s Ninja Mack (aka Kamikaze when he works AAA), Rene Dupree and El Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr. would all be appearing at the events. I already know Bane v. Mack v. Canis Lupus has been booked. Should be a fun one, although I could swear that match may have been done in GCW before?

- 3/24/2022, Tokyo Korakuen Hall (Wrestle Universe)

Masa Kitamiya, Muhammad Yone [Funky Express], Yoshiki Inamura & Junta Miyawaki d. Masaaki Mochizuki, King Tany [Funky Express], Kinya Okada & Yasutaka Yano (Inamura > Okada, Shoulder Tackle, 11:44)

Super Crazy [Perros del Mal de Japon] d. Alejandro (La Guitara, 6:13)

Tadasuke, Hajime Ohara & Nio [Kongo] d. Atsushi Kotoge, YO-HEY & Hao (Ohara > Kotoge, Muy Bien, 14:25)

Masato Tanaka [Sugiura-gun] d. Daisuke Harada (Sliding D, 13:45)

HAYATA, Yoshinari Ogawa & Yuya Susumu [STINGER] d. NOSAWA Rongai, Eita & Kotaro Suzuki [Perros del Mal de Japon] (HAYATA > Eita, Headache, 1:44)

Naomichi Marufuji d. Daiki Inaba (Shin Toraou, 17:14)

Kenoh, Katsuhiko Nakajima & Manabu Soya [Kongo] d. Takashi Sugiura [Sugiura-gun], Go Shiozaki & Kaito Kiyomiya (Kenoh > Sugiura, Rear Naked Choke, 21:04)

GHC National Championship: Masakatsu Funaki [Kongo] © d. Hideki Suzuki [Sugiura-gun] (Ankle Lock, 8:14) - Funaki succeeds his 2nd defense

Funaki said he wasn’t going to lose to someone who just came back from WWE. Ouch. Kenoh & Nakajima challenged Sugiura & Hideki Suzuki for the GHC heavyweight tag belts, with Kenoh saying NOAH is no playground for old men, who, to be fair, are winning all the belts lately. Tadasuke & Ohara challenged Kotoge/YO-HEY for the junior tag belts; that match happens in Gunma on 4/3/2022, the start of the next tour. I think this is the first time I have seen Yoshiki Inamura get a win himself since I’ve started covering NOAH...

NOAH are done for the month of March, returning with the first night of Real Overture 2022 on 4/3/2022 in Gunma.

New Japan Pro Wrestling

So I didn’t notice until an hour after I hit Post that I completely forgot to post the lineups for this weekend’s New Japan Cup 2022 tour-ending events at Osaka-jo Hall. I also forgot to do the tags on the post, too.

I may have mentioned in the post previous to that one that my brain may have been mushy goop by the time I posted due to not only finally seeing Gary Numan the night before (which was awesome) but also having a massively major thing going on at my day job; that massively major thing continued into yesterday, and I was so burnt at the end of yesterday I didn’t even watch AEW Dynamite because it seemed like too much of a mental commitment.

So here are this weekend’s cards. As of right now, the Sunday show has no matches listed beyond the TBD Final.:

- 3/26/2022, Osaka Osaka-jo Hall

Hiroshi Tanahashi, Tama Tonga [GoD], Tanga Loa [GoD], Ryusuke Taguchi & Master Wato v. Bad Luck Fale, Chase Owens, Gedo, Taiji Ishimori & El Phantasmo [Bullet Club]

Toru Yano [CHAOS], Tomohiro Ishii [CHAOS] & Togi Makabe v. Taichi, Minoru Suzuki & Yoshinobu Kanemaru [SZKG]

El Desperado, TAKA Michinoku & DOUKI [SZKG] v. SHO, EVIL & Yujiro Takahashi [Bullet Club]

Hirooki Goto [CHAOS], Tomoaki Honma & Tiger Mask IV v. CIMA, T-Hawk & El Lindaman [#STRONGHEARTS]

YOSHI-HASHI & YOH [CHAOS] v. Jeff Cobb & Great O-Khan [United Empire]

Hiromu Takahashi & BUSHI [Los Ingobernables] v. Will Ospreay & Aaron Henare [United Empire]

New Japan Cup 2022 Semifinal: Shingo Takagi [Los Ingobernables] v. Zack Sabre Jr. [SZKG]

New Japan Cup 2022 Semifinal: Kazuchika Okada [CHAOS] v. Tetsuya Naito [Los Ingobernables]

- 3/27/2022, Osaka Osaka-jo Hall

New Japan Cup 2022 Final: TBD

More TBA

Dragon Gate

The tour resumed today, with another homecoming show, this one for Natural Vibes’ Jacky “Funky” Kamei.

Glorious Gate 2022 – Final Burst Out! K-Ness Forever Night 8 - 3/24/2022, Tottori Sangyo Gymnasium

Kota Minoura, Kaito Ishida & Minorita [Gold Class] d. Takashi Yoshida, La Estrella & Ishin Iihashi (Minoura > Iihashi, R-301, 11:55)

SB KENTo & Shun Skywalker [Z-Brats] d. Keisuke Okuda [HIGH-END] & Ryu Fuda (KENTo > Fuda, SB Shooter, 8:58)

KAI, HYO & Diamante [Z-Brats] d. Susumu Yokosuka [Natural Vibes], U-T [Natural Vibes] & Mondai Ryu (HYO > Ryu, Neko Tamashi, 8:57)

Dragon Dia & Yuki Yoshioka [D’Courage] d. Jason Lee & Ho Ho Lun (Yoshioka > Lun, Frog Splash, 11:23)

Jacky “Funky” Kamei, Kzy, Big Boss Shimizu & Genki Horiguchi [Natural Vibes] v. YAMATO, Dragon Kid, Kagetora & Ben-K [HIGH-END] (Kamei > Kagetora, Jackyknife, 18:49)

JFK gets his homecoming win. Well so much for my Jason Lee/Ho Ho Lun dream. But hey, maybe it’ll happen.

The tour wraps up this weekend with shows on Saturday and Sunday.

GLEAT held G PROWRESTLING Ver.20 yesterday, and you can see it now on YouTube. It looks like the new unit of Keiichi Sato, Jun Tonsho & Tetsuya Izuchi are known as 60 Seconds.

GLEAT G PROWRESTLING Ver.20 - 3/23/2022, Tokyo Shinjuku FACE (YouTube)

KAZMA SAKAMOTO & Hayato Tamura [BULK Orchestra] d. CIMA & Issei Onitsuka [#STRONGHEARTS] (10:59)

Madeline, Michiko Miyagi & Yukari Hosokawa d. Kaho Matsushita, Tsukasa Fujimoto & Yappy (8:53)

Leo Isaka & Yu iizuka d. Masato Kamino & TiiiDA (10:40)

Nobuhiro Shimatani d. Kaz Hayashi (7:09)

Ryuichi Kawakami & Quiet Storm [BULK Orchestra] d. El Lindaman &T-Hawk [#STRONGHEARTS] (14:10)

Jun Tonsho, Keiichi Sato & Tetsuya Izuchi [60 Seconds] d. Takanori Ito, Minoru Tanaka & Soma Watanabe (19:47)

The new unit gets a win. I am willing to bet the result of the semi-main leads directly to the first defense of the G-REX title.

Busy weekend coming up, between the New Japan Cup finale and STARDOM’s time at Sumo Hall. DDT and Tokyo Joshi return this weekend too. See you Sunday.

#Pro Wrestling NOAH #noah_ghc #masakatsu funaki #go shiozaki #Kazuyuki Fujita #ninja mack #dragon bane #hijo de canis lupus #hyo #sb kento #shun skywalker #z-brats #Dragon Gate #jacky funky kamei #New Japan Cup #njcup #gleat #Abema #wrestle universe

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gdwessel · 2 years

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AJPW Champions Night 3 - 3/21/2022; NOAH Great Voyage 2022 in Fukuoka - 3/21/2022; New Japan Cup 2022 Night 13 - 3/21/2022; Dragon Gate, STARDOM Results

All Japan Pro Wrestling

Champions Night 3 took place yesterday, and you can see it on AJPW.tv. Despite being called Champions Night, only two title matches were on the card. Jake Lee made his return to the ring following his facial injury in January too.

Champions Night 3 - 3/21/2022, Tokyo Ota Ward Gymnasium (AJPW.tv)

Hiroshi Yamao, Andy Wu & Seigo Tachibana d. Ryo INoue, SUGI & Takato Nakano (Yamato > Inoue, Fisherman’s Suplex Hold, 9:39)

Yoshitatsu, Raimu Imai & Carbell Ito d. Izanagi, Shigehiro Irie & SUSHI (Yoshitatsu > SUSHI, Yoshitatsu Rhapsody, 10:23)

Dan Tamura [Evolution] & Abdullah Kobayashi [BJW] d. Takao Omori & Black Menso-re (Kobayashi > Menso-re, Diving Bakachinger Elbow Drop, 11:31)

Last Man Standing: Shotaro Ashino [Evolution] d. Ryuki Honda [TOTAL ECLIPSE] (KO, 12:31)

Tatsumi Fujinami, Mitsuya Nagai & LEONA [Dradition] d. Yuma Aoyagi, Atsuki Aoyagi & Rising HAYATO [NEXTREAM] (Fujinami > Atsuki, Dragon Sleeper, 12:16)

World Juniorheavyweight Championship: Hikaru Sato [Evolution] © d. Hokuto Omori [TOTAL ECLIPSE] (Backdrop Hold, 16:39) - Sato succeeds his 1st defense

Jake Lee Return Match - Voodoo Murders v. TOTAL ECLIPSE Special 10-Man Match: Suwama, TARU, Shuji Kondo, KONO & Toshizo [Voodoo Murders] NC Jake Lee, TAJIRI, Koji Doi, Kuma Arashi & Yusuke Kodama [TOTAL ECLIPSE] (12:51)

Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship: Kento Miyahara [NEXTREAM] © d. Shuji Ishikawa (Shutdown Suplex, 32:28) - Miyahara succeeds his 2nd defense

Kento Miyahara remains the Ace Of Our Hearts. We won’t know his next challenger until Champion Carnival 2022 takes place next month. Cards for those shows are starting to get announced. I’ll be posting them in an Upcoming Events post soon.

Jake Lee’s return match was a match of heel stables past and present in AJPW, with the return of Voodoo Murders, and it went about as expected, ending in a no-contest. No belts changed hands on this night. Ashino v. Honda was a Last Man Standing match, which I don’t think they announced beforehand. Oh well. Tatsumi Fujinami, his son LEONA and Mitsuya Nagai dropped by from Dradition.

The next 2022 Dream Power Series event is on Sunday from Saitama. Two title matches are on that show too, but in the undercard.

Pro Wrestling NOAH

Yesterday also had NOAH’s Great Voyage In Fukuoka, which you can see now on both ABEMA and Wrestle Universe. I think. Several title matches took place here as well.

Great Voyage 2022 in Fukuoka - 3/21/2022, Fukuoka International Center (ABEMA)

Masa Kitamiya, Yoshiki Inamura & Kinya Okada d. King Tany, Muhammad Yone & Akitoshi Saito [Funky Express] (Kitamiya > Tany, Saito Suplex, 10:59)

Tadasuke, Hajime Ohara & Nio [Kongo] d. Hao, Alejandro & Kai Fujimura (Tadasuke > Fujimura, Jidanda Lariat, 13:07)

Naomichi Marufuji [M’s Alliance] d. Yasutaka Yano (Headlock, 11:01)

HAYATA & Yoshinari Ogawa [STINGER] d. Eita & Super Crazy [Perros del Mal de Japon] (HAYATA > Eita, DQ, 9:54)

Kaito Kiyomiya & Daiki Inaba d. Daisuke Harada & Junta Miyawaki (Kiyomiya > Miyawaki, Stretch Plum, 17:33)

Go Shiozaki d. Masaaki Mochizuki [M’s Alliance] (Strongarm Lariat, 16:49)

GHC Juniorheavyweight Tag Team Championship: Atsushi Kotoge & YO-HEY © d. NOSAWA Rongai & Kotaro Suzuki [Perros del Mal de Japon] (YO-HEY > Rongai, Dropkick, 23:06) - Kotoge/YO-HEY succeed their 1st defense

Takashi Sugiura, Hideki Suzuki, Kazushi Sakuraba & Kendo Kashin [Sugiura-gun] d. Kenoh, Katsuhiko Nakajima, Masakatsu Funaki & Manabu Soya [Kongo] (Suzuki > Soya, European Clutch, 18:22)

GHC Heavyweight Championship: Kazuyuki Fujita [Sugiura-gun] © d. Masato Tanaka [M’s Alliance] (Powerbomb, 31:28) - Fujita succeeds his 1st defense

NOAH going the complete opposite direction of AJPW, trending much older in their champions. Kazuyuki Fujita blows, I hate him, I wish he’d go away. Hideki Suzuki gets a win over Kongo on the way to his GHC National title challenge against Masakatsu Funaki on Thursday. YO-HEY gets a direct win over the man who kicked him out of Perros del Mal de Japon. Go Shiozaki gets a singles win against the veteran Mochizuki, on the way to his singles match against Katsuhiko Nakajima tomorrow. It’s always good to see Funky Express, yeah?

Tomorrow’s Korakuen Hall show is on ABEMA, Thursday’s is on Wrestle Universe.

Just Fine! 2022 - 3/23/2022, Tokyo Korakuen Hall (ABEMA)

Tadasuke [Kongo] v. Kai Fujimura

King Tany & Muhammad Yone [Funky Express] v. Masaaki Mochizuki [M’s Alliance] & Kinya Okada

Daisuke Harada, Alejandro & Junta Miyawaki v. NOSAWA Rongai, Kotaro Suzuki & Super Crazy [Perros del Mal de Japon]

Kaito Kiyomiya & HAYATA [STINGER] v. Yoshinari Ogawa [STINGER] & Yasutaka Yano

Takashi Sugiura [Sugiura-gun], Hideki Suzuki [Sugiura-gun] & Masato Tanaka [M’s Alliance] v. Masa Kitamiya, Daiki Inaba & Yoshiki Inamura

Eita [Perros del Mal de Japon] v. YO-HEY

Naomichi Marufuji [M’s Alliance], Atsushi Kotoge & Hao v. Manabu Soya, Hajime Ohara & Nio [Kongo]

Katsuhiko Nakajima [Kongo] v. Go Shiozaki

- 3/24/2022, Tokyo Korakuen Hall (Wrestle Universe)

Masaaki Mochizuki [M’s Alliance], King Tany [Funky Express], Kinya Okada & Yasutaka Yano v. Masa Kitamiya, Muhammad Yone [Funky Express], Yoshiki Inamura & Junta Miyawaki

Alejandro v. Super Crazy [Perros del Mal de Japon]

Atsushi Kotoge, YO-HEY & Hao v. Tadasuke, Hajime Ohara & Nio [Kongo]

Masato Tanaka [M’s Alliance] v. Daisuke Harada

NOSAWA Rongai, Eita & Kotaro Suzuki [Perros del Mal de Japon] v. HAYATA, Yoshinari Ogawa & Yuya Susumu [STINGER]

Naomichi Marufuji [M’s Alliance] v. Daiki Inaba

Takashi Sugiura [Sugiura-gun], Go Shiozaki & Kaito Kiyomiya v. Kenoh, Katsuhiko Nakajima & Manabu Soya [Kongo]

GHC National Championship: Masakatsu Funaki [Kongo] (c) v. Hideki Suzuki [Sugiura-gun]

New Japan Pro Wrestling

The semifinals for this year’s New Japan Cup are set, and they are good ones. You can see yesterday’s quarterfinal matches on NJPWWorld.

- 3/21/2022, Niigata Ao-re Nagaoka

Satoshi Kojima, Tiger Mask IV & Yuto Nakashima d. Togi Makabe, Ryohei Oiwa & Kosei Fujita (Kojima > Oiwa, Koji Cutter, 7:15)

Toru Yano [CHAOS], Tomohiro Ishii [CHAOS] & Hiroshi Tanahashi d. Taichi, Minoru Suzuki & DOUKI [SZKG] (Tanahashi > DOUKI, High Fly Flow, 10:27)

Bad Luck Fale, Chase Owens, Gedo, Taiji Ishimori & El Phantasmo [Bullet Club] d. Tama Tonga [GoD], Tanga Loa [GoD], Jado [GoD], Ryusuke Taguchi & Master Wato (ELP > Taguchi, CR II, 9:39)

SHO, EVIL & Yujiro Takahashi [Bullet Club] d. El Desperado, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & TAKA Michinoku [SZKG] (Yujiro > TAKA, Big Juice, 10:39)

Jeff Cobb, Great O-Khan & Aaron Henare [United Empire] d. Hirooki Goto [CHAOS], YOSHI-HASHI [CHAOS] & Tomoaki Honma (Cobb > Honma, Tour Of The Islands, 10:45)

Kazuchika Okada & YOH [CHAOS] d. Tetsuya Naito & BUSHI [Los Ingobernables] (YOH > BUSHI, Five Star Clutch, 10:08)

New Japan Cup 2022 Quarterfinal: Shingo Takagi [Los Ingobernables] d. Hiromu Takahashi [Los Ingobernables] (Last Of The Dragon, 23:43)

New Japan Cup 2022 Quarterfinal: Zack Sabre Jr. [SZKG] d. Will Ospreay [United Empire] (Selected Technical Works Vol.2, 23:04)

I’m a little miffed in a way that Hiromu didn’t get the win over his stablemate, but then again, his stablemate pretty much carried the promotion last year, and it’s about time he gets recognized for that. I’m also a little disappointed in a weird way that Ospreay didn’t go over Sabre; it’s not out of any love for Ospreay, but Shingo deserved to finally get a big win over him, after last year’s defeats, and not being able to defend the IWGP World Heavyweight title against the pretender. Seems a little backwards booking-wise. Shingo v. Sabre will be good regardless.

Hiroshi Tanahashi made the post-match save against the combined Guerrillas of Destiny / Team Six Or Nine tandem, after the Bullet Club beat them down in defeat. Post-match, Tama Tonga said he was a little annoyed that he had to be saved by Tana when before GoD were the ones delivering the beatdowns. But hey, more character and story development eh?

NJPW is off until Saturday, when the semi-finals and Finals take place at Osaka-jo Hall. If you are watching the current sumo basho in Osaka, don’t be surprised if you see Kazuchika Okada show up on one of the final days as it’s wrapping up. Okada was sighted at the Osaka basho (which always takes place in March) in 2018 and 2019, however this is the first running of this basho in Osaka since the pandemic, as March 2020 was cancelled ourright, and March 2021 was held in Ryogoku Kokugikan. Regardless, here’s the lineups for the weekend tour-ender.

Dragon Gate

The Glorious Gate 2022 tour continued this week. Today’s show was the homecoming for Dragon Dia, with a special title match main event added on Sunday for that occasion. That show was not streamed live, but will be on Dragon Gate Network soon.

Glorious Gate 2022 – Final Burst Out! K-Ness Forever Night 6 - 3/21/2022, Saitama Fureai Cube Kasukabe

Naruki Doi, Kota Minoura, Kaito Ishida & Minorita [Gold Class] d. YAMATO, Dragon Kid, Ben-K & Keisuke Okuda [HIGH-END] (Minoura > Okuda, R-301, 12:01)

Kagetora [HIGH-END] d. Ishin Iihashi (Armlock, 8:57)

Jason Lee & Ho Ho Lun d. Genki Horiguchi & Jacky “Funky” Kamei [Natural Vibes] (Lee > Kamei, Maximum Driver, 8:16)

Diamante [Z-Brats] d. Takuma Fujiwara (Vuelta Finale, 9:19)

Dragon Dia & Yuki Yoshioka [D’Courage] d. Yasushi Kanda & Strong Machine J (Yoshioka > J, Inferno, 9:35)

Kzy, Susumu Yokosuka, Big Boss Shimizu & U-T [Natural Vibes] d. KAI, HYO, SB KENTo & Shun Skywalker [Z-Brats] (U-T > HYP, Hikari no Wa, 14:28)

Glorious Gate 2022 – Final Burst Out! K-Ness Forever Night 7 - 3/22/2022, Nagano Suzaka Municipal Gym

Kota Minoura, Kaito Ishida & Minorita [Gold Class] d. Ben-K [HIGH-END], Keisuke Okuda [HIGH-END] & Ryu Fuda (Minoura > Fuda, R-301, 11:51)

Jason Lee & Ho Ho Lun d. Yasushi Kanda & Strong Machine J (Lee > J, Game Of Death, 7:08)

KAI, Diamante & Shun Skywalker [Z-Brats] d. Kzy, U-T & Jacky “Funky” Kamei [Natural Vibes] (Skywalker > Kamei, SSW, 9:18)

Susumu Yokosuka [Natural Vibes], Big Boss Shimizu [Natural Vibes], Genki Horiguchi [Natural Vibes] & Toru Owashi [DDT] d. YAMATO [HIGH-END], Dragon Kid [HIGH-END], Kagetora [HIGH-END] & Ishin Iihashi (Shimizu > Iihashi, Big Boss Press, 9:48)

Open The Twin Gate Championship: Dragon Dia & Yuki Yoshioka [D’Courage] © d. HYO & SB KENTo [Z-Brats] (Dia > HYO, Firebird Splash, 15:32) - D’Courage succeed their 3rd defense

Dia wins in his hometown, as SB KENTo makes a challenge to Dia for his Open The Brave Gate title. That match has now been set for Dead Or Alive 2022, on 5/5/2022. This also is the first match since the formation of Gold Class that has not seen Naruki Doi in the match. Not for nothing, Jason Lee & Ho Ho Lun as a tandem did pretty good on these two shows. It may not be a long lasting thing, but could be fun while it lasts?

DG take tomorrow off, and resume on Thursday in Tottori.

STARDOM

STARDOM ran their final show before this weekend’s big events at Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan. A title match, as well as a supposed final team-up took place on this one.

- 3/21/2022, Aichi Nagoya Congress Center

MIRAI [Donna del Mondo] d. Miyu Amasaki [Queen’s Quest]

Koguma & Hanan [STARS] d. Hazuki [STARS] & Momo Kohgo (Koguma > Kohgo, 8:15)

Maika, Himeka, Natsupoi & Mai Sakurai [Donna del Mondo] d. Tam Nakano, Mina Shirakawa, Unagi Sayaka & Waka Tsukiyama [Cosmic Angels] (Himeka > Tsukiyama, JP Coaster, 10:47)

Saki Kashima, Rina, Starlight Kid & Momo Watanabe [Oedo Tai] d. AZM, Utami Hayashishita, Saya Kamitani & Lady C [Queen’s Quest] (Rina > C, Hydrangea, 11:18)

Giulia & Syuri [Donna del Mondo] d. Mayu Iwatani & Saya Iida [STARS] (Giulia > Iida, Bianca, 14:15)

The one title not being defended at Ryogoku gets a spotlight here. Giulia & Syuri declared that this was the final teamup of AliKaba (Alto Livello KABALIWAN), and that they will go their separate ways as partners, as they clash in the main event on Saturday. Apparently Syuri plans to have a bodyguard in her employ soon, whomever that might be, to Ryogoku. So there may be some changes afoot for DdM.

This weekend will be the two Sumo Hall supercards, that have a ton of title matches, the return of KAIRI, and Prominence make appearances too.

STARDOM World Climax 2022 The Best - 3/26/2022, Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan

Saya Iida [STARS] v. MIRAI [Donna del Mondo]

6-Woman Tag Gauntlet Match: Himeka, Natsupoi & Mai Sakurai [Donna del Mondo] v. Mina Shirakawa, Waka Tsuiyama & Momo Kohgo [Cosmic Angels] v. Saki Kashima, Fukigen Death & Ruaka [Oedo Tai] v. AZM, Lady C & X [Queen’s Quest]

Maika & Thekla [Donna del Mondo] v. Risa Sera & Suzu Suzuki [Prominence]

Pirate Princess STARDOM Revival: Mayu Iwatani [STARS] & KAIRI v. Tam Nakano & Unagi Sayaka [Cosmic Angels]

STARDOM World Climax 2022 The Top - 3/27/2022, Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan

Cinderella Rumble: 20+ wrestlers

LOSER Kamitani/Hayashishita v. MIRAI [Donna del Mondo]

Hazuki [STARS] v. Momo Watanabe [Oedo Tai]

Pirate Princess STARDOM Revival: KAIRI v. Starlight Kid [Oedo Tai]

LOSER Syuri/Giulia, Maika, Himeka & Thekla [Donna del Mondo] v. Risa Sera, Suzu Suzuki, Akane Fujita & Mochi Miyagi [Prominence]

Other News

2AW ran a PPV event from Korakuen Hall yesterday, the main event of which saw Kengo Mashimo beat friend of the blog Shigehiro Irie for the 2AW Openweight title, the former Champion of Strongest-K back when the company was Kaientai Dojo. Mashimo is the 6th champion, ending Irie’s reign at 144 days with three successful defenses prior to yesterday.

Marvelous, Kyushu Pro, Dove, BURST, PURE-J, Team DERA, and P.P.P. ran shows the last couple of days as well.

Back Thursday, although it seems like the only shows to report will be NOAH and Dragon Gate. Which, you know, is OK.

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