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WRESTLE KINGDOM, DRAGON GATE INJURIES, NOAH NEW SUNRISE AND MORE FROM JAPAN

New Japan Pro Wrestling

New Japan Pro Wrestling held the first night of its Wrestle Kingdom 15 event in the Tokyo Dome today.

The full results were:

• New Japan Rambo: Bad Luck Fale, BUSHI, Chase Owens & Toru Yano
• Hiromu Takahashi def. El Phantasmo
• IWGP Tag Team Championships: Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa def. Taichi and Zack Sabre Jr. (c)
• IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship challenge rights certificate: KENTA (c) def. Satoshi Kojima
• Hiroshi Tanahashi def. Great-O-Khan
• Kazuchika Okada def. Will Ospreay
• IWGP Heavyweight Championship and IWGP Intercontinental Championship: Kota Ibushi def. Tetsuya Naito (c)

Bad Luck Fale, BUSHI, Chase Owens and Toru Yano were the last four contestants in the New Japan Rambo and will compete in a four-way match to become the first KOPW 2021 holder tomorrow.

Hiromu Takahashi defeated El Phantasmo and will face Taiji Ishimori for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship tomorrow. It will be Ishimori’s first defense of the title.

Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa defeated Taichi and Zack Sabre Jr. to win the IWGP Tag Team Championships, finally ending their losing streak at the Tokyo Dome and becoming the first team to win the IWGP Tag Team Championships seven times.

KENTA made his fifth successful defense of the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship challenge rights certificate against Satoshi Kojima. Jon Moxley appeared via video package before the match promising to face the winner, so one can reasonably expect KENTA to finally challenge for the title in the very near future (presumably on NJPW STRONG).

Kazuchika Okada defeated Will Ospreay to gain a small measure of revenge for Ospreay’s betrayal at the end of the G1 Climax. The English commentary team repeatedly suggested the winner of the match could be in line to challenge for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship, which will be worth following with New Japan set to hold consecutive shows in Osaka-j? Hall in February.

Kota Ibushi won the IWGP Heavyweight Championship and IWGP Intercontinental Championship in the main event, his first time holding the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. Tetsuya Naito managed one successful defense of both titles.

Ibushi will attempt his first defense of both titles against Jay White tomorrow. White defeated Ibushi to win the IWGP Heavyweight Championship challenge rights certificate at Power Struggle. White defeated Ibushi in all three of their encounters in 2020.

New Japan will hold the second night of Wrestle Kingdom 15 in the Tokyo Dome tomorrow. The full card is:

• KOPW 2021 four-way: Bad Luck Fale vs. BUSHI vs. Chase Owens vs. Toru Yano
• IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championships: El Desperado and Yoshinobu Kanemaru (c) vs. Master Wato and Ryusuke Taguchi
• NEVER Openweight Championship: Shingo Takagi (c) vs. Jeff Cobb
• EVIL vs. SANADA
• IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship: Taiji Ishimori (c) vs. Hiromu Takahashi
• IWGP Heavyweight Championship and IWGP Intercontinental Championship: Tetsuya Naito (c)/Kota Ibushi vs. Jay White

El Desperado and Yoshinobu Kanemaru will attempt their second defense of the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championships but history certainly is not on their side. The IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championships have changed hands at Wrestle Kingdom every year since 2016.

Shingo Takagi will attempt his first defense of the NEVER Openweight Championship against Jeff Cobb. Takagi has lost to Cobb twice in the last two G1 Climax tournaments and was pinned by Cobb in the recent World Tag League.

EVIL and SANADA were one of the most successful tag teams in modern New Japan before EVIL joined Bullet Club over the summer. EVIL’s loss to SANADA on the last day of the G1 Climax cost him a spot in the tournament final.

Pro Wrestling NOAH

Pro Wrestling NOAH held its NEW SUNRISE 2021 show in Korakuen Hall today.

The full results were:

• Atsushi Kotoge, Daisuke Harada, Junta Miyawaki and Yasutaka Yano def. Hajime Ohara, Kai Fujimura, Seiki Yoshioka and YO-HEY
• Daiki Inaba and Yoshiki Inamura def. Manabu Soya and Tadasuke
• Kazuyuki Fujita def. Masao Inoue
• Mohammed Yone and Shuhei Taniguchi def. Akitoshi Saito and Shiro Koshinaka
• Osamu Nishimura def. Kinya Okada
• Haoh and Nioh def. HAYATA and Yuya Susumu
• Kazunari Murakami, Kazushi Sakuraba and Takashi Sugiura def. Katsuhiko Nakajima, Kenoh and Masa Kitamiya
• Yoshinari Ogawa def. Kotaro Suzuki via DQ
• Go Shiozaki, Hiroshi Hase and Kaito Kiyomiya def. Keiji Mutoh, Masato Tanaka and Naomichi Marufuji

NOAH announced GREAT VOYAGE 2021 in YOKOHAMA will take place in the Yokohama Budokan on March 7 and GREAT VOYAGE 2021 in FUKUOKA in the Fukuoka International Center on March 14.

Nioh pinned HAYATA and challenged him to a GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championships match. HAYATA holds the titles with Yoshinari Ogawa.

Kazunari Murakami defeated Kenoh by referee stoppage and said he will challenge Kenoh for the GHC National Championship. It remains to be seen if the title match takes place on the upcoming Higher Ground tour, at the Nippon Budokan or afterwards.

Ogawa’s match against Kotaro Suzuki ended in disqualification due to the usual junior heavyweight chaos in NOAH, although NOSAWA Rongai’s masked mystery partner was finally unmasked to reveal Ikuto Hidaka.

Masato Tanaka was unveiled as the newest member of M’s Alliance. The main event was also Hiroshi Hase’s first match since allegedly sexually assaulting an underaged girl last year.

Building momentum to their GHC Heavyweight Championship match at the Nippon Budokan next month, Go Shiozaki pinned Keiji Mutoh in the main event.

Marufuji said he wants to team with Jun Akiyama at the Nippon Budokan.

Big Japan Pro Wrestling

Big Japan Pro Wrestling held a show in Shin-Kiba 1st Ring today.

The full results were:

• Kazuki Hashimoto and Takuho Kato def. Kosuke Sato and Tatsuhiko Yoshino
• Daisuke Sekimoto, Kazumi Kikuta, Ryuichi Kawakami and Takuya Nomura def. Daichi Hashimoto, Yasufumi Nakanoue, Yuji Okabayashi and Yuya Aoki
• Deathmatch: Abdullah Kobayashi and Minoru Fujita def. Jaki Numazawa and Yuko Miyamoto
• Deathmatch: Akira Hyodo and Kankuro Hoshino def. Hideyoshi Kamitani and Masaya Takahashi
• Deathmatch: Ryuji Ito def. Yuki Ishikawa
• Deathmatch: Masashi Takeda and Takumi Tsukamoto def. Drew Parker and Shunma Katsumata

DDT Pro-Wrestling

Yusuke Okada has been added to majority of DDT Pro-Wrestling’s shows throughout January after he appeared at yesterday’s show.

The updated cards are:

January 11 in Aichi
• Hideki Okatani vs. Yusuke Okada
• Kazuki Hirata and Toru Owashi vs. Shunma Katsumata and Toi Kojima
• Kazusada Higuchi and Yukio Sakaguchi vs. Keigo Nakamura and Yuki Ueno
• Antonio Honda and Chris Brookes vs. Konosuke Takeshita and MAO
• Akito and Shota vs. Danshoku Dieno and Sanshiro Takagi
• HARASHIMA and Yukio Naya vs. Mad Paulie and Yuji Hino
• Daisuke Sasaki, Soma Takao and Tetsuya Endo vs. Jun Akiyama, Makoto Oishi and Mizuki Watase

January 17 in Fukuoka (Afternoon)
• Toi Kojima vs. Yusuke Okada
• Mizuki Watase vs. Yuki Ueno
• Antonio Honda, Kazuki Hirata and Saki Akai vs. Danshoku Dieno, Keigo Nakamura and Sanshiro Takagi
• Akito and Makoto Oishi vs. Azul Dragon and Soma Takao
• Daisuke Sasaki, Tetsuya Endo and Yuji Hino vs. Kazusada Higuchi, Yukio Naya and Yukio Sakaguchi
• Chris Brookes, HARASHIMA and Toru Owashi vs. Konosuke Takeshita, MAO and Shunma Katsumata

January 17 in Fukuoka (Evening)
• Akito and Shunma Katsumata vs. Chris Brookes and Keigo Nakamura
• HARASHIMA and Yuto Aijima vs. Yukio Naya and Yusuke Okada
• Kazuki Hirata, MAO and Toru Owashi vs. Kazusada Higuchi, Saki Akai and Yukio Sakaguchi
• Hideki Okatani vs. Yuji Hino
• Daisuke Sasaki, Soma Takao and Tetsuya Endo vs. Jun Akiyama, Makoto Oishi and Mizuki Watase
• Antonio Honda and Danshoku Dieno vs. Konosuke Takeshita and Yuki Ueno

January 23 in Osaka
• Hideki Okatani vs. Yukio Naya
• Antonio Honda and Keigo Nakamura vs. Kazuki Hirata and Saki Akai
• Akito and Toru Owashi vs. MAO and Mizuki Watase
• Yuki Ueno vs. Yuuske Okada
• Chris Brookes and Danshoku Dieno vs. Konosuke Takeshita and Shunma Katsumata
• HARASHIMA, Kazusada Higuchi and Yukio Sakaguchi vs. Mad Paulie, Soma Takao and Yuji Hino
• Daisuke Sasaki and Tetsuya Endo vs. Jun Akiyama and Makoto Oishi

January 28 in Shinjuku FACE
• Antonio Honda, HARASHIMA and Toru Owashi vs. Keigo Nakamura, MAO and Shunma Katsumata
• Jun Akiyama vs. Yusuke Okada
• Yuji Hino vs. Yukio Naya

Dragon Gate

Dragon Gate has announced Dragon Dia and Naruki Doi will miss time due to injury.

Dia suffered a fractured collarbone at Dragon Gate’s show in Kobe Sambo Hall on December 27, while Doi will undergo surgery to relieve cubital tunnel syndrome symptoms.

 

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