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WRESTLE KINGDOM, AKIYAMA & MARUFUJI TEAMING? AND MORE FROM JAPAN

New Japan Pro Wrestling

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

The full results were:

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

Toru Yano became the first KOPW 2021 holder after pinning BUSHI in the opening match.

El Desperado and Yoshinobu Kanemaru made their second defense of the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championships, marking the first time the titles have been successfully defended at Wrestle Kingdom since 2015.

Shingo Takagi made his first defense of the NEVER Openweight Championship against Jeff Cobb.

Hiromu Takahashi won the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship back from Taiji Ishimori, having lost the title to Ishimori at SUMMER STRUGGLE in JINGU last August. Ishimori did not make a successful defense of the title.

Kota Ibushi made his first defense of the IWGP Heavyweight Championship and IWGP Intercontinental Championship against Jay White in the longest Tokyo Dome main event ever. SANADA challenged Ibushi after the match, which Ibushi accepted.

Pro Wrestling NOAH

Pro Wrestling NOAH has announced the full cards for its first two Higher Ground tour shows on January 10 in Korakuen Hall and January 16 in Yokohama.

The full cards are:

January 10 in Korakuen Hall
• Kai Fujimura and Yasutaka Yano vs. Seiki Yoshioka and YO-HEY
• Kinya Okada and Yoshiki Inamura vs. Mohammed Yone and Shuhei Taniguchi
• Atsushi Kotoge, Daiki Inaba and Junta Miyawaki vs. Ikuto Hidaka, Kotaro Suzuki and NOSAWA Rongai
• Haoh, Nioh and Tadasuke vs. HAYATA, Yoshinari Ogawa and Yuya Susumu
• GHC Junior Heavyweight Championship: Daisuke Harada (c) vs. Hajime Ohara
• Go Shiozaki, Kaito Kiyomiya, Naomichi Marufuji and Takashi Sugiura vs. Katsuhiko Nakajima, Kenoh, Manabu Soya and Masa Kitamiya

January 16 in Yokohama
• Hajime Ohara, Seiki Yoshioka and YO-HEY vs. Junta Miyawaki, Kai Fujimura and Yasutaka Yano
• Akitoshi Saito and Masao Inoue vs. Kinya Okada and Yoshiki Inamura
• Katsuhiko Nakajima and Masa Kitamiya vs. Mohammed Yone and Shuhei Taniguchi
• Kazunari Murakami, NOSAWA Rongai and Takashi Sugiura vs. Kenoh, Manabu Soya and Tadasuke
• GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championships: HAYATA and Yoshinari Ogawa (c) vs. Haoh and Nioh
• Atsushi Kotoge and Daisuke Harada vs. Go Shiozaki and Naomichi Marufuji

Kaito Kaitomiya will miss the January 16 show due to jaw surgery.

Kazunari Murakami will challenge Kenoh for the GHC National Championship at NOAH’s show in Osaka on January 23. Murakami defeated Kenoh by referee stoppage at yesterday’s show in Korakuen Hall. It will be Kenoh’s third defense of the title.

NOAH has released a new roster chart after Ikuto Hidaka’s unmasking and Masato Tanaka’s debut as a member of M’s Alliance yesterday. The chart can be viewed on NOAH’s website here.

DDT Pro-Wrestling

DDT Pro-Wrestling’s Jun Akiyama has responded to Naomichi Marufuji’s request to team together at the Nippon Budokan next month, but seemingly has not given a direct answer.

Should Akiyama accept, it would be his first match in NOAH since September 2019. Prior to that, he teamed with Atsuki Aoki against Daisuke Harada and Takashi Sugiura in a 30-minute time limit draw at Marufuji’s twentieth anniversary show in September 2018.

 

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