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TITLE CHANGE AT NJPW NEW BEGINNING IN NAGOYA, JUN AKIYAMA IS NOW A FREELANCER, DRAGON GATE TAG TOURNAMENT AND TONS MORE FROM JAPAN

New Japan Pro Wrestling

New Japan Pro Wrestling held its The New Beginning in Nagoya show in Aichi Prefectural Gymnasium today.

The full results were:

• Kazuchika Okada and Toru Yano def. EVIL and Yujiro Takahashi
• Kota Ibushi, Master Wato, SHO and Tomoaki Honma def. BUSHI, Hiromu Takahashi, SANADA and Tetsuya Naito
• Loser must stop using the Mongolian Chop: Great-O-Khan def. Hiroyoshi Tenzan
• No Disqualifications: Will Ospreay def. Satoshi Kojima
• NEVER Openweight Championship: Hiroshi Tanahashi def. Shingo Takagi (c)

Hiroshi Tanahashi defeated Shingo Takagi to win the NEVER Openweight Championship in an excellent main event. The match lasted 35 minutes and 40 seconds, the longest in the title’s history.

Great-O-Khan attacked Tanahashi after the match and challenged him to a title match. Tanahashi defeated Great-O-Khan on the first night of Wrestle Kingdom 15 on January 4.

Dragon Gate

Dragon Gate held a show in Sea Mall Shimonoseki today.

The full results were:

• Kagetora, Ultimo Dragon and YAMATO def. Dragon Kid, Masaaki Mochizuki and Takashi Yoshida
• Diamante and Kaito Ishida def. Susumu Yokosuka and U-T
• BxB Hulk and KAI def. Genki Horiguchi and Kzy
• Bokutimo Dragon, Punch Tominaga and Ryo Saito def. Keisuke Okuda, Shuji Kondo and Yosuke Santa Maria
• Jason Lee, Kota Minoura, La Estrella and Shun Skywalker def. Eita, HipHop Kikuta, KAZMA SAKAMOTO and SB KENTo

Dragon Gate will hold two shows in Fukuoka tomorrow, featuring a tag team tournament to determine the next Open the Twin Gate Championships challengers.

The first round of the tournament will take place on the afternoon show. The evening show will have a mystery card but will include the tournament semifinals and final.

The teams competing in the tournament are (1) Ben-K and Shuji Kondo, (2) Bokutimo Dragon and Punch Tominaga, (3) Diamante and Eita, (4) Dragon Kid and YAMATO, (5) Jason Lee and La Estrella, (6) Kagetora and Yosuke Santa Maria, (7) Masaaki Mochizuki and Takashi Yoshida and (8) Taketo Kamei and U-T.

However, Dragon Gate has since announced Kamei suffered a left shoulder injury in training so U-T will need a new partner.

The full card for the afternoon show is:

• BxB Hulk, HipHop Kikuta and KAI vs. Genki Horiguchi, Kzy and Susumu Yokosuka
• Keisuke Okuda vs. Ryo Saito
• Kaito Ishida, KAZMA SAKAMOTO and SB KENTo vs. Kota Minoura, Shun Skywalker and Ultimo Dragon
• Open the Twin Gate Championships contenders tournament first-round match
• Open the Twin Gate Championships contenders tournament first-round match
• Open the Twin Gate Championships contenders tournament first-round match
• Open the Twin Gate Championships contenders tournament first-round match

Pro Wrestling ZERO1

Pro Wrestling ZERO1 has confirmed three new matches for its February 7 show in Korakuen Hall.

#STRONGHEARTS trio CIMA, Issei Onizuka and T-Hawk will face Hide Kubota, Masato Tanaka and Takuya Sugawara. This match seems to suggest CIMA will still challenge Tanaka for the World Heavyweight Championship at some point.

CIMA versus Tanaka for the World Heavyweight Championship was supposed to headline ZERO1’s twentieth anniversary show in Ry?goku Kokugikan on March 14, however the show has been postponed to 2022.

GLEAT’s Takanori Ito will face Takumi Baba on February 7 while Shoki Kitamura will face Pro Wrestling NOAH’s Naomichi Marufuji.

The updated card for the show is:

• Naomichi Marufuji vs. Shoki Kitamura
• Carbell Ito, Hartley Jackson and Naoshi Sano vs. Chris Vice, Voodoo Mask and Yoshikazu Yokoyama
• Satsuki Nagao vs. Yuya Aoki
• Takanori Ito vs. Takumi Baba
• Takafumi vs. Yasu Kubota
• CIMA, Issei Onizuka and T-Hawk vs. Hide Kubota, Masato Tanaka and Takuya Sugawara
• ZERO1 International Junior Heavyweight Championship and ZERO1 World Junior Heavyweight Championship: El Lindman (c) vs. Asuka
• Hayato Tamura vs. Shinjiro Otani

DDT Pro-Wrestling

Jun Akiyama’s contract with All Japan Pro Wrestling has officially expired and he is now competing in DDT Pro-Wrestling as a freelancer.

Akiyama revealed there were no contract extensions with All Japan but he holds no hard feelings in an interview with Tokyo Sports.

Akiyama’s last All Japan appearance, perhaps the last of his in-ring career, was teaming with Dan Tamura, Masanobu Fuchi and SUSHI against Black Menso~re, Koji Iwamoto, Osamu Nishimura and Takao Omori at the Atsuki Aoki memorial show on August 15 last year.

Akiyama joined DDT on loan on July 1. He defeated Konosuke Takeshita at Ultimate Party 2020 on November 3 and defeated Takeshita again in the D-Oh Grand Prix final on December 27.

Akiyama will challenge Tetsuya Endo for the K-OD Openweight Championship at Kawasaki Strong 2021 on February 14. He will return from left knee surgery at tomorrow’s show in Itabashi.

Akiyama’s full interview with Tokyo Sports can be read here.

The full card for tomorrow’s show in Itabashi is:

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

Colega Pro Wrestling

Dylan James debuted at today’s Colega Pro Wrestling show. James most recently fought in Rizin Fighting Federation at its RIZIN 24 show on September 27, losing to to Sudario Tsuyoshi via doctor stoppage after the first round.

The full show can be watched on the attachment below. The main event was Bodyguard versus GAINA.

Pro Wrestling NOAH

Pro Wrestling NOAH will hold its final Higher Ground 2021 tour show in Korakuen Hall tomorrow.

The full card is:

• Haoh, Nioh and Tadasuke vs. Junta Miyawaki, Kinya Okada and Yasutaka Yano
• Atsushi Kotoge, Daiki Inaba and Yoshiki Inamura vs. Mohammed Yone, Shuhei Taniguchi and YO-HEY
• Katsuhiko Nakajima and Masa Kitamiya vs. Kendo Kashin and Takashi Sugiura
• HAYATA, Yoshinari Ogawa and Yuya Susumu vs. Ikuto Hidaka, Kotaro Suzuki and NOSAWA Rongai
• Kenoh and Manabu Soya vs. Masakatsu Funaki and Masato Tanaka
• Daisuke Harada, Go Shiozaki and Kaito Kiyomiya vs. Keiji Mutoh, Naomichi Marufuji and Seiki Yoshioka

Tomorrow’s show is the last stop before NOAH’s return to the Nippon Budokan on February 12. As such, the card is largely a preview for all the marquee matches set for Destination 2021.

Interestingly, Kazushi Sakuraba and Takashi Sugiura are still without opponents for the GHC Tag Team Championships at the Nippon Budokan. Katsuhiko Nakajima and Masa Kitamiya, who will face Kendo Kashin and Sugiura tomorrow, are certainly positioned to assert themselves as the next challengers.

Big Japan Pro Wrestling

Big Japan Pro Wrestling will hold its Death Market59 show in Aichi tomorrow.

The full card is:

• Kosuke Sato vs. Kota Sekifuda
• Kazuki Hashimoto vs. Masaki Morihiro
• Akira Hyodo and Takuho Kato vs. Hideyoshi Kamitani and Yuya Aoki
• Brahman Kei and Yuji Okabayashi vs. Kankuro Hoshino and Onryo
• Deathmatch: Drew Parker and Yuki Ishikawa vs. Takumi Tsukamoto and Yuko Miyamoto
• Abdullah Kobayashi, Jaki Numazawa and Ryuji Ito vs. Daichi Hashimoto, Daisuke Sekimoto and Yasufumi Nakanoue
• BJW Tag Team Championships: Fuminori Abe and Takuya Nomura (c) vs. Kazumi Kikuta and Ryuichi Kawakami

Fuminori Abe and Takuya Nomura will attempt their sixth defense of the BJW Tag Team Championships against Kazumi Kikuta and Ryuichi Kawakami in the main event.

Yasufumi Nakanoue is still without a opponent for the BJW World Strong Heavyweight Championship at Big Japan’s show in Korakuen Hall on February 19. While it seems unlikely any of Nakanoue’s opponents tomorrow – Abdullah Kobayashi, Jaki Numazawa or Ryuji Ito (all deathmatch wrestlers) – would step up as Nakanoue’s first challenger, a challenge could come at anytime.

Active Advance Pro Wrestling

Active Advance Pro Wrestling will hold a show in 2AW Square tomorrow.

The full card is:

• Chicharito Shoki vs. Kyu Mogami vs. Ricky Fuji
• Kaji Tomato vs. Shu Asakawa
• Daiki Wakamatsu trial series: Daiki Wakamatsu vs. MASAMUNE
• Ayumu Honda and CHANGO vs. Kunio Toshima and Takuro Niki
• Hiroshi Yamato, Taishi Takizawa and Taylor Adams vs. Kotaro Yoshino, Naka Shuma and Tank Nagai
• 2AW Tag Team Championships: Shigehiro Irie and The Andrew King Takuma (c) vs. Kengo Mashimo and Tatsuya Hanami

Ayato Yoshida fractured his rib and will miss the show. He was set to team with Kotaro Yoshino and Tank Nagai against Hiroshi Yamato, Taishi Takizawa and Taylor Adams.

Naka Shuma will take Yoshida’s spot in the six-man tag team match. Shuma was scheduled to team with Chicharito Shoki against Kyu Mogami and Ricky Fuji, which has been changed to a triple threat match.

Yoshida is expected to return to in-ring action at 2AW’s next show on February 7. He is also scheduled to attempt his sixth defense of the 2AW Openweight Championship against Taylor Adams on February 14.

Shigehiro Irie and The Andrew King Takuma will attempt their second defense of the 2AW Tag Team Championships against Kengo Mashimo and Tatsuya Hanami in the main event.

 

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