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JON MOXLEY VS. KENTA IS FINALLY OFFICIAL, WHEN IT WILL TAKE PLACE AND MORE FROM JAPAN

New Japan Pro Wrestling

New Japan Pro Wrestling has confirmed KENTA will challenge Jon Moxley for the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship at New Beginning USA 2021 on February 26.

KENTA earned his IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship challenge rights certificate by winning the New Japan Cup USA over the summer on NJPW STRONG. He made five successful defenses of the certificate against Jeff Cobb, Hiroshi Tanahashi, David Finlay, Brody King and Satoshi Kojima.

Despite winning the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship at Wrestle Kingdom 14 last year, Moxley has only managed two successful defenses of the title (against Juice Robinson and Minoru Suzuki) due to the ongoing global pandemic. He will attempt his third defense against KENTA on February 26.

New Japan will resume its Road to The New Beginning tour in Korakuen Hall tomorrow.

The full card is:

• Gabriel Kidd vs. Yota Tsuji
• BUSHI, Hiromu Takahashi, SANADA and Tetsuya Naito vs. Kota Ibushi, Master Wato, SHO and Tomoaki Honma
• Dick Togo, EVIL and Yujiro Takahashi vs. Kazuchika Okada, Tomohiro Ishii and Toru Yano
• Elimination: DOUKI, El Desperado, Taichi, Yoshinobu Kanemaru and Zack Sabre Jr. vs. El Phantasmo, Jado, Taiji Ishimori, Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa

Pro Wrestling NOAH

Pro Wrestling NOAH will split its Destination 2021 show in the Nippon Budokan on February 12 into two halves as a precautionary measure against COVID-19.

The first half will begin at 4:30pm JST, 9:30am BST, 2:30am ET and will consist of:

• Akitoshi Saito and Masao Inoue vs. Daiki Inaba and Kinya Okada
• Atsushi Kotoge, Junta Miyawaki and Yasutaka Yano vs. Hajime Ohara, Kai Fujimura and YO-HEY
• Masaaki Mochizuki and Masato Tanaka vs. Mohammed Yone and Shuhei Taniguchi
• Haoh, Katsuhiko Nakajima, Manabu Soya, Masa Kitamiya, Nioh and Tadasuke vs. Kazunari Murakami, Kazushi Sakuraba, Kazuyuki Fujita, Kendo Kashin, NOSAWA Rongai and Takashi Sugiura

The show will be Hajime Ohara’s first appearance since testing positive for COVID-19.

The second half will begin at 5:45pm JST, 10:45am BST, 3:45am ET and will consist of:

• GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championships: HAYATA and Yoshinari Ogawa (c) vs. Ikuto Hidaka and Kotaro Suzuki
• GHC Junior Heavyweight Championship: Daisuke Harada (c) vs. Seiki Yoshioka
• Jun Akiyama and Naomichi Marufuji vs. Kaito Kiyomiya and Yoshiki Inamura
• GHC National Championship: Kenoh (c) vs. Masakatsu Funaki
• GHC Heavyweight Championship: Go Shiozaki (c) vs. Keiji Mutoh

The only way to watch the first half of the show will be on pay-per-view via ABEMA and FITE. ABEMA’s pay-per-view broadcast is only available in Japan while FITE’s is available worldwide. Both broadcasts will show both halves of the show.

The second half of the show will air on the WRESTLE UNIVERSE streaming service and for free worldwide on ABEMA.

Just to clarify, there are two separate ABEMA broadcasts. The first ABEMA broadcast is on pay-per-view (only available in Japan) and will air the entire show. The second ABEMA broadcast will be available to view for free worldwide but will only air the second half of the show.

NOAH held its final Higher Ground 2021 tour show in Korakuen Hall today. The full results were:

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

Masakatsu Funaki defeated Kenoh with a sleeper hold while Keiji Mutoh defeated Go Shiozaki with the figure-four leglock. As mentioned above, Funaki will challenge Kenoh for the GHC National Championship and Mutoh will challenge Shiozaki for the GHC Heavyweight Championship at Destination 2021.

Dragon Gate

Dragon Gate held two shows in Fukuoka today.

The full results were:

Afternoon
• Genki Horiguchi, Kzy and Susumu Yokosuka def. BxB Hulk, HipHop Kikuta and KAI
• Two Out of Three Falls: Keisuke Okuda def. Punch Tominaga
• Kaito Ishida, KAZMA SAKAMOTO and SB KENTo def. Kota Minoura, Shun Skywalker and Ultimo Dragon
• Open the Twin Gate Championships contenders tournament first-round match: Don Fujii and U-T def. Dragon Kid and YAMATO
• Open the Twin Gate Championships contenders tournament first-round match: Masaaki Mochizuki and Takashi Yoshida def. Bokutimo Dragon and Ryo Saito
• Open the Twin Gate Championships contenders tournament first-round match: Ben-K and Shuji Kondo def. Kagetora and Yosuke Santa Maria
• Open the Twin Gate Championships contenders tournament first-round match: Diamante and Eita def. Jason Lee and La Estrella

Evening
• Open the Twin Gate Championships contenders tournament semifinal: Masaaki Mochizuki and Takashi Yoshida def. Don Fujii and U-T
• Open the Twin Gate Championships contenders tournament semifinal: Ben-K and Shuji Kondo def. Diamante and Eita
• Keisuke Okuda and YAMATO def. KAI and KAZMA SAKAMOTO
• BxB Hulk, HipHop Kikuta, Kaito Ishida and SB KENTo def. Jason Lee, Kota Minoura, La Estrella and Shun Skywalker
• Bokutimo Dragon and Ultimo Dragon def. Punch Tominaga and Ryo Saito
• Kzy, Genki Horiguchi and Susumu Yokosuka def. Dragon Kid, Kagetora and Yosuke Santa Maria
• Open the Twin Gate Championships contenders tournament final: Masaaki Mochizuki and Takashi Yoshida def. Ben-K and Shuji Kondo

Masaaki Mochizuki and Takashi Yoshida will challenge BxB Hulk and KAI for the Open the Twin Gate Championships at Champion Gate 2021 in EDION Arena Osaka #2 on March 7.

Additionally, Kaito Ishida will challenge Shun Skywalker for the Open the Dream Gate Championship at the same show.

Dragon Gate will hold a show in Orocity Hall tomorrow. The full card is:

• Dragon Kid, Ultimo Dragon and Yosuke Santa Maria vs. Masaaki Mochizuki, Takashi Yoshida and YAMATO
• Eita and Kaito Ishida vs. Kzy and U-T
• Ben-K and Kagetora vs. BxB Hulk and Diamante
• Bokutimo Dragon and Ryo Saito vs. Genki Horiguchi and Susumu Yokosuka
• HipHop Kikuta, KAI and SB KENTo vs. Jason Lee, La Estrella and Shun Skywalker

Big Japan Pro Wrestling

Big Japan Pro Wrestling held its Death Market59 show in Aichi today.

The full results were:

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

Kazumi Kikuta and Ryuichi Kawakami defeated Fuminori Abe and Takuya Nomura to win the BJW Tag Team Championships in the main event. Abe and Nomura managed five successful defenses of the titles.

Kawakami challenged Yasufumi Nakanoue to a match for the BJW World Strong Heavyweight Championship. The bout will take place at Big Japan’s show in Korakuen Hall on February 19.

Active Advance Pro Wrestling

Active Advance Pro Wrestling held a show in 2AW Square today.

The full results were:

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

Kengo Mashimo and Tatsuya Hanami won the 2AW Tag Team Championships in the main event. Shigehiro Irie and The Andrew King Takuma managed only one successful defense of the titles.

2AW has announced three new matches for its its February 14 show in Chiba. The new matches are:

• Jun Tonsho and Taishi Takizawa vs. Kaji Tomato and Shu Asakawa
• Daiki Wakamatsu trial series: Daiki Wakamatsu vs. Hikaru Sato
• 2AW Tag Team Championships: Kengo Mashimo and Tatsuya Hanami (c) vs. Kotaro Yoshino and Tank Nagai

Ayato Yoshida is also scheduled to attempt his his sixth defense of the 2AW Openweight Championship against Taylor Adams at the show, but the status of the match might be something to keep an eye on as Yoshida is currently out of action due to a fractured rib.

2AW has also joined the Independent Wrestling TV streaming service. There are currently two 2AW shows available on IWTV, which can be viewed here.

DDT Pro-Wrestling

DDT Pro-Wrestling held a show in Itabashi today.

The full results were:

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

The main event was Jun Akiyama’s first match since left knee surgery. He pinned Soma Takao.

Pro Wrestling ZERO1

Pro Wrestling ZERO1 aired the second night of its 10-man, single-elimination tournament on TwitCasting today.

The full results were:

• Semfinal: Yoshikazu Yokoyama def. Hartley Jackson
• Semfinal: Chris Vice vs. Hayato Tamura – Time Limit Draw (15 minutes)
• Semfinal: Hayato Tamura def. Chris Vice
• Final: Yoshikazu Yokoyama def. Hayato Tamura

Chris Vice versus Hayato Tamura went to a five-minute overtime period after the initial 15-minute time limit draw. Tamura was victorious under two-fall rules.

However, Yoshikazu Yokoyama defeated Tamura in the final to win the tournament.

 

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