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SEVEN NJPW WRESTLERS TEST POSITIVE FOR COVID-19, DDT AND MORE FROM JAPAN

By Oliver Taylor on 2021-05-09 08:47:00

New Japan Pro Wrestling

New Japan Pro Wrestling has reported a further seven positive tests for COVID-19.

The apparent outbreak began when two unnamed members of the roster recorded a high fever on May 4. The news caused significant changes to the card for the second night of Wrestling Dontaku on the same day.

Those two wrestlers later tested positive for COVID-19 and the company tested its entire roster, bringing the new seven positive tests to light and upping the current total to nine. All wrestlers who have tested positive are remaining anonymous.

New Japan announced the postponement of its two Wrestle Grand Slam shows on May 15 in Yokohama Stadium and May 29 in the Tokyo Dome in response to the extended state of emergency in Japan on May 7, although one is left to wonder if the new COVID-19 outbreak among the roster also contributed to the decision.

New Japan's official statement on the positive tests can be read here.

DDT Pro-Wrestling

DDT Pro-Wrestling aired an empty arena show today on WRESTLE UNIVERSE.

The full results were:

• Hideki Okatani def. Toi Kojima
• Danshoku Dieno and Super Sasadango Machine def. Akito and Keigo Nakamura & Kazuki Hirata and Toru Owashi & Sanshiro Takagi and Yukio Naya
• Mad Paulie, Soma Takao and Tetsuya Endo def. Kazusada Higuchi, Saki Akai and Yuki Iino
• Yukio Sakaguchi def. Yusuke Okada
• MAO and Yuki Ueno def. HARASHIMA and Naomi Yoshimura
• Ultimate Tag League: Antonio Honda and Chris Brookes def. Jun Akiyama and Makoto Oishi
• Ultimate Tag League: Daisuke Sasaki and Yuji Hino vs. Konosuke Takeshita and Shunma Katsumata – Time Limit Draw (30 minutes)

After winning the second match, Danshoku Dieno and Super Sasadango Machine challenged Sugiura-gun to a match at the CyberFight Festival on June 6 in Saitama Super Arena.

Naomi Yoshimura made his return to DDT teaming with HARASHIMA in the fifth match against MAO and Yuki Ueno. He had been on hiatus since Ultimate Party 2020 last November due to back injuries.

Following today’s show, the updated Ultimate Tag League standings are:

1. Antonio Honda and Chris Brookes (1-0 record): 2 points
2. Daisuke Sasaki and Yuji Hino (0-0-1 record): 1 point
3. Konosuke Takeshita and Shunma Katsumata (0-0-1 record): 1 point
4. Kazusada Higuchi and Yukio Sakaguchi (0-0 record): 0 points
5. Jun Akiyama and Makoto Oishi (0-1 record): 0 points

Three new matches have been announced for the CyberFight Festival, including a battle royal and two six-man tag team matches:

• Battle Royal: Antonio Honda vs. Kazuki Hirata vs. Makoto Oishi vs. Saki Akai vs. Shuehi Washida vs. Toru Owashi vs. Yoshiaki Yatsu vs. Yuji Hino vs. Yuna Manase vs. Yusuke Okada vs. Yuya Koroku
• Keisuke Ishii, Ken Ohka and Shota vs. Kouki Iwasaki, Shuichiro Katsumura and Yumehito Imanari
• Chris Brookes, MAO and Shunma Katsumata vs. Daisuke Sasaki, Soma Takao and Tetsuya Endo

More NOAH wrestlers will be added to the battle royal.

DDT announced the full schedule and field for this year’s King of DDT tournament.

The first round will take place on June 10 in Shinjuku FACE, the second round will take place on June 20 in Korakuen Hall and the semi-finals and final will take place on July 4 in Korakuen Hall.

The full field is:

• Akito
• Chris Brookes
• Daisuke Sasaki
• HARASHIMA
• Jun Akiyama
• Kazusada Higichi
• Konosuke Takeshita
• Makoto Oishi
• MAO
• Naomi Yoshimura
• Soma Takao
• Shunma Katsumata
• Tetsuya Endo
• Yuji Hino
• Yuki Ueno
• Yukio Sakaguchi

Big Japan Pro Wrestling

Big Japan Pro Wrestling held the final night of its Hokkaido tour today.

The full results were:

• Kazuki Hashimoto def. Masaki Morihiro
• Daichi Hashimoto and Hideyoshi Kamitani def. Kazumasa Yoshida and Keiki Suzuki
• Abdullah Kobayashi and Kota Sekifuda def. Brahman Kei and Brahman Shu
• Jaki Numazawa and Yuko Miyamoto def. Akira Hyodo and Kankuro Hoshino
• Takuya Nomura def. Yuki Ishikawa
• Shigehiro Irie, Yasufumi Nakanoue and Yuji Okabayashi def. Daisuke Sekimoto, Ryuji Ito and Yuya Aoki

Drew Parker has suffered a left lower leg injury.

Dragon Gate

Dragon Gate stable MASQUERADE’s entrance song is now available on all major music streaming platforms.

The song can be heard on Spotify here and Apple Music here.

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