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NJPW SUMMER STRUGGLE TOMORROW, INTERNATIONAL TALENTS RETURN AND MORE FROM JAPAN,

New Japan Pro Wrestling

New Japan Pro Wrestling will hold the first night of its two-night Summer Struggle in Sapporo event tomorrow in Makomanai Sekisui Heim Ice Arena.

The full card is:

• Kota Ibushi and Master Wato vs. Yota Tsuji and Yuya Uemura
• Dick Togo and EVIL vs. Tomohiro Ishii and YOH
• El Phantasmo, KENTA and Yujiro Takahashi vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Rocky Romero and Ryusuke Taguchi
• Great-O-Khan and Jeff Cobb vs. Kazuchika Okada and SHO
• BUSHI, SANADA, Shingo Takagi and Tetsuya Naito vs. DOUKI, Taichi, Yoshinobu Kanemaru and Zack Sabre Jr.
• IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship: El Desperado (c) vs. Taiji Ishimori

The show will mark the return of Jeff Cobb, KENTA and Rocky Romero, all of whom live internationally and have not wrestled in Japan for varying amounts of time. There are other international wrestlers currently quarantining in Japan, according to a source, so expect potential announcements or returns soon.

In the main event, El Desperado will attempt his second defense of the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship against Taiji Ishimori.

New Japan has confirmed Wrestle Grand Slam on July 25 in the Tokyo Dome will proceed as planned after the Japanese government decided to extend the ongoing state of emergency in various parts of the country until August 22.

However, ticket sales for the show will end at midnight on July 11. Attendances at events are currently capped at the lesser of 5,000 people or any number lower than 50 per cent of the venue’s capacity.

DDT Pro-Wrestling

DDT Pro-Wrestling has announced Akito, Atsushi Onita, Maki Itoh and Sanshiro Takagi will face Hikari Noa, Kuro-chan, Super Sasadango Machine and Tetsuhiro Kuroda in an explosion deathmatch at Wrestle Peter Pan 2021 on August 21 in Fujitsu Stadium.

https://twitter.com/ddtpro/status/1413393095232733185?s=20

DDT has also announced Chihiro Hashimoto will compete at its show on August 29 in Sendai, while Noriyuki Yoshida and Tomoya will compete at its shows on September 22 and 23 in Sapporo.

DDT will hold a show tomorrow in Yokohama.

The full card is:

• Danshoku Dieno and Yuki Iino vs. Toru Owashi and Yusuke Okada
• Akito vs. Kazuki Hirata
• Kazusada Higuchi and Yukio Sakaguchi vs. Shunma Katsumata and Yuya Koroku
• Antonio Honda vs. Mad Paulie
• Chris Brookes, HARASHIMA, Naomi Yoshimura and Yukio Naya vs. Daisuke Sasaki, Soma Takao, Tetsuya Endo and Yuji Hino
• Hideki Okatani, Jun Akiyama and Makoto Oishi vs. Konosuke Takeshita, MAO and Yuki Ueno

Dragon Gate

Dragon Gate held its fourth Hopeful Gate 2021 tour show today in Korakuen Hall.

The full results were:

• Problem Dragon and Takashi Yoshida def. Ho Ho Lun and Punch Tominaga
• BxB Hulk, Kaito Ishida and KAZMA SAKAMOTO def. Funky Jacky Kamei, King Shimizu, U-T
• “brother” YASSHI, Ben-K, Dragon Kid, Kagetora and Keisuke Okuda def. Don Fujii, Gamma, Kenichiro Arai, Ryo Saito and Yasushi Kanda
• Kota Minoura def. Masaaki Mochizuki
• Dia Inferno, Diamante, Eita and SB KENTo def. Dragon Dia, Jason Lee, La Estrella and Shun Skywalker
• Genki Horiguchi, Kzy and Susumu Yokosuka def. Masato Yoshino, Naruki Doi and Shachihoko Boy
• No Rope Lumberjack match: YAMATO def. KAI

Two title matches have been announced for the second night of the Kobe Pro-Wrestling Festival on August 1 in Kobe World Kinen Hall, although the defending champions in those matches will be determined on the first night of the Kobe Pro-Wrestling Festival on July 31.

“brother” YASSHI, Shuji Kondo and Toru Owashi will challenge for the Open The Triangle Gate Championships on the second night. Dragon Dia, Jason Lee and La Estrella will attempt their first defense of the titles against Dia Inferno, Diamante and SB KENTo on the first night.

Kondo has been out of action since March due to a torn Achilles.

YAMATO will challenge for the Open the Dream Gate Championship on the second night. Shun Skywalker will attempt his fifth defense of the title against Kzy on the first night.

Dragon Gate will hold its fifth Hopeful Gate 2021 tour show tomorrow in Fujisan Messe. The full card is:

• Genki Horiguchi, Susumu Yokosuka and U-T vs. Ho Ho Lun, Keisuke Okuda and Yasushi Kanda
• BxB Hulk and Dia Inferno vs. Dragon Dia and La Estrella
• Eita and KAZMA SAKAMOTO vs. Naruki Doi and Ryo Saito
• Funky Jacky Kamei, King Shimizu and Kzy vs. Jason Lee, Kota Minoura and Shun Skywalker
• Ben-K, Dragon Kid, Kagetora and YAMATO vs. Diamante, KAI, Kaito Ishida and SB KENTo

Big Japan Pro Wrestling

Big Japan Pro Wrestling began its Hokkaido tour today.

The full results were:

• Keiki Suzuki and Yuki Ishikawa def. Kazumasa Yoshida and Kosuke Sato
• Jaki Numazawa and Yuichi Taniguchi def. Kazumi Kikuta and Masaki Morihiro
• Akira Hyodo and Kankuro Hoshino def. Brahman Kei and Brahman Shu
• Drew Parker and Yuko Miyamoto def. Kota Sekifuda and Noriyuki Yoshida
• Takuya Nomura and Yuya Aoki def. Takuho Kato and Yasufumi Nakanoue
• Abdullah Kobayashi, Ryuji Ito and Yuji Okabayashi def. Daichi Hashimoto, Hideyoshi Kamitani and Kazuki Hashimoto

Big Japan will hold its second Hokkaido tour show tomorrow. The full card is:

• Kazumasa Yoshida and Kota Sekifuda vs. Masaki Morihiro and Takuho Kato
• Hideyoshi Kamitani vs. Kosuke Sato
• Kazumi Kikuta and Keiki Suzuki vs. Noriyuki Yoshida and Takuya Nomura
• Abdullah Kobayashi and Yuko Miyamoto vs. Brahman Kei and Brahman Shu
• Daichi Hashimoto and Yasufumi Nakanoue vs. Yuji Okabayashi and Yuya Aoki
• Deathmatch: Akira Hyodo, Drew Parker and Kankuro Hoshino vs. Jaki Numazawa, Ryuji Ito and Yuki Ishikawa

Pro Wrestling ZERO1

Pro Wrestling ZERO1 will hold its second Fire Festival show tomorrow in 2AW Square.

The full card is:

• Genta Hiriki vs. Junya Matsunaga
• Shoki Kitamura vs. Takumi Baba vs. Yoshikazu Yokoyama
• Fire Festival A block: Masato Tanaka vs. Tsugutaka Sato
• Fire Festival B block: Takafumi vs. Takuya Sugawara
• Fire Festival B block: Shigehiro Irie vs. Shogun Okamoto
• Fire Festival B block: Ayato Yoshida vs. Chris Vice
• Fire Festival A block: Hartley Jackson vs. Shinjiro Otani

Going into the show, the current Fire Festival standings are:

A block
1. Shinjiro Otani (1-0 record): 5 points
-. Tsugutaka Sato (1-0 record): 5 points
3. Masato Tanaka (1-0 record): 4 points
4. Fuminori Abe (0-1 record): 0 points
-. Hartley Jackson (0-1 record): 0 points
-. Yoshiki Inamura (0-1 record): 0 points

B block
1. Ayato Yoshida (1-0 record): 5 points
-. Chris Vice (1-0 record): 5 points
-. Takafumi (1-0 record): 5 points
4. Shigehiro Irie (0-1 record): 0 points
-. Shogun Okamoto (0-1 record): 0 points
-. Takuya Sugawara (0-1 record): 0 points

Unlike other round-robin tournaments, the scoring system for the Fire Festival is slightly different.

Five points are awarded for victory by pinfall, submission or knockout. Four points are awarded for victory by referee stoppage, countout or disqualification. Three points are awarded for a draw (there is a 30-minute time limit for all block matches) and zero points are awarded for a loss.

Pro Wrestling FREEDOMS

Pro Wrestling FREEDOMS will hold a show tomorrow in Tokyo.

The full card is:

• Alejandro and GENTARO vs. Kamui and Mammoth Sasaki
• Tatsuhito Takaiwa vs. Tomoya Hirata
• Dragon Libre, Lekka and Takahiro Katori vs. Takashi Sasaki, Toru Sugiura and Yuya Susumu
• Jun Kasai, Kenji Fukimoto, Minoru Fujita and Rina Yamashita vs. Masashi Takeda, Takayuki Ueki, Toshiyuki Sakuda and Violento Jack

Pro Wrestling NOAH

Pro Wrestling NOAH’s Keiji Mutoh has declared he will no longer use his Moonsault finisher.

Mutoh brought the move back for the first time since double knee replacement surgery in 2018 against Naomichi Marufuji at the CyberFight Festival on June 6, the match which he lost the GHC Heavyweight Championship to Marufuji, and was scolded by his doctor afterwards.

An article from Tokyo Sports covering the news can be read here.

GLEAT

Oriental Wrestling Entertainment’s Junjie has revealed he would like to travel from Shanghai, China, to Japan to compete for GLEAT once international travel restrictions are eased.

 

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