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NEW JAPAN RETURNS TO TOKYO DOME TOMORROW, THE MAIN EVENT STILL UNCLEAR AND MORE FROM JAPAN

New Japan Pro Wrestling

New Japan Pro Wrestling held its Summer Struggle in Nagoya show today in Aichi Prefectural Gymnasium.

The full results were:

• Robbie Eagles, SHO and YOH def. DOUKI, El Desperado and Yoshinobu Kanemaru
• Hirooki Goto, Rocky Romero, Rysuke Taguchi and YOSHI-HASHI def. El Phantasmo, Jado, Taiji Ishimori and Yujiro Takahashi
• Kazuchika Okada and Toru Yano def. Great-O-Khan and Jeff Cobb via countout
• BUSHI and Shingo Takagi def. Master Wato and Tomoaki Honma
• EVIL def. Tomohiro Ishii
• Hiroshi Tanahashi def. KENTA

KENTA brought back his old IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship challenge rights certificate briefcase to use as a weapon against Hiroshi Tanahashi in the main event, although Katsuyori Shibata (who had joined the commentary team before the match) interfered to take away the briefcase and even the odds.

Tanahashi won the match and later commented on the uncertainty of the Wrestle Grand Slam main event tomorrow, appealing to take Kota Ibushi’s place if needed.

Ibushi is scheduled to challenge Shingo Takagi for the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship tomorrow, although New Japan announced on July 21 that Ibushi been diagnosed with aspiration pneumonia.

While there has been no indication that Ibushi will not be able to compete, there have not been any indications that he will be able to compete either.

For what it is worth, New Japan’s preview of tomorrow’s show still lists Ibushi in the main event. The full preview can be read here.

If Ibushi is unable to compete at the show and the main event is changed, it would mark the second time that the planned main event of Wrestle Grand Slam has been disrupted by illness or injury before the show even took place.

Previously, Wrestle Grand Slam was scheduled to take place over two nights on May 15 in Yokohama Stadium and May 29 in the Tokyo Dome. While both shows were ultimately postponed (with Yokohama Stadium show eventually being cancelled), the original Tokyo Dome main event of Will Ospreay attempting his first defense of the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship against Kazuchika Okada was cancelled after Ospreay vacated the title due to a neck injury.

It would have been absolutely inconceivable that the main event of a show in the Tokyo Dome would be in question with less than 24 hours to go before the show 18 months ago, but the current situation encapsulates the never-ending uncertainty and torrid luck that has riddled New Japan since the start of the pandemic last March.

The current card for tomorrow’s show is:

• KOPW 2021 New Japan Ranbo
• IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championships: El Phantasmo and Taiji Ishimori (c) vs. Rocky Romero and Ryusuke Taguchi
• IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship: El Desperado (c) vs. Robbie Eagles
• Jeff Cobb vs. Kazuchika Okada
• IWGP Tag Team Championships: SANADA and Tetsuya Naito (c) vs. Taichi and Zack Sabre Jr.
• IWGP World Heavyweight Championship: Shingo Takagi (c) vs. Kota Ibushi

El Phantasmo and Taiji Ishimori will attempt their first defense of the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championships against Rocky Romero and Ryusuke Taguchi.

El Desperado will attempt his third defense of the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship against Robbie Eagles.

SANADA and Tetsuya Naito will attempt their first defense of the IWGP Tag Team Championships against Taichi and Zack Sabre Jr. in a rematch from the second night of New Japan’s two-night Summer Struggle in Sapporo event on July 11.

Pro Wrestling ZERO1

Pro Wrestling ZERO1 held its seventh and penultimate Fire Festival show today in EDION Arena Osaka #2.

The full results were:

• Genta Hiriki and Takumi Baba def. Junya Matsunaga and Ryo Hoshino
• Naoshi Sano def. Yoshikazu Yokoyama via DQ
• Hide Kubota, Masato Tanaka and Yasu Kubota def. Hartley Jackson, Shoki Kitamura and Takafumi
• Fire Festival B block: Takuya Sugawara def. Shogun Okamoto
• Fire Festival B block: Shigehiro Irie def. Chris Vice
• Fire Festival A block: Shinjiro Otani def. Fuminori Abe

Shinjiro Otani will face Takuya Sugawara in the Fire Festival final at ZERO1’s show on August 1 in Korakuen Hall.

Following today’s show, the final Fire Festival standings are:

A block
1. Shinjiro Otani (4-1 record): 20 points
2. Masato Tanaka (4-1 record): 19 points
3. Yoshiki Inamura (3-2 record): 15 points
4. Hartley Jackson (2-3 record): 10 points
5. Fuminori Abe (1-4 record): 5 points
6. Tsugutaka Sato (1-4 record): 5 points

B block
1. Takuya Sugawara (3-2 record): 15 points
2. Shigehiro Irie (3-2 record): 14 points
3. Ayato Yoshida (2-2-1 record): 13 points
-. Chris Vice (2-2-1 record): 13 points
5. Shogun Okamoto (2-3 record): 10 points
6. Takafumi (2-3 record): 10 points

DDT Pro-Wrestling

DDT Pro-Wrestling held a show today in Izumi.

The full results were:

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

Konosuke Takeshita and Shunma Katsumata will attempt their first defense of the KO-D Tag Team Championships against Jun Akiyama and Yusuke Okada at DDT’s show on August 15.

Pro Wrestling NOAH

Pro Wrestling NOAH has announced the full cards for its shows on August 5 and 6 in Korakuen Hall.

The full cards are:

August 5 in Korakuen Hall
• Kai Fujimura and Kinya Okada vs. Masa Kitamiya and Yasutaka Yano
• Akitoshi Saito, Mohammed Yone and Shuhei Taniguchi vs. Masaaki Mochizuki, Masato Tanaka and Yuko Miyamoto
• Atsushi Kotoge, Daisuke Harada and Junta Miyawaki vs. Eita, NOSAWA Rongai and YO-HEY
• Hajime Ohara vs. Katsuhiko Nakajima
• Aleja, Haoh, Nioh and Tadasuke vs. HAYATA, Seiki Yoshioka, Yoshinari Ogawa and Yuya Susumu
• Kazushi Sakuraba and Kazuyuki Fujita vs. Kenoh and Manabu Soya
• Kaito Kiyomiya and Kotaro Suzuki vs. Naomichi Marufuji and Takashi Sugiura

August 6 in Korakuen Hall
• Kinya Okada vs. Yasutaka Yano
• Aleja, Haoh, Nioh and Tadasuke vs. Atsushi Kotoge, Daisuke Harada, Hajime Ohara and Junta Miyawaki
• Akitoshi Saito, Mohammed Yone and Shuhei Taniguchi vs. Daiki Inaba, Kaito Kiyomiya and Masa Kitamiya
• Eita, Kotaro Suzuki, NOSAWA Rongai and YO-HEY vs. HAYATA, Seiki Yoshioka, Yoshinari Ogawa and Yuya Susumu
• Kazushi Sakuraba and Takashi Sugiura vs. Masaaki Mochizuki and Masato Tanaka
• Katsuhiko Nakajima, Kenoh and Manabu Soya vs. Keiji Mutoh, Masakatsu Funaki and Naomichi Marufuji

Big Japan Pro Wrestling

Big Japan Pro Wrestling’s Daichi Hashimoto has tested positive for COVID-19, the company announced today.

As a result, Big Japan postponed its show co-promoted show with Active Advance Pro Wrestling today in 2AW Square.

Hashimoto missed both of Big Japan’s shows on July 22 in Yokohama Radiant Hall due to a fever and tested negative for COVID-19 yesterday

He is experiencing mild symptoms and will miss Big Japan’s four shows on July 31 and August 1.

GLEAT

GLEAT will hold a show tomorrow in Osaka.

The full card is:

• CIMA and Shigehiro Irie vs. Daijiro Matsui and Minoru Tanaka
• Ayano Irie vs. Michiko Miyagi
• Atsuki Aoyagi and Yu Iizuka vs. Takanori Ito and ‘X’
• Issei Onitsuka vs. ‘X’
• El Lindaman and Soma Watanabe vs. Hayato Tamura and Ryuichi Kawakami

Issei Onitsuka was previously scheduled to face Kaz Hayashi, but GLEAT announced yesterday that Hayashi tested positive COVID-19.

Onitsuka’s new opponent has not been announced as of the publishing of this article.

Dragon Gate

Dragon Gate will hold its twelfth Hopeful Gate 2021 tour show tomorrow in Kariya Industrial Promotion Center.

The full card is:

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

Pro Wrestling FREEDOMS

Pro Wrestling FREEDOMS will hold a show tomorrow in Shin-Kiba 1st Ring.

The full card is:

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

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