PURO.NEWS

News Round-Up (August 3 – August 9)

ZERO1: Chris Vice (c) vs. Tamura Hayato (JTO) for the ZERO1 Heavyweight title has been set for 8/27. On the same show Towa Iwasaki & Tsugutaka Sato defend the NWA Intercontinental tag titles against Shinjiro Otani & Yumehito Imanari.

VKF: Goa defends the King Of Wrestle Naniwa title against Hiroaki Taniguchi on 8/16.

FREEDOMS: The rematch between Toru Sugiura and Masashi Takeda is off since Takeda needs more time to heal. He had an operation to remove some lighttube pieces. Jun Kasai will now challenge Sugiura on 8/31 at Korakuen Hall. Also announced was Minoru Fujita & Rina Yamashita challenging Mammoth Sasaki & Violento Jack for the tag titles.

AJPW: The line up and schedule for this year’s Champion Carnival were announced. This year only features 10 wrestlers split into two blocks. You can see the blocks and dates on the graphic below. All shows are airing live on ajpw.tv

NOAH: Kenoh beat Katsuhiko Nakajima (24:45) on 8/4 to become the new GHC National champion.
Go Shiozaki defended the GHC Heavyweight title on 8/5 against Naomichi Marufuji (30:56). After the match Kenoh challenged Shiozaki to a double title match which will take place on 8/10 in Yokohama.

WAVE: Yuki Miyazaki has tested positive for COVID-19. Therefore the company has cancelled the shows on August 9, 14 and 16. The rest of the roster have tested negative.

Ice Ribbon: Nao Ishikawa needs to have surgery to remove an ovarian cyst and will be out for a while.
Several title changes happened at the big Yokohama show on 8/9.
Ram Kaicho defeated Choun Shiryu and Tae Honma for the Triangle Ribbon.
Risa Sera beat Rina Yamashita for the new FantastICE title.
Hiragi Kurumi & Mochi Miyagi beat Tsukasa Fujimoto & Tsukushi for the tag titles.
Suzu Suzuki beat Maya Yukihi for the Infinity title.

SEAdLINNG: Hiroyo Matsumoto, Miyuki Takase, Aoki Itsuki and Yuu are all off the 8/11 show due to being in contact with WAVE’s Miyazaki.

News Round-Up (July 27 – August 2)

FREEDOMS: Toru Sugiura defended the KFC title against Masashi Takeda on 7/28 via Referee Stoppage after 12:31. Takeda couldn’t continue to wrestle because he got a bad cut on his back. The rematch was set immediately for 8/31. Yuya Susumu also defended the UWA World Junior Heavyweight title against Kengo (11:18). The show drew 441 fans and airs on SamuraiTV on 8/8.

AJPW: Yankee Two Kenju defend the All Asia Tag titles against Zeus & Izanagi on 8/15.
On 8/30 Koji Iwamoto defends the AJPW World Junior title against Dan Tamura while Violent Giants defend the AJPW World Tag Team titles against Kento Miyahara & Jiro “Ikemen” Kuroshio.

ZERO1: Since Masashi Takeda got injured at the latest FREEDOMS show and couldn’t compete on 8/2 him and Yuko Miyamoto vacated the NWA Intercontinental Tag Team titles. Towa Iwasaki & Tsugutaka Sato beat Yuko Miyamoto & Takashi Sasaki for the vacant titles on 8/2. The newly formed tag team of Shinjiro Otani & Yumehito Imanari challenged them afterwards. Chris Vice defended the Heavyweight title against Yuji Hino (16:53) and was challenged by JTO’s Tamura Hayato afterwards. In the main event Shoki Kitamura beat El Lindaman to win this year’s Tenkaichi tournament.

Kyushu Pro: On 7/30 Genkai beat Yuji Hino (19:26) to become the new Kyushu Pro champion. Also Team Toryumon (Genki Horiguchi & Susumu Yokosuka) won a Three Way match to become the new Kyushu Pro Tag Team champions.

2AW: Kengo Mashimo & Tatsuya Hanami became the new 2AW Tag champions by beating Taishi Takizawa & Ayumu Honda in 12:55 on 8/2. In the main event Ayato Yoshida defended the 2AW Openweight title against Shu Asakawa (19:16). The show drew 320 fans to Korakuen Hall and airs on SamuraiTV on 8/11.

BJW: The main event for their last ever show at Yokohama Bunka Gymnasium on 8/30 was announed. Tatsumi Fujinami, Daichi Hashimoto & Yasufumi Nakanoue will face Daisuke Sekimoto, Yuji Okabyashi & Yuya Aoki.

A-TEAM: Takumi Sakurai & Bryan Ishizaka beat Nobutaka Moribe & GENTARO (16:04) on 8/2 to become the new WEW Tag Team champions.

Ice Ribbon: The full card for the big show at Yokohama Bunka Gymnasium was announced, with the following title matches:
WUW Title: Cherry (c) vs. Matsuya Uno
Triangle Ribbon: Tae Honma (c) vs. Ram Kaicho vs. Choun Shiryu
IW19: Hamuko Hoshi (c) vs. Makoto
Ribbon Tag: Tsukasa Fujimoto & Tsukushi (c) vs. Hiragi Kurumi & Mochi Miyagi
Infinity: Maya Yukihi (c) vs. Suzu Suzuki

PURE-J: Makoto & Moeka Haruhi (c) vs. Hanako Nakamori & Rina Yamashita for the Daily Sports Tag Team titles will headline the 8/10 show at Korakuen Hall.

MISC: Hikaru Sato vs. Suwama will main event the 8/29 HARD HIT show at Kawasaki Stadium in a no time limit match.

On August 29, Kawasaki "Called Hentai", "Koudome vs. Suwa Ma" "Mitsudome Sato 20th Anniversary Memorial Game"! Players decided to participate in the war, including Atsushi Onita!

The September TV dates for GAORA have been added to the TV calendar.

Atsushi Sawada’s heart surgery on the 29th lasted seven hours but was a success.

Hija Kidman of Ryukyu Dragon Pro had his retirement match on 8/2.

News Round-Up (July 24 – July 26)

BJW: Daichi Hashimoto defended the Strong World title against Yasufumi Nakanoue (23:00) on 7/24 at Korakuen Hall in front of 415 fans. Afterwards Hashimoto picked Akira Hyodo as the next challenger, the match will take place on 8/10.
Shunma Katsumata (DDT) announced that he’ll take part in this year’s Saikyou Tag League teaming up with Ryuji Ito. Takuho Kato is teaming up with Akira Hyodo again while Yasufumi Nakanoue brings in Kuma Arashi (formerly W-1) as his partner.
Jun Kasai also returned to announce that he’ll team up with Jaki Numazawa against Yuki Ishikawa & Toshiyuki Sakuda on 8/29.

AJPW: Suwama defeated Shuji Ishikawa (27:33) to defend the Triple Crown on 7/25 in front of 494 fans at a sold out Korakuen Hall. Meanwhile Koji Iwamoto beat Susumu Yokosuka (15:56) to bring the Junior title back to All Japan. Dan Tamura challenged him afterwards. Kento Miyahara & Jiro “Ikemen” Kuroshio announced a challenge for the Tag Team titles. Zeus & Izanagi won a #1 contender’s match for the All Asia Tag titles.
The schedule for Champion Carnival was announced. It will be six shows running from 9/12 in Nagoya to 10/5 at Korakuen Hall. Participants and more details will be announced on 8/8 on their YouTube channel.

NOAH: According to Rene Dupree him and El Hijo De Dr. Wagner Jr. have returned to Canada and Mexico so they’ve vacated the tag team titles. NOAH haven’t said anything officially yet, though.

JTO: On 7/26 Maika announced she’ll be leaving JTO to join Stardom.

The promotion celebrated their first anniversary on 7/20 at Shinkiba 1st RING. In the main event Tomoka Inaba pinned Maika. After pinning BJW’s Kosuke Sato, Hayato Tamura challenged Daisuke Sekimoto to a singles match, which will take place on 9/2 at Korakuen Hall. The show is set to air on 7/28 on SamuraiTV.
TAKA Michinoku also introduced two new trainees, “Trainee A” and “Trainee KKK”.

Asuka Pro: The semi finals for the BEST OF ASUKA tournament on 8/28 are Yusuke Kodama vs. Minoru Tanaka and Hiroshi Yamato vs. Koji Doi.

ZERO1: The Tenkaichi final on 8/2 will be Shoki Kitamura vs. El Lindaman. On the same show Chris Vice defends the ZERO1 World Heavyweight title against Yuji Hino and Masashi Takeda & Yuko Miyamoto defend the NWA Intercontinental Tag titles against Towa Iwasaki & Tsugutaka Sato.

Ice Ribbon: Suzu Suzuki challenges Maya Yukihi for the Infinity title on 8/9 after winning a #1 Contender’s match on 7/25 at Korakuen Hall which drew 418 fans.
Makoto announced a challenge for Hamuko Hoshi’s IW19 title.

PURE-J: Leon beat Hanako Nakamori (20:32) on 7/26 to become the new Openweight champion.
Chiemi Shioya will debut against Crea on 8/10 at Korakuen Hall. Her ring name will be “Chie Ozora”.

Diana: Ayako Sato defends the WWWD title against Asuka on 8/30 at Shinkiba 1st RING.

TJPW: YUMI (15), who had her last match at Ultimate Party in November, announced on 7/24 that she is leaving TJPW to focus on school.
The brackets for the Tokyo Princess Cup were announced on 7/25, you can see them below.

MISC: Itsuki Hoshino announced she’ll stop working as a pro wrestler due to her health condition.

Yuna Manase announced on 7/26 that she’ll sign with Ganbare Pro. Hagane Shinnou beat Keisuke Ishii to become the new Independent World Junior Heavyweight champion. Asuka will challenge Shinnou on 8/22.

Ryota Nakatsu beat Naoki Tanizaki in the final to win the BASARA x DOVE tournament on 7/26.

Hikaru Sato made an open challenge to Atsushi Onita for the HARD HIT show at Fujitsu Kawasaki Stadium on 8/29.

News Round-Up (July 18 – July 23)

AJPW: Suwama & Shuji Ishikawa defended the AJPW World Tag Team titles against Isami Kodaka & Yuko Miyamoto (19:36) on 7/18.

ZERO1: Another former WRESTLE-1 wrestler has been announced to appear in Z1 as Andy Wu will participate in the 8/2 show at Korakuen Hall.

NOAH: Kenoh challenges Katsuhiko Nakajima for the GHC National title on 8/4.
Naomichi Marufuji challenges Go Shiozaki for the GHC Heavyweight title on 8/5.
HAYATA challenges Daisuke Harada for the IPW Junior Heavyweight title on 8/10.

BJW: This year’s Saikyou Tag League will run from September 6 (Sendai PIT) to October 20 (Korakuen Hall) and cosist of 16 teams (8 Death and 8 Strong).
Masaya Takahashi will miss the 7/26 show in Osaka due to “family reasons”.

DDT: The DDT EXTREME, KO-D 6 Man and KO-D Openweight championships have all been successfully defended on 7/23.
Drew Parker (BJW) challenges Chris Brookes for the Universal title on 9/7 at Korakuen Hall. On the same show Dino, Tachibana & Yoshiko (SEAdLINNNG) will challenge for the 6 Man titles.
The next challenger for the KO-D Openweight title will be the King of DDT winner who gets a shot at Ota Ward on 11/3. Endo mentioned that he wants to fight Kenny Omega in case he wins the tournament.

2AW: New signee Takuro Niki will be out for a while due to a rotator cuff tear and a wrist injury.

TJPW: On 7/23 Yuka Sakazaki defended the Princess of Princess title against Yuki Aino in 18:00. Miu Watanabe & Rika Tatsumi defended the Princess Tag Team titles against Shoko Nakajima & Hyper Misao (13:50).

SEAdLINNNG: A big tag team match was announced for Yoshiko’s birthday show on 7/26 at Shinkiba 1st RING as Yoshiko, Hiroyo Matsumoto & Ayame Sasamura face Aja Kong, Saki Akai & Asuka.

News Round-Up (July 11 – July 17)

ZERO1: In a press conference on 7/11 the company announced that they found a new backer called Daiko Holdings Group Co. Ltd. which conducts investments and IT businesses. The new subsidiary will be called Daiko ZERO1 Co. Ltd.
Hartley Jackson will take over the wrestler’s training and they’re looking for wrestlers from all over the world.
They also plan to train Joshi wrestlers and named Aja Kong and Megumi Kudo President and EP respectively of the Super Fireworks group. The first women are supposed to debut at the Sumo Hall show on March 14 next year in a match against Aja Kong.

BJW: BJW were the first company to return to Korakuen Hall with fans on 7/12 with a double show, drawing 241 and 304 fans.
Daisuke Sekimoto & Kohei Sato defended the BJW Tag titles against Yuji Hino & Quiet Storm in 16:20. Afterwards Astronauts (Takuya Nomura & Fuminori Abe) challenged for the titles and the match was set for 8/10 at Korakuen Hall.
Quarter finals for the BJW Junior title next contender tournament are:
Yusuke Kodama vs. Koju Takeda (7/26)
Takoyakida vs. Tatsuhiko Yoshino (7/26)
Kazuki Hashimoto vs. Kaji Tomato (8/1)
Shinobu vs. Fuminori Abe (8/1)

FREEDOMS: Yuya Susumu (c) vs. Kengo for the UWA World Junior Heavyweight title was added to the 7/28 Korakuen Hall show.

AJPW: Dan Tamura beat Hokuto Omori on 7/13 to win the 5th Asunaro Cup. After the show Tamura joined Evolution while Omori joined Enfants Terribles.

BASARA: Fuminori Abe vs. Isami Kodaka for the Union MAX title went to a 30 minute time limit draw on 7/15. Daiki Shimomura challenged Abe, the match was set for 8/25. On the same show Speed of Sounds defended the IRON FIST tag titles against Ryuji Ito & Ryu Gouma (16:23). The show airs 7/26 on SamuraiTV.

SEAdLINNNG: Rookie Riko Shirai (debuted on 7/13) is now known as Riko Kaiju.
Yoshiko beat Arisa Nakajima (26:02) on 7/13 to become the new BEYOND THE SEA champion in front of 401 fans at Korakuen Hall. The show is set to air on 7/21 on SamuraiTV.

Ice Ribbon: Maya Yukihi defended the Infinity title against Hamuko Hoshi (15:41) on 7/12.

MISC: ASUKA challenges the winner of Keisuke Ishii and Hagane Shinnou (7/26) for the Independent Junior Heavyweight title on 8/22 at Ganbare Pro.

Jun Akiyama’s new faction in DDT is called “Junretsu”.

Atsushi Onita has expressed interest in participating in the AJPW Atsushi Aoki memorial show on 8/15.
He also offered to bring his Blast Death Match to ZERO1/Super Fireworks but new president Aja Kong said she wasn’t interested.

The main event for the BJW x 2AW x ZERO1 joint Korakuen Hall show on 8/11 was announced: Daisuke Sekimoto, Masato Tanaka & Ayato Yoshida will face Tank Nagai, Towa Iwasaki & Takuya Nomura.

All SamuraiTV dates for August have been added to the TV calendar, link at the top of the page.