PURO.NEWS

News Round-Up (July 5 – July 10)

2AW: Ayato Yoshida beat Yuji Okabayashi in 22:27 on 7/5 to become the new 2AW Openweight Champion. The show airs 7/12 on SamuraiTV.

Two titles matches were announced for 8/2 at Korakuen Hall. Shu Asakawa challenges Yoshida for the Openweight title and Kengo Mashimo & Tatsuya Hanami challenge Takizawa & Honda for the tag titles.

ZERO1: Towa Iwasaki & Tsugutaka Sato challenge Masashi Takeda & Yuko Miyamoto for the NWA Intercontinental Tag Team titles on 8/2 at Korakuen Hall.
The 9/27 show on Sado Island has been cancelled.

AJPW: A memorial show for Atsushi Aoki will be held on 8/15 at Korakuen Hall.

FREEDOMS: Yuya Susumu defends the UWA World Junior Heavyweight title against Shuichiro Katsumura (Ganbare) on 7/11.

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

BASARA: Fuminori Abe defends the Union MAX title against Isami Kodaka on 7/14. On the same show Tsutomu Oosugi & Banana Senga defends the IRON FIST Tag titles against Ryuji Ito (BJW) & Ryu Gouma.
BASARA and Dove Pro will hold a joint singles tournament with the first and second round at BASARA on 7/19 and the semi finals and final on 7/26 at Dove Pro.

OZ Academy: Saori Anou challenges Mayumi Ozaki for the Openweight title on 8/28. Also announced for the show is Beast Friend vs. MISSION 4K under Super Fireworks rules.

TJPW: Yuna Manase announced that she won’t be appearing regularly in TJPW anymore after the 7/23 show at Korakuen Hall.
Trainee Aona is now named Moka Miyamoto. She will debut on 7/23.

WAVE: Nagisa Nozaki defended the Regine Di WAVE title against Yuki Miyazaki in (15:48) on 7/7. Afterwards Nozaki announced that she won’t take part in this year’s “Catch The WAVE” tournament.

AWG: Yumiko Hotta announced that she left her role as “player’s manager/trainer” on 7/7.

MISC: Pork Tamako has her retirement match on 7/19 against Hibiscus Mii for Ryukyu Dragon Pro Wrestling.

News Round-Up (June 30 – July 4)

DDT: Shinya Aoki (c) vs. Maku Donaruto for the DDT EXTREME title has been added to the 7/23 show at Korakuen Hall.

Michinoku Pro: Announced for 9/6 in Kobe Sambo Hall is a special Michi Pro vs. Dragon Gate match: Taro Nohashi, The Great Sasuke, Jinsei Shinzaki & Dick Togo vs. Masaaki Mochizuki, Don Fuji, Gamma & KAGETORA.

2AW: Takuro Niki (formerly WRESTLE-1) has signed full time with 2AW. His first match will be on 7/5 against Chicharito Shoki.

ZERO1: Takumi Baba (21), formerly Pro Wrestling ACE/WRESTLE-1, has joined the promotion. He debuts against Hartley Jackson on 7/5.

All ten participants of the Tenkaichi tournament have been announced. You can see the full bracket below. (from left to right: Hide Kubota, Shoki Kitamura, Drew Parker (BJW), SUGI, RAICHO, El Lindaman, Ganseki Tanaka, Shinjiro Otani, Yumehito Imanari (Ganbare), HUB)

AJPW: Suwama successfully defended the Triple Crown Championship on their 6/30 TV show against Shotaro Ashino in 27:59. The next challenger is Shuji Ishikawa on 7/25. On the same show Koji Iwamoto challenges Susumu Yokosuka for the Junior Title. Masanobu Fuchi was also announced, participating in a show for the first time since January.

Yankee Two Kenju (Isami Kodaka & Yuko Miyamoto) challenge Violent Giants (Shuji Ishikawa & Suwama) for the World Tag titles on 7/18.

Kyushu Pro: The 7/30 show will stream live on their YouTube channel. Yuji Hino defends the Kyushu Pro Championship against Genkai. Kazuaki Mihara & Naoki Sakurajima defend the Kyushu Pro Tag Team titles against Minoru Fujita & Kenichiro Arai. Commentator is Keigo Yoshino.

A-TEAM: Naoki Aoyagi, who was scheduled to make his pro wrestling debut on 8/2, suffered an injury during training and is off the show.

Asuka Pro: They are running a tournament called “BEST OF ASUKA” from 7/22 to 9/30. Participants are (from left to right): Yusuke Kodama, Jiro “Ikemen” Kuroshio, Minoru Tanaka, Tatsuya Hanami, Akiyori Takizawa, Hiroshi Yamato, Shin Suzuki, Koji Doi.

OZ Academy: The 10/18 show in Miyakojima has been cancelled.

TJPW: Two title matches have been announced for the 7/23 Korakuen Hall show:
Princess of Princess: Yuka Sakazaki (c) vs. Yuki Aino
Princess Tag Team: Miu Watanabe & Rika Tatsumi (c) vs. Shoko Nakajima & Hyper Misao

MISC: GAORA’s August dates have been added to the TV calender. You can see the link at the top.

Atsushi Sawada (36) is undergoing heart surgery on 7/29. He was taken to the hospital after a singles match with Masakatsu Funaki at RJPW on 3/19.

BJW, ZERO1 and 2AW will hold a special joint show at Korakuen Hall on 8/11 called “TOKYO DELTA”. No matches have been announced yet.

Japan Pro Wrestling 2000 (J2000) announced on 7/1 that they’re closing the company that has been around since April 1999.

Six promotions (NJPW, AJPW, DDT, NOAH, STARDOM & TJPW) collaborated with Sanrio in a project called “SAVE OUR PRO-WRESTLINGxSANRIO CHARACTERS” and released shirts in different colors for each promotion. You can watch the press conference below.

News Round-Up (June 27 – June 29)

DDT: Chris Brookes beat Daisuke Sasaki on 6/27 to become DDT UNIVERSAL champion for the second time.
Yuki Ueno challenges Tetsuya Endo for the KO-D Openweight Title on 7/23 at Korakuen Hall. On the same show HARASHIMA, Antonio Honda & Riho challenge Eruption (Kazusada Higuchi, Yukio Sakaguchi & Saki Akai) for the KO-D Six Man Tag Team titles.
The Jun Akiyama loan from AJPW to DDT was made official and starts on 7/1.
DDT have announced that this year’s King of DDT tournament will take place from 8/8 to 8/23. See below for the full bracket.

NOAH: This year’s N-1 Victory league runs from 9/18 in Nagoya to 10/11 in Osaka.

ZERO1: On 6/29 it was announced that the company was in a bad financial situation due to the Corona crisis and that Kohei Sato, Tatsuhito Takaiwa and Ikuto Hidaka have left the promotion to become freelancers for now. Salaries have been cut down by 80% and the new president who took office in March has already stepped down. However in a press conference Shinjiro Otani promised that ZERO1 will continue. Apparently they are already in talks with new backers but it is difficult due to the pandemic. They’re holding an emergency press conference on 7/11.
Announced for the Tenkaichi Tournament as of 6/29 are: HUB, Ganseki Tanaka, Shoki Kitamura, Hide Kubota, Yumehito Imanari (Ganbare) and Drew Parker (BJW).

666: Onryo beat Yuko Miyamoto via Referee stop in 19:57 to become the new champion on 6/27, thus ending Miyamoto’s 552 day reign.

2AW: CHANGO & Kaji Tomato challenge Taishi Takizawa & Ayumu Honda for the 2AW Tag Team titles on 7/10.

Dotonbori Pro: This year’s Saikyou Otoko tournament runs from 7/5 to 8/10. See the full bracket below.

PURE-J: Hanako Nakamori defends the PURE-J Openweight title on 7/26 against Leon.
Leon’s 20th anniversary match on 8/10 at Korakuen Hall is her & Aja Kong vs. AKINO & Miyuki Takase.

TJPW: Azusa Takigawa is leaving the DDT group and getting married at the end of July.

Ice Ribbon: Hamuko Hoshi challenges Maya Yukihi for the Infinity title on 7/12.

Sendai Girls: The company returns to running in front of fans on 8/2.

WAVE: HIRO’e’s retirement match on 8/16 is her & Nagisa Nozaki vs. Kaori Yoneyama & Miyuki Takase.

MISC: W★ING have started a YouTube channel https://bit.ly/2YCTwg3

TAKAYAMANIA EMPIRE 3, which usually takes place at the end of August, has been cancelled to prevent the spread of the Corona virus.

Japan’s first ever drive-in wrestling show is happening on 7/11 in Nagano.

News Round-Up (June 20 – June 26)

FREEDOMS: On 6/25 Toru Sugiura successfully defended his KING of FREEDOMS CHAMPIONSHIP against Takumi Tsukamoto (BASARA) in 19:22 in front of 132 fans (sold out) at Shinkiba 1st RING.
The following big Death Matches were announced for 7/28 at Korakuen Hall:
– Toru Sugiura vs. Masashi Takeda (KING of FREEDOMS Championship)
– Daisuke Masaoka vs. Violento Jack
– Jun Kasai vs. Toshiyuki Sakuda

BJW: Daichi Hashimoto vs. Yasufumi Nakanoue for the BJW World Strong Title was announced for 7/24 at Korakuen Hall.
Yuji Hino & Quiet Storm challenge Daisuke Sekimoto & Kohei Sato for the BJW Tag Team Titles on 7/12 at Korakuen Hall.
Yuki Ishikawa was taken off the dojo events on 6/27 & 6/28 due to an injury he suffered during training. No word on when he’ll be back.
They’re also running a Junior Heavyweight tournament that will decide the next challenger for the title currently held by Yuya Aoki. First round matches on 7/15 are:
– Drew Parker vs. Koju Takeda
– Kosuke Sato vs. Fuminori Abe
– Frank Atsushi vs. Kaji Tomato
– Tatsuhiko Yoshino vs. Kota Sekifuda.
In the main event Jaki Numazawa returns from a 17 month injury break when he teams up with Kankuro Hoshino against Ryuji Ito & Abdullah Kobayashi. The show takes place at Shinkiba 1st RING.

ZERO1: This year’s Tenkaichi Junior Tournament will run from 7/5 to 8/5. The first announced participants are last year’s winner HUB, Shoki Kitamura and Ganseki Tanaka (formerly WRESTLE-1).

Michinoku Pro: The 7th Fukumen World League, which was scheduled to be held from 9/11 to 9/13 has been moved to fall 2021 since foreign wrestlers aren’t allowed to enter the country for the foreseeable future.

NOAH: NOAH have cancelled the 11/22 Sumo Hall show due to the pandemic. Since DDT also cancelled theirs it looks like there might not be any shows at Sumo Hall at all this year.
On 7/19 at Korakuen Hall YO-HEY challenges Kotaro Suzuki for the GHC Junior Heavyweight Title while Daisuke Harada & Tadasuke challenge Yoshinari Ogawa & HAYATA for the GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Titles.

DDT: MAO will be out of action for an unknown time with an injured left knee.
Tokyo Sports are reporting that Jun Akiyama of AJPW will join DDT as a loan for the rest of the year. Apparently there’s also a possibilty he might transfer over for good after the year.
“Ultimate Party 2020” will be held at Ota Ward Gymnasium on November 3rd. This is a replacement for the Sumo Hall show that was scheduled for November 21st.

2AW: At their 1st anniversary show on 7/5 at TKP Garden City in Chiba Yuji Okabayashi (BJW) defends the 2AW Openweight Title against Ayato Yoshida. The show is scheduled to air on SamuraiTV on 7/12.

AJPW: Suwama defends the Triple Crown against Shotaro Ashino on 6/30 in front of no fans. On the same show Koji Iwamoto and Yusuke Kodama will have a #1 contendership match for the AJPW World Junior Heavyweight Title.

A-TEAM: GENTARO & Nobutaka Moribe defend the WEW Tag Team Titles against Takumi Sakurai & Bryan Ishizaka on 8/2. TAKA Michinoku also makes his debut for the promotion when he faces HASEGAWA in a singles match.

SEAdLINNNG: Yoshiko challenges Arisa Nakajima for the Beyond The Sea Championship on 7/13 at Korakuen Hall. Rookie Riko Shirai, who recently passed her pro test, will make her official debut. The show is scheduled to air on SamuraiTV on 7/21.

WAVE: Nagisa Nozaki defends the Regina Di WAVE Championship against Yuki Miyazaki on 7/7. On the same show Sakura Hirota defends the WWWD Queen Elizabeth Title against Kaoru Ito and Tomoko Watanabe.
On 8/16 they’re celebrating HIRO’e’s retirement at Korakuen Hall which is also the opening round of the Catch The Wave tournament.

PURE-J: The promotion is running their 3rd anniversary and Leon’s 20th anniversary show on 8/10 at Korakuen Hall.

TJPW: The Tokyo Princess Cup that was supposed to be held from May to July will now take place from 8/8 to 8/29 with a total of six shows.

MISC: The SamuraiTV schedule for July has been released. To see all new airdates click on the link at the top of the page. They’re also continuing to air some of their older shows which include ZERO1 and BJW.

Ehime Pro are launching a streaming service on July 1st: http://www.ehime-pro.com/movie/

Miyako Matsumoto announced the match for her “Digital Miyacoco FES” on 6/30:
Miyako Matsumoto & Jun Kasai vs. Drew Parker & Rina Yamashita. You can buy the show via Twitcasting: https://t.co/rWYJZclTav?amp=1