Quick Results
Yota Tsuji & Yuya Uemura submitted Gabriel Kidd & Tiger Mask in 8:48 ( ¾)
Tama Tonga, Tanga Loa & Jado defeated Taichi, Zack Sabre Jr. & DOUKI via disqualification in 7:53 ( ½)
Hiroshi Tanahashi, Master Wato & Ryusuke Taguchi submitted Gedo, Yujiro Takahashi & Taiji Ishimori in 9:36 ( ¾)
Jeff Cobb, Aaron Henare, Great-O-Khan & Will Ospreay pinned BUSHI, SANADA, Tetsuya Naito & Shingo Takagi in 12:17 ( )
Toru Yano pinned EVIL in 14:58 in a Creation of Darkness Blindfold Match to retain the Provisional KOPW 2021 Trophy ( )
SHO & YOH pinned Yoshinobu Kanemaru & El Desperado in 27:09 to retain the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship ( ½)
We’re at the Nishihara Shokai Arena in Kagoshima for the first half of these “B+” shows that are nestled into the Wrestling Dontaku tour. Orange you glad to be here? I’ll quit with the satsuma and fruit puns before we get started…
We have a loaded issue of the Wrestling Observer this week, with business and history features.
We update WWE financials, with comments from Nick Khan, Vince McMahon, Stephanie McMahon and Kristina Salen talking about the state of the company, the state of sports business, what media companies are looking at right now, AEW, plus a look at WWE revenue and profits. We also look behind the numbers at what they mean, how every category is doing and what categories the company is no longer reporting on. We also look at the decline of WWE ratings as compared to that of cable television and network television.
Quick Results
Yoshinobu Kanemaru, El Desperado & Minoru Suzuki pinned Tiger Mask, SHO & YOH in 7:09 ( ½)
Taichi, Zack Sabre Jr. & DOUKI defeated Tama Tonga, Tanga Loa & Jado via disqualification in 6:53 ( ¾)
Dick Togo, EVIL, Gedo, Taiji Ishimori & Yujiro Takahashi pinned Toru Yano, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Ryusuke Taguchi & Master Wato in 12:17 ( ½)
Will Ospreay & Jeff Cobb pinned BUSHI & Shingo Takagi in 13:23 ( ¼)
SANADA pinned Aaron Henare in 23:28 ( ¾)
Tetsuya Naito pinned Great-O-Khan in 27:05 ( ½)
With the new State of Emergency in Tokyo, New Japan’s gotten lucky – they were away from Tokyo for the best part of two weeks to conclude the Wrestling Dontaku tour; but overnight the promotion announced three Road to Wrestle Grand Slam shows on May 8, 10 and 11 that were scheduled for Korakuen Hall as they prepare for shows at Yokohama Stadium and the Tokyo Dome.
Our annual WrestleMania issue of the Observer is out this week with full coverage of pro wrestling s biggest event.
We go through all the news of the show, including the booking, the title changes, the finishes, the direction, what did and didn t work, the difference between the two nights, after four examples how does two shows work vs one, the big money WrestleMania main events, the returns, the celebrities and business notes on the show. We also look at next year.
Also in this issue:
Match-by-match coverage with star ratings and poll results from both nights of WrestleMania and both nights of Takeover, to see how people saw all four of the WWE s big events.
Night seven of the Road to Wrestling Dontaku tour took place today at Korakuen Hall.
The top three matches featured the NEVER Openweight Six-Man Tag Team Champions facing members of Bullet Club in singles matches, with YOSHI-HASHI vs. KENTA, Hirooki Goto vs. Taiji Ishimori and Tomohiro Ishii vs. Yujiro Takahashi.
KENTA, Takahashi and Ishimori will challenge Goto, Ishii and YOSHI-HASHI for those NEVER Six-Man titles on tomorrow s Road to Wrestling Dontaku event, a 5:30 a.m. Eastern time show on NJPW World.
Here are full results and a report on today s show:
Recommended matches
Hirooki Goto vs. Taiji Ishimori
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