The Week in Japanese Wrestling (11/5/2024 — 17/5/2024):
New Japan Pro Wrestling:
NJPW have had a rather busy week. Their Resurgence show was very eventful with Hikuleo & El Phantasmo reclaiming the STRONG Tag belts after just losing them to TMDK. Meanwhile, Gabe Kidd is the new STRONG Openweight Champion, beating Eddie Kingston before the AEW wrestler was assaulted by the Elite, Jack Perry & The Young Bucks. After the main event between Jon Moxley and Shota Umino, EVIL and Ren Narita assaulted the duo, with EVIL challenging for the belt at Dominion. That card will also see a four team tag for the IWGP and STRONG Tag Team Championships, a NEVER Openweight title match between Shingo Takagi and HENARE, a TV title match between Jeff Cobb and Tomohiro Ishii and a KOPW title match between Yuya Uemura and the Great O’Khan. While this is going on, the Best of the Super Juniors tournament has gotten underway. Early in, Titan and Blake Christian have emerged as leaders of A block while KUSHIDA has emerged the front runner of B block.
Pro Wrestling NOAH:
NOAH’s biggest developments have been more behind the scenes this week. The company finally locked down Eita and Ulka Sasaki to full-time contracts, while Keiji Mutoh has been announced as NOAH’s scouting embassador. CyberFight, the company which owns NOAH, TJPW and DDT held a press conference announcing a few managerial shifts as well as their goal for this year: acquiring new corporate sponsors, increasing live broadcasts on ABEMA and most interestingly strengthening a relationship with WWE.
All Japan Pro Wrestling:
This week in All Japan saw the culmination of the 2024 Champion Carnival with Kento Miyahara winning his second tournament victory. He will now challenge Yuma Anzai for the Triple Crown Championship on May 29. That same show will see EC3 defend the NWA title against Ryuki Honda.
Big Japan Pro Wrestling:
Hideyoshi Kamitani made his second successful defence of the BJW Deathmatch Championship, defeating Yuko Miyamoto’s to retain.
Joshi:
Sonoko Kaho and Ryo Mizunami defeated Mayumi Ozaki and Jaguar Yokota to become the new Oz Academy Tag Team Champions. Marigold have also introduced a new selection of titles: the Marigold World Championship, the United National Championship, The Twinstar Championships (tag team) and the Super Fly Championship (high speed).
