AJPW Zennichi Jr. Tag Festival Kicks Off At EXCITE SERIES 2026 Event at Korakuen Hall

By: Lewis Carlan

The All Japan Pro-Wresting Zennichi Jr. Tag Festival got underway on Feb. 15th at the EXCITE SERIES 2026 event. There was a crowd of 1,135 fans on hand at Korakuen Hall to witness the start of the tournament.

The tournament began with two two first round bouts which headlined the event. The first match saw Ryo Inoue & Dragon Gate star Mochizuki Jr. take on Naruki Doi & Senor Saito.

The two teams engaged in a highly competitive encounter and it appeared Doi was going to pull out a win for his team towards the end but he fell victim to an Inoue inside cradle. The cradle seemed to catch Doi by surprise as it was enough for the referee to count to three and award the match to Inoue & Mochizuki Jr. which eliminated Doi & Saito from the tournament.

In the second Zennichi Jr. Tag Festival tournament bout, Atsuki Aoyagi & Rising HAYATO took on AJPW World Junior Heavyweight Champion Seigo Tachibana & Fuminori Abe. The bout lasted almost twenty five minutes as both teams fought hard to advance but in the end it was a Firebird Splash by Aoyagi against Tachibana that concluded the match. With the victory, Aoyagi & HAYATO advanced to the next round of the tournament.

The win earned Aoyagi a little bit of revenge against Tachibana who defeated him for the AJPW World Jr Heavyweight Championship back on Jan. 25th.

The next first round tournament matches are scheduled for Feb. 23rd and they are as follows:

• Kota Sekifuda & Toshiyuki Sakuda vs. Hikaru Sato & Dan Tamura (Winner to face Ryo Inoue & Mochizuki Jr.)
• MUSASHI & Shota Kofuji vs. Seiki Yoshioka & Yuya Susumu (Winner to face Atsuki Aoyagi vs. Rising HAYATO)

Photo Credit: AJPW

In other action, Jun Saito & Yuma Anzai defeated Kento Miyahara & Ryuki Honda in a Triple Crown preliminary bout. Miyahara will defend the Triple Crown Title against Jun Saito on Feb. 23rd.

Here are the full results for AJPW EXCITE SERIES 2026 on Feb. 15th courtesy of purolove.com:

• Kengo Mashimo defeated Shota Kofuji (5:58) with an armlock.
• HAVOC vs. Omori Army: Go Shiozaki, Shotaro Ashino, Xyon & Oddyssey defeated Hokuto Omori, Takashi, Aizawa No.1 & Jack Kennedy (6:04) after a diving headbutt by Xyon against Omori.
• Zennichi Jr. Tag Festival Special Eight Man Tag Match: MUSASHI, Yuko Miyamoto, Kota Sekifuda  & Toshiyuki Sakuda defeated Dan Tamura, Hikaru Sato, Seiki Yoshioka & Yuya Susumu (7:39) after a Swanton Bomb from Sakuda vs. Sat
• AJPW World Tag Team Title & GAORA TV Title Skirmish: Hideki Suzuki, Suwama & Daisuke Sekimoto defeated Ren Ayabe, Talos & Kuma Arashi (7:43) by Referee Stop (Suzuki defeated Ayabe with a sleeper hold).
• Triple Crown Skirmish: Jun Saito & Yuma Anzai defeated Kento Miyahara & Ryuki Honda (9:29) after Saito’s psycho break against Honda.
• Zennichi Jr. Tag Festival – Round 1: Ryo Inoue & Mochizuki Junior  defeated “Mr. Saito” Naruki Doi & Senor Saito (17:18) after an inside cradle by Inoue against Doi.
• Zennichi Jr. Tag Festival – Round 1: Atsuki Aoyagi & Rising HAYATO defeated Fuminori Abe & Seigo Tachibana (23:52) after a Firebird Splash by Aoyagi against Tachibana.

AJPW revealed all the participants for the Champion Carnival 2026 tournament. You can read about that here.