Yuma Anzai and Yuma Aoyagi Claim Final Two Second Round Spots in the 2026 AJPW Royal Road Tournament

By: Lewis Carlan

The final two spots in the All Japan Pro-Wrestling 2026 Royal Road Tournament second round have been filled. The first round of the tournament concluded on Sept. 13th at the Kissei Bunka Hall Medium Hall in Matsumoto with an announced crowd of 680 fans on hand for the event.

The last two first round bouts were contested on Sept. 13th with the first one being Yuma Anzai facing one half of the AJPW World Tag Team Champions Rei Saito. Both combatants fought hard to avoid elimination from the tournament but it in the end it was Anzai hitting his Gamushara running knee strike on Saito that ended that bout at the 11:23 mark.

In the other first round tournament bout, hometown hero Yuma Aoyagi faced the other half of the AJPW World Tag Team Champions, Jun Saito. This match lasted over twenty minutes and the two waged war on each other with Daisuke Sekimoto waiting in the wings to see who he would be facing in round 2.

Aoyagi was able to emerge victorious after locking on his End Game finisher which led to a referee stoppage and catapulted Aoyagi into round two of the 2026 Royal Road Tournament.

Photo Credit: All Japan Pro-Wrestling

The AJPW Royal Road Tournament second round is set for Sept. 16th & 17th and the matches are as follows:

Sept. 16th

• Timothy Thatcher vs. Yuma Anzai
• Daisuke Sekimoto vs. Yuma Aoyagi

Sept. 17th

• Kento Miyahara vs. Ryuki Honda
• Go Shiozaki vs. Xyon

Here are the full results for the AJPW Royal Road Tournament on Sept. 13th courtesy of purolove.com:

• Timothy Thatcher defeated Shota Kofuji (6:57) with a standing style half Boston Crab.
• Ryuki Honda, Daisuke Sekimoto & Kuma Arashi defeated Hideki Suzuki, Hokuto Omori & Ryuji Hijikata (8:29) after a lariat of Sekimoto against Omori.
• Xyon, Oddyssey & Shotaro Ashino defeated Kento Miyahara, Ren Ayabe & Rising HAYATO (13:32) after a T-bone suplex by Ashino against HAYATO.
  
• Oudou Tournament – Round 1: Yuma Anzai defeated Rei Saito (11:23) with the Gamushara.
  
• Oudou Tournament – Round 1: Yuma Aoyagi defeated Jun Saito (20:20) by Referee Stop (End Game).