AJPW 12th Annual Royal Road Tournament Kicks Off As Three Competitors Advance

By: Lewis Carlan

All Japan Pro-Wrestling kicked off its 2025 Royal Road Tournament at the famed Korakuen Hall with nearly 1,000 fans in attendance for the event.

There were three tournament matches featured on the opening night of 12th annual AJPW Royal Road. Each match is under the single elimination format.

In the first tournament bout, former BJW star and now freelancer Daisuke Sekimoto faced Naruki Doi. It took Sekimoto less that seven minutes to eliminate Doi from the tournament with his Big Bang Catastrophe finisher.

The next Royal Road Tournament match featured Yuma Aoyagi taking on Naoya Nomura. Two time Triple Crown Champion Aoyagi went into this match as the favourite to win in the minds of most AJPW fans but as it happens in these tournaments, upsets occur and that’s exactly what happened here. In an incredible hard-hitting battle, Nomura knocked Aoyagi out of the tournament with a huge victory over the former champion.

Nomura had these comments during his backstage post-match interview:

“I’m not an All Japan-affiliated wrestler, but Yuma Aoyagi, whom I fought today, is my rival. From now on, we’ll continue fighting for more than 10 years.”

In the main event, AJPW megastar Kento Miyahara faced Kengo Mashimo in the third and final first round tournament match that was contested on August 24th.

Mashimo gave Miyahara all he could handle in a match that saw both combatants going to toe to toe. In the end, Miyahara’s patented Shutdown Suplex was too much for Mashimo as Miyahara won by pinfall at the 21:06 mark.

Photo Credit: AJPW

Here are the full results for the opening night of AJPW 2025 Royal Road Tournament courtesy of purolove.com:

• Atsuki Aoyagi & Rising HAYATO defeat Dan Tamura & Ryo Inoue (12:24) after a crucifix hold from HAYATO against Inoue.
• Hokuto Omori, Kuma Arashi & Takashi defeat Ryuki Honda, Ren Ayabe & Shota Kofuji (12:43) after a diving senton from HAYATO against Inoue.
• Shotaro Ashino, Xyon & Oddyssey defeat Jun Saito, Hideki Suzuki & Davey Boy Smith Jr. (11:44) after an ankle hold of Ashino against Smith.
• MUSASHI 15th Anniversary Special Tag Match: MUSASHI & Seiki Yoshioka defeat The Great Sasuke & Taro Nohashi (10:48) after the Niten Ichiryu of MUSASHI against Nohashi.
• 12th Royal Road Tournament – Round 1: Daisuke Sekimoto defeats “Mr. Saito” Naruki Doi (6:43) with the Big Bang Catastrophe.
• 12th Royal Road Tournament – Round 1: Naoya Nomura defeats Yuma Aoyagi (16:26) with the maximum.
• 12th Royal Road Tournament – Round 1: Kento Miyahara defeats Kengo Mashimo(21:06) with a Shutdown Suplex Hold.

The remaining first round AJPW Royal Road Tournament is as follows:

Aug 30 at Kunibiki Messe Large Exhibition Hall:

• Hideki Suzuki vs Odyssey
• Shotaro Ashino vs Davey Boy Smith Jr

Aug 31 at Kobe Sanbo Hall:

• Ryuki Honda vs. Kumaarashi
• Hokuto Omori vs. Xyon
• Jun Saito vs. Ren Ayabe

Kento Miyahara will face Naoya Nomura in the second round of the Royal Road Tournament on Sept. 6th at the Light Cube Utsunomiya.

Image Credit: AJPW