Dan Tamura Defeats Seiki Yoshioka to Retain the AJPW World Jr. Heavyweight Title, New Challenger Materializes

By: Lewis Carlan 

The All Japan Pro-Wrestling RAISING AN ARMY MEMORIAL SERIES 2026, which celebrates the 54th anniversary of the promotion, kicked off on Oct. 3rd at the Gyoda Green Arena Main Arena. There were 867 fans in attendance for the event.

The featured bout saw the AJPW World Jr. Heavyweight Champion Dan Tamura making the second defense of his second reign against the Zennichi Jr Festival 2026 tournament winner Seiki Yoshioka.

On Aug. 29th, Yoshioka defeated Tamura in the finals of Zennichi Jr. Festival 2026 tournament to earn the right to challenge him for the AJPW World Jr. Heavyweight Championship.

Seiki Yoshioka was hoping to ride the wave of momentum he was on to capture the AJPW Jr. Title for the second time in his career. Unfortunately, that wave crashed into a roadblock named Dan Tamura.

It took over twenty two minutes but Tamura landed his Last Ride finisher on Yoshioka to win the bout and retain his title.

Photo Credit: All Japan Pro-Wrestling

After the bout, former AJPW World Jr Heavyweight Champion Rising HAYATO appeared and challenged Tamura for the coveted belt.

Photo Credit: All Japan Pro-Wrestling

Tamura accepted HAYATO’s challenge and an official match between the two is expected to be announced by AJPW in the near future.

In other action, Kento Miyahara & Go Shiozaki faced Ryuki Honda & Ren Ayabe in Triple Crown Championship preliminary bout. Miyahara is scheduled to defend his AJPW Triple Crown Title against Honda on Oct. 22nd.

Miyahara made a huge statement by pinning Honda with his patented Shutdown Suplex to win the match for him & Shiozaki.

Photo Credit: All Japan Pro-Wrestling

Here are the full results for AJPW RAISING AN ARMY MEMORIAL SERIES 2026 on Oct. 3rd courtesy of purolove.com:

• Kengo Mashimo & Daisuke Sekimoto defeated Kuma Arashi & Yuya Aoki (11:24) after a backbreaker from Sekimoto against Aoki.
• Rising HAYATO & Yasutaka Yano defeated MUSASHI & Hokuto Omori (12:30) after the Sid Vicious of HAYATO against Omori.
• Xyon, Oddyssey & Shotaro Ashino defeated Hideki Suzuki & Nobuhiko Kimura (8:09) after a Second Rope Body Splash by Oddyssey against
• AJPW World Tag Team Title Skirmish: Yuma Aoyagi, Yuma Anzai & Shota Kofuji defeated Jun Saito, Rei Saito & Senor Saito (16:31) after the THE FOOL of Aoyagi against Senor.
• Triple Crown Skirmish: Kento Miyahara & Go Shiozaki defeated Ryuki Honda & Ren Ayabe (17:33) after a Shutdown Suplex Hold by Miyahara against Honda.
• AJPW World Jr. Heavyweight Title: Dan Tamura (c) defeated Seiki Yoshioka Dan Tamura (22:25) with a Last Ride (2nd defense).