Hiroshi Tanahashi Appears At UJPW FACE THE NEXT Event Which Featured Rising Stars From Multiple Promotions

By: Lewis Carlan

United Japan Pro-Wrestling held its latest event “FACE THE NEXT at a sold out Shinjuku FACE in Tokyo.

UJPW FACE THE NEXT featured rising stars from various promotions including NJPW, Pro Wrestling NOAH, Dragongate, DDT Pro-Wrestling, BJW and others.

The main event featured Ryoya Tanaka, Munetatsu Nakamura & Kazuma Sumi taking on the trio of Daiki Odashima, Daiki Nagai & Ilusion. The match lasted 12 minutes and 26 seconds and was won by Tanaka, Nakamura & Sumi. Tanaka ended the bout after hitting a Stardust Press on Illusion for the win.

Photo Credit: UJPW

In the co-featured bout, DDT Pro-Wrestling’s Yuya Koroku defeated Dragongate’s Homare.

The show was closed out by NJPW President Hiroshi Tanahashi addressing the crowd while surrounded by all the participating competitors. Tanahashi stated he felt future stars will emerge from the event.

From Hiroshi Tanahashi:

“Wrestlers from different promotions are competing on the same ring. I believe that future stars will emerge from this event and help energize the pro-wrestling world.” (source Tokyo Sports, English translation via Deepl.com)

Photo Credit: UJPW

Here are the full results for UJPW FACE THE NEXT event courtesy of purolove.com:

• Tatsuya Matsumoto (NJPW) vs. Yuto Koyanagi  (Pro Wrestling NOAH) – Time Limit Draw (10:00).
• Jiro Shinbashi (Dragongate), Hinata Kasai (DDT Pro), & Sentaro Motoshima  (Ganbare Pro-Wrestling) defeated Midori Takahashi (Pro Wrestlin NOAH), Koyo Ume (Kyushu Pro) & AKEY (Dragongate) (10:05) after a crab hold by Motoshima against Takahashi.
• Ryuma Sekimo (BJW), Masatora Yasuda (NJPW), Shota Kawakami  (Ganbare Pro-Wrestling) & Katsumi Inahata (Pro Wrestling NOAH) defeated Taisei Nakahara (NJPW), Reiya Igarashi (FREEDOMS), Rukiya (DDT Pro) & GuC (Dragongate) (7:12) after a crab hold by Yasuda against Nakahara.
• Kazuma Kimura (Dragongate), Daichi Satoh (DDT Pro) & Kazumasa Yoshida (BJW) defeated Hiroto Tsuruya (Pro Wrestling NOAH), Koshiro Asakura  (BJW) & Yuki Ishida (DDT Pro) (9:16) after a Mad Splash by Satoh against Tsuruya.
• Yuya Koroku  (DDT Pro) defeated Homare (Dragongate) (8:33) with a Modified Triangle Lancer.
• Ryoya Tanaka (Dragongate), Munetatsu Nakamura (Ganbare Pro-Wrestling) & Kazuma Sumi (DDT Pro) defeated Daiki Odashima (Pro Wrestling NOAH), Daiki Nagai (NJPW) & Ilusion (DDT Pro) (12:26) after a Stardust Press by Tanaka against Ilusion.