NJPW vs. NOAH – Wrestle Kingdom 17 in Yokohama Review - 1.4.23 By: Thom Fain Reporting to you live from Yokohama Arena and joined by our amazing photographer, Masahira Kubota-san!  It's been a whirlwind month for puroresu fans and things are showing no signs of slowing down any time soon, and we are happy to bring you news from the ground in Tokyo. https://twitter.com/MonthlyPuroresu/status/1616710307510091777 Following KONGO's invasion of Wrestle Kingdom (and last year's joint event between New Japan and Pro-Wrestling NOAH), a score was settled tonight between their leader Kenoh and Los Ingobernales de Japon leader Tetsuya Naito. The factional warfare didn't stop there, however, with a best of five series Pre-show: Ryohei Oiwa & Kosei Fujita vs. Yasutaka Yano & Taishi Ozawa The opening bout predictably put the youngsters in a position to prove their mettle. It was a quick entry into the action, with Young Lions going at…

Minutes after the main event of New Japan’s Wrestle Kingdom 17 in Yokohama, Pro Wrestling NOAH’s Keiji Muto stepped away from ABEMA’s ringside commentary table and challenged Tetsuya Naito to a main event match next month in the Tokyo Dome on Feb. 21st.

Kazuchika Okada wrestled against Kaito Kiyomiya in a tag match, but things quickly got out of control between the top wrestlers of each company. By: R. Faliani Wrestle Kingdom 17 was an amazing show, filled with the best talent Puroresu can offer today, but between the mesmerizing single bouts and the surprising appearances, the thing that stood out the most was the brutal brawl between the IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada and the GHC Heavyweight Champion Kaito Kiyomiya. Everything started with an stiff kick from a challenging Kiyomiya, but that was enough for the Rainmaker to blast through the referee and the poor Young Lions at ringside, motivated by his drive to beat the absolute hell out of the GHC Champion. Okada was bleeding, but that didn’t stop him from giving Kiyomiya the receipts he asked for. This attitude from Okada was really interesting, and many were asking if…

New Japan Pro Wrestling and Pro-Wrestling NOAH will have their interpromotional showdown at Yokohama Arena, and there's a lot you need to know before this historic night for Puroresu. By: R. Faliani When Kazuchika Okada defeated Jay White at the Tokyo Dome, we thought Wrestle Kingdom 17 was over, but the leader of Kongo had other plans. KENOH stormed through Tetsuya Naito’s press conference with a declaration of war in the middle of the show, and his challenge was loud and clear. Motivated by his loss against Kaito Kiyomiya, and the responsability of representing Pro-Wrestling NOAH in this conflict, Kongo’s leader challenged Los Ingobernables de Japon to a series of matches to truly define which was the biggest group in Japan today. LIJ’s leader accepted the challenge, and everything was set for another historic night at Yokohama Arena. https://twitter.com/njpw1972/status/1610597534090596353?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1610597534090596353%7Ctwgr%5E985f0331e98491b2e7f34e8cef452a2a60038a0e%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmonthlypuroresu.com%2Ffeatures%2Fpro-wrestling-noah-stable-invades-tokyo-dome%2F   The days passed, and New Japan Pro Wrestling announced not…

This week, we are looking at the 1,800-seat Tokyo Korakuen Hall. Known as the MECCA of Japanese Pro Wrestling, this venue is used by every Puroresu and Joshi promotion and is considered sacred ground for fans and wrestlers alike.

The pandemic years have seen an exponential growth in online popularity of joshi puroresu, and Tokyo Joshi Pro-Wrestling is one of the biggest benefactors, with a passionate fanbase worldwide. Enthusiasts in America will finally be able to see the stars of TJPW live at Los Angeles’ Globe Theatre this March, as announced earlier this month by both TJPW and its affiliate WrestleCon.

The 42 years old Naruki Doi has conquered DDT's Universal Championship after beating Yuki Ueno and Daisuke Sasaki on an amazing 3-Way Match. By: R. Faliani In 2022, we thought the future was uncertain for the 42 years old star Naruki Doi. Just like many Japanese wrestlers today, Doi became a freelancer, and started to wrestle around AJPW and DG. He came to DDT as a big name, and his skills were appreciated by the DDT faithful. He slowly rose up to the ranks and got note-worthy matches against some of the best wrestlers DDT can offer today. After an amazing time limit draw against Daisuke Sasaki, both men were considered contenders for Yuki Ueno's Universal Championship, and a 3-Way Match decided the future of Ueno as the Universal Champion. https://twitter.com/ddtproENG/status/1613832999837270017 In this match, Doi showed his fighting spirit, and had an amazing match against Ueno and Sasaki. As always,…

The president of New Japan Pro Wrestling Takami Ohbari announced today that the second night of Wrestle Kingdom 17 at Yokohama Arena will also include cheering! By: R. Faliani The hyped showdown between Pro-Wrestling NOAH and New Japan Pro Wrestling will have a whole new atmosphere, due to Japanese crowds being able to cheer for their favorite wrestlers. We will see interesting matches and surely interesting dynamics with the crowd. The two most popular factions in Puroresu today will clash, and the Japanese fans will judge who were the best ones at the end of the night. https://twitter.com/njpw1972/status/1613452141036998656 Los Ingobernables de Japon will defend NJPW and the honor of Antonio Inoki, while Kongo will defend NOAH and the legacy of Mitsuharu Misawa. This will truly be a battle for the ages, and will surely be an historic night for professional wrestling. https://twitter.com/njpwglobal/status/1611273454950678530?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1611273454950678530%7Ctwgr%5Ea8657462cb093cb0fe8ee579a99ebca75f706986%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmonthlypuroresu.com%2Ffeatures%2Fwrestle-kingdom-17-will-have-an-interpromotional-showdown%2F

Ice Ribbon RibbonMania Review – 12.31.22 by: Abid Chowdhury A sold out crowd of 856 fans came to witness the final pay per view show for Ice Ribbon of 2022 at Tokyo’s legendary venue, Korakuen Hall. It was their end of the year show on New Years Eve, this was RibbonMania. A pay per view where the present and future are showcased. An event where storylines continue to unfold, rivalries begin to form, and where storylines come to an end. This year was a special event. Featured a retirement of a short tenured but future star, along with two championship titles being defended.  Tsukasa Fujimoto opened the show, and thanked the fans for coming today to watch Ice Ribbon’s final pay per view show of the year, RibbonMania. She then mentioned that Ice Ribbon’s newest trainee Aiki Yamaoka of the idol group “Cersier” had begun training to become a pro-wrestler.…

Welcome to Puroresu Gate, a weekly feature where we review attendance figures of Puroresu and Joshi promotions in the most well-known venues in Japan.

In this special edition of Puroresu Gate, we not only examine the ticket sales for the biggest event of the year in New Japan Pro Wrestling’s WrestleKingdom in the 55,000-seat capacity Tokyo Dome but also events held in other venues by other promotions since WrestleKingdom week has become as big of a deal in Japan as Wrestlemania week is in North America.