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.

History is now within reach for STARDOM’s Phoenix. Entering Nagoya, Saya Kamitani was one win away from tying the single reign defense record for the Wonder of Stardom Championship. Now she’s one step away from eclipsing it.

While New Japan Pro Wrestling awaits his showdown with Pro-Wrestling NOAH at Yokohama Arena, the New Japan Cup 2023 kicks off March 5 in Korakuen Hall! By: R. Faliani The IWGP World Heavyweight Championship scene is seeing some changes after the Wrestle Kingdom 17 clash between the former champion and the "Rainmaker" Kazuchika Okada, and one of those changes has been the new rivalry between Shingo Takagi and the brand new IWGP Champion. With the New Japan Cup, the title scene will be way more competitive and Okada must be ready for all of these new contenders. https://twitter.com/njpwglobal/status/1611618766676271105?s=20&t=h1eY3ytOj0TAFwpizz2I1w Between the wrestlers that could win the New Japan Cup, there's people that have a long history with the current champion that could participate, such as Will Ospreay, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Tomohiro Ishii, or even the lonely warrior, Minoru Suzuki. There's also young wrestlers filled with Fighting Spirit, that have been carrying the…

We thought Wrestle Kingdom 17 was over, but just like last year, Yokohama Arena will be the stage for an interpromotional showdown between Pro-Wrestling NOAH and New Japan Pro Wrestling. By: R. Faliani This announcement really surprised the wrestling world. After a night of pure wrestling excellence no one thought New Japan Pro Wrestling and Pro-Wrestling NOAH would continue their conflict, but Kongo's leader KENOH had other plans. As we already know, he challenged Tetsuya Naito to a singles match back at the Tokyo Dome, but no one knew this was the beginning of something bigger. https://twitter.com/njpwglobal/status/1611256249328324608?s=20&t=93jfKkcZqMObX1z96qb-Lg Wrestle Kingdom 17 will have another night of pro-wrestling, but this time it will focus on the interpromotional bouts between said companies. NOAH will be largely represented by KONGO, while NJPW will be largely represented by Los Ingobernables de Japon, in a series of matches that will have people at the edge of…

We saw the return of the original TMDK on Wrestle Kingdom, with the brand new NJPW World Television Champion Zack Sabre Jr, but New Year Dash brought us a new member for the group. By: R.Faliani Zack Sabre Jr. stepped up to the plate as the new frontman for TMDK, and he's already bringing young boys to the team. Zack was a member of Suzuki-gun, so he knows a thing or two about trusting young talents and teaching them the ways of violence, that's why he called Kosei Fujita as his protege, and the new member of TMDK. The Young Lion will be a great member, and he will be able to grow as a professional wrestler even more. https://twitter.com/njpwworld/status/1610949763901575168 After giving Fujita a TMDK shirt, Zack spoke to the camera and said "Up yours, Jon Moxley!". We know he has a lot of history not only with Mox, but…

The IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada was in the same ring as the IWGP United States Champion Kenny Omega, but this time they wrestled as a team against the United Empire. By: R. Faliani The "One-Winged Angel" and the "Rainmaker" were bitter rivals back on the 2010s, but 2023 brought a new era for New Japan Pro Wrestling, and an unexpected alliance after all these years. Kenny Omega and Kazuchika Okada formed a team to face the United Empire, and they had surprisingly good chemistry as partners. If they truly decide to form a real tag team, we could be seeing two of the greatest wrestlers of all time dominate the tag team scene, but we know Kenny has only one tag team partner he wants to wrestle with, besides The Young Bucks. READ: Q&A with Kenny Omega, his career journey and Japanese culture https://twitter.com/njpwglobal/status/1610967578180227073 We also had a…

Last night, we saw one of the best matches of all time between the "One Winged Angel" Kenny Omega, and the "Commonwealth Kingpin" Will Ospreay. Kenny Omega and Will Ospreay put on a masterclass of professional wrestling at the Tokyo Dome, that was reminiscent of the epic bouts that Kenny used to had on the same scenario years ago. Many people were hyped for this match, but they surpassed our expectations over and over with what many already consider the MOTY. The entrances already speak wonders about this match. Omega summoned Sephiroth from Final Fantasy 7, while Ospreay brought back the Aerial Assassin for one more match. READ: Q&A with Kenny Omega, his career journey and Japanese culture https://twitter.com/njpwworld/status/1610591471744487425 Kenny awakened his Strong Style once again and recovered the championship that was made for him. As IWGP United States Champion, Omega has opened (no pun intended) a lot of doors…

After a night of amazing matches and amazing moments, the Wrestle Kingdom press conference was invaded by Pro-Wrestling NOAH, represented by KENOH and Kongo. By: R. Faliani New Japan Pro Wrestling gave one of the best Wrestle Kingdom shows in recent memory, but the consequences of last year's showdown against Pro-Wrestling NOAH on Yokohama Arena were seen today. The Kongo unit stormed through the former IWGP Heavyweight Champion Tetsuya Naito post-match press conference and made their intentions known. https://twitter.com/njpw1972/status/1610597534090596353 Kongo's leader KENOH challenged Naito to a singles match to determine which stable really is the best in Puroresu today. KENOH recently was defeated by Kaito Kiyomiya, and this victory could be what he needs to get back on track. We also know Kongo's leader is the kind of guy that does a full rant on his car, thanks to this livestream he did hours after the invasion. This match has…

On January 4th, New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) had its annual Wrestle Kingdom event, which signaled the start of 2023 and was truly worthy of the biggest show of the year. Like every year, the card was full of some of the biggest wrestlers fighting for all the company’s titles and special matches to suit every wrestling fan. In particular, there were some MOTY candidates that took the internet by storm.